Paul Evangelizes in Athens

Introduction

Paul in Philippi

Paul has become bolder and more passionate about sharing the gospel as time has gone on. After being beaten, imprisoned, and then released by the grace of God, he continues to go on mission to preach the gospel.

He was a man that was focused and intentional in carrying out the will of God, and unlike so many of us, Paul was resolved to keep on trusting God and was resolved to keep on living in obedience to Him.

And so, it got to the point where the governors there in Philippi decided it was time to let Paul and Silas go. However, Paul wasn’t really buying into that plan. He says in Acts 16:37

Acts 16:37 NKJV

But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”

And now the governors are afraid because they messed up and they didn’t allow these Roman citizens to have their trial before they beat them and put them in jail…and when the magistrates get to Paul and Silas they are begging them to leave so that their Roman superiors don’t come down and flog them for illegally prosecuting Roman citizens.

Paul goes back to the house of the woman that he led to the Lord, to make sure that they are encouraged, and to make sure they know how to organize a church, teach sound doctrine, and will continue to spread the news of Jesus.

Paul Goes to Thessalonica

Now we are in chapter 17, and Paul has found himself in one hundred miles away in the city of Thessalonica.

Thessalonica was a major city, with a major port, and was the capital of Macedonia. It was a city under Roman control but it was still considered a free city because they were able to elect their own officials, print their own money, and able to keep their own troops. It was a city vitally important to the spreading of the gospel…and Paul is there teaching in the Synagogues on the Sabbath, just like he did in every other city.

His message was very simple. v. 3 says, “Paul explained and demonstrated that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead, and that Jesus is that Messiah.” He went, he explained sin and salvation, he proved it by the Scripture, and then he invited them to follow Jesus.

That is what evangelism is.

Because of Paul’s witness, the Scripture says, “a great multitude joined Paul and Silas”.

Persecution in Thessalonica

“Dylan, I would love to share the gospel, but I’m afraid I’ll mess up or someone will get mad at me.”

Well, you don’t have to be afraid that you’ll mess up, and you don’t have to be afraid that someone will get mad at you…you need to be positive that you’ll mess up, and positive that someone will get mad at you.

That’s part of it…when you stand up for what is right, it’s hardly ever popular…and the Apostle and Silas found that to be true there in Thessalonica.

v. 5-9 gives us the account of an attack against the house of Jason. Jason isn’t mentioned much in the Bible, but we do know that he was with Paul when the letter of Romans was written because he mentioned Jason in there in ch. 16.

So, Jason was a faithful witness alongside Paul, and the Jews gathered together and brought Jason out of his home, and accused him of harboring men that are trying to overthrow the Roman government.

In response to this fiasco, that night they sent Paul and Silas to Berea.

Paul in Berea

Berea was about 50 miles southwest of Thessalonica, and the people there were totally different.

The Bible says in v. 11, that they were “fair-minded”. It literally means that they were “well-born” or noble.

But the noble thing about the people in Berea was not their societal standing, it was not their economic class, the true reason for their nobility was because they desired truth.

There is nothing intrinsically valuable about being rich, and there is nothing intrinsically valuable about being poor…in the same way, there is nothing sinful about being rich, and there is nothing sinful about being poor…but what determines our status in life is what we do with truth.

If we accept the truth and live by the truth, then God considers us nobility. If we hear the truth but then disobey the truth, it doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, big or small, there is no nobility.

The people in Berea gladly received God’s Word, and they readily searched God’s word, and because they desired to know the truth and weren’t satisfied with non-truth, they believed in God and their lives were forever changed.

Word gets back to the Jews there in Thessalonica, so they make the 50 mile trip and run Paul out of there, and Timothy and Silas stay behind to continue their work in Berea.

Paul in Athens

Then we find ourselves in Athens, and Paul, in regular fashion, began teaching in the synagogues that Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life…that Jesus was the ressurected Messiah that the Jews have always expected.

The once great city of Athens, now under Roman control, has surrendered its vibrant life to pagan philosophy idolatry, and because non-truth was so accepted in Athens, and because no one considered there to be truth or right versus wrong, the city Athens, in all it’s glory, was now a shell of it’s former self.

It was a morally bankrupt city, and when Paul set foot inside the thought capital of the world, his heart was burdened to reach them with the good news of Jesus Christ.

