Paul's Sermon at Mars Hill (Acts 17)
Paul’s Sermon At Mars Hill
(Acts 17:16-34)
Kings College CU, 4th March 2008
Didn’t spend enough time on this one. A bit rushed…
Bibliography
Tim Keller talk – ‘To an unknown God’
Sections
· Introduction
· Context
1. Observation – see what idols they worship
Observation
Grief
Challenge
2. Analysis – think about the idols in their hearts
3. Solution – show how the gospel is the true answer to their heart idolatry
Analysis, Deconstruction and Solution
4. Response – what they must do in response to the gospel
Þ Some believed, some didn’t
Theme Sentence
Aim Sentence
!!! · Introduction
Paul’s second missionary journey
Paul’s evangelistic techniques.
To the Jews, OT proofs of the resurrection.
To the Greeks, it is still the message of the resurrection but it is with their own presuppositions.
Paul in Athens
16Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was(A) provoked within him as he saw that the city was(B) full of idols. 17So(C) he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said,(D) "What does this babbler wish to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities"—because(E) he was preaching(F) Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they took him and brought him to(G) the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this(H) new teaching is that you are presenting? 20For you bring some(I) strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean." 21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Paul Addresses the Areopagus
22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription,(J) 'To the unknown god.'(K) What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24(L) The God who made the world and everything in it, being(M) Lord of heaven and earth,(N) does not live in temples made by man,[a] 25nor is he served by human hands,(O) as though he needed anything, since he himself(P) gives to all mankind(Q) life and breath and everything. 26And(R) he made from one man every nation of mankind to live(S) on all the face of the earth,(T) having determined allotted periods and(U) the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27(V) that they should seek God, in the hope that(W) they might feel their way toward him and find him.(X) Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28for
(Y) "'In him we live and move and have our being';[b]
as even some of(Z) your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'[c]
29(AA) Being then God’s offspring,(AB) we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30(AC) The times of ignorance(AD) God overlooked, but(AE) now he(AF) commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed(AG) a day on which(AH) he will judge the world(AI) in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and(AJ) of this he has given assurance to all(AK) by raising him from the dead."
32Now when they heard of(AL) the resurrection of the dead,(AM) some mocked. But others said,(AN) "We will hear you again about this." 33So Paul went out from their midst. 34But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius(AO) the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
!!! · Context
§ Paul and Barnabas in Antioch decide to go their separate ways.
§ Paul gets to Derbe and picks up Timothy.
§ He has a vision of the man for Macedonia and goes there.
§ In Philippi, Lydia and jailer converted but arrested, flogged and kicked out.
§ Went to nearby Thessalonica, Greeks and Jews converted but Jews stir up a riot and they flee to Berea.
§ In Berea the Jews stir up more trouble so Paul flees to Athens without the others.
§ V16 – Paul provoked in his spirit by the idols – that all these people worship the wrong God. So he has a twin zeal for God and love for people. Some are better at one rather than the other…
§ V17 – So he reasoned with people (presumably reasoning with them so they would worship the true God). Reasons with synagoguers – i.e. he goes first to those who already believe in God. But then also the marketplace where people debated. So he is looking for thinkers to talk to.
§ Epicurean – live life for good pleasure. Not necessarily hedonisitic but more the avoidance of pain and simple pleasures (don’t eat rich food or you’ll be disappointed eating simpler food, etc.)
§ Stoics – virtue is the highest goal not happiness. Big on self-denial, self-control. Virtue is the will of nature and self-denial leads to clear thinking so you can live by that virtue.
§ V18-20 – they seem to patronise him because he is speaking of Jesus and the resurrection but that doesn’t fit in with their way of doing philosophy. Its completely from left field and we should expect that – it is a weird message.
§ V22 He starts with respect but also with perception. He is thinking about what they are like. They are religious.
§ V23 He saw the unknown god statue.
§ Firstly his perception. He notices what people are worshipping. Do we?
