A Reasonable Faith

Introduction

Video: Sean McDowell Does God Exist

Walk in with phone going...

So I don’t just like that little tune but I wanted to show you how accessible we have made these short apoligetics videos for you. There is an entire series of “Quick Answers with Sean McDowell” available as well as “Quick Shots” with J. Warner Wallace and even “One Minute Apologetics” from a whole host of presenters covering just about every difficult question about the Christian Faith that you can imagine.

Questions like:

How could a loving God send people to Hell?

How would a good God allow evil and suffering?

How do we know that the Bible is historically accurate?

Did Jesus really claim to be God?

What will happen to those who have never heard about Jesus?

Don’t all religions really lead the same place and all God requires is that we sincerely believe in something?

These are tough questions, especially if they are being asked by someone who doesn’t believe that the Bible is much more than just a book. How would you answer them?

If your are like me then you use this little device in your pocket for all kinds of things…why not use it to grow our faith, especially in being better equipped to have answers for questions like these.

Tension

On our “RightNow Media” profile I designated one of our channels to “Apologetics / Defending The Faith”. Apologetics is the “the art of defending your faith through logic and reason”, and I believe that it will prove to be one of the most useful practices that a Christian can develop in our day and age.

Because more and more Christians are finding that the experiential, emotive and feeling-based answers that they have for these kinds of hard questions are just not holding up against the waves of postmodern attacks that keep coming at us.

And certainly there is an aspect of our faith that is experienced in a deeply emotional way, but those feelings are needfully anchored in something deeper and stronger than just what makes us happy in any given moment. Ephesians 4 tells us that this is a mark of of maturity in the Believer. That we need to mature...

Ephesians 4:14–15 (ESV)

14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

You see as Christians, our faith is not a blind faith, it is a very reasonable one. Since God created us with a body, mind and spirit, He has revealed himself in physical, intellectual and spiritual ways. He knows our wiring, He designed us. He knows that our heart cannot easily rejoice in things that minds rejects.

You see “All truth is God’s truth” that is why the Apostle Paul didn’t have to qualify “which truth” we are to be speaking…only how we are to be speaking it. We are to be “speaking THE truth in love”

But our postmodern age has been working hard to train us to think of truth as being at best “nuanced” and at worst completely relative to the individual. So that a person may feel justified to respond to any “Truth claim” with “Well that may be true for you, but it is not true for me.” That is what we call “Relative” Truth, where something is truth “relative” to the person making the statement but not necessarily true for anyone else.

But “The Truth” that we are called to loving speak is not relative to the individual, or subjective in nature. It is absolute truth that is objective in nature. In other words: Something that is true, is true even if no one on earth believes it and conversely Something that is not true is not true, even if everyone on earth believes it.

This is the Biblical understanding of the concept of truth…it exists outside of us and it is not affected by how we feel about it.

But do you know who else understood and taught the truth was objective, searchable and knowable in this way? Ancient Greek Philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

These great “friends of wisdom” predate the New Testament - but when the Apostle Paul arrived in the great city of Athens, he was able to find common ground in their search for truth. This opened up an incredible door for him to share the most significant truth in all the world. The truth of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

That is where we are going to be this morning in our study on the early Church called Ekklessia: The Unstoppable Movement of God. So if you have you Bible with you then open them up to Acts Chapter 17, that is found on page 926 in the Bibles in the Chairs.

As you are turning there, I will pray and we will discover together how Paul found common ground in reason, not just religion for the Good News of Jesus Christ

Pray...

Truth

So let me just say that it was a blessing the past couple of weeks to sneak in the back and experience our Church services with my family while on vacation. Not only was I blessed by the powerful sense of worship out here in the big room (normally I am in my little box over there) - but also I was so blessed to hear the preaching of the Word by our Overseers.

I hope you know Church, that we are blessed to be led by men who take their Biblical responsibility to be “able to teach” seriously and both Nick and Brian did a great job sharing what God is teaching them about how we look forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ and how we need to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

As we continue in our theme of Ekklessia this morning, we are following along with the Apostle Paul in his second missionary Journey (map) and if you remember Paul was traveling with his friends from city to city and what typically happened was he started in the local synagogue, if there was one, and he argued from the Scriptures and from their experience that Jesus of Nazareth was the long awaited Christ that they had been waiting for.

