Getting To Know The Unknown God Series

Introduction

We are studying the Book of Acts in a sermon series called “Turning the World Upside Down.”

The gospel changed lives wherever it went.

Saul of Tarsus was converted to Jesus and became known as the Apostle Paul.

We are currently studying Paul’s second missionary journey.

Last time, we learned about Paul’s ministry in Berea. He left Berea hastily and traveled about two hundred miles to Athens.

Paul’s visit to Athens appears unplanned.

Things had not gone well in Macedonia, as the Thessalonians remarked, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17:6).

Paul and his team encountered trouble wherever they traveled.

Early in his second missionary journey, Paul faced expulsion from Pisidian Antioch, threats of stoning in Iconium, and was stoned in Lystra.

Paul was imprisoned in Philippi, and a riot was sparked in Thessalonica.

When some Thessalonian Jews came to incite crowds in Berea, Paul’s companions decided he needed a break.

They sent him on a ship along the Greek coastline to Athens, perhaps hoping he could relax and recuperate.

It’s hard to picture Paul on vacation, but his companions likely intended this.

He must have been physically and emotionally exhausted, and Athens provided the perfect destination.

However, while Paul was wandering the streets of Athens, waiting for Timothy and Silas to join him, he was distraught by what he saw.

Scripture

Let’s read Acts 17:16-34:

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for

“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Lesson

Acts 17:16-34 teaches us that we must proclaim the gospel in a world filled with idols and competing philosophies.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. We Must Reach People Where They Are (17:16-23)

2. We Must Declare the Greatness of God (17:24-29)

3. We Must Call Unbelievers to Repentance (17:30-31)

4. We Must Expect Mixed Reactions (17:32-34)

I. We Must Reach People Where They Are (17:16-23)

First, we must reach people where they are.