Fighting Lostness (Acts 17:16-34)

are you a fighter?

not MMA or boxing

definition: to use a lot of effort to defeat or achieve something, or to stop something happening

fighting illiteracy

fighting cancer

fighting hunger

fighting crime

are you in the fight to fight lostness(people separated from God w/o Jesus)?

Fighting Lostness (Acts 17:16-34)

are we as Christians okay with the lostness around us?

if not, what are we gonna do about it?

cannot sit on the sidelines and say we care

how many lost people are Christians talking to about Jesus?

how does FCC not become a statistic?

how many lost people are you talking to about Jesus?

empowered

Paul as an example of evangelism

1 Corinthians 11:1

Rom 1:16

background

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens

map x2

Paul and Silas released from Philippian jail

Jews brought uproar in Thessalonica

Paul and Silas sent to Berea

Jews from Thessalonica chased to Berea

Silas and Timothy remained in Berea

but Paul was sent to Athens

17:16

explain

Athens

“unrivaled reputation as the empire’s intellectual metropolis”

think Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

think Harvard or Yale in America

idolatry

in Athens

everywhere—think Greek Mythology

40 miles away — Athena gleaming spear-point

easier to find a god than a man

in America — to make sure we don’t point the finger

not a statue, but heart (idol factory)

Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller

“idolatry is always the reason we ever do anything wrong” (165-166)

“Contemporary observers have often noted that modern Christians are just as materialistic as everyone else in our culture.” (167)

how do you spend your money?

“Your money flows most effortlessly toward your heart's greatest love.” (168)

“As Paul has written, if God and His grace is the thing in the world you love most, you will give your money away to ministry, charity, and the poor in astonishing amounts. Most of us, however, tend to overspend on clothing, or on our children, or on status symbols such as homes and cars. Our patterns of spending reveal our idols.” (168)

it is to idolatry that...

his spirit was provoked

meaning

“to be provoked or upset at someone or something involving severe emotional concern” LN

“greatly upset” or “infuriated” Net Bible

linked to word used of a seizure epileptic fit

used in LXX of God’s reaction to idolatry

golden calf at Mt Sinai

split kingdom — golden calf worship in Samaria

Isaiah 42:8

idolatry steels from God’s glory

misplaced worship

God, expose that (especially in Your children)

when we see it in people who don’t know Jesus

God, break our hearts

are you broken over lostness?

Paul not only appalled by idols

but responded as a witness

is that how you respond to lostness?

easy to talk about people in our comfortable homes

but are we broken about their spiritual condition enough to do something about it?

if it doesn’t change, then separated from God

we must let our abhorrence against idolatry fuel our desire to share Jesus

Paul didn’t stay provoked but acted on it

17:17-21

explain

So he reasoned (patient persuasion)

and was ridiculed (give up???)

babbler σπερμολόγος

seed-picker

like chicken or scavenger

scraps of ideas — lacks sophistication

obviously before Netflix

spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new

will you talk to unbelievers about Jesus?

when you feel as Paul felt, you will speak as Paul spoke

divine jealousy

Paul saw men/women created by God in the image of God giving worship to idols that only God deserves

brokenness moved to reason/persuade with people (TALK)

not only the pastor

people sometimes say what they think the pastor wants to hear

but they don’t with you

Paul begins his message before the intellectual elites

17:22-23

explain

Areopagus (Roman equivalent — Mars Hill)

very religious

while it can mean “very religious” or “superstitious”

likely a compliment (backhanded compliment)

‘To the unknown god’

What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

find agreement: very religious

getting harder

growing religious affiliation — nones

agreement

people still care what happens after death

people still wonder why they are here (purpose on this earth)

so ask them

you won’t get better at sharing Jesus without ever trying to share Jesus

Paul continues his message

17:24-29

explain

17:24-25

the ‘unknown’ God made everything

a single supreme being over the world who created all

monotheism (foreign to Greeks)

deeply rooted in OT

creation not in NT

thus He cannot live in anything made by man

build temple for God???—get your own material

you cannot provide for His needs

as though he needed anything

He created you

he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything

God created you

no accidental births (period)

He formed you in your mother’s womb

life is precious from the moment of conception to natural death (womb to tomb)

17:26-27

God cares about His creation (foreign to Greeks)

He has made Himself known through His creation

He created all humanity from Adam

God cares about you

you are living now, in America, Nacogdoches, TX

by His providence

having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place

you are not here by accident

in your birth

in your location

in your time in history

God created you for a purpose…to worship Him

because God is closely associated with His creation

we should seek God

feel their way toward him and find him

our response is to worship God

Paul puts doubt to this truly happening (Rom 3:10-12)

we need the intervention of God

we need Jesus

17:28-29

opening the Bible would have been pointless with Greeks

so uses some Greek writings

yet does not propose pantheistic view (multiple gods)

but monotheistic view (one God)

not God is in all

but God is over all

we don’t create our purpose (modern concept of autonomy — self-sufficiency and self-discovery)

we find our purpose in Him

if we are made in the image of God and the work of God’s hands

then impossible to make an image of God worthy of His image

idolatry is when WE make a god

we worship the God of the Bible

as He has revealed

on His terms

any other way…is idolatry

what did Paul do when given the opportunity to act on his brokenness for the lost?

share truth: God cares for His creation and deserves worship

find agreement

share truth

comes a point where you have to put the truth out there

even if you don’t know how they will respond

where boldness comes in

where empowerment of HS comes in

gospel

God — sin (don’t worship as should) — Christ — response

Paul closes his message

17:30-31

failing to worship God the creator has always been a sin

but now it is a high-handed sin

touching stereo system while looking at Dad

cannot plead ignorance after Paul’s sermon

response? repent

strange to Greeks

coming day of judgement

resurrected Man (Jesus) will be the judge

encourage a response: repent and believe for judgment day is coming

find agreement

share truth

encourage a response

thought sharing truth was risky

get ready to encourage a response

Cutco cutlery

start with master set

usually sell pieces

assumed wouldn’t buy

but then someone did

why should we be surprised if someone trusts Jesus? WE DID!

how did the intellectual elites respond?

17:32-34

explain

some mocked

some wanted to hear more

Dionysius the Areopagite (1/30 like Harvard college faculty — skeptical intellects)

when sharing Jesus, be faithful and...

leave the results to the Lord

Acts 17 is answer to prayer

Ephesians 6:19–20 “[pray] also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

judgement day is coming

do not wait to trust Christ

do not dilly dally about sharing Christ

pleading over souls

“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for.” Charles Spurgeon