Scripture: Acts 17:22-34
Video Link: https://youtu.be/mhKLM8nneqs
Structure:
- Introduction
- Context
- Ignorance
- Orthodoxy
- Conclusion – Response
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
What would you say if someone asked you to explain your faith? What are the most important things to communicate and what is your best point of connection, the way in, so your listeners can hear and understand?
Today we begin a short (three week) series in the book of Acts in support of the Arotahi Renew Together campaign. Arotahi is the missions arm of New Zealand Baptists. Once a year we renew our commitment to pray for and support the work of spreading the gospel in New Zealand and overseas.
This week’s sermon focuses on Acts chapter 17, verses 22-34, where the apostle Paul is asked to explain the Christian faith to a group of intellectuals who know nothing about Jesus or the Bible. From Acts 17, verse 22, we read…
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 “Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
Context:
Screws come with a variety of different heads. It’s no good trying to use a flat head screwdriver on a Philips screw. You’ll just end up wreaking the screw.
A Philips screw needs a Philips screwdriver. You need to use the right tool for the job.
The first thing Paul does when he comes to Athens is look and listen. He walks around the city and gets a feel for the culture. He seeks to understand the context, the people and the place. What type of screw head (metaphorical speaking) does the city of Athens have?
Well, the city of Athens was full of idols, statues of wood and stone which people worshipped. Most of the people of Athens had no background in the Hebrew Scriptures and no real understanding of the God of Israel, much less any knowledge of the person of Jesus or the work of the Spirit.
Just as it won’t work to use a flat head screwdriver on a Philips screw, so too in the city of Athens it won’t work to explain the gospel using Old Testament symbols. Paul can see this and adapts to his context, presenting the gospel in a way which connects with his listeners, without compromising the truth.
Athens was made famous by men like Socrates and Plato and Aristotle. The sort of old guys you might study in a Classics class at university. So Paul uses the screwdriver of logic and philosophy to reason with the people of Athens, much like Socrates did before him.
In verse 18 we read how a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began debating with Paul in the marketplace. We might think of these philosophers like professors or university lecturers.
Epicureans believed the gods existed but were remote and uninterested in human beings, so there was no need to worry about them. For Epicureans all life is random, determined by chance. They did not believe in the after-life nor in a day of judgement.
The Epicureans believed in enjoying pleasure and escaping the pains and stresses of this life. They did this by not caring too much about anything.
They reasoned, if this life is all there is, then it’s best to avoid suffering by disengaging and not getting carried away by your passions.
Stoics had a different philosophy. They believed the universe was god and that all life was fated or predetermined by the universe, so nothing happened by chance. In their minds the universe had everything rigged.
Stoics thought you cannot change the hand you are dealt, so the best thing is to submit to your fate. For stoics, enduring pain with a stiff upper lip was virtue and hope was folly.
Stoic philosophy probably had a greater influence on first century Athens than Epicureanism. These days we still see traces of Stoic and Epicurean belief in secular society.
Both these schools of thought are a long way from the Jewish / Christian understanding of a just and compassionate God who cares deeply about his creation and intervenes to save people.
These learned men of Athens had not heard the gospel before. Paul’s ideas were all new to them. Some were curious. Others may have viewed Paul as entertainment. So they invited Paul to the Areopagus (also known as Mars Hill) to hear what he had to say.
Paul selects the right screwdriver. Paul begins with something familiar in their context, an altar to an unknown god.
Many in the ancient world lived in fear and anxiety of what the gods might do to them. So, as a kind of insurance policy against unintentionally offending a god they did not know about, the Athenians put up an altar to an unknown god, to cover all their bases.
Ignorance:
Paul does not flatter his audience in any way. He points out that their worship of an unknown god is evidence of their ignorance and therefore of their need to learn. It’s a brave man who tells a group of intellectuals they are ignorant.
But in a way this builds trust. Paul’s listeners would likely smell a rat if Paul was too smooth or complementary.
