Professing to Be Wise, Part 1

Rev. Mark C. Alvis, Union Congregational Church — Lent IV, March 18, 2007

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The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone — an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others (Acts 17:17-34 NIV)..

The London Observer printed the following:

Imagine a family of mice who lived all their lives in a large piano. Into their piano-world flowed the music of the instrument, filling all the dark spaces with sound and harmony. At first the mice were impressed by it. They drew comfort and wonder from the thought that there was Someone who made the music — though invisible to them — above, yet close to them. They loved to think of the Great Player they could not see.

Then one day a daring mouse climbed up part of the piano and returned very thoughtful. He had found out how the music was made. Wires were the secret; tightly stretched wires of graduated lengths trembled and vibrated. They must revise all their old beliefs: none but the most conservative could any longer believe in the Unseen Player.

Later, another explorer carried the explanation further. Hammers were now the secret, numbers of hammers dancing and leaping on the wires. This was a more complicated theory, but it all went to show that they lived in a purely mechanical and mathematical world. The Unseen Payer came to be thought of as a myth . . . but the Pianist continued to play.

In Romans 1:20-23 the Apostle Paul writes,

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God [understood there is a Creator], they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they professed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

According to the Bible, unbelieving mankind lives in a state of suppressed truth in regard to God. All people have the image of image of God stamped on the inside of them and can see the fingerprints of God all over his creation. In spite of this evidence, unbelievers do not honor or seek the true and living God. This sad truth is illustrated in our passage for the morning.

Acts 17:16-34 is the record of the Apostle Paul’s visit to Athens during his second missionary journey. Athens was the epitome of Greek culture and had birthed wonderful accomplishments in the field of science. For example, it was at Athens the concept of atoms was formulated centuries before we had instruments to verify their existence. From Athens was forged the foundational structures of geometry and higher math from which the size and shape of the earth was calculated long before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. The Athenians heavily contributed to the fields of architecture, philosophy, music, art, medicine and theater. It was a culture that developed man’s God given abilities to a remarkable degree. Unfortunately, as the Greeks studied God’s creation and physical laws, they continued to suppress the knowledge of God Himself. Please follow as I read Acts 17:15-21:

The men who escorted Paul [out of Berea at night] brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?”Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” ’They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus [a hill in Athens where the city leaders met], where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

One historian states that there were more idols than people in Athens. We shouldn’t take that literally, even though in Paul’s day the population had shriveled to about 10,000. Apparently Paul’s plan was to wait at Athens until Silas and Timothy could rejoin him. The next target city was to be Corinth, which was about 20 times larger in population. However, as Paul observed the spiritual darkness of a people who considered themselves greatly enlightened, he became deeply burdened for them and began to share the good news of the gospel at their local synagogue and in the marketplace. It was at their marketplace where Paul met some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Let me briefly summarize the thinking of these two groups because some of their conclusions are still with us.

The Epicurean philosophy emerged around 300 BC through the teachings of a man named Epicurus. He taught that the path to knowledge is through our senses. The highest good in life is pleasure, and the greatest evil is pain. Epicurus defined pleasure as freedom from pain, fear and inner turmoil. He also maintained that pleasure is best attained through prudence, honor and justice. Happiness is best achieved by simplifying our wants and desires. Clearly the path to pleasure taught by Epicurus was very different from the playboy philosophy of today. According to Epicurus, the chief goal of life is to enter into a state of mind known as “contentment.” However, Epicureans did not believe that contentment could be achieved in this life — and this life is all there is, because at death our atoms are dispersed back into the earth and air. “Contentment” was only an ideal to be sought after but never to be achieved.

The founder of the Stoics was Zeno, who also lived and taught around 300 BC. He was pantheist, who believed the universe as a whole is what makes up god. The god of the Stoics was an impersonal force, a universal law of order that permeated everything. The Star Wars movies exposed us to a pantheistic view of God — “The Force be with you.” This force could be used for good or evil.

In the thinking of Stoicism, virtue, not pleasure, is the only good; vice is the only evil. Because everything is ruled by the unchanging laws of nature, what is meant to be will be. Reason is the highest law of the universe and the primary enemy of reason is emotion. The ideal for the Stoic was to achieve an inner tranquility that did not depend upon circumstances. The problem of the Stoics is that they lacked the power to pull that off. When life became unbearable, the Stoic achieved victory over circumstances through suicide. Many Stoics ended their lives that way.

