I. Introduction – Slide 1
In Acts 16 and 17, Paul’s second missionary journey left little question. God was at work in the good and tough times:
• In Derbe and Lystra, the churches there are growing. There God brings Timothy into Paul’s life.
• In Phillipi, God brings Lydia and her entire household to faith. But they are not the only ones. Beaten and jailed after a riot from healing the slave girl – God brings the jailer’s household to faith after a God sent earthquake frees Paul and Silas.
• In Thessalonica, the Spirit penetrates the hearts of many a Jew there with the Gospel – Yet a violent uproar cut their stay short. A mob provoked by militant Judaizers stormed Jason’s home where they were staying.
• Escaping to Berea, the Spirit drew many Jews to believe there as well including several prominent Greeks. But again, the Judaizers show up and cut their stay short. So the believers escort Paul to Athens.
• Despite resistance. having met with so much success – God’s working presence was so evident in their journey.
• But now in Athens, Paul is alone. Their godless culture is overwhelming to Paul. And at least at first, God’s working presence seems absent.
SLIDE 2
Paul walks around Athens as any tourist would. Paul looks like a midget when he stands next to the huge pillars of the Parthenon – 35 feet high. Inside are numerous shrines, statues, and altars. Fashioned in gold, silver, ivory, and marble are images of the twelve gods like Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, and the others.
As Paul strolls around, he is not impressed. Verse 16 indicates he is overwhelmed and distressed. How could so many people find themselves separated from Jesus Christ? Why isn’t God at work here in this great city of culture and philosophy? Paul gets right to work – He heads to the local synagogue.
The Athenians who prided themselves on their culture were oblivious to the existence of Jesus Christ. Paul knew these idols were just non-living things. Compared to Christ, these idols offered them nothing. But then, Paul’s eyes are drawn to an altar that stood out from the rest.
Slide 3
It was the Athenians altar to an unknown god. Luke only mentions this one. But archaeologists have found similar inscriptions on others. Searching for the backstory behind this, they found one in the ancient book “Lives of the Eminent Philosophers” from 275AD. There it is recorded that Epimenides, in 600 BC, helped save Athens from a terrible contagious disease. Epimenides summons outside help. And we read - A Pythian priestess boarded a ship from Crete. She instructed them to purify the city of Athens. Bring a number of sheep into Athens. Let them go about as they please. Then mark the spot where each one lays. Sacrifice them as a blood offering to cleanse the city. Epimenides led this effort. Everywhere a lamb laid down, the lamb was sacrificed to the unknown god. Such areas were marked in honor and altars were built there. We’ll see how Paul uses this backstory to introduce Jesus at work in their lives.
Slide 4
II. Problem in the World Today – What We See and Feel – Jumping to today, the world bears many similarities to Athens in Paul’s day. Like Paul, we find ourselves today in the center of culture. Within a few hours drive are Chicago and Detroit – offering all their museums, and education, and culture. Much of our world is still in a state of ignorance when it comes to Jesus Christ. Within an hour’s radius of Fruitport, you will find mosques, Hindu Shrines, Buddhist temples, Bahai Houses, Jewish synagogues, witch Covens, and Satanic meeting houses. Go to Grand Haven for fortune telling. Drive to Saugatuck - Find your Zen energy flow at the water through meditation to discover your divinity within you. It is hard to see God at work in the world with all these alternatives.
Slide 5
Then as people of God’s Word, we may even approach the Bible and come away with an odd assumption. We are left tempted to think that God is less active now than he was in the narrative of the Bible. Then it seems with all this future talk about heaven and Jesus that his activity suddenly picks up again in the future. It is hard to see God at work in the world presently in our time without special revelation.
Slide 6
Now add into the equation the state of the world which is in a state of divide. Add in all the drama in our lives and around us. Wars between rival nations. Or defaulting to violence to settle our differences. It is hard to see God at work when all is falling apart around us.
All this wears away at us - But Paul tells Timothy we should not be surprised.
Slide 7
Already then Paul was speaking to Timothy as if these last days were already happening then. But many of these last days forewarnings are all too common among us today. With the misery scale on the increase, how is it If God is at work? Among the breaking news stories of war and violence, storm or more. What is Jesus doing in the world? Where is the peace be still to tame the threatening tornado. Where is there love for God and neighbor that would see violence in all their forms end. The end of gang life where the default is violence. And so forth.
But at the same time… No doubt like when the golden calf was worshipped, God is disgusted by all the bad things going on in this world. Not one action, thought, word, deed, or event happens without his knowledge. Beyond time, God is all knowing. God doesn’t need a breaking headline interrupting say a heaven’s angel chorus in mid-song to know about a tragedy. Nothing happens by mere chance. If we go back to that Athenian backstory about Epimenides overseeing the sacrifice of the lamb… even if he didn’t know the Lord, we can conclude God was setting the stage. God was at work hundreds of years before Paul setting the stage in Athens for his arrival. Paul uses this unknown idol as the basis to introduce them to Jesus.
III. Grace in the Text – Paul gets to Work!
Slide 8
God was at work all along in that godless region. The best prop is in place - the altar to an unknown god. Where the lambs were sacrificed to save the city. Paul brings them to knowledge of the Lamb of God. The Son of God who died for our sins. Jesus who arose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Pastor Chris Forbes writes --, “To think for our sakes that God doesn’t waste a working moment in human history. Long before Paul arrived, he caused those Athenians to place those unknown god altars in the first place.
God worked through Paul. Paul didn’t throw up his hands in despair. He didn’t curse them out or call them fools. God’s Spirit is at work. The Spirit moved Paul to transform a tourist walk into a moment of great ministry.
Within God’s timing, Paul presents a basic summary of the Gospel. He introduces his audience to the unknown god through the altar placed hundreds of years earlier. Except it wasn’t the sheep that Epimenides had them sacrifice. Instead, Paul desired that they know the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ. The lamb who saves us from the pestilence of sin.
Though the numbers were comparatively small – God’s spirit no less drew some to Christ: “Verse 34” “but some joined him and became believers. "Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council, a woman named Damaris, and others with them." (“Acts 17:34 NLT - but some joined him and became - Bible Gateway”) Dionysius would later become the Bishop of Corinth though unfortunately Damaris’s future role still known by God.
TODAY Grace in the world
Knowing God is God. We can be encouraged amid all this drama around us, God is still active in this world. He is not less active between the end of Paul’s letters and John’s return when we live now. And in the weeks to come we will see how he is at work in the church and believers. Though we might have presumed from reading the Bible that God is less active in the present – that is not the case.
It is like the grand show of the Northern Lights a few weeks ago. We need to be looking at the right time and place. Otherwise, we miss what God is doing. Listen how Paul’s words could serve as a convincing testimony that God is active in the world today. Reread 25-30
We can take this to heart. With God still active in this world, the circumstances in our world need not leave us overwhelmed. When we are in the company of others who are at wits end about the state of the country or politics crime and other evils, we have a God given opportunity to point to His Activity. God is still at work in this world preparing to bring Christ’s kingdom into the full. We will pick this up again next week.
