“I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.  Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.”  Acts 17:22b-23

This article is part two of a four-part series based on a sermon I preached at the Deer Run Church of Christ.  As Paul arrives in Athens, he finds himself in the midst of people that he describes as “very religious”.  They are constantly worshipping a variety of objects and gods.  In the practice of their worship, they set up an idol to an “UNKNOWN GOD” — perhaps so that they would not inadvertently ignore a god who could become angry with them.  It is within this context that Paul presents the case for “A God That Is MORE”!

What do you worship?  I know, the “church answer” for Christians is, “Of course, I worship God!”  But really . . . look beyond the proper answer and consider the things and/or people in your life that you give honor to . . . perhaps sometimes more honor than you give to God.  I live in a culture that surrounds me with many objects of worship — each calling out in its own way for me to give it my time, energy, treasure, emotion, and worship.  My guess is that you live in a culture much like that as well. 

So, what makes God MORE than all the other objects of worship calling out for you and I to come bow down to them?  Paul continues his explanation with the fact that God is Observable:  “God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’  As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’  Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone–an image made by man’s design and skill.”  Acts 17:27-29

Paul writes to the Romans that since the time of creation God’s invisible qualities have been seen through that which He made.  Paul says that God is not observable as an image or as an object made by man, rather by marks of His workmanship. 

I enjoy watching the Antiques Roadshow once in a while and I find it fascinating that the experts can look at an item and state with great certainty who made it.  It doesn’t seem to matter if it is a painting, a piece of furniture, glassware, china, pottery, or whatever, there always seems to be some distinguishing characteristic that helps them identify the maker — sometimes it is put there deliberately and other times it is just the way something is made.

What about you and I?  The Bible tells us that we are God’s workmanship — His handiwork.  We have been “knit together” by God in our mother’s womb and then as Christians, God has made us a “new creation”.  Since God is observable through that which He has made, how visible is He in you?  God says that we are to live our life in such a way that our light shines and people would see our good works — not for our benefit or credit but so they would glorify our Father in heaven.

God is more than all other objects of potential worship because His divine power and invisible nature are observable through that which He has made.  I pray that you and I live in such a way that He is clearly seen in the work He has done in us.