Areopagus Eggheads versus a Seed-Picker
Date: October 2, 2011
Scripture: Acts 17:1-34
Preview chapter 16
• When we last left this 1st century preacher
• Paul had just been released from a Philippian jail.
Magistrates learned they were Roman citizens
They apologized the way treated them.
they knew they Roman citizens had rights
Rights that had been ignored.
Roman law/illegal to flog a citizen of Rome.
o Remember the Philippians were PROUD to be Romans.
magistrates tripped over themselves to apologize
But begged Paul and Silas to leave the city so as not to cause any further disturbance.
Paid a visit to Lydia/members/Philippian church
Then they left.
Note this point, Luke goes back to saying "they" instead of "we" which means that Paul and Silas left but Luke stayed in Philippi.
Timothy did so as well.
Magistrates didn’t ask Timothy/Luke to leave.
they remained/shepherd the new church,
did promise/join Paul/Silas as soon as possible.
Sermon:
Chapter 17:1
Paul/Silas/100 miles to Thessalonica in short time.
Weakened condition/severely flogged.
Probably took horseback
Perhaps/Christians Philippi provided
Or the embarrassed Magistrates provided.
In any case, Paul and Silas journeyed all the way to Thessalonica
They knew it was the capital!
A church started there would spread/faith/surrounding towns.
When/arrived Paul followed/typical church-starting modus operandi
• He went immediately to the synagogue
Three Sabbaths/reasoned from Scriptures.
took their copies/OT scrolls from their shelves
Read the prophecies/prove/Jesus Christ was long awaited Messiah.
Paul told them…
how Jesus died/cross for the sins of all mankind
How He rose from the dead
Then he showed how all this was also foretold/ Jewish Scriptures.
And this tactic worked. Look at verse 4,
"Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women."
Jews saw members of their synagogue embracing the Christian faith, they became jealous and formed sort of a lynch mob.
o Angry mob couldn’t find Paul/Silas
o Went to the home where they staying, found its owner, and dragged him into court.
o Name Jason/judge forced him to post property bail
o promising Paul/Silas would leave town
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Before we "leave" Thessalonica look/verse 6 because it lists the exact wording of the charges that were made against Paul and Silas.
The leaders of this mob said, "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here!"
Greek translation here would read, "These men have been going around TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN. And now they've come here to do the same."
Now, that's a very interesting definition of two people.
"These that have turned the world upside down."
That’s amazing. It's amazing, just the statement itself,
Can you imagine people saying Craig, "Your turning it upside down?"
That's tremendous.
There are people who live/whole life/world doesn't even know they're alive.
There/Christians that have absolutely no effect/ anything.
Here were two people of whom the world said, "They've turned us upside down.
But if you think that's amazing, get this. They've only been to one town, Philippi in Europe, and already through the events of one town; the world is convinced these men are turning it upside down.
And the rumor has drifted all the way to Thessalonica, which is over a hundred miles away.
When you turn the world upside down in your lifetime,
That’s what happens.
the world says, "You're turning it upside down
One writer said, "There are only two people that count in the modern world, a committed communist and a committed Christian.
Everybody else is along for the ride."
Some people count. Some just sort of use up space.
Some never amount to anything. They just go along.
They float. They're in limbo.
Then there are people who count.
There are people who make waves in this world.
There are people who upset the system.
There are Christians who disturb the comfort of sinners.
Paul and Silas were those kinds of people.
You know, God's always had those kinds of people.
• God's always had people who made waves.
• God's always had people who upset Satan's apple cart,
• Who took a placid, sinful situation and threw it into chaos.
There was one that I particular like and I'll just share a few illustrations real quickly.
• Elijah, poor Elijah made waves already the place.
• He was always hassling Ahab.
• Ahab would have made a black mark on a piece of coal.
• He was bad and he had a woman that was just as bad by the name of Jezebel.
• But it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said on him, "Are you he who troubles Israel?
• You're the guy messing up the system."
• Well, I love Elijah's answer.
• He says, "No, I haven't troubled Israel, you have.
• You and your father's house and that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed Belem."
• Elijah made waves.
Our beloved God has always had people that made waves when they confronted the system and the sinners that make up the system, you see.
