Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Paul was a man on a mission, the Great Commission.
(Mt 28:19-20)
he was driven by a great conviction of the saving power of the Gospel and a deep love for the souls of people
he was especially concerned for his own people, the Jews, and went to them though it cost him much in the way of suffering!
for the most part they were jealous and stirred up the unbelieving Gentiles to join them in attacking him and his team and chasing them away
though Paul had not been able to spend much time establishing the Thessalonian church, it became a model for all the surrounding churches
when Paul later wrote a letter to them he commended them for,
their works of faith, labours of love and steadfastness of hope (1 Th 1:3)
their example to other believers by their reception of the word in spite of great persecution (1 Th 1:7)
their effectiveness in spreading the gospel so that Paul said that he didn’t need to say anything!
(1 Th 1:8)
we see in the fledgling Thessalonian church the power of the gospel, transforming lives and believers taking spreading it throughout the surrounding areas
like the 13 Apostles, all disciples have been given the responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission (Mt 28:19-20)
to go and make disciples (Acts 1:8)
to baptize them
to teach them all that Christ commanded (what the gathered church does on Sunday mornings and throughout the week in various ministries)
making disciples should be very important to any church that is committed to obeying Christ!
a task for every believer
teaching them everything Christ commanded
a task for the church
as we come to Acts 17 we’re going to look at Paul’s powerful example as to how we can effectively fulfill the first part of the Great Commission: going and making disciples
What is striking about Paul’s witness is how faithful he was to the simple gospel message.
Athens a world city, famous for its architecture, its art, its philosophies, its univeristy
a cosmopolitan city made up of the rich and powerful and the poor and the downtrodden
how was Paul to reach this great city?
did he change his message?
did he water it down to make it more palatable?
die he try and give exciting speeches?
Paul was a man who believed in the sufficiency of the Word (Rom 1:16)
he believed it had the power to:
to convict sinners
to convert sinners
to equip believers
to sanctify believers
to preserve believers
contrast Paul’s belief in the sufficiency of the scriptures with the general attitude of the Athenians: spending their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new (v.21)
a characteristic of many who underestimate or outright reject God and his Word
truth is relative, everyone is on the road to heaven, everyone’s sincerely held belief is right (majority determines what is unacceptable like, paedophilia)
a dangerous thing: to be open to whatever is novel and exciting
did not lead them to the truth but further into futility
this thinking has crept into the church
the belief that all roads lead to God
the belief that truth is either relative or fluid, no absolutes
if we are not grounded in the Word we will be like a ship without an anchor
must remember there is nothing new, just old stuff in a new package!
as an angel of light Satan loves to take old lies and repackage them as new truth!
The more we understand our bibles the more we will be able to discern truth from Satan’s repackaged lies.
although the bible is very old it is inspired by the HS so that it continually speaks to anyone with ears to hear in any place, at any time
having been smuggled out of Thessalonica and then Berea Paul moved on to Athens where he again boldly preached Jesus and his resurrection
Athens of Paul’s day much like our own
Athens (vv.
16-21)
In Paul’s day Greece was known for its culture and Athens was its centre.
renowned for its learning, its art and philosophy
several centuries before Paul, Athens had been the greatest city of the world
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle all taught there
so also did Epicurus and Zeno, the founders of Epicurean and Stoic philosophies mentioned in our text
Athens was home to a world famous university
it was also a religious centre where almost every god was worshipped
public buildings were dedicated to a plethora of gods and idols filled the city
one of the writers of the time said, “it is easier to find a god in Athens than a man”
it was not unlike our own culture today
as our society banishes the One True God from public life, it is substituting many other gods like sex, materialism, worship of self
Principle:
it’s easy for us to wonder why the people of Athens had so many idols
our temptation to think that the more sophisticated we are, the greater knowledge we have, the more things we have, the higher our standard of living the less we need the help of gods
the fact about who we are:
we were created for worship (Rom 6:16; 2 Pet 2:19; Ps 119:91)
we can’t help but worship something or someone
even those who say there is no god cannot avoid worshipping
they worship themselves!
When God created humankind he designed them for a relationship with him!
When we reject God and we try to replace him with something or someone else we are always left feeling empty and incomplete.
this hunger and thirst often leads people to foolish choices and enslaving addictions
when Paul came to the awesome city of Athens what was his response?
awe? wonder?
amazement?
did he go on a sight seeing trip to look at all the wonders of that amazing place?
Luke tells us his spirit was provoked within him because he saw that the city was full of idols (16)
while Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him he was people watching, and what did he see?
Paul saw a city full of lost people worshipping many false gods and doomed to a Christless eternity.
provoked = the Greek word sounds like our English word “paroxysm”
Paul was righteously angry, even infuriated by the spiritual darkness which engulfed the people (note Jesus’ attitude to the sorrow and grief caused by Lazarus’ death)
as Paul looked around Athens all he could see was people doomed to a Christless eternity
Personal Reflection
what do we see when we think of St Thomas, or London or the GTA?
are we moved by the lostness of people?
do our hearts yearn for their salvation?
are we incensed that God is not known or glorified by so many?
“so he reasoned … every day” (17)
Paul directed his holy anger and frustration into faithful witness.
whenever possible he started with those who had some knowledge of God
they were found in the synagogues = Jews and devout persons gathered there
they were the “low lying fruit” in that they were easiest to access and had some knowledge of God
he would win converts from among them who would join him and multiply the ministry of the Gospel in their region
while Paul waited for Silas, Timothy and Luke to arrive, he struck up conversations in the marketplace
v.21 tells us an interesting characteristic of the people of Athens: they were fascinated with telling or hearing something new
being a wise communicator it is likely Paul used their intense curiosity to strike up conversations
a good example for us!
the thought of doing this sounds very scary and intimidating to many of us
and yet if we don’t overcome our fear we will rarely, if ever, witness
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