§ Secondly, the nature of this worship. In their case it is the unknown god. So many gods, every group and sub-group has their own (just like today). The gods of gay culture or computer game culture or goth culture or . Each culture has its own distinctions (clothes, language). All of them think they know the way to happiness and salvation. But many in those sub-cultures are not really confident they’re right. The unknown god in Greek culture represented the just-in-case-I-missed-a-god-who-might-be-angry position. The ultimate insurance policy. Which expressed although they devoted themselves to their gods, worshiopped, sacrificed, etc. they lacked complete confidence. So I find with many today – they worship the god of their sub-culture but they don’t really believe that it provides lasting happiness or salvation.
§ Thirdly, Paul understands their deeper issue and solves it. Not attacking their idol worship but exploiting what they look for in their idols and how they don’t get it there.
§ Fourthly he starts from their own assumptions that there are gods and asserts that God is different to the way they think of him. And he quotes their own philosophers rather than the OT. He is:
o Singular
o He alone made everyone
o He is Lord of everything
o Doesn’t live in their temples (as they’d think)
o Doesn’t need to be served (they think if I do x for my god then he’ll do y for me).
o In we depend on him for everything.
o His overarching plan is that all men would seek him. He planned them from one man and set where and when they would be, wanting them to find him.
§ Fourthly, his analysis of them is theologically based.
o Their gods are wrong
o They are God’s offspring
o God wants them to find him
o He is near each one of us
o Their philosophers have got it partly right but not fully right
§ V28 the quote is from Aratus’s Phainomena, a poem about Zeus controlling the weather and all things. The Stoics thought of Zeus not as the personal weather god as he was in ancient Greece, but instead an impersonal force of nature that controlled all (much like the Force in Star Wars). So they understand that we are the offspring of the supreme deity and are related to him, but they’ve misunderstood the deity.
!! 1. Observation – see what idols they worship
Observation
Read v16
Paul notices the idols of the culture he is in.
Sometimes it is easier to see the idols of other cultures when visiting. Me in Salzburg.
Ask them – where would you go to see the idols of our culture?
Magazines – sex, beauty, fashion, homes, weddings, holidays, gossip, celebrities, cars, gadgets, computers, hi-fi, tv/film.
Celebrities – Victoria Beckham, Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears, Brad/Angelina, Kate Moss, Kerry Katona, Jordan, Cristiano Ronaldo. What is it about them that people worship them?
Grief
Paul was ‘provoked’ by the idols.
1. Firstly because of God’s honour.
2. Secondly because of love for those believing the lie.
Must have both.
If just (1) then arrogant and judgemental (bloke on Oxford Circus).
If just (2) can become idolatrous in itself – for sake of their salvation but salvation not for God but only for themselves.
I wonder if you get provoked by idolatry? Why not?
1. Don’t honour God in our hearts (hallowed be your name). When people swear
2. Don’t love others enough/fail to consider how tragic it is what they are doing. Like the Matrix – everyone is believing the lie.
!!! Challenge
Read v17-21
Goes to the marketplace – the media centre (where you found out what goes on), economic centre (trade and commerce), arts centre (where they performed), debating centre (where you discovered new ideas).
Paul goes there! He doesn’t just get them to come to him (although he does do that at Ephesus). Initially he goes to them. Now he’s an evangelist (and if you are then you’ll do this too). For the rest of us, we want to be in churches and CUs where we’re trying to get out to them. Particularly where people think and discuss – book clubs, debating societies, mums and toddler groups, pub evangelism.
So anyway, they hear him discussing the resurrection and bring him to the Areopagus (Mars Hill). This is the elite debating chamber in the intellectual capital of the world. Like Oxford debating chamber but for older people.
!! 2. Analysis – think about the idols in their hearts
Read v22-23
Analysis – he works out what is going on in their hearts from his initial observations. You see the idols themselves aren’t what we worship, they only express a deeper lying desire of our heart.
Can be driven by lust, desire, love, fear, anxiety. The idol itself promises us something that we yearn for deeper down.
For example – someone who worships Kylie Minogue. Perhaps its because she is glamorous. Perhaps that’s because the person wishes they themselves were glamorous. But why? Perhaps because they perceive that if they were glamorous then they’d be more popular. So the underlying idol of the heart is not Kylie Minogue, but a desire to be loved. This sort of analysis stops us from dealing with the surface idols (giving a long list of reasons why a person shouldn’t worship Kylie Minogue) but instead can deal with the real underlying issue.
