THE UNKNOWN GOD             (The Acts of the Apostles, Part 18)

The Teaching Ministry of Rick Trice

Trinity Fellowship Raton, October 23, 2005

Scripture Ref.:

Acts 17:16 thru 18:1

BACKGROUND

Paul is on his second missionary journey, which will take him to the following cities:

JERUSALEM, ANTIOCH, TARSUS, DERBE, LYSTRA, TROAS, NEAPOLIS, PHILLIPPI, APPOLLONIA, THESSALONICA, BEREA, ATHENS, CORINTH, EPHESUS, AND BACK TO CAESAREA AND JERUSALEM.

Now these cities are mostly unfamiliar to most of us, but geographically Paul and his friends are going to cover the entire northeastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, 2/3 of it on foot, and covering an area roughly equivalent of walking from the southern tip of the Texas gulf coastline and all the way around to the Florida keys

The ultimate significance of this journey is that Paul will quickly realize that he is called to preach the gospel news of Jesus to the Gentiles, to the non-Jews. In fact, the main reason he is in Athens is that the Jews had run him out of a town called Thessalonica, and then again from Berea, both of which are in Greece.

PAULS’ MINISTRY EFFECT SEEMINGLY LIMITED

If Paul were like some of us today, he would’ve gotten very discouraged every town he went to, because the Jews were throwing him out, even trying to kill him sometimes.

But as we see, some of the mightiest churches of early Christianity were born on this trip: the Corinthians, the thessalonians, the Ephesians, and the Phillipians.

MYSTERY OF THE “UNKNOWN” GOD

But in Athens, Paul again left with mixed results. But he didn’t leave before delivering one of his most unusual sermons, and that’s what we’ll look at today, because it will give us some insight into how we might conduct our own personal ministries that God has given us to do:

(V.17:16-18) SPIRIT WAS PROVOKED

Sometimes when God wants us to do something a little different, or focus on something new, He communicates to us through our spirit. In fact, it’s the most common way God speaks to us. If you’re wondering why you don’t hear from God, maybe you need to get some things out of your life and heart, that are barriers to hearing his voice.

And at this time, God “provoked” (or “bothered”) Paul’s spirit that something was not right. And Paul was able to identify it AND use it to get his message delivered.

EPICUREANS AND STOICS

Athens was the center of Greek culture and philosophy. These two were different sects; the epicureans taught that life was to be spent only pursuing pleasure and freedom from pain and fear. The stoics felt life needed to be spent pursuing harmony with nature and depending on human reason. Both expressed a belief system of some kind of god, or gods, and both considered the other group to be atheists.

But here, they see Paul as a “babbler,” which was translated to mean “a curiosity”, “a collector of scraps of many ideas.” And he interested them because much of what he was teaching in the Athens marketplaces and synagogues included some of what they all also believed: harmony with god’s creation; pure freedom from the world of fear; a trust in a power beyond ourselves.

(v. 19-25)

Paul responds according to the Holy Spirit within him. Remember, he was “provoked,” in the beginning of this passage. The lessons for us for our sharing of the gospel are:

*ADDRESS THE THING GOD PUTS ON YOUR HEART

Too many times we beat around the bush, thinking we can “talk our way into” the acceptance of people, then quickly slip in the gospel. The thing we forget is that God has already been preparing people to hear his message.

Paul was provoked by the idols, and he opens immediately by talking about the idols, and one in particular:

THE IDOL OF THE UNKNOWN GOD.

God leads Paul to use something that the Greeks would immediately have reference to.

The Bible also says god’s spirit will be poured out onto all flesh. The evidence of God is everywhere, and Paul wisely uses this phenomenon as a springboard for his message:

*THE ONE WHOM YOU WORSHIP WITHOUT KNOWING, HIM I PROCLAIM TO YOU

He touches the hearts of the stoics when he says god is the one who created all this nature and beauty around you. He touches the epicureans when he points out that god is not worshipped merely by the creations of men.

(v28) Paul even refers to some of the Greeks poets. If these were Jews, he would’ve referred to the Old Testament prophets and their writings; these Greeks wouldn’t have had a clue who he was referring to, so he gives them something from their own history to be a touchstone with.

Again, God’s spirit poured out on all creation as a witness to his power.

(V. 30-32) CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

Paul shows them that there is still something missing in their understanding of God’s creative power. There is a gap in God’s desire to have relationship with them, and that is his provision for salvation in the person of the risen savior. And here is where he loses most of them: the idea of a man resurrected from death is beyond their understanding. Here it begins to sound like a fairy tale, and we see that Paul leaves without too many responding.

But then, so did Jesus not success at times, when there was little faith. In fact, we should always, like Jesus, expect three typical responses to our attempts to witness: Some will mock; some will want more information; and some will believe.

(v. 33 - 18:1)

But Paul is not discouraged. He leaves Athens, and God prepares his heart to plant one of the most powerful and effective churches of his ministry: the church at Corinth.