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Acts 17:15-34
15 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.
16 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. 17 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. 18 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. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 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. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,1 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 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, 27 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, 28 for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;2
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’3
29 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. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 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.”
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
[1] 17:24
[2] 17:28
[3] 17:28
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
You have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Acts chapter 17. It's also there in your worship guide. Acts 17. Now I'm not sure where it happened or how it happened to you this week, but I'm pretty certain that it happened. At some point, you were provoked.
Jeffrey Heine:Something provoked you. Perhaps it was when you were sitting in traffic, and that guy whizzes by you in the emergency lane to then cut in front of you, and it provoked a response, and you perhaps you you hit the steering wheel, maybe said a few words. Perhaps it was when a coworker went over your head and just went straight to the boss to, to essentially throw you under the bus. Perhaps it was as you were looking on Facebook, and it's one of those political memes that just irritates you for the inaccuracies that are presented there, and it it provokes you to, to actually do the dislike. Maybe even the angry face.
Jeffrey Heine:Something provokes you this week. Lauren and I, we were talking this morning and she reminded me of a story of when, she was in youth group and they were going someplace and they were taking the youth van and the driver, of her GAs, your GA leader, right? Somebody cut right in front of her to to grab the last remaining parking spot. And with the GA leader feeling all the eyes, of course, of the youth looking at her, she knew she had to be calm, but she did lower the window and she yelled out, Jesus loves you, and I am trying. But but we we were provoked at some point this week, and being provoked is not a bad thing.
Jeffrey Heine:At times, being provoked, being angry is the appropriate response to a situation. Scripture actually tells us to be angry and not to sin. And most of us have no problem with part a of that commandment. Alright? We're really good at the being angry, but they're not sinning part.
Jeffrey Heine:This is a story that we're about to read about a time when Paul was provoked. He didn't seek it out. This wasn't something that he had planned on doing, but he saw some things that provoked him. And what we read about is his response. And so Acts 17, we'll begin reading in verse 15.
Jeffrey Heine: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. 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?
Jeffrey Heine:Others said, he seems to be preach 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 therefore to know know therefore what these things mean. Now all the Athenians and foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Jeffrey Heine:So Paul standing in the midst of the Areopagus said, men of Athens, I perceived in every way you were very religious. For as I passed along and observe the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God. Where therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 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 in the boundaries of their dwelling place.
Jeffrey Heine:That they should seek God and perhaps feel their way towards him and find him, yet he's 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. The times of ignorance, God overlooked. But now, he commands all people everywhere to repent.
Jeffrey Heine: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. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, we'll hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst.
Jeffrey Heine:But some men joined him and believed. Among whom also were Dionysius the Arapagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. This is the word of the Lord. Father, we pray for open hearts and minds. Open up your word to us so that we might hear from you and understand it and apply it.
Jeffrey Heine:Open up our our hearts, minds, wills, because we need to not only understand it, but we need to have the desire and will to obey it. And I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:K. So Paul hadn't planned on being in Athens when all this happened. As we saw last week, he was in Philippi where he was beaten, thrown in jail, just barely escaped with his life. And so he he leaves Philippi and he goes to Thesalonica, where surprise, surprise, there's another riot. Another riot.
Jeffrey Heine:Paul once again barely escapes Thesalonica with his life. And then he goes to Berea, where they're actually more open and responsive to him and he's making some headway, but then the Thessalonica mob followed him to Berea and he has got to flee Berea. It's actually some of his companions, they quickly, they just throw him on a boat and they send him to Athens. Silas and Timothy don't even get to go with him. You you get a sense of the urgency in which they sent him away.
Jeffrey Heine:And so now, Paul is in Athens just waiting for Silas and Timothy to arrive. So Athens was not his destination. It was just his layover, if you will. So picture somebody flying up from Miami, and they want to get to San Francisco and they have a layover here in Birmingham. And so as they're flying up and they they land at the airport there, they realize that their flight has been delayed, and actually, it's been canceled.
Jeffrey Heine:And so lucky them, they get a free day here in Birmingham, Alabama. And so this person is trying to figure out what do they do. And so they decide, well, I've heard so much about Birmingham. I'm gonna explore this great city. And so, they get a Uber or a cab, and they go and they see all the many sites of Birmingham.
