Acts 17:16-34

Idols are a monument to humanities ego.  Humanity pretends that idols honor gods, but in reality, they are our attempt to manipulate gods.  Historically, people believed that when they captured the essence or the image of a god in an idol, they could by controlling that idol, have some control over the god.  They wanted god’s that were big enough to be useful, but not too big to be controlled.

When Paul saw that Athens was full of idols, he was greatly distressed.  It told him that the Athenians did not have any knowledge of the One True God.  Human hands cannot build a temple to contain, or an idol to control God.  God is too big.  The Athenians were not seeking God; they were seeking to create gods.  They thought human design and skill combined with natural material like silver, gold or stone was enough to create a god.  Paul tells them they are arrogant and ignorant; they should repent.  There is coming a day when Jesus, the man appointed by God, would judge all of them with righteous judgment.  God proved this to be true to everyone when He raised Jesus from the dead.

Human ego causes us to attempt to create gods in our own image.  It causes us to try to control gods with the use of idols, and we are so egotistical that we believe God needs us to serve him.  We are not egotistical because God created us this way; we are egotistical because sin has broken our proper relationship with God and self.

Christians know that God created us in his image, and not the other way around.  We know that God is much too big for us to manipulate or to capture in an image.  However, our ego can still cause us to believe that God needs us to serve Him.  God wants us have a righteous relationship with Him. His call to service is not for himself; it is for service to humanity.  We worship God and we serve others.