Acts - Week 11 (17:16-31)

This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd.

Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people

striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through

our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church

at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message.

Well, man, good to be with you here this morning.

Church, it's, it's, it's always a gift, honestly, to be able to

to stand up here and to be able to talk about Jesus.

That's not something I take for granted.

Now, as we've been going through the summer, we've been in the

book of Acts and in the book of Acts, we've been thinking about

this through the lens of what we call the multiplying church.

That's what we see happening all throughout the early church is

it multiplies. Now I do have to say one thing

that I think is obvious, but I just want to say it out loud so

we all get it. It's really difficult for the

church to multiply if we only hang out with people who believe

like us. Now please don't hear something

me say something I didn't say. We should hang out with our

brothers and sisters in Christ as often as possible.

We are called to bear burdens together.

We're called to rejoice together and do everything in between.

Truly, the church is a gift to its people.

And so I'm not, I'm absolutely not saying don't hang out with

them. But what I am saying is that if

we never have interactions and conversations with people who

don't think and believe like us, I don't know how the church

multiplies. Because quite frankly, and I'm

being honest here, I would love to see Emmaus Rd. church explode

in this room, not be nearly enough space for all the people

who come to hear the gospel and worship and be in community with

us. But I'll also say on the same

hand, that if if it's just people from other churches who

happen to like this place a little bit better, that's not

the church multiplying. That's just, you know, taking

people from a different team with a different logo and a

different name and putting them on our team.

That's not multiplication, right?

So that's not what we should be hoping and praying for.

What we should be hoping and praying for is the fact that God

puts us on mission, that God wants us to have meaningful

conversations with people, that God absolutely wants us to be

his ambassadors and go speak the name of Jesus to a world that so

desperately needs to, to, to hear the gospel.

So if you are hearing what I'm saying and you're like, Oh no,

he's going to talk about talking to people, and that makes me

very uncomfortable. Let me tell you, friends, you've

come to the right place. This is a good place for you to

be today, because what we're going to see in the book of Acts

today is we're going to see Paul put on an absolute clinic.

He is. And, and The thing is, he's

talking to two different kinds of people.

Basically. They have two different world

views or philosophies, you might say, and they're the Epicureans

and the Stoics. And he's going to address them

both simultaneously. And they have very different

you, you might call them needs. They have very different things.

But he's going to teach a master class on how to talk to people

about the gospel who maybe they outright reject grace as as an

idea, or maybe they just don't believe in God at all or, and

there's any number of things that are going to happen here

when Paul talks to them. But what we're getting at here

today is the fact that the gospel is for everyone and God

wants us to participate in that. OK, so just know that when you

come to a service on Sunday or on a Wednesday or any Bible

study or whatever, that service is good for your spiritual

health and growth, but it's also not about you.

It's there to train you up and to move you out into the world

as an ambassador of Jesus Christ.

Again, that might make you uncomfortable.

Sorry, but it's, it's, it's what, it's what God's Word is

for, for us to come into that relationship with him in such a

meaningful way that we can't help but talk about it because

that's our life, That's our heart, right?

We talk about things that matter to us.

So I'll say this to the text that we're going to look at.

It's kind of a famous text. It's Paul at the Areopagus where

you'll maybe some people call it Mars Hill, but either way, it's,

it's a pretty phenomenal text. And I just got to be really

honest with you out of the gate that I cannot possibly, I cannot

possibly cover all the things that are happening in this text.

And so I'm not even going to try.

We're going to, we're going to focus in on this text with, with

looking through this lens. OK, By the way, I've been

thinking about this. If if you're note takers and you

want any of these slides, or if you just want to pull up your

camera real quick, I won't be offended.

It's fine. You can do that.

But here's where we're going today.

We're going to see the gospel to the relativist or the

freethinker, That's the Epicureans.

We're going to see the gospel to the strong moralist, that's the

Stoics. And then we are going to see the

outrageous gospel that saves us all.

That's the lens which with which we'll look through this text

today. So if you're ready or if you're

not, we're going to do this. And we read this text in the

name of Jesus Christ because it is His Word, not ours.

