Acts 17:16-21

                                                                 Acts 17:16-21

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.

 

Paul begins his time in Athens by observing the city and the culture.  He seeks to gain an understanding of the people He desires to reach.  Ministry is always about making the Scriptures understood and revealing who God is to people.  However, all people have different starting points.  We must start working with people where they currently are if we want to be used to take them where they need to be.

 

PAUL IS PROVOKED BY IDOLATRY: As Paul walked through the city of Athens, his heart was provoked by the idolatry he witnessed.  He had a very strong emotional reaction to the things he witnessed in the city.  Those emotions must have ranged from anger at seeing how deceived the people were to compassion over their lost state.  The point is that he was engaged with the realities of the culture around him and responded to it emotionally.  Too often, we put our heads in the sand and simply try to ignore the culture around us.  This is a mistake.  The sinfulness of men should anger us because it angers and offends our Lord.  However, it should also move us to compassion.  Our hearts should break over the lost condition of the world that surrounds us. God has called us to love people and care deeply for their eternal souls.

 

PAUL IS PREACHING THE GOSPEL: In light of the idolatry that provoked Paul, his response was to preach the Gospel.  He spent his time demonstrating the truth about Jesus with the Jews in the Synagogue, and he went to the marketplace out in public to tell the idolatrous people about the one true God who send His Son to suffer, die, and rise again to pay the price of our sin.  The message of Christ is the cure for idolatry and the provision of Judaism.  There are many kinds of people in most places.  Some are moral, others dishonest.  Some are idolatrous, others atheistic.  Some devoutly religious, others purely secular.  No matter the differences in people, the need all of them have is for forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus.  Our approach to different people may vary, but our message will always be the same: Jesus crucified and risen again.

 

PAUL IS PROVOKING RESPONSES: As Paul preaches the Gospel in the Synagogue and the marketplace, he has a wide variety of responses.  Certainly, in some cases there are those who were convinced of the truth of the message and responded with true conversion.  This is the response that we all desire when we share Christ with others.  Others respond with outright rejection by calling him a babbler or crazy person.  This will, most likely, be the most common response we will experience.  We are sharing a message that is exclusive in that we are convicted that faith in Jesus is the only means by which men can be saved.  This means that all who reject or do not know Christ are eternally lost.  Those who believe anything other than this will be deeply offended by the Gospel.  There natural response will be to either hate us as false teachers or to pity us as fools.  It this case, it seems they pitied him for being so close minded.  Another response may be confusion where people just cannot seem to grasp what the message is.  Finally, there is the response of curiosity and a desire to hear more.  This seems to be a predominant response in this case, the result of which we will see in the following passage.  We need to be prepared for a variety of responses as we share Christ.

 

APPLICATION: Our hearts should be moved by the idolatry and sinfulness of the culture around us.  Anger, compassion, pity, and abhorrence are all appropriate responses to sinfulness.  Apathy and indifference are not biblical responses to sin.  However, beyond emotional responses to sinfulness, we should be moved to proclaim the Gospel no matter how people might respond.

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