Babbling For Jesus
Acts 17:16-34
Turn to Acts 17 in your Bible. I'm going to be preaching a message I've entitled "Babbling For Jesus."
I heard about a preacher's son that asked his dad, "Dad, what's the highest number you've ever counted to?" The preacher said, "I don't know, I haven't really thought about it before." The son replied, "I counted to 5,372 one time." The preacher asked, "why did you stop at that number?" to which his child responded, "You were done with your sermon."
Now I don't know what you do while I preach, some doodle on your bulletin - our custodian has found some of your artwork! Or if you take a nap, read Facebook on your phone, or see how high you can count. I'm not under any allusion that everyone is on the edge of their seats hanging on every word. Some may even think I'm just up here babbling along, babbling for Jesus.
Well, I'm certainly not the first preacher that could be accused of that. As we continue in our series in the book of Acts we find ourselves in Acts 17. The apostle Paul on his second missionary journey has made his way to the city of Athens. Athens was a cultural and academic center and Paul took the message of the gospel of Jesus to the intellectual elite of his day. Some said of him what has been said of many other gospel preachers - he's just a babbler! Look in your Bibles at Acts 17 as we read the account of Paul babbling for Jesus on Mars Hill in Athens, Greece.
16Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17So 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. 18Some 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. 19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For 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. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
26And 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, 27that 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, 28for “‘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.’
29Being 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.30The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because 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.” 32Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33So Paul went out from their midst. 34But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
A fascinating account of Paul engaging the Athenian culture. Q: How should Christians engage the culture? You have Christians with certain beliefs, behaviors, assumptions, ideas - then you have the culture with it's beliefs, behaviors, assumptions and ideas. Those beliefs overlap in some ways - perhaps by the way the church has influenced the culture or by some common grace. But increasingly we see the overlap becoming less and less, and the separation becoming more and more. So how do we engage in the culture. How can we be in the world but not of the world?
I believe as we look at this text we can discover some answers to that question. There are four insights from Paul's interaction with the intellectual elite in Athens that serve as instruction for us as Christians on how to engage the culture in a way that is both faithful and fruitful.
I. Anticipate COLLISION With The Culture
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12
Some of us suffer more because we do not expect to suffer at all. Peter says don't be surprised when there are trials; don't be surprised with there are collisions with the culture.
Would we think that in a fallen world that everyone would see what God says in his Word and they would applaud? No, there's bound to be collisions with the culture in which we live.
Illustration – Telling my kids to punch me in the stomach as hard as they can. The problem is then kids think daddy’s so tough that they can punch him in the stomach anytime they want.
There’s a big difference in taking a punch to the gut when you’re prepared for it and you’re able to flex and tighten up as opposed to taking a sucker punch to the gut when you’re not expecting it. It’s at that point when your child sees you leaning over in pain from their sucker punch to the gut that they realize you’re not superman after all. When you know the punch is coming, you can prepare for it.
Peter says, “Prepare for it; don’t be surprised when there are trials, when there are collisions with the culture.” Brace for it, anticipate it. I see Paul in this passage experiencing a collision with the culture in two ways. First,
A. Through INTERNAL grief
Here’s Paul coming to Athens – the cultural, academic, philosophical and intellectual mecca. Athens was said to be the glory of all of Greece Think of Cambridge or Oxford in England- the academic centers of the English speaking world. Or perhaps think of Boston with all of its academic history and nearly 50 colleges and universities in that one city.
But when Paul arrived in Athens, what was it about the city that made the biggest impression on him? Was it the architecture? Was it the Greek food? Look again at the end of verse 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.
He was irritated, annoyed, distressed, upset. Some of you may recall at the end of Acts 15 when the Bible records Barnabas and Paul had a sharp disagreement. The same word is used here to describe Paul’s provocation. Sharp disagreement, distress.
