Professing to Be Wise, Part 2

Rev. Mark C. Alvis, Union Congregational Church — Lent V, March 25, 2007

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“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 17:24-34 NIV).

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of the salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one. He paused, took a deep breath and told his buddies to go on without him and to please call his wife when they arrived back home and explain that he had taken a later flight.

He then returned to the terminal where the apples were scattered all over the floor. He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl who was selling the apples was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping or caring for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. He noticed that many of the apples had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?” She nodded through her tears. He continued on, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.” As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered girl called out to him, “Mister—” He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She asked, “Are you Jesus?”

The goal of all believers is to grow up and be Christlike in how we live and interact with a world that desperately needs to see Jesus.

Last week, in Acts 17, we read that the Apostle Paul had been taken to Athens to wait for Silas and Timothy. Corinth was to be the next target city for the gospel. But as Paul waited, he became greatly burdened for the people of Athens who lived in such spiritual darkness. He could not leave this city without telling them about the true God who had sent His One and only Son. Let’s begin by reading Acts 17:24-26, remembering that Paul is speaking to the city council. They have asked him to explain what Christians believe. This is how the Holy Spirit led the Apostle Paul to answer that question:

“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 [Isaiah 66:1-2]. 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 [Genesis 2:21-22] he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth [Genesis 1:28]; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live” [Genesis 11:1-9].”

I want to pause here and address an issue where there is much confusion in the church today. There are Christians who believe that God is the Lord of heaven, but He is not the Lord of earth. They contend that Satan is the ruler of the earth. Here are some questions for those who maintain this: (1) Did Satan make the heavens and the earth? (2) Does Satan give all men life and breath and everything else? (3) Did Satan make from one man every nation of men; and (4) does Satan determine the exact places where they should live? The one who does all that is the Lord of the earth; and that of course is God — not Satan.

Satan is a created being. But there is something he has created; it is called the world system; it is a way of thinking and living that is opposed to God and His ways. The world system brings death and there are many people who live their lives within this system. People who live in the world system often act as it God doesn’t exist and yet they cannot get their next breath apart from Him; and that is true whether they admit it or not. It is also a fact that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is not going to be king some day; He is king now and His kingdom is growing.

According to the Bible, everyone on earth lives in one of two kingdoms: the kingdom of darkness, or God’s kingdom of light. All you have to do to get into Satan’s kingdom of darkness is to be born once. The only way to get into God’s kingdom is to be born twice.

In what sense is Satan the “prince” or boss of people living in his system? It is certainly not because he gives them life or sustains life. He is boss over unbelievers because he is deceiving them. After all, who is in charge: the one doing the deceiving or the one being deceived? And how can deceived people stop being deceived? They must hear and believe truth. Only truth can set people free.

Here is my bottom line: When Jesus spoke about Satan being the prince of this world, he was speaking about the world system and those who live in that system of spiritual darkness. The Lord Jesus came to plunder Satan’s domain. When God the Son became a man, even in His state of humility, he was casting out demons and wreaking havoc in Satan’s world. How could Jesus do that? One of the reasons is because He lived a perfect life of obedience to God and Satan had nothing in which he could accuse him. The Lord Jesus bound Satan through His righteousness — light is always stronger than darkness. Even more importantly, what was going to happen to Satan at the cross? Jesus answers that question in John 12:31-33: “Now the ruler of this world [system] shall be cast out [a future event, because Christ had not yet gone to the cross]. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth [speaking of His crucifixion], will draw all men to Myself . . . He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die” (NASB).

At the cross Satan was defeated and cast out. What does Jesus mean by cast out? He means that Satan was to lose a great deal authority because of Christ’s atoning work on the cross. The Heidelberg Catechism states that all Christians belong to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all our sins, and redeemed us from all the power of the devil. There is a growing number of people on earth that Satan has lost because their sins have been paid in full and the righteousness of Christ is theirs.

The Book of Revelation was written about 35 years after Christ’s death. When it speaks about Satan being cast out, it uses the past tense, because it had already happened: “And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him . . . and cast him into the abyss [past tense], and shut and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations [the Gentiles] . . .” (Revelation 20:2-3).