Jeffrey Heine:The analogy has to stop there. Now if perhaps we had some giant iron statue of a Roman god looming over the city, then then perhaps we'd have something to talk about being provoked by. But but since we don't have that, we'll just end the illustration there. So Paul on this extended layover he's like, well, I'll go explore the city. I mean, ultimately, he wants to get to Rome, but while he's here, he might as well make use of his time.
Jeffrey Heine:And so he begins to explore, and of course, we we know Athens with the incredible architecture and culture in Athens, yet his eye is not drawn to any of those things. It's not drawn to the Acropolis. It's not drawn to the Parthenon. It's it's not drawn to any of those beautiful wonders of the world. And steady sees the idolatry, and he's provoked.
Jeffrey Heine:He's provoked. It's said that it was easier to find a God in Athens than a human. And there's actually some merit to that, because they had over 30,000 gods. 30 just set up all around the city and and as Paul sees all of those idols, he's provoked. The word used here in Greek, it's It's a strong term.
Jeffrey Heine:To be provoked, it's it's it connotates this severe emotional concern. Or you could even translate this as borderline rage happening here. The best way I would describe this feeling is if you have a friend, or maybe a family member who's an addict. There's an addict or or a friend who's who's going through a time of grief and you can't get them out of it. When you talk with that person, you have this mixture of emotions.
Jeffrey Heine:There's there's a part of you, you feel this hurt and this sorrow that that this person is bound to that addiction, or that the person has gone through such a period of suffering and can't get over grief, you certainly hurt for them, but at the same time, honestly, you're ticked off and you're angry that they just won't stop it or get over it. And you feel both of those things at the same time, you're you're paroximo, you're you're provoked. I would call it almost a compassionate fury that you have when you're when you're in a situation like that. And out of deep, deep love, this needs to be our response when we see people hurting themselves. That's what was happening in Athens.
Jeffrey Heine:Our church should feel this anytime we see people going to other things rather than Christ for their identity, for their joy. Ultimately, they're hurting themselves. Now when Paul, he goes around and he sees that they've exchanged the glory of God for an image, he's provoked. And you've gotta ask the question, what is it that provokes us as a church? What is it that provokes you?
Jeffrey Heine:As you think back to this week or this past month, what are the things that have happened that that have caused that compassionate fury? Has anything provoked you? Or can you, when you finish your job, get in your car, as you're driving home, you turn on the radio and you you listen to whatever songs about sexual immorality or adultery that are on because that's pretty much the theme. As you drive by neighborhoods with huge disparancies in wealth and in education, And you finally go to your home where you turn on Netflix, which everything is TV mature. And yet you're numb to it.
Jeffrey Heine:Honestly, you didn't even think about it. It's just kind of the air we breathe. So why would you be provoked by that if it happens every day? The actual christian word, it used to be much more prevalent in previous generations, but the the Christian word for that is worldly. You become worldly.
Jeffrey Heine:Numb to the evils of those things. No longer provoked by them because it's just simply the air we breathe. These are no longer disturbing things to us. And can I just say that if that is you, if that is us, we need to pray for a holy provocation? That God actually causes us to be bothered by what we hear, by what we see on a daily basis.
Jeffrey Heine:Because we need to be provoked in order for us to have some kind of response. And the church is called to respond to these evils. Now when we're provoked, we can respond 1 of 3 ways. 2 of them are bad. The first way we can respond is this, is, we respond by, oh my gosh, look at the evils of the world.
Jeffrey Heine:Actually, I'm not gonna look at the evils of the world. And you kinda rush to your car so you can hurry to church, get to church without being contaminated and just go to the next bible study and the next bible study and the next bible study and only listen to Christian music by You know, you have to do that. But you don't wanna be contaminated by the evil. That's one option when you're provoked. The other is this, you begin to lob the holy hand grenades.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, the, the stones of truth, you just kinda throw them at people. Have you heard about Jesus? You know, you just throw them, you you point out the sin, you just you make You cast judgment on everybody. That's another response. Or you could do what Paul does here.