And here's what we need to understand about this: the first collision with the culture we will often experience is the collision we feel in our own hearts. It’s like the Psalmist lamented in Psalm 119: My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law. Psalm 119:136 How do you respond when you see the culture around us that has no regard for God’s law and his statutes? Is your first response one of anger, veins popping out, “These bunch of pagans are taking over the culture!” Or do you respond like David here, weeping over the lostness in our land; deep pain because the Law of God is mocked. When’s the last time you wept over sin in our world?
If you are really walking with the Lord, and you are walking in this world, your spirit will be provoked – because it ought to be. Paul sees a magnificent city that excels in so many ways – art, academia, culture, philosophy – but what brings such a provocation in his heart is the rampant idolatry in that city.
Think of the city we live in – Chattanooga. Voted best outdoor city in America. So many outdoor activities to participate in; wonderful weather; a bustling revitalized downtown; cornucopia of restaurant choices; magnificent art museum; a job market grew while the rest of the nation was in decline; Gigabite internet service; thriving entrepreneurial spirit. But look at this city through Jesus’ eyes. Consider the lostness; consider the sin-sickness; consider the selfishness, the idolatry, the abuse and neglect; the violence and crime. Can you see it and not weep because people have no regard for their Creator or his law?
Paul was provoked in his spirit. Do you ever have that in the world? We ought to. When you experience that collision in your heart, it’s a good thing. We must anticipate a collision with the culture. And Paul experienced it through an internal grief, but also he experienced it…
B. Through EXTERNAL disagreement
“What does this babbler wish to say?”
Paul follows his normal pattern when arriving in a new city as we've seen time and time again. He first goes into the Jewish synagogue in Athens and verse 17 says he reasoned [same word we looked at last week, we have a reasonable faith] in the synagogue with the Jews. But the text also says he reasoned with people in the marketplace. These are non-Jews, just everyday Athenians.
In the marketplace conversations he encounters two schools of philosophy: the Epicureans and the Stoics. They are a very different groups. The Epicureans believed that the gods were very distant and were far removed from the day to day affairs of life. They saw that as a model. If the gods are not so concerned with the minutia of every day human life, then that’s what we should be like. We shouldn’t be overly bothered by suffering, by morality, but we should eat, drink and be merry. Live and let live. We still have that life-philosophy alive and well today. God is not to be feared, death is just the end so we may as well enjoy the ride.
Stoics, they were quite different. They believed that God is in everything; that he permeates everything, and you could find God in experience - kind of like the Star Wars force. They approached life believing there was a rational principle guiding the universe and you could find yourself at one with God by being one with nature. Not unlike many Eastern religions - Hinduism, Buddhism. We can see this mindset growing in Chattanooga.
Now these are two very different ideas, the Epicureans and the Stoics. But both of them are miles away from what Paul's talking about. So they come to the conclusion that he’s a babbler. The word translated "babbler" literally means seed picker. It refer to birds that go along scavenging for anything that might fall on the ground. Think of a chicken pecking along the ground at seeds - a seed picker. So they're accusing Paul of picking up this idea over here, and that philosophy or religious ethic over there, and putting them all together, creating his own system of thought, and he's trying to sound like he's intelligent. He's a wannabe intellectual.
Illustration. Have you ever been in a conversation and someone is going on and on about something that you actually know a lot about and you can tell, he's just a babbler? This has happened to me a few times, not around the Bible, but about - of all things - the meat industry in our country. I've been in conversations and people make blanket statements like, "All the meat produced in our country is dangerous. They inject animals with growth hormones." And I have to take off my preacher hat and put on my pig-farmer hat and say something to the effect of, "I grew up on the largest family-owned hog operation in the state of FL. We produced over 10,000 hogs every year. None of them were ever injected with any kind of growth hormone." "Oh, but I read it on the internet." Well then, it must be true!
Babblers. People that go on and on like they are well-informed on a subject, but they don't really know what they're talking about. That's what they accuse Paul of. He's just a babbler. He's a pseudo-intellectual; he's a wannabe philosopher, a phony. That's what they thought of him.
