The Unknown God

A U.S. District judge suggested a couple of years ago that reducing the Ten Commandments to six would help solve a dispute between the ACLU and The Giles County, Virginia School District.

Ted Turner (owner of many the channels we watch on cable TV) has declared the Ten Commandments obsolete,  “We’re living with outdated rules. The rules we’re living under are the Ten Commandments, and I bet nobody here even pays much attention to them because they’re too old. When Moses went up on the mountain, there were no nuclear weapons, there was no poverty. Today, the Ten Commandments wouldn’t go over. Nobody around likes to be commanded. Commandments are out!”

A 2.6 ton monument of the Ten Commandments was asked to be moved out of the Alabama state judicial building back in November of 2013.

These arguments and discussions are nothing new.

The Commandments themselves aren’t really the problem. There have never been really any arguments against the 10 Commandments. We know we are not to kill anyone. Steal from anyone. Covet someone’s else’s stuff. Honor our mom and dad. Most of us keep the last six pretty well. Even those who don’t follow Christ struggle very little with keeping the last six.

The First Commandment is the most difficult to keep because the rest of the commandments are built around this one commandment. Without the first commandment the rest of the commandments would be simply suggestions. They would be suggestions you could try and if you didn’t like it ,well, that commandment wasn’t meant for you.

Exodus 20:3 – Do not worship any other god’s besides me.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the human heart. We have this incredible human drive for “god-making”.  Many are unhappy, unsatisfied, and not pleased with their life. We blame everything going wrong or right on the things we have or don’t have, the money we don’t have or have, or on somebody we don’t have or have. We have convinced ourselves that there is something we MUST have to be happy that is more important to our heart than God himself.

People can know God and be unhappy. People can know God and be unsatisfied. People can know God and not be pleased with their life.

Romans 1:21, 25 says, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him ….. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator.

If you know God and you are not happy, satisfied, or pleased with your life then it is quite possible that you are worshipping other god’s.  We all have god’s that are hidden in every one of us. The question is not whether, “do we worship other gods?” The question we need to ask, “What do we need to do about them?”

God always wants to be number one in our lives. But if we are honest, keeping him number one hinges a lot on where we are in our life and how life is treating us right now. There are certain times when we give God the number one spot He deserves. Then there are times when we forget and treat Him as an after-thought. There are times when we are intrigued by God, wanting to learn so much more about him. Then there are times when we scoff at God, not with our lips but with our actions.

The First Commandment, “Do not worship any other gods besides me” is not only a commandment but it is also a statement of fact. There are no other gods, but God. These other gods are totally made up! By people! In other words they are not real. They are created by man and we make them real. How do we make them real?

• We let them dictate our decisions
• We let them dictate our schedule.
• We let them dictate our thinking.
• We give them power over us.
• We make them lord of our lives.

These small “g” gods are not real. You and I make them real. We are the ones who give them life.

In Acts 17, we read about Paul entering into Athens, Greece. The Greeks worshiped as many as 30,000 gods and goddesses. They were man-made gods that they made real gods. They would erect statues and monuments and altars of made-up gods. The streets were lined with them; there were in every niche, in every window, and at every doorstep. They were afraid of angering any god and in case they missed one they erected a statue to “the Unknown God”.  Paul begins to explain to them who this Unknown God is. Starting at verse 22:

22 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about. 24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. 27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. 30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”

All of scripture tells us that there is only one God who made the world and everything in it. There is only one Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples. There is only one God who gives life and breath to everything. There is only one God who can satisfy every need. There is only God who the poets write about. There is only one God but he is not designed by craftsmen using gold, silver, and stone. God cannot be shaped, formed, created, or imagined. He simply IS. I AM.

So what do we do with all these other made-up gods? Here it is in three “easy” steps.

1. Stop worshipping them …… because they aren’t real.

God always wants to be number one in your life but there seems to be this daily tug – of – war between the god I have created and the God who created the universe. One God is real and the other one isn’t. One God brings peace – the other one doesn’t. One God brings understanding – the other brings confusion. One God gives you energy – the other sucks the energy out of you.

2. Stop building your life around them ….. because they aren’t real.

The rich young ruler built his life on wealth. When Jesus asked to stop building his life on wealth – he walked away sad.

The woman at the well, built her life on men. When she stopped worshipping men – God transformed her life.

Mary, the prostitute, built her life on sex. When she stopped worshipping sex – God transformed her life.

Paul, the Pharisee, built his life on rules and regulations. When he stopped worshipping rules and regulations God transformed his life.

King Nebuchadnezzar built his life on power. When he stopped worshipping power God transformed his life.

We build our life on stuff that isn’t real (a lie). We build our life on stuff that someone else has told us we need to have to be happy.

3. Stop creating them …. Because they aren’t real.

The people of Athens created 30,000 gods but even then they knew there was only one God. They created a statue to “the Unkown God”. Despite all the gods they had created, there still was an emptiness. We are still doing the same thing today. There is something we always feel we must have to be happy, that is more important to your heart than God himself. So what do we do we do? We shape and form it and make it a god.

It really is that simple but there is something fundamentally wrong with the human heart – we have this incredible drive for god-making which creates this constant tug-of – war in our heart.

Like the people of Athens we think we need many gods to make us feel safe, secure, and protected.

And like the people of Athens many have become religious. All of us our religious one way or the other because we all worship something – we are all created to worship.

For many people, God is just this Unknown God. Like the people of Athens He is there just in case we miss a god. In essence He is just a catch –  all God. When those other gods we have created fail us – we cry out to the Unknown God. Many have prayed the prayer, “O God, if you exist, come and change and my life.” We cry out to him when these other gods fail us.

Like Paul, I tell you there is only one true God.

Look at what  Paul says about the “Unknown God”: (from Acts 17)

-He is the God who made the world and everything in it. – Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples. – Human hands can’t serve his needs because he has no needs. –He gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. – He decided before  hand when they should rise and fall and he determined their boundaries. – His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. – He is not far from any of us. – For in him we live and move and exist. – We are his offspring. – We shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. – He overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times. – He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. – He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed. – He proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.

The other 29,999 gods that we worship are fake. They are made up to make us feel good about ourselves and our life. We shape and form them into our image.

If you are unhappy, dissatisfied, or not pleased with your life I encourage you to cry out to this one Unknown God you know exist but have never experienced His power in your life.