Say the word “spiritual” today, and really, you’ve said nothing. There are all sorts of “spiritualities” out there in the marketplace. Google the word “spirituality”, and here’s outcome:
• Spirituality.com, from the Christian Science society
• Jewish kabbalah inspirational prayers
• Spiritualityandpractice.com, a “multi-faith website on ways to practice spirituality in everyday life”, where I listened to a song on the “37 spiritual practices”, set to “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. Positively ghastly.
• “Native American” and “New Age” spirituality links
• “Spirituality for Today”, a Roman Catholic site
• One writer wishes us “Namaste”, which translated means, “the universal spirit within me bows to the universal spirit within you in oneness". My universal spirit then upchucks.
• I could “deepen my spiritual connection to discover my purpose in life”, courtesy of Deepak Chopra
• Find mind-blowing psychic predictions (for a price, of course)
• A guy aptly-named “Jeff Krock”, who advises us to “Integrate the full spectrum of your power and touch your deepest peace.”
And all of that’s just the first page that pops up. In today’s text, Paul visits a “spiritual” place; let’s read today’s text together!
I am indebted for the basic outline of today’s message to the great British Bible teacher John Stott, who helped me out of a difficult time this week. Now, this isn’t Stott’s message; if it were, it’d be a lot better! But his main outline was worthy of using.
I. What Paul Saw - :16a
We’re going to talk about Athens today, but you can put away your Bulldog paraphernalia; I mean the real Athens, not its Georgia namesake. That’s where we find Paul waiting on Silas and Timothy to arrive from Berea. The Athens Paul found was but a shadow of her former self, with perhaps no more than 10,000 or so individuals living there. But its heyday had been glorious, the cultural and intellectual center of the world; people such as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Epicurus, and Zeno lived there. Though conquered by Rome in 146 B.C., the empire had allowed Athens free to govern its own affairs within the empire. And though its greatness was long-since past, it continued to live in and on that glorious past. It was a city full of idols, the Greek pantheon of gods occupying a conspicuous place there; in fact, in the original language, the suggestion is that the city was almost “smothered” with idols. Pausanius, who was to visit Athens some 50 years after the apostle Paul, said that it was easier to meet a god on the streets of Athens than to meet a man, and there is evidence that perhaps that was literally true!
We need not think of an idol necessarily as a carved or chiseled image, though that’s what Paul was looking at. An idol is a God-substitute. And it can take many different forms. We even use the term on our most popular TV program: “American Idol”. Of course, we don’t bow down to singers…at least we don’t in theory. Quite frankly, as I look at contemporary American society, I find a whole lot of similarities to Athens of Paul’s day, and as we go through this passage, you might be looking for some:
• Novelty – give me something new!
• Multiplicity of spiritualities
• Emphasis upon “spirituality”—theory, feelings, experiences, personalities—over doing (forgetting that faith without works is dead)
And you could probably add to that list; be on the lookout as we work our way through this passage. Point is, this passage is pertinent to us because it describes ministering in a world and situation not that foreign to us. The Athens Paul saw was like us!
II. What Paul Felt - :16b
“His spirit was provoked within him” (:16). Now, if we were to journey to Athens today and see some of that magnificent architecture, and some of the statues dedicated to the Greek gods, no one would be tempted to bow down and worship, but in Paul’s day, that’s exactly what was going on; these statues and images were indicative of false gods, worshipped by the Athenians. Paul wasn’t filled with artistic appreciation, as we might be; he found such idolatry spiritually repulsive, and though he was originally going to wait there for Silas and Timothy before beginning his mission to the Athenians, he found their false worship so disgusting that he couldn’t help but speak.
What was disgusting about it? It robbed God of the glory due His name. No one or nothing else can possibly have a claim on the title “god”. And so when people make gods out of stone and silver, or out of celebrities and relationships, or out of what-have-you, God is being robbed of the glory due only His name, and it is not only appropriate that God jealously guard His name, but that we do as well. That’s exactly what Paul felt in Athens, a righteous indignation, if you will, at the fact that the name and the place of the true and living God was being denigrated in favor of these would-be gods. So what did he do about it?
III. What Paul Did - :17-21
First, he went into the synagogue and told Jews about Jesus; by now, you recognize this as his strategy, to first go there. Beyond that, the Bible says he “reasoned every day in the marketplace with those who happened to be there.” It was said of Socrates that he’d frequent the Agora, the marketplace, when it was most busy, in order to engage as many as he could in conversation. It seems that with Paul now in the city of Socrates, he decided to use a similar method. Here he finds, among others, two groups of philosophers: Epicureans and Stoics. Who were these guys, what did they believe, and are any around today?
Epicureanism: Epicurus believed that the greatest good was to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquility and freedom from fear as well as absence of bodily pain through knowledge of the workings of the world and the limits of our desires. The highest pleasure is obtained by knowledge, friendship, and living a virtuous and temperate life.
We could say that Epicureanism finds its voice in American history through the clause, “the pursuit of happiness”, embedded in our Declaration of Independence; that’s not surprising, because Thomas Jefferson declared himself to be an Epicurean. We may not see many true Epicureans today, but the hedonism to which Epicureanism is related is a biggie!
