Jesus > Culture
Notes
Transcript
Jesus > Culture
Jesus > Culture
.Acts 17:16-34 is an important section in the ministry of Paul and the gospel.
Luke’s telling of this incident show us how we are to interact with people who don’t know the gospel.
Do you want to know how to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ better?
Paul demonstrates how to do that.
Our nation, our community, and many of our churches are filled with people who are biblically ignorant.
They may have heard of Jesus, they may have even attended church, but they don’t know the reality of the gospel.
We have talked about it before but there is a need to know the worldview of the person you are talking to in order to properly relay the gospel message to them.
The way they look at the world. The way they see themselves. They way that they interpret what all this means will impact the way you tell them about the Savior, King Jesus.
Paul is going to be in a town that he has never visited. He is going to be surrounded by things he has never seen.
He is going to experience things he has never experienced before.
But the overwhelming reality of the situation he is in does not change the message that needs to be taught.
Before we dive into the text lets pray.
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
17 So 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.
18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”
21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Vain Worship, Useless Idols
(v. 16) What Paul Saw
Paul is in Athens after being ran off from Thessalonica and Berea.
He was waiting for his Friends, Silas and Timothy, to arrive.
Let’s talk about Athens for just a minute.
In the Ancient World, Athens was a place of culture, intellect, and politics.
During Paul’s time Athens was not in its hay-day but it was still of great importance.
The city was not only the center for politics, culture, and intellect it was also a very religious city.
There were statues, altars, and temples to countless gods that they worshipped.
Even the city’s very name was an homage to Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom.
Paul had never seen anything like it.
There were idols lining the streets like flashing billboards.
Countless wealth had been spent to make the town beautiful and honoring to the gods.
One ancient poet quipped that it was easier to find an idol in Athens than a man.
Yet it was all empty. It was all fake. It was all in vain.
People in chains to these false Gods, yet worshipping them like they could do something for them.
In Bible College I took a world religions course.
One of the requirements was that I had to attend different places of worship.
After attending them I had to write a report about what I saw.
One of the places I visited was a Hindu Temple in the Dallas area.
Can I just tell you outside of the building was absolutely amazing.
The beauty with which the building was designed would stop someone in their tracks.
I stood outside admiring the craftsmanship for a good five minutes or so before going inside.
Inside there were different stations set up where their different gods were ready to receive alms and sacrifices.
We happened to attend this temple during one of their holy days.
They sang. They danced. They banged a drum. They offered up food to the idols.
They allowed us to observe.
Can I tell you want I observed.
Emptiness. Hopelessness. Confusion. A vain attempt to appease the gods.
Can I tell you what I felt?
Confusion. Overwhelmed. Saddened.
Paul sees these idols. He sees people worshipping a false God.
He sees the beauty of the town. He sees the vast temples.
He sees the intricate statues.
He sees colonnades.
He sees the empty worship.
He sees that these people are condemned and on their way to eternal separation from God.
What Paul Felt
After Paul Sees the reality of idolatry in Athens he then feels righteous and holy indignation.
He is genuinely upset by what he is witnessing.
His heart is broken by the idolatry in the city.
His is angry.
It says his spirit was provoked.
He was angry, he was grieved, he was indignant at the vast and open idolatry.
This word has the same connotation of how God responds in the face of sinfulness and open rebellion.
God talks about Israel provoking him continually to his very face.
Paul is in tune with the heart of God and so he feels and sees the brokenness that God sees.
There was this song that came out years ago and one of the lyrics says
“Break my heart for what breaks yours”
I heard one preacher put it this way:
We would have walked through Athens saying “WOW”, but Paul walked through Athens saying “WHOA”
Paul was provoked because the one he loves, the one he worships, the one he adores is ignored.
Is blasphemed. Is being rejected and replaced by these idols.
So let me ask you…do these things stir up your heart?
Does sin provoke your spirit.
do you look out a the world and see the brokenness around you and say “Woe” this needs to stop.
Our idolatry is different now than it was then.
A simple definition of idolatry is anything that replaces Gods’ place of importance in our lives.
We don’t have carved idols that we pray too.
Rather we have our phones and social media where we look for the praise of others.
We seek approval in relationships and we become willing to sacrifice God’s standards to appease our friends, family, spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends.
We don’t offer our food or sacrifice to idols.
Rather we sacrifice our time and energy on things that are fleeting.
We sacrifice a Holy life devoted to God in the pursuit of comfort, complacency, and wealth.
We spend more time, energy, and money chasing the things that make us feel good than we do growing to know Jesus.
We sacrifice humility for pride and entitlement.
we set ourselves up as our own god.
Where whatever I do is okay b/c you can’t control me.
