61 Acts 17:16-21 Logical Gospel vs. The Wisdom of Men

November 17, 2024

Christopher C. Freeman

Title: Logical Gospel vs. The Wisdom of Men Text: Acts 17:16-21 FCF: We often struggle reasoning with people and sharing the gospel with them. Prop: Because man’s wisdom produces only separation from God, we must go on reasoning and proclaiming the gospel. Scripture Intro: NET [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts 17. In a moment we’ll read starting in verse 16 from the New English Translation, which is the same as the pew bible. Or you can follow along in the version you prefer. Last week the missionary team once again shared the gospel message with a group of Jews. But hope was restored to Paul for his countrymen, in that the Bereans eagerly sought the scriptures and proved Paul’s message out. Many believed in Jesus as their Messiah. Not only them but also many God-Fearers and prominent pagans within the city. But Paul had to flee to Athens because Jews from Thessalonica came to cause trouble. Silas and Timothy in Berea to help the fledgling church. We noted last week that for the last couple messages Luke has been showing us the logical, well-reasoned, biblical and historically ancient character of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have stated several times that the gospel is not far from us and makes complete sense when the Lord opens our eyes to see it. It is not a blind leap but a reasoned step of faith that God requires to unite us to Christ. But today, we will see Luke float back to the need for God to intervene to save anyone, because today we will see the pinnacle of men’s wisdom and it will fail to grasp hold of the gospel. Please stand with me to give honor to and focus on the reading of the Word of God. Invocation: Heavenly Father, we do recognize that there is something wholly broken in mankind. That from birth we are estranged from You. That no child is born who naturally loves You and their neighbor. No child is born who needs to be taught to lie, to retaliate, to selfishly scream, to hate, to hurt, to harm, to steal, or to covet. Lord as we look to Your Word today, we will not behold great mysteries in which You reveal more about Yourself but instead we will see a putrid and deflatingly real picture of mankind. That the best we have to offer without You, is so woefully short that were it not for Your promises of salvation for mere faith, we might despair. Help us, Your people, to remember who we are without You so that we may better represent You to those who are still without You. Give us grace to see Your truth about ourselves, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen. Transition: Let us get right to the text this morning. I.) The wisdom of men produces foolish idolatry, so we must go on reasoning and proclaiming the gospel. (16-18) a. [Slide 2] 16 - While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset because he saw the city was full of idols. i. [Slide 3] Athens used to be a prominent city of thought. Because of its historical significance, it achieved a “free allied city” status in the Roman Empire. ii. However, Athens at this time was in decline. About 500 years past its golden age. iii. When Paul arrives, it is a city resting on its laurels. It has become nothing more than a place of continuous discussion with very little action. It was all flash and no heat. iv. Paul does not lie around idly as he waits for Timothy and Silas to join him in Athens. v. Instead, he roams about the city observing the culture there and taking the spiritual temperature of the city of Athens. vi. Unfortunately, what he discovers is unsettling. vii. [Slide 4] The word translated “greatly upset” here in the NET can be positive or negative. viii. So, before we attempt to assess the flavor of Paul’s upsettedness let’s look at the object. ix. At what was Paul greatly upset? x. He was upset at the sheer number of deities actively worshipped in the city of Athens. xi. [Slide 5] Normally, cities would have one or two pagan deities that were their patron gods. Deities that struck at the heart of the needs of the city or their unique situations. xii. But in Athens, it seemed to be a veritable cornucopia of religious affections. And people of that day wrote extensively about the robust religious significance in the city of Athens. 1. One writer concluded that Athens was the most religious city in all of Greece. 2. Another writer stated that there were perhaps more than 75,000 statues of gods in Athens. 3. Still another writer named Petronius said, somewhat in jest, “Our country is so full of deities, that one may more easily find a god than a man.” xiii. [Slide 6] Another piece of the puzzle we must examine is the fact that Paul felt this in his spirit. This gives us a clue that whatever feeling Paul had on this matter – it was primarily a spiritual feeling. It was not occupied in the physical realm but in the spiritual one. xiv. So, what do we think the feeling of Paul being upset is about? Is he angry? Sad? Worked up? Stirred to action? xv. I’d say yes to all of those. xvi. [Slide 7] Paul was beside himself. He was saddened by the religious confusion, angry at the false teaching damning people to hell, but simultaneously motivated and stirred to action. Not to go ripping down statues or stirring up revolution – but instead to share the truth of Christ. The only message which is the cure all to the spiritual confusion running rampant in the city. xvii. So, how does he do this? b. [Slide 8] 17 - So he was addressing the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles in the synagogue, and in the marketplace every day those who happened to be there. i. So, Paul goes on a blitzkrieg gospel offensive. ii. He goes to the Jews. He goes to the God-Fearers. He even goes to the marketplace and shares the gospel to any who happened to be there. iii. And he does this… every day. iv. The Jews and God-Fearers were at least monotheists who believe in Yahweh. But they still needed to hear about the next step of Judaism. That Yahweh had come in flesh as The Son the Messiah of God to save His people from their sins. v. But Paul also took the gospel to the pagans in the city. They needed to hear that the Lord of glory had come and His Kingdom was here. That He would judge the world soon. vi. We’ve seen Paul’s interactions with Jews and God-fearers before. We can expect it to have gone similarly here. But Luke chooses to focus on Paul’s interactions with Gentiles whom he met in the city. c. [Slide 9] 18 - Also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, i. Paul encounters those whom Luke describes as philosophers. ii. [Slide 10] What is philosophy? 1. Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. It attempts to answer the questions, what do we know, how do we know it, what is reality, and what is the meaning of life? 2. With such a definition, it is impossible to arrive at the conclusion that philosophy is somehow divorced from theology. 3. Truly they are separate studies, for theology studies God. But one cannot discuss knowledge, reality and existence without eventually arriving at whether or not there is a god and what his/her/their role is in shaping it all. iii. But what are the Epicurean and Stoic schools of philosophy? 1. [Slide 11] Epicurean philosophy was founded by Epicurus. a. With a rudimentary understanding of atoms, they concluded the world was material. To the extent that the gods, if they existed at all, were also material. b. They denied any sort of providence or determinism and insisted that the gods were disconnected from all humanity. Disinterested in their affairs. The gods did not make the world, they are merely part of it. c. The core tenets they held were that in our existence and our reality we must pursue happiness through avoidance of pain and mental disturbance. d. That we must pursue pleasures of the mind to the degree that we achieve contentment and tranquility without being greedy. e. This included being content with a simple life. f. The motto of the Epicurean was “Nothing to fear in God; Nothing to feel in death; Good pleasure can be attained; Evil pain can be endured.” 2. [Slide 12] Stoic philosophy or Stoicism came from a man named Zenu. a. Stoics believed that God’s relationship to creation is like that of a soul to the body. Thus the gods or God principle is inherently linked to reality and our existence. b. The spiritual realm was made up of refined matter (materialists). There is nothing that is not material in Stoicism. c. It taught i. To live according to nature is the highest goal ii. Virtue ought to be pursued and is the key to a well-lived life. iii. Self-Sufficiency and autonomy are the highest good. iv. Ethics are central to the discussion of how to live a morally good or virtuous life. v. Self-control and Rationalism is the means to overcoming destructive emotions. vi. All things will be that will be – determinism. d. The core virtues that ought to be pursued were courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. e. As such, stoics often appeared cold and pitiless because they believed in expressing indifference toward things that would cause others great emotion. f. Indifference is the only appropriate emotion to express, when all things are predetermined. iv. [Slide 13] It is worth noting that Epicureanism would have been the most opposed to Christianity and its teaching of the two mentioned here by Luke. v. It is also worth noting that Epicureanism was probably the least represented of the two in Athens. With the Stoics being the most represented. vi. Thus, we have a similar relationship to the Sadducees and the Pharisees here. vii. Therefore, The gospel would resonate with both groups on one level and be wholly rejected by both groups on another. viii. So, what do these lovers of the pursuit of wisdom think of what Paul has to say? d. [Slide 14] and some were asking, “What does this foolish babbler want to say?” i. Because we use the word babbler in a fairly specific way. This English translation captures some of what these people were asking but not all. ii. When we hear the words foolish babbler, we get the impression that they thought Paul was out of his mind. That he wasn’t making much sense. Perhaps even a bit crazy. iii. That isn’t far from what Luke is saying, but there is another layer of understanding to see here. iv. [Slide 15] A babbler is a scavenger. Actually, it is the name of a specific kind of scavenger. It is a crow. The crow is the perfect embodiment of this insult. Crows are surprisingly smart, conniving, vindictive, seed scavengers. And their caw sounds like someone prattling on loudly, doesn’t it? v. So what they are asking is not necessarily, what does this crazy person want to say…although that is part of it. vi. It is actually quite insulting. vii. They essentially accuse Paul of being a dilettante. A person who knows just enough about several subjects to appear to be more knowledgeable than he is. They accuse him of cherry picking things from various philosophies in an effort to appear wise when instead he isn’t making any sense at all because he doesn’t truly understand anything he has said. viii. [Slide 16] These folks recognize that what Paul teaches in the gospel has parts and pieces of other philosophies… but doesn’t conform to any of them. ix. Perhaps you noticed as we dissected Epicureanism and Stoicism that there were elements within those philosophies that were biblical. x. These folks recognize their philosophy in the gospel but also that the gospel is something totally at odds with their philosophy. xi. Well, this is what one group is asking… What are other people saying? e. [Slide 17] Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) i. Some suggest that the first group that spoke was the Epicureans, who as we noted before would have the most against Christianity and its teachings. ii. These others then, with what at first appears to be a kinder accusation, seem to be the Stoics. iii. They say that Paul seems to be announcing gods whom they had yet to hear of. iv. There are a few things happening here that we should notice. v. [Slide 18] First, the word for gods is not theoi but daimonion. Demons. 1. In Gentile paganism demons were not necessarily evil. This word would refer either to disembodied spirits or lesser gods like angels or demons. 2. Therefore, their understanding is that Paul is preaching new gods that they had never heard of but gods that need to be added to their pantheon… not obliterate it. vi. [Slide 19] Second, with Luke’s parenthetical comment here, he attempts to help us understand their conclusion. 1. The reason they said this was because he proclaimed the good news about Jesus and the Resurrection. Thanks Luke – that really clears it up