Acts 17:18-34 STIRRED IN SPIRIT Two hundred miles from Berea, Paul came into Athens and a totally different philosophical environment. Instead of earnest seekers for truth, he found idolatry. Idols of many kinds were in Athens including one to a god they thought they might have missed. To that unknown god they even erected an altar just in case that god might be upset. It was important to Paul to have his fellow-workers with him as soon as possible, so the brethren who had come with him from Berea left him there and they returned to urge Silas and Timothy to go to Athens. In Athens Paul daily went to the market place to preach Jesus and the resurrection. Often in our service for the Lord, opportunities arise to pass on the Gospel to others in small group settings or one-on- one conversations. Not all Gospel work is done on public platforms. To be able to adapt to the situation in which we are found is an important part of our work. "Be instant in season, out of season."
The news of a new doctrine, or what the jaded Athenians would consider a new philosophy, reached those who had high standing in the city. The preaching of "Jesus and the resurrection," was unknown to them before Paul came. Their opinion of Paul's preaching was that he was like a bird picking up as seed here and another there. Cultured people are not usually violent, but they are sarcastic and seek to humiliate those who do not agree with them. Their objective is to hurt those who disagree with them by mockery, scorn and his happens often in universities today where some professors and other students look on new students as a fresh challenge on which to impose their opinions. Actually, the atheism and agnosticism many people profess to have, is a religion with a lot of influence on billions of people.
Evangelists need to daily seek someone to whom they can present the Gospel. Every believer represents the Lord and has opportunity at times to answer questions or make comments in the workplace that can lead to serious inquiry by those who are honestly seeking the Lord. Paul went to the places of business in the market place each day to get opportunities to speak of Jesus. The passion of his spirit was such that he was not satisfied to remain quiet. "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." In spite of the religious prejudice and intellectual pride of the Athenians, Paul used his time well in that pagan and decadent city. The great temples to gods did not impress him nor interest him. He was indifferent to what impressed others when they saw buildings erected hundreds of years before to false gods, and when he stood where famous people of the past had stood. He knew who he was and why he was there. Paul's interest was in the people who were going to be saved or lost forever. His interest, his emotions, his service was focused on the never- dying souls of men and women who did not even know about the one True God.
Those Athenians were worshipping everything and consequently were worshipping nothing although they did not even know that. They knew what Paul was preaching before he was called to the council on Mar's Hill. He had been preaching Jesus and the resurrection for days in the city. Now he was called to defend his preaching by the Epicureans who didn't believe in the Creator because their whole purpose in life was to avoid pain and enjoy pleasure wherever they could find it. They didn't believe in life after death so there was really no accountability to anyone nor lasting consequences for their sin, so they chose to live for pleasure. The Stoics, like the Jewish Pharisees, lived disciplined lives believing there was lasting virtue in all they did because they saw gods in everything. They were pantheists who believed nature was deity. Those same philosophers are prevalent today and the results are the same now as then. People sit around discussing their beliefs and religious thoughts that have not basis except in their own minds. "You have your belief and I have mine," such people say. "It doesn't make any difference what you believe as long as you are consistent to your belief." Others will say, "Your truth is your truth for you, and my truth is for me. There is no absolute truth." This strange and thoughtless reasoning is an attempt to avoid any accountability to God in the future. People must be reminded that we will have to accept the consequences of what we believe whether right or wrong. But underlying all of the ideas people have is this fact - everyone who is going their own way knows there is something missing. Some will try to cover that with pleasure seeking. Others think they can deal with that inward need by religion and others by denying there is a God at all and that the grave is the end - there is no hereafter.
It was among this kind of people Paul stood in the middle of Mars Hill and defended his preaching. He did not preach the Gospel to them, but started with the fundamentals of human experience with which they all were acquainted. He didn't in any way despise or talk down to those skeptics but addressed them right where they were, and as the kind of people they were. He was there to open their minds to the fact there was a real God who is a Person, not an idea or figment of man's imagination. Paul knew, as does every person that something is missing when one does not know God. The fact of there being only one True God would have been a very startling thought to those who were born and raised in an idolatrous society. Paul began with a very relevant illustration that was familiar to them all - an unknown god. To begin a message with something we see or know about that the audience can identify with, has the effect of getting the ear of people right at the first sentence. "Too religious," "unknown god," "you ignorantly worship" - were all phrases that had the tendency to grasp the attention of the hearers.
Then immediately Paul established a point of common ground - the God of creation. By giving a reasonable, thoughtful discourse about God being the Owner of all things and the Supreme Authority of the universe, he captured the interest of the philosophical thinkers among them, and the religious practitioners who had a variety of complicated ideas about who they were and why they were here. His explanation of the greatness of God in few words is a masterful example of preparation of one's mind and heart, being used by the Holy Spirit for a specific purpose. The great temples the Athenians had were trivial to the True God of whom Paul spoke. Anything formed is always lesser than the one that formed it. He told them of this Great God who is not only The Owner of all things, but is the Giver of "every good and perfect gift."
Following the initial explanation of the God of creation, Paul then teaches of God as the God of history who has established boundaries and who knows those who are truly seeking Him. When they heard of God being near us, the listeners would have known of the words the two poets Paul quoted. He gives life to us they had heard, and now Paul explained not only who God is, but what God is not. He points out God's personal knowledge of them and their sin. A change of mind is an absolute necessity before one can even begin to come to the knowledge of God. So "repentance toward God" must come before "faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." Those who are skeptical about God's existence are not able to please God in any way. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is..." Before the message of forgiveness of sins will have any value, people must be convinced of the reality of God.
Before we point people to Christ as the Savior of sinners, people need to know they are sinners. People who are aware of sin against God have been clearly presented with who God is. We need to be sure those who hear the Gospel know it is the Gospel of God, of the grace of God, of the blessed God. Then we can tell people of what He has done for them; what He is doing now; that is near us and keeping us alive - and wants "all men everywhere to repent." Then we can do as Paul did - tell listeners of the God of the future. He has appointed a future day of judgment. The Judge will be the One who is, and always was, God, but as a man who was righteous in every way - He will judge the whole world. The resurrection of Christ gives unique authority that even the most noted philosopher can never have. "He (God) raised Him from among the dead." Even though Paul never mentioned the name of Jesus, the listeners knew he was speaking of Jesus and the resurrection - the topic of his preaching.
A lesson for us is that we cannot expect success every time we speak for God. Even further, to reject the message of the Gospel and to mock God has serious consequences. "Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." To reject God, is to be rejected by God. Even though a few believed on the Lord Jesus Christ in Athens, Paul knew it was time to leave. There is a time to go to a place, there is a time to faithfully preach the Word, and when what has been preached is rejected - it is time to leave.