Worship the God you Know

Acts 17:22-34 Sixth Sunday of Easter Year A Worship the God you Know What is Memorial Day It is Memorial Day Weekend, and that can mean a lot of different things. It can mean a long weekend, cook outs, parades. Maybe it is just me, but it seems that the retailers have discovered a new holiday. Memorial Day has always meant sales, but this year I have noticed that every other email that I have gotten this weekend, and every other commercial on tv is an advertisement for someone one’s special sale. Memorial day is the first unofficial day of the summer. For us in the black community, that is a scary thing. It means that it is about to get hot, and that tempers are about to rise. Who knows what the summer will bring. We have to pray. In the midst of all that we have made Memorial Day to mean, let us not forget that there is a real meaning for the day. It is to remember our servicemen who have passed on, in order to preserve our ability to have fun, and our ability to be free. It was actually the black community that first celebrated Memorial Day. They would lay wreaths on the graves of soldiers, whether they were in the union army or the confederate army. From there is seemed to catch on to other communities. It is important for us to remember that we did not get where we are alone. We are here because of the sacrifice of others. In order to remember, we often build memorials, or monuments, or even buildings. So it is fitting that our scripture is about a monument. A monument to an unknown God. Mars Hill A few years ago, I took a trip following in the footsteps of Paul. The trip started in Athens, and the first place that we visited was Mars Hill. I remember there were monuments to different Gods everywhere. And we stood at the monument that Paul stood, dedicated to an unknown God. Legend has it that the city of Athens was in danger, so they set a bunch of sheep to roam around, and they sacrificed them wherever they were. They build monuments where the sheep fell and worshipped the God near that sheep. They noticed that one sheep was laying near a place with no monument, so they built one to an unknown God. Paul was in town trying to tell gentiles about Jesus. He wanted them to become Christians. So he appealed to what he already saw – that they were religious. They were obviously in search for God – but did not know Who God was. Paul wanted them to know. God is the creater. God is the maker, not the made. A monument is not enough to explain who God is. The point of Acts 17 As a matter of fact, Paul reminds us that we live in God, God does not live in us. Our being is dependent on God. God is a judge. As long as we don’t know, things are okay. But once we know God we have to obey God. God is a savior – who saves us through the sacrifice of his son Jesus. The point of the book of Acts The book of Acts is a book of the first sermons about the power of Jesus Christ. Each disciples went our into the world to tell gentiles what they saw in the miracle of Christ. Each disciples depended on the power of the holy spirit in order to change hearts. Paul is talking. Telling his story. After telling his story, most people sneered, some wanted to hear more, only two were willing to give their life to Christ. Most wanted to rely on their own understanding. They were not willing to change. There is a story about Richard J. Daly. We Need Help Some of you are old enough to remember Richard Daly who was mayor of Chicago for 21 years (1955-1976). Mayor Daly was known as a rather forbidding guy to work for. One story goes like this. One of Mayor Daly’s speech writers came in and demanded a raise. Mayor Daly responded as could be expected. He said “I’m not going to give you a raise. You are getting paid more than enough already. It should be enough for you that you are working for a great American hero like myself.” And that was the end of it...or so the mayor thought. Two weeks later Mayor Daly was on his way to give a speech to a convention of veterans. The speech was going to receive nationwide attention. Now one other thing Mayor Daly was famous for was not reading his speeches until he got up to deliver them. So there he stood before a vast throng of veterans and nationwide press coverage. He began to describe the plight of the veterans. “I’m concerned for you. I have a heart for you. I am deeply convinced that this country needs to take care of its veterans. So, today I am proposing a seventeen point plan that includes the city, state and federal government, to care for the veterans of this country.” Now by this time everyone, including Mayor Daly, was on the edge of their seat to hear what the proposal was. He turned the page and saw only these words: “You’re on your own now, you great American hero.” I don't know if Daly learned anything at that moment. With his great ego perhaps he did not. But he should have learned that all of us, no matter how great we think we are, need help. We need advocates who work behind the scenes to make us who we