COEXIST or Christ?
Acts 17.16-34
Summary
Some people push the COEXIST image/bumper sticker from religious tolerance to religious pluralism. All religions, it is thought, are valid paths to heaven. When Paul came to Athens, he encountered many different religions, even an altar to the "Unknown God." Paul took the opportunity to teach the difference between all the religions of the world and the one religion of the Bible.
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Introduction
Many of you have probably seen the "COEXIST" bumper sticker in which each letter represents a religion. The "C" represents the crescent of Islam. The "O" includes the peace sign. The "E" represents the Hindu Om. The "X" represents the Star of David in Judaism. The dot of the "I" is the pentacle of Wicca and old pagan religions. The "S" represents the Yin-Yang of Daoism, a religion from China. The "T" finally represents the cross of Christianity. Originally this was a piece of art submitted by a Polish artist for a museum in Jerusalem, and it simply meant to express the need for religious tolerance. We do need religious tolerance in order to have freedom of religion. No one should be forced to believe any certain religion.
But many people take the idea of religious tolerance much further. They see all these religions as different paths leading to the same place: Heaven or Nirvana or Valhalla or some good future existence. This is probably what the Apostle Paul encountered when he came to Athens and noticed all the different altars dedicated to different gods and one altar even dedicated to the Unknown God." Why are there so many different religions and gods, and what should we think about these? Are they equal paths leading to salvation? Does it matter what you believe?
Paul was on his second missionary journey. His preaching of Jesus the Messiah had caused so much controversy that he had nearly been killed. His friends wanted him to take a break and rest. But when he came to Athens and saw the plurality of religions and especially an altar to "The Unknown God," he couldn't resist the opportunity it gave him to preach the one an only true God of the Bible, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and the one and only promise of forgiveness of sins and true salvation. The philosophers of Athens invited him to present his teachings at a special "lecture hall" called "The Aereopagus." Let's listen carefully to what Paul said about this to the philosophers of Athens and to what the rest of the Bible says.
The God Who Created the World and Man
24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising.
The protestant theologian John Calvin said, “The human mind, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols" (Institutes I.11.8). The Bible tells us that God created the world, and the first two believers were Adam and Eve. But their two sons, Cain and Abel, were split. Abel believed God and Cain didn't. By the time of Noah, ten generations from Adam, most of the world had followed the path of Cain. The world was so full of unbelief and evil that God was sorry He had created man (Genesis 6.6). This pattern continues throughout the Bible. God establishes faith, and gradually that faith falls apart. Men decide they want a different God than that of the Bible. Why do men want a different God than that of the Bible? We can answer that question by looking at the differences between the God of the Bible and the gods imagined by men.
The God of the Bible is all-knowing and all-powerful. He is the Creator and Judge of everything. At the same time He is kind, gracious, and eager to forgive men their sins and disobedience. In the Old Testament the sacrifices given to God were two kinds: sacrifices of repentance and sacrifices of thanksgiving. The sacrifices were never payments given to receive God’s blessings. God is not a paymaster, paying men off for their good works. God is a Savior, delivering men from evil. But men do not want to repent of their sins and turn from their evil whether that evil be great or small. They imagine their own self-righteousness. They rewrite God’s commandments for themselves. For this reason they invent gods and religions that reward them, and reject the God who wants to forgive them. The gods of the COEXIST list and the gods of ancient Athens, apart from Christianity, are and were all gods that reward. This is why Paul says that God is not worshiped “with men’s hands,” as though He needed something from us. He doesn’t need anything from us. He made us and sustains us. The one thing He wants from us is a repentant heart. Therefore Paul says,
The God Who Judges the World in Righteousness
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17.30-31)
The God who created this world does not look upon it and say, “Pay me back for all your sins.” He “commands all men everywhere to repent” and judges “the world in righteousness” by Jesus. Some do repent, and their sins are washed away by the sacrifice of Jesus who died and rose to take away our sins. Peter said, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3.18). Others reject this repentance and gift of forgiveness and new obedience by faith and are therefore rejected by God. You can do all the good works in the world, but none of them take away sin; and God allows no one to be with Him as long as they hold on to their sins.