I've always had this fear that I would never really count for God and that's a haunting fear.
o I hope it's one with you.
o I hope you want to matter.
o I hope you want to be somebody who because you live there's difference.
When you come to the Book of Acts, you've got another guy and it's Paul.
o Every time he put his foot down, something rattled inevitable.
o In Acts, he didn't go into a town and just gently leave an impression.
o He turned the towns into chaos whenever he ministered there.
And in this way they began to turn the world right-side-up again.
Where there was darkness, they brought light.
Where there was hatred, they brought love.
Where there was anxiety they brought a peace that passes understanding.
Where there was sadness, they brought laughter.
Where there was bondage, they brought freedom.
Where there was fear of death, they brought the good news of eternal life.
We do that by sharing the good news of the Gospel
• The only way to right the world is to right the human heart
• The only way to right the human heart /invite Jesus into it!
Well, this Jewish mob was angry over Paul and Silas upsetting their world so they forced them to leave Thessalonica
Next stop Berea. Act 17:10-15 Read
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Then Paul traveled to Athens.
Once Paul arrived and got settled, he did what you and I would probably do while he waited for his companions.
He took a little sight-seeing tour of this world-famous city.
even then tourism was big in Athens
The city that was unsurpassed in sculpture and architecture.
It boasted a sixty-thousand seat stadium.
Art galleries existed in rare abundance.
It stood as the cultural centerpiece/entire Greek world.
Lavishly decorated music halls
Respected academies lined the stone-laid streets.
Wealthy families from around the world still sent their children to Athens to study.
It was a university city-famous for the way it embraced higher learning.
The home of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato.
I'm sure Paul was thrilled by the mind-challenging educational atmosphere of Athens.
I love looking for more commentaries in bookstores!
Perhaps he shopped in a few Athenian book stores.
I guess back then they called them "scroll-stores!"
But soon his excitement turned to sorrow as he saw how much idol worship was present in that city.
o I mean, idols were everywhere he looked.
o It has been repeatedly said that it was easier to find a "god" than a man in Athens.
And it’s easy to understand how someone could make this statement because there were tens of thousands of them in Paul's day, more idols in Athens than in all of the rest of Greece combined.
R. C. H. Lenski says that because of this Athens was,
"...one great altar, one great offering to the gods."
Well the more idols Paul saw, the more upset he became.
As verse 16 puts it, Paul was "distressed in spirit" because of the prevalence of all these "gods" of stone or wood or gold.
He was distressed because these idols showed him that the people of Athens had a great capacity for God.
o They knew there was something beyond man,they were seeking it.
o But they were seeking it in the wrong place!
o I mean, Satan was obviously at work in Athens.
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Well, as Paul took all this in, God began to plant the outline of a sermon in his heart.
During his walks through the city God helped him see exactly what these people needed to hear.
Paul practiced/first draft/message by/sharing/convictions in the synagogue.
Then he further honed it by taking his message to the street
Discussing his views with Athenians in the marketplace.
Now, it may seem odd to you that Paul, a new-comer-a stranger, would discuss things with the people in the market place, but in Athens that is what people did for fun.
Look at verse 21, "All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas."
o These Greeks loved to discuss things so Paul's street corner sermonettes were welcome.
o through these "on the street" interviews Paul met representatives of the two main philosophical groups of that city
o The Epicureans and the Stoics.
The Epicureans believed that…
The chief end of man was pleasure and/avoidance of pain.
They did not deny the existence of gods
But taught that the gods did not involve themselves in the affairs of man.
They believed that at death the body and soul dissolved.
They did not believe in the after-life.
This was the "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die" crowd because they believed,
If it feels good do it-if it feels bad don't do it.
I don't know about you...but I think the epicurean philosophy is still alive and well today-in our pleasure-worshiping, pain-avoiding culture!
Now, the other group-the Stoics-were pantheists.
They taught that everything is god
The stones the trees-the birds in the air-you, me-everything.
They were the opposite of the Epicureans because they were fatalists
They believed that since life is filled with unavoidable good and bad the best we can do is grin and bear it.
I mean, they prided themselves on their ability to take whatever came.
o They urged moderation in life and regarded apathy as the highest virtue.
Think of it this way. The epicurean said, "Enjoy life" and the stoics said, "Endure life."
Well, try to imagine these two proud groups in the marketplace, listening to Paul talk.
