Acts 17:16-34 God Is There To Be Found
Our passage this morning draws us to the shores of Greece. Imagine waking up to the beautiful shores of the Aegean Sea every day! What a beautiful place to live. But hey, how can that compare to the river front here in Evansville; that nice muddy water with stately rusty coal boats puffing black smoke into the clear air of the valley? I speak in just. The beautiful shores of Greece and on the docks of Athens are where Paul found himself after being run out of Thessalonica and Berea. As was Paul’s custom he found the places in society that lent to discussion and learning. He found the synagogue and spoke about Jesus Christ there. He went to the market place, which in those times was the place where people congregated to learn from one another and to debate one another’s ideas. As I picture it given the things that I have studied, it would have been like a combination mall, Starbucks, classroom, news channel, and negotiation space all rolled up into one area.Luke gives us a synopsis of the events that take place, concluding as he does in every section that people believed the message though there were many who rejected it as well. Our text naturally breaks into two sections. Verses 16-21 set the table for the content of verses 22-34. In that section Luke highlights the main points of Paul’s discussion and the consequent response. There is much that we can learn from regarding how to approach new situations with the gospel, as well as seeking to reflect the heart of God when we see spiritual blindness. Let’s begin by considering Paul’s arrival in Athens.
.I.Paul’s Arrival in Athens.Verses 16-21Athens was a prominent city in the Roman world. Though it was not the capitol city, it’s intellectual influence as well as the influence of Greek as the lengua franca, or common language of the day, distinguished Athens. Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Epicurus, and Zenowhere the most notable brilliant philosophers of her history. It was a leading city of learning. It has been described as a great university city. (David Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009 ), 488) Luke notes that there were people from two schools of thought that were intrigued with Paul’s teaching, Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. In verse 18 Luke notes the condescending language that is used by these people. To them, Paul was a babbler. Many commentaries on this passage note that babbler is the term used to describe birds picking up seeds. In other words, they were accusing Paul of not having his own ideas but mixing random ideas up into a blend of ideas.
But here are the three most important issues of Luke’s presentation of Paul’s arrival in Athens. Firstthat the city was full of idols. The people there worshipped everything. Secondly, that Paul was movedbecause of the idolatry and thereforereasoned with those that would listen. Third is the identification of the philosophies that Paul encountered. He was dealing with Jewish religion and philosophy in the synagogue, and he was dealing with Epicurean and Stoic philosophies. Kistemakersummarizes them concisely. He notes that Epicureans taught that “death ought not to be feared; even the soul comes to an end when the body dies,” and that “every being strives to attain pleasure by avoiding suffering and grief and by pursuing satisfaction and happiness.” The Stoics believed that “man attains his highest aspiration when he subjects himself to the course of events, which divine necessity controls. When man submits to his lot, he reaches the state of happiness.” (Simon Kistemaker, Acts: New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids; Baker Books, 1990), 626) In the end it is the pursuit of happiness that underscored the heart of these people. It is not a wrong pursuit. Christians are told that in Christ we find fulness of joy, that there is rest for our souls in Christ, and that in the consummation of this age the Church will feast with her Savior in heaven, so there is an expectation of celebration. The pursuit of happiness is not wrong. It is as you know part of the ambition of these United States, to seek life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The goal of happiness is the key. For the Christian the goal of happiness is Jesus Christ and His Father through the sealing of the Holy Spirit. God is the object of Christian happiness. Here in Athens, the idols were means to get to happiness, or so they thought. So, these people spent their time debating, philosophizing, trying to find some new approach to their happiness, but instead of being led to God, they amass more idols, more explanations of how to find happiness, all of them falling short of filling the void only Jesus Christ could fill. My friends would that our hearts would be so inclined to love God that we are saddened when the affections of mankind are upon things that will never satisfy. Would that we would love people enough to be moved by their spiritual blindness and diligently seek for opportunity to show them Christ. Paul is so moved, and is given opportunity to speak about his perspective at the Areopagus. What does Paul do?