Jeffrey Heine:He decides to engage people. He meets them where they're at and he engages the culture around him with the gospel. That's what this provocation is supposed to do, and it's we're supposed to see the evil, see the hurt, and the response, the appropriate response to this deep emotion is, I'm gonna engage you with the gospel. This is what Paul does. He he immediately seeks to do something about it.
Jeffrey Heine:And so he goes to the heart of the Athenian culture. He goes to the Agora, the marketplace. The marketplace, don't think of Publix, don't think of Winn Dixie or or something like that. The the marketplace is really the cultural hub for Athens. We don't have a marketplace, an agora in our cities.
Jeffrey Heine:It's really ours would be made up of a bunch of different institutions. This would be like Paul going to the to the universities or the schools, going to the businesses, going to, any kind of public forum, going to the neighborhood association meetings, going to where the the events that affect all of our cultural life within our city, and engaging the people there. And so he goes there, and I love it. He gets there and he proclaims Jesus and the resurrection, and he confuses the heck out of everybody. Nobody understands what he is saying.
Jeffrey Heine:Now this is the first time we've we've had this in Acts. I mean before you have preaching and you either have a ton of people being saved, release 1 or 2 converts there, or you have riots. People understand and they just hate you for it and so they just wanna beat you up for it. But you always have some kind of big reaction and here Paul goes and he explains, Jesus and the resurrection and the response is, what are you talking about? It's just confusion.
Jeffrey Heine:I actually find a whole lot of comfort in that. I find comfort that we can clearly present the gospel out there and the reaction from a culture like ours can be to just scratch your head. They actually think he's preaching divinities, that he's preaching Jesus as one God and resurrection as another God. They're so confused by the gospel. Thankfully, they they didn't give up.
Jeffrey Heine:They said, you know, that's interesting. Wouldn't mind hearing more about that. I love hearing the explanation of the Athenian culture in verse 21. It says, now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. In other words, this culture loved being in the know.
Jeffrey Heine:They loved reading the latest articles, the latest blogs. They loved going to every TED talk. They were always wanted to hear about what podcast you're listening to. What can you recommend? They they want to accumulate all of this knowledge.
Jeffrey Heine:You're always ready for that. But the reason that they were open to doing all of those things is because they didn't think there actually was anything ancient or eternal that they could hang their head on. There was no eternal truth. We read that Paul was taking on the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans and the Stoics were really the the offspring, if you will, of of Plato and Aristotle.
Jeffrey Heine:Plato and Aristotle, the 2 great Greek minds there, well they could not come to agreement as to what was ultimate truth or what was the meaning of life. Those 2 disagreed. And basically, what you had is after their disagreement, the rest of Greek society was like, if those guys can't figure it out, if they can't figure out what truth is, if they can't figure out what the meaning of life is, well, you know what? You just can't really know. And so out of that came this Epicureanism and stoicism, which were not well thought out philosophies at all.
Jeffrey Heine:They're just very pragmatic. An Epicurean philosophy of life is simply this, if it feels good, do it. If it makes you happy, go for it. There actually used to be a food magazine, if you remember, called the Epicurean. And it might still be around.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm not sure. But, I just assume all print is out. Alright. So but, it it was called Epicurean, which is basically like, you know, eat, drink, for tomorrow you die. Like, that's the best we can hope for in this life.
Jeffrey Heine:It's just to get the little bit of pleasure, little bit of happiness we can attain. And then you had the stoics, and they were pantheists believing that, like, God was in everything and everything was kind of God, that you couldn't know, of course. And then they believe, like, the best that you could do in this life is to accept your fate. We're all we're all fated. And just accept your fate and just move on to the end.
Jeffrey Heine:And those are not well thought out philosophies. You can actually poke a whole lot of holes in them. But in the absence of believing in an ultimate truth, or in real meaning in this life, it's the best they had. You know what? Just either eat, drink, be merry for tomorrow we die, or just accept who you are, your position in life, your fate.
Jeffrey Heine:Just grin and bear it to the end. It's actually not that dissimilar of where we are in our society. You see those two views very prevalent. The general consensus of where we are right now is we've got a lot of great minds who've thought through things like what is the meaning of life and truth, and they can't come to agreement. Got like the Richard Dawkins in this world.
