The Men Without Monuments: A Biblical Perspective
The men remembered by monuments did not spend their lives demanding recognition. They earned it. Scripture teaches the same principle: God honors the humble and opposes the proud. In an age obsessed with self-promotion, that lesson may be more important than ever.https://polymathchristian.wordpress.com/2026/06/24/the-men-without-monuments-a-biblical-perspective/
The Crossfire: Identity Confusion in Culture Wars
2,167 words, 11 minutes read time.
Marcus wasn’t a soft man. He had spent his twenties turning wrenches in a diesel shop, trading the skin on his knuckles for a steady paycheck until his back started locking up. Now at thirty-five, he was a project manager for a regional logistics firm, navigating supply chain bottlenecks, burning through phone batteries, and keeping demanding clients from blowing a gasket. He had a mortgage that kept him up at night, two kids who looked to him for everything, and a marriage he desperately wanted to protect from the exhaustion of modern life. He knew how to grind. He knew how to handle pressure.
But tonight, the pressure was coming through a five-inch screen.
It was 10:42 PM. The house was dead quiet except for the hum of the refrigerator. Marcus sat in his home office, the blue glow of his phone cutting through the dark. He was staring at a timeline that felt increasingly toxic, and right at the top of it was his brother, Jack.
They had grown up sharing a bunk bed, hunting in the same woods, and sitting in the same church pews. But lately, Jack had weaponized his feed. He spent his evenings dropping passive-aggressive “Christian memes” like digital cruise missiles, wrapping political anger in Christian vocabulary, explicitly designed to destroy and humiliate anyone he didn’t agree with. To Jack, a mocking graphic with a Bible verse slapped on the bottom was a holy act of war.
Tonight, Jack had posted a particularly brutal one, taking a scorched-earth shot at a local community issue.
Beneath it, the comment section was an absolute slaughterhouse. On one side, guys from Marcus’s weekly men’s group were cheering Jack on, dropping fire emojis and treating the mockery like a spiritual victory. On the other side, two of Marcus’s clients—men he respected, men who kept food on his family’s table—were firing back with deep-seated disgust, painting everyone with faith as an ignorant, hateful caricature.
Marcus felt like he was standing naked in no-man’s-land.
If he didn’t hit “like” or back his brother up in the comments, Jack would corner him at Sunday dinner, quietly questioning his courage and asking if he’d gone “soft.” If he didn’t distance himself from this kind of behavior at the office on Monday, his corporate reputation was shot. He was exhausted from trying to figure out which uniform he was supposed to wear. Was he a culture warrior? A corporate asset? A passive bystander?
His phone buzzed in his hand. A direct text message from Jack: “You see my latest post? You’re being awfully quiet out there, bro. Time to stand up for the truth.”
Marcus looked down at his calloused thumbs. He felt a hollow, heavy ache in his chest—a sudden, sharp realization of how deep the trap ran. The world wanted him angry. His own blood wanted him to pull the trigger on a digital sniper rifle.
His thumb hovered over the text thread. He could type a quick, non-committal response to keep the peace, he could jump into the digital mud to prove his loyalty, or he could shut the phone off entirely and face the fallout on Sunday.
He looked toward the hallway, where his wife and children were sleeping, relying on him to lead them through a world that was losing its mind.
Marcus held his breath, his thumb suspended over the screen.
– – –
Author’s Note
It is a tragic reality that many modern churches, the world, and many Christians, will readily accept what I call a “meme pastor”—those select few who post vile, judgmental memes online or constantly argue for harsh, unyielding judgments. These people are characterized by a dangerous heart posture: they search the Bible not for personal learning, and not for spiritual discernment, but exclusively for judgmental clobber passages. They tear scriptures out of their historical context and linguistic framework to prove their point, carrying zero concern for the severe spiritual damage they leave in their wake. They are exactly like the Pharisees who prayed on the street corners to be seen by men. Jesus leveled the verdict on them clearly: they have already received their reward in full.
I once watched a woman who has been divorced and remarried multiple times set herself up as an absolute judge and jury against a male-to-female transgender individual online. The irony was deafening. She is the modern-day “Woman at the Well”—a person intimately acquainted with brokenness and relational wreckage—yet she completely failed to extend a single ounce of the grace that was once given to her. Instead of offering living water, she chose to sit in the absolute comfort of her keyboard and spit pure, unadulterated vile. She didn’t want to rescue a soul; she just wanted to execute someone from behind a screen.
