thoughts and ruminations while in exile (1 Pet. 2:11)

This is my manuscript for a sermon preached at Grace Community Church on June 15, 2008. Visit this website: www.gcchurch.net Also, the sermon was an exposition on Acts 17:16-34, therefore you may want to read that text before taking a look at the manuscript.



Introduction

Within Christian circles there is a lot of talk nowadays about developing a Christian worldview. A worldview can be defined as “a set of beliefs about the most important issues in life,” a “conceptual scheme by which we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and judge reality” (Nash Worldviews in Conflict, 131). We are told that there are a variety of worldviews, and therefore it is important for Christians to develop a correct one. Some Christians do not like to say there are other worldviews, and that in reality there is only one worlview.

Granted that may be the case, the point is that Christians must develop a Christian worldview—they must know what they believe and why they believe it. We need to have a biblically saturated worldview, and the Bible must be the lens through which we judge all things.

Given the current state of the world, it is obvious that there is hostility towards the Christian worldview. When a Christian steps into a place that is hostile to their convictions, it is in a sense, a clash of cultures.

In Acts chapter 17 that is exactly what we find: a clash of cultures; two opposing worldviews coming straight at each other. While we may not find ourselves in Athens, we definitely do live in a culture that finds our convictions intolerant, primitive, and burdensome.

Despite that being the case, God has commissioned us to go into all the world and share the gospel. Through the means that God makes available to us, we want to do all we can to share the love of Christ with this world. As Paul says, “We are ambassadors for Christ,” and when we share the gospel God is making His appeal to a lost world through us (2 Cor. 5:20)!

So, given our situation, what is our message to this world? Certainly it is John
3:16. We can present law and gospel. We can take them down the Romans road. Whichever road we take, there is an inescapable component of the message we bring to a lost world. It is one that is certainly not popular, but nonetheless necessary to communicate. What are we to do?

SBI: In light of coming judgment, we must call unbelievers to repent and trust in Christ.

The Setting

If ever there were a time when Paul could have used a break, it would have been while in Athens. The fact that this man continued to evangelize and that his passion for the lost was not reduced, is testimony to the grace of God at work in this man’s life. When Paul said in Acts 20:24 that he did not consider his life dear to himself unless he finished the course and the ministry which he had received from the Lord Jesus, he was not exaggerating.

Let’s take a look at what Paul had been through in recent chapters in the book of Acts:

-In Acts 16 we find Paul and Silas imprisoned. They’re miraculously freed by an earthquake. Yet by the end of the chapter he and Silas are implored to leave.

-At the beginning of Acts 17 we find Paul in Thessalonica. That situation ends with the Jews setting the city in an uproar.

-Next Paul is in Berea where some Jews and Greeks believe in Christ. Again, the Jews from Thessalonica hear about this and are upset. The Jews actually reach Paul at Berea, but “the brethren” send him on a ship by himself to Athens.

Paul at Athens

Now, I give you that setting so you can see that Paul comes to Athens for the purpose of escaping persecution. So he comes to this great city which is famous for its past. This city, named after the goddess Athena, is famous for birthing what is known as “The Classical Era.” This place was “the intellectual center of the world” (Kistemaker, 624). All the famous philosophers were from here: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. This was the center of music, theater, ethics, medicine, science, rhetoric, art, numerous temples, and other beautiful buildings. This place attracted all of the intellectuals.

Not only was it a place of art and philosophy, but it was also a religious city. Almost every god in existence was worshiped there. In fact, so corrupt was the city that the pagan writer Petronius said that in Athens it was easier to find a god than a man (MacArthur commentary, 129).

Paul’s Reaction

So Paul finds himself in Athens. And as you would expect from any foreigner in Athens, Paul is visiting the sights! But as he is walking around the city, we are told that his spirit was being provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols.

That is to say that his spirit was “grieved,” “irritated,” “infuriated” or “strongly distressed” as the NIV translates it.

So this place, with all of its education, was full of idols. Calvin said “Satan had made the city of Athens more mad than any other city” (Calvin’s commentaries, 145).

We’re tempted to ask the question: “How did this happen?” A place that exceeded in so much learning, instead of worshiping the true God, invented their own . . . how sad. Calvin says in his Institutes a very famous line: “Man’s mind is a perpetual factory of idols.” And nowhere is that more clearly seen than in Athens.