That's how some people may see us. Those Christians don't really know what they're talking about; they're simple-minded folk who believe in fairy tales. It's backwards thinking, intellectually suspect. Increasingly in our culture the Christian message is going to sound strange and different like it's coming from outer space. That's what the message sounded like in Athens. The whole story was foreign to them. The message of the gospel collides with the culture. So anticipate that, anticipate collisions with the culture, both internally and externally. Here's the second thing...
II. Identify CONNECTIONS To The Truth
Paul’s theology was rooted in the OT, in the Bible. He didn’t go to culture to find what he believed - it was rooted in Scripture. He was not a seed-picker, he knew exactly what he believed. He was a Jew by birth and a Christian by radical conversion, and he knew what he believed. Yet Paul would look for and identify connecting points. He would look for ways to connect the truth of the Bible to what he saw in the culture around him.
That’s what he does here on the Aereopagus. This is the most famous spot where intellectuals gathered to discuss their varying philosophies and ideas.
And notice the connection he makes in verse 23: I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ This is in support of his assertion in verse 22, "I see that you are very religious!" Remember, these are polytheists. They believe in a multiplicity of gods. And they would sacrifice to these different gods, and have rituals about them. So when you have hundreds and even thousands of gods, and you don't really know how many of them are out there, you have to cover all your bases. So they have an altar "to the unknown god." So you go and offer a sacrifice on that altar, "If there's some god out there that is unknown to us, we even offer a sacrifice to you."
As he sees this he says, "You're very religious." You can say the same thing about our culture. People today don't say religious - that's actually a no-no. "I'm not religious!" But people would say, "Oh, I'm very spiritual." Paul makes this same kind of connection.
You see this also in verse 28. In verse 28 he quotes two different, very famous Greek poets and philosophers. First he quotes the 6th century BC poet and philosopher Epimenides: “In him we live and move and have our being.” He’s trying to illustrate the eminence of God, the nearness of God. He also quotes from Erastus, the 2nd Century BC Greek poet, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Paul is making the point that God is our creator, and as our creator, we are ultimately accountable to him, not ultimately accountable to ourselves.
The point is, he’s making connections. We can do that in our culture. For instance, if you want to communicate the doctrine of original sin, quote our modern-day poets: "Blame it all on my roots..." Here's what your poets have said; here's what I read in your stories; here's what I've seen in your movies. He's looking for springboards in the culture to the gospel, just a small bridge upon which he can carry across some Christian truth.
Two major connecting points that we always have in any culture in any time or place - these aren't on your outline but you might want to write them down: First, people are made God's image. No matter how sinful someone may be it is not completely eradicated. And because we are God's image bearers we were created to know him. And because of that, that feeds the second connecting point: People have an innate awareness of God's existence. people have some awareness of the divine. We are created in God's image, Ecclesiastes says, “Eternity is written in our heart.”
Of course Paul would later write in Romans 1 that we suppress that truth, we deceive ourselves. But everyone you've ever met, even the atheist who tries to define himself by what he does NOT believe, even the agnostic has some awareness that there is a God. Eternity is written on our hearts.
So look around your world and what connections do you see? In education, in work, in entertainment. And it may be much simpler than what we see Paul doing here. You don't have to hold multiple degrees or know who Epimenides is. Just have your eyes open to the world around you.
Couldn’t you see yourself saying to someone, “why do you think you’re so concerned about justice or equality." We live in a day where everyone wants some form of social justice for some group and so they wear ribbons or bracelets, and I can't keep up with all the different colors and meanings of what they represent. Who told you that humans have some inherent sense of worth? The sense of right and wrong? Where did you get the idea that those who are disenfranchised in our society deserve someone to speak up for them? I'll tell you who wrote that on your heart, God did.