The elusive goal for the Epicurean was contentment; for the Stoic it was inner tranquility not dependant upon circumstances. What the philosophers could only dream about, the Apostle Paul found in Christ. Listen to what Paul states in Philippians 4:11-13: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation . . . I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

We begin the Christian life,wholly dependent upon Christ; we live the Christian life wholly dependent upon Christ; we finish the Christian life wholly dependent upon Christ. Only as we abide in Christ will we enter into contentment and tranquility not dependent upon outward circumstances.

In verse 18, Paul is referred to as a babbler. This was actually a term used for vagrant philosophers who belonged to no bonafide system of philosophy. They were considered bottom feeders who lived off the scrapes of legitimate systems of thought.

What Paul was teaching frustrated the Athenians because they could not put it into any of their familiar categories. Some claimed that Paul was promoting brand new gods. This was upsetting to the Athenians because they thought they were familiar with all the gods and had even built altars to them. Question: Were the Athenians genuine seekers of God and truth? No. Luke explains, in verse 21, that all they really liked to do was talk and listen to the latest ideas. Paul speaks about this kind of people in II Timothy 3:7: “. . . always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.”

How do we speak to people about Christ if they do not respect the Bible?Paul’s approach, in Acts 17, was to teach the principles of Scripture without quoting chapter and verse. Please look with me at verses 22-23:

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.”

Paul begins by acknowledging that the people of Athens were very religious. He was not saying they were genuinely seeking after God. He was merely confirming that every man and woman has a God-shaped vacuum in their lives that creates a restless longing for meaning and purpose. In examining their many idols Paul noticed an altar dedicated to “an unknown god.” One of the stories behind this altar pertained to a plague that had ravaged the population of Athens many years before Paul came to that city. None of their hundreds of gods were responding to the prayers and sacrifices of the people. Things were looking hopelessly bleak when an Athenian said he knew of a man who worshiped one God and claimed this God was in control of everything. The people of Athens charged their fellow townsman to find this man and bring him to their city. When the stranger was found and brought to Athens, he built an altar and a sacrifice miraculously appeared. It was when this man petitioned his God that the plague was halted. If this story was true, then Paul saw it as a foot in the door to teach about the real essence and character of the living God.

This morning we only have time to speak about one attribute of God which Paul explained to the Athenians; an attribute which destroys Pantheism and the worship of idols. Please look with me at verse 24: “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.”

The universe is not God. He created it, rules over it, inhabits it, but is not dependent upon it in any way. All of God is within this sanctuary, and yet the entire universe cannot contain Him. Notice that Paul said God “does not live in temples [holy places] built by hands. “Didn’t God use to live in the Old Covenant temple at Jerusalem?” No. It was a place of God’s special presence on earth, but it certainly could not contain Him. In Isaiah 66:1 God declares, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me?” The Old Covenant tabernacle was specifically designed by God to point to Christ. It was a temporary provision by God whereby man could find atonement for sin. When the Old Testament saints trusted in God and His temporary provisions for their sins, it was reckoned by God as faith in Christ. Why?Because it was all designed to point to Christ. Listen to Hebrews 9 and 10:

Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary [and] . . . the priests entered regularly into the outer room . . . . But only the high priest entered the inner room [the Most Holy Place], and that only once a year, and never without blood . . . [God was] showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing . . . Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties [Jewish priests were still doing this when Hebrews was written, even though Christ had already made the perfect sacrifice]; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest [the Lord Jesus Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God . . . there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

If your understanding of the Old Testament includes a future God-ordained stone temple at Jerusalem with animal sacrifices, then I would say you have a faulty view of those Old Testament passages and a faulty view of the future. According to the New Testament the Church of Jesus Christ is God’s holy temple on earth today. In I Corinthians 3:16-17, the Apostle Paul declares, “Don’t you know that you yourselves [believers in Christ] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”

Wherever God’s temple springs up and grows, there is a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. These are the only sacrifices God will ever find acceptable according to I Peter 2:5 and 9-10:

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ . . . you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.

Let’s pray.

Sermon text ©2007 Mark C. Alvis
Bible text © as applicable