Jeffrey Heine:You have the Stephen Hawkings. Those are 2 really smart guys. Yet they disagree with like a, you know, a Tim Keller or a Ravi Zacharias. They they can't get together. You know, Oprah Winfrey chimes in and she's different from everybody.
Jeffrey Heine:The greatest minds of our generation. Like they they they can't agree. And if they can't agree, let's just put our hands up, surrender and say there is no such thing or if there is such thing as ultimate truth, we certainly can't find it. The best we could do is just to try to find a little bit happiness in this world. Whatever pleasures we can find.
Jeffrey Heine:Feels good? Do it. Or just accept our fate and our meaningless existence. So that's the culture that Paul went to go explain the gospel to. And I think it's remarkably similar to ours.
Jeffrey Heine:So how does he do it? Well he's taken to the Areopagus, which is a pretty huge deal. That would have been the intellectual elite of its day. Picture, you know, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, all kinda combined there. It's the 30 intellectuals of the day.
Jeffrey Heine:The most prominent ones, the ones who set the agenda for Greece, if you will. And he gets to go and proclaim to them the gospel. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for Paul. So what does he do? Well, he doesn't say, if you would, please all open your bibles too.
Jeffrey Heine:He doesn't mention, you know, Adam or Moses, Isaiah, any of the prophets, he doesn't go there. He doesn't start by quoting the Bible. He doesn't go to the 10 Commandments and tell them everything they've done wrong. He actually starts where they're at. And this is a post I mean, this is a this is a culture that has no understanding of scripture at all.
Jeffrey Heine:Kinda like where we're moving in a post bible culture. In which you can't throw out the bible as a common language anymore. So instead, he starts where they are at and he tries to find some kind of commonality. And the commonality that Paul can find here is worship. Hey, I noticed you worship and I worship.
Jeffrey Heine:We're both worshipers. That's the commonality that he finds. And this is something that every human has in common with every other human. We worship. I used to say that every human was created to worship, And I have since amended that.
Jeffrey Heine:That's not quite accurate. We're not created to worship. We are created worshiping. Worship is not a choice for us. We are all born worshiping something.
Jeffrey Heine:We will find something to give our heart to. Something to build our identity upon. We can't help it. It's who we are. It's in our DNA.
Jeffrey Heine:It's part of being human is to be created worshiping. And so Paul starts there and we can all start there. And so he says, hey, I noticed that you are a really worshiping people. Actually, the word he uses, religious there, it could mean anything. It could be a good term or it could just mean superstitious.
Jeffrey Heine:And so he kinda says, I noticed that you were worshiping. And they took it however they wanted to take it. He goes, there's some differences though between how you worship and how I worship. And who you worship and who I worship. And he begins to explain these differences.
Jeffrey Heine:And the differences were basically this. The Athenians, they worshiped their gods in order to get something from them. Their gods were like the celestial, vending machines. They would they'd put in their tokens of worship, they'd make their sacrifices. They'd leave their food.
Jeffrey Heine:They'd do whatever it is. But it wasn't because they loved the vending machine, it's because they loved what the vending machine would then give them, and they could then make their selection and get what they really wanted all along. And so they seek these gods and they made sacrifices to these gods in order to get something from them. So if they wanted money, if they wanted prosperity, well they would have to give something to the goddess Artemis, who is the goddess over prosperity. If they wanted wisdom, well then they wouldn't need to go and make their prayers and sacrifices to Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
Jeffrey Heine:If they wanted a victory, whether it's in war or in some kind of game, they would they'd make an offering to the god, Nike. Or Nike, depending on their generation. You know? Or if they wanted to be beautiful, or have somebody fall in love with them, or perhaps they wanted better sex, They would make a sacrifice to Aphrodite, the goddess over love and sex and beauty. So basically, they would They'd find whether or God that could give them what they needed, what they really wanted, then they went to that God and they said, what is it gonna take?