Your Job is to serve me. To do my bidding and if you don’t then you are my enemy.
I could go on and on, but the point is does witnessing this idolatry provoke your spirit.
Do you recognize when people aren’t worshipping the God of the Bible they are bound to spend all of eternity separated from him.
Are you in tune with what breaks God’s Heart?
Whether you realize it or not idolatry is all around us.
People are enamored by the beauty of the things they worship.
But it’s a false beauty because these idols come from the pit of hell.
There is nothing in an idol that will satisfy you.
There is not enough money.
There is not enough sex.
There is not enough praise and adoration.
There is not enough of anything in the world that will ever fill the hole in you soul.
The more of it you get the more of it you will want.
You will keep chasing your tail trying to be satisfied.
Trying to be enough.
Trying to be fulfilled.
But you won’t find it in these things.
Only Christ can fill it.
Only Christ can sustain
Only Christ in his mercy and grace can take the broken parts of you and make them whole.
The God of the universe wants to restore, revitalize, and reinvigorate your soul.
This is why Paul was upset b/c he looks around and he sees all this wickedness and evil.
So he decides he needs to do something about.
He can’t stand idle and passive when these people are perishing.
So he begins to preach the gospel.
First he goes to the synagogue.
What does he do there?
He reasons with the Jews and Devout persons.
When talking with them he uses the Scriptures and points out that Jesus is Messiah and King from their own book of belief, The Old Testament.
But he doesn’t just stop there he moves to and preaches in the marketplace.
Now the marketplace in the ancient world wasn’t like going to a store like HEB or Walmart.
This was definitely a place to buy goods and procure services, but it was also a gathering place for people.
Kind of like if HEB married a Barbershop or Coffee House and they had a kid.
This is where people talked out ideas.
Political Ideas, Spiritual Ideas, Social Ideas, Philosophical Ideas.
It was the proverbial water cooler in the Athens.
That is why it shouldn’t be strange that Luke introduces us to two new groups of people:
The Epicureans
The Stoics
These philosophers were trying to answer the same question that has been asked since people started to think:
“Why are we here? What is this all for? Why does this all matter?”
These two groups had vastly different opinions on the answers to those questions.
What’s interesting is that you can definitely see connections between how they answered and how people live today.
There truly is nothing new under the sun.
The Epicureans believed that there is only the material reality.
They somewhat believed in the gods, but that the gods had no personal impact or influence in the world. Deity was detached from reality. Deist approach.
They believed that the point of life was the absence of pain and the pursuit of pleasure.
So they pursued sex, money, and luxury.
Happiness could only be found in pleasure.
they were the embodiment of “If it feels good do it”
“Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.”
There are no consequences in how we live this life b/c when we die we turn to worm food.
On the other hand, the Stoics were pantheist.
They believed that everything was god or had god in it.
These would be equivalent with those that pray to the universe or mother nature.
They would have probably ascribed to the Law of Attraction.
They also believed that in order to fight against the pain and suffering in the world they had to “grin and bare it,” “Go along to get along,” “it is what it is”
However they also subscribed to their own desire for virtue and morality.
They idealized the virtues of:
Wisdom, Temperance, Justice, Courage
and all these were accomplished by sheer will power.
Life was not about personal pleasure but rather personal improvement.
I am going to say something and I want you to hear me loud and clear.
Neither the Epicureans nor the Stoics are 100% wrong.
Pleasure is a good thing.
Virtue is a good thing.
The problem was that those good things had become God things.
They were being sought as the meaning and substance of a good life.
The Epicureans Idols were happiness and pleasure.
The Stoics idols were morality and virtue.
And they approach Paul to listen to what he as to say.
They were interested in his teaching.
And get this Paul was interested in fielding their questions.
Luke writes that they conversed (v.18)
But the Stoics and Epicureans didn’t understand what Paul was saying.
In fact, they called him a “babbler”
In the Greek, this word is spermologos
It means “seed-speaker”
It would bring up the idea of “a bird pecking indiscriminately at seeds in a barnyard.”
It came to mean “one who picked up the scraps of ideas here and there and passed them off as” profound and original.
This should bring to mind
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
They thought he was preaching two new foreign divinities.
He was preaching about Jesus (male god) and Anastasis (Female god, Resurrection).
They are genuinely interested in what Paul is preaching and teaching.
Which would have been encouraging b/c this city and these people needed the gospel of Jesus Christ.
They need to know that ultimate pleasure and virtue are found in Christ alone.
The people of Athens loved to learn and hear new ideas. They were open minded.
But they tended to be so open minded their brains were falling out.
So after Paul had conversations in the market place they decided to take him to the Areopagus (Mars Hill, Ares Hill) to have a more in depth conversation with the rulers of the town.