Stoicism: Stoicism became the foremost popular philosophy among the educated elite in the Greco-Roman Empire. Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions; becoming a clear and unbiased thinker allows one to understand the “universal reason”. Stoics believe that, by mastering passions and emotions, it is possible to find equilibrium in oneself and in the world. Stoicism was pantheistic, meaning that Stoics saw God as in everything.
Stoicism, in popular form, is “don’t worry; be happy!” Nice advice, this mind-over-matter philosophy, but absent a basis (“why not worry?”), it isn’t very helpful. In fact, it is a variation of the whole “try harder” philosophy that doesn’t work! This isn’t far at all from what we hear Joel Osteen saying, frankly; it’s “try a little harder, and you can do better”, not the message of grace!
Note, Paul ministers to three very different groups of people here:
a. To the Biblically-oriented, who know the Scripture but not the Savior
b. To the man in the street, the Average Joe
c. To the intellectually-superior, who for their learning didn’t have the wisdom given by God to believers
The key to Paul’s witness is contextualization; that is, the gospel is presented in terms and concepts that are familiar to those of a given culture (without compromising the gospel message). Karen and Jacob are Bible translators. Suppose they are faced with translating Isaiah 1, where the Scripture talks about sins being made “white as snow”, in a culture where snow is a foreign concept. Do they translate “snow”, and then try to explain to these folks that, in some parts of the world, this cold stuff falls from the sky, and it’s really, really white? Or do they search for the whitest thing they can find in that culture and translate the Scripture “white as ______?” Not an easy question, but the point is that taking culture into account when sharing the gospel is altogether appropriate, as Paul demonstrates.
And these Epicureans and Stoics, though they disagreed strongly with each other, together listened to Paul and said, “this guy is a ‘babbler’”, a word which was used of scrap collectors searching for junk—think Fred Sanford—and then came to be extended to people who picked up the philosophies and opinions of others and babbled them forth, not understanding what they were teaching. And so the fact that they carted him off before the leading citizens of Athens, the “city fathers”, if you will, is probably indicative of jesting and derision, more so than a serious desire to get at the facts of the matter. He might put on a good show for the elders, provide some comic relief with his silliness. At the same time, these men who governed the city could determine whether to allow him to continue to preach and teach freely.
IV. What Paul Said - :22-34
The Areopagus, or “Mars Hill”, began as a gathering place for judicial prosecutions, a courtroom of sorts, where murder trials were carried out. Over time, it became the gathering place of the city administrators, the leading men of Athens. You’ve got to figure that the initial reaction to Paul, on the part of these men, was “who is this hayseed?” He was a Roman citizen, but he was Jewish, new in those parts, and teaching a strange message that to their ears was a denial of everything that they held dear, the idea that there was one God, instead of many, and talk about a man rising bodily from the grave. Huh?
And so Paul begins. He’s not answering questions no one is asking, a common criticism of churches today; he comes to them on their own terms. He takes a point of contact with their own culture, in keeping with their own understanding, but moves from there to the gospel of Jesus Christ. FF Bruce calls this message “an introductory lesson in Christianity for cultured pagans”.
- “You guys are quite religious”
o Not a compliment; a mere observation
o Flattery was frowned on in the Areopagus anyway
o Established a point of contact
- “You make room for a god you don’t know; I know Him!”
The Athenians acknowledge their ignorance, with altars to “the unknown god”, in the event that there was a god whom they were somehow missing. Diogenes Laertius writes that such worship constituted a “safety precaution…The thinking was that if the gods were not properly venerated they would strike the city. Hence, lest they inadvertently invoke the wrath of some god in their ignorance of him or her, the city set up these altars to unknown gods”. Far be it from these people to leave out a god, because Greek gods being what they were (in their minds), the wrath of that unknown god might come back to harm them!
Paul is not in any way endorsing their idolatry, or suggesting that the God he was about to describe, once known, should go right on the shelf beside the false pagan deities. Rather, he is about to instruct the learned Athenians as to their ignorance, and to the way to worship the one true and living God.
Paul’s words are a critique of their idolatry, as the attributes of God he lists strike against the heart of their beliefs about their pantheon of gods. He addresses the Deism of the Epicureans, and the pantheism, “God is in everything” belief of the Stoics.
• Sovereign Creator
He is “The God”. And He is the Creator God, unlike any other, the One from Whom everything originates and springs. He is self-existent & self-sufficient.
Not in temples made with hands
Isaiah 66:1 - “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?”
No need for any human to serve Him, for He has no lack
Psalm 50:12 - “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”
• Giver of life
Athenians fancied themselves as having sprung as a people from the soil at the will of the gods. But Paul shoots that down, and as well, he shoots down any sense of racial superiority, for them or for us. And we depend on Him; He does not depend on us.
• Determiner of nations
Epicureanism was a form of Deism that acknowledged the existence of gods, but suggested that the gods had little concern for the everyday affairs of men. Deism has persisted throughout the centuries; Jefferson and some of the founding fathers were Deists, though many were Christians, and though the name isn’t often spoken, there are Deists today. Paul counters Deism then and now when he says that God takes an active role in determining the specific times and places men would live, in setting the stage actively for the rise and fall of nations and the like.