Jeffrey Heine:What sacrifice do I have to make in order to get that one thing from you? And Paul looks at that and says, we operate on fundamentally different levels here. And that's where our culture operates by the way. They can have an idol of career and they give themselves to their career, but what are they really wanting from it? It might be the wealth that comes from it.
Jeffrey Heine:It might be the prestige that comes from it. Some might really give themselves into parenting. They have to have a child, but what but what is it that they really want in the parenting? They want the affirmation maybe that comes with it. Maybe the the love that that child will show them, that's where they're gonna find all of their meaning.
Jeffrey Heine:Some of them give themselves to fitness, beauty. But what is it they really want when they make sacrifices towards those end? They want other people to look at them and say, wow. Wow. You are beautiful.
Jeffrey Heine:We're all making sacrifices towards these different idols and gods, but what we really want is what they can give us. Paul says, the real God is different. There's not multiple gods. There's actually just one God and He made everything. And you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:You can't bribe him. You can't work for him. You can't give him anything. You can't do your good deeds and him be oppressed with. You can't, you know, sing songs and then be impressed by that and think like, oh, tit for tat.
Jeffrey Heine:Now what can I give you? You can't do that because he created everything. He has all of the love, all of the wisdom, all of the power. He created sex. He created all the material world.
Jeffrey Heine:He created all the things that you want. You can't give him anything because he already has it all. It all flows from him. The good news is he freely gives us all those things. He's not waiting for your sacrifice.
Jeffrey Heine:He freely He's a giver. God is a giver. He has even given us our very life and our very breath, but this is why he did it. So that we might seek not his gifts, but we might seek him. That we might seek Him.
Jeffrey Heine:God is His own reward. My God is beautiful. You don't seek him for what you get from him. You seek him. He is that beautiful.
Jeffrey Heine:The greatest thing that God could ever give us is not his gifts, but him himself. This is Paul's version of saying, basically you all have a God shaped hole in your heart and you can't fill it with anything else. Your heart was meant for God. And Paul then quotes not from the Bible, but he quotes from their own poets. From their own culture, their own songs in order to try improve his point about deep down, they actually know this.
Jeffrey Heine:Deep down, that's what they've been seeking all along. Deep down, that's why they make altars to unknown gods, which I will call the just in case gods. The gods that are out there that that I actually believe really exists and I just don't even know who he is. And so he quotes her own songs and her own poets to prove his point. This would be like An example of this would be like if if Paul came to your house and he's looking around, he notices like, oh.
Jeffrey Heine:You have a book by Marie Kondo there. So, what sparks joy in you? What what sacrifices have you had to make? What things have you had to get rid of? Is is it working out for you or is there still some unknown sacrifice out there that you still have to make, and then joy comes in?
Jeffrey Heine:You you know, I actually think that you're never gonna find ultimate joy in doing this. Lauren actually wrote a letter to Marie Kondo just talking to her about that. It could be like going to the gym. And you know, you look at somebody and you're like, wow. You're really fit.
Jeffrey Heine:You've probably had to work very hard to get that way. I'm imagining. How's it working out for you? Like what what's what's the end game? What's it all for?
Jeffrey Heine:I was actually, not long ago. I was at the gym. I work out at the Jewish Community Center and, it helps me keep my Hebrew up. And so I'm not very well, but I try. So I'm in the locker room and basically, if you're in the men's locker room, it's for a bunch of old men who can complain about their joints.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright? That's that's pretty much what we do in the locker room. And, and so there's a guy next to me and he's he's complaining about how he feels and, he listened and he's like, what can you do? You have a good workout? And I was like, nope.
Jeffrey Heine:Horrible as always. And he goes, well, at least you're here. He goes, I guess that's the best we can hope for. And I thought, is it? That's all I asked.
Jeffrey Heine:Is it? And he looked at me like, I was like, I mean, is it is it really this is the best we can hope for? Because ultimately, this is gonna fail us, you know. And his response was, you're that preacher here, aren't you? It's like I was called out.
Jeffrey Heine:It's like, yes, I am, but that's not why I'm talking about these things. But even using that to like, yes, what is it all for? Because the best you can hope for is what, to add a few more years and it's gonna fail you in the end. What you are worshiping will fail you. What you are sacrificing for will fail you.
