Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 5,108
The apostle Paul was now in Athens. As he looked around the city, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. So, in the synagogue and in the marketplace he reasoned with the Jews, with the Gentile worshipers, and with any who happened to be in the marketplace. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers took him and brought him to the Areopagus, because they wanted to know what doctrine he was teaching, for they wanted to know what those things meant.
Acts 17:22-31 NKJV
22Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26And 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, 27so 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; 28for 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.’ 29Therefore, 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. 30Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31because 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.”
Being religious does not automatically translate to being righteous. And worship does not necessarily mean relationship, surrender, and obedience, depending upon how the word is being used, and in what context. For biblical worship of our creator God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – is not about religious activities and performances and ritualistic exercises. True worship of the one true God is about surrender, submission, fidelity, repentance, and obedience to God and to his commands, in practice.
And so you can’t truly worship what you don’t know. And they did not know the one true God. For the Bible teaches us that if we say that we know God but we do not obey him, we are liars. And if we claim we are in fellowship with him, but while we deliberately and habitually sin against him, we are liars. And Jesus taught that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the ones doing (obeying) the will of God. And Jesus said to follow him we must deny self, die to sin, and obey God.
So the people were not worshiping the one true God, in a biblical sense, without realizing that they were doing so. This is not what this is teaching. They were giving their devotion to all kinds of idols, one of which they called “The Unknown God,” and in all sorts of forms of religious exercises. But Paul used this opportunity as a stepping stone to presenting to them the God who was truly unknown to them and that is God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. He was letting them know that the God who they did not know was our creator God who made us and who formed us all for a purpose.
Now what Paul stated next is something that everyone today who professes faith in Jesus Christ needs to hear. The Lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands. No building called “church” is “the house of God.” We who believe in Jesus are the church, the body of Christ. And when we step inside one of those buildings, we are not “standing on holy ground.” And true worship of God is not just doing “good deeds” or going through religious rituals, nor is it in regular “church attendance,” but it is in death to sin and in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands.
So, there is nothing sacred about going to a building called “church” once or twice a week, then sitting on a chair or on a bench, then singing some songs, then listening to the preacher preach, and then going home and resuming life as normal until the next week. We, the true church, the body of Christ, are to be ministering to one another daily, encouraging one another in obedience to our Lord and in holy living, and warning one another about the consequences of deliberate and habitual sin against God. Then we are functioning as the biblical body of Christ, as God had always intended.
[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:31-38; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18,42-47; Acts 26:18; Romans 10:14-15; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:11-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]
For God commands that all of us repent of our sins. And to repent is to have a change of heart and mind resulting in a change of behavior. We were going one direction, and now we turn, and we go the opposite direction. So this means denying self, dying to sin, and following our Lord in obedience to his commands, in practice, in going wherever he sends us, and doing whatever he commands and calls us to do, as his followers. For God is going to judge all of us. And he will say to many who claimed faith in Jesus Christ that he never knew them because they did not obey the commands of God.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
The Unknown God
An Original Work / May 30, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Acts 17:22-31 NKJV
22Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26And 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, 27so 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; 28for 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.’ 29Therefore, 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. 30Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31because 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.”
Being religious does not automatically translate to being righteous. And worship does not necessarily mean relationship, surrender, and obedience, depending upon how the word is being used, and in what context. For biblical worship of our creator God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – is not about religious activities and performances and ritualistic exercises. True worship of the one true God is about surrender, submission, fidelity, repentance, and obedience to God and to his commands, in practice.
And so you can’t truly worship what you don’t know. And they did not know the one true God. For the Bible teaches us that if we say that we know God but we do not obey him, we are liars. And if we claim we are in fellowship with him, but while we deliberately and habitually sin against him, we are liars. And Jesus taught that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the ones doing (obeying) the will of God. And Jesus said to follow him we must deny self, die to sin, and obey God.
So the people were not worshiping the one true God, in a biblical sense, without realizing that they were doing so. This is not what this is teaching. They were giving their devotion to all kinds of idols, one of which they called “The Unknown God,” and in all sorts of forms of religious exercises. But Paul used this opportunity as a stepping stone to presenting to them the God who was truly unknown to them and that is God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. He was letting them know that the God who they did not know was our creator God who made us and who formed us all for a purpose.
Now what Paul stated next is something that everyone today who professes faith in Jesus Christ needs to hear. The Lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands. No building called “church” is “the house of God.” We who believe in Jesus are the church, the body of Christ. And when we step inside one of those buildings, we are not “standing on holy ground.” And true worship of God is not just doing “good deeds” or going through religious rituals, nor is it in regular “church attendance,” but it is in death to sin and in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands.
So, there is nothing sacred about going to a building called “church” once or twice a week, then sitting on a chair or on a bench, then singing some songs, then listening to the preacher preach, and then going home and resuming life as normal until the next week. We, the true church, the body of Christ, are to be ministering to one another daily, encouraging one another in obedience to our Lord and in holy living, and warning one another about the consequences of deliberate and habitual sin against God. Then we are functioning as the biblical body of Christ, as God had always intended.
[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:31-38; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18,42-47; Acts 26:18; Romans 10:14-15; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:11-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]
For God commands that all of us repent of our sins. And to repent is to have a change of heart and mind resulting in a change of behavior. We were going one direction, and now we turn, and we go the opposite direction. So this means denying self, dying to sin, and following our Lord in obedience to his commands, in practice, in going wherever he sends us, and doing whatever he commands and calls us to do, as his followers. For God is going to judge all of us. And he will say to many who claimed faith in Jesus Christ that he never knew them because they did not obey the commands of God.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
The Unknown God
An Original Work / May 30, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