• God’s purpose
God’s purpose is that men might understand God’s existence, and seek Him. Romans 1:18-23 – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”
Paul also quotes from Greek poets in order to bolster his points. Certainly, he would not have agreed with their basic philosophical constructs or points of view, but he found in their words some nuggets that could be used and reinterpreted to fit the points he was trying to make. That’s a word for us; it’s not always easy to know how far to take this, but an acquaintance with our culture, with what is being said by the poets and writers and musicians of our culture, can be a tremendous assist in ministering to people who live in our culture.
• God’s basic nature
To reduce God to a carved image or icon to be worshipped is to trade in the glory of the God of the universe for that of something made by the hands of men. Even those today who would advocate the use of imagery in the worship of God often fall into the trap of worshipping the “thing” instead of the God to Whom the “thing” points. We could make that mistake with the Lord’s Table, believing that there’s something “magical” about this grape juice and this little piece of cracker.
• On these bases, Paul issues a call to repentance
o God for a time allows sin, including idolatry, to flourish
God in His mercy allowed sin to go temporarily unpunished, but only temporarily. God has always been more interested in repentance than in judgment. But the coming of Christ means, in a sense, a fresh start; God might have borne patiently with such ignorance and idol-worship in past times, but now with Christ on the scene, God’s Agent of rescue, to ignore or scoff at Christ would meet with judgment.
o God will one day judge all people
His judgment will be universal, righteous, and sure.
o The standard and Agent of judgment will be Christ!
To reject Jesus, God’s once-for-all Agent of salvation and deliverance, is to open oneself up to divine judgment.
o The proof of all this is the resurrection!
This is the authentication of God’s Messenger and God’s gospel message. Everything rises or falls on the historical truthfulness of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
• The result of his mission
The resurrection, the turning point, the watershed truth, was to the majority of Athenians the height of folly. Some were polite and said, probably condescending and insincerely, “we’ll talk about this more later”, with little intent of actually carrying through upon their own idea, while others were openly hostile, laughing off the apostle with a soul-damning scoff. Some were probably sincere. But all of them were steeped in the words of Aeschylus, who placed in the mouth of Apollo the words, “once a man dies and the earth drinks up his blood, there is no resurrection.” So this talk of a man rising from the grave was difficult to believe, a bridge too far for many, but some were converted, particularly Dionysius, who was one of the men at the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris is mentioned, likely someone Paul spoke with in the Agora or the synagogue. God has His people everywhere.
V. How Paul Challenges Us
• The Folly of Mere “Spirituality”
Mankind, someone has said, is “incurably religious”. Christian faith works; I found this to be true in the passing of my dear friend Rusty. It’s real; it provides hope when we stare into the coffin of our best friends. But the deeper issue is truth. Our faith is grounded in reality, with nothing more real than the resurrection, an event skeptics ridicule but cannot successfully counter. “Mere spirituality” might leave us with warm, fuzzy feelings, but nothing approaching the sure hope we have of forgiveness and life eternal.
• God Won’t Fit Neatly into our Boxes
I only mention this briefly, to say that just as God cannot be reduced to an image, an icon, or an idol, neither does He so neatly fit into the boxes that even some of us try to put Him in.
• Pointers for Sharing our Faith
The Importance of
o Open Eyes & Hearts
Stott said, “We do not speak as Paul spoke because we do not see as Paul saw or feel as Paul felt.” God, open our eyes to the needs of people without Christ, and our hearts. I’ve thought that I’d give ever possession I own if I could somehow bring my friend Rusty back. But some of Rusty’s friends, my friends, aren’t followers of Christ, and yesterday I had this thought: if I had the choice to bring him back, or to see our friends come to faith, I’d choose the latter. Yeah, I miss him and will the rest of my life, but his death was only unusual in its timing, not in its fact. Eternity is long, though, and we’ll have forever to catch up. But those without Christ won’t be there to join us, and that’s what I’d rather have. I think that’s the spirit of Paul. Is it yours?
o Meeting People Where They Are
Paul does not quote the Bible to people who do not accept the Bible; he contextualizes his message to fit the readiness of his hearers, yet everything Paul says squares with the Bible. The parable of the soils (Luke 8:4-15) suggests that different people’s hearts are at different stages of readiness, and we should take this into account when we share with them. Where is your heart?
o The Fullness of the Gospel
“Full gospel” connotes some things in people’s minds that I don’t mean to suggest today. Stott argues that people are rejecting the gospel today not because it is false but because it is deemed “trivial”. Of course it is not, understood in context. What I mean to suggest is that the gospel isn’t this isolated thing over in the corner of our lives, good news about Heaven and the hereafter, with little or no connection to life here-and-now. Paul built an apologetic for the God Who is at the very center of the universe—and Who should be at the very center of our lives.
Table Talk
Consider the points under “How Paul Challenges Us” and discuss anything that “jumps out” at you from those.