Jeffrey Heine:I worship a God who will never fail you. He's beautiful in his own right, and we seek him just to seek him. He's the giver of all good gifts, but most of all, he's given us himself. And so we could go to people who've made all these sacrifices to their careers, sacrifices to live in certain neighborhoods, Sacrifices to look certain ways or to impress certain people. And we could look at them and we could say, you're worshiping.
Jeffrey Heine:I worship too. But can I tell you about the beautiful person who I worship who will never fail you? So that's what Paul does. He reaches out to where they were at. He begins showing them the futility of their worship and how God could give them a peace, a love, and a joy that they cannot comprehend.
Jeffrey Heine:And then Paul goes straight to judgment and the resurrection. Now, we don't have Paul all of Paul's sermon here or his speech here. I mean, once again, this is the chance of a lifetime for Paul and I can't imagine it takes approximately like 70, 80 seconds to read through this whole thing slowly. Alright. Paul gave a much bigger defense in speech here.
Jeffrey Heine:So we're getting just the highlights of it, but I think that's important. The highlights are this. We're all worshiping something. But I'll worship a God who's supreme and beautiful in his own right. And you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:He might have overlooked what you were doing in the past, but judgment will come. Someday, we will all stand before our creator. And that person's gonna be Jesus. And we know it's Jesus because of the resurrection. And I would say this, when you were trying to engage people with the gospel, I would always go to the resurrection over and over and over.
Jeffrey Heine:Don't don't start with, can I talk to you about how old the earth is? You know, technically, if you follow this through, it's probably 6,000 something don't start there. And when people try to derail you and and ask things about biblical sexuality, ask you about the age of the earth, ask you about all those things, That's that's fine. You can engage them there, but don't go from the ground up to the gospel. Say, can you hold that thought real quick?
Jeffrey Heine:Can we start with who Jesus is? Because I promise you, if you come to grips with who Jesus is and that he is the son of God risen from the dead, I will get you an answer to every one of your questions. But Jesus is the missing piece in your life. Not that those are not important. We will get there.
Jeffrey Heine:But keep going back to Jesus. Really, that's one of the thrust of this entire sermon as Paul is saying, we've all been groping in the dark. All of you with your different philosophies, through the different ways you've pursued life and your education and your wealth. You're groping in the dark, and they've all been leading up to this one point and it's left you just short. Can I tell you the huge missing piece there?
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus and the life that he has given us through his resurrection. And so he keeps going back and back there. Jesus is central. Alright. Real quick, the response.
Jeffrey Heine:I just wanna read these. How how do the people respond to this? What should we expect? Verse 32. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.
Jeffrey Heine:But others said, we will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed. Three different reactions. Mockery.
Jeffrey Heine:Maybe. I'll listen to you again about this. And then some people actually believed. I think if we are really engaging our culture with the gospel, we'll be experiencing all three of these reactions. But the reality is, some of us stop short because nobody ever wants to be mocked.
Jeffrey Heine:I guarantee you, Paul went into this knowing very well he was gonna be mocked. When you were engaging the intellectual elite of the day with this, and you're talking about the resurrection, you are going to be mocked. But he was also convinced of this. The spirit of God works, and some will believe. Some will believe, and so he didn't hold back.
Jeffrey Heine:And so we need to be people who are provoked by the evils and the idolatry around us. And then we're not fearful of being mocked, but we step in and we engage the culture. And we say, can I tell you about the person I worship? We're both worshiping beings, but can I tell you about Jesus and his resurrection? Some will mock, some will want to hear more, and then the good news of the gospel is some believe.
Jeffrey Heine:If you would, pray with me. Lord Jesus, I pray that you would forgive us for how worldly we've become, by how unbothered we are, how numb we are to all of the evils and the idolatries around us. And so we pray that through your spirit, you would give us a holy provocation. We would have a strong, emotional, spiritual response to the evils around us, and it would make us want to engage our culture with the good news of the gospel. And Father, we pray that you would, through your spirit, bring fruit.
Jeffrey Heine:That we would see, not just the mockery, not just some of the confusion, but we would see people come to new life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And we pray this in your name, Jesus.