Because of Paul’s deep distress he is driven to evangelize. He is broken by what he finds these people cherishing and worshiping. He has to say something! Paul is driven to evangelize because he hates idolatry and can’t stand it when the true God does not receive his due glory.

We must learn from this how a passion for evangelism begins: “It begins with a burden for the lost-ness of mankind. It begins with a desire that God be given the glory” (Derek Thomas). It begins with an intense burden. We need to have that! May that burden drive us to evangelize and share the gospel with others.

When we as Christians witness God not receiving the glory that is due His name it ought to eat us up inside. This is what David meant when he said, “For zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me” (Ps. 69:9). He was saying that when God was dishonored, he was dishonored. He felt the pain that God felt.

This is what Peter speaks about in 2 Peter 2:8 when he notes how Lot felt while he was in Sodom. Peter says that when Lot looked around him and saw the corruption of the city, he was “tormented day after day by their lawless deeds.”

Church, I beg you to not feel comfortable here on earth. Please do not become numb to the rampant immoratlity that you witness around you in your daily life.

Moving right along we are told that in verse 17 Paul was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. It is probably worth noting that Paul was doing this everyday.

Verse 18, the two types of the philosophers that Paul meets in Athens are Epicureans and Stoics. These two groups, along with the Cynics were the three most popular philosophical outlooks at this time. Interestingly enough, the Stoics and Epicureans were quite different in their approach to life.

First of all, the Epicureans were pretty much atheists and taught that pleasure and the avoidance of pain were the most important aspects of life. They lived for chance and pleasure—this tended to appeal to the upper class of society. On the opposite end you had the Stoics who lived for submission and wanted their followers to become indifferent to pleasure and/or pain. They essentially wanted their followers to feel nothing. This appealed to the lower class of society.

Now, for all the differences that may have been apparent in their respective philosophies they were united in their disapproval of Paul’s teaching.

You’ll notice that in verse 18 they ask, "What would this idle babbler wish to say?"

They call Paul a “Seed picker,” and say that he makes his living picking up scraps. And for the context they mean this in a derisive way as “one who picks up scraps of knowledge.” The philosophers were trying to say that Paul had no idea of what he was talking about, but rather picked up his ideas from prevailing philosophies that had no depth. They’re telling Paul that he is not intellectual. They’re saying, “Paul, you weren’t educated in Athens, you’re Jew.”

And as they heard him preach they misunderstood what he was saying and believed him to be speaking of two gods: one named “Jesus,” and the other “Anastasis.” Anastasis is the Greek word for “Resurrection” but it wasn’t familiar to them and they assumed Anastasis was the name of a woman.

So they hear Paul teaching what they call “strange deities,” and take him to the Areopagus and ask him, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? And they tell Paul that he is bringing “strange things to [their] ears.” And so they want to know what all of this means.

The Areopagus means “Hill of Ares” and its where the governing council of Athens met. Later on the location would change and meet at the Royal Colonade. Thereafter, “Areopagus” would designate the ruling body. There is some dispute as to whether or not Paul was being formally tried for his teachings or not (Keener 373; MacArthur 131-32; Kistemaker 628-9). That being said, most believe this was not a formal setting, but rather that Paul was being informally required to account for his teachings. But what we do know is that this is what happened to Socrates centuries earlier and his outcome was certainly not favorable. In fact, Socrates was convicted for corrupting the youth and was forced to drink poison.

So Paul is brought before the Areopagus and they want to know what this “new” teaching is. I cannot overstate the significance of the word “new.” They are charging him with teaching “new” and “unheard-of doctrines.”

Before Paul is set to deliever his sermon Luke inserts this parenthetical statement allowing his readers to know that all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new (V.21). In other words, they lived an academic lifestyle. They were not engaged in manual labor. Rather they spent their times debating new theories they had researched or learned from foreigners.

So picture this: Paul is standing alone in the midst of these brilliant teachers and must give an account for his beliefs and teachings. He is speaking in front of the cultural elite. If this were in our day we would say that he is giving a lecture at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, or Cambridge.

Paul is not in the midst of Jews or God-fearing Gentiles so he cannot appeal to the O.T. Scriptures. He is literally in front of an audience who has never heard of Israel’s God.

So how is he going to go about preaching his sermon?

