Acts 17

 Good morning and Happy Dingus Day!! This day was a great celebration in the Buffalo area, where I grew  up. I hope you all had a great Easter weekend- hopefully being able to celebrate with family this year. Joseph came for a visit (and Lauren and Chris too) and we had a great time. We spent hours watching the birds- he loves the birds at the bird feeders- chickens not so much! They will be back next weekend along with Morgan and Bobbi-Jo; it will be their first time seeing the kid for real!

Grandpa and Joseph watching the barn pigeons flying!

Today is Chapter 17- Paul's missionary trip with Silas. Remember this is Paul's second missionary trip

 

Thessalonica is an important port city about 100 miles (3 or 4 days of walking) from Philippi (see above map). When Paul and Silas gets there, Paul visits the synagogues (v 2) "as was his tradition" (words also used to describe what Jesus did when he got into a town). Paul had great success at Thessalonica as "some of the Jews but a multitude of Greeks and many important women" (v 4) joined his cause. 

But, jealousy rears its ugly head again in the form of violence (v 5)! Jason (v 5) was a Jewish convert and mentioned again in Romans 16:21 (where Paul refers to him as "my fellow- countryman" so he is sometimes called Jason of Tarsus); tradition has him as one of the 70 Disciples and is a Roman Catholic saint (feast day is July 12). It is believed that Jason's home was where Paul and Silas stayed while in Thessalonica. The "mob" yells, "these people have made trouble everywhere in the world..." (v 6). Translation- they are making an impact on the world and nothing is staying the same! Do we respond to change that way at times- everything is changing and nothing is staying the same!? I think of the present-day church now. Are people saying the same things about the effectiveness of churches today. Are we turning the world upside down? One might say that Jesus did not come only to be our teacher, but to turn our world upside-down. Jesus turns the thinking and the power structures of this world around. The accusation comes that they (Paul and Silas) are saying things against Rome (v 7)! Jason and the church "posted bail" and Paul and Silas flee in the night to Berea (v 10). They only spent a few weeks there; Paul writes Thessalonians 1 to the congregation later. 

They next travel to Berean and follow their tradition of attending synagogue. The difference here is that the people willingly and eagerly listened (v 11) and studied/ searched the scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was the truth! The Bereans heard the teaching of probably the most famous apostle and theologian of the early church, and the author of at least 13 New Testament books. Yet, they searched the Scriptures when Paul taught, to see if his teaching was truly Biblical. They would not accept Paul’s teaching without checking for themselves, so they could know the truth. I told my kids at school, and many people today- question everything! It also struck me that they studied the scriptures daily! Many people don't even open the Bible on Sunday, let alone daily! The Bereans believed what Paul said!

The Jews from Thessalonica come to Berea (v 13)...they were not satisfied to force Paul out of only their own city. They even followed Paul to Berea to disrupt his work there also.The Christians in Berea sent Paul away to Athens, fearing for his life and a total disruption of the work going on there. Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea, because Paul wanted to leave them behind to teach and take care of the new Christians in Berea. I am not sure why Silas and Timothy were allowed to stay and why only Paul was taken away!

Paul sails to Athens which, hundreds of years before, was one of the most glorious and important cities in the world. But when Paul toured Athens, he was only depressed by the magnitude of the idolatry he saw all around (v 16). Paul saw the beauty of Athens, having the best that Greek sculptors and architects could offer; but all that beauty did not honor God, so it did not impress him. Paul faced a challenging audience in Athens. It was a cultured, educated city that was proud of its history. It was an intellectual center, much like Oxford or Cambridge. Paul spoke to a city perhaps different than any other city he had preached in.

Epicureans (v 18) pursued pleasure as the chief purpose in life, and valued most of all the pleasure of a peaceful life, free from pain, disturbing passions and superstitious fears (including the fear of death). They did not deny the existence of gods, but believed that they had nothing to do with man. The Stoics were pantheists who put great emphasis on moral sincerity and a high sense of duty. They cultivated a spirit of proud dignity, and believed that suicide was better than a life lived with less dignity. The Stoics believed that everything was god, and god was in everything. So they believed that all things, good or evil, were from “god,” and so nothing should be resisted, and they believed there was no particular direction or destiny for mankind.

The Areopagus (v 19) is a prominent rock outcropping just northwest of the Acropolis. Areopagus translates to "Hill of Ares"; Ares was supposed to have been tried by the gods on the Areopagus for the murder of Poseidon's son Halirrhothius. It was a place of the court during Biblical times.

View of Areopagus Hill from the Acropolis

Paul begins his "sermon" (v 22) not with an exposition of Scripture, which was his custom when dealing with Jews or Gentiles who were familiar with the Old Testament. Instead, Paul began with general references to religion. Many ancient observers noticed the religious character of Athens, and some thought that Athenians were the most religious of all people. But when Paul said this of the Athenians, he didn’t necessarily mean it in a positive way. Religion can lead one away from God, and if we trust in a false religion, it is little credit to say of us that we are “religious.” How often do we see "religious" people that are far from God? Paul comments on the altar to "an unknown god"  (v 23) who covered any god that may have been neglected. Six hundred years before Paul, a terrible plague came on the city and a man name Epimenides had an idea. He let loose a flock of sheep through the town, and wherever they lay down, they sacrificed that sheep to the god that had the nearest shrine or temple. If a sheep lay down near no shrine or temple, they sacrificed the sheep to the unknown god!

Paul goes on to "identify" the "unknown God" Paul spoke about the God who created everything, yet is distinct from His creation. Paul told them that God was bigger than any temple men’s hands could build and could not be represented by anything men could make with their hands.Paul went from knowing who God is (our Creator), to who we are (His offspring), to our responsibility before Him (to understand Him and worship Him in truth), to our accountability if we dishonor Him (judgment). Paul seemed unable to preach a sermon without focusing on the resurrection of Jesus (v 31). For him, none of the Christian life made sense without the triumph of Jesus’ resurrection.The resurrection was not a popular idea among Greek philosophers (v 32). Some though Paul foolish for even believing such a thing, and other wanted to hear more about this new teaching. The Greeks were fond of the idea of the immortality of the soul, but not of the idea of the resurrection of the body. They felt that anything material was inherently evil, so there really could be no such thing as a glorified body. They thought the ultimate form of glory would be pure spirit. The results at the Areopagus seemed small (v 33), yet some did believe. Among those believing were a man named Dionysus who must have been a regular participant at the Areopagus) and a woman named Damaris. Some theologians criticize Paul’s sermon in Athens because there is no detailed reference to the cross or specific quotes from the Old Testament. Some think Paul compromised his message for an intellectual audience, and therefore there were few conversions. It is difficult and wrong to assume the content of the message based on the seeming lack of response (definitely from a preacher's perspective!). Think of all the sermons you have hear and how you have responded (or not) to them! 

Tomorrow we continue with Paul's missionary trip (minus Silas and Timothy).

Have a great day and enjoy the beauty!

Shalom+
Pastor Paul