FIRST READING Acts 17:16–31
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 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. 18 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.) 19 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? 20 It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. 22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23 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. 24 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, 25 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. 26 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, 27 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. 28 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.’ 29 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. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 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.”
PSALM Psalm 66:8–20
8 Bless our God, you peoples; let the sound of praise be heard. 9 Our God has kept us among the living and has not allowed our feet to slip. 10 For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us just as silver is tried. 11 You brought us into the net; you laid heavy burdens upon our backs. 12 You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us out into a place of refreshment. 13 I will enter your house with burnt offerings and will pay you my vows? 14 those that I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble. 15 I will offer you burnt offerings of fatlings with the smoke of rams; I will give you oxen and goats. 16 Come and listen, all you who believe, and I will tell you what God has done for me. 17 I called out to God with my mouth, and praised the Lord with my tongue. 18 If I had cherished evil in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me; 19 but in truth God has heard me and has attended to the sound of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, nor withheld unfailing love from me.
SECOND READING 1 Peter 3:13–22
1 3Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you — not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
GOSPEL John 14:15–21
15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 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. 18 I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 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.”
SNEEK UP ON EM
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. What Charles Dickens said of Europe in the eighteenth century could be said of religion in the twenty-first century. In short, the world is polarizing over religion. Yet, the problem isn’t anything new.
When Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whether society wants to admit it or not, we were created to be in a relationship with our creator and people, from the time sin entered the world, have been seeking that relationship.
I want to pause here a minute and point out that what Paul was facing in his day is the same problem we face today. We have lots of “religious people,” some even claim to be Christians yet when you examine what they believe and worship, I think you’ll find them no different than the Athenians of Paul’s day. They spend their days discussing and honoring all sorts of idols, work, fashion, the latest electronic gadgets, 401K’s, sports teams, recreation and the list goes on. And in the midst of all their devotion, to so many things, there might be a small spot reserved for God. They don’t really know Him, they might occasionally pray to Him, they sporadically attend a worship service, but in reality they neither know nor worship the One true living God. If pressed, they might be able to go through the motions of worship, they might even be able to recite a creed or the Lord’s Prayer, but if asked to express their faith, you’d probably have better luck getting their favorite team’s latest stats, quicker than getting a statement of faith.
By all rights they are by definition religious: they believe in a god, small “g” or a group of gods and follow the rules of a religion. The problem is they’re not a disciple of Jesus. Satan has convinced them that as long as they go through the motions and are basically good people then they’re OK. This is why we need to reach out to those who on the surface claim to be religious. We need to show through our words and actions, as Paul does in our first reading for today, that the devil is a tricky creature and can trick us into thinking we’re fine, as long as there’s an altar somewhere in our lives recognizing God. We must let them know the futility of their passions and that the road they follow leads to death not life. Our love and concern for the spiritual welfare of others needs to be as George Whitefield once said, “I’m willing to go to prison for you, I’m willing to go to death with you, But I’m not willing to go to heaven without you!” That’s the kind of love we need to show to others.
I understand that not everyone likes or agrees with the Apostle Paul, but few discount his magnificent mind and his passion to make Christ known. He was a man for all seasons and cleverly planned his strategy for the most effectiveness. He was a master communicator, guided by the Holy Spirit, and he had preached in Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, and now, before he goes on to Corinth, he makes a stop in Athens. Athens was a city “full of idols,” complete with an altar to the unknown God. Paul, having observed all the religious trappings of the city, stops at this altar to the unknown God and began to preach. It’s in this passage that we see Paul’s brilliance and how God used Paul to work in all kinds of situations to bring the Good News to the people. It’s a great example for us to follow and the first thing we need to take notice of, is that Paul always began where the people were.
Paul, with his unique audience in mind, always met the people in their own surroundings. He then takes a known, something they’re familiar with and then present an unknown to them. “Men of Athens,” he began, “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 an unknown God.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.” Paul is demonstrating for us a lesson in public speaking and in rhetoric.
He began by getting their attention, and then was off-and-running with the eloquent oratory and skill for which he’s so well-known. Paul had drunk deeply of the well of salvation, had become addicted to the Water of Life, and his passion for Christ had made him a peddler of the same “spiritual high” which he had experienced. This kind of enthusiasm for others can be partially learned, maybe it can be somewhat shamed into us, or programmed into us, it might even be, to a certain extent, educated into us. However, one thing’s for sure, it’s simply impossible for one who truly knows Jesus as Savior and Redeemer, to be silent. When God is truly the Lord of our life, we can’t help but become “spiritual arsonists,” intentionally and deliberately setting people on fire for God!