I’m not throwing stones from a glass house here. I’m writing this because I’ve been exactly where Marcus is, and in my own growth in Christ, I’ve stood on both sides of this digital battlefield.
I know what it’s like to play the role of the online sniper—I was once even called a Nazi inside a Christian group for drawing a line in the sand. But my posture has radically changed. Having felt the weight of my own brokenness, I now see how vital it is to actively stand up for the marginalized—the LGBTQ+ community, the poor, the modern-day tax collectors, and the societal outcasts—and intentionally offer them the exact same unmerited, life-altering grace that God extends to me on a daily basis.
If the Gospel isn’t big enough to cover them, it isn’t big enough to cover me or you.
But let’s be entirely straight up: when we weaponize our faith to destroy people online, we are guilty of castrating the Gospel. We trade the rugged, self-sacrificial mandate of Christ for a cheap, digital participation trophy. We think we are fighting a holy war, but we are actually just hiding behind a polished, fake Christianity because it’s easier to drop a mocking meme than it is to bleed for the broken.
We need to wake up to a brutal truth: you cannot meme, argue, or berate a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. Only God can change a human heart. Scripture is clear in Proverbs 21:1 that “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will,” and it is God alone who promises in Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart… I will remove from you your heart of stone.” When we try to force that change through digital execution, we are stepping into holy territory and getting in God’s way.
And let’s be perfectly clear about the danger here: getting between God and His sovereign will is a terrifying place for a man to stand.
Throughout Scripture, whenever men tried to force God’s hand, take His timeline into their own hands, or block His path, they weren’t met with a promotion—they were met with His wrath. You do not want to be found fighting against the very God you claim to serve.
The Seduction of the Counterfeit Crusade
It is fundamentally easier to be a culture warrior than it is to be a servant. True agape love requires a massive expenditure of physical energy, financial cost, and emotional endurance. If you are going to climb into the chariot with the eunuch or bandage the wounds of a man bleeding in the dirt, it is going to cost you something tangible—your time, your reputation, or your bank account.
Online engagement, however, offers a dangerous, low-cost counterfeit. When a man fires off a mocking meme or a devastating theological takedown, his brain receives an immediate hit of dopamine. He feels the rush of “winning.” He feels powerful. He convinces himself that he is standing up for the truth, but biologically and spiritually, he is just self-medicating his own passivity.
We have substituted the grueling, unpolished work of the cross for a digital colosseum where we get to watch people we dislike get torn apart, all while convincing ourselves we are doing God a favor. It allows a man to feel like a soldier without ever having to step into a real conflict or risk his own comfort.
The Pharisaic Need for an Enemy
In Matthew 23, Jesus doesn’t attack the Pharisees because their theology is entirely wrong; He attacks them because their hearts are completely devoid of mercy. The strict, unyielding judgment of the Law of Moses requires an “out-group”—a visible enemy—to validate the “in-group’s” righteousness.
When a man lacks a deep, authentic identity rooted in the finished work of the Cross, he will naturally look for identity through opposition. He defines who he is by pointing aggressively at who he is not. He stands in the digital temple, scrolling his feed, essentially praying the prayer of the Pharisee in Luke 18:11: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men.”
The moment your faith requires the public destruction, mockery, or alienation of another human being to feel valid, you are no longer operating in the Spirit of Christ. You are operating in the spirit of the accuser.
Our actual mission isn’t to win a cultural shouting match; it is to get down in the dirt and the blood to love the truly impoverished, the marginalized, and the rejects of society. Look at Acts 8, where the Spirit commands Philip to go to the desert road to meet the Ethiopian eunuch—a man completely excluded by religious law from entering the assembly of God, reading a scroll he couldn’t understand. Philip didn’t shout at him from across the road or mock his ignorance. He ran to his side, climbed into his chariot, met him exactly where he was, and brought him the good news of Christ.
Now, let’s be clear—our culture is full of unjustified claims of victimization, and we need correct discernment to see through the noise. But Christ and His disciples modeled a flawless judgment that allowed them to see the genuine, raw pain of the forgotten and deploy their lives to reach them, not to score points on a timeline.
The Spiritual Law of Symmetry
What should terrify every single one of us is the sobering reality of Matthew 7:2: “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” If you want to judge others by the strict, unyielding standard of the Law of Moses, then God is going to hold your unpolished, broken life to that exact same standard. If you want to live by the digital sword, you will die by it.
Think about the wreckage we cause when we forget this. Jesus gave a terrifying warning in Matthew 18:6 about anyone who causes one of the little ones who believes in Him to stumble: “it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” When our online rage, our mocking memes, and our religious arrogance cause seekers or weak brothers to stumble away from Christ, we aren’t accumulating crowns in heaven—we are tying a millstone around our own necks.
