Shall we pray?
Father, we ask that by your Spirit you'd help us be attentive,
help us to be trusting in you,
trusting that you speak to us through your written word,
by your Holy Spirit working in us and among us,
and we ask for mercy and grace to see the need around us
as we think about mission,
and we thank you for your word and this message Paul gave in the Areopagus,
and we ask that it would be a living word for us today as well.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Modern Athens, if you've been there,
you'll have maybe seen all the tourists or joined in with all the tourists
who flocked up to the Acropolis with their cameras and guidebooks.
Some will then make their way, as I did some years back,
over to the Areopagus where Paul gave the sermon we just heard read.
And nearly 20 centuries divide us from that moment,
but the challenge he gave, I think,
is very, very much the same for us today as it was then.
Last Sunday we thought about mission,
where we find ourselves,
using text in 1 Peter 2,
and we thought about how we as a royal priesthood
and holy nation set apart by God
are called to proclaim the excellencies
of our God, of our living God.
And we do this recognizing that he's called us out of darkness
and into his marvelous light, 1 Peter 2, 9.
A guiding question,
an overarching question for us this morning,
is this.
How do we connect mission where we are
to the task of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth
until the end of the age?
How do we think them into each other, if you like?
That's an overarching question that we'll run through
and also we'll come back to at the end.
And I think the question has to be asked
because we have tended toward one extreme
or another in thinking about mission.
Let's call one extreme localism.
If we're localists,
we tend only to focus on the task
as it faces us where we are.
We're guided by the motto,
bloom where you're planted,
or as we sang in Sunday school,
brighten the corner where you are.
But we don't tend to worry too much
about how what we're doing here
relates to the witness and needs and concerns
of Christians in other places and times.
We lack a global perspective, in other words.
But then there's another extreme,
and that's the globalist one itself.
If we're globalists,
and I know that's a loaded word these days,
but if we're globalists in this sense,
when it comes to mission,
we tend to think that all the real work
is someplace else,
not here in our own town or city.
Some promoters of mission,
and I've known many,
and they're well-meaning to be sure,
have sometimes given the impression
that you'll surely waste your life
if you don't get on the next plane or ship
to a faraway place,
checking your casket along with your two pieces of luggage.
And what we need, of course,
is to get local and global in right relationship.
Typically, we've thought of missions
as going in one direction,
from the West, Western culture,
to the rest of the nations.
But now we realize that the practice
of sending workers to identified special fields,
as a term I used last time,
is the practice of churches all around the globe.
In other words, our global here
is another church's local,
and vice versa.
For instance, post-Christian Ottawa
can be just as much a special field
for the Christian student from Peru or Uganda,
as a predominantly Hindu deli was for me and Stella
when we lived there for three years.
I say these can be special fields
because it's quite possible to go there
or come here physically
and still not arrive as a special field worker.
Just as it was tempting for John Stott
to say nothing to that man on the train in Wales,
if you remember from last Sunday,
it's equally tempting for me and Stella
to sail through one of her two- to four-year postings abroad
as virtual tourists,
as just one more expatriate couple passing through.
And with that, I think we can turn back to our text in Acts,
which records one moment
in the history of the gospel going to the nations.
And we want to look at two things.
What did Paul say to the Athenians there?
And how is the message a word for us today?
So let's look at the context.
What occasioned his message in verses 16 to 21?
Well, here he is in Mathens.
He's on his second missionary journey.
His first had taken him basically just to Turkey,
modern-day Turkey.
And in this second trip,
which begins in Jerusalem,
he's gone as far as Macedonia.
So he's gone much further west
to Philippi, to Thessaloniki,
to Berea,
which you read about in the first part of Acts 17,
and then down to Athens
before heading eastwards to Ephesus,
back into Turkey, modern-day Turkey,
and then back to Jerusalem.
While he's in Athens,
he can't help but notice something.
The city is full of idols, as we read.
So he sits down and he writes in his travel journal,
Athens, a city full of idols.
Fascinating.
What grandeur in the temples.
