PAUL IN ATHENS

ACTS 17:16-34

BEREAThe brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed. Acts 17:10-15

PAUL’S RESPONSE

• 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. Acts 17:16

• “It was easier to find in Athens a god than to find a man.”

• Athens: a city submerged in idols

WHAT IS AN IDOL?• The definition of idolatry, according to

Webster, is “the worship of idols or excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing.”

• An idol is anything that replaces the one, true God. The most prevalent form of idolatry in Bible times was the worship of images that were thought to embody the various pagan deities.

WHAT IS AN IDOL?

“It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. An idol has such a controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought.

WHAT IS AN IDOL?

It can be family and children, or career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving “face” and social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great political or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even success in the Christian ministry. An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” Tim Keller “Counterfeit Gods”

WORLDVIEW• Worldview: A network or cluster of your basic

beliefs that are assumed to be true without proof by which you (consciously or unconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) interpret and do life.

• Metaphysics: What is real?• Epistemology: What is true?• Ethics: What is right and wrong?

WORLDVIEW

• Your worldview foundation is metaphysics: what you believe to be real.

• Supernatural only• Natural only• Supernatural & Natural

– What is supernatural

CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW• Metaphysics: What is real?

– One Holy Triune Creator Sovereign Personal God and everything He created

• Epistemology: What is true?– General Revelation– Special Revelation

• Ethics: What is right and wrong?– God’s Character– God’s commands

WORLDVIEW BOOKS

• “The Universe Next Door”; James Sire• “The Forgotten Trinity”; James White• “Reasons We Believe”; Nathan Busenitz• “Reasonable Faith”; William Lane Craig• “Faith’s Reasons For Believing” Robert Reymond• “The Certainty Of The Faith” Richard Ramsay

PAUL’S RESPONSE

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. 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. 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. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Acts 17:16-21

KERYGMA: PROCLAMATION OF JESUS• Incarnation• Sinless life• Performed miracles• Crucifixion as a substitute• Burial• Resurrection• Ascension• Presently reigning king and Holy Spirit on earth• Repent, Trust in Jesus Christ, Justification,

Forgiveness, Eternal life, Baptized, Live to glorify God

ATHENSTHE WORLD’S ACADEMIC CENTER

• Epistemology: What is true & how do you know?• Socrates• Plato• Aristotle• Zeno – Stoicism: Pantheism/Determinism/ Self-

mastery• Epicurus – Epicureanism:

Materialism/Happiness/Contentment/Avoidance of pain

LIVE FOR CHRIST& BE PREPARED

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 1 Peter 3:13-16

ONE HOLY TRIUNE GOD EXISTS

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 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. Acts 17:22-23

ONE HOLY TRIUNE GOD EXISTSFor what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Romans 1:19-23

CREATOR, SUSTAINER, RULER

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 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, Acts 17:24-26

CREATOR, SUSTAINER, RULER• In the beginning, God created the heavens

and the earth. Genesis 1:1• For by him all things were created, in heaven

and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. Colossians 1:16-18

CREATOR, SUSTAINER, RULER

• Institute for Creation Research; www.icr.org

• Answers In Genesis; www.answersingenesis.org

TRANSCENDENT & IMMANENT

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, 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.’ 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. Acts 17:27-29

COMMAND, REASON, & PROOF

• The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 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.” Acts 17:30-31

• And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, Hebrews 9:27

THE CROWD’S RESPONSE

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Acts 17:32-34

APPLICATIONS

• A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living

• An idol is anything that replaces the one, true God• What are your idols? What do you worship?• What is your worldview?• What needs to change to live the Christian

worldview & worship only the One Triune God?