God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. (Acts 17:24–25—NKJV)

How do you introduce two friends of yours who have never met? What do you say? After all, it is up to you to make the introduction and to make the occasion memorable.

Paul was at Athens when he spoke the words from our verses, introducing God to Athens’ society, which believed in so many gods that they were afraid they would leave one out. Paul noticed as he wandered through the city an inscription on an altar which read, “To The Unknown God.” It was this object which he used to introduce to them the real God who was unknown to them.

Paul went about the task of introducing Jesus by those God-sized qualities he wanted the Athenians to know. These are the same qualities which we need to communicate when we introduce our great Savior to the lost around us.

A proper introduction requires communication of what we value in our friend and what makes them stand out to us. Paul speaks to the uniqueness of the true God compared to their usual mythology. Greeks believed that matter was eternal and that their gods needed their offerings for full happiness. This is not at all what God is like.

The uniqueness of God is found in that He is the Creator. He gave matter its beginning, for with God there is no beginning. Our world needs to know this God too. Somehow the Greek world and our “new” world seem to see God as running parallel to matter and in our evolutionary mindset we cannot seem to come to terms with ultimate and final accountability to the one and only Creator.

The uniqueness of God is found in that He is sovereign. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. The kingship of God transcends all time and space. God’s sovereignty is simply treated as a given as Paul states, “since He is Lord of heaven and earth.” His is not a distracted or absent-minded sovereign.

The uniqueness of God is found in that He is omnipresent. He “does not dwell in temples made with hands.” The Greeks thought the gods’ home was Mount Olympus. Our generation sees God as little more than a remote being disconnected with the plight of men. The very message of the work of Jesus Christ is that God moved in love to send His Son as the sacrifice to redeem men out of darkness and death. He is everywhere present and not limited in His location. He sees all and knows all.

The uniqueness of God is found in that He is omnipotent. He is not served (worshiped) by men’s hands “as though He needed anything.” The very notion that what we do has absolutely no impact upon God is foreign to our cherished sense of self-importance.

The uniqueness of God is found in that He is free. Paul states that God “gives to all life, breath, and all things.” He is free of any constraint save His own holy nature. He is Author and Sustainer, Assigner of our place, everywhere and here. Paul follows these verses with the fact that Jesus is Judge and it is our responsibility to yield to Him.

These are things which our society has forgotten about God. These are things which we need to be communicating when we are introducing men to the great God of Heaven. Is this the God you know and serve? Is this the God you want others to know through you? Trust and obey.