Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 10, 10:30am
Sermon: Who Needs God?
Accompanying Scripture: Acts 17 : 22 – 31
Who Needs God?
Acts 17:22-31 5/10/2026
I love that Paul was walking around viewing the various idols to gods in
Athens. He needed to connect with his audience, and what better way to
do it than to meet them where they are. He found the perfect example,
the statue dedicated “to an unknown god.”
I picture Paul wandering through the streets, finding idols who solved all
kinds of problems, from agriculture to fertility. We also have idols in our
culture. Though we don’t have statues of gods, per se, we do have our
own idols.
There’s the solid gold idol shaped like a dollar sign. It gleams in the noon-
day sun. It speaks to us in soft tones. “You have a difficulty? No problem,
throw money at it. It’ll go away.” Or, “Isn’t that bauble in the store
beautiful? Sure, you already have two, but you need another. Go ahead,
it’ll make you feel good.”
“You see, you only need me, money. You don’t need God. God can’t fix
those problems as I can!
Walking further along, we spy a huge monolith, called Power. Power
makes us feel relieved because someone is in charge. What we get is a
sense of invincibility. “Come right this way,” it says. “Let me tell you
what to be afraid of. Now be very, very afraid. And then I’ll tell you how
I’m going to make it better for myself.”
“You don’t need God. God takes too long. You just need the power I have
to make things just the way I want them to be.” “You need me to take
charge and make decisions.”
Near and dear to my heart is the one waiting for me when I get out of bed
in the morning: my mobile phone. For some people, it provides hours of
fun playing games. And don’t forget the doom scrolling on social media
and news apps.
“Step right up for the opportunity to push all my lovely buttons. Lose
time scrolling the internet. Talk about dopamine rushes! I can double
that of any other idols!”
Have I made my point? There are many idols in our lives. Every one of
these idols is specifically designed to get between you and God. Every
time we succumb to the enticements of money, power, cell phones, and
more, whatever holds you back from listening to God is probably an idol.
A friend of mine is engaged to a lovely woman. They’re in their mid-
sixties, looking forward to retirement and getting married. He told me
one day, “She sure likes to shop.” I didn’t realize how bad it was until I
learned that she had to get a job to pay off her credit card debt. The job
is menial, at best. This wasn’t her idea of retirement.
The cell phone is my nemesis. It’s a great tool: handy to check my email. I
can send out text messages, keep my calendar updated, and even check
my bank balance. It’s an important tool. The problem is that I get bored.
That’s when I pick it up every two minutes to check for messages or email.
Worse, I’ll read the news and lose 30 minutes of my life doomscrolling.
The problem with idols is that we need most of them. We need money to
support ourselves. We need food to remain healthy. We need good
people in power in high places to resolve difficult issues beyond our
reach. We need mobile phones, stores, and various forms of
entertainment.
These are here for us to enjoy and use. It’s when we are used by them
that we lose control. We lose a sense of ourselves. We lose connection
with others. We lose.
These idols whisper to us that they are the solutions to our problems.
They are the lie that turns us away from God. As long as I have money, I
don’t need God. As long as I can put bread on the table, who needs to
bother God?
Who needs God?
The one lost in the midst of loneliness, looking for connection on social
media. The one who never seems to have enough money. The one who
fills their empty hearts with the things of this world that only provide
temporary sustenance and meaning.
God is not distant. God is ever present.
God has a sense of timing not our own. God has a plan, not of our making.
God is in the past and the future. God is in the now.
God is at work within and without.
God doesn’t need to be served, like our idols demand. God doesn’t need
us to provide for Him. God provides for us.
God’s message to us in Isaiah is simple and comforting.
“But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you…
he who formed you…
Do not fear,
for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by name,
you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;’
and through the rivers,
they shall not overwhelm you;” (1-2a)
This is the God who holds you through the dark night of the soul; who
rejoices with you, who laughs with you, who speaks with you, who keeps
presence with you, even in the silence. The God who gives to all of us life
and breath and all things.
This is the God whom Paul identifies as the one in whom “we live and
move and have our being.” (Acts 17 27b)
Crushing Idols sometimes means walking away from them, never to
return. Crushing idols may also mean that we have power over them.
Control your money, don’t overly rely on people in power, and put your
phone down from time to time.
Use them, and they won’t use you.
After all, God resurrected Jesus. What more do we need?
All glory and honor be to God.
Amen.