As we examine Paul’s evangelism of Athens, there are three things you have to do to be effective in evangelism.

I. You Must Have Mercy for the Lost

Well, why not compassion or why not understanding?

Mercy vs. Compassion

I want you to read with me in v. 16

Acts 17:16 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.

The Greek word translated as “provoked” is a word that gives the imagery of an actionable response.

It comes from a root word that means “sour wine”.

Now, there was a time when I really loved milk. I would drink milk just about every morning on the way to work…and one day I didn’t get any milk from the house, and the place where I was working had a little cafeteria, and you could go in and get a bottle of milk.

Now, where I worked, it was a long walk to my work area. I walked about a mile in and a mile out every day for work…and as I was walking in, I stopped to get that milk, I started getting thirsty on that long walk, I decided I was going to drink that milk while I was walking.

I’m walking, not paying attention, I opened that little jug of milk, and as I turned it up to chug that milk, I have sour milk pouring into my esophagus, and I am drowning in agony.

Can you imagine that there was some sort of actionable response to that flavor…yes there was…and after I almost puked, and cried, I just don’t like milk as much as I used to.

That’s the difference between mercy and compassion.

Compassion for people is just a heart-felt concern…Mercy is a life-changing experience given by action.

When Paul saw the city filled with idol worship, it “provoked” him, it “moved” him, to do something about it.

You’ll never be a soul-winner if you never cultivate mercy for lost people.

Paul’s approach to this city is so radically different than ours, because when Paul considered their lostness, yes, he may have been in disgust, yes, he may have felt out of place, but that didn’t prevent him from sharing the hope of Jesus Christ with anyone willing to listen.

If I were to ask you to raise your hand if you believe anyone can be saved, probably all of you would raise your hand.

But it’s not what you say that shows God what you believe, it’s what you do.

So, here’s the question for you….

When you see lost people…when they are visibly lost…maybe they are outwardly projecting that they are inclined to pagan worship, maybe they look like they belong to a gang, maybe they seem like they are someone who would cut you just for mentioning religion, what’s your reaction to those people?

Are you merciful? Are you moved to share the hope of the gospel with them?

Or are you calloused and cold?

Maybe there has never been a time in your life when you thought, “I need to ask that person if they know Jesus.”

Maybe when you see a person that doesn’t look like you, your immediate thought is, “As long as they stay away from me, I should be alright.”

Paul had mercy…because when he saw that the city was given over to idol worship, Scripture says his spirit was “provoked” in him.

He didn’t have a feeling of helplessness in that place, but instead, he had a feeling of sour wine in his throat and in his belly. He had a burning and a stirring to deliver hope to the people there in Athens.

Look now in v. 17-21

Paul the Babbler

Acts 17:17–21 NKJV

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. 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.

These Epicureans had one goal in life…they had the goal of pleasure.

They didn’t like morality because it was too restrictive.

They didn’t like religion because it was too dogmatic.

They didn’t like spiritual things because death has the final say, so you better find pleasure on earth.

Everything to these people was hunky-dory all the time…they lived in la-la land much like people today…but that’s another conversation for another time.

Then you have the Stoics…and they were almost the opposite.

They thought that everything is god and whatever happens is destiny.

Their mindset was this, “Nothing matters, there is no good or evil, and there is no hope.”

They challenged Paul and called him a “babbler”.

What they were doing was making fun of him, saying that he was like a bird collecting seeds. That he was borrowing from other teachers and then trying to make up his own philosophy and religion.

Others recognized him and thought he was talking about foreign Gods

So, wanting to get the latest teaching and the newest philosophy, they bring him to the Areopagus and they want Paul to give a long-form speech about his teaching…pretty much, Paul is about to preach a sermon to this indifferent crowd.

Now, the Areopagus was at Mars’ Hill… a Hill named for the Roman God Mars, and it was the highest place of religious debate, and now Paul is there to give a defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to persuade this indifferent crowd that they need to accept Jesus as their savior.

And the way that Paul opens this message is the way that we should begin all evangelistic conversations, and the way that we should reach the world outside the four walls of our church.

So, Paul has Mercy for the lost…and then what we see is that Paul builds a bridge leading to life.

II. Build a Bridge of Life

We have a problem in our churches, because we have people in our churches.

What begins to happen over time is we go from bridge builders to wall builders.

