Acts 17:16-34

We're going to finish off Act 17.

And it's going to be good to be in this chapter for a number of weeks.

And really this morning I just want to tie up a couple of loose ends.

Two things.

I want us to see, first of all, the relevance of Paul's preaching.

And then I want us to see the response to Paul's preaching.

The relevance of Paul's preaching.

If you want to sell something in the marketplace,

then you need to advertise it, don't you, in as few words as possible.

If you're going to sell something on eBay, like some of you do,

one of the key things in the description is the brevity, isn't it?

You don't want to write on eBay a really kind of long description.

People don't have time, do they, to read all the blurbs.

So if you want to catch people's attention and you need to do so quickly,

you need a brief phrase, you need a catchphrase.

You need a couple of appropriate words to catch people's attention,

to claim people's attention.

And that's not only good salesmanship, that's good preaching.

Any preacher worth his salts should be able to summarize his sermons in a few words.

I do the children's sheets, so you children have got the sheets.

And what I often find is that as I seek to summarize the sermon,

my sermon often unravels when I'm doing the children's sheets.

And as I try to contract the sermon and think this is what I'm trying to say,

what I often find is my sermon isn't logical at all.

And it's good for preachers.

If you've got to just reduce the sermon to ten words,

what would those ten words be?

And you can't do that with lots of preachers,

but you can do it with the apostle Paul.

And that's exactly what Luke does with Paul.

Luke is the author of the Acts of the Apostles,

and he sums up Paul's preaching in Athens in two words.

You can see them in verse 18.

Paul preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

There it is.

Paul's preaching in a nutshell.

That short hand, if you like.

Two words.

Jesus.

Resurrection.

There's quite a bit of confusion about that.

They didn't quite understand that at first.

They didn't know what he was talking about.

Look at verse 18.

They think, Paul, are you trying to introduce a couple of new gods

to their overcrowded pantheon?

Foreign deities.

And they were interested in that.

There's an element of confusion here.

But be that as it may be,

and they got the message.

They got the distinct impression in Paul's preaching.

And you wouldn't get it, I think, from a lot of preaching today.

They got the distinct impression from Paul's preaching

that he was setting up Jesus as God.

At least they understood that much.

In all their confusion,

they understood this much,

that whatever else Paul was saying about Jesus,

he was saying that Jesus was God.

There can be no doubt,

Paul preached Jesus as the God-man.

We've seen him in Acts 17 that he preached about God,

and he preached about man,

but he also preached that God became man.

That this great God who doesn't dwell in buildings made with hands,

this God who is the creator and the sustainer of the universe,

the one who has made us,

but this God became a man and lived amongst us.

He dwelt in our midst,

in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

And that is the focus of Paul's preaching.

That is the focal point.

He preached about God,

he preached about man,

and he focused on Jesus,

the God-man.

And he particularly focused on Jesus and the resurrection.

He focused on the person and work of Jesus.

So there are some people that come to Acts 17,

and they say,

well,

Paul didn't preach the cross.

That's nonsense.

Because the resurrection includes the cross.

You can't have a resurrection,

can you,

unless someone has died.

You can't preach the resurrection

without speaking about the death of Christ

and the meaning of his death.

And so this is the focus of Paul's preaching in Athens.

He preached Jesus and the resurrection.

He preached the person and the work of Christ.

And Jesus and the resurrection

always go together in apostolic preaching.

As far as the early Christians were concerned,

the resurrection was the supreme evidence

that Christianity was true.

It was a sign that they pointed to.

It was a sign that Jesus pointed to

when he refused any other sign.

So in the days of his flesh,

they kept coming to him,

didn't they?

And they say,

if you are the Messiah,

if you are who you say you are,

if you are the Son of God,

show us a sign.

Do something in the heavens.

Do some kind of conjuring trick

with the stars,

and then we'll believe you.

Do some kind of miracle.

And Jesus refused to do that.

In fact,

the only sign that Jesus pointed to

was the sign of his resurrection.