Sometimes we Christians can be too nice, too accommodating, too eager to please people of other faiths or no faith. But not Paul. The apostle is respectful of others but also confident of what he believes. He is humble, without pandering to people’s egos. Grace and truth, that’s the Spirit of Jesus.
The philosophers of ancient Athens were ignorant and pretending otherwise is not going to help. Paul means to give them a better understanding of God.
A couple of weeks ago our gas heater stopped working at home. We have had this heater for over 20 years. We know how it is supposed to sound when you turn it on. This time it made a different sound. I guessed it was a problem with the ignition, but I wasn’t sure.
I’m not an electrician or a gas fitter. I’m ignorant about the inner workings of our gas heater. I could have blindly experimented with the wires to try and fix it myself but decided not to take the risk of blowing myself up. Instead, I phoned Fergus and he took a look.
Turned out my instinct was right; it was a problem with the ignition. One of the wires had come loose and needed to be reconnected.
Now the heater is working again. I did not know which wire to look for or where to reconnect it, but after seeing Fergus fix it, I have the right knowledge. Not that I’m ready to give up preaching and become a gas fitter. Please don’t ask me to fix your heater. Call Fergus, he’s the expert.
The people of ancient Athens knew that things were not right with the world. They correctly guessed the problem was spiritual, something to do with humanity’s relationship with God.
But they did not have the right knowledge. They were ignorant. They were groping in the dark, experimenting with different spiritual wires or connections to see what might work. The result was hit and miss, mostly miss.
Paul was like a spiritual gas fitter for the Athenians. Paul could see the problem and knew how to make the right connection with God, through Jesus.
Orthodoxy:
You may have heard of the word orthodoxy. Orthodoxy comes from two Greek words. Ortho meaning right or true, and doxy meaning praise or worship. Therefore, orthodoxy means right praise or true worship.
As religious as they were, the Athenians’ praise and worship of God was not right or true. They had got their wires crossed so there was no real connection with God and consequently no warmth.
Paul is trying to help his listeners to realise God’s goodness and love so they can praise God in an orthodox way, in a way that is right and true.
The unknown god serves as a segue to talking about God almighty, the Lord of heaven and earth.
In verse 24 Paul says, The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
Paul is correcting the Stoic belief here that the universe is god. The universe is not god. God created the universe but he is not the same as the universe.
Given that God created the universe he must be bigger than the universe and therefore cannot be contained in a temple built by human hands.
Scientists are not sure how big the universe is. From what we can see so far, it appears to be about 93 billion light years across. But there is probably more to the universe than we can see. How big is your vision of God? It’s probably too small. We cannot put God in a box.
Paul goes on to say that God our creator gives life and breath and everything else we need. In other words, we depend on God’s goodness, whether we know it or not. God sustains our lives. He does not need anything from us.
This means we cannot domesticate God. We cannot tame him or bring him under our control.
In verses 26-27 Paul makes the point that God is involved with his creation, steering the course of history. Indeed, God is near to us. This corrects the Epicurean idea that the gods are distant and uninterested in human affairs.
Our lives do not unfold at the whim of randomness and chance. God has a plan and he is in control.
God’s plan and control of human history is not the same as the Stoics’ idea of fatalism though. God’s plan and purpose is not rigid like a brick wall.
It is flexible like a backbone. When you pray, God listens and he may sometimes bend to accommodate your soul’s desire, where that aligns with his will.
In verse 28 Paul quotes the words of other pagan philosophers who the Athenians knew and respected. There was no point in quoting the Hebrew Scriptures. This would mean nothing to the intellectuals of Athens.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being’, is a quote from the sixth century BC poet Epimenides of Crete. And ‘We are his offspring’, is a quote from the third century BC Stoic philosopher Aratus of Cilicia. [1]
Paul is quoting the Athenians’ own poets to support his argument that they are wrong to worship idols. Hoisted on their own petard.
29 “Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
Paul does not compromise or dilute the inconvenient truth. The Athenians’ idolatry is wrong and Paul uses logic to prove it. Paul is not trying here to be clever just to win an argument. He is being compassionate to win souls and minds.