Question: Who has been coming into Christ’s kingdom of light ever since the cross? The Gentiles. This is why Jesus said that if He went to the cross, all people (people from every nation and walk of life ) would be drawn to him. Jesus has been plundering Satan’s domain ever since the cross. This is why the cross is the central event of world history. Satan’s complete and ultimate defeat will occur when Christ returns at the end of this New Covenant Age.

Christians, Satan is not our ruler — Christ is. And so let’s not say that Satan is the ruler over all the world. He only governs those living outside of God’s kingdom.

Please look with me now at Acts 17:27-28:

“God did this [created and sustains all people] 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 [it is what all people should do, but cannot do apart from God’s grace and truth — John 6:44; Romans 3:10-11]. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’ [Paul is quoting what the Greek poet Epimenides wrote around 600 BC]. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring’” [a quote from Aratus who lived around 315-240 BC].

It is interesting that poets can sometimes articulate truth about God better than philosophers or scientists. Let’s continue to hear what Paul says in verses 29-33:

“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 [the Bible says that all people have been made in God’s image. The problem is that fallen man now wants to make God after their image, according to their thinking]. 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” [God has not called us to take a blind leap in the dark]. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered . . . .”

What had happened in Paul’s day that caused God to stop overlooking the ignorance of idolatry? The incarnation of Christ. Now that God the Son has walked upon this earth and has shown us God in the flesh, the silliness of idols must be put away. It is time to repent and grow up. And for those who refuse, God has set a day of judgment.

Christians, we must not think that God withholds all punishment until Christ comes on Judgment Day. The Second Coming of Christ will be the ultimate judgment of Satan and unbelieving mankind; but God has judged, and will continue to judge, wickedness all along the way to Judgment Day.

Even as Paul was speaking these words there was an enormous judgement day hanging over the heads of unbelieving Israel (Luke 19:41-44).

When Paul mentioned the resurrection of Christ, some of the people present sneered and ridiculed him — probably for the sin of being unscientific. Didn’t Paul know that when people die, that ends everything? After all, according to many pseudo-scientists, our physical bodies are all there is to us. This is not what the Bible teaches. Most assuredly our physical bodies will return to dust in time; but not our spirits. Not only does the New Testament teach that Christ rose from the dead, but His resurrection guarantees our resurrection.

In I Corinthians 15:35-38, Paul was again ridiculed for teaching that people who have been dead for centuries will be resurrected:

But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! [do you not open your eyes at all?] What you plant in the ground does not come to life unless it dies [the miracle of life which emerges from a seed does not appear until the seed is buried and actually undergoes decay]. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined.

Our resurrection bodies will be immeasurably superior to our present bodies. The older I get the more comforting that truth becomes. Science tells us that the entire blueprint of our bodies is contained within the nucleus of most of the cells of our bodies. I believe that from one atom of my body, God can resurrect me with a far superior body than what I presently possess. And science itself tells us that atoms are pretty tough to get rid of or destroy. If Christ doesn’t return for another 20,000 years, there will still be plenty of my atoms laying around from which to do a resurrection. In the meantime, my spirit will be enjoying life with God at His house in heaven.

Let’s go back to Paul’s illustration of a seed. If I had a seed in my hand which none of you had ever seen before, could any of you describe the plant which would emerge from that seed? No, because the blueprint of the plant to emerge is all bound up within the inner, unseen part of the seed. Even scientists probing the inside of an unknown seed with electron microscopes cannot describe the plant which will emerge. In the same way, the blueprint of our resurrection bodies lies within our souls, our spirits; the inner, unseen, eternal part of us.

Let’s finish by reading verses 32-34:

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.

For Dionysius and Damaris, Paul had been Jesus. And for all eternity these people will thank God that Paul became so distressed and burdened for the city of Athens that he could not leave it without showing them the Christ. Are we burdened for lost people? Are we burdened enough to tell them about Jesus and live like Jesus? Let’s pray.

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