Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What keeps you from talking more about the gospel and repentance?

Are you afraid of what your friends might say?

Are you afraid of suffering ridicule at your job?

Are you afraid that you don’t know enough to have a conversation about such things?

How do you measure success?

Is it a successful gospel conversation if you simply bring up Jesus’ name at some point?

Is it successful if you make sure to include every datapoint you know about the gospel?

Is it successful if the other person still likes you at the end of the conversation?

Today we’re picking up the story of Acts near the end of Paul’s second missionary journey.

He’s done evangelism in Philippi, in Thessalonica, and in Berea, and now he’s alone in Athens… waiting for his traveling companions to arrive.

Paul spent a little time there, and he went about doing what he’d normally done in other towns.

But this time, he’s thrust into the bright lights of the biggest stage of the known world – the Areopagus (or Mars’ Hill) in Athens.

Will he change his message to accommodate these intellectual and political titans?

Will he change his strategy in order to build bridges between an idolatrous culture and Christianity?

And what might we learn from Paul’s example and the record Luke gives us of what happened on this momentous day?

Scripture Reading

Acts 17:16–34 (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 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.

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.”

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.

Main Idea:

Christ calls Christians to be His public witnesses, though the response from unbelievers will vary, and He will Himself grant growth and reward as He sees fit.

Sermon

1. Understanding the Public Square

Paul was in Athens because “the brothers” in Berea had “sent” him there in order to avoid the mob from Thessalonica (Acts 17:13-15).

The last two towns Paul had visited – Thessalonica and Berea – had been scenes of mob violence against Paul and his message.

Along with several friends, Paul was traveling from town to town, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Jewish leaders (social and religious) as well as the Roman leaders (political, economic, and religious) were unwelcoming.

In fact, in all three cities Paul had visited so far on this second missionary journey he seems to have barely escaped each one with his life.

Now, Paul was “waiting” for “Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible” (Acts 17:15-16).

And while he was waiting “at Athens,” we’re told in v16 that “his spirit was provoked,” and this whole passage is about what he was provoked to do.

But before we get into the meat of what Paul did and said, let’s first take note of what we might learn about Athens… what we might learn about the context in which Paul acted and spoke.

Luke describes Athens by giving us at least three characteristics.

The people of Athens were (1) idolatrous, (2) obsessive about philosophy, and (3) fascinated by everything new or novel.

A. Idolatrous

1. Luke says that Paul “saw that the city was full of idols” (v16).

a. Paul himself said (I think with a bit of sarcasm), “I perceive that in every way you are very religious” (v22).

b.

And Paul “observed” many “objects” of their “worship” (v23).

c.

They had so many “altars” for offering sacrifices to pagan gods that they even had an altar to “the unknown god” (v23).

i. John Calvin commented on the idolatry of Athens by pointing out that “the whole world was [at that time] full of idols; the pure worship of God could be found nowhere; and there were everywhere innumerable monsters and superstitions, but Satan had made the city of Athens more mad than any other city…”[1]

2. What is idolatry?

a. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary says idolatry is “(1) the worship of a physical object as a god; (2) immoderate attachment or devotion to something.”[2]

b.

Wikipedia says, “idolatry is the worship of a cult image as though it were God.”[3]

c. John Piper, drawing especially from Colossians 3:5-6, says, idolatry “is the thing loved or the person loved more than God, wanted more than God, desired more than God, treasured more than God, [and/or] enjoyed more than God.”[4]

d.

In sum, idolatry is the unauthorized or undue giving of worship, superlative love, and ultimate devotion.

i. God, as He has revealed Himself, is due our highest praise, He deserves our highest affection and our most definitive loyalty.

ii.

And God has authorized humanity, as His image-bearers, to know, to love, to glorify, and to enjoy Him… a relationship that no other created thing has been granted.

iii.

And yet, since Genesis 3, humans have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and [we’ve] worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom.

1:25).

iv.

Such is the natural bent of fallen man, and idolatry is beginning and origin of all sin.

B. Love of Philosophy

1. Two philosophy schools in v18, the “Epicureans and the Stoics.”

a.

These were the two major philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and Rome… but there’s more!

i. Athens was home to Socrates (469-399 BC), Plato (c.

429-347 BC), and Aristotle (384-322 BC).[5]

· And both Plato and Aristotle had founded schools in Athens (the Academy and the Lyceum, respectively) for the purpose of training students in what we once called the liberal arts – grammar, logic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music.

ii.

In the 13th century, European Christians began merging these classic disciplines with theological study, and the 14th century is often noted as the beginning of the Renaissance, which was followed and overlapped by the Protestant Reformation.

iii.

Friends, it is impossible to overstate the influence that this single city had on ancient thinking and teaching on everything from architecture to politics and economics to the meaning of life… and continues to have on educational content and methods in our present day.

2. In its day, Athens’ city leaders were and met at the “Areopagus” (v19).[6]

a.

Most all translations simply say that Paul was “brought” to the “Areopagus,” but the NIV says Paul was “brought” to “a meeting of the Areopagus” (v19).

i.

This (the NIV) is the translators doing a little interpretive work for us, since the “Areopagus” was a place and also the name of the meeting or council of the premier philosophers and statesmen in Athens.

ii.

This again emphasizes the high value philosophy had in Athens.

C. Fascination with the new (or novel)

1. Luke says, “the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new” (v21).

a.

They had arrived at the top of the philosophical, economic, and political mountain… and now all they wanted was entertainment.

2.

An Evangelistic Confrontation

Paul had already begun his evangelistic mission in Athens just like everywhere else.

He’d “reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and devout persons” there (v17).

Paul had also gone into “the marketplace” and “reasoned” with “those who happened to be there” (v17).

But at some point, “some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him” (v18), and some of those men brought Paul “to the Areopagus,” so that they and their fellow statesmen might all hear “this new teaching” and “some strange things” (v19-20).