63 Acts 17:27-31 The Unknown God Part 2

December 08, 2024

Christopher C. Freeman

Title: “The Unknown God” Part 1 Text: Acts 17:22-26 FCF: We often struggle aligning our thoughts of God to match His Word. Prop: Because God is separate from us, we must repent and seek Him. Scripture Intro: LSB [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 17. In a moment we will begin reading in verse 22 from the Legacy Standard bible. We will read all the way through verse 31. You can follow along in the pew bible or in whatever version you prefer. Paul, after being quite upset at the number of false gods in the city of Athens, goes on a gospel offensive to the Jews, the God-Fearers, and the pagans in the marketplace. Every day he shared the gospel and earned the critique of men so wise they were foolish. These men did not recognize the things Paul taught and desired to see Paul’s ideas dissected and destroyed by the leading authorities on ideas in Athens. So, they take Paul to the Areopagus, a place where teaching is filtered through Athenian culture and religion to determine if what Paul taught was to be permitted within the city. Here Paul stands to defend and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ before the wisest men that mankind had to offer. What shall be the outcome? Please stand with me to give honor to and focus on the reading of the Word of God. Invocation: Holy Father you are high and lifted up. You are beyond all our understanding. You are alone the Ancient of Days. There is nothing in Your creation to which we can compare You. You are Immortal, unchangeable, the Only Wise and Living God. We come before You today as Your children whom You have revealed Yourself to. We were but poor wretches, blind, deaf, dumb, lame, and lost. And You have come to us to free us from those chains. Now we endeavor to know You and to please You for You are worthy to be known and to be pleased. Our lives are a living sacrifice to You because You are worthy of all we have and much much more. We only offer our lives to You because that is all we have to give. Yet what we offer You, You ultimately do not need. We simply offer it because You are worthy of it. Father help us to know You more today through Your Word. Grow our faith we pray in Jesus’ name and for our Groom’s sake… Amen. Transition: This is a long sermon. I have tried to cut as much as I can. But this is a long sermon. Let’s get right to it. I.) God is separate from us in our knowledge and understanding of Him, so we must repent and seek Him (22-23) a. [Slide 2] 22 - So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. i. Let us pause to reflect upon the monumental and historic event that occurs here. ii. Paul, a Jew, a Pharisee, a Roman citizen, but above all, a slave of Jesus Christ, now stands in and in front of one of the most historically and culturally significant places on earth. iii. Paul goes before the Areopagite to defend the ideas, the worldview, the philosophical validity of Christianity. iv. That Paul would get to do this would be a truly significant event in the history of the church. If the Areopagite finds the ideology of Christianity sound, it would be an apology, a defense of the gospel on both a spiritual and intellectual level. v. My friends, I cannot impress upon you enough the significance of this event. vi. In their midst, Paul begins his sermon. vii. He begins with a prologue discussing how Athens truly is very religious. viii. And as we discussed last time, Greek writers tended to agree that Athens was quite religious. ix. We also discussed last time the philosophical underpinnings of Athens at this time. x. We mentioned that theology could not be divorced from philosophy since philosophy dealt with areas that would require at least the question of God’s existence if not God’s involvement in existence and reality. xi. Of the four schools of philosophy including Skepticism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism, the two most influential in Athens at this time were the Epicureans and the Stoics. xii. Paul, as we saw last time, had run ins with both. xiii. Let me briefly review with you what each philosophy taught. 1. [Slide 3] The Epicureans a. With a rudimentary understanding of atoms, 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 pleasures of the mind and avoidance of pain through contentment and tranquility. d. 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 4] The Stoics a. Believed that God’s relationship to creation is like that of a soul to the body. b. Thus the gods or God principle is inherently linked to reality and our existence in that we need each other. c. They believed in various degrees of pantheism. That god is immersed in our universe. He is everywhere and everything. d. The spiritual realm was made up of refined matter (materialists). There is nothing that is not material in Stoicism. e. Virtue ought to be pursued and is the key to a well-lived life. f. Self-Sufficiency and autonomy are the highest good. xiv. [Slide 5] I did omit some things and added some things from last time. This is because I have learned a little more