When in Athens...Engage the Athenians

Introduction

As much as our world changes around us, the more so it stays the same. As Solomon would write in Ecclesiastes 1:9 “That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.” Today, I want us to look at a culture 2000 years ago, but that in many ways is like our own. What can we learn from the way the Apostle Paul engaged the people of this culture to share with them the good news of Jesus Christ and apply it our society that is very similar. Turn over to Acts 17.

Context

So some context. The Apostle Paul is on his second missionary journey around the area of modern day Turkey (called Asia Minor) and modern day Greece sharing the Gospel. He had been in northern Greece, but he was being chased by a mob angry with his message of Jesus as Messiah.

Acts 17:10–15 NKJV

Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 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. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. 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. Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. 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.

So he had been in Berea ministering and the mob came from the previous city he had been in and Paul fled much further south in Athens. This is the account I want us to look at this morning.

Understanding the Culture

Acts 17:16–18 NKJV

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. Therefore 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. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

So Paul is waiting for the rest of his team to arrive in Athens, but he is in the city. It is still a great city though it is no longer the head of an empire since Rome took it over, yet its language was still the lingua franca (Koine Greek) of the region even as Latin was growing in Rome.

The Scripture says that his spirit was provoked or irritated within him when he saw the idols.

Athens might have been a place you might go on vacation. Even at this point in time it had a lot of history and a lot to do, but Paul’s heart is broken. Here was a huge mega city that did not know Jesus Christ. The culture screamed “I am lost.”

When you and I look around the world, it is so easy to get frustrated about how crazy the world is. I know I am guilty of this and I know I did it many times last week at work. Yet, this world does not have the hope of Jesus Christ. It is heading down this path of a Christless eternity. It is given over to idols and so often we get caught up in it ourselves. The idols of position, power, money, my agenda, my ego, mine, mine, mine. They don’t need to be made out of wood or stone to be an idol.

So Paul engages the culture. His fellow Jews in the synagogue, Gentiles who had converted. Those in the marketplace who were there. Wherever he was at he was sharing the Gospel with those who would hear it.

The philosophers of Athens were somewhat interested, because he was talking about Jesus and resurrection. There is power in the name of Jesus and the thing that sets Jesus and Christianity apart is the resurrection! If we were to remove all about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the New Testament and if Jesus Christ was still in a tomb, He would be nothing more than a crazy teacher from the 1 century and if you don’t care for what He taught go back to the buffet of religions and pick another one! The resurrection is critical. Our faith is in a risen Savior!

Addressing Athens

Acts 17:19–21 NKJV

And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

They take him to the Areopagus (King James would say Mars Hill), the hill of Ares (god of war)—Roman called him Mars. part of the Acropolis. They are interested in what he has to say and teach. “Some strange things to our ears.” “What do they mean?” It perked their interest.

As it says Acts 17:21 “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”

We see this every day on the news or on the interest. What is the latest Tiktok challenge? What is trending on YouTube? What is Elon Musk tweeting about today? They didn’t have computer screens, but they always wanted something new. So Paul engages them where they are at. How are we engaging our culture where there at? The critical thing we will see from Paul and something we need to keep in our minds is that the Gospel never changes, yet how it is presented, shared, and lived out has to (as long as it Biblical, not compromising our faith in the process).

The Message

Acts 17:22–31 NKJV

Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 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: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 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, 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; 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.’ 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. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 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.”

You are very religious (he has observed the culture)

Many objects of their worship throughout the city.

To the Unknown God

Paul uses an altar in Athens as a kicking off point for his message. He uses something that they know of. Remember most of the people do not know the Old Testament (the Bible at the time). The culture we live in doesn’t know the Bible. Yes, the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edge sword and the Word of God does not return void and it can and does change lives every day, but as Paul demonstrates sometimes you need to start from a neutral point. Jesus did the same thing in John 4. He started with a neutral point (water).

Paul uses this monument in Athens to kick off telling them about this Unknown God.

Conclusion of his sermon

Acts 17:32–34 NKJV

And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” So Paul departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.