We have become like the Pharisees in Matthew 23:15, where Jesus levels the ultimate indictment: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” We are training men to convert to a political tribe rather than a crucified Savior, making them twice the sons of hell, consumed by the same tribal hatred we are.
It all culminates just a few verses later in Matthew 7:21-23, where men who thought they were doing “mighty works” in His name are met with the most terrifying verdict in all of Scripture: “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” They had the vocabulary, they had the public performance, but they lacked the actual DNA of the King.
Given the choice, I would rather stand before God having chosen an agape style of love that ran toward the chariot of the truly marginalized, rather than a life marked by internet judgmentalism.
Look at the wreckage of your own secret struggles, your own temper, and your own fears. When you stand before the King, do you want Him to see a man who loved like He did, or a man who hid behind a screen and demanded a standard he couldn’t keep?
Is that the kind of man you want to be?
SUPPORTSUBSCRIBECONTACT MED. Bryan King
Sources
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.
#Acts8 #agapeLove #authenticFaith #biblicalDiscernment #biblicalManhood #christianCharacter #ChristianIdentity #ChristianMemes #christianTribe #churchPolarization #clobberPassages #countingTheCost #culturalShoutingMatch #cultureWarChurch #cultureWars #defendingTheFaith #digitalCrusade #Ezekiel36 #faithAndCulture #faithOnline #fakeChristianity #gospelCompromise #gospelTruth #graceVsLaw #internetOutrage #internetSniper #judgmentOfGod #KingdomOfGod #legalism #lovingTheMarginalized #Matthew18 #Matthew23 #Matthew7 #millennialChristians #modernDiscipleship #modernManhood #onlineMinistry #onlineWitness #pharisaism #phariseeMindset #Proverbs21 #religiousHypocrisy #scriptureInContext #selfRighteousness #servantLeadership #socialMediaOutrage #spiritualDrift #spiritualIntegrity #spiritualWarfare #trueGospel
Becoming Zero
A Sermon on Our Value in Christ
(Note: Sermons can be heard in audio format at https://millersburgmennonite.org/worship/sermon-audio/)
Philippians 2:1–13
Introduction
There is a strange kind of math at the heart of Christian faith.
Most of us are taught to become something: successful, respected, secure, noticed. We want a place, a voice, a purpose. There is nothing wrong with wanting life to matter. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be seen and loved.
And today, as we honor our graduates, we give thanks for real accomplishment, for effort, growth, perseverance, and the doors that now open before them. But I also want to bless them with this deeper challenge: do not let the world’s calculations of what counts for success be the measure for your life.
The world often teaches us an anxious kind of success. It teaches us to add and add and add: accomplishments, things, recognition, possessions, influence, control, certainty, proof that we are right, evidence that we matter.
Then Paul gives us the mathematics of Jesus.
Jesus, who had equality with God, did not use it for his own advantage.
Jesus emptied himself.
Jesus took the form of a servant.
Jesus became obedient, even to death on a cross.
Jesus became zero.
Not worthless. Not meaningless. Not erased. But emptied of grasping for power. Emptied of the need to dominate. Emptied of the need to stand above others. Emptied so completely that the love of God could be witnessed without obstruction.
Let us pray:
Que las palabras de mi boca y las meditaciones de nuestros corazones sean agradables a tus ojos, oh Dios, roca nuestra y redentor nuestro. Amén.
Homily
Becoming zero does not mean believing we have no value. It does not mean allowing ourselves or others to be diminished or abused in the name of humility. That is not the way of Christ. The humility of Jesus does not protect oppression; it exposes it. The self-emptying of Christ is not self-destruction.
To become zero is not to become nothing.
To become zero is to become free.
I once wrote a short poem called “Becoming Zero,” subtitled “The Mathematics of the Divine.” It begins:
“It is where
I need to be
not past the center
into negativity
but more of others
and less of me”
That is the distinction we need. Becoming zero is not moving past the center into despair, shame, worthlessness, or self-hatred. It is the place where my needs, preferences, anxieties, opinions, and desires are no longer the measure of everything.
It is, as the poem says, “more of others / and less of me.”
And then the poem continues:
“What were gains
I now consider loss
for where the axes
meet at zero
they make a cross”
Where the axes meet at zero, they make a cross.
That is Philippians 2. The vertical line: love of God. The horizontal line: love of neighbor. And at the center: Christ, emptied, humbled, crucified, and yet revealing the very heart of God.
