Sunday
05/17/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “To An
Unknown god”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 66:8-20
New Testament
Scripture: Acts 17:22-31
Gospel Lesson: John
14:15-21
On this the Sixth Sunday of Easter, I greet with you once again with the
Easter greeting, He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed. Alleluia!
Praise be to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ!
It is hard for me to believe that we are now over halfway
through the month of May! The good news is, is that warmer weather is now here,
and is coming more and more!
With this said, this morning we have an interesting
scripture from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles in New Testament. In this
Book of Acts reading, the Apostle Paul is in the city of Athens, Greece. The
Apostle Paul of course, is not in modern day Athens, Greece, he is in Athens, Greece
nearly two-thousand years ago.
When we look through the New Testament, we can see that the
many letters attributed to the Apostle Paul are reflective of the many places
and cities that he went. The Apostle Paul went to these places preaching Christ
crucified. Paul went on missionary journeys, and went to places like Galatia,
Ephesus, Thessalonica, Corinth, Colossae, etc. The Apostle Paul went many
places spreading the Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
For anyone that has ever been to another country or culture
though, you might know that in some countries and in some cultures, life is quite
different than it is here. In fact, our culture in Sidney, New York is even
different than other places in the United States.
This morning, as the Apostle Paul is in Athens, Greece,
nearly two-thousand years ago, he finds a culture vastly different from the
Jewish culture he grew up in. This culture in Athens, in ancient Greece, was
also quite different from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Prior to our scripture reading for this morning in Acts 17,
we hear about the Apostle Paul in Athens, Greece (Acts 17:16, NRSV). The Apostle
Paul was awaiting the return of Silas and Timothy, while he was in Athens (Acts
17:16, NRSV).
As the Apostle Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy, Acts
17:17-18 says:
“While Paul was waiting
for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of
idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and
also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be
there”
(Acts 17:17, NRSV).
Many in Athens, Greece, Rome, and many
other places in the ancient world, worshipped many gods. Not just one god, but
many. It was also common that these god’s likeness would be carved, chiseled,
or formed out of wood, stone, or precious metals. In being a follower of Jesus
Christ, the Apostle Paul wanted to share the gospel with the people of the city
of Athens. As the scripture says, Paul argued in the Jewish Synagogue with the Jews,
other religious people, and in the marketplace. The scripture says that the
Apostle Paul did this daily, will awaiting the return of Silas and Timothy, and
many did not want to hear what he had to say. Yet, the Apostle Paul went to
many places, and despite the hostility and anger he sometimes received, he
preached the hope of Jesus Christ wherever he went.
I don’t know about you, but it must
have been hard for the Apostle Paul to debate, argue, and preach every day like
this, when he so often got so much push back.
The
book of Acts then says in 17:18 of the Apostle Paul that:
“Also some Epicurean
and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler
want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.”
(This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection)” (Acts 17:18, NRSV).
So many that listened to the Apostle Paul
thought he was insane, demonic, or they plain did not understand him. This
scripture discusses “Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.” Well who were they?
Let me read to you what my Africa
Bible Commentary has to say on this topic. It says of the Apostle Paul this:
“Among those who were
interested in what he had to say and were prepared to argue with him were some Epicurean
and Stoic philosophers (17:18a). The Epicureans taught that pleasure is the
highest good, and mental pleasure the highest happiness. They understood
salvation in terms of being freed from fear of gods and the fear of death. The Stoics
by contrast, taught that knowledge is the highest good and that the material world
is the sum of reality. These philosophers were not sure what Paul was speaking
about, and referred to him as a babbler (literally, someone who had picked up
scraps of knowledge) who was proclaiming strange deities (literally demons)
(17:18b). They had never met anyone like him before” (Africa Bible Commentary,
pg. 1,357).
So, the Epicureans were pleasure
seekers, who believe in many gods, and the afterlife, and the stoics believed in
this world, knowledge, and nothing else. Maybe this is why some refer to
someone as being “stoic” or a little “stiff.” As you can imagine then, as the
commentary I just cited says, the gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul was
preaching nearly 2,000 years ago, in Athens, Greece, was odd, foreign, and
confusing to them.
Paul was preaching in the Synagogue,
in the marketplace, or a mall by comparison today. Paul was debating scholars
and anyone who would talk with him. Being a Christian missionary in a culture
with little to no Christianity can be a struggle indeed.
While the philosophers and many heard
and still did not understand what the Apostle Paul was saying, they decided to give
him a place to speak in Athens. Acts 17:19-21 says:
“So they took him and
brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching
is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to
know what it means.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there
would spend their time in nothing else but telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:19-21, NRSV).