Oh, by the way, we're in Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

Welcome. We're in Acts chapter 17,

Acts 17 · chapter mention

starting in verse 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. So he reasoned in the synagogue

with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace

every day with those who happen 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 they 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 live there would spend their time in nothing

except telling or hearing something new.

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of

Athens, 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 the

unknown God. What 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 the left, the 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, 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, 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 a man.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands

all people everywhere to repent, 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 of the dead,

some mocked, but others said, We'll hear you again about this.

So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him

and believed, among whom also were Dionysus the Areopagate and

a woman named Demarius and others with them.

Here ends the reading of God's word.

So again, we're going to look at this through the lens of two

different people groups. Now before I get into the

particulars of either of these people groups, the Epicureans,

not people groups so much as life, you know, world views or,

or philosophers, before I get into that, what you're going to

hear this morning is interesting in that both of these, both of

these philosophies, they date back to a similar time around

2300 years ago. And so in ancient Greece and

throughout Rome and Athens and all these kinds of places, there

were things that were happening in their world that really

shaped the way people viewed the world and shaped how they

thought about their lives and about other people and about

God. And so in both of these things,

what I think we're going to see is we're going to see something

that's not so unfamiliar. It's not so unfamiliar.

In fact, I'll, I'll, I'll take it here carefully.

But if you look at America today and you look at our politics, we

have a primarily A2 party system.

I think what you'll find is our two party system 2300 years

later is very influenced by the philosophers of Millennium ago.

And I think you're going to see that.

But it's not just politics. It's it's, it's everybody you're

going to I, I bet you'll find parts of yourself and in large

parts of other people that you know inside these descriptions.

And we need to learn how to talk to these people, don't we?

Because God calls us to be ambassadors.

He calls us to participate. So first, the Epicureans.

These are liberal, individual focused and personal approaches

to life. Now, their guidance towards

individual achievement and living the good life really,

really spurs them on. They're focusing on their

individual well-being. They're materialistic in some

ways and not necessarily atheistic, but the philosophy,

it would tell you that if God is there or the gods, as it were,

they're pretty far away. They don't really get involved

in anything. They're they're, they're,

they're just kind of out there. And then finally, if you pay

close attention, if you're looking at this philosophy and

you can look it up, you can find all these things online, you're

going to find that modern liberal humanism, man, they're

almost identical. Nothing new under the sun,

friends. We, we think we're, we're this

kind of cool population and oh, we're so advanced and we're so

much further along philosophically and otherwise.

No, we're not No, we're not That's ridiculous.

Anybody who tells you that we are different than people 2300

years ago, they haven't done their research and I have.

So I'm telling you they're wrong.

They're wrong. Work hard at this stuff.

I know what I'm talking about. So here's the deal.

How let let's look specifically at the, the correlation today's

people, all right? It's what we're dealing with

here. And what Paul is dealing with as

he's talking to them is a a way of life that is all about

personal self enhancement. This is the philosophy.

I get this thing and and I know how to live my life right.

So why is it difficult to deliver the gospel to a person

like this? Well, here's why.

When you have these kind of philosophies inside you, when

you are kind of self autonomous, let's say you're not probably

willing to look at a God who has expectations and say, you know

what? I'm going to bend my knee to

those things. Because here's the thing, we are

so enlightened that I know what to do and I know how to do it

best and I know when to do it. Like I'm really good at this

whole life thing. Therefore, you can't really tell

me about a God who's going to try and dictate.

That's what they think. Who's going to try and dictate

and micromanage my movements and my thoughts and the way I'm

supposed to live my life and who I sleep with or I don't and all

this kind of stuff. No, I am a autonomous being.

I do what I want when I want, right?

Because I am wise enough to do that.

This is the Epicurean way, right?

And, and again, I just don't think that's that different than

a lot of people we meet today. I really don't.

So I want you to notice something.

I want you to notice that Paul in no way tries to convince them

of the reality of God. He doesn't do it.

He could sit there and he could try and debate with them like

no, God is real. He has expectations, but he

doesn't even try. I'll tell you why he doesn't

try. Because he knows something about

them that maybe they don't even know about themselves.

Themselves. They're searching.

They're searching. Now what they're searching for,

they're grasping at. In the dark.