So when Paul says, “Value others above yourselves,” he is not asking us to wander into negativity. He is asking us to come to the cross-shaped center.
Paul writes:
No hagan nada por ambición egoísta ni por vanidad.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”
That sentence alone could transform the church.
Imagine if it became not just a verse we admire, but a practice we live. Imagine if every time we entered a room we asked, “Whose good am I seeking?” Imagine a disagreement where people asked, “How can I understand the interest of the other before defending my own?” Imagine life lived where the question was not, “How do I get my way?” but “How do we become more faithful to Christ together?”
That is the community Paul is describing.
“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion…”
Paul is appealing to what the church at Phillipi has already received. If Christ has encouraged us, if love has comforted us, if the Spirit has drawn us into fellowship, then those gifts should become visible in the way we treat one another.
La vida de la iglesia debe ser el desbordamiento de la gracia de Dios.
Church life should be the overflow of God’s grace.
If we have been comforted by Christ, we become comforting people.
If we have been forgiven by Christ, we become forgiving people.
If we have been welcomed by Christ, we become welcoming people.
If we have been served by Christ, we become servants of all.
Paul says, “Be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”
That does not mean everyone in the church must have the same personality, opinions, politics, beliefs, preferences, background, or tastes. Christian unity is not sameness. The church is a body, not a wall of identical bricks.
La unidad significa que nuestras diferencias se reúnen bajo el señorío de Cristo.
Unity means our differences are gathered under the lordship of Christ.
We can disagree and still ask, “How do I love you?” We can see things differently and still ask, “How do I honor Christ in how I speak to you?” We can have strong convictions and still refuse selfish ambition and vain conceit.
That phrase “selfish ambition” matters. Paul is not condemning all ambition. There are holy ambitions: to serve well, love deeply, seek justice, create beauty, build peace, preach truth, care for the suffering.
He is naming the ambition that curves inward.
Selfish ambition says: I must win. I must be seen. I must be right. I must get credit. I must protect my place. I must not become less.
Then Paul names “vain conceit”: empty glory, hollow importance, the need to appear larger than we are.
Against all of that, Paul says: humility.
But humility is often misunderstood. Humility is not pretending our gifts are not real. Humility is not saying, “I am terrible at everything,” when God has given us abilities. True humility is living in the truth:
I am deeply loved, but I am not the center.
I have gifts, but they are not mine to hoard.
I have needs, but so do others.
I have a voice, but so does my neighbor.
I have interests, but they are not the only interests that matter.
Paul says:
“Not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
He does not say we have no interests. He does not say our needs do not matter. He does not command a community where some are always sacrificed for the comfort of others. In a healthy body, every member matters. En un cuerpo sano, cada miembro importa.
This is where John the Baptist helps us.
In the Gospel of John, John’s disciples come to him worried. Jesus is baptizing. Crowds are going to Jesus. John’s influence is decreasing. His ministry is no longer at the center.
And John says:
“He must become greater; I must become less.”
That is becoming zero.
John does not say it with bitterness. He does not say, “Well, I guess I failed.”
John fundamentally understands his calling. John is not the bridegroom. He is the friend of the bridegroom. John is not the light. He bears witness to the light. John’s joy is not in being central. His joy is in pointing to Christ.
John is free because he knows who he is and whose he is. He can decrease because his identity is not threatened by Christ’s increase.
Ministry is not about us. It’s about Jesus. Our identity and value are rooted in Christ. Like John, we are free because we know who we are and whose we are. And that manifests itself in our relationships with others. As Paul says:
En vuestras relaciones entre vosotros, tened la misma mentalidad que Cristo Jesús.
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”
“In your relationships.” At home. At church. In disagreement. In conflict. In leadership. In service. In community. Have the mind of Christ there.
And what is the mind of Christ?
Jesus does not humble himself from a place of lowliness. He humbles himself from the highest place. He does not become servant because he has no power. He becomes servant because this is what divine love does with power.
The world uses power to dominate. Jesus uses power to serve.
The world uses status to separate. Jesus uses status to kneel.
The world uses authority to command attention. Jesus uses authority to wash feet.
This is why “Becoming Zero” is not just an individual spiritual idea. It is the shape of the church.
A zero-shaped church is a church where people make room.
It is where the strong do not use their strength to get their way, but to support the weak. It is where her members do not say, “This church belongs to us,” but, “How can we welcome those God is bringing among us?” It is where leaders do not ask, “How can I be important?” but, “How can I help others flourish?”