Why do people have a mid-life crisis, trying to figure out who they are; a journey to discover their meaning in life or their purpose for existence? Who told you that we were created for a purpose? Where did you get that from? I'll tell you where, God wrote it on your heart. There's a sense in which every human is longing for transcendence. And they look for it in sex, and in bigger houses, in positions where I can be esteemed and respected. The answer is, there is a God and we can know him.
There are connections if you're willing to look for them. So Identify Connections To the Truth; Anticipate Collision with the Culture, Thirdly...
III. Engage CONFRONTATION With Confidence
What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
Sometimes this passage in Acts 17 is held up as a model for contextualization. That word contextualization means relating to the context you're in. Paul obviously related to the philosophical context by quoting some of their own philosophers. That's contextualization. Paul famously said in 1 Corinthians 9: I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
That's contextualization. There is some of that here, he makes allusions to the broader culture. But listen, he doesn't stop there.
Paul doesn't just quote their philosophers and just leave that connection hanging there. No, he's not afraid to show that his gospel message smashes into everything that they hold dear. He does it in a winsome way, but he still confronts them very confidently. Consider for a moment how what he said would hit the Greeks right between the eyes. Paul says there's one God and you can know him. But they didn't believe in just one God, they believed in thousands of different gods. Paul says there's one God, you can know him, and he knows you. He delivers concrete truth with confidence.
Now some Christians like to talk about their faith in a very nebulous way, "Well, we're on a journey, there's a lot of mystery in God, God can't be put in a box so don't put parameters on him - you're on your journey, I'm on my journey." Now certainly, there are things that are a mystery to us, but we don't start there. You don't start with this nebulous cloud of unknowing and uncertainty. You start with confidence in what we do know. There is a God, he made us, he knows us, we are accountable to him, he's revealed himself to us in Scripture and through Jesus; we can know him. You engage confrontation not with uncertainty but with confidence.
And the thrust of Paul's message, the main point of his speech is that this God who created you and created everything that exists does not need your temples, your altars, your human attempts of spirituality. God does not need them nor is he impressed by them.
This would fly right in the face of what they held most dear. And TBH, to be honest, this is what flies right in the face of what people hold most dear today - namely, placing all your confidence in yourself; thinking that I can DO something to cause God to accept me. This is the essence of idolatry that Paul confronted in Athens, and it's the essence of idolatry that's beating in the heart of every human.
Let's look again at verses 24 & 25: 24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Acts 17:24-25
I want to remind you that these verses were spoken in Athens by a man, Paul the apostle, who previously was known as Saul the Pharisee. A man who hated Christianity and the fundamental message of Christianity so much that he was willing to ravage the church; he was on a mission to pursue Christians, drag them out of their homes, have them arrested, their goods plundered, their bodies beaten and even be killed in order to shut down this message.
Saul the Pharisee absolutely HATED the message of Christianity. The crux of the message he hated so much is right here in these two verses. But this is the same Paul - who after being radically converted - loved this message so much he was willing to go through immense pain and suffering to proclaim it, he himself be arrested, beaten with rods, stoned and left for dead, and eventually he would be martyred all because of this message. The crux of the message he loved so much is right here in these two verses.
This message - when you fully understand it - you either love it or you hate it; it's either incredibly good news or incredibly bad news. You see, the message of the gospel says that God is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything. That's either good news or bad news. At the beginning of Paul's life, this was bad news. Here's why: if you feel strong, morally upright, if you feel like what you do makes you in sync with God, able to serve him; if you feel like you are making independent contributions to God and his work, this is bad news. God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything.
In other words, God is self-sufficient. So self sufficient that we can't make any contributions to him, we can't improve upon him. What gift or service or act of worship have you ever given to God that he did not first give you the resources or ability or intellect or opportunity. He gives to all mankind life, breath, and everything. So to take of those resources of life, breath, and everything and think you can serve God with them and somehow contribute to him is the epitome of an exercise in futility. It can't be done.
