A Study of the Book of Acts
Sermon # 30
“Three Different Reactions to God’s Word”
Acts 17:1-34
In the last chapter we examined three different salvation stories and tonight we are going to look at three different presentations of the gospel and the three different receptions that it received.
I. THESSALONICA: RESISTING THE WORD 17:1-9
“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. (2) “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, (3) explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”
Verse two says that Paul “as was his custom” went into the synagogue on the Sabbath. Some eighty percent of Americans claim to be saved but only sixty percent of those, claim to see any need for the church in their lives. That is not in line with the salvation exhibited in the book of Acts. Like our Lord (Luke 4) the believers made it a habit, a practice, settled policy to be in the house of God. They did not come because it was a special occasion or because they did not have anything better to do, they came with regularity and faithfulness. The truth is that the church in American will have to struggle through the summer because the members have not made coming to church a habit in their lives.
In the synagogue he “….reasoned, explained, and demonstrated..” First, Paul “reasoned with them from the Scripture” (v.2)” The Greek word translated “reasoned” is the root of our English word “dialogue.” There was an exchange of ideas, questions and answers. He dialogued with them “from the Scriptures.” Secondly, there according to verse 3 was “explaining. ” This word literally means “opening.” It is the same word used in Luke 24:31 to describe the opening of the disciples eyes on the road to Emmaus. Paul opened the word with simplicity and clarity. Third, he “demonstrated that the Christ had to suffer. ” This word is translated as give evidence or prove. It literally means “to place beside” or “to set before.” The apostle set before them one Old Testament proof after that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
As a result of his preaching, verse four says, “And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.(5) But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. (6) But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. (7) Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” (8) And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. (9) So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.” (NKJV)
Some of the Jews rejected the message of Paul and recruited a mob of “evil men,” the King James Version calls them “lewd fellows of the baser sort.” I like A. T. Robertson’s translation he calls them “bums.”
II. BEREA: RECEIVING THE WORD 17:10-15
“Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. (11) These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether
these things were so. (12) Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. (13) But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. (14) Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. (15) So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.” (NKJV)
How many lies do we end up believing and how much damage is done to the cause of Christ because Christians do not take the time to examine what the Bible says. Some we in a second marriage believe that they are living in perpetual adultery. Some believe that suicide is the unforgivable sin and therefore those who commit suicide are in hell; and a thousand other lies because they don’t examine the scriptures for themselves.
III. ATHENS: RIDICULING THE WORD 17:16-34
“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.”
Paul was greatly distressed as he waited in Athens. Paul was angry because all around him he saw evidence of people being deceived. If you travel to any place in the world to day and witness the devotion of the people to idols, idols that can neither hear nor help, you want to cry out. Here in the center of the world’s center of learning, Athens, was the most foolish thing a man could ever create, idols.
In verse 17 it says that, “ he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
Paul went to the two place there were sure to be numbers of people; the synagogue and the marketplace.
According to verse 18, in the marketplace he met up with the two prevalent philosophies in Athens, “Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him….”
The Epicurean viewpoint was one of indulgence – you need to enjoy life. According to the Epicurean, the goal of life was to achieve the maximum amount of pleasure with the minimum amount of pain.
The Stoic viewpoint was to cultivate indifference – life is a pain you need to endure life. The Stoics had no sense of a divine presence or divine guidance in their lives.
The response of the intellectual crowd was, “And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” This comment is wrapped in sarcasm. The term translated “babbler” is literally “seed picker.” This was a derogatory term used to describe a person who pick up an idea here and an idea there and pass them off as his own. They are saying that Paul is a useless mimic just passing along worthless bits of information.
The stoics and epicureans although they differed in philosophy from one another, agreed that this new fangled message was not one that would appeal to reasonable men.
According to verse 18-21, because Athens loved what was new and novel Paul is taken to the Areopagus and asked to explain his strange doctrines.
Beginning in verse 22 we have what is common referred to as the Areopagus Address or the Sermon on Mars Hill. “Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; (23) for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
Paul established a point of contact with the people by pointing out that he knows that they are “very religious.” The Kings James Version had translated that as “very superstitious.”
He says, “As I walked among the many statues to the various gods (some say there may have been as many as 30,000) one in particular caught my attention, it was inscribed, “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” Paul stated that they are in effect admitting their own lack of knowledge and it is to this ignorance that he will now speak. He did not begin with criticism of their idolatry, but focus attention on their obvious hunger for the true God. The true God many have been unknown to them but not to him.
This message is very pertinent for our day too, for the once or twice a year church-attenders. People who are good people at heart, upright, relatively moral, with a dash of religion, but who casually and indifferently worship God.
Some are critical of Paul because he does use scripture as a basis of this sermon. But the people of Athens did not know the Hebrew Scriptures therefore he first turns their attention to God as the Creator (vv. 24-26). “God, who made the world (kosmos – literally universe) and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. (25) Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. (26) And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,”
The book of Romans (1:20) reveals the creation is one of the witnesses that every man has of God’s existence. Every human is confronted with the truth that this complex universe is too complex just to have happened.
The Greek gods worshipped by the Athenians were weak and wicked just like humans, yet they lived above and beyond humans. Paul presents the God of Creation as actively involved in the lives of men and nations.
Paul portrays God as not only the Creator but as the Sustainer of the World in (vv. 27-29). “so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; (28) for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ (29) Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.”
Paul now delivers a blow to Greek pride and prejudice. The Greeks believed that they were a race apart and that all other people were barbarians. They classified the whole world as either “Greeks or barbarians.” Paul points out that the Greeks are the creation of God just as every other race on the earth.
Psalm 115:4-8 points out the foolishness of idols made by human hands. Idols that cannot see, speak, or hear call attention to the stupidity of those who make them.
Finally, Paul presents God as the Judge of All in (vv. 30-31) “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, (31) because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Paul says, “I am going to give you some advice, God has in the past over looked your ignorance but that time is up. It is to repent. Judgment day is coming and it is sooner than you think.”
The Outcome of this sermon to the intellectuals of Athens threefold; First of all there was Derision by some. (v. 32a) “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked,…” There always seems to be those who ridicule what they cannot understand or will not accept. The fact of the resurrection was so counter cultural to what the Athenians believed many rejected it out of hand. They rejected the truth because it did not fit into their comfortable religious box.
Secondly, there was Delay (v. 32b) “…while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” There always seems to be those who hear the word and recognize the validity of what is being said, but who say, “Some other time.”
Finally, there was Decision in the lives of others (v. 34).“However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius (di’-o-nis’-yus) the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” Some argue that Paul’s sermon was not a success because he used worldly wisdom. But where there is the salvation of even one, the message has been a success.