A zero-shaped church is where people in conflict do not rush to defend themselves first, but pause long enough to ask, “What burden, wound, hope, loss, care might my brother or sister be carrying?”
And this is where we must be honest: valuing others above ourselves is hard.
It sounds beautiful until someone else’s interests inconvenience us. It sounds holy until someone else’s needs require us to change. It sounds inspiring until valuing another person means listening longer than we wanted, apologizing more honestly than we planned, giving up a preference we cherished, or making room for a voice we would rather not hear.
There is a kind of mathematics that says: If someone else gains, I lose.
But Christ gives us different math. I call it The Geometry of Grace.
In Christ, another person’s dignity does not SUBTRACT from mine. Another person’s voice does not erase mine. Another person’s gift does not make mine meaningless.
God loved us 100% before we even learned to loved God 1%. My friends, that’s the Geometry of Grace.
Division disappears and the church grows like in Acts where people were ADDED to their number every day. That’s the Geometry of Grace.
The dignity of all of us is multiplied to become a sum greater than its parts. That’s the Geometry of Grace.
The first become last, the negative becomes positive, the least of these become Christ, and King of kings chooses to become zero….
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name…”
This is not a strategy for self-promotion. We do not humble ourselves in order to get applause later. We do not become servants as a clever way to become masters. That would just be selfish ambition wearing religious clothing.
But Paul wants us to know that self-emptying is not annihilation. The humbled Christ is exalted. The crucified one is Lord. God vindicates self-giving love.
Paul ends:
“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
Work out your salvation. Ocupaos de vuestra salvación.
Not work for your salvation because God is at work in you. The you here is plural. Do you believe that God is working in you? Do you believe that God is working in your sisters and brothers here? Do you believe that God is at work in our community, nation, and the world?
The mindset of Christ is being formed within us. God is working in us to will and to act according to God’s good purpose.
So yes, we practice. Yes, we choose. Yes, we repent. Yes, we listen. Yes, we serve. Yes, we learn to lay down selfish ambition and vain conceit.
But underneath our work is God’s work.
God is making us into the kind of people who can love like this. God is making us into the kind of church where people do not have to compete for worth. God is making us into a body where Christ is made visible more and more each and every day.
The text today is an invitation, but it also raises some hard questions. Let’s reflect on these together:
What do you need to let go? ¿Qué necesitas liberar?
Are you clinging to status, preference, control, resentment, recognition, or the need to be right?
Where is Christ inviting you to become less, not because you do not matter, but because Christ matters more?
Where is Christ inviting you to value another person’s interests above your own?
¿En qué momento te invita Cristo a valorar los intereses de otra persona por encima de los tuyos?
Maybe it is in your family. Maybe it is in this congregation. Maybe it is with someone you are avoiding. Maybe it is in a disagreement where you have been preparing your defense rather than your compassion. Maybe it is in a ministry where you need to rejoice that someone else is now carrying what you once carried. Maybe it is simply in the daily hidden work of making room.
John said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.”
Paul said, “Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”
Jesus said, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”
This is the way of the kingdom.
Not upward grasping, but downward love.
Not selfish ambition, but shared joy.
Not vain conceit, but holy humility.
Not my interests alone, but the interests of others.
Not becoming nothing, but becoming free in everything.
So let us become zero.
Let us become empty enough for Christ to fill us.
Low enough for Christ to lift us.
Humble enough for Christ to be seen in and through us.
Free enough to value one another above ourselves.
Loving enough to make room for all God’s children.
And may the same mind be in us that is in Christ Jesus.
Let us pray:
Prayer (Less of Me by Glen Campbell)
Let me be a little kinder
Let me be a little blinder
To the faults of those about me
Let me praise a little more
Let me be when I am weary
Just a little bit more cheery
Think a little more of others
And a little less of me
Let me be a little braver
When temptation bids me waver
Let me strive a little harder
To be all that I should be
Let me be a little meeker
With the brother that is weaker
Let me think more of my neighbor
And a little less of me
May it be so
In the name of our Servant King, Jesus the Christ.
Amen
Becoming Zero by kmls #anabaptist #BecomingZero #ChristianFaith #Discipleship #faithAndCulture #findingYourLife #GodSMath #gospel #Grace #graduationSunday #Humility #Identity #Jesus #kingdomOfGod #LeastOfThese #losingYourLife #mennonite #peaceChurch #Sermon #ServantLeadership #spiritualFormation #Success #surrender #vocation
The Unknown God
A Sermon about the Idols of Yesterday and Today
Acts 17:16–31
(Note: Sermons can be heard in audio format at https://millersburgmennonite.org/worship/sermon-audio/)
In our scripture this morning, Paul walks into Athens, a city overflowing with religion, beauty, ideas, temples, shrines, altars, arguments, and gods.