Picture these Areopagus eggheads in their philosophers' robes,
stroking their beards as they sized him up,
"kicking the tires" of his new teaching, so to speak.
Luke tells us that, after listening a bit, SOME OF THEM shook their heads and called him a "babbler"
“babbler” translated is "seed picker" referring to scavenger birds who went around pecking at seed and food scraps that had fallen on the streets of the market.
Like those little winged scavengers who devour any leftover fries they find in the parking lot at MacDonald's
• So this designation meant these guys thought of Paul as a mere collector of fragments of truth,
• Someone who was not really educated...A few fries short of a Happy Meal.
Well, they talked among themselves and decided to give him a formal hearing before the Areopagus
A council in Athens that had the responsibility for supervising education in the city
And controlling the many itinerant lecturers passing through.
Paul accepted their invitation.
What a great opportunity
like being asked/preach before the U. S. Senate
or to share your faith/President and his entire cabinet.
I must say Paul had a great introduction to his message because it enabled him to identify with his listeners in such a way that he seized their attention immediately.
Look at verses 22-23 and you'll see what I mean.
In his opening words he didn't put them down or attack their idolatry.
In fact, he paid them a compliment saying, "I've walked around your fair city and it’s obvious to me that you are a very religious people. I see that you are 'god-fearers.'"
o He went on to comment that in his sightseeing about town he had discovered an altar made to an UNKNOWN GOD
o One of several such idols in Athens.
I came across the story behind the origin of these idols this week and found it to be very interesting. It seems that many centuries before Paul arrived a plague had broken out in Athens. These "god-fearers" decided to deal with the plague by turning a flock of sheep loose in the city. They let them run wild for a while and then went to look for them.
Wherever the sheep were found they were slain and offered to a god. If they were slain near the altar of a recognized god, they were dedicated to it-Zeus or Athena or whoever-
but if they were found in a place that was not near any idol, a new altar was erected at that spot and the lamb was sacrificed there to an unknown god!
o Well, these idols gave Paul an idea for his introduction so he said,
o "This is the God I want to talk to you about...I want to tell you about the unknown God."
o this introduction really got their attention
o and then with all these "educated" Stoic and Epicurean ears perked up
o He began to preach a short but very powerful message.
It's recorded in verses 24-34. Listen now as I read. Referring to their unknown God Paul said, Read…
I want us to study Paul's sermon together because I think it contains truth we need to hear today.
Don't worry. This won't take long because his brief message has only ONE POWERFUL POINT and it is this. Paul said, "Listen...your "unknown" God has made Himself KNOWN in three ways."
A. First, Paul says He has made Himself known in CREATION.
As Paul puts it in verse 24, evidence of His power and wisdom can be seen…
No matter which direction they looked because the "unknown" God made "the world and everything in it."
God is unlike their "gods" because He was not created by man.
In fact, as the Originator of all things, He made the stone, wood, and precious metals
Those materials the Greeks used to make all of their tens of thousands of "idols" and the temples that house them.
Paul went on to say that unlike the Greek "gods" the "unknown" God did not need their sacrifices.
o No real "god" would.
o To need anything would make that being less than a god!
o And Paul was right, God doesn't need our gifts-He gives us our needs.
o Our very life and breath-everything is from God.
o He is our Sustainer not the other way around.
This is because, as Paul says in verse 26, the "unknown God" made man
• And before they had a chance to object
• He pointed out that this concept had been acknowledged by their own poets.
• Epimenidies had said that in the Creator, "we live and move and have our being"
• And a stoic philosopher named Aratas said, "we are His offspring."
Okay-let me ask you-does this part of Paul's sermon need to be preached today?
Sure it does-because, like those epicurean eggheads, most of the shakers and movers in our culture still either don't believe in God or they embrace a warped understanding of Him.
• Many have accepted/THEORIES of Charles Darwin as FACT
• Remember Darwin foolishly postulated that the intricate beauty of creation just happened.
The pure form of his evolutionary theory says all of this amazing world of ours
Including you and me-are just accidents-
Part of the circle of life
and that there was no Creator-God.
This is the message that is taught in public schools and college campuses all over our nation.
So, we need to hear this part of Paul's sermon to prepare us for our own "Aereopagas experiences."