What a remarkable,
what remarkable form and beauty in the statues.
Right?
No.
I made that up, right?
Because that's not what happened at all.
The images and statues of the many gods
literally, literally,
tore him up inside.
That's what the text says.
His spirit was provoked within him.
Maybe he doesn't quite state it.
Other translations say greatly distressed.
Casiodoro de Reina,
the fellow who I've been studying,
a Spanish Protestant reformer,
in his translation of this,
says,
Su Espíritu,
and I know we have a few who speak Spanish here,
Su Espíritu se deshacia en él.
His spirit was disintegrating inside him.
The many shrines spoke of a city
that was given over to idolatry.
So, what did Paul decide to do about this?
Well, he decided to raise the issue.
In fact, he raised it daily, the text says.
First, he discussed the matter with who?
Well, the Jewish people.
That's who you went to first.
And he discussed the matter with the Jewish leaders,
along with those God-fearers that we know of,
who were drawn into the orbit of the synagogue,
and who were listening to the things and ways of God,
but not Jewish.
They were God-fearing Gentiles.
So, he discussed it with them, too.
And then, he would go into the marketplace
and discuss it with whoever he happened to meet there.
And at some point,
enter, here we are on a stage,
enter some very learned philosophers
into these conversations.
Their passion is for novelty.
And they were curious.
Along with all the other expats there in Athens,
who were from Rome and who knows where else,
these thinkers didn't want to miss out
on any of the latest ideas
that might be coming around their way.
And there were two groups among these philosophers.
We read the Epicureans,
and well done, Matt, pronouncing these.
The Epicureans believed that gods
were not involved in the world,
and believed in the pursuit of pleasure.
The Stoics said, no.
The good life has to be disciplined,
has to be virtuous.
And as for their understanding of God,
well, the Stoics didn't have God
way up far off and remote.
The Stoics had God enmeshed in creation,
God and creation basically confused.
Someone among them decided to dismiss Paul as a babbler,
as if to say, well, this guy's really unsophisticated.
But someone else said, wait,
let's hear him out,
because he seems to be talking about some new gods
that we might really want to know about.
They go by the names Resurrection and Jesus.
So they brought him to the Areopagus
so he could explain things formally to the group.
Once there,
and we know,
and we're now moving into the message itself,
starting there in verse 22,
Paul does something quite remarkable.
Ultimately,
he uses the opportunity to address the people
on the matter that troubles him the most,
which we've seen,
their idolatry.
But he doesn't actually start there.
Had he been addressing a Jewish audience,
he would have started with the Old Testament,
with the Hebrew scriptures.
But he uses natural religion,
if you like,
or natural revelation as a kind of bridge.
The bridge isn't just the fact
that they have an altar
that's dedicated to the unknown God.
That's part of it.
The bridge is that general seeking after God
that is common to all humanity.
It's a general religiosity, if you like,
which is manifested in a desire
to make sense of things,
such as divine providence,
the fact that God rules the earth,
that God governs the world
that he made and loves.
We know Paul has this in mind
when we read verse 26.
Where he says that God
has determined allotted periods
and the boundaries of our dwelling place.
And they have a sense of this.
They have a sense of this truth.
And that's why they have,
their philosophers, that is,
their poets,
have come up with phrases like,
in God we live and move and have our being.
And we are his offspring.
In other words,
their best wisdom
had led them to conclude
that God was close at hand
and that humans,
in some way,
were like God.
And of course,
Paul can affirm this.
These true things
that God has revealed
through natural means.
But then,
at that point,
he starts to challenge them,
doesn't he?
He tells them that God
is maker of all things.
He's not part of creation.
He's not one item within it.
He tells them that God
is sovereign Lord
of heaven and earth.
In other words,
he's not in any way
limited by it.
He tells them that God
is not in need of anything.
Rather,
we need him.
We depend on him.
And he says that God
is not to be thought of
as contained in anything.
or pictured as
any created thing.
Now,
the Epicureans
would have
been tracking
a little bit
with some of that.
They probably
enjoyed hearing
that God
does not need anything.