If the intellectuals of the city are convinced idol worship is wrong and repent, they will in turn influence the thinking and behaviour of the rest of the city.
In verse 31 Paul talks about the day of judgement, when God will judge the world with justice. This truth provides a critique of both Stoic and Epicurean philosophies.
The Epicureans did not believe in judgement day. They thought the gods did not care what people did. Paul is saying the Epicureans are wrong on this count. God does care how people live their lives and will call us to account.
The Stoics believed life is fated or predetermined. If that is the case, then freewill is meaningless and people’s choices make no difference. Paul is saying the Stoics are wrong too. The fact there is a day of judgement shows that human freewill is meaningful and the choices we make do matter.
But notice how God will judge the world: by the man he has appointed.
The man appointed by God is Jesus. We will be judged by our response to Jesus the Christ. If we accept Jesus, God will accept us. If we reject Jesus, God will reject us. This means there is hope for everyone who puts their trust in Jesus.
God has given proof of this by raising Jesus from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. Our hope, our meaning, our purpose, our joy, our very identity as Christians rests on the belief that God raised Jesus from the dead.
The resurrection of Jesus confronts us with an important decision.
Will we believe in the risen Christ, even though resurrection is outside of our experience? Will we believe in the risen Christ, even though others ridicule our belief? Will we believe in the risen Christ, even in the face of death?
Conclusion – Response:
There are basically three responses to Paul’s message in Acts 17.
Unable to find a flaw in Paul’s logic, some sneered, too proud to admit Paul was right. Sneering is an angry, dismissive response. People sneer when they are frustrated, when they know they are wrong but don’t want to admit it.
Not everyone sneered though. Others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” That is a more honest response. Even though it is sitting on the fence, at least it leaves the door open.
The third response was the response of faith. Some became followers of Paul and believed. It takes humility to admit when we are wrong and faith to believe Jesus still accepts us. Belief in Jesus is an orthodox response, a response that leads to right praise and true worship of God.
What is our response to Jesus? Do we become angry when Jesus points out we are wrong in some way? Or do we keep the door open, sitting on the fence?
Or do we have the courage and humility to accept the truth about ourselves and still believe that Jesus accepts us?
Among those who believed was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus,
As a member of the Areopagus, Dionysius was probably somewhere near the top of the social ladder in Athens. He was one of the academic elite.
This shows us the Christian faith has intellectual integrity. You don’t have to check your brain out when you become a Christ follower. If anything, Christian faith is a catalyst to stimulate our thinking and enhance our understanding.
A woman named Damaris, was also among those who believed Paul’s message about Jesus. We don’t know much about Damaris. As a woman in Athenian society, she was probably somewhere near the bottom of the social ladder.
Damaris was wise to believe in Jesus, but she would never be allowed to mix in the intellectual circles that Dionysius did. This shows us Jesus is for everyone, from the least to the greatest. You don’t have to be a university professor to believe in Jesus. In fact, being super smart may get in the way of faith.
In Matthew 18, Jesus says: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Let us pray…
Wise and gracious God, you are far greater than we can imagine. Thank you for your love and care for all creation. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and with understanding that we would be able to proclaim the risen Christ with sensitivity and confidence. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- What would you say if someone asked you to explain your faith? What are the most important things to say? What is your best point of connection, the way in, so your listeners hear and understand?
- Discuss / reflect on Stoic and Epicurean philosophies. Do you see remnants of these philosophies in our contemporary society? In what ways? How is Christian faith different from Stoic and Epicurean philosophies?
- Why is it important to understand the culture we live in? How is Christian belief different from the predominant worldview of the society we live in today? How has the culture we live in shaped your framework of belief?
- How big is your vision of God?
- Why does God judge the world? Why is belief in a day of judgement important? How does God judge the world?
- What do you believe about the resurrection of Jesus? What is your response to Jesus?
[1] Refer John Stott’s commentary on Acts, page 286.
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