are. God has an advocate for you. He is the Holy Spirit. Story of Daly taken from: Journey Toward God, New Community Small Group study on Exodus (Zondervan), p.33. Brett Blair,www.eSermons.com Sometimes when I think of a monument to an unknown God, I think of the church. Because there are still so many people outside of the church who don’t know God, and don’t know what they are missing by not coming inside of the church. The book of Acts was written to give us hope. To help us to remember that the power of God is not in us, but in the holy spirit. We just have to be willing to be used by the spirit. Acts has a very important message for those who call themselves Christians. Being a Christian is more than just feeling good, smiling and being nice. It is more than having peace of mind, givng and going to church. It is worshipping God in Jesus Christ. It is about remembering that our whole being is inside of God. Without the spirit of God in us, we are absolutely nothing. But the good news is that when we look for God, God is very near by. He is always with us. He always helps us. Always Alongside Us A student named Steve Winger from Lubbock, TX was taking a challenging class in Logic. The course and teacher were known for exacting and demanding exams. The final exam was looming, and the professor mercifully told the class that each student would be permitted to bring in a single 8 x 11 ½ inch sheet with as much information as they could put on that one sheet for help during the test. On exam day, each student came to class clutching their precious pieces of paper with as much information as possible. Some students had crammed lines and lines of font so tiny and so numerous onto that single sheet that you had to wonder how they could read it. But Steve walked in with a single blank sheet and a friend who was a senior student and who had an ‘A’ in logic. Steve bent down and placed that single, blank sheet of paper on the floor next to his desk. His expert friend stood on the paper. The professor noticed the extra body in the room and asked what he was doing. Steve piped up, “You said we could bring in whatever we could fit on a single piece of paper for help on this test, well, this is my help and he can fit on the paper!” He had followed the instructions to the letter and was the only student in that class to score an ‘A’ since he had his expert friend standing alongside him. The Holy Spirit is like that friend, standing alongside us, supporting us, and guiding us. Adapted from an unknown source, Staff, www.Sermons.com The message of all of Acts for us is that the spirit is promised to those who live in God, the spirit is knowable in the risen Christ, the spirit makes a difference in our lives. Paul reminds us that our life does not have to be a monument to an unknown God. We have to know that God is present in the resurrected Christ. If we remember that, the spirit will do the rest. I want to end as I started, with a story about memorial day. An anonymous e-mail tells a story we need to hear on this Memorial Day weekend. It’s about an old man and his wife sitting in the parking lot of a supermarket. The hood is up on their car. Evidently they are having engine problems. A young man in his early twenties with a grocery bag in his arm walks in the direction of the elderly couple. The old gentleman emerges from the car and takes a few steps in the young man’s direction. He points to the open hood and asks the young man for assistance. The young man puts his grocery bag into his expensive SUV, turns back to the old man and yells at him: “You shouldn’t even be allowed to drive a car at your age.” And then with a wave of his hand, he gets into his car and speeds out of the parking lot. The old gentleman pulls out his handkerchief, mops his brow and goes back to his car. Again he looks at the engine. He then goes to his wife and appears to reassure her that things will be okay. A stranger approaches the old man. “Looks like you’re having a problem,” he says. The old man smiles sheepishly, and quietly nods his head. The stranger looks under the hood of the car, but he has no more expertise with automobile engines than the old man. He assures the elderly gentleman he will return and heads to a nearby service station. He explains the situation to a mechanic and says he will pay him if he would help the elderly couple with their car. Returning with the mechanic, the stranger gets into a conversation with the old gentleman. The stranger is wearing a ring signifying that he had been a Marine. Coincidentally, so had the old man. He confides that he had served in some of the harshest battles in our nation’s history, including Guadalcanal and Okinawa. He had retired from the Marine Corps after the war. After the car was repaired and running, the old gentleman handed a card to the stranger and they shook hands and parted. A little while later the stranger happened to look at the card. The name of the old gentleman was on the card in golden leaf and under his name was