The Message and the Response (Road trip with Paul)
Acts 17
INTRODUCTION:
Today we’re looking at Acts 17 which puts us in the middle of Paul’s 2nd of 3 missionary Road Trips that are described in the book of Acts. The book of Acts covers the first 30 years since the Church was born on the day of Pentecost.
Many others, besides Paul, went out on Mission Trips during those years, but we have this record in the book of Acts because of Paul’s traveling companion, Luke. Luke was a doctor, which was necessary for Paul – not only because he was stoned and left for dead at one point, but because Paul hints he also had some sort of chronic health condition that caused him trouble.
Luke was a meticulous note-keeper and researcher. The Gospel of Luke was a result of hundreds of eye-witness interviews he did with those who knew Jesus and witnessed the events of his life and death. I’m sure he was keeping notes during all these events we read about in the book of Acts.
On this 2nd missionary trip, Paul and Silas visited some of the churches they established on the first trip. (You can see a map of this on the screen) Chapter 17 of Acts tells about the three cities marked in red on the map: Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. After they established a church in Thessalonica, some of the Jews and townspeople stirred up trouble for them (a common problem these missionaries faced.) Paul and Silas headed out to Berea where the people in the synagogue received them gladly and believed the message. But before long, some of the folks in Thessalonica found out where they were and came over to Berea. They stirred up so much trouble that Paul had to escape again, and this time he sailed all the way to Athens.
There’s never a dull moment on this road trip with Paul! While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him in Athens, he wrote the letter called 1 Thessalonians. In that letter, Paul mentioned that as he walked around Athens, his “spirit was stirred” by the idol worship that was evident everywhere he looked. Paul was educated in Greek thought as well as Jewish tradition, so he knew what was going on in the culture of Athens. He knew that the two prevailing philosophies in that city were the Epicureans and the Stoics.
These two philosophies are still widespread today, even though they may go by different names. Epicureans were existentialists, in that they believed that personal experience is everything. They were like today’s materialists and atheists in believing matter is all that exists. Epicurus, the originator of this philosophy, created something similar to the Playboy philosophy. Their most famous saying was: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”
Unlike the Epicureans, the Stoics believed in personal discipline and self control. To them, the most important thing in life was to follow reason and be self-sufficient. This kind of thinking caused the Stoics to be proud and to assume that they did not need the help of any god. In light of this, it’s interesting to learn that the first two leaders of the Stoic school killed themselves.
Both groups worshiped hundreds of gods in hundreds of ways. The Epicureans worshiped gods of pleasure, while the Stoics were pantheists who believed that everything was god and god was everything. When they heard Paul preaching, their opinions were varied. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. (vs. 18)
But these Athenian philosophers were always open to finding a new god or a new idea, so when Paul started preaching, they invited him to come to the Areopagus to explain these strange new teachings. This was a tremendous opportunity, and Paul was up to the challenge … because Paul was educated in Greek as well as in Jewish thought.
He began by pointing out an Altar he had seen with this inscription: "to an unknown god." Paul wisely caught his audience’s attention declaring, So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. (vs. 23)
1. God is Great vs. 22 -24
Paul then presented to them a God who is GREAT – In fact, a God who is Greater than any other so-called god. When Paul preached about Jesus in the Jewish synagogues, he had no need to tell them who God is. The worshipers in the synagogue already knew Jehovah. But in this case, Paul was speaking to people who worshiped false gods --- people who had no concept of who the One True God was.
This is the same thing we encounter when talking to folks who haven’t grown up in a Judeo-Christian culture. It’s one thing to talk to someone who grew up going to church and knows the stories of the Bible, and it’s an entirely different thing to talk to folks who have no understanding of the real nature of God.
Paul started by telling these philosophers that the God previously “unknown” to them is the God who made the world and everything in it – the Lord of heaven and earth. Then, in just a few words Paul wiped out the entire religious system of Greece! Paul explained that God doesn’t need anything from humans – not temples or altars or anything else. In fact, God gives “life and breath and all things” to his creation, because God is GOOD.