Athens is not empty.
Athens is crowded.
And Paul is deeply troubled.
Paul is not troubled because Athens is secular. He is troubled because Athens is religious in all the wrong ways. The city is full of worship, but empty of surrender. Full of gods, but not the living God. Full of altars but still haunted by absence.
For among all those altars, Paul notices one inscription:
To an unknown god.
What a haunting phrase.
In the middle of all the Athenians’ certainty, there is still this admission: we may have missed something. We may not know as much as we think. There may still be a God we have not recognized.
And I wonder if that is not where many people are right now.
Not atheists necessarily. Not even irreligious. But uncertain. Searching. Guarded. Spiritual, yet suspicious of certainty. Curious yet afraid of being closed off or closed in. Open and yet not really able to surrender to truth. Religious and yet still missing God.
La Atenas de Pablo no es solamente historia antigua; también describe nuestro mundo de hoy.
So Athens is not just ancient history.
Athens is now.
Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Homily
Like the Athens of Paul’s day, our world today is full of altars too.
Altars to nation. Altars to wealth. Altars to image. Altars to safety. Altars to tribe. Altars to ideology. Altars to the market. Altars to the screen. Altars to the self.
We, like the Athenians, have all kinds of gods.
One reason I think our public discourse feels so fractured is that we are not just arguing about small things. We are bringing completely different belief systems into the room.
In Athens there were Jews who worshiped the one living God; God-fearing Greeks drawn toward that God but not fully committed; Epicureans who sought calm and freedom from fear; Stoics who valued reason, virtue, order, and discipline; and this strange altar to an unknown god, an altar that says, “We do not want to miss the divine. We know there is more than we can name.”
Paul proclaims a God who is not vague, not distant, not merely a principle, not one more option in the marketplace of ideas. Paul proclaims the God who made the world and everything in it, the God who gives life and breath to all, the God who cannot be reduced to shrines or captured in gold or silver or stone or circuitry, the God who is near to all, the God who now calls all people everywhere to repent because God has raised Jesus from the dead.
Pablo anuncia que Dios no es una idea vaga ni un ídolo más, sino el Creador que da vida, aliento y resurrección.
Some may believe truth is revealed and binding. Others are spiritual, but indefinite. Others have been wounded by the church and do not know whether the word “God” is invitation or threat.
And into all of that, Christian witness says: the world belongs to its Creator, and history has turned in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
When Paul is brought to the Areopagus, we might imagine a cozy invitation. Maybe there is curiosity there, but there is also something more serious. Paul is being examined. Tested. Weighed. Asked to explain himself in public.
Paul is heard, but under suspicion.
And how does he respond?
Not with coercion. Not with panic. Not with silence. Not with flattery. Not with domination.
He responds with witness.
Paul pays attention. He listens. He observes. He starts where the people are.
Pablo no responde con poder o miedo, sino con atención, humildad y testimonio.
Paul does not begin by quoting Moses. He does not begin where he is most comfortable. He begins with what his hearers can recognize: their altar, their poets, their longing, their language of divine nearness.
My friends, that is not compromise. That is faithful witness.
And this matters for us, because our witness cannot always sound exactly the same in every place, in every room, in every forum.
The gospel does not change. “Jesus Christ is Lord” – that doesn’t change either. The call to repentance, reconciliation, mercy, justice, truth, and abundant life this side of the resurrection does not change.
But the way we bear witness may depend on where we are and who is in front of us.
El evangelio no cambia, pero la manera de dar testimonio puede cambiar según el lugar y las personas.
When Paul is in the synagogue, he reasons from the scriptures. But when Paul is in Athens, among philosophers, idolaters, seekers, and skeptics, he begins somewhere else. He begins with creation. He begins with breath. He begins with longing. He begins with the altar they already have. He begins with the poetry they already know.
Paul does not start by asking them to enter his world. He first enters theirs.
That is not watering down the faith. That is speaking the truth in love. That is incarnation-shaped witness.
Pablo entra en el mundo de sus oyentes para poder anunciarles fielmente al Dios vivo.
Paul does not introduce Athens to a God who was absent until Paul arrived. Paul reveals the presence of a God they have already been brushing up against.
The God they called unknown has been waiting to be revealed.