And so he says,

doesn't he,

just as Jonah was in the belly of a fish

for three days and three nights,

so the Son of Man

will be three days and three nights

in the belly of the earth.

He said to them on another occasion,

do you remember?

I will destroy this temple,

and in three days

I will rise it up again.

And John tells us,

doesn't he,

that the body that Jesus was talking about

was his own body.

The only sign that Jesus pointed to

was the resurrection.

Sometimes people say to us,

don't they,

if you could produce some non-Christian

witnesses

to the resurrection,

I believe.

There aren't any.

Of course there aren't any.

Why?

Because the resurrection

makes people Christians.

Of course,

there aren't any

non-Christian witnesses

to the resurrection.

The resurrection is the sign.

It is the evidence

that Christianity is true.

And the apostles preached that.

They weren't ashamed of it.

They didn't preach it

in the way that we do.

And so,

very often,

when people talk about the resurrection,

well,

they may say this.

They say,

you ask me how I know he lives.

He lives within my heart.

You know that hymn?

You ask me how I know he lives.

He lives within my heart.

Sounds very spiritual,

doesn't it?

Jesus lives on in the human heart.

That's not what the apostles preached at all.

The apostles didn't preach

their subjective experience

of the resurrection.

They preached the objective reality of it

in space and time

in human history.

That God raised a man from the dead

called Jesus of Nazareth.

And that's the very heart

of the gospel that Paul preached.

The apostolic gospel.

The resurrection vindicates Jesus.

It is.

Doesn't it?

Do you remember how

Peter preached it earlier on in Acts?

He comes to the very town

where Jesus was crucified

and he says to the people,

you crucified him,

God raised him.

You've got a problem,

haven't you?

You've got a problem

because you thought

that he was worth nothing.

You wrote him off.

You thought,

we're finished with him now.

He was an imposter.

You wrote him off.

But what did God do?

God raised him from the dead.

And your opinion of Jesus

is diametrically opposed

to what God thinks of Jesus.

And you thought

that he was worth nothing,

but God has raised him.

And the resurrection

vindicates Jesus.

And it doesn't only vindicate Jesus,

it sets him apart

and it singles him out

from all other men.

from every single figure,

from every central figure

of world religions.

And that's what Paul says

to the Athenians.

This is the man,

quite literally.

The man whom God has appointed

to deal with the sin question.

And he's given us

assurance of that,

he says in verse 31,

by raising him from the dead.

He hasn't raised Buddha

from the dead.

Mohammed lies

a-mouldering in the grave.

You go and you visit

the tombs of these people.

Their shrines are there

to go to,

but Jesus is alive.

And he's been raised

from the dead

and the resurrection

singles out Jesus

and it sets him apart

from every other great name

in world history.

That this is the man

whom God has appointed

to deal with the sin question

one way or another.

This is the one

whom God has set apart

to deal with

the greatest problem

that you and I have.

The problem of sin.

And Jesus Christ

will deal with

that great problem

in one of two places.

Either in his death

upon a cross

or upon the judgment day

when he comes back.

Because he is the man

that God has appointed

to deal with

the problem of human sin.

You see,

we are not going to meet

an unknown God.

On the day of judgment

it will be Jesus

who we will meet.

The man whom God

has appointed

and God has chosen

to reveal himself

and to reconcile himself

to sinful men and women

and boys and girls.

And God has chosen Jesus

for that purpose

and the resurrection

sets him apart

in the most powerful way.

Is God saying

in the most emphatic

and the most eloquent

way possible,

this is my beloved son

with whom I am well pleased.

Hear him.

It is God's guarantee,

isn't it?

It is God's guarantee

that it is not written

on a scrap of paper.

You buy a washing machine

and you get a guarantee,

don't you?

And it is written down

on paper.

It is stuck in an email

attachment.

Something goes wrong

and you can't find it

but God has given

a guarantee

and he has written it

in human history

and he has written it

in time and space.

And it is there

for people to examine.

God has given us

assurance

of this very thing

by raising Jesus

from the dead.

