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Sermon Text: Acts 17:22-31
It can take time for people to process new information that redefines how life is to viewed and understood. You can’t drop a mountain of new information on people and expect it to be absorbed and appreciated immediately. Ideally, yes. Realistically, no. Learning isn’t purely intellectual; there’s a major emotional element to it too. How’d it go when Galileo observed Jupiter’s moons and explained that the earth revolved around the sun? Not well! They called him a heretic, threatened his life, and put him under house arrest. Now we’re on board with our heliocentric solar system, but at the time, it was too much for many to process.
When Paul stood in Athens, God gave us a masterclass in how to speak truth into a world filled will all manner of ideas and beliefs. Paul met some God-fearing people in Athens, but also people with very different religious and philosophical beliefs. There were Stoics, who believed, reason, virtue, and self-control led to peace. There were Epicureans, who sought balance and freedom from pain, not simply reckless pleasure. There were many other philosophies all existing in a very polytheistic religious landscape where gods had varying levels of authority and influence.
Into all of that, Paul was invited to speak, not about his philosophy, but about Jesus and the resurrection. What do you say to such a group? Paul was distressed by how religious they were yet how off they were. But instead of reflexive, “You’re wrong,” he found common ground. He commended them on their devoutness, a thing he understood well. “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.” (Acts 17:22) Paul’s approach is to thoughtfully observe their sincerity before addressing anything else. He explained what he saw during his initial walkabouts, “For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” (Acts 17:23) Outside of the 12 Olympians, there was a god for almost everything. And in case they missed one, they wanted to pay it respect and worshiped it too.
In the Roman world, it was seen as subversive to promote new gods, so they made it illegal. Tactfully, Paul simply gave them much more information about the God they were already worshipping but didn’t know. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.” (Acts 17:24-25a) A bold opening salvo designed to elicit the, “Say more, please,” response in others. He did, “Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.” (Acts 17:25b-26) If this was their first exposure to the true Lord of the Bible, it may have been difficult for them to even conceptualize the level of singular power, authority, and knowledge God has in addition to his ability to employ it all perfectly. The Lord made everything. Everything belongs to him. Every nation, every people, everything needed for life and breath is because of him. Since everything exists in him, he needs no temple, caretakers, or assistance.
Paul had just presented them with an entirely different worldview. Not a religious opinion, but a completely different way of understanding reality itself. How do people often react when someone confidently presents beliefs they don’t hold and calls them to rethink everything? Defensively, it can be off-putting, feel threatening. Paul seemed to sense this and explained the personal goodness of his message: God is everyone’s Father and he wants his children to know him. God arranged history and made creation to function in such a way that people would seek him and find him. The philosophies and religion Paul found in Athens are human attempts at finding and understanding God. Paul made known the God they were looking for all along. Quoting their poets even: “For in him we live and move and have our being,” and, “We are his offspring.” If that’s the case, and their gut said it was, Paul urges them to no longer think God can be recreated as a statue by a creature from created stuff. God overlooked those practices in the past, but now he tells the whole world to repent of it. Why? “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31) In speaking of Jesus and the resurrection, Paul brings these thoughts which would have stirred the minds of the many thinkers into laser focus.
Creating more commonality, he says God is the Father of all and all need to repent at his command because he’s already set a time when the judge of his choosing will bring about his justice to everyone whose ever lived. Who is that judge? A man. This might been initially disappointing. “The judge who brings that God’s justice is person??” Yes, and infinitely more. He is God’s eternal Son made flesh, fully God and fully man, who lived perfectly in our place displaying divine love, power, and mercy, who proclaimed God’s truth at his Father’s instruction. He is the one who willingly offered up his perfect life on a cross at the Father’s request for the salvation of the world. The Father accepted the sacrifice, was delighted with it, and because of it granted to all people forgiveness of all of their sins and gives all manner of graces and mercies to care for them and provide for them every day his children walk the face of his creation.
Jesus is the Son of God’s name. Jesus is the one chosen by God to redeem the world and intercede for it. Jesus lives to do this right now. Through the very Son he gave up to save it, God will judge the world, that’s a promise a pledge of mercy from him to the world shown by him raising that man, his own eternal Son, from the dead.
The response to Paul’s message was mixed. Some mocked. Some wanted to hear more. Some believed. This is realistic. It’s like Jesus’ parable of the seed that fell on all kinds of soil but still produced an incredible harvest. I don’t think Paul was discouraged by the varied reactions in Athens. He proclaimed Christ with bravery, love, and tact and the Spirit worked through that message to bring faith and life to more people in another place.
A moment like the Areopagus may never happen for us. We might never stand before an assembly of the world’s leaders in philosophy or religion in dramatic public debate. Fine. If put in the situation, swing away, but don’t wait for such a moment only to miss the many chances on the many smaller, but no less important, stages God gives you to stand and make him known to someone. People are always searching for meaning, identity, peace, restoration, purpose, for hope and you can tell them where it’s found.
People still build altars to unknown gods to cover the bases and make themselves feel good. Just looks a little different than a statue of Zeus in our city squares. Advancement. Politics. Pleasure seeking. Image. Control. Comfort. Approval. Whatever it is, beneath all that is the same restless searching and you have the thing people are looking for. So always be a student of people. Learn about people. Listen to them. Understand what they value and where they’re looking for fulfillment. Find common ground where you honestly can, there always is some. And then, when the opportunity comes, make God known as Creator, yes, Judge, yes, but so much more as Father who gave his Son to save and bring his children home to him. Let’s go talk about Jesus with people. Amen.