written: Congressional Medal of Honor Society. It was only then that the former Marine realized that he had come to the aid of one of America’s heroes. Just a reminder this Memorial Day weekend that there are men and women who have served their country, and received very little in return. It is only right that we recognize their sacrifice and honor their memory this holiday weekend. As we remember the sacrifice of those unnamed men and women – let us remember the sacrifice of Jesus crist for our sins. So that we can have life and have it abundantly. Amen. Children’s Sermon WHAT IS GOD MADE OF? by Wesley T. Runk Passage: Acts 17:16-34 • Lectionary: Easter 6 Item 26 of 36 | Back to Results Objects: A statue in marble or bronze, a painting of some classical origin depicting God or a likeness of Him, and then maybe a rock, leaf or wood carving. A four leaf clover or a lucky penny Good morning (evening) to you boys and girls and how are you on this beautiful day? This is our third time together and so that means that we get to talk about one of the questions that you have wondered about so often. Remember we have already asked where God is, and how old is God? Today we have an especially difficult question for you and for everybody. We want to know what God is made of, and that is especially hard since no one has ever felt God. For instance if I could tell you that God felt like steel or fur or mud you would know what kind of material God is made of. A long time ago, boys and girls, people thought that their God's were made of things like this statue I have here. Do you know what I mean'? People thought that this statue was a god and they put the statue on a shelf and everybody thought that their house was protected from any kind of evil spirits. This statue is made of marble. Other people liked to think their god was made in the form of a painting and they had a great artist paint them a copy so that everyone would picture god in the same way. A real long time ago, boys and girls, there were people who believed that their god lived in a rock like this or in a tree or in a very fast running river. That's what people used to think. Today some people have other kinds of gods, although they don't call them gods. Some people have to have something that they can feel. Let me show you what I mean. Have you ever seen someone carry one of these? (Hold up a four leaf clover or a rabbit's foot). What is it? That's right, a rabbit's foot. People think if they rub that rabbit's foot nothing will happen to them and that everything will be all right. They trust the rabbit foot, or a four leaf clover. Or some people I know carry a lucky penny in their pocket and rub it whenever they need something to happen. People like to feel their god and know what He is made of, but our God tells us that He is a spirit, something that you cannot even see, or touch or smell or feel. He is different than anything else that we know. And that is one of the reasons that He is God. There is nothing else like him in the whole world. He does not like us to make other things and call them god and when people trust in pennies or rocks or gold or anything else, then God gets very angry. What is a Spirit? That is a good question. You know that He is near and He speaks to you in prayer but you can't reach out and touch Him, nor can you hear Him. Do you remember what it's like when you go to school or away from home and you get lonely and wish that your mother was very near but you can't go and find her? When you think about her you get very warm and just thinking makes you feel better all over. Well in a way that is a spirit because even though you can't feel or see or hear or taste her you still know that she loves you and will be there when you get home. God is a spirit and while we don't know what He is made of we do know that the Bible teaches that He is not made of anything like rocks, or pennies. God is a spirit. Questions Children Ask About God, Wesley T. Runk, CSS Publishing Co., Inc., 1971, 0-89536-199-X Back to Results | Item 26 of 36 Other illustrations not used…… I’ve purchased a town lot in heaven On the city not built with hand, I’m sending material daily To build in that happy land. I’d like a mansion on Main Street, Where streets are all paved with gold. With a clear view of the pearly gates Where Christ takes care of the soul. I want to send good material That will stand the test of time, So I’ll not be disappointed When I reach that home sublime. Prayer is for the foundation, Faith and love for the walls, Good deeds for the reinforcement, That will stand when the Saviour calls. I would like you for my neighbor In that city so divine— Maybe just across the street Or your home close to mine. Up there we will know no sorrow, Tears will never dim the eyes. There we will rest in peace forever In that happy home on high. So my friends, start to building Your home beyond the sky Where we can all be together In the sweet by and by. —Author Unknown In the nineteenth century people who passed