He is underwritten

if I can put it like that,

the whole mission

of Jesus

by the resurrection.

Let's say

you get an insurance policy

and you have

an insurance policy

and in the small print

it says this policy

is underwritten

by Lloyds of London.

And you are given

assurance, aren't you?

Because you think,

well,

if Lloyds of London

underwrite it,

it surely must be valid.

But verse 31

of Acts 17

is telling you

that God has underwritten

the claims of Jesus.

This man.

Why this one man?

Why Jesus of Nazareth?

Why does everyone,

all people,

everywhere,

need to come to this one man,

to Jesus of Nazareth?

Can't people

have their own Jesus?

Well, because Jesus

is the man

whom God has appointed.

He is the universal man.

He is the inescapable man.

He is the man

with whom you have to do.

And God has appointed him

to deal with

your greatest problem,

your problem of sin

once and for all

in one way or another.

either in salvation

at the cross

or in judgment

on the day of judgment.

And this is the man

with whom you and I

have to do

and God has underwritten that.

And God has given

assurance to you

of that

by raising him

from the dead.

And God is saying

to you this morning,

in effect,

you can trust him

with your soul

and with your life.

He's saying to you,

you can believe

everything that he's said

about himself,

everything he's claimed,

everything he's said

about his person,

every claim that he's made

about his work,

you can rely on him.

Says God,

this is my beloved son

with whom I'm well pleased.

And the resurrection

sets him apart.

The resurrection vindicates him

and the resurrection

universalizes him.

Just think for a moment.

If only I'd been there

when Jesus was alive.

You hear that,

isn't it?

It's awful in Bibles.

If only I'd been living

when that man

was lowered through the roof

and met Jesus.

Well,

let's think about that.

How would you have got

to meet Jesus

in the first century?

How easy was it

to meet Jesus

in the first century?

How would you have

got to meet him?

Well,

with great difficulty,

if you were living here,

that would have been

particularly difficult,

isn't it?

You couldn't have gone

to Heathrow.

COVID restrictions

wouldn't let you fly anyway,

but you wouldn't have

been able to get there.

But let's say you,

let's say you could

get on board a plane

and you could have

got to Palestine

in the first century.

You would have

had great difficulty

locating Jesus.

And then you'd have

queued up with all

the other crowds.

You see,

the point of the resurrection

and the ascension

is that

Jesus is alive

and it universalizes him.

It universalizes

his availability

and his accessibility.

He is now

at the right hand

of the majesty on high.

Let me use

the Puritan illustration.

You think of the illustration

of the sun.

So when you get up

early in the morning

and you see

the sun

in the distance

rising,

you see the sun

in this big ball

on the horizon

and you see it

coming up

and it's cold

in the morning

and you see the sun

but you don't feel

the heat of the sun

yet.

And it seems

so near to you

but you don't get

any advantage of it.

But then as the sun

rises so that it's

up in the sky

at midday,

you can't even gaze

on the sun

because when it's

at its highest,

you can't dare

look into the sun

but you feel

the heat

of it.

You feel the heat

of it

at its most,

at its highest

level.

That's when it's

at its most effective.

That's when it's

nearest to you.

When you feel

the heat

and the strength

of it

more than

any other time.

And so the Lord

Jesus is no longer

here upon earth

but the Bible

says that he has

been raised

and he is

exalted

to the right hand

of the majesty

on high.

He is in the

highest place

that heaven affords.

It is his

by sovereign

right.

So this morning

he is raised

and exalted

and glorified

and seated

at the right hand

of the majesty

on high.

And that makes

him universally

accessible.

More accessible.

It universalizes

his availability

and so this morning

there are men

and women

and boys and girls

that can call upon

him instantly

from every corner

of the earth.

In every language

of the world

right now.

Because God

has raised him

from the dead.

He is the man

for all seasons.

He is the man

for the whole world.

He is the man

whom God

has ordained

to deal with

the question

of your sin

and guilt.

And so what I

want to say to you

is what could be

more relevant

than that this morning?

You see being

relevant is not

about telling people

what they want

to hear is it?

