Paul and the Unknown God

Call to Worship

1 Samuel 2:1–2 NLT

Then Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the Lord! The Lord has made me strong. Now I have an answer for my enemies; I rejoice because you rescued me. No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

Sermon

We’re continuting in the book of Acts this morning, we’re getting closer and closer to the end. Last week we talked about Paul and Silas in prison, and how they preached salvation to the Philippian jailer. This week we pick up very shortly after that. They leave Lydia and the Jailer and his family in Philippi, and they stay in Thessalonica for about a week preaching before once again people come and try to attack them again, and so they leave secretly to go to Berea, but once there the same people from Thessalonica come again and try to hurt them, and so Paul has to be sent away secretly again, and is separated shortly from Silas and Timothy and gives a command for them to meet up again soon. But while he’s away Paul sails over to Athens, and that’s where we pick up this morning.

Acts 17:16–34 ESV

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. So 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. Some 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. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For 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. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And 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, that 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, for “ ‘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.’ Being 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. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because 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.” Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

When we began the book of Acts, we started with Jesus’s ascension. And right before Jesus ascended He gave His followers a mission and it’s recorded in both Matthew 28:19, and in Acts 1:8. Matthew 28:19 says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Acts 1:8 says “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

And that’s what we’ve been seeing over the past number of weeks in Acts. Both with Peter and Paul and others, we’ve seen time after time how their goal has been to bring the gospel to people who have not yet received it, to make disciples, and to baptize people following their conversion as a representation of their salvation. And in the passage that we just read Paul does the exact same thing that he’s been doing since his conversion, he’s preaching the gospel and making disciples.

But what’s interesting here, is that in this passage we see maybe the clearest look into how Paul engaged with the culture of where he was at. Athens was named after the greek goddess of wisdom, Athena, and so the greeks and pagans in Athens were obsessed with gaining knowledge and wisdom. Athens was the hub for brand new ideas, and so while Paul’s there he starts to reason with them in their marketplace.

Now in Canada when we think marketplace we think of like the farmer’s markets down the road, or Sobeys or the waterfront market in Halifax or something of that nature, but the marketplaces back then were very different, the marketplace was the hub of everything, philosophy, trading, economics, art, and Athens was one of the major epicentres of the Greco-Roman world and so Paul is there in the Ancient equivalent of having Hollywood, the Ivy League schools, and Wallstreet all in one place and he has the chance to engage with the ideas being taught, and he starts to preach the gospel. And the people around him find his new teaching odd, and they’re curious about it and so they bring him to this place called Areopagus, which means hill of Ares, which was essentially just a large rock outside of the city, and there Paul begins to reason with them about his beliefs.

And he begins by engaging with their culture. What does he say? Acts 17:22-23 “So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For 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.”

So what Paul does is in starting to preach the gospel is he begins with where the people he is talking to are at, often times people will begin with sin and the fall and Adam and Eve, but that’s not where Paul starts. And what I find so fascinating about this passage, is that it may be one of, if not, the clearest demonstrations we have of how to evangelize. I find that often times we talk or teach about the gospel and that’s fantastic, but we seldom talk about how to share the gospel with others. And from Paul’s example we see him teach us in four steps.

First, he talks to them about their religious beliefs. He does this by engaging with them about their unknown god.

Second, he addresses what they believe in common, he shows them the similarities between his God, and their unknown god.

Third, he uses this to build a bridge connecting them, making them feel like they are a kin, like they have things in common.

Fourth, he points them to how the resurrection changes and fulfills their beliefs, and points them to Jesus as the one way, the only way, the thing that they’re missing.

And I think the same thing is true in what Jesus does when he shared the good news with people as well. When Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, he starts by talking to her about what she’s doing. By talking about the water. She sees differences between her a Samaritan, and Jesus a Jew, but Jesus reminds her of what they have in common, He builds a bridge between the two of them, and then He teaches her about Himself being the living water that is able to satisfy and save her.