(Show Picture)
The Areopagus still stands today. If you ever have the chance to visit Athens you can stand where Paul stood and recount the good news of the gospel given to these pagans.
So what did Paul say?
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
29 Being then God’s offspring, 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 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
The Gospel Proclaimed
Paul begins his speech not fuming out of anger, frustration, or feelings of being provoked.
Rather he says something that the Athenians would have take a little pride in.
He says “I perceive in every way that you are very religious.”
From Paul’s lips to the hearers ears this would have sounded like an applaud or approval, but from Paul’s heart to his lips it would have felt like an intense condemnation.
The objects of their worship were all over the city.
Statues, altars, temples Paul observed them all.
In fact, Paul observed one altar that read “To The Unknown God”
This is interesting, the Athenians were so concerned with not offending any deity that they created an altar for a god they didn’t even know.
We don’t know if this god exists but we are going to make sure that it knows that we acknowledge it.
This is amazing, from even before that altar was erected God knew that one day Paul would be in Athens.
And he would be provoked in the spirit b/c of all the idolatry.
God knew that he would see this altar and use it as the springboard to declare and proclaim the message of the gospel.
God knew that Paul was going to need a way to connect to those who didn’t know the scriptures.
So God in his divine providence and sovereignty allowed that altar to be placed where Paul could see it.
They may have not known the God that they had made that altar for, but Paul assures them that he does.
This is the God of the universe.
The creator of all things.
I want you to notice how Paul begins his proclamation of the truth.
He starts with God.
God is the starting point of all truth. Of all reality.
One of the problems with idolatry is that it has the wrong starting place.
Rather than starting with God, idolatry starts with man and tries to make its way toward God.
But if you start with mankind you will always miss the mark.
Because we are fallible, wicked, and rebellious.
The world isn’t oriented toward man it is oriented towards God the Creator.
To the Stoics Paul was saying “God isn’t in everything b/c he created everything.”
God can’t be tied to stuff b/c he is outside of stuff.
He is immaterial. He is eternal. God isn’t the universe. He created the universe.
To the Epicureans he is saying that the purpose of life is to glorify and worship God and King.
Not selfish vain pursuits of pleasure. God is our source of pleasure, significance, and purpose.
To all people Paul is saying, you are seeking, you are searching, you are hoping to find meaning to this life.
And to do this you keep making idols
You keep building temples.
you keep trying to serve a god made in your own image.
But your gods are too small.
The God that Paul proclaimed is the creator of all.
He spoke everything into existence.
He is lord of heaven and earth.
He doesn’t need the worship of man to feel satisfied.
He doesn’t need the praise of man to be glorified.
He is served by man in any capacity.
Rather he invites people to join him.
He invites people to worship him.
He invites people to praise him.
He invites people to find their purpose in him.
He doesn’t invite some people.
You have to understand those who live in Athens had a very high view of themselves.
They thought and believed that they were the cream of the crop.
Everyone that lived outside of Athens were considered to be barbarians.
They thought that they were special because they helped to shape culture.
They were special because they helped to shape thought.
They were special because they helped shape politics.
They believed they were of the upper crust of society.
They thought they were better than those of other nations.
Its very similar to how some people feel today about our country.
What Paul proclaims to them is that they aren’t as special as they think they are.
They aren’t as awesome as they think they are.
They aren’t as smart as they think they are.
In fact, all people come from one person.
We all have the same ultimate ancestor in Adam.
And the only reason you live where you do is because God has determined to place you there.
So if you ever question, why was I born here. Why do I live here?
The truth is God has put you here.
God has placed you here to grow and develop into one who loves and cherishes him.
Where you live is no accident.
When you live is no accident either.
God has “determined alloted periods and the boundaries of” your dwelling place.
He did this so that people could feel their way toward himself.
This is an interesting saying.
Because of our sinfulness we can’t see him.
We are blinded.
We are unable to see the truth.
But we can feel our way toward him.
Blindly grabbing onto the good and truth in the world.
We may not know where God is. We may be fumbling in the dark, but God is not far from us.
Paul says that God is not far from each one of us and then he does something cool.
He uses their own pagan poets to point them to the truth.
He says “in Him we live and move and have our being”
and “For we are indeed his offspring.”
Both of these statements are about Zeus.
Both of these statements are culturally known and culturally relevant.
Both of these statements are true, but they are pointed in the wrong direction.
This is an example of groping in the dark.
Trying to feel toward God.
Here is something that we need to understand.
All Truth is God’s Truth.
He is the author of truth.
He is the giver of truth.
And what Paul does here is point to the truth using their blind reaching toward the truth.
We can do this in our culture too.