2. God is Good vs. 26-29
The gods that people invented then – and the gods that people invent today – tend to be fashioned in the image of humans. These gods are capricious or demanding or impersonal. The God Paul presented is a God who cares for every person of every nation … not only a God who cares, but a God who cares like a Father. Paul explained that God made all nations and set them within their boundaries and lands, 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. (vs. 27)
Paul’s message is clear, “why would we be so foolish as to make so-called gods in our own image when the One True God has made us in His image. Paul draws them into this truth when he reminds these philosophers: As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (vs. 28)
Now that Paul has presented the One True God, a God who created everything and who loves us like a Father, Paul is ready to move on to the gospel message of Jesus, the Savior of the world, His death and His Resurrection.
3. Jesus is the Judge – vs. 30-31
Paul climaxed his message with the evidence of mankind’s sin and ignorance in light of God’s amazing grace. He told of God’s patience through the centuries with the ignorance of mankind as he prepared to break into the world himself as savior and proved that fact by coming back from the dead. And now, he commands men everywhere to repent of their foolish ways for he will return to earth as judge of the world.
We’ve seen how Paul made a point of presenting his message in a way that would make sense to his Greek audience. He appealed to their background and culture and took into account their beliefs. But Paul did NOT water down the Gospel message to make it more palatable to these philosophers.
Paul told them in no uncertain terms that the One True God has made Jesus the all-powerful JUDGE of every person. And that God gave proof of this by raising Jesus from the dead.
The preaching of resurrection from the dead was not acceptable to many there listening to Paul that day on Mars Hill for it did not square with Greek philosophy. Many Greeks considered the human body to be a prison, and the sooner released from it the better. So why bother resurrecting to continue living in that same body? And many there that day did not like the thought of being judged for their deeds. That same idea is unpalatable with many today.
There is much about the message of the Gospel that doesn’t find ready acceptance with the world any more than it did in Paul’s day. But the main thing to notice about what Paul said in Mars Hill is that he didn’t change the message to placate the sensitivities of the philosophers of that day. What Paul said that day on Mars Hill about Jesus is that this is a judge like no other!
In John 12:47 Jesus said, "I came to save the world, not to judge it."
This judge offers salvation from the judgment. He paid the price with his own death. All that is required is to believe and accept. Judgment falls only on those who reject the judge's offer of salvation and, in effect, say, "I'd choose judgment rather than Your offer of salvation."
What Paul preached in Athens is the same message he preached in the other cities he visited. It is the same Gospel that we preach today. We dare not water down the gospel just because some will not be drawn to it on first hearing.
CONCLUSION:
We can see in this one chapter of Acts that many believed the Gospel in each town, but at the same time many refused to believe. When you read through this chapter, you see 4 responses to the Gospel that are the same responses we often see today.
In Thessalonica, those who didn’t believe reacted with PERSECUTION. Some folks are angered by the gospel and set themselves up as enemies of the message of God’s Grace.
In Athens, we read 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.” (Vs. 32) MOCKERY or PROCRASTINATION are common responses to the Gospel. It’s easy to sneer and make fun of just about anything if you don’t want to confront the topic. And it’s even easier to say, “Hmmm, interesting … Well, I’ll think about it later.” We can hope that some of those folks WILL think about it later and come to belief.
The one city that responded with overwhelming belief is the city of Berea where the Gospel message met this wonderful result: 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
So what is your response to what you hear from God’s word?
• Are you inclined to ridicule and make light of what you hear?
• Do you want to put off making any kind of decision about the gospel to a later date?
• Do you resist and oppose the message of the gospel?
• Or, like the noble Bereans, do you receive God’s truth with gladness and study it daily to affirm the facts of the message?
Your response will have everything to do with your future condition. The judgment day is coming sure and soon. What group will you be a part of when the judging is done? Sheep or Goats? Saved or Lost? Glad or Sad?
It’s all up to you. How will you respond to the gospel message?
