Curried leftovers

Bishop Curry’s sermon at the Royal Wedding caused much interest at the time, though I suspect most people are now quickly forgetting it. So, I don’t intend to say anything about it, but instead to look at what Paul said in Acts 17:29-31. Paul was speaking in Athens, and was addressing the elite, much like Bishop Curry one might say. So let’s see what Paul said:

“We ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising”. Their “gods” were made in their image, and so often we think of God as if He is made in our image. We look at Him from a purely human perspective. God is not like man. We are made in His image, but we are creatures, He is the Creator. We are time bound, He is eternal. We are sinful, He is holy. The idols of the day were made of silver and gold, they were made by man’s artistic abilities, but ultimately they were not gods, just lumps of metal. Today our idols tend to be in the mind, but they share the same faults. They are based on a human perspective. This applies to the atheist and humanist when he discusses God, but they also apply to many Christians when we discuss God. It also often applies in our personal lives. A lot of our anxiety and fears are a results of looking at things from a human perspective, forgetting who God really is. We ought not to think this way, we need to learn to think in a Biblical way, in a Christlike way.

Then in verse 30 Paul tells them that God overlooked their ignorance. Do you know that much of our thinking is based on ignorance? Then comes the command to repent. So often we treat the gospel as if it was a nice message just telling people that God loves them. That is not what we find in the Bible, that is an idol of our minds, a man-made gospel. The gospel is a message commanding all men everywhere to repent. It demands a response from us.

Then in verses 31 Paul’s point is sharpened further. “Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He ordained” (ie Jesus). There is a day of judgement, and on that Day the judge will be Jesus Christ. Do you see how different this message is from what is often presented as “the gospel”? The gospel of the Bible is not “nice”, rather it tells us that we are ignorant, that we are sinners, that we need to repent. And if we do not repent then there lies ahead the prospect of judgement, and judgement by Jesus Christ.

The good news is that if we do repent and believe in Christ then we receive the gift of eternal life and the final judgement need hold no fear for us, but the good news is a far more serious and hard-hitting message than it is often (mis) represented as.