To that extent,
they were going along.
But not so
with the Stoics
who had God
confused with the world.
And this spoke directly
to their confusion.
But Paul continues,
and this time
he challenges
the Epicureans as well
because he tells them
that God
from one man
made the nations
and guides them
providentially.
And this went directly
against their belief
that God
was not involved
in his creation,
that things were
governed by chance.
And it also
contradicted
the Athenian belief
that the Athenians
themselves
had sprung up
from where?
Well,
from their own soil
directly.
Attica.
So what do
all these things
imply about
their religion
and what God
now requires
of them?
Well,
as far as
their religion
goes,
Paul says
that it belongs
to that period
of ignorance,
that period
of sins,
which in Romans 3
he says
is a time
that God
passed over
in order
to display
what?
To display
his righteousness
in Jesus.
When it comes
to what God
requires,
Paul says
that the
grand event
of Jesus'
resurrection
from the dead,
which anticipates
the judgment
of the world
by Jesus,
means that
all people
everywhere
must now
turn from
their sins.
And on that
occasion,
well,
most hearts
remained hard.
We can say
that their
tradition,
the weight
of their
tradition
was weighed
heavy.
Their greatest
minds had
taught them
to think,
well,
a body
is evil.
And so
that resurrection
was really
quite out
of the question.
It sounded
like just
sheer nonsense.
And only
a few
on that
occasion
believed
in Paul's
message
as we read.
So,
let's move
from that
to our
second question.
How is this
a word
for today?
I think
it's a word
for us
in three
possible ways.
it's a word
for us
this morning
if we've
wandered
into Athens
and we've
gotten lost
in the city.
It's a word
for us
this morning
if we've
gone to
Athens
as mere
tourists.
And Paul's
message is a
word for us
today if we're
asking what
is our
place in
the task
of taking
the gospel
to the
nations.
So let's
start with
the first.
Getting
lost in
Athens.
As many
of you
I expect
know,
the story
of Christianity
has been
described as
the story
of two
cities.
Athens,
Jerusalem,
and Athens.
Others
have taken
that up
and identified
other major
cities
further on
down the
road,
but fundamentally
Jerusalem
and Athens.
Jerusalem
stands for
our foundation
in the
prophets
and apostles
and in
the mighty
deeds of
God
in history.
Whereas
Athens
stands for
what?
Well,
Athens
stands for
human
wisdom,
traditions
of men,
all understood
as a kind
of evolving
work in
progress.
So Paul
can say
to Timothy,
he already
notes that,
he can say
always learning
and never
able to
arrive at
the knowledge
of the
truth.
Always
learning,
but never
able to
sink your
teeth into
truth and
grasp it.
What makes
Christianity a
story of
the two
cities is
that our
marching
orders from
the beginning
involve learning
how to
announce,
how to
proclaim a
message that
originates in
Jerusalem,
but in
such a way
that Athenians
might be able
to understand
it and turn
to the living
God along
with us.
But sadly,
we sometimes
forget those
marching orders
and we get
lost in
Athens.
And here are
six steps we
might take to
do that.
Now, please
note, this is
going to sound
like I'm trying
to promote
these ideas.
I once got in
trouble because I
took the approach
of Uncle Screwtape
in an article I
wrote and I
had it posted
online and
all the, you
know how you
can read the
comments down
below and
they said,
this man's a
heretic, let's
get him out of
here.
And I
wasn't actually
advocating these
views, I was
expressing them
as how we
might get
lost in
Athens, right,
if we weren't
careful.
Step one,
concerning Jesus,
consider the
thought that what
matters most
about him is
an idea, the
idea of
mediation between
God and
humanity.
Call it
logos, call it
reason, which
means reason,
but don't ground
it in any
particular moment
in history.
When it comes
to the teaching
about his
death and
resurrection,
well, don't
get bogged
down in
discussions about
the tomb and
whether it got
emptied or not.
Consider that
what really
matters is that
he now lives
in our hearts.
Step two,
concerning God
and creation.