We kind of saw that they're groping around in the dark and

they don't know what they're searching for.

And so they're constantly looking for fulfillment in

places that is never actually going to fulfill anything for

them. They're going to get what they

need. They're going to get their

little emotional or physical high or whatever, and then it's

not going to be enough. They'll constantly be chasing

the dragon, right? I, I saw this quote and, and I

loved it. This quote says all sins are

attempts to fill voids. All sins are attempts to fill

voids. Let me put it to you this way.

Why do we have to have so many sexual partners to feel like

we're we're valuable or we're seeing?

Why do we have to have the next biggest and best thing?

Why? Why do we have to have certain

job titles? Why do I have to weigh a certain

amount? Because I'm chasing something,

I'm chasing something. I'm chasing fulfillment in such

a way that I think I will finally make it.

Maybe I will finally be enough. If that person likes me, or if I

have that job title or if I make this much money, maybe then I'll

finally think I'm enough. And it always fails.

It always fails and it leaves us running in the hamster wheel

over and over and over again. Paul knows that.

He knows what they're searching for, even if they don't know

what they're searching for. But they're never going to find

it. And that breaks his heart, and

it should break ours too. Here's what he says to them

specifically. He's getting right at them 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. For in Him we live and we move,

and we have our being, as even some of your own poets have

said, for we are indeed his offspring.

Friends, I'm telling you, bringing the gospel to a person

like this, it's not that complex.

It's not easy because we're breaking through some walls,

some some worldview walls. But it's very possible.

It's very possible because here's the thing, just like Paul

tells us, he's not far from us. He's right there.

And, and I am not an autonomous being here randomly.

I am put here for a time and a season and a reason.

And so are you. And to the, to the degree that

we can point to people that man, this God who you've been chasing

after through jobs or any number of other things, he's right

there the, the, the slightest turn of our hearts and he's

grabbing at us. He's right there all the time.

And so to speak this to somebody is to show them that there is

more to life than getting more stuff.

There's more to life than having this person think I'm

attractive. There's more to life than if I

have abs or not. Gosh, there's so much more than

all this stuff. And a lot of these things, quite

honestly, they're good. They're good things.

It's good to have a good job. It's great, it's fine.

Nothing wrong with that on the surface, but man, when we make

that the thing, we've made a major mistake.

And so how do we speak to these people?

We show them that God is not far from them.

We show them that God has sacrificed so that they can feel

fulfilled, right? Because we know that in the

cross and, and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I

have total fulfillment. I no longer have to worry about

what you think. I don't.

I can care about you, but I don't have to worry about what

you think because I am completely fulfilled in the

gospel. Jesus Christ is the one who

defines me. Not my stuff, not my job, not

anything, none of it. Now, I would love to keep

talking about these guys, but we need to kind of keep moving on.

One thing I'll tell you tomorrow, I'm going to make a

shameless plug tomorrow on the podcast we're going to, we're

going to talk about also the epic hearings from the sense of

when you talk to people like this, usually there's a justice

issue or there's a morality issue that comes up.

If you're going to talk to them about the gospel.

And often times that kind of looks like, well, if God's real,

if God's close, why do bad things happen?

All these kind of questions. I, Matt and I will definitely

cover that in the podcast tomorrow.

So please, if you're interested in in how to talk to people like

this more, please tune into that.

And if you're not sure how to get that, come see me or JT or

Matt or, you know, we're going to do that.

But we got to keep moving on. So the Stoics, I love the

Stoics. You want to know why?

Because the Stoics are probably so much like Midwesterners.

Let's get the description. Stoicism rose out of response to

life's uncertainty. So in other words, Stoicism came

around as a philosophy at the point when there was war and

there's turmoil and people are being removed from their homes

and all sorts of stuff. And so how do you deal with

that? How do you work through those

things that you have no control over?

Well, here's how we put an emphasis on self-sufficiency and

simplicity. Not bad things necessarily.

Practical ethics and personal resilience, duty, emotional

self-control. Don't you dare change your face,

poker face all day. Emotional self-control and

acceptance of your fate. Now of course, this is related

most closely to modern moral conservatives, conservatism and

denying feelings in favor of self-control.