Now, listen…I am not talking about borders and security, I am talking about reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don’t conflate the two. What I mean to say is that we go having mercy for the lost to having a disdain for those that are different.

In every church there is always the threat that everything will become about satisfying the members and nothing will be about reaching the lost.

When a church, when a people, forget about the need to reach those in the community around them, the church ceases to be a church and turns into a country club…and when a church turns into a country club, the Spirit of God is gone, and the church is on a path of death and decline.

So, here, we see that Paul builds a bridge leading to life, because he extends the warm hand of understanding.

Acts 17:22–23 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:

Paul begins his evangelistic message with a compliment to their devout system of belief. What he’s doing is he is building a bridge to lower the defense of their minds so that he can address their hearts.

Then he says, “there is an altar TO THE UNKNOWN GOD”.

Paul compliments them, he identifies with them, and now he is reasoning with them. He is saying to them, “By your own admission, there is a God that you don’t know, and I am here to show you that God.”

Acts 17:24–29 NKJV

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.

And so now that Paul has built the bridge, he shows them that the bridge he is building is their pathway to life.

He does this by reasoning with them and refuting them in a way that is logical, compassionate, and kind…focusing on the attributes and the character of God.

1. God the Creator

In v. 24, he says that God is the creator of heaven and earth, and by saying this, he is telling this apathetic and uninterested crowd that there is purpose and meaning in life.

He is trying relay the message to them that there is a God in heaven. A God that knows them and has a burning desire that they should know Him too.

Not only does he address the purpose of life, he addresses the origin of life…v. 24 is a bold declaration that God is the uncreated Creator…and that eternal life exists.

2. God the Provider

In v. 25, he says that God is not a God that is selfish or greedy, but that God is a loving God, who cares about the suffering of man. He’s not a God that we can build for, but He is a God that must be worshipped in spirit and in truth…that He is a God that receives worship when we obey His Word.

3. God the Sovereign

v. 26-27 boldly declare that God has ordained the beginning of the world and the end of the world, and that all things are working according to His plan.

There are too many people that think life is a game of chance. They think that there is no order or design, but that there is only destruction and chaos.

But God says, that in His timing, and in His perfection, the world will be made perfect again.

And that’s the truth, that at the end of all time, Jesus will come back and establish His throne in Jerusalem, and the whole world will worship Him and submit to His authority. At that time, God’s sovereign plan will be complete, and the world will come to and end.

Now, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t free will. Yes, God is sovereign. Yes, God has written the end. But God is not some sort of cosmic dictator…He is God, and you will accept Him in this life, or you spend an eternity in Hell separated from Him.

There is no special class of people that God has accepted…there are only those who trust in His Son Jesus, or those who deny His son Jesus.

4. God the Divine

v. 28-29 declare God as divine and not some graven work of art. Not some kind of vain idol. But that God is Spirit, and He is eternal, and He is divine. He’s not a God that can be understood or recreated by using gold, silver, or stone, and He’s not something we can create in our own mind.

This group had the same problem that men in this day have…they have created a idea of God in their mind and that is a false God.

God has revealed Himself in three ways. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, through His inspired Word, and through the witness of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, that “He will testify of Me.”

We cannot look at a false God made of silver and stone, and expect life…

Life in God comes from the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, which we get when we hear His Word and trust in His Son, Jesus

So, Paul had a mercy for the lost and it moved him to tell others about Christ…he built a bridge with the people there so that they would hear him out…but the most important thing that Paul does is he spoke the truth with conviction.

III. Speak the Truth with Conviction

Now there are two requirements for this last part.

There must be conviction, and there must be truth.

To speak with conviction and not speak in truth would be like eatin a vegan steak. No meat, no substance…just filler.

Then to speak truth without conviction would be like eating a potato with no salt. There ain’t no flavor, and no one wants it.

When you proclaim the gospel, there must be truth and there must be conviction.

Acts 17:30–34 NKJV

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.” 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.

Conclusion

We’re not called to win world, we’re just called to share the message of Christ.

If someone rejects us, they’re not rejecting us, they’re rejecting Jesus Christ, and it’s nothing personal.

Even the most prominent church planter and theologian that has ever lived was criticized and scrutinized when he shared his faith…and the point is not the outcome, the point is that Paul was obedient to what God called him to do…and what God calls all of us to do. Matthew 28:19-20

Matthew 28:19–20 NKJV

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”