A Church With Purpose: Making Known Jesus Christ

“For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” Acts 17:23

Paul has arrived at the epicenter of knowledge: Mars Hill. It was the place in Athens, Greece where the elite minds of the day would gather and debate life’s biggest questions. Greece was not only renown for their love for wisdom (Philosophy) but also for the Mythology, a religion that was poly-theistic, containing multiple deities. The Greeks where sincere in their pursuit of wisdom and religion. So sincere that they made many altars to worship their deities. Their fear of the gods also incited them to make sure that they had all of the rituals covered and preserved that not a single one would be offended. They were so careful that they constructed an altar to The unknown god just in case they overlooked one. When Paul saw this, he saw and opportunity to preach Christ.

The Greeks knew all the gods accept one. This one God so happen to be the only true God. Paul declared that this God could be known because he has revealed himself in the person of his son Jesus Christ. The Greeks believed that the gods would incarnate themselves in some recognized form. So when Paul preached that Jesus was God incarnate then that was not a big hurdle for them to climb. He would go on and tell them that Jesus was the creator of all things, the one who gives life, and the one who will judge the world. By the end of the day, whether they believed or not, Paul had made the unknown God known in Greece. The church has that same challenge in America today.

Our nation was birthed on Christian values. But now in modern times our Christian values are being challenged by the values of other religions. Our culture has become increasingly more pluralistic over the last several decades. With the steady decrease of Church attendance over this period of time, we are now seeing a generation coming up who not only knows the Lord but also has never heard of the person of Jesus Christ. Other gods and religions are being taught in public schools while the Bible is being banned in many school districts. This is being done in the name of the most common god in America today: the god of secularization. The secular religion along with the worship of man being the measure of all things (Humanism) has caused many in America to build altars unto politicians and themselves. We assume that because there is a church on every corner or online access that every child has been taught the Ten Commandments, The Books of the Bible, and Jesus dying in the cross. But today they know more about sports icons, rock bands, and reality stars in which they learn about greed, immoral sex, and living for this world, while in the meantime searching for their own identity and the meaning of life.

Francis Schaffer said in the 1960s-1970s that there would be a time in North America where there would be a generation that has never heard of Jesus and the Gospel. We are living in that day now and the challenge for us to to make known the person of Jesus Christ through preaching, sharing, and living a life conformed to his image. We must lift him up that he may draw men, woman, and young people to himself. He not only needs to be proclaimed as savior, but also Lord and Judge. We must seek to make disciples by teaching and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Paul’s knowledge of Jesus was one that was more than intellectual, it was a personal, intimate presentation and defense of the person of Jesus and the Gospel. The challenge is not as difficult as it appears. We just introduce Jesus to people like we would introduce a spouse, a child, or a friend to someone that may not know them. And if he is as real and personal to you as a spouse or friend then they too will see the reality of him in your life, because you have presented your body a living sacrifice on the altar of the one true God in which you live, move, and have your being.

Pastor Robby