And the fact is, there is more evidence for a Creator today than ever before.
The more mankind has delved into TRUE science during the past 2,000 years,
o The more facts they have come across that point to the existence of an intelligent and compassionate Designer.
This is because, as it says in Romans 1:20,"Since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what He has made."
Think of it this way. God, the Creator of everything, loves visual aids!
He loves to put things all around us in the created order to teach us things about Himself so when we look at and study creation, we learn about God.
Hendrick Van Loon, journalist and lecture responded to God's visual aids in creation because after his first visit to the Grand Canyon, he said, "I came an atheist. I leave a believer."
And more and more true scientists are following his example.
You won't hear it in many public educational circles
Most scientists now concede that the universe began suddenly in a flash of light and energy.
They believe there was a cause-and if there was a cause there had to be a "Caus-er!"
After LOOKING at-truly STUDYING-the stars, former agnostic astronomer Robert Jastrow was forced to concede that although details may differ,
"...the essential element in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis is the same; the chain of events leading to man commenced suddenly and sharply, at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy."
• After LOOKING closely at the created order more and more scientists now see holes in Darwin's theory.
• David Raup, curator of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago writes,
“There is the sudden appearance of nearly all the animal phyla, and they appear fully formed without a trace of the evolutionary ancestors that Darwinists require."
So-yes, this part of Paul's sermon is still preach-able-it's message still needs to be heard because the more we look at Creation, the more we will be able to KNOW about God.
B. Well, at this point in his message Paul went on to say that the "unknown God" has also made Himself known in the human HEART.
Look at verse 27 where he says that God created the world-including designing or programming human beings such that they, "...would seek Him and reach out for Him and find Him for He is not far from each one of us."
In other words God designed each of us with a NEED to know Him-a HUNGER to find Him.
He built each of us with sort of a "God-shaped hole" in the midst of our being.
And when we respond to this "programming" and seek our Creator, we find Him, because Paul is right.
God is not far from each of us.
C...the unknown God has made Himself known-through His SON, Jesus Christ.
Paul said that these tens of thousands idols or graven IMAGES were false-but that in essence God HAD revealed Himself in an IMAGE-one Image-the image of His only Son.
As Paul would later write in Colossians 1:15, Jesus, "is, the IMAGE of the invisible God."
And as Hebrews 1:3 puts it Jesus, "...is the radiance of God's glory and the EXACT REPRESENTATION of His being..."
Jesus Christ is the best picture of God that has ever been took."
Remember in Luke 16, the rich man in Lazarus.
The rich man died and went to Hades and the Lazarus guy that went to Abraham's bosom.
The rich man being in torment said to Abraham, "Abraham, dip your finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm fermented in this flame.
And he says, "Would you please send somebody? Send Lazarus back from the dead to warn my brothers."
And Abraham says to him, "No sense in doing that. If they don't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe the One raised from the dead."
The clearest way that God has made Himself known is through His Son, Jesus, the Christ.
• In Jesus God came down to our level so we can see His sacrificial love.
• Jesus was born to set the world right by dying for our sins
• He proved that He had the power to do that by rising from the dead on the third day.
As Paul told his Greek audience we will be judged someday as to how we respond to this.
If we repent of our sin and put our faith in Him, we have eternal life.
If we reject so great a salvation, we will face eternity separated from God-the one true God
Who has made Himself known in creation, in our hearts, and in His Son.
People that make a difference in the world, people who turn it upside down, people who affect this world, are people who know the word of God.
I believe that with all my heart.
It’s people who say "Here's what I believe.
You take it to the Scripture and let stand the test of Scripture and you'll find it confirmed."
Paul says, "Be renewed in your mind." In Galatians and in Romans 12:2 he says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
In other words, you know the word and it changes your life and you speak out of experience.
Listen to Philippians 2:15, ….So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”
• That's part of your responsibility.
• Don't bottle it up.
• Stick it out.
• You say, "Allan, I wish I had content. I wish I could defend the word.
• I wish I could send people the Scripture, that they can learn it.
• I wish I can build a framework for people to really examine the truth."
• You can do it. Confess sins.
• Study the Book. Personalize it. Make it your own.
Before you have any right to tell anybody something, you ought to have it in your own life.
What does the Bible say? "Be not heroes of the word only," but what? Doers.
