The Gospel in Greece
Acts of the the Apostles • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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In my household, my kids and and wife know that I like to sing. Loudly. Being in my mid 30’s, I was of the generation that watched a lot of Disney movies. All those musicals that were coming out. My kid’s could also tell you that when the song “Go the Distance” from the movie Hercules comes on, I’m going to sing extra loud and attempt to hit all of those higher tenor notes. That movie was one of my favorites. And for an entire generation, it really was our introduction to mythology. We love greek mythology, and many others do to, evidenced by movies like Wrath of the Titans, or books series like Percy Jackson. One of the most popular video games series of all time “God of War” was based on Greek Mythology. But to us it’s like Star Wars. Good, fun stories with interesting characters, but not real. At the time the the gospel’s were being spread, in the greek and roman world, these gods were genuinely worshipped. Sacrifices made to them. Temples built. Not Disneyfied, but brutal. Gods to be worshiped and feared.
And in the midst of that, an emperor that was at this almost deity level. This is the context to which we look at Paul’s second missionary journey. There are many locations and many encounters on this journey. All incredibly important. Rather than doing a whole overview of the entire journey, there are a few things I’d like to focus in on.
Where the journey begins is the end of Acts 15 right before we get to chapter 16. Paul wanted to go with Barnabas to visit the believers in all the churches they’d already been to. Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them . It says Paul did not think it wise, because Mark had deserted them on their first journey. They get into a sharp disagreement over this, and end up separating. Barnabas goes with Mark to Cyprus, and Paul goes with Silas, going through Syria and Cilicia. Along the journey, eventually a disciple named Timothy joins Paul.
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
They tried to take the gospel to several places, and couldn’t get in. Was it a failure? It says here that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, would not let them in. Why? Because they needed to go somewhere else. Sometimes we feel like a failure. Was it a good and noble thing to take the gospel to Asia? Absolutely. But that wasn’t where they were meant to go at that time.
I bet they felt frustrated that they wouldn’t get in. But here is what they understood.
The Holy Spirit Leads
The Holy Spirit Leads
What that means is sometimes the Holy Spirit leads you away from the path you think is good. But that also means the spirit leads you into places that are impossible. They knew the spirit was blocking them because if they were meant to go there, it would happen.
So they are called, instead, to Macedonia. Greece.
And here is something you notice as you go through these cities. In most of them, there was a jewish synagogue.
1 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
Remember, the gospel of Jesus wasn’t this brand new thing, it was a fulfillment of what the Hebrew scriptures had been pointing to for a long time. The messiah. But up to that point, it was really just for the jews. RIght? People could join them if they wanted to, so it was fine for these synagogues to be nestled within these other polytheistic communities. They’ve got their thing, we’ve got ours. But these synagogues meant there was already a community ready to receive the gospel. God had worked in these people to establish these synagogues all over the place, so when his messengers came, they went straight to these synagogues. Building on what they already knew. Consistently, wherever they went, there would be some that would believe, and others that would get so angry they’d run them out, or worse, hurt them. But as they traveled to these different cities, and the synagogues within these cities, Luke provides a key detail of the difference between the people.
After getting out of Thessalonica because a mob had started a riot over the message of Jesus, they get to Berea.
11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
They examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. He does not come to them saying simply that Jesus was raised from the dead, but that this was always the plan. That the prophets had pointed to this messiah. That scripture said it would play out just as it did. Many people find a couple verses to fit what they want to be true. But the reason they examined it every day is to have a better understanding of the entirety of scripture. It’s one of the reasons long form interviews have become so popular. I can hardly stand the little 4 minute sound byte interviews now because you don’t get the whole picture. We treat the Bible the same way. Looking for little clips to reinforce what I already think.
But they were of more noble character, and so they didn’t just go with it, and they also didn’t dismiss it. They searched the scriptures.
So they are going where the spirit leads, into synagogues already established with communities ready to receive this new revelation. But it’s in the context of these gentiles, these greeks and some romans. Who has this pantheon of gods. So what’s the big deal? The synagogues have been there a long time, why is this any different?
When the mobbed formed right before this last passage, Paul and Silas were staying with a man named Jason.
5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.
6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.”
It’s not that they just have weird beliefs in a single deity. They are saying a man that walked this earth is the true king. A challenge to Caesar himself. And the affront didn’t stop there.
When Paul was in Athens, it says he was distressed to see all of the idols in the city. It says he reasons with Jews, God-fearing greeks, and anyone in the marketplace who happened to be there. He debated philosophers, with them saying “he seems to be advocating foreign gods.” Not just going to his own temple, but convincing others that they were wrong. Luckily today, we don’t have that anymore. Nobody minds if you tell them their foundational truth is wrong.
Here is the truth.
The Gospel is Offensive
The Gospel is Offensive
Because we are sinful and need to repent. Because it says we must follow Jesus. It excludes everyone else’s idea of what the truth is. Paul is going in and saying there is one true king, and your gods are false. That’s a big deal. That’s incredibly offensive. And while some people debated with him, others wanted to hurt him. Silence him. But the more they tried to silence him, the more the message spread.
So Paul is in Athens, and this incredible encounter occurs.
19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
He’s appealing to them where they are. And also saying this God I’m talking about is not new, but has always been the one true God.
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.
30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
It says some sneered at him. Others wanted to hear more. And some became followers and believed.
This unknown God. He’s not just some other random god. He is THE God. And he is commanding you to come to him. Leave behind all of these other gods and come to the one true god. And this unknown god. He can be known. He wants to be known. I know him.
You have to understand what this meant for people. For one thing, this might make the gods mad, right? For another, say people did stop participating in the worship of these gods. There’s an economy built around this. Temples, idols, food. This all generated money. There’s so many layers to this.
We see it today, don’t we? So many people searching. So many people who say they aren’t religious, just spiritual. Worship the universe. It’s the same thing. A monument to an idea. An unknown god.
This account perfectly encapsulates humanity’s search even today. This desperate attempt to understand the universe and our place in it. The account also illustrates the reality that we all worship. They’ve got their gods. But they’re sure they’ve missed something or there has to be more to the story, so simply “an unknown god.” We make that god into something. Sometimes a person. Sometime ourselves. Sometimes a vice. We put something there.
Paul’s second missionary journey was filled with incredible events and encounters. But this is the whole point of it.
Paul told people about Jesus
Paul told people about Jesus
All of the travel. The danger. Was to tell people about Jesus and what happened. To tell them He wants their hearts. To explain repentance and redemption. Going so far as challenging the great gods of Olympus themselves.
Because when the Holy Spirit is leading, it’s the right path, no matter what events unfold. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit guides you, that you follow, and that we would each have a heart for those who need to hear the gospel, the good news, of Jesus.