Consider the
possibility that
we can't really
know God as
he is in
himself because
really all we
have are these
images, these
metaphors that we
all invented.
And from
there, consider
how beneficial
this metaphor
might be in
our ecological
age, creation
as God's
body.
Just as I
am my body,
but more, so
the universe is
God's body, but
more.
That will help
us get away from
the idea of that
distant God.
After all, didn't
Paul affirm that
in him we live
and move and
have our being?
step three,
concerning the
Holy Spirit.
Try on the
idea that the
word, well,
that belongs to
the past.
Well, it's the
spirit who now
guides us in the
present.
This will help us
get away from
the idea that
Christianity is all
about things you
have to believe.
When we know
that beliefs,
well, they
basically just
divide people.
Well, the lived
experience of
walking in the
spirit unites us.
speaking of
walking, consider
the possibility
that the past
and the future
are an illusion.
As the Spanish
poet said,
Caminante no
hay camino,
which as a
poem as a
whole teaches
us this,
Pilgrim, there
is no road as
such, since
roads are things
we ourselves make
as we walk
them.
What this means
is that we
should not go
looking for
truth in the
past, in past
events.
We shouldn't
look for truth
in promises
that point us
to the future,
since it's
really only in
the present
that we can
know things
at all.
Step four,
concerning prayer.
With the idea
of being attentive
to the spirit,
consider that our
regular habit in
prayer should be
to let go of
thoughts, words,
and emotions,
as one little
booklet teaches
as we approach
God.
In this way,
the spirit can
speak to our
hearts directly,
bypassing things
that have been
written down.
Step five,
concerning justice,
as we learn to
live in the
present and
discover our
deep unity
with the spirit,
consider the
possibility that
evil is something
that's not really
mainly inside us,
but out there in
the world,
manifested in the
various isms that
we want to
eradicate, like
racism and
sexism and
heterosexism and
casteism and
elitism and
all such things.
Step six,
concerning hope.
When it comes to
the question of
hope beyond this
life, consider
that our deepest
intuitions tell us
this, death is
not the enemy,
but just a
transition from
one room marked
time and space
to a room marked
eternity.
After all,
death means the
release of the
I into the
we so that we
all finally reunite
with the reality
that we came from
and take our
place in the
fullness of God's
body.
That would be a
lost in Athens
catechism for us
if that's what we
chose to let
happen.
Take these things
to heart and I
can assure you that
you will be lost
in Athens.
I have encountered
it in so many
different ways,
trying to think
Christianly about
different things
and that kind
of encapsulates
it as best I
can tell.
In fact,
if you take
these things to
heart, when you
are lost in
Athens and you
recall Jerusalem,
you'll think of
that city
basically as a
crutch that you
needed in your
spiritual infancy.
God's word is
so let's suppose
that we say a
big no to all
of that.
Let's suppose
that we believe
that Jesus rose
bodily from the
grave, that God
is not in any
way confused with
creation, and
that by the spirit
God's word is real
and active in the
present.
Let's say we
believe that.
Let's also suppose
that we believe
that prayer begins
with listening to
God as he's
revealed himself in
his word.
word.
Let's suppose
that we believe
that communities
will only change
as people repent
and turn to
Jesus.
Let's suppose
finally that death
is a real enemy,
but one that
Jesus has defeated
on the cross,
so that if we
are united to him
in his death and
resurrection, we
don't have to fear
death, but we
have a living hope.
And let's suppose
that we keep our
Jerusalem passports,
but decide we
might spend a few
weeks in Athens
as tourists.
Here's what I
think Paul's
message says to
us in that case.
Consider the
lostness of the
Athenians, which
is the same thing
as saying,
consider the
lostness of your
condition before
God's grace in
Christ came to
you.
God's grace in
the past.
The fact that God
overlooked the
idolatry of the
past is no reason
to trivialize the
idolatry.
Paul was deeply
troubled about it.
He could see past
that excellent
craftsmanship and
declare that the
idol worship of the
people of Athens
was demonic.