It's telling people

about what they

need to hear.

What does the world

need to hear?

At the moment

what does the world

need to hear?

It needs to hear

doesn't it?

The message of

Jesus Christ.

That he is Lord

that there is hope

in the midst of life

and death.

There is hope

in the midst

of this virus.

there have been

lots of people

who when they

heard that Paul

was going to

preach in Athens

they would tell him

listen if you're

going to preach

in the Areopagus

it's a great

opportunity.

It's a really

really great

opportunity.

You know it's

the intellectual

capital of the

world.

Leave out the

resurrection.

They'll only

laugh at you.

And whatever you

do Paul please

don't preach about

judgment because

nobody really

believes in

judgment anymore.

And remember

you're talking

to the

sophisticated

intellectuals of

the day.

Don't tell them

to repent of

their sins.

These are decent

civilized people

I'm sure.

And there would

be lots of

people wouldn't

there?

They would come

and give to

Paul all sorts

of advice.

Paul it's the

opportunity of a

lifetime.

Do you realize

how privileged

you are to get

to speak at

the Areopagus?

Make sure you

don't talk about

this and don't

talk about that.

But being relevant

is not telling

people about what

they want to

hear.

It's telling

people about

what they

need to

hear.

And isn't

it very

strange?

Very often

the very

truths that

men and

women and

boys and

girls do

not want

to hear are

the very

truths they

need to

hear.

And so

here is

Athens in

the first

century with

the vast

heritage of

human learning.

The institutions

they possessed,

they celebrated

names among

their leading

thinkers but did

they know God?

because for

all their

learning and

all their

religion did

they know

God?

Have they by

their wisdom

found God?

No.

And so

Paul says

right at the

very center

at the heart

of Athens

there is an

altar to the

unknown God.

You are

ignorant.

And if

ever there

was a cry

from the

heart of

the city

that is it

isn't it?

An altar to

the unknown

God.

And

Augustine

tells us

that there

is a

God

shaped

void.

There is

a God

shaped

blank

in every

human heart

that only

Christ can

fill.

Isn't that

ridiculous?

Isn't it?

Extreme

sang a love

song when I

was a

teenager.

There is a

hole in my

heart that

can only be

filled by

you.

It is

ridiculous.

Isn't it?

It is

true of

God.

The

Athenians

didn't see

it like

that but

that was

the reality.

So what

can be more

relevant for

those in

Athens than

for Paul to

come and

talk to

them about

Christ?

They

didn't see

it like

that.

They

thought

that this

gap,

this

void,

this

unknown

God,

they

thought

it was

just a

gap in

their

knowledge.

But in

fact it

was a

fatal

flaw in

their

thinking.

And Paul

comes along

and he

preaches

Jesus.

He

doesn't

talk more

about

philosophy

and more

about

science

to them.

He talks

about

Jesus.

That's

what he

focuses

on.

And he

talks about

Jesus of

Nazareth who

is the

man whom

God has

ordained to

deal with

the problem

of sin.

Nothing

could be

more relevant

than that.

And that's

demonstrated,

isn't it,

today again and

again and

again.

Here we

are, we've

got far

more than

the Athenians

had,

haven't we?

we not

only have

wisdom, we

have

science.

And science

says,

lockdown.

Science

says,

COVID tears.

And science

says,

lockdown.

And science

says, do

this, and

science

says, do

that.

And we

put our

trust in

science.

And so we

have a great

explosion in

human

knowledge,

but is the

world a

better place

to live

in?

Is the

world a

safer place

to live

in?

Are you

really any

happier than

your grandparents

were?

You've much

fuller homes,

you have much

fuller lives,

but just like

Solomon said in

Ecclesiastes,

in much

knowledge,

much wisdom,

so much

grief.

He who

increases

knowledge,

increases

sorrow,

isn't that

true?

There's never

been a

generation that's

had more,

and

and yet

there's never

been a

generation that

struggles with

mental health,

with issues

like we're

facing today.

Ecclesiastes

goes on,

it says,

what is

crooked cannot

be made

straight.

