Living In A Diverse Culture Part 2 Series

LIVING IN A DIVERSE CULTURE 2

Text: Acts 17:22-34

Introduction

1. Illustration: What is culture? It is the ways of thinking, living, and behaving that define a people and underlie its achievements. It is a nation’s collective mind, its sense of right and wrong, the way it perceives reality, and its definition of self. Culture is the morals and habits a mother strives to instill in her children. It is the obligations we acknowledge toward our neighbors, our community, and our government. It is the worker’s dedication to craftsmanship and the owner’s acceptance of the responsibilities of stewardship. It is the standards we set and enforce for ourselves and for others: our definitions of duty, honor, and character. It is our collective conscience. (Robert P. Dugan, Jr., Winning the New Civil War, 169).

2. Last week, we started a two-part sermon on the topic of living in a diverse culture. In the first sermon, we looked at how Paul went into a diverse culture and ministered the Gospel.

3. Today we will look at the second part of that sermon, and we will base our strategy of living in a diverse culture by things we learn from Paul in Athens.

4. Read Acts 17:22-34

Transition: The first step in ministering in a diverse culture is…

I. Build on Common Ground (22-23).

A. To an Unknown God

1. In the first section of this text, we learned that Paul went to Athens and was deeply troubled by all of the idolatry he encountered there.

a. Then he went, as he usually did, to the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles.

b. Then he went to the marketplace and spoke to people there.

c. Afterwards, he debated with the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. During that batting around of ideas, they criticized him of when he talked about the resurrection, referring to him as a “babbler.”

d. They then took him to the high council of the city, and they were very interested and wanted to hear more of what he was teaching.

e. But he had to change his normal tactics in order to reason with them.

2. Now Luke tells us of the things that Paul told the high city council. In vv. 22-23 it says, “So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.”

a. Let’s be clear, Paul was not ill-prepared for this meeting.

b. He came from Tarsus, which was an educational center in the Roman empire, and he was a rabbi trained by the most significant rabbi of the time, a man named Gamaliel, and he spent most of his life thinking and reasoning with people by using the Scriptures.

c. But now he finds himself in a situation where quoting Scripture was not going to work, because these people weren’t familiar with the Scriptures, and frankly could care less about what the Scriptures had to say.

d. So, he had to come up with a new game plan.

3. He began by almost complimenting them. He said that he noticed how religious they were.

a. The phrase “very religious” means fear of or revering evil spirits.

b. So, Paul was saying they were religious, but the things they were religious about were wrong.

c. Now, Paul uses something that they were familiar with, which he was able to do because he took the time to understand what they believed in.

d. Paul didn’t come in and criticize what they believed in without knowing what they believed.

e. When Tina and I were in Bible college, we were required to read this book, The Universe Next Door.

f. In it we learned from a Christian perspective what other world religions believe.

g. It’s helpful to understand what others believe in order to minister to them. If Paul took the time to do that, it would be helpful to us to do this too.

4. Now, Paul talks about something he saw when he was walking around the city. He talked about a shrine he saw to the “Unknown god.”

a. The Athenians were very superstitious people, so, they didn’t want to take the chance of making anyone mad.

b. Christian comedian, Mike Warnke, who served in Vietnam, talks about a guy he met when he first got there who was an atheist.

c. Mike said he saw him again six months later, and he had a chain around his neck with a cross, a Buddha, a Star of David, a Crescent, and Indian arrowhead, and hair from a sheep on it. Mike asked him what was wrong, and the guy said, “I believe!” To which Mike responded, “what in? I can’t tell from that chain around your neck.