Again, this philosophy dates back to about 2300 years ago.

But man, friends, doesn't that sound like you or somebody you

know? I mean, honestly, and if it's

not you, you were probably raised by people who are like

this. Let let me give you a test.

Let me give you a test. When life is hard, when things

are difficult, when when the bottom falls out, how do you

react? How do you react?

You know, what if you're a good middle class Midwesterner, you

know what you're going to do. You're going to put your head

down, you're going to work hard, you're going to get a stiff

upper lip, and you're going to drive through this stupid moment

of your life. Aren't you Stoicism?

It's right there. But what's the problem with

Stoicism? What's what's the downfall of

it? Why?

Why can't I be Stoic? Why can't I do these things and

still love and worship God the way I'm supposed to?

Here's the problem with most people who exercise these kinds

of philosophies inside their life.

What happens is because of very high moral standards that people

who are Stoic, they exercise, because of very high moral

standards and because of emotional control.

What tends to happen is we don't need God because I'm in control.

The idea of a God who I can't control being the one who's

running the show 'cause he may put me through some stuff that I

won't be able to emotionally control.

Therefore, I need to control the things.

Additionally, what's going to happen is I'm going to look at

those lazy liberal Epicureans who drink too much on the

weekend and sleep with too many people and I am better than

them. I am way better than them.

And you know what? Because because the God who is

out there, he cracks the whip. That's his personality.

He cracks the whip. He's there to keep you in line.

And you know what? I walked the line, I do.

And you know what I'm going to tell you?

I do. Whether that's verbally or

because I'm just going to let you know that I'm just better at

this thing called life. I see you getting all weepy and

emotional. Not me, not me.

No, man, I hold that stuff in. I am strong.

You cannot break me. So what do we do with them?

What do we do with these people? Well, Paul tells us the times of

ignorance got overlooked, but now he commands all people

everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will

judge the world in righteousness.

Do you see it? Do you see how we talk to the

Stoic person, the person who is morally righteous in themselves,

who have self justified because, well, I'm a pretty good person

And all those people over there, those liberal weirdos, they

don't have any morals. Do you see it?

How do we talk to them? Well, gosh, first and foremost,

we just have to give them the law.

I love doing that. Don't you love just giving

people a kick in the rear end? Like, no, you're not as good as

you think you are sometimes I do.

I like that stuff, man. Knock somebody down a peg or

two. That's prideful.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't do that, but it's

true. It's fun to do that sometimes.

But what does God's Word say? All people everywhere repent

because He judge in right. He judges in righteousness.

You see, we talked about this a couple weeks ago where we said

that God's standard is perfection, not 99.9%

perfection. Let me do a test on you guys.

This is going to be fun. You're going to like it.

Have you in your life ever lied? Ever.

Oh, my gosh. You guys are so.

Oh, we nailed it. That's it.

This is this is a stoic audience.

You're just like, I'm not buying this.

I'm not. I'm not playing this stupid

game. Have you ever lied?

Thank you. But you shouldn't do that.

I'm kidding. Yeah.

Let me ask you this. Have you ever in your entire

life taken something that doesn't belong to you?

Yeah, you have. Have you ever looked at somebody

who's not your spouse? This is a touchy 1, isn't it?

Have you ever looked at somebody who's not your spouse with any

kind of lust in your heart? Have you ever looked at somebody

who treated you so badly they messed up your life?

I hate that person. Guess what?

The law says that you're a liar, a murderer, an adulterer, and a

thief. How's that working out for you?

Because I don't care if you're better than the person down the

block, morally, you are all of these things.

The law has convicted you. And so when we talked to the

person who we can't seem to breakthrough to man, we need to

test them. You're a liar.

You're you're a thief. You're a murderer.

You're an adulterer. That's real.

That's not for stage. That's a real thing.

I am all of those things. So what do we do?

Do we leave them there? No, we don't leave them there.

We can't leave them there because the gospel is real.

Paul doesn't leave them there. Paul speaks of a resurrection.

He speaks of life beyond judgement, and it only comes

through Jesus Christ. So I, we'll talk more about the

Stoics tomorrow. We will.