Or when Jesus tells a parable he uses things that the people are already talking and thinking about in order to build a connection, to draw them in, and then to point to the good news. For example when he’s talking to people involved in agriculture and he compares the good news to someone going out to find a lost sheep, or to someone preparing wine skins, or to someone threshing wheat.

It’s also important for us, as we think about how to share the gospel to remember to build connections with people first. People are far more likely to care about what we’re saying if they feel known and cared for. When Jesus provided for the four fishermen and then called them to follow they left everything and followed. When Paul saved the Philippian Jailer’s life and then told him the good news he immediately started to follow. People need to feel cared for, and when they are they’re more likely to listen to the gospel.

Paul shows us this. He’s willing to engage with them on their turns, but isn’t afraid to share the truth. I find that often times now Christians are divided one way or the other. Either a, we’re so against the sin that we see in the world around us that we’ll shut ourselves off entirely from non-Christians and we don’t go and engage with them or become friends with them, instead we just stick to our own little bubbles. Or b, we become too accepting of the sin around us and we won’t ever share the truth, we become too content to allow people to live and let live, and we let them believe that anyway they want will get them to heaven, or to affirm them that any lifestyle they chose is fine. But Paul shows us here, he doesn’t encourage the Athenians to keep believing in false gods, but he also doesn’t start by bashing them for it. He also doesn’t avoid them altogether, it would have been really easy for Paul to never go out on any of his missions journey’s. He would have been able to stay in Antioch, peacefully, he wouldn’t have had people after him all the time, his life overall would have been much easier if he had just stayed in a bubble content to worship God by himself without going and sharing it with others. But that’s not what God asked of him. And it’s not what God asks of us either. God calls each of us to be His witnesses and to share the gospel with others. And so it’s our job to equip ourselves to become effective at doing that.

It can be really hard, and it can seem really daunting but it really boils down to caring about people, getting to know them, and then using the connection we’ve built with them to share the good news with them.

A few months ago Cassidy and I had the privilege of being a part of a class on evangelism and we learned a lot from our professor Steve McMullin. He shared a lot of information and wisdom about practical ways to evangelize to people in the society that we’re in right now. And I’m just going to share a few of the tid bits that he taught us.

First, start by listening to people instead of talking first, people will care about what you’re saying if they feel heard.

Second, have a conversation with someone instead of just preaching to them. Preaching is good but conversations with people often are more effective tools for evangelism.

Third, present Jesus instead of starting with Christianity. Our whole religion boils down to Jesus, and so start with Him, a number of people in a variety of times and places have made a bad name for Christians, and that’s ok we don’t have to defend what someone’s pre-conceived notions of Christians are, instead we can live different from their negative sterotypes, we can take the time to truly love them, and we can present Jesus to them, who loves them perfectly. My friend Noah has a phrase he likes to say and I think it’s really wise, he says: “You might be the only Jesus someone else ever meets.” And what he means by that is, lots of people go their whole lives and neer really get told the gospel, or they never really meet a Christian who actually seeks to live and love like Jesus. And so at all times in your interactions seek to point people to Jesus both in your words and in your actions.

Fourth, build authentic relationships with people, and be hospitable, don’t be afraid to welcome people into your home. This is one that I feel like my Mom did really well, my Mom is an introvert by nature, and I think in a perfect world for her the people in her house would just be her family most of the time. But my whole life my Mom has intentionally stepped out of her comfort zone and sought to open up our home to as many people as who need it. Which has led to us, over the years, having dozens and dozens of community kids in and out of our home at different points. Kids who don’t have a great home life, who sometimes need a good meal and who seldom know Jesus. And through my parents hospitality these kids have had a variety of their needs met, they’ve found a safe place they can feel authentically loved, and they’ve been there as we read the bible for devotions each night, and we pray together as a family. It’s this testimony that I think has been responsible for how some of these kids have come to know Christ. And it’s honestly really simple, all you have to ask is: “do you want to come over for dinner?” And very few people will often turn down the request for a nice homemade meal with friends, but these opportunities end up leading to great gospel sharing moments.