You cannot

make things

together,

come together,

can you?

You can't

strengthen things

out, and

that is the

human problem.

There's no

human answer,

Ecclesiastes

tells you.

Let me tell

you of the

poet Samuel

Taylor Coleridge.

Samuel Taylor

Coleridge was

one of the

finest poets

of his time,

but there's a

back story.

There's a

personal tragedy

with Samuel

Taylor Coleridge.

He was an

opium addict,

he was a

junkie,

he was a

druggie.

And Samuel

Taylor Coleridge

wanted to be

free of it,

so you know

what he did?

Coleridge hired

a man to

watch him day

and night so

that he'd

kick the

habit.

It's a

really wise

thing to

do,

isn't it?

Got

accountability,

good thinking.

So he

hired this

man to

live in

his house

and to

watch him

and to

be with

him day

and night

so that

he would

break the

drug

habit that

had taken

hold of

his life

and was

spoiling

his life.

It's good

thinking,

it's very

wise,

but it

didn't

work.

It didn't

work.

What

happened?

Well,

Coleridge

started to

make plans

to deceive

the very

man he

was paying

to set

him free.

Isn't

that a

perfect

illustration

of our

moral

problem?

So the

problems in

your life

and my

life can't

be touched

by just

getting more

education or

more science

or more

technology

because actually

when we're

really honest

we know that

those things

don't even

touch the

problems that

we have.

Resolutions,

they don't

touch the

problems that

we have.

It's a

moral problem.

There's a

moral kink in

our nature.

And so

Paul says

in Act 7

the good I

want to do,

I don't do.

The evil that

I hate to

do, I find

myself doing

it, that's

true to

life.

You see

the right

thing, you

know it's

the right

thing, you

want to do

it, but

you can't

do it.

You don't

do it.

And the

thing that you

don't want

to do, you

know it's

wrong, you

know it will

spoil your

life, but you

can't stop

yourself from

doing it.

And that's

the problem.

So what can

touch a

problem like

that?

The answer

is nothing

but Jesus

and the

resurrection.

That's what

Paul discovered

in it.

That was his

testimony.

He tried

everything else.

He tried

religion, he

tried knowledge,

he was a

university

professor, he

was a

religious man,

a Pharisee, a

member of the

ruling council,

he tried

knowledge, he

tried religion,

he tried all

sorts of things,

but he said

actually to know

him to know

Jesus and the

power of his

resurrection.

It was nothing

less than the

power of a

raised Jesus

from the dead

was able to

deal with the

sin in his

life and in

my life.

And you

need Jesus.

And you

need his

atoning death

on Calvary's

cross to wash

away the guilt

of your sin

from before the

face of a

holy God.

The hold that

sin has upon

you.

You need

Jesus to

break the

power of

cancelled

sin.

And there's

nothing more

relevant than

that, than

this message

that Paul had

to preach.

Oh, that I

may know

him, says

Paul.

So Paul had

a relevant

message to

preach in the

last five

minutes.

I just want

us to see

the response

of the

people to

Paul's

preaching.

The response

of the people

to his

preaching.

What was

the response

of the people

to his

preaching?

Well, the

immediate

response looks

disappointing,

doesn't it?

You look at

the verses

from verse

32 to the

end, and

it almost

seems to

deny everything

I've said

this morning

about the

relevance of

Paul's

message.

We're told

in verse

32,

Now when

they heard

of the

resurrection

of the

dead,

some

mocked,

but others

said,

We'd like

to hear you

again on

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 Demorius,

and others

paraphrases it

like this.

Having

apparently

made little

impression,

Paul went

on to

Corinth.

Having

apparently

made little

impression.

It's funny

isn't it?

You never

hear that

said about

missions

today,

do you?

Having

apparently

made little

impression.

I took

a university

mission in

Belfast

a couple

of years

ago.

It was

enormous

amounts of

work,

morning,

noon,

and night.

Absurd

amounts of

talks,

and lots

and lots

of people

came.

