Dear Reader, today, I am trying a new segment called Fanfics of Faith, which turns the fandom part of the lesson into a little skit. Let me know if this is hit or miss.

THE TAKEAWAY:

Paul challenges us to ditch our fascination with fake idols and meet the real God.

MESSAGE:

29“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone Acts 17:29

Kratos and his son, Atreus, are traveling through the Norse world of Midgard on an incredible father-son journey. They arrive to a temple dedicated to Odin, the All-Father.

Kratos: Look at that dumb statue of Odin. I can’t believe people pray to that. I bet their gods don’t even care.

Atreus: Dad, we have temples of statues back in Greece. What makes this marble statue different than Zeus?

Kratos: Clearly, ours are better. They are more marble and…better stone.

Atreus: Do our god statues answer prayers faster?

Kratos: No, not really.

Atreus: Do our statues give greater blessings to humans for their service?

Kratos: Maybe…I guess.

Atreus: Do you even know anyone who has worshipped your statue?

Kratos: Eventually, look, I have been very busy ravaging the nine realms and killing Norse deities. Who has time to get to know their temple audience?

Atreus: How can you be so critical of their idols when they are just as effective as ours?

Kratos: Show some home team support, son. Greek gods are superior to Norse gods in every way. Name one thing that the Norse gods achieved that we haven’t bested them in.

Atreus: Marvel’s Thor has never needed a reboot.

Kratos: Let’s be quiet for the rest of the trip.

In Acts 17, Paul observed the mass appeal for idols in Athens. This distressed him so much that he gave a few guest lectures to a crowd in one of their synagogues. He noted that they have so many idols of stone they even had a nameless idol just in case they had forgotten a god. Paul claimed that the nameless god was Yahweh, the creator of life and everything. And since Yahweh created everyone and everything, the next logical step was to ditch the stone gods and focus on the real one who was calling all people to repent. They even had proof of this real God through Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead.

I think Paul’s lecture is just as important for today’s modern audience as it was for the Athenians. We, humans, get caught up in material possessions and ideas that represent small gods. When we are transfixed by life’s material things rather than the life-giver, we miss out on the real thing.

If we want what’s real and worthy of our worship, we need to look to Jesus, not to the created things.

FIGURE IT OUT:

29 Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and device of man.
30 The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all men everywhere should repent,
31 because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”

Acts 17:29-31

  1. Circle some keywords or phrases that are significant to you. What makes them important?
  2. The Athenians collected so many gods to improve their quality of life, but according to Paul, what were they missing?
  3. What were the consequences of missing out on knowing the real God?
  4. When you evaluate your day, what created things get too much attention?

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