Jesus is revealed to people, first by the leading of the Holy Spirit and then by someone speaking to them about Christ and the Church. Charles Wesley wrote a hymn we’re all familiar with entitled, “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing My Great Redeemer’s Praise.” A thousand tongues would be fine (maybe), but we would be glad to settle for just one! If every tongue of every Christian would be dedicated, sanctified, and consecrated to tell the Gospel story, we would soon set the world aflame!
There are multitudes of ways for evangelism to take place. Methods are as varied as are the witnesses; some are naturally better than others. Someone found fault with D. L. Moody’s methods of evangelism. He responded, “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it!” The worst thing we can do, is to do nothing at all. Paul was very wise in his approach.
If you’re going to catch fish, deer, quail, or people, it’s sometimes best to “Sneak up on ’em.” This is certainly not to say we’re going to be dishonest, manipulative, or misrepresentative at any time, but it’s to say we’re going to be aware that a lot of folks are “running-scared” of religion; they’re leery of the “hard-sell” that has turned them off and are rightly suspicious of people whose motives are to “get ’em” so they can carve another notch in their Gospel Gun of converts. And when we’re honest, communication, at best, isn’t always easy or straightforward.
Two men went into a restaurant and saw that there were three vegetables on the menu from which to choose. The waitress said to them, “Just tell me which one of the three you don’t want, it will be a lot easier that way.” One fellow said, “I don’t want any rutabagas,” but rutabagas weren’t even on the menu. She said, “Look, mister, you can’t not want something we haven’t got, you’ve gotta not want something we have!” Paul started where his hearers were. Jesus told us to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” When it comes to sharing the Good News with others, we manage the “harmless as doves” part fairly well, but our “wisdom” is often astoundingly lacking.
The one who is witnessing must follow Christ closely, if they expect to be heard. Nietzsche wasn’t unfair when he said, “You will have to look more redeemed if I am to believe in your Redeemer.” Laurence Houseman said, “A saint is one who makes goodness attractive.” Do we enhance the Gospel we represent, or bring a reproach upon it? Paul didn’t begin by using a sledgehammer of verbal accusations to those he addressed.
I suppose he could have said, “Shame on you, Athenians, for having so many gods,” or “How can you possibly worship an ‘unknown’ God?” or “You claim to be philosophers and don’t know who God really is! Where are your brains?!” But Paul knew that wasn’t the right approach; instead he started with them.
If those to whom we witness don’t know God the Father as revealed in Christ, we do not and should not criticize or assault their intelligence. We might do well to start by talking about “their” gods. And as I mentioned earlier, there are all kinds of gods today. Just because something seems real, doesn’t mean it is. Non-Christians have a wide range of gods. It might be a rock group. It may be a media personality. It could be a star like the late Elvis Presley. He was a god to thousands who still bow before the shrine of his grave at Graceland. Or consider the god of Transcendental Meditation, or the followers of Mysticism, or the Eastern religions. Some thirty-two million Americans express a belief in astrology and let a dead, burned-out star in outer space decide their destiny. Or others make gods of their children, grandchildren, money, business, wife, husband, car, house, golf game, or sex. Probably the most popular god of our time is named SELF. Why not talk about “their” gods first, not critically, not judgmentally, not with a holier-than-thou attitude, but with honest interest? Paul did exactly that. He said, “I see that you are very religious, I’ve considered your objects of worship.” Once dialogue has been established, then talk about the living God.
Then Paul, having identified with his audience, subtly began to talk about the true God, not their god, not just any god, but the on true and living God! Note that he’s still finding common ground for agreement. Everyone needs a god. An atheist said to a man who was witnessing to him, “I don’t believe in God.” The man wisely said, “Tell me about the god you don’t believe in. Maybe I don’t believe in him either!”
Paul started at the beginning, with God as Creator, the Source of all life. He told how God guided history and is the One on Whom all life depends. We live “in Him” and “we are His offspring,” meaning we don’t even take a breath without His giving it to us. He found contact with the people on the grounds of our common humanity. Then Paul proceeded to instruct that God is the center of the physical and spiritual universe.
If somehow, someway, we could “sneak up on ’em” with the wondrous knowledge that all their soul’s needs are met in God, we would do people so much good. The soul needs God as the earth needs the sun. Because the earth has the sun, it can grow forests and gardens and flowers; it can create rivers and seas; it can live. Without the sun, our planet would be as barren as a life without love and as blind as midnight. But our earth doesn’t need the sun as much as our world needs God. God is all the hope our world has. He is Creator, Sustainer, Light, Health, Intelligence, Inspiration, Joy, Salvation. Take God out of the world and life is dead and hope becomes the despair of eternal darkness. Everything dies if God dies, even love, for God is love. If we lose God, we’ve lost it all!