Fifth, be willing to understand and learn about the other person’s beliefs, what they think and where they’re coming from. Understanding this allows us a lens into their life and mind, and lets us be able to better know them, care for them, and share the gospel with them. It’s what Paul did, it’s what Jesus did, and for both of them it was incredibly effective, and it remains effective today, understanding others is the best way for us to share the gospel with them in a way that they’re going to understand it. I think about my grandfather’s example in this, he became a Christian in his late 20s and before that he had experimented with a couple of other belief systems, but his entire life, even now when he’s almost 88, he has been and continues to learn about other faiths and religions so that he’s able to ahve educated conversations with people. He’s read tons about Christianity, but he’s also read about mormonism, and judaism, and islam, and jehovah’s witnesses and all sorts of others. And so when he would meet people on the job site, or when the jehovah’s witnesses, or mormons would come to his door he would be able to engage with them about their beliefs and show them how the death and resurrection of Jesus is the piece of the puzzle that they’re missing.

My grandfather also spent years of his life going nearly everyday to his local value village and he would just go and hangout in the book section there, and sometimes it would be just because he liked books but a lot of the time he would go so that he would be able to meet people there. And over the years he met dozens of people from different walks of life and he always had the best opening line, being in the book section he would just ask them what they were looking at, and they’d talk about books for a second or two, and then he would hold up a bible and ask them if they’d ever read it, and then he would just listen to the stories that people would tell him. And he would listen as alcoholics would tell him about their struggles, or one lady who had found herself tragically sex-trafficked, or a number of older people who talked about being shunned by or hurt by the church, and he would just listen, and then he would tell them of the Jesus who was bigger than their troubles, who loved them better than they could imagine, who went to the cross to die for them, and who was raised to new life so that they too could experience a new and better life through Him. And sometimes like what Paul experienced in the passage we read, nothing would come of it, the people my grandfather met would just walk away thinking they’d met some strange man, but other times they would be moved to tears, and they would weep as they talked to him, and he’d be able to lead them to Christ.

Sometimes sharing the gospel is as easy as just asking someone in the store how their day is going, or inviting a friend from work over for dinner. Sometimes we make it seem like some giant task, and like we need to have all sorts of answers figured out before we can tell anyone anything, but the apostle Paul actually said that it was the opposite. When he wrote to the Corinthians he said this:

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 NLT

When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.

Sharing the gospel is important, it’s one of Jesus’s primary commands to us, His followers. That we would be His witnesses, that we would make disciples and that we would baptize people because baptism is a representation of their salvation. And so we need to take this very seriously, Jesus didn’t reccomend going and sharing the gospel if we feel like it’s convenient for us, even though in North America that’s often how we treat it. No, Jesus commanded us to do this, and He also said that we love Him if we keep His commands, and so if we truly love the one who gave His life for us, then we need to go and share the gospel.

It can seem really hard. But it’s this simple.

First, take time to get to know and care about people.

Second, start a conversation about faith with them.

Third, just talk about Jesus, His love, His life, His death, His resurrection, and the new life that we have access to because of Him.

It’s important and it can seem hard but its that simple.

And so my challenge for each of us this week is that we find someone that we know and care about that isn’t following Jesus and we just start a conversation with them about faith. We don’t need to have a whole presentation memorized, just start a conversation, and like Paul wrote to the Corinthians the Holy Spirit will give us the power and the words to speak in order to reach people.

So find someone you know who isn’t a believer, start a conversation with them, and pray that the Holy Spirit would give you the words to speak. God is faithful, He’s with us as we do this, and we can trust that He will lead us as we seek to please Him in this.

Let’s pray.

Benediction

Ephesians 3:17-21 “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”