The Three-Two-One (Countdown) of Missions
The Countdown of Missions • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Acts 17:22–34 (NASB95)
Paul is in Athens after a hasty departure from Thessalonica and Berea
The Jews in Thessalonica began to stir up trouble because of the Following that was building for Christ
So Paul and Silas left for Berea and began to lead people to Christ and the Jews from Thessalonica heard and came to Berea to cause trouble again.
Paul goes, without Silas, on to Athens and we find him engaging the people of the Areopagus (air-ee op-ah-gus)
The Areopagus was both a court and a hill, due to the fact that the court traditionally met on that hill. The term Areopagus means hill of Ares. Ares was the Greek god of war. The Roman equivalent god was Mars, hence the KJV “Mars’ hill”
John B. Polhill
Three Religious People Groups (22-28)
Three Religious People Groups (22-28)
The Jews: Both by Birth and Converted Greeks
The Jews: Both by Birth and Converted Greeks
Believe in One God, The Father/Creator
Believe in strict adherence tot he Law
Believe the Messiah is yet to come
The Epicureans:
The Epicureans:
Believe the world was not made by a deity
Believe a bunch of atoms just happened to collide together to from the Earth (first evolutionist of sorts)
Believe the world is not governed by the providence of God
Did not deny the being of God(s), yet they thought man was below his/their notice
The Stoics:
The Stoics:
Believe there is but one God, and the world was made by him
Believe the world is governed by fate; that happiness lies in virtue
Believe virtue has its own reward in itself
Believe God is unconcerned with man, he set it in motion then left it
To oversimplify, it was characteristic of Epicureans to emphasize chance, escape and the enjoyment of pleasure, and of the Stoics to emphasize fatalism, submission and the endurance of pain.
John Stott
For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Two Rebellious Problems (29-30)
Two Rebellious Problems (29-30)
Ignorance (23; 29a)
Ignorance (23; 29a)
“For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children And have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, But to do good they do not know.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
Professing to be wise, they became fools,
Ignorance is closely followed by obstinacy.
John Calvin
There is no greater darkness than ignorance of God.
John Calvin
Ignorance of the Scriptures is the root of all error.
J. C. Ryle
Idolatry (29b-30a)
Idolatry (29b-30a)
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Thus says the Lord, “Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens Although the nations are terrified by them; For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. “They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter. “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good.”
Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord; Thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
Man’s mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain.
John Calvin
Themes: God; Idolatry
“When a savage ceases to believe in his wooden god, that does not mean that there is no god, but only that the true God is not made of wood.”
—Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
One Right Path to Follow (30b-34)
One Right Path to Follow (30b-34)
Salvation through repentance (30-31)
Salvation through repentance (30-31)
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
“And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’
“And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
“And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Mixed Reaction (31-34)
Mixed Reaction (31-34)
Sneers, Curious, and Belief