Acts 17. Mars Hill
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Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.
So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.
And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
Paul’s example
In a world filled with idols, our message might sound strange. Preach it anyway!
Go to the people. Synagogue and the marketplace. Everyday.
Epicureans vs Stoics
Epicurus (342-270 BC)
Empiricists - Relied upon sense experience for knowledge. Practical.
Empirical evidence. (Sight, Touch, Taste, etc)
Their goal was peace.
Recipe for happiness
The gods do not cause fear.
Death is nothing to fear.
Good things are easy to get.
Bad things are easy to bear.
Big on Ethics.
Three Types of Wants: Epicurus taught that humans have three types of desires:
Natural and necessary: Food, water, and sleep. These bring true happiness and are easy to get.
Natural but not necessary: Fancy foods or big houses. They are fine, but do not rely on them.
Not natural and not necessary: Fame and power. Avoid these, because they only cause stress and wanting more.
Stoics
The four pillars of Stoicism are the cardinal virtues:
Wisdom (clear judgment),
Courage (standing firm),
Justice (fairness to others), and
Temperance (self-control).
Stoicism argues that virtue is the only true good, whereas Epicureanism posits that pleasure is the highest good, though achieved through moderation rather than excess.
A Stoic would be a Marine preparing for a Challenge
An Epicurean would be someone building a quiet place in the garden to rest and relax.
So they would both oppose Paul’s teaching in different ways.
Epicureans would oppose any relationship with the Divine. No intimate relationship with God.
Stoics were pantheists. Many gods. Opposed monotheism
And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?
“For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.”
(Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
“For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
that they would seek God, if perhaps 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 exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
“Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Let’s look at the structure of this evangelistic encounter
Connection:
v22 Brings up their religiousness. Creates a common bond.
I too am interested in religion. (Not religious...but interested)
Confrontation
v23 Multiple objects of worship (Idol Worship)
The unknown god
What you worship in ignorance...
Creation
v24 The God who made the world and all things in it.
Alvin Reid says in his book Introduction to Evangelism, “Evangelism should begin with God’s Sovereignty rather than human need.”
He also said that “God as Creator establishes the logical foindation for redemption; acknowledging God as Creator necessarily implies God as Redeemer, since God took the initiative to create humanity in his image and redeem fallen humanity.
Thomas Aquinas said, “any error about creation leads to an error about God.
This is exactly what happened with the Classic Liberal Theology movement. 1st 11 chapters of Genesis is false, myth, or parable.
If creation is a myth...leads to evolution.
God is Sovereign
God is Redeemer
Sustainer
v25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things
He gives to all people life and breath and all things
Sovereignty
v26-27 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us
Connecting to Culture
v28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children
For Paul to have quoted the Poets, he would have had to read the poets. Or at least been familiar with their work.
If we are to engage in our culture, we must know a little about the culture. A cultural connection dictates cultural knowledge.
I think this may contribute to why we are so divided as a country right now. We may have failed to familiarize ourselves with people who are not like us, and our efforts to reach them have been futile.
Reasoning
v29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man
If we are children of the Divine...then our worship should be directed to the divine, not the human, or anything made with human hands.
They were worshipping idols of gold, silver, and stone, (images formed by the art and thought of man.)
Idol worship is creating a god in your own image. Instead of realizing that we were created in His image.
So Paul is appealing to reason here, which is something the Epicureans do not do. They need empirical evidence. But there is an element of reasoning with our faith.
Reason helps us confirm and examine the fundamental claims of Christianity.
Does God exist?
Did Jesus Die?
Was Jesus sinless?
Is Jesus who he says he is?
We can reason these things out to initiate our faith, build our faith, or strength our faith.
Call to REPENTANCE
v30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent
Every sermon, every evangliestic encounter should try at some point to inject a call to repentance.
We are asking people here...Do you want a relationship with God?
Do you want to be cleansed from your sin?
In this case, do you want to know the True God?
When a worked for Dewalt Power Tools. (Which is the best power tool on the market BTW...) They sent us to sales training in Towson MD. I spent a couple of weeks up there learning the DeWalt way. One thing they taught us...Is how to close the deal. And it starts with a question. “Can I help you load this in your cart?” I sold a bunch of tools by asking this question.
The same is true in insurance. “Do you want this policy to start today?” It’s a simple question, but effective becasue it puts the ball in their court.
“Where do you find yourself in what we’ve discussed today, and what would be a helpful next step for you?”
The call to repentance is not to be excluded from the gospel.
Christ, The Resurrection & Judgment Day
v31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Here is where he lost some people. The resurrection was a schism point for the Epicureans and the Stoics. But, you have to talk about it. The resurrection is fundamental to the gospel
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.
Paul preaches a very Christocentric Gospel.
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.”
So Paul went out of 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.
Three responses
People sneered. You have to expect that. Not everyone will believe. At least they heard it.
People were curious. We shall hear you again concerning this. Seeds were planted.
People Believed.
Why do we engage others in their beliefs?
The Epicureans believed:
The gods do not cause fear.
Death is nothing to fear.
Good things are easy to get.
Bad things are easy to bear.
No wonder the Spirit provoked Paul.
Fear
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Death without Christ is to be feared.
but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Death in Christ brings no fear at all. Becasue he is with us.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Good things
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Bad things
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you believe as the Epicureans that life ended in death...that philospohy would make sense.
But Scripture teaches us that Life begins at death. And that is illustrated with the seed. Once the seed splits open, the seed coats (seed shell) dies and the new life emreges from the seed. The outer coat must die and shed for the new life to rise and grow.
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,
and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Paul challenges the belief system. And that is exactly what we must do.
We must challenge the belief system of this world.
We must shine the light of Christ into the dark places.
We must shine the light of Christ into the intellectual places.
We must shine the light of Christ into the places of reason.
We must shine the light of Christ into our culture.
Sharing Christ is Shining Light.