But we can only do it accurately if we KNOW the truth of God.
Example:
In the First Avengers Movie, the climax happens as a Selfish and arrogant Iron Man decides to sacrifice his life to save the World.
This teaches that the ultimate good is not what I can get, what I can be, how special I am, but that true love is laying your life down for someone else.
Sacrifice is a good and holy thing. The ultimate sacrifice happened when God became man, emptied himself, and gave his life to save wicked people who don’t deserve it.
In Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, we see the redemption of Darth Vader as he turns from the dark side to save Luke’s Life.
The darkness is being drawn to the light.
Now much like Paul’s example these aren’t perfect and they need to be pointed to the great redeemer and creator, but that’s why we have to have a firm grasp on the story of the bible and redemption.
We who know and worship God are his offspring and we get to partake in redemption.
We get to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, but for those outside of Jesus there will be a day when God Comes to Judge the world according to his Righteousness.
Those outside of Christ will experience separation from God and feel the full wrath and consequences of sin and rebellion.
While those in Christ will be passed over and clothed in the Righteousness of Christ.
We will experience a resurrected body.
Just like the one Christ recieved on that beautiful Easter Morn.
This truth was true when Paul preached it and it is true when we proclaim it today.
Now much like those in Paul’s day the response to the message will be mixed.
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
33 So Paul went out from their midst.
34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Response to the Gospel
Some people listened to Paul and thought he was crazy.
They couldn’t wrap their mind around an afterlife.
They definitely couldn’t comprehend a resurrected life.
Again they mocked Paul b/c of his teaching.
They were confronted with the gospel and found it foolish.
They were confronted with reality and rather than submitting to it they dismissed it as ridiculous.
We will experience the same things when the gospel is proclaimed.
Some will call us names. Like Bigots, Idiots, Ignorant, Intolerant.
But some will respond in faith. Some will respond to the grace of God.
Some will be drawn by the Holy Spirit to accept the teachings of Christ.
That’s what we see here.
Some reject the teaching, but some accept.
We don’t let hostility and rejection persuade us away from Proclamation.
We proclaim so that some will be saved.
We proclaim so that some will respond to grace.
We proclaim so that some will be transformed.
We proclaim so that some will inherit eternal life.
We proclaim in spite of the mockery.
In spite of the hostility.
In spite of the foolishness.
So what can we learn from this account of Paul preaching in Athens.
First, we need to be in tune with God and what angers and breaks his heart.
We need to be broken by our own sinfulness and the sinfulness of others.
We need to avoid calling what is evil sin.
Taking this stance and aligning ourselves with God will not be easy.
We will have to stand in direct opposition with much of the culture.
We will have to say that taking the life of the unborn is wrong and we will be called ignorant and bigoted.
We will have to say that sex outside the bounds of a marriage between a man and a woman is wrong. We will be called intolerant and unloving.
We will have to Proclaim Jesus as the only road to salvation and we will be called ignorant.
But we have to proclaim these things b/c they are the truth that God has revealed to us.
We don’t say these things because we hate, rather we say these things because we love people.
It is more hateful and unloving to hide the truth from the world than it is to make they comfortable.
Second, we need to know the Scriptures.
We need to know what God has said and why he has said it.
We need to know that the world is broken and in need of redemption.
We need to know that God has provided that in Jesus.
We need to know the truth.
And we need to know the truth so that we can combat the false.
Thirdly, we need to be students of culture.
We need to know what the world believes and filter it through the lens of Scripture.
We need to be able to see the truth presented in movies, TV, books, and social media and point it back to the truth giver.
Lastly, we need to love people as God loves people.
We need to see them not as the enemy but as precious image bearers that need to know the love of God.
We need to be thoughtful and intentional during our interaction with a broken world.
We need to be loving ambassadors of a holy and just God.
So if you are a Follower of Jesus.
If you have submitted your life to him and you are following after him I urge you to open your eyes to the world around you.
I urge you to see the brokenness and idolatry that surrounds you and ask God for opportunities to proclaim the gospel to a lost and dying world.
I also urge you to put on your gospel colored glasses so that you can filter all you see and experience through the redemptive story of the loving king of the universe.
If you don’t know Jesus. If you haven’t given your life to him I want you to know in the most loving way possible that one day you are going to face judgement.
You may have been hurt by the church.
You may have been hurt by those that call themselves Christians.
You may think that everything that I have said is hogwash.
But I want you to know that Jesus loves you and he gave himself for you so that you can have life eternal.
That instead of facing judgment and condemnation he has offered a way for you to receive grace, mercy, and restoration.
He wants you to know him.
He wants to open your eyes.
He wants you to stop groping in the dark after him and listen to his voice.
He is calling out to you will you answer him?