As far

as I

know,

there was

one man

who professed

faith,

and it's

going on

with the

Lord.

But it

was a

pretty hard

week,

and pretty

discouraging.

And then,

a couple

of months

did I

got the

prayer letter

from

Queen's

University

Belfast

giving the

report of

the

mission.

Well,

it was

like I

was

Billy

Graham.

History

had been

rewritten

about the

amazing

impact that

the speaker

had made

on the

university.

It bore

no resemblance

to how I

felt or

what happened.

And by

modern standards,

that mission

was a bit

of a flop.

And Paul's

mission,

it would seem,

wouldn't it,

was a bit of a

flop at Athens,

was it?

I'm not so sure.

Let's just look at

the results.

I think if I

got verses

32 to 34

this morning,

I'd be very,

very happy.

If I knew

that every

Sunday when I

got up to

preach,

the thing

that happened

here in

Athens was

to happen

in Ealing,

I'd be

very,

very happy.

So let's

look at what

happened.

Three things.

First of all,

they mocked.

And I

think that's

hit the

target.

What we

get is

apathy.

And so

people come,

they shrug

their shoulders

and they say,

well,

there's

nothing in

it.

That's what

I face.

But if

we had

people coming

out of

this building

mocking,

that would

be a step

forward.

And so

let's not

be afraid

of the

world

mocking.

We're

terrified of

it.

Absolutely

terrified of

it.

But it

is an

authentic

response

to the

gospel.

Verse 32,

some people

say, well,

we want to

hear you

again on

this matter.

And that

might have

been an

excuse like

Felix,

that's

24,

you know,

people say,

oh, you

must come

round sometime,

but they

never give

you a

date.

We must

have a

talk about

this.

It may

have been

an excuse,

but I

don't think

so.

I think it

could genuinely

have been

an expression

of interest.

It's a

tremendous

thing,

isn't it?

If people

leave the

preaching of

God's

words and

thinking,

I really

want to

know more

about this.

A genuine

interest,

we want to

take this

further.

And then

you notice

in verses

34,

we're given

the names

of these

prominent

people,

Dionysius,

the

Areopagite,

and a

woman named

Demaris.

It's

interesting,

Luke is

probably

writing about

10 years

after this

event,

and here

are two

people,

a man and

a woman,

who are

well known

in the

church.

And Paul

mentions their

name,

and everybody

knows who he's

talking about.

Ah, that's

when Demaris

became a Christian,

was it?

And they all

knew it, not only

in the local

church, but in

the wider

church as well,

in the

presbytery.

And I'd be

very encouraged

if there were

people converted

here today who

10 years down

the track are

still standing.

There's no

flash in the

pan.

No trumped

up statistics.

But people who

stood and became

prominent in the

work of the

gospel.

And in fact,

we're told,

aren't we,

some men joined

them and

believed.

Church was

formed in

Athens, we

don't know much

about it for the

first hundred

years.

Dionysius

apparently became

the first bishop,

the first minister

of the church.

We don't know

much about it in

the first century,

but in the first

half of the second

century, we do

know that the

church in Athens

was a flourishing

church.

That's not a

failure, is it?

That's a great

success, isn't it?

That's nothing to

be disappointed

about.

And I don't

think Paul was

disappointed in his

preaching in Athens.

Some mocked.

Some expressed a

genuine interest

to know more.

Others were told

believed and the

church was formed.

But what about the

rest of them?

Paul warned

Timothy, he said

there will be

those who will

be, they'll

listen to anybody

but they'll never

arrive at a

conclusion.

They'll never

arrive at a

knowledge of truth.

Some people are

like that.

There are people

that come Sunday

by Sunday and

they treat church

like, or Christian

truth, they treat it

like chewing gum.

They chew it

over for hours

but they never

swallow it.

So how do you

relate to the

message of Jesus

and the resurrection?

How do you

regard it?

Something to

mock?

Something out of

date?

Or a novelty

to chew over?

Something to

throw away?

Or something to

believe and stick

your eternity

on?

Let's pray.

Let's pray.