Paul says this God gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. Paul says this God is not far from each one of us. Paul says, “In him we live and move and have our being.”
So maybe the question is not simply, “Will God show up?”
Maybe the deeper question is, “Will we recognize how God is already showing up?”
Which brings us to a question worth asking every day:
God, how are you going to show up today?
Not, “God, are you going to show up?”
But, “God, how are you going to show up?”
La pregunta no es solo si Dios aparecerá, sino si tendremos ojos para reconocer cómo Dios ya está presente.
Because Acts 17 reveals to us that God may already be present before people have the right language. God may already be at work before someone has the right doctrine. God may already be stirring longing before anyone knows how to name that longing.
God may already be there in the question. God may already be there in the difference. God may already be there in the ache. God may already be there in the crack in someone’s certainty.
Paul sees an altar to an unknown god, and he does not only see idolatry. He also sees longing. He sees an opening. He sees a place where witness can begin.
Dios puede estar obrando en la pregunta, en el dolor, en el anhelo, aun antes de que sepamos nombrarlo.
And then Paul does something just as important:
He does not stay there.
He builds a bridge, yes. But he also tells the truth.
He says, in effect, “The God you do not know is the God who made you. The God you have not recognized is the God who gives you breath. The God you have left unnamed is not contained in your temples. The God you seek cannot be reduced to your idols.”
Because idolatry is not just about statues.
Idolatry is whenever we try to bind God to our own systems of power and belief.
Idolatry is when nation becomes ultimate. Idolatry is when wealth becomes sacred. Idolatry is when violence is blessed. Idolatry is when “they” usurps “us.” Idolatry is when “my people” become more important than “humanity.” Idolatry is when our beliefs matter more than relationships. Idolatry is when our politics, grievances, fears, and identities begin to function as gods.
And let us be honest: the church is not exempt.
Athens is not only out there.
Athens is in here.
Athens is in us whenever we want a manageable god. Athens is in us whenever we want a useful god. Athens is in us whenever we want a god who blesses our side, confirms our assumptions, secures our system, and God forbid, never ever, disrupts our loyalties.
But Paul says the living God does not dwell in temples made by human hands.
That means God is not mine, yours, ours to manage.
Dios no pertenece a nuestros sistemas; nosotros pertenecemos al Dios vivo.
Which begs the question:
God, how are you going to show up?
Because we often want God to show up in familiar ways. Predictable ways. Comfortable ways. Worshipful, yes, but also manageable.
But what if the living God shows up in ways that unsettle us?
What if God shows up in the person we dismissed? What if God shows up in the hard conversation? What if God shows up in the exposure of an idol? What if God shows up in a call to repentance? What if God shows up not to decorate our little altars, but to overturn them?
There are some places where our witness begins with Scripture. Some where it begins with service. Some with silence. Some with apology. Some with saying, “Tell me more.”
There are some places where our witness begins not by answering a question no one is asking, but by noticing the altar in the room, the longing in the room, the wound in the room, the fear in the room, the unknown god in the room.
And yet, Christian witness does not end with vague spirituality.
Paul does not say, “Well, you have your gods, and I have mine, and maybe underneath it all we mean the same thing.”
No.
He moves to repentance.
He moves to judgment.
He moves to resurrection.
Because resurrection means God has shown up in Jesus Christ.
The unknown God is unknown no longer.
Not because we figured God out, but because God has acted. Because Christ has been raised.
El Dios desconocido se ha dado a conocer en Jesucristo, crucificado y resucitado.
Because death is not lord. Caesar is not lord. The economy is not lord. Violence is not lord. Fear is not lord. (Fill in the blank) is not lord. Like we say down South, those dogs don’t hunt.
Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord!
The Cosmic Christ is more than just our own personal Jesus. And that means resurrection is not just good news for me, or my private soul. Or you and your private soul. It is the announcement of a new humanity under a new Lord. A new community. A new allegiance. A new public witness.
La resurrección anuncia una nueva humanidad bajo el señorío de Cristo.
That is who the church is meant to be.
Not simply a chaplain to the culture. Not another little religious booth in the marketplace of ideas. Not a baptizer of empire. Not a slave to ideology.
The church is the gathering of a resurrection people.
A people who do not only say, “God, show up.”
But a people who say,
God, help us recognize how you are showing up.
La iglesia existe para reconocer y encarnar la presencia del Cristo resucitado en el mundo.
So ask the question.
Ask it every morning. Ask it before worship. Ask it before the meeting. Ask it before the conversation. Ask it before you enter the room.
