Where in creation is Mars Hill?

Mars hill is in the midst of the Areopagus in a place otherwise known as Athens, Greece. Now that we have that settled, where does that leave us? Far away, that is where it leaves us. Why am I so interested in a hill in Greece? I’ll tell you why. We live in a society that has religious trends. Religious trends you ask? Let me explain.

9-11 happens; churches everywhere receive influxes that double and even triple their numbers for a few months. War in the Middle East happens, Even more people go to church, some just return. This only last so long and then it too dies out. Islam, Hedonism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Wicca, and Christianity are growing at rapid rates. People are creating their own religions like Scientology, and Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (http://www.venganza.org/). Why? In today’s times where we are getting so technological we are impersonalized society. We are taking human interaction and throwing it to the wind. Social networking is rise with Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube. Human interaction now happens in cyberspace and people are looking for relationships. They want to feel loved and feel close and to have a relationship. They want to belong and they are turning to religion because most religions are about family and love and togetherness. They are seeking fellowship and are getting brainwashed.

Now, to that hill in Greece I was talking about earlier. Paul, a wonderful evangelist was walking through a land that was very similar to our own. The culture was awash with fear. Are we giving our due to God? They were so fearful of not offending god that they had a god and altar for everything and they would make sacrifices for everything. Make a sacrifice for food for dinner. Now make a sacrifice because I burned dinner. Make a sacrifice because my spouse didn’t like it. Make a sacrifice because my child ate too much. Make sacrifices because I need sleep now. Pray to that god for a sunny day tomorrow… nest day it is raining…Pray to the God I prayed to for sun and ask forgiveness, sacrifice my newborn to it to gain back good graces. Oh, yeah. Now I need to pray to the god of rain to thank them for it…and so on and so forth. Yeah, gets old real quick. So Paul walks in seeing all of this he is like, “Come on people! It is so much simpler than this!” A crowd begins to draw because look here is yet another god that I have been forgetting! I need to learn about this one too! And Paul says this.

“It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, ‘to the god nobody knows’. I’m here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you’re dealing with.”

Wow! Somebody who know about the unknown god! Wow, now I can get that promotion and that raise because I will have all of the gods on my side!

Well, not quite. Paul didn’t want to introduce yet ANOTHER god; he wanted to introduce THE GOD. Paul goes on to say that all of this running around like chickens with their heads cut off is ridiculous. End the madness! God can take care of himself! He went on to say this.

“The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?”

Well, well, well. What do we have here? You mean that there is only one God and he alone is responsible for everything? And he wants to have a relationship with us? You know that never works out. I mean look at that one god over there, he had a relationship with that mortal woman in stone over there and this other god got angry, and yeah, a big mess. And I can’t believe that this god doesn’t need anything from me. See this god doesn’t have a home and he goes around expecting the people to give them their very best. When they don’t he burns down their houses. But this god wants nothing from me because he created it all anyways? How cool is that. I mean, that one god ate 2 months of food having a party that one night and I don’t know if I will have enough to get through winter now. Oh, I can’t see him? What do you mean he sends his spirit to dwell in me? Does that mean I become possessed or something? No, no. That just means that he gives you help and guidance on how to lead a good life and you will be blessed from that life. Oh, ok. I think I get it now. Dear god! Please forgive me and I will sacrifice everything I have for you to forget all of these other gods I have worshiped! I bet Paul was ready to throw his hands up and shout, “I give up Lord!” But no, he goes on to say.

“God overlooks it as long as you don’t know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he’s calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead.”

What? A god that forgives, I like this god. He must be a real god because he wants the best for us. He wants to bless us and loves us. I can get a hold of this. And all I have to do is follow him and I will get to live with him in the end? Wow, I am going to follow him to the end. Some were not so convinced. When Paul mentioned that god raised somebody from the dead they said to themselves that there was no way Hades was going to let one of his precious souls be resurrected to life and they turned their hearts and walked away. They are the ones to be judged in the end.

Do you know who God is? Are you following Him every day? Or are you the one who is turning your heart and saying how real can he be? Or, I can get away with this one more time, after all, he is forgiving. I mean there was only ever one perfect person and he was the Christ for heaven’s sake! I ask of you, live a Godly life and quit fooling yourselves. God loves you and awaits your true and earnest love and desire to follow Him.

All verses taken from The Message Bible. Acts 17:22-34