A Remedy for "Ignorant Worship"...

On June 19th I had the honor to speak at Edgeworth Church in Malden. I was asked by Pastor Matt Kruse to pick up in his study through the Book of Acts, chapter 17.22-31.
I zeroed in on Paul's proclamation to those high-minded philosophical giants of the Aeropagus in Athens...and to us today. The address begins with a wise connection to one of their many objects of worship..."TO AN UNKNOWN GOD", in which Paul immediately hands them one of several clever back-handed compliments. He goes on to say the he will proclaim to them this one they, get this, "ignorantly worship". If this doesn't describe the state of affairs in our day, sadly both within the church and without. Thankfully, God invades our world, along with generations gone by...to set the record straight as to the glories of who He is and what His hand has accomplished!

A.W. Tozer insightfully said: “The most revealing thing about the church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him, or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech.”

Take the time to read that passage of scripture slowly, thoughtfully and prayerfully and write down as many things as you can that this text reveals about God. I came up with about 20. Then consider what it says in light of your thoughts and convictions about God...and what that means for every area of your existence! This is like drinking from a fire hose!

Like those who originally heard Paul in Athens, I too must repent of my pigmy thoughts and convictions about God. How 'bout you?

If you have a minute or two, consider these words of a mere 20 year old, spoken about 150 years ago...

"It has been said by some one that "the proper study of mankind is man." I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, "Behold I am wise." But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with the solemn exclamation, "I am but of yesterday, and know nothing." No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. …But while the subject humbles the mind it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe… the most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatary. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrows? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning…." - Charles Spurgeon


may God be with you...
DAO