Humankind can no more abandon God and live, than we can safely abandon air. Our life is tied up in him. Paul said, “In Him we live and move and have our being!” Paul began with God, the God-Creator, breath, life, and asserted that God’s centrality is the reason for our very existence. We need to let people know that it makes a difference whether or not they have the right God. Any old god won’t do! So we must as ourselves, who really is our God? The answer is simple; whatever is first in our life is God. If we put our faith and hope and confidence in anything or anybody other than the one true God of the Bible, we’ll have no God on the Judgment Day, but we will have a Judge.
The next step, of course, was that Paul asked the Athenians to turn away from their old gods to the God who gave them life. Couldn’t we be that wise, too? Let’s ask people to “Try God.” And like Paul we need to be bold in our witness and come right out and say it.
We must make truth clear. There’s a community in Washington state which is located on a river, downstream from a large timber-cutting project. The logs are floated down the river to their destination, which is the saw mill below. It became the practice for the people to fish the logs out of the water, saw off the ends that had the company name printed on them, and build houses and buildings for themselves from them. The local minister heard about this practice and became very upset, and the following Sunday he preached a sermon with the title, “Thou shalt not steal.” At the conclusion of the service, as the people filed out the door, they all told him what a fine sermon it was, so he knew they’d missed the point. So the next Sunday he preached on the subject, “Thou shalt not cut the ends off of other people’s logs,” and they got the point! (Of course, that preacher had to move to another church, but they got the point!)
When we rid ourselves of being embarrassed, of apology, of unnecessary theological jargon, when we dispense with irrelevant concepts, when we’ve made truth plain, that’s when God’s message of salvation becomes clear. People are dying for a clear word from God. People shouldn’t have to wade through a veritable morass of trappings that only hide the Gospel. There comes a time in the Christian witness when we must speak boldly and plainly of sin, of the need for confession and repentance, of Christ and His death and resurrection, and take the risk of being switched off by the participants in the dialogue.
Paul’s message moved into the Incarnation and the forgiveness offered by “a Man whom God has appointed.” Then he just came right out and said it, “the Man God raised from the dead.” That brought a response! To accept the resurrection demanded an act of faith on the part of his audience. A God who raised the dead wasn’t someone just to discuss, argue over, or philosophize about; this was a God who must be confronted, and that confrontation would result in acceptance or rejection. The Incarnation is the injection of God into the blood-stream of humanity. It’s the invasion by God into the soul. The resurrection of this Incarnate One means we have to deal with Him one way or another. He cannot be ignored.
Ultimately, our message must call people to Christ. If Martin Luther had said at the Diet of Worms, “I am inclined to think …” he would’ve never launched a Reformation. It was his positive, “Here I stand, I can do no other!” that gave him his power. It’s a stupendous claim that Christians make: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” It would be a lot easier to suggest that Christ is only one way among many to God, that He offers truth just as other leaders offer truth about God. But Paul couldn’t do that, and neither can I! This isn’t my choice but His.
I cannot put Christ on the throne of my heart as one Lord among many other gods, I can only say that I am His, that I belong, body and soul, in life and in death, not to myself, but to Jesus Christ! And God honored Paul’s faithfulness because Luke tells us that some believed. Unfortunately, it was only some, so Paul had to endure opposition and derision.
Resistance to the Gospel comes in many ways. In Philippi, they put Paul in jail. In Thessalonica, there was an uproar with political overtones. In Beroea, an angry crowd was the reason the Christians sent Paul on a ship to safety. Here in Athens, the resistance was of the sort with which we’re all familiar – they ridiculed Paul. The Athenian reaction of bland toleration, of ridicule, of calling him “this babbler,” isn’t easy to take, but it can never douse the flaming zeal of the Christian who carries a love for the souls of others, a love that means we point others to Jesus Christ as Savior.
When we stand before God in the Great Day, and every one of us will, will anyone, on that day, point to us and say, “I’m a Christian because of him/her?” Can you imagine anything worse than going to heaven alone? As the hymn writer penned, “Lord, I would not stand alone, When I come before Thy throne, Let me bring at least one soul, O Lord, to Thee; Here I give myself away, Take me, use me, Lord, I pray, Let me lose myself and find it, Lord, in Thee!”
Amen