.II. Paul’s Address to the Athenians.Verse 22-34FirstPaul seeks to relate to them by highlighting truth in their own belief system and citing from their own revered poets. It’s as if Paul says, look all I am doing is telling you about the God you already know exists. You have some level of worship of this God and your own people already recognize some of our relationship with that God, I am just here to clarify that picture. Paul employs a strategy that has been employed by Christian missionaries the world over; look for parts of the culture that already reveal something of the image of God which will point to Jesus Christ. Here is an example that many missionaries have used with Chinese speaking communities. The word for large boat or large ship is a compound word in Cantonese and Mandarin. As we see on the screen it is a compound word that includes the word for 8, persons, and boat. There were 8 people on Noah’s Ark according to the Bible. Hollywood got that wrong. How would that understanding have been incorporated in such an ancient language unless it was a family story passed down from one generation to the next?Here Paul reminds them that they already believe these things in part and are seeking what Jesus Christ brings, happiness. But in order to have a saving vision and relationship with God they need to understand who Jesus Christ is. Paul essentially corrects and expands their understanding of God. My friend, every error begins with a bad view of God. Do you remember the interaction Eve and Satan had in the Garden of Eden? “Has God really said?” “God knows you will be like Him.” Implication, that’s why He said you can’t eat the fruit. The only way to have a proper view of God as He has intended is to look at Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 1, Colossian 1, Ephesians 1) What does Paul say about God? He says that God is the creator and is above all and needs nothing. What was the implication to those who leave food for their idols and have to polish them and create them? Your idols are worthless. Secondly, from one man God filled the world with people. (As an aside, if you struggle with the truth claims of Genesis you may bear in mind that the N.T. writers and teachers all believed it to be true.) You might say, wait, Eve was there too. That is correct. But remember that marriage is identified as that relationship from which two become one flesh. God created man. He has that dignity. We are His offspring since He created man. People are not cosmic accidents or emanations from the gods. Third, God can be known and God determines both the time and the place of people’s dwellings so that they should seek God. V 26-27. But God is not far from us. If we are His offspring how can we diminish ourselves by worshipping what we have made? V 29. Do you see what Paul is doing? He is clarifying their vision of God but it means that it will be a shot across the bow, so to speak. This will assault the false aspects of their thinking, especially as it relates to their belief system. Loved ones, the only way for people to see the distinct beauty of Christ is to show them where they are thinking wrongly, otherwise Jesus is just one more option of thousands. How are you presenting Jesus Christ when you have opportunity to speak of Him?
After all this Paul assumes a question and answers it. The question is, why has God not judged us if we are worshipping other gods? Paul says that God tolerated their ignorance because Jesus had not yet come. In other words, there had not been a full revelation of God’s power and provision of happiness until Jesus Christ came. So, it is not that God ignored sin. There is still judgement. But it’s severity was diminished. Now that Jesus Christ has come to the world and has been appointed to be the means through which God judges the world, it is time to repent. This is a crucial part of sharing Christ that we often neglect out of fear of offense, but it is the most urgent part. We will all have to give account to God for our lives in this world. We will be judged in relationship to Jesus Christ. What you do with Jesus Christ has eternal consequence my friends. But why is Jesus so important? Up until that point Paul seemed to have been captivating them, until he explained why Jesus Christ stands as the anointed one from God. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.
Really the initial response is reasonable, but if they had taken the time to ask Paul about the resurrection of the dead they may not have responded so foolishly. Why is the initial response reasonable? How many people who have been dead for three days, with no life support, and under the restraints of cloth used to embalm the body have ever come back from the dead? We have heard of people who have had near death experiences. We have heard of people who have even been declared clinically dead and then miraculously a heart starts to beat, or the brain reboots. But no one can or ever will claim what is claimed of Jesus Christ. He was brutally treated before his death. His means of death was torture. His body after death was abused even more when a spear was stuck in His side. How can we believe that He rose from the dead? Well, first we can’t discount the teaching in scripture that this would happen. There are prophecies in the O.T. that are hundreds of years before Christ that talk about His death and resurrection. This was Paul’s concern with the Jews in the synagogues. They could believe in a resurrection from the dead, but to believe that God had planned for Jesus the Messiah to be in this state was more than they could bear. But the scriptures proved them to be incorrect in their expectation. Further, the people that were close to Jesus did not believe in His resurrection and then gave their lives defending it. The apostles new what happened that night. They saw the ravaged body of Christ. Jesus after His resurrection had to meet them several times over the course of many days before they would believe. Then we learn from 1 Corinthians that Jesus’s resurrection was seen by more than 500 brothers at one time. All these people saw what they could not believe and then many of them gave their lives defending it. Finally, the one that was speaking to this crowd used to seek the destruction of the Christian faith and its followers. One day he had an about face and became the Churches most ardent missionary BECAUSE HE SAW AND SPOKE TO CHRIST AFTER HIS RESURRECTION.
My friends, if Jesus is alive, and He is, it is the greatest story of hope that we could ever have. It is also the reason Jesus can demand from us what He does, repentance from sin and faith in His name. The consequence is eternal life in happiness and joy. Do you believe Him?