Therefore, if you're a person who depends upon your own righteousness; if you're a person who depends on your own fulfillment of some moral code; if you think you can somehow negotiate with God for a place in his eternity, "Well I may have done this, but I never did that. Is that good enough for you God?" - then this is terrible news. If you depend on yourself for God's approval then this verse calls your whole life into question.
And for Saul of Tarsus, a strict, law-keeping Jewish Pharisee - this is terrible news. He hated this message with all his heart. Why? Because he had built his whole life upon what he could do to gain favor and acceptance with God. And the gospel message knocked the foundations of his entire existence right out from under him. And he heard this exact message from Stephen recorded in Acts 7, and he became enraged with this message so much so that he and the others there who heard that their whole lives were built on nothing, they dragged Stephen out of Jerusalem and pelted him with stones until they beat the life right out of him.
But when Paul fully understood this message; and when this truth was applied to his own life - the truth that you can't do ANYTHING to earn God's favor, but that God has already done EVERYTHING. That God, being rich in love and mercy sent forth his one and only Son, Jesus, who perfectly fulfilled all of the law and took upon his own body the punishment for sin - that he has accomplished it all.
When we understand that:
5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5
When that truth gripped Paul's heart, he poured out his life to get that message out. Because of his love for God and love for people. And we're called to be poured out for the sake of the gospel as well!
And when we do, we need to understand this fourth and final point.
IV. Expect CONTRASTING Responses
Paul ended his message by giving them a call to repentance, to turn from their idolatry. He affirmed to them that there is a day fixed in the future when God will judge all mankind. You will have to give an account to your Creator, the one to whom you are ultimately accountable. He made you and you must answer to Him. And Paul said that judgment would be made through Jesus, the one who was resurrected from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian message, and Paul communicates it here.
Now there are three different contrasting responses among the intellectual elite in Athens. And those three responses to the truth of the gospel are really the only three responses, then, now and always. 32Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33So Paul went out from their midst. 34But some men joined him and believed. Acts 17:32-34a
People can respond with criticism - "some mocked"; curiosity - "we will hear you again about this"; or commitment - "some men joined him and believed." Those are the only three responses to the truth - criticism, curiosity, or commitment. I can mock it - this is utterly ridiculous; or maybe I need to think more about this and look into it some more; or - that's true and I receive it, this message changes everything.
This sermon from Paul in Acts 17 really serves us as a model on how to engage our own culture. Not just the content of the message, but even the tone of the message. Some people when sharing this message are too belligerent. They're angry all the time. They see people who don't accept the gospel, not with compassion and sympathy, but they see them as enemies. When you say Jesus come quickly, you mean come with a bazooka and blow some people away. This attitude is really unfaithful to the thrust of Jesus' message.
There are others however, they're too squishy. This person has one underlying goal - never offend anyone; may nobody find a way to be critical of me. And so they shape the message in such a way that everyone will agree with it. Come to Jesus and you get all these benefits. Jesus wants to bring peace on earth, he wants people to just love each other and get along. Ok, true, but what about the cross, what about our need for a savior, what about judgment to come?
So this message from Paul is a model for us. A model on how we must communicate the gospel with both conviction and compassion. And what Paul demonstrates for us is that this is a message that can be communicated to any group of people.
It can be preached to those who are impoverished or to the affluent to the rich; it can be preached to the nobodies or to the influencers- the movers and shakers in our society; it can be preached to the simple-minded or the intellectual elite. When Paul preached where Plato had taught; when he stood on the Aeropagus and proclaimed the gospel where Aristotle and Socrates had stood centuries before him, he established forever that the gospel belongs to every strata of human society. Even Athens needs the gospel – and even in Athens God had people ready to respond.
In Chattanooga, people need the gospel. And even in Chattanooga, God has people ready to respond.
Last Thought: Since the gospel is the POWER of God unto salvation, we can PROCLAIM it to any audience, knowing God’s PURPOSE will be fulfilled.