If you think that's
too strong a word,
have a look over at
what he says in
1 Corinthians 10-15.
what pagan
sacrifice they
offered to demons
and not to God.
I don't want you,
Corinthians, to
participate with
demons.
John Stott records
in that little book
I mentioned last
time how Henry
Martin, a 19th
century missionary
to India, reacted
to the worship
which he observed
there among
Hindus.
As it happened,
he had taken up
residence in an
abandoned
Hindu temple.
And he wrote
this, he wrote
that as he
watched people
prostrating themselves
before their
images, he said
this excited more
horror in me than
I can well
express.
Well, why the
horror?
Stott says that
like Paul in
Athens, Henry
Martin was
motivated by a
passionate love for
the name of
Christ.
And I'll quote
from that book
again.
And here's
where Stott
brings us to
Acts chapter
17.
In the synagogue
with the
religious, in the
marketplace with
the casual
passers-by, and
on the Areopagus
with the
philosophers, the
apostle preached
the gospel
persuasively and
diligently.
It was
jealousy for the
name of God and
of Christ, profaned
by heathen
idolatry, which
gave him his
zeal for
evangelism.
Indeed, jealousy
and zeal are
the same word.
He burned with
longing that the
Athenians should
know and honor the
God they either
ignorantly worshipped
or actually, by
their idolatry,
denied.
So what's this
business of in
the name?
What's in the
name?
Stott says that
love for Jesus'
name is not a
sentimental attachment
either to his
personal name,
Jesus, or even
to his official
title, Christ, or
to any other
designations in
scripture, a
sentimental attachment
of feelings.
Instead, it's a
concern for the
honor, for his
honor in the
world.
And so what
Stott's implying in
all this is that
we may have to put
our image of God
to the test.
It's true that
God is love and
all love, not just
in part.
His nature is
love.
But it's precisely
because of his
love that he's
jealous.
Think of this.
Think of it if
someone is trying
to insert
themselves as a
third party into
a marriage
relationship.
It's actually
unloving to
tolerate that
person who
would attempt to
do that.
And it's
profoundly out of
love that God
is a jealous
God, that he's
intolerant of
worship of other
gods.
I am the Lord,
he says through
Isaiah.
That is my name.
My glory I give
to no other.
So let's turn to
the third way that
Paul's message can
speak to us today.
As God's spirit
reminds us of his
holiness, of his
desire that all
people everywhere
should turn to
him as the living
God and that
Christ is our one
hope in life and
death as we
sometimes sing.
I think we can be
encouraged and
challenged to go to
the nations with a
love for Jesus'
name.
The Epicurean
Society, if we can
call it that today,
is alive and well.
For modern
Epicureans, God is
not a God really for
us because he's
seen fit to just
let nature run its
course.
we're on our own
and we're left to be
confident in our own
powers.
The Stoic Society is
alive and well too.
For modern Stoics,
there's no misguided
worship in the end
because all things are
divine.
So Epicurean and
Stoic bring us to the
same place as does any
man-made religion.
We're left with an
inflated sense of our
own capacity to know
what is true and good
and lovely and we let
ourselves off the hook
all the time.
So what are we called,
to what then are we
called as we go out to
make contact with such
people?
Well, we're called to
burn with a zeal for
God's glory, first and
foremost.
Yes, we respond to
Jesus' command and we
obey.
But what really,
really, really motivates
us is the zeal for
God's glory, that God's
glory will be manifested
more and more.
It involves recognizing
that apart from faith,
trust in Jesus, we're,
as Paul says in Ephesians
2, we're without hope and
without God in the world.
And it involves praying,
praying for openings to
raise the issue with
modern Athenians.
And it involves doing some
homework because we need
to get to know their
world of ideas, their
habits, and their
worship, since all of
these are bound up
together.
It involves accepting
their offers to speak
when they come.
And it involves declaring
what they most certainly
won't want to hear, but
trusting that the Spirit
might use that very
testimony to change
their hearts and their
minds.
So, let me raise our
guiding question once
again.
What does the local task
have to do with the
global one?