the Rothschild mansion in the fashionable quarter of London noticed that the end of one of the cornices was unfinished. The question may be asked: Could not the richest man in the world afford to pay for that cornice, or was the lack due to carelessness? The explanation is a very simple yet suggestive one when it is known. Lord Rothschild was an orthodox Jew, and every pious Jew’s house, tradition says, must have some part unfinished, to bear testimony to the world that its occupant is only, like Abraham, a pilgrim and a stranger upon the earth. —Selected Acts 17:22-31 -- Good and Bad “Magical Thinking” – by Leonard Sweet We live in an age where incredible scientific advancements take place everyday. Take GRIN, the acronym for (G) genetic engineering, (R) robotics, (I) information technology and (N) nanotechnology. The human genome has been mapped. Nanotechnology is constructing miniscule machines that can deliver inter-cellular messages or make molecular level repairs. Astrophysicists have mapped the curvature of the universe, delved into black holes, listened to the echoes of the Big Bang. Scientific inquiry and experiment have revealed the “hows” and “whys” and “whats” never before known. We think we’re so smart. We think we have a handle on how the universe works. So why did the builders of the new Yankee Stadium spend five hours and $50,000 digging through two feet of concrete last week? They did this to extract a David Ortiz Red Sox jersey that had been secretly buried in the concrete floor of the visiting team’s dug out. A construction worker, an unrepentant Red Sox fan, had slipped the jersey into the concrete in order to permanently “jinx” the new Yankee stadium. The story of the jersey finally came to light because another construction worker who had seen the shirt go into the slab got worried and confessed: “I don’t want to be responsible for sinking the franchise,” he said. The stadium, a 1.3 billion dollar project, was brought to a screeching halt; the glowing new future for the Yankees was endangered; immediate, expensive action was taken: why? Because everyone believed in the jinxing power of a piece of cloth submerged down in a concrete floor in a locker room. That was one high-powered hex! Or not. No one can completely escape what has been called “magical thinking” (see Matthew Hutson, “Magical Thinking,” Psychology Today, March-April 2008, 90-95. The subtitle is “Even Hard-Core Skeptics Can’t Help But Find Sympathy in the Fabric of the Universe----And Occasionally Try to Pull Its String”). We “knock on wood,” throw spilled salt over our shoulders, can’t resist reading our horoscopes, always take notice of a “Friday the 13th.” Or if you think you’re immune to “magical thinking,” answer me this: how many of you here this morning wouldn’t think twice about wearing the jacket of a murderer? Little children have that special “blankie” or stuffed animal that magically imparts peace and serenity. But big corporations hire specialists to organize the “feng shui” in their work spaces. Musician George Michael bought the Steinway piano that John Lennon composed his best know work on: “Imagine.” Michael ships this piano off to places that are in need of some kind of spiritual support: to New Orleans after Katrina; to Virginia Tech after the shootings. The piano is put on public display, with its pedigree, open for any and all to sit down and plunk out a few notes, to seek out a bit of solace in its noteworthy presence. No matter how much scientific knowledge we acquire about the world we live in, physical reality is never enough. The human spirit knows there is always more to be revealed, that there is something more out there if we could only lift the veil. Paul’s speech to the Athenians gathered at the elite Court of the Areopagus was designed to get his audience thinking about that inner yearning for “something more,” that “groping” for the “unknown God.” But Paul also warned them that there was a difference between religiosity and righteousness. The God who created the universe, who gave life to human beings, “does not live in shrines made by human hands” (v.24) and is not “an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals” (v.29). Idols of gold, silver, or stone will never contain God, and can never move beyond the “magical” to real faithfulness… _______________________ Service Is Our Highest Honor It is Memorial Day weekend. More than a weekend to frolic in the sun and picnic on the grounds, Memorial Day is a day to remember. Remember we have been bought with a price. Thousands of people have died that you and I might live in the freedom that we regularly take for granted. In World War II alone 406,000 Americans gave their lives. We are bought with a price. So let us not reduce freedom to licentiousness nor rights to unrestraint. Remember there is a reason to be born save to consume the corn, eat the fish and leave behind a dirty dish. Not selfishness, but service is our highest honor. J. Howard Olds, Faith Breaks,www.Sermons.com