Well, you’ll notice in verses 22 and 23 that Paul begins with a point of contact. He acknowledges that they are “very religious in all respects.” What I find so interesting is that the Greek word used there has a very specific meaning. The word literally means “Piety that leads to fear instead of worship . . . recognition of God or gods mingled with more fear rather than trust” (Gk. And Heb. Study Bible, 1819). While the word can have a negative connotation, Paul is affirming the religious inclinations of the Athenians, not their objects of worship.

Paul says, “I see that you are religiously observant.” And this is interesting because everyone, whether they are willing to admit or not, is religious. Everyone is religious about something. It’s interesting that many people think that just because they reject the true God, that they somehow are then not religious. That is not true. Everyone is religious. Calvin said, “By ‘religious’ is meant that it is human nature ‘to give ourselves wholeheartedly and unreservedly to something . . . [and] whatever that object of ultimate concern is for us, that will be our god. For this reason genuine atheists do not exist.’”

So Paul says “I observe that you are religious.” And he backs that up by saying that while he was traveling through Athens he saw an altar with the words, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD’ These Athenians wanted so bad to not offend any god, that they erected another altar to an unknown god just in case they missed one.

Paul uses this altar as a point of contact with his audience. He says, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. Since they have an altar with the inscription “To an Unknown God,” they have to admit that they are worshiping something they do not know. So Paul says, “There is a God that you do not know, and let me tell you who He is.” He is not equating the unknown god of the Athenians with the true God. Rather, he is using the altar in such a way as to tell them about the true God.

Okay, so lets get to Paul’s message to these philosopers. Paul makes three points in the sermon.

Creation testifies to the existence of God (V.24-25).
24"The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
Notice in the first part of the sentence Pauls talks about The God who made the world and all things in it. Now the first thing I think about when I read that sentence is Genesis 1:1. But Paul knows the Athenians have no idea about the Bible, so he doesn’t start there with them.


Now there is a lesson to be learned here for Christians. What do you do if you come into contact with people who have no idea about God, Jesus, and the Bible. Where would you start? You start where people are at. And that’s what Paul does. He doesn’t give them a full-on Thomas Aquinas 5 arguments for the existence of God. He says, “you are surrounded by the revelation of God.”
This must have hit the philosophers like a ton of bricks. The Epicureans believed matter was eternal, and the Stoics were pantheists (they believed God was in everthing). Paul says, “No.” The God who made the world and all things in it . . . He is Lord of heaven and earth.


What Paul is saying here is exactly what he said in Romans 1:20. There Paul says, For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
It was said during the French Revolution in the Post-enlightenment era . . . the charge was made that they would pull down the steeples of the Christians and rid themselves of their superstitions, and to which the Christians replied, “Yes, but you cannot rip the stars from the night sky.” Creation testifies to the existence of God.


And you’ll notice Paul’s logical progression here: He notes that if God is the creator and sustainer of the whole world, obviously he does not dwell in temples made with hands. “Simple reasoning should convince the Athenians that God who has created heaven and earth cannot be restricted to the confines of a temple” (Kistemaker, 633).


Just in chapter 7, the first Christian Martyr, Stephen says in Acts 7:48, “the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands . . .” Then he goes on to quote Is. 66:1-2, where God says, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? 2"For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,"
And I love that beautiful prayer that Solomon prays in 1 Kings 8, but specifically verse 27 where Solomon asks, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built.”
This is what Paul is saying here.



2. God created humans for the purpose of worshiping Him (V.26-29)


26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'
29"Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.


Now again, Paul, without mentioning his source is teaching from the book of Genesis. He is highlighting the fact that God created all humans, nations, ethnicities, etc. Mankind is equal before God, because God is the creator of them all. This is very different from what the Greeks taught. They divided humanity into Greeks and barbarians.


Paul says, “No.” God created all humankind. He is our creator, and more than that, He is providentially in control of human affairs.


Again, note Paul’s progression: God created human beings; He sustains them and providentially cares for them; and for what purpose? V.27- that they would seek God. This is the only logical conclusion. MacArthur says, “The natural revelation of God in the human conscience (Rom. 2:14-15) and the physical world leaves all men without excuse (Rom. 1:18ff.)” (MacArthur Commentary, 140).


And then, in order to show his audience that they really have no excuse, Paul quotes from two of their own poets. He quotes from two Stoic poets, Aratus and Epimenedes.