You're probably wondering.
I've left you wondering,
I hope.
Paul's visit to Athens
represents one moment in
the story of the early
global movement, the
Jerusalem to Athens
movement.
Is that moment, is that
movement still a global
one today?
Well, Jesus says in
Matthew 24 that the
end will come when the
gospel has been preached
to all nations, to all
people groups.
And the last time I
checked, the end
hasn't come.
Therefore, we can
conclude that the
gospel is still going to
the nations.
That would be the
short version.
So, is that going to
the nations a local or
global task?
What's the answer?
Yes.
Right?
And local and global
really only make sense
when we hold them
together.
When we think them into
each other.
So, how do we decide
where we fit in?
Whether we should go to
specially identified
fields, far from home
if necessary, or stay
home and reach out and
evangelize modern
Athenians here where we
are.
And I think this, in
this business, there's
going to be two basic
vocations among us or
callings of God on our
lives.
Some of us are going to
be special field people
with a desire to be sent
out from our home
culture and our home
congregation.
And we're going to be
restless until we
actually get on board
with that.
I think that's key.
We're going to be
restless until we get
on board with that.
I figure my parents were
this sort of send me out
people.
Thinking, the sooner the
better.
Mom felt she was called
to foreign missions even
as a young girl.
And dad, well, he was
converted on his way home
from military service in
Germany.
And then, I mean, there
in that moment, even on
his return, he had
dedicated his life to God
and said, whichever way
you see fit, please use
me.
And he wasted no time in
committing himself to
lifelong service in
Mexico.
For him, I think it was
really simple.
He's a straightforward guy.
He said, the need is
great, the workers are
few, the churches here
at home are many, and I'm
available and ready.
That was his thinking
and that's probably what he
would say to me if I asked
him right now.
On the good advice of my
uncle, he didn't go
immediately.
He got some Bible
training.
And the truth is that the
need in so many parts of
the world is great.
I don't have the numbers
right here with me.
But there are people
groups, ethnic groups, in
parts of Africa, right over
to Asia and through the
Middle East, that are
defined as what the
missiologists called
unreached peoples.
They lack, this is what
it means, they lack a
community of Christians
that's able to evangelize
the rest of their people
group without outside
help.
Now, if you think you
might be in that
category vocationally,
then I would just
encourage you to speak to
someone whose life,
whose calling is to a
special field of work.
There are many ways to
serve, whether you're
young or retired or in
between.
And for the younger
crowd, there's the
Logos Hope, which I know
about quite well because of
the ministry my parents
were with.
And it's a good way to
explore spending a year or
two, if you're a younger
person, getting to know
global mission from a ship,
which docks all around
and sends teams out and
has all kinds of jobs for
people on board as well.
Now, apart from special
field people, there are
come over and help
people.
Check out Acts 16, just
before our passage, and the
call that Paul received to
go and help the people in
Macedonia.
That's how he got over
there, right?
These are Christians who
see the great need where
they are and who
acknowledge that God is in
the business of sending
people to help them in
their work, just as much
as he's in the business of
sending people out from
among them.
And you say, well, it
doesn't sound too
efficient, does it?
One sent here, one
received over here.
Why all the coming and
going, especially when we're
trying to cut down on our
carbon footprint?
Well, think of it this
way.
The sending and receiving
reminds us that we're
interdependent as God's
people.
God sees fit.
He has seen fit to bless
us as we receive the
stranger and sojourner in
our midst, receive what
they have to say.
And he also blesses us as
we go and identify with
other cultures for the
sake of the gospel.
So if we belong to the
come over and help us
group here in Ottawa, I
think we can do like
George always says, let's
pray big.
Let's pray for a flood of
godly immigrants whose
testimony is firm.
Along that, let's pray for
the grace to work together
in reaching out to the
Athenians right here in our
city.
And in all of this, and
here I close, may our hope
be fixed on God's
promise to draw the
nations to himself so
that his glory will
finally be over all the
earth in Psalm 57 5.
Amen.
Young, thank you.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
We'll see you next time.
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