God, how are you going to show up?
And then ask the next question:
God, how are you calling me to show up?
To show up in worship, to show up in our community, to show up in the public square, to show up in the hard conversation, to show up in the awkward silence, and to show up in the uncomfortable moment when it would be easier to walk away.
My friends, we are the church of God. We are resurrection people, and resurrection people do not hide behind rose-colored stained-glass windows.
We show up because God first showed up.
We show up not because we are fearless, but because we are faithful. We show up not because every moment is easy, but because love is present. We show up not because we control the outcome, but because Christ is Lord. We show up not to dominate, not to coerce, not to win, but to bear witness.
Nos presentamos no para dominar, sino para dar testimonio con fidelidad, amor, humildad y paz.
And our witness may look different depending on where we are.
In worship, we show up with praise. In the neighborhood, with service. In conflict, with humility. In public life, with truth and peace. Among the wounded, with gentleness. Among the arrogant, with courage. Among the uncertain, with patience. Among the idols, with discernment.
Paul showed up in Athens.
He showed up in a city full of idols, in misunderstanding, under scrutiny, in the awkwardness of difference.
He showed up with a witness shaped by the place he was in.
He did not abandon the gospel.
He embodied it.
He trusted that God was already there ahead of him.
Pablo confió en que Dios ya estaba presente antes de que él hablara.
Maybe that is our calling too.
Not to have every answer. Not to control every room. Not to force belief.
But to show up with courage, humility, truth, and love, because the God who seemed unknown has already come near.
So this week, before you enter the room, begin the conversation, make the assumption, or speak the word, ask:
God, how are you going to show up here, in this moment, today?
And then ask:
Lord Jesus, how are you calling me to show up, here, in this moment, today, with you?
Because the God who was unknown has been made known, and the God who has been made known is still showing up, in us and in the people around us, in our homes and in the homes next door, in our neighborhood and in the communities down the road, in our nation and in all the nations of the world.
May God grant us open eyes and willing hearts to see and serve.
Let us pray.
#Acts17 #anabaptist #Areopagus #biblicalPreaching #ChristianArt #ChristianWitness #ChurchAndSociety #Cross #discernment #faithAndCulture #faithfulWitness #falseGods #GodShowingUp #Idolatry #JesusChristIsLord #modernIdols #PaulInAthens #publicWitness #Repentance #resurrection #SacredImagery #sermonIllustration #spiritualLonging #UnknownGod
Dutch Reformed missionary Andrew Murray notes that in Luke 16 Lazarus is praised for no special virtue, and the rich man is condemned for no scandalous crime—only for ignoring Lazarus’s suffering. The sin is comfortable neglect. Faith that guards doctrine yet trains us not to notice pain misses the warning. How are we learning to see—and respond to—the poor at our gate?
#BiblicalWorldview #ChurchLeaders #Christianity #FaithAndCulture #TheologyMatters #ChurchHistory #Mercy #reformeddoctrine
Goddess नेपाल की अनोखी परंपरा – कैसे चुनी जाती है ‘जीवित देवी #NepalTradition #LivingGoddess #Kumari #AryataraShakya #SpiritualCulture #AncientTradition #NepalHeritage #UniqueCustoms #FaithAndCulture #CulturalDiversity #Navratri2025 #DivinePower #DeviTradition #DurgaShakti #GoddessWorship #SpiritualVibes #FestiveCulture #ShaktiSwarupa #Courage #WomensStrength #DivineFeminine #Shakti #Fearless #PowerWithin #SacredFeminine #SpiritualStrength
https://www.vrnewslive.com/goddess-nepal-ki-anokhi-parnmpara/
“If you cannot stop them from seeking a shepherd, make sure the shepherd is sponsored.”
— Screwtape, The Branding of the Saints
Letter V: On Influencer Prophets
https://breadthofpopsanity.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-screechfeed-dispatches-letter-v-on.html
#ScreechfeedDispatches #Soulfluencers #FalseShepherds #FaithAndCulture #SatiricalWriting
🎙️ New episode of The Art of Conversation
Joel Lutz of MosaiX Multiply joins us to talk connection, culture & purpose. Hear how intentional dialogue can bridge divides and spark real change.
👉 Watch now: https://bluewaterhealthyliving.com/shows/the-art-of-conversation-with-justin-rose/joel-lutz-mosaix-multiply-executive-director/
#ArtOfConversation #JoelLutz #MosaiXMultiply #GBSMedia #NewMedia #FaithAndCulture #CommunityBuilders
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