Epimenedes is the one who said, “In Him we live and move and exist,” while their other poet Aratus said, “For we also are his offspring.” Now obviously, both of those quotes are true. Paul could have established that by appealing to the O.T. But rather, he quotes their own poets that would have been familiar to them. Why does Paul do this? Because this gives him an opportunity to speak further with them.


Paul wants them to realize that not only are they surrounded by the revelation of God, but also, he wants his audience to know that they actually perceive this revelation. In reality, what is happening, Paul says, is that you are perceiving this revelation, but you are distorting it, perverting it, twisting it, forming another god and worshiping a figment of your own imagination.


By quoting two of their poets, he can say, as he does in v.29, that “We are the offspring of God.” Since that is the case, we must see God from a divine perspective and not a human perspective. Proof that the Greeks are seeing God from a human perspective is their idols of gold, silver, and stone.
These people, as well as every person in this world, are incurably religious. Humans were made to worship, and worship they will. Because what Blaise Pascal said is so true: “A God-shaped void is in the heart of every person.” And that void is going to be filled with something, or someone. And mark my words everyone is going to attempt to fill that void. And whoever, throughout the course of their lives does not receive and cherish Jesus Christ as their greatest treasure, will, when it is all over, say with Solomon “Vanity of vanities,” and will characterize their lives as a “chasing after the wind.”


The third point Paul makes in this sermon is keeping in line with what he has wanted to communicate all along. He’s told us:



1. Creation testifies to the existence of God.
2. God created humans for the purpose of worship.
3. Repent, and trust in Christ because judgment is coming (V. 30-31)


30"Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
31because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."



Now up until this point, Paul has appealed to that which his audience would have understood. But it is here that Paul makes a break with his audience’s views (Keener, 374).
The Greeks believed (as many do in our day) that time will simply continue and go on and on forever. But, we know from Scripture that that is not the case. Paul says, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.


Now, very quickly, what does Paul mean by “having overlooked the times of ignorance”? He says almost the same thing in Rom. 3:25 where Paul writes that “God tolerated the sins people committed in earlier times and thus overlooked them” (Kistemaker 639). He is saying simply that God did not punish people for their sins when they deserved it. Stated simply, when Adam sinned he should have died, and that should have ended the human race as we know it.
That being the case, Paul now says the message God is bringing is all people everywhere should repent. Throw off your sinful lifestyle and trust in Christ! This is the message Jesus brought. In Mark 1:14 Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Turn away from that life, and trust in Jesus.
Paul tells his audience they must repent because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
Paul says God has fixed a day of judgment when all must give an account for what they have thought, done, the motives of their hearts, and everything is going to be laid bare. And youll see Paul’s message is exclusive. He says God will judge the world through a Man. Though he doesn’t mention Jesus, he says God has given this man authority to judge having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”


We know that Jesus predicted his own death on numerous occasions. And Paul is saying here as he also does in Romans that Christ’s resurrection proves that He was who He claimed to be. And it also proves that the Father accepted His sacrifice and He gave proof to this by giving Jesus the name above all names. Jesus, speaking of Himself in John ch. 5 says that the Father gave “Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”


Paul’s message then ends abruptly after the resurrection is mentioned. The very idea of resurrection was abhorrent to a Greek. The Epicureans and Stoics had been taught that the best way to prepare for death was to simply come to grips with it—you’re going to die and then . . . nothing. This idea is still prevalent today.


1. Creation testifies to the existence of God.
2. God created humans for the purpose of worshiping Him.
3. Repent, and trust in Christ because judgment is coming.


The response of the audience, well, it’s a lot like today—some believe and some mock. Some mock, just like Richard Dawkins. He doesn’t think all religious people are stupid, just Christians. I remember being in Hawaii and seeing a bumper sticker on car advertising for the ACLU and it said, “We’re not against all religions, just Christianity.”


As in Paul’s day, when the gospel is presented some sneer and make fun. They say it isn’t sophisticated enough. Or others say, just as they did to Paul, “we’ll hear you again later.” You know, those people who say they want to live a little before they take this Christianity seriously. Oh, if they could see how they are wasting their life. Congregation, lets be passionate about evangelism. Many struggle with this because they either say they don’t know how to evangelize or that they feel weird doing it.


Let us remember that when we evangelize God is making His appeal through us. It's our job to get the message from our mouth to their ears, and it's God's job to get the message from their ears to their hearts.