So they pointed to the Word of God and the Work of God in their lives…much like Brian did in his testimony last week of how God’s faithfulness brought he and Nancy here to our area and our Church.

And each time, some of those listening to Paul’s testimony believe the good news, but others would not. Especially the leaders of the synagogue were critical and suspicious of anything new. They saw Paul’s message as a threat to their authority and they would work through mob rule and mob violence to run them out of town.

This is what happened to the Church in Thessalonica, the story that Nick told so well and then taught us from two weeks ago on his message from 1 Thessalonians 4. Paul and Silas where rushed out of town for their own safety. And we can see this in the text of Chapter 17 where it says in verse 10:

Acts 17:10 (ESV)

10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.

And what will they find here in the response of the Jews from this synagogue. Just like before, as learned traveling Jews they were given an audience and allowed to speak, but the Jews here in Berea had a different response to the new News of Jesus being their long awaited Christ.

Acts 17:11–12 (ESV)

11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

Maybe you have heard of the phrase “The Noble Bereans” or even wondered about Churches that name. This is where that comes from.

They didn’t just dismiss Paul’s message because it was new, they were “noble enough” to go to the source of truth to see if these things could be true. “Therefore” many of them believed. Because the testimony of Jesus is there in the prophecies of the Old Testament if you had a mind to look for it. The Bereans did, and many believed.…but it didn’t take long for the same ole’ story to begin to unfold in Berea as well. The next verse tells us...

Acts 17:13 (ESV)

13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

Here we go again…same tired song, same awful key.

Acts 17:14–15 (ESV)

14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

This time Paul arrived in the historical city of Athens alone, or without Timothy or Silas anyway. But Paul doesn’t just hide waiting until they arrive, he continues to do what he does only this time he is prompted by his spirit to take things a step further...

Acts 17:16–18a (ESV)

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 (he reasoned) in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him

This time, he was not only bringing the Good News of the Gospel in to the local synagogue, but also into the public square…literally. “Noble Jews” like the Bereans would search the Scriptures, but that would not work for the Athenians in Marketplace.

So Paul reasoned with these people philosophically.

Many of us may be a little gun shy over the idea of philosophy, and understandably so.

Our English word “Philosophy” comes right from the Greek word φιλοσοφία (philosohpia) and it is a compound word made up of two words:

φιλος (philos) meaning “friend” and σοφία (sophia) meaning “wisdom”. So a philosopher is a “friend of wisdom” or someone who loves wisdom.

That sounds like a good thing, so why are we so skeptical about the idea of “philosophy”? Well for one thing, we know from James chapter 3 that there are two kinds of wisdom aren’t there? There is “wisdom” that is “earthly, unspiritual and demonic” ,

James 3:17(ESV)

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Paul is operating with this second kind of “wisdom” and his hope is that in God’s common grace to all mankind, some of his hearers may be open to what he is explaining to them. Some where, then again some where not.

Acts 17:18–21 (ESV)

18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler (lit. word scavenger) 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,(air-ree-op-a-gus) 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.”

For the sake of context, a “pogus” was a rocky hill and this particular hill was dedicated to the Greek’s god of War Ares. So it was called “Aree-o-pagus” or “the hill of Ares”. You may have heard it also called “Mars Hill” because the Roman equivalent of the “god of war” was named Mars.

But the bigger idea is that the word “Areopagus” came to be known as “something that is fixed or firmly set”. Something like Objective or Absolute truth. So along with other uses, the philosophers in the line of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle met at this place to consider and think on what is true.

So Paul goes from being just one foreign voice among the masses in the marketplace to have the listening ears of the greatest philosophical minds in Athens at this time. It was a crazy cool opportunity!

This leads us into our first theme for the week:

1. Believers can find opportunities to connect with those who don’t know Christ through reason (Acts 17:21–23).

Now it doesn’t always happen this way, but it can. And this is how it happened for Paul in Athens....