I've got some more things that I, I, I think are good to be

able to say to somebody like this or to be able to talk

through some issues with again, Matt and I will deal with that

tomorrow. But let's let's look at the

gospel, the outrageous gospel that changes and saves all of

us. Now, something that Paul does

here is he stops them, or they rather that I guess they stop

him because at the moment that he talks about Jesus's

resurrection, both sides are like, yeah, we're done, we're

done. No more today we have had

enough. Why?

Here's why. Both sets of philosophies, what

they would, what they would tell you is that the body, the flesh,

it's evil, it's dirty, it's bad. And so the, the soul or the

spirit is the thing inside of us which is actually lovely and

actually has some, some, some merit and some value.

And so the idea of a resurrection, of a resurrected

body actually having flesh and blood come back, that's

ridiculous to them because this is bad.

All of this is bad. We need to someday, if we're

good enough people, if we do all the right things, we need to

someday go float around in the atmosphere.

Come on, that's ridiculous. That is a ridiculous idea.

The Bible clearly teaches that there is a bodily resurrection.

And because Jesus Christ in his righteousness was brought back

from the dead by the power of God through the Holy Spirit, we

too as his children. That's what Paul says we are.

We are his children. We too have bodily resurrection

and will be brought back from the dead, right?

So that is outrageous and quite frankly, it's offensive.

It's offensive to say some stuff like that to people.

But you know what God wants you to do?

He wants you to proclaim it. He wants you to look right at

that person and say, I'll give you the reason for my hope.

I'll give you the reason that I don't get down the way you do.

I'll give you the reason that I weep bigger than you do.

I do both. I, you can't put me in a box

because God doesn't put us in a box.

He pulls us out of the grave, doesn't he?

Amen. That's what he does.

And so as we talk to people, as we share the gospel with people,

friends, do not be afraid. Don't be afraid.

The God who brought Jesus Christ back from the dead is the God

who's got your back. What are you afraid of?

I heard a camp, I heard a camp counselor this week and they

were sharing with the youth group and I was amazed.

I was blown away. This counselor, and I'm going to

paraphrase a little bit, said, yeah, we need to talk about the

gospel. We need to witness.

We need to, we need to tell people where our faith comes

from, where hope comes from. And he said, and I couldn't

believe it, but I believe it when it came out of his mouth.

What, you worried about losing a relationship?

You've already got the only relationship that matters.

You've got the relationship that gives you life.

You've got the relationship that saves you.

And that relationship isn't based on your goodness.

It's not based. It is through Jesus Christ that

you have this perfect relationship and it cannot be

lost. There's nothing in heaven or

earth or hell that can pull God away from you when you have

Jesus Christ. Not a thing, man.

So come on, have the conversation, Be bold.

That's what they've been praying for all throughout the book of

Acts. They haven't been praying for

safety. They haven't been praying well,

I hope that friend who I talk to once every six months doesn't

kick me out of his life. Really.

No Be bold. Speak the gospel, speak truth to

people. And here's the thing, I'm going

to bring up one more thing and I'll be very quick and then

we're going to be done. Paul looks around at all of

their idols and he notices that they are worshipping an unknown

God. We have an entire world of

people who are worshipping an unknown God.

Give him a name. Give him a name.

What more do you need to do? Give them a name, let them know

what they've been chasing after. Let them know who they've been

trying to impress through their good morals.

Give them a name, give them Jesus.

Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, you are

good beyond measure. Lord, we confess that we have

sometimes been cowards, that we have not spoken your truth, that

Jesus has been on the tip of our tongues, and we stay silent.

Lord, give us boldness and courage.

Give us wisdom. You know exactly what we need to

fulfill the role as ambassador for your Kingdom.

And Lord, remind us too, Even in all this talk about talking to

people, remind us often that it's not about us, that we don't

save anybody, that you always do the saving, that it is by your

grace and your mercy that people are saved and not our effort.

So Lord, work in our hearts, convict us, set us free by the

power of the gospel. Lord, bring Jesus straight into

our hearts, that we might give him out, that we might give him

away freely to anybody who needs him.

Lord, we pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, who

is our Lord and our King. Amen.

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