Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we looked at the call that Jesus has placed on his followers.

Because people are lost like sheep without a shepherd, He himself is going to shepherd the people.

Jesus tells his disciples to pray for God to send out workers, and then tells his disciples to go be those very workers (Mt.

9:35-10:8)

He called his followers to go to the Lost, the ones nobody was looking for.

He wanted us to be like him.

We looked at Isa. 43:18-19 - Forget the Former things; don’t dwell in the past.

See I’m doing a new thing...” God is reaching out to the lost in a new way.

In Isaiah’s time, in Ezekiels time, and ultimately through Jesus’ ministry, God was concerning himself with all the lost people of the world.

And he wants us to join him in that ministry.

And it’s because the leaders of Israel refused to do this that they were punished.

We also discussed how we are doing at the mission Jesus has called us to: are we Inward focused, or Outward focused.

Inward is all about us.

We want what we want.

We have very little concern for the lost, and really don’t bother ourselves with efforts to reach them.

Outward focus is just the opposite.

The mission Christ has called us to in reaching the lost is the most important thing.

It’s not about us, it’s about His Mission.

Inside Out Example

To set the scene, I want us to start with something that we are more familiar with.

Acts 17:11-12

Notice that this is a familiar context.

These people in Berea know the Scriptures.

They know God.

What do Paul & Silas do?

They do what church people do.

They open up the Bible and study it.

Pretty simple right?

But what would you do if you were trying to reach people who don’t know the Scriptures?

How would you tell people about our God when they know nothing about God, or when they believe in 100 other gods?

Paul is going to show us how, and it’s a different approach.

Acts 17:16-17

Paul is in a city full of idolatry.

There are temples and altars everywhere!

He is “greatly distressed.”

This is not a passing glance, this effects Paul greatly!

Paul is in Athens unintentionally.

He is sent here, by himself, without his ministry partners, because of persecution.

This is an unplanned trip!

He doesn’t blow off this opportunity though.

He begins in the synagogue, like in Berea.

He is debating Scriptures with those who know the Scriptures.

BUT THIS IS NOT ALL HE DOES! “...as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.”

The “marketplace” he spoke at was the agora, the main public place in the city, adorned with public buildings and colonnades.

It was the economic, political, and cultural heart of the city.

An ancient description of Socrates has him in the marketplace when it was most crowded, where he conversed with whomever he met.

When Paul evangelized this city of Socrates, he used the method of Socrates.

Acts 17:18

There are two specific groups Luke mentions to us here.

To understand what Paul is up against we need to understand the difference between these two groups.

The Epicurians were “a philosophical school that valued pleasure (the absence of pain and disturbance) and disbelieved in the gods of ancient myths.”

- ATHEISTS.

Stoicism was “the most popular form of Greek philosophy in Paul’s day.

Although most people were not Stoics, many Stoic ideas were widely disseminated.”

Though they believed in a supreme God, it was in a pantheistic way.

The Stoics saw the world as determined by fate and advocated that “human beings must pursue their duty, resigning themselves to live in harmony with nature and reason, however painful this might be, and develop their own self-sufficiency.”

- DEISTS

Do you see the two reactions from people?

Babbler...nonsense

Foreign gods.

“THEY SAID THIS BECAUSE PAUL WAS PREACHING THE “GOOD NEWS” (GOSPEL) ABOUT JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.”

Preaching Jesus and the resurrection will cause mixed reactions.

It’s confusing.

They are debating with him.

They don’t listen and obey the first time.

But watch what happens!

Acts 17:19-21

The fact that Paul didn’t stay in the synagogue gets him an important audience.

These people didn’t go to synagogue.

If Paul had stayed there, he would have never had this opportunity.

But he got out to talk to people in the marketplace.

HE WENT TO WHERE THESE PEOPLE WERE WITH THE STORY OF JESUS.

Because he was willing to do this, he now has the invitation of the greatest thinkers in Greece to share the story of Jesus.

So Paul opens his Bible and begins to share Scripture, right?

Well...yes and no.

Let’s read this together.

Acts 17:22-34

Verses 22-23

Paul starts this entire discussion with a compliment...something that is admirable about his audience.

They are very religious!

They are concerned with living a good life and genuinely want to worship gods that are worthy of worship.

They are trying to do the right thing!

Paul launches into the Gospel by using a pagan idol as his starting point.

Acts 17:22–34 (NIVAC Ac): ...the practice of anonymous worship as a “safety precaution.…

The thinking was that if the gods were not properly venerated they would strike the city.

Hence, lest they inadvertently invoke the wrath of some god in their ignorance of him or her, the city set up these altars to unknown gods (Diogenes 1.110–113).”

Paul, then, is highlighting an acknowledged need of the Athenians, and he presents the God whom he proclaims as the answer to that need (v.

23b).

“ignorant” isn’t an insult as we sometimes use it today.

It simply means you do not know the very thing you worship....they have already acknowledged that, so Paul is going to help them out!

Verses 24-25

Paul starts with the fact that there is a God who made everything!

If you think we are here by accident, what difference does Jesus make?

Not one bit.

But if we are created by a God that also created everything, it makes all the difference in the world!

So Paul begins with the fact that we are created by a particular God...not just any God, this is the Lord of heaven and earth!

God provides everything every person needs!

The fact these men exist shows this God is good to them and takes care of them!

Verses 26-27

The Creator God of Heaven and Earth is in complete control of everything, and did this for a very specific purpose.

Everything is arranged the way it is so that we might “reach out and find him.”