Acts 17:21–23 (ESV)

21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

So unlike the Jewish synagogue rules who feared new ideas, thinking on new ideas was like their favorite past time.

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus (Not just the rock formation, but the gathered philosophers and Athenians…and he), 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.

So there were alters all throughout Athens to the many different gods that they worshiped in many different ways. Their worship was based not on what these god’s had done for them in the past, but it was done to please or appease these gods to get what they needed or wanted right now and in the future.

And apparently at some point some bright thinker thought that since the gods are so distant and far from us, maybe we don’t know all of them. Their could be a god or goddess that we are unintentionally ignoring because we don’t know they were even there and so just to cover our basis lets make an alter to an “unknown god” so that no one gets missed - because that may be why bad thing are happening because that god somehow got missed.

So in a somewhat ironic twist, Paul reveals to them the name and nature of the God that they missed…the one true God.

The reasoning here is brilliant, because what Paul does is identify an implied question that they are asking through this alter to an unknown god - and then he gives them the answer to that question. It’s brilliant.

This brings us to our second theme...

2. Believers can use cultural references to reason for God’s existence and movement in our world (Acts 17:24–28).

Listen to how Paul does this:

Acts 17:24–28 (ESV)

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.

That makes sense. Why would a God who gave us all we have need something form us?

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.

Paul does not condemn their seeking after God, he affirms it as something that God designed into the creation of His world. As it says in Romans 1:

Romans 1:20 (ESV)

20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

God placed evidences of His presence and handiwork all over creation so that we would seek after Him, but then Paul goes on to say:

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.’

Paul is quoting from their own Ancient Greek poets here.

“In thee we live and move and have our being.” was by the Cretan poet Epimenides (Epi-men-eye-dees) (c. 600 B.C.).In the poem, titled “Cretica,” Minos spoke these words in honor of his father, Zeus.

“We are his offspring” was by the Cilician poet Aratus (c. 315–240 B.C.).He claimed that all people should relate to Zeus as one of his offspring.

Of course Paul was not endorsing the Greek pantheon of gods of which Zeus was considered supreme, but since all truth is God’s truth, he was using what little they rightly understood about how a god should operate and applying it to the only God there is. In short, he is speaking their language.

This is where our third theme comes in:

3. Believers can use reason to remove obstacles, but salvation is found through faith and repentance not through reason. (Acts 17:29–34).

Finding common ground is a great way to begin, but at some point the message of Jesus will either win them or repel them.

Acts 17:29–34 (ESV)

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.

Paul gets in big trouble with this message later in his travels, but the Athenians seem less concerned about how he feels about their idols than they do about what he says next:

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.”

And of course here is speaking of Jesus, and that is when the mixed responses came rolling in…this is always when the mixed responses come rolling in.

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 (air-ree-op-a-gite) and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Gospel Application

Like the philosophers of Paul’s day, people today are struggling to find answers to the same 4 basic worldview questions.

Origin: Where did we come from?

Meaning: Why are we here?

Morality: What makes something right or wrong?

Destiny: What happens after we die?

As much as modern science explains elements of life to us, science cannot answer these deeper questions that people are asking…but we can.

I am convinced that we are close to turning a corner, at least with a section of the population, when it comes to this idea that everyone just gets to have their own truth. People are seeing that while they may like to have “Relative Truth” in some select situations - it does not work as guiding principle for society as a whole.

This brings us an incredible opportunity, because we have answers for these questions. Answers that are anchored in a reasonable faith in the rock solid truth of the Gospel.

As 1 Peter 3:15 says

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Did you hear that? Gentleness and Respect. We don’t set out to shut them down with our better arguments and mic drop moments...Our job is not to win the argument, our role is to win to person to Christ.

Landing

But the truth is, a firm grasp on those reasons won’t do us any good if we don’t live with a hope that people are noticing. If our “Christianity” is just some Church- level commitment and not a life-altering covenant with the God who is not far off... then they won’t see any hope to ask about.

Let’s pray into this together.