3. Solution – show how the gospel is the true answer to their heart idolatry
Once you’ve thought through the idol of their heart (the underlying idol) you need to consider how the gospel solves the deeper desire of their heart. First we must deconstruct their false idol and then replace it with God. A good way of doing this is to consider the promises of the false idol they are worshipping, and counter with the true promises of the true and living God.
So lets say you can tell that the idol of a friend is having a boyfriend/girlfriend. And in this case you analyse it is because they believe the promise that if they had a boyfriend or girlfriend than they be complete and truly loved. They often live in this fantasy worship of Notting Hill and Pride and Prejudice where relationships are always perfect and the men always are strong, but thoughtful and it ultimately centres around the woman ending up fulfilled.
First we must deconstruct the false lies of this idol – and in this case it is not hard. Speak to anyone who is actually married, you quickly realise this perfect marriage never exists. And sadly divorce is common. You deconstruct the false idol but showing the promises it makes are false.
Then we give them the gospel which fulfils their deepest heart desire with the gospel of God, whose promises are always yes in Christ Jesus. In this case, they can have true love with the perfect husband in the Lord Jesus himself. I haven’t time here to do this in depth, but we will be married to him eternally in the perfect marriage, of which marriages now are simply a broken shadow. And even now, in this life, knowing him is greater than marriage.
Analysis, Deconstruction and Solution
Look at how Paul speaks to them with great respect and great analytic insight.
(v22) “I see you are very religious”, even though it grieves him, he sees that these people are looking for God.
(v23) Altar to the unknown god. People are coming and sacrificing to an unknown god. Why? The gods each have dominion over different geographical places and important areas of life. So some ruled over this city or that country, some ruled over financial prosperity, some over trade, some over fertility, etc. Each trade would have had their own god – the blacksmiths, the shepherds, the tradesmen, etc. If you wanted help or to appease anger you sacrificed to the right god. But for those of greater anxiety, the unknown god mopped up anything you accidentally missed in a god somewhere. Do you see, they were guessing - they didn’t know. They feared, were in need, but they didn’t really know, although they pretended to themselves that they did most of the time.
Now I see people doing this all the time today. At a point of need or vulnerability, they can admit they don’t know, even though most of the time they pretend they do. That’s because ultimately their lives are built on unknowns. So when there is a death of a loved one, they go to the Xtian because they have answers that no-one else does. When their job is going nowhere, they go to the Christian. When the marriage is falling apart, they go to the Christian. We live in a way that communicates we know God, they sacrifice to the unknown god.
So he gives us a simultaneous deconstruction and solution – showing how their view of God is wrong and replacing it with the true God they really want.
Read v24-25
Deconstruction – God does not live in temples and doesn’t need to be served.
Gospel Solution – God created all things and sustains all things.
You don’t find God in temples or churches or worship services or mountain tops. He made everything.
And he isn’t the sort of God that need pacifying to get what we need at certain times of need. He is constantly sustaining everything.
Their God is in a box – in certain places at certain times, but God is everywhere and always at work in everything.
Read v26-28
The deeper underlying idol behind the unknown god altar, is that they are seeking god because they are vulnerable. And the gospel answers that deeper underlying need. God’s plan was that all people seek him. He put them in certain places at certain times so that they might look for him and finds him. And you are doing that today Athenians! He is very close to you. Keep looking! Indeed even your own poets have expressed this (Aratus’s Phainomena).
!! 4. Response – what they must do in response to the gospel
Once they have realised their underlying idol, had it deconstructed and replaced by the gospel, now they must do something about it – they must respond. And inevitably the response is repentance.
Repentance means changing your mind. Turning back to God. We do this as Xtians and as unbelievers.
Read v29-31
Stop worshipping idols.
Now in the gospel, ignorance is no longer an excuse.
Repent before the day of judgement. All will be judged by a man of righteousness.
The proof of this is the resurrection.
!!! Þ Some believed, some didn’t
Text