The Athenians had never heard anything like this. They believed in many gods and many ways to gain the favor of these gods and to achieve some hope of a better after life. It is no different today. A man named Ray went to a family Mother’s Day celebration. A discussion arose regarding salvation. He objected to the idea that Jesus was the only way of salvation. He didn’t think it was important whether one followed Christ or Krishna or Mother Earth. He thought his family was narrow-minded and bigoted to think that Jesus was the only way of salvation. He would have been correct if Jesus were another god like all the others – a god who simply asks for works in return for favors. Kathy, the matriarch of the family, the one who gave physical birth this family, stepped in like every good mother should for the sake of her children, and for the hope that they would all be born again! “Christians are not narrow-minded,” she quietly said. “The question isn’t who is good enough to be saved? Of course there are many good people in many different religions. The question is, ‘Who will save us from our sins?’ No other god or religion imagined by men does this. They all imagine self-righteousness and rewards.” But, Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10.45). If anyone paid a work for salvation, it was Jesus, who paid the ransom for our sins on the cross. I hope all of you children will think carefully about that.
Three Responses
Luke went on to report the outcome of Paul’s sermon:
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” So Paul departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them (Acts 17.32-33).
A missionary to India once went to several villages explaining the way of salvation in Jesus. In sermon after sermon he noticed that the people all were nodding their heads approvingly. Gradually it occurred to the missionary that these people believed there were many paths to salvation. It was easy for them to accept Jesus as another way. They weren’t grasping the truth that good works are only good works when our sins have been washed away by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So, the missionary changed the emphasis of his presentation. He spoke directly of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Instantly the approving nods gave way to intense expressions of thought and consideration. Every religion has a grave. Only one is empty. Every religion has works. Only one has forgiveness.
There were three responses to Paul’s message. You can remember them as the three “L’s.” Some laughed. They mocked Paul and his talk about the resurrection. Others said they would hear Paul about this later. The last group loved the message. Luke tells us they “joined them and believed.” Of the group that believed two are mentioned by name: Dionysius the Areopagite and a lady named Damaris. Many people today are still laughing when they hear this message or when they see people taking it so seriously. They doubt the resurrection of Jesus, but they do not doubt their own self-righteousness. Many others are still putting their response off till later. They recognize that it might be true, but they aren’t ready to give up their sins just yet. You and I are among the group that loves this message. We know that we must give an account of life before the almighty God, who made heaven and earth, and we are glad to know that He has accounted to us the life of His dear Son for our salvation.
The tomb is empty. Christ’s righteousness is my righteousness. Now I want to live with Him and for Him. Now I want to put away all the words and works of darkness. As Jesus Himself said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14.23). As God makes His home with us now by faith, I promise that you will not be estranged from Him in the judgment. Many will weep and cry for having laughed or for having waited until it was too late. But many will shout for joy.
Conclusion
Should we COEXIST? Yes, let there always be the freedom of religion. But I pray that all people will see the difference in the “T,” in the cross of Christ. All religions may have some good in them. But only one has grace. Only one has salvation. Only one gives true hope that rests in God, not in ourselves. Therefore, only one religion brings eternal joy. Before the sermon we sang part of the hymn, “Dear Christians, One and All Rejoice.” As I finish this message, we will sing the rest of it. This was one of Martin Luther’s earliest hymns. He heard the happy tune from a traveling artisan. He wedded to it the happiest thoughts of his life—the Gospel story of Jesus and our salvation by His righteousness. Dear Christians, the Holy Spirit wants all of us to be lifted out of the mire of a sin-controlled life to the life of hope and assurance of salvation in Jesus.
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