The Thursday Sermon
For May 10, 2026
The Known God: Love, Obedience, and Witness in a Searching World
Sixth Sunday of Easter - May 10, 2026
Texts: Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:8-20; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21
Paul stands before the Areopagus in Athens, the intellectual center of the ancient world. Around him are altars to every god imaginable—Zeus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite. The Athenians hedge their bets, worshiping everything just in case something is real.
And among all these altars, Paul finds one with a telling inscription: “To an unknown god.”
This is the posture of much religious seeking—acknowledging that something is out there, that ultimate reality exists, but remaining fundamentally uncertain about its nature, its character, its demands. The unknown god receives worship but offers no relationship, demands devotion but provides no revelation.
Paul seizes this moment: “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”
The contrast is absolute. The Athenians worship in uncertainty. Paul proclaims with clarity. They reach toward the unknown. He declares the known. They construct altars to cover their ignorance. He announces the God who has made Himself known.
This is the gospel’s scandal: the claim that the ultimate reality behind the universe is not unknown, not distant, not silent—but has revealed Himself definitively in Jesus Christ.