Some of these people are philosophers
or scholars. Further, according to the Bible commentary that I cited a few
moments ago, the Africa Bible Commentary, it tells us this of the place that
the philosophers took the Apostle Paul. Of this place, this “Areopagus,” the commentary
says of the Apostle Paul:
“So they brought him
to the Areopagus, an ancient court that had once governed Athens but now had
others duties, one of which was arranging public lectures. It took its name
from the Hill of Ares (that is the hill dedicated to the Greek god of war), but
by Paul’s time it met in the agora, or marketplace. The philosophers sought to
hear what Paul had to say, since they had heard strange things from him
(17:19-20). They all wanted to hear something new (17:21), and Paul was ready
to tell them some ‘all-important’ news. In doing so, he provided us with and
example of the type of sermon he would have delivered to a Gentile audience.”
(Africa
Bible Commentary, pg. 1357).
Another name for place that the
Apostle Paul is about to preach at, called the “Areopagus,” is “Mars Hill” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Hill)
In
fact, Pastor Mark Driscoll used to pastor a mega church out west, that was
called “Mars Hill.” The name of that former church came from Acts 17, which is the
Apostle Paul’s sermon for this morning on “Ares Hill,” or “Mars Hill” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Hill_Church).
There is even a town in the state of North Carolina called “Mars Hill” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Hill,_North_Carolina).
Given
all of this then, what again did the Apostle Paul preach at the “Areopagus,” “Ares
Hill,” or “Mars Hill” this morning. Let us look once again at our scripture
reading from Acts 17:22-31 that says:
“Then Paul stood in
front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you
are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the
objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To
an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and
earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human
hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life
and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to
inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the
boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for
God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not
far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as
even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since we
are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or
silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While
God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people
everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the
world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he
has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:22-31, NRSV).
It is interesting to me that even
though the Apostle Paul does not approve of the idolatry and the worship of
false gods in Athens, he acknowledges the importance of these things to the people
he is addressing. The Apostle Paul then encourages the people of Athens to put their
faith in the one true God, through the resurrection power of his son. The
Apostle Paul tells them that the divine is not in objects made gold, silver, or
stone, as God cannot be contained by any object. Thw Apostle Paul even
distinguished the one true God with a capital “G,” and discusses false gods
with a lower-case “g.” Whenever you are discussing the one true God, the upper-case
G indicates this reality. God with a capital “G” indicates the only God, and
god with a lower case “g,” indicates another god.
In the context of this event, the Apostle
Paul is also preaching to some people who do not want to hear what he had to
say. Some are likely downright hostile and angry at his preaching. Yet his
faith and devotion to Christ and his gospel are resolute. So, if you ever have
trouble sharing your faith, the Apostle Paul probably could relate to that.
Many of us know that the 10-Commandments tells us to have
no God other than the one true God, and to not worship graven images, including
idols. The Apostle Paul was telling the people of Athens, Greece this morning,
that there is only on true God, and He is not contained by objects made gold,
silver, or stone.
Even though Jesus Christ taught us to love God and love our
neighbors, he also instructed us to keep and maintain his teachings and the commandments
of God. These include of course, the worship of the one true God, and not worshipping
graven images, including idols.
With this said, our gospel of John 14:15-21 lesson for this
morning, once again says, with Jesus speaking:
“If you love me, you
will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and
he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows
him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the
world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will
live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in
you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and
those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal
myself to them” (Jn.
14:15-21, NRSV).
Jesus says of course love God and love
your neighbor, but also do everything else that he said. Follow Jesus’
teachings, and continue to follow the 10-commandments. We are expected to love
God and our neighbors, but we are also expected to live, love, and follow the
commandments and teachings of Jesus.
To help with this undertaking, Jesus
was telling his disciples that the Advocate or the Holy Spirit would come among
them soon. The Advocate or the Holy Spirit would be in them and would abide in
them. The Holy Spirit would fill them soon and reveal to them further the truths
of God in Jesus Christ.
This specific day of this outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, is Pentecost Sunday that we celebrate this year on Sunday
May 31st. When the Holy Spirit arrives, moves, and flows through us,
then we will fully and truly understand who Jesus is, that he rose from the dead,
and will return one day in glory.
Jesus
says to his disciples that he will be going back to the Heavenly Father soon,
and that we won’t see him again until he returns in glory. Jesus also says as
part of this, that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. His teachings
are vast, his expectations of us are many, and he is calling us to live like
him every day.
So changed by Jesus Christ was the
Apostle Paul that this morning he stands in Athens, Greece and preaches the
gospel of Jesus Christ to many that did not want to hear it, and some that did.
Paul realized though that there is only one true God, and that the way to him
is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today, in the modern day, the country
of Greece is mostly Christian, specifically, Greek Orthodox. Nearly
two-thousand years ago though, the Apostle Paul preached to many that did not
want to hear what he had say. This was also true when the Apostle Paul preached
in Rome. Today however, most Greeks are Christian, and the head of the Roman Catholic
Church presides in Vatican City, which is in Rome, Italy.
When
we preach and live the truth of God in Jesus Christ, through the power of the
Holy Spirit, some will not want to hear what we have to say. Yet, the gospel of
Jesus Christ has and continues to transform the world. Do we have the courage
to share with others the Good News of Jesus Christ? For the gospel of Jesus Christ
is the best and the only hope for a hurting, dying, and a broken world. Amen.
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