A Reason for the Hope

Why doesn't the idolatry around me bother me the way it bothered Paul?

Paul walks into Athens and his spirit is provoked, a gut-level reaction to a city full of idols. The pastor names why that reaction fades: not because the idols got smaller, but because we got used to them. And idolatry is not an Athenian problem. It is turning a gift from God into a god.

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.

Acts 17:16

“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Exodus 20:3–4

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves; who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Romans 1:22–25

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

1 John 5:21

How do I start a conversation about God with someone who has no idea who he is?

In Athens Paul does not open by calling the place a wreck. He says the architect's line first: good bones. He starts with what they already care about, an altar to an unknown god, and works from there. He even quotes their own poets to show that they have been feeling their way toward something real.

Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’

Acts 17:22–28

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear, having a good conscience. Thus, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.

1 Peter 3:15–16

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Colossians 4:5–6

What do I actually say when I get my chance?

The pastor lays out Paul's short defense as four points: God made the world, God does not need us but we depend on him, God orders history and geography, and God will judge the world. Paul keeps going at the point of impact even when the resurrection draws mockery. He does not bottle the message when it costs him the crowd.

The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.

Acts 17:24–29

The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”

Acts 17:30–31

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,…

Hebrews 9:27

…because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse.

Romans 1:19–20

If creation is so clear, why do people I love still seem so far from God?

The preacher insists the problem is not that God wandered off and people are searching for him. It is the other way around: the darkness is on the inside, and God is the one calling, the way he called to Adam in the garden. Paul quotes the Athenians' own poets to show that they were groping toward a God who was never far away.

He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’

Acts 17:26–28

They heard Yahweh God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

Genesis 3:8–9

Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.

Psalms 139:7–10

Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Corinthians 2:14

Why did only a few of them believe?

When Paul finishes, some mock him, some say come back another time, and a few join him, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris. The sermon looks at all that effort for two souls and calls it a meeting by divine appointment. God opens blind eyes and softens hard hearts; the speaker simply shows up with the message.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.” Thus Paul went out from among them. But certain men joined with him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Acts 17:32–34

I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

1 Corinthians 3:6–7

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up in the last day.

John 6:44

…so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.

Isaiah 55:11