PAUL IN ATHENS – When Love Came to Town Acts 17:16-34
On this Sunday before Christmas, for a second time, we want to take a look at Acts chapter 17, verses 16-34…
Acts 17:16-34
Recently I was talking with a church member about a certain television preacher and how he really has taken on the mantle of Robert Schuller. For those of you who are younger, you may not even know the name Robert Schuller, but Schuller was one of the original television preachers. He got his start out in southern California back in the 1950s with a new idea: and that was that instead of having people come to church, why not just have them drive-in to church? And so, back in the era of drive-in movie theaters, Schuller began a drive-in church named Garden Grove Community Church. His idea took off and in time, as the number of people increased, he went on to preach from a building in which people could come inside or just remain in their cars. At that time there were around 500 cars of people who stayed in their cars for the morning service. Eventually Schuller began broadcasting over television and, in 1980, the church finished construction on what would be called "The Crystal Cathedral." Like Norman Vincent Peale, Schuller's preaching, like the books that he wrote, were full of "positive thinking." He made it a point to never preach against sin. I recall seeing him being interviewed back around 1990 and in that interview he said that the reason he didn't preach against sin was that he believed people felt badly enough about their lives already. So his was a message that was meant to encourage, to lift up, to help people feel better about themselves.
Every preacher must, I think, at one time or another, take a good long look in the mirror and ask the question, "What kind of preacher am I? What is MY goal in preaching? Is it that people might feel better about themselves? Is that my goal? For many preachers today, that is indeed their goal. But not all preachers are Biblical preachers, and not all preachers are even pastors.
I recall, some 12 or 13 years ago, visiting the church building of a well-known preacher in southern California. The building was very large, able to handle many thousands of people at the same time. The auditorium had a level floor with risers going up on the back. The platform from where this preacher preached was 2
about 5 ½ or 6' off the floor and here is the catch: there were no steps from the platform down. So the preacher couldn't get down to the people nor could the people get up to the preacher. Prior to his preaching and following his preaching, this preacher would come out from a back room and preach. I was able to tour the back room and saw there a couch, a refrigerator, a bathroom and a table for the serving of food. So he, in a sense, lived in this isolated space AWAY from the congregation. I thought at the time, "he may be a professional preacher, but he is not a pastor." Christ, our supreme example of a pastor, was so close to his followers that they could touch him and he could wash their feet.
But who are we going to be? Who am I going to be? What is my goal in preaching and pastoring? If Robert Schuller could somehow come back from the dead, what would he think of Burning Hearts? Better yet, what does Jesus think of it all?
Well here was Paul, and unlike so many times before, this time Paul was going to be preaching to those who knew nothing about Jesus. To speak of "Jesus of Nazareth" or "The Galilean" would have been meaningless. To even reference the Messiah, the Christ, would likewise have meant little to nothing. These were secular thinkers, secular philosophers. They didn't agree with each other on the meaning of life (what's new? In that way they were like modern psychologists, sociologists, or philosophers – all lacking a common, unifying theory regarding mankind). But here he was, speaking to them, and while he did a tremendous job of attempting to "bridge the gap" or "find some common ground" with his Greek audience, in the end he preached a message that did not go over all that well.
As we said last week, some modern Bible commentators have taken "pot shots" at Paul in regards to his preaching in Athens. They have accused him of having lost his audience by bringing up the resurrection of Jesus…as if he would have had a much better hearing if he had just avoided THAT subject. But, also as we said last Sunday, Paul was much more concerned about being faithful to the gospel message (of Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead) than he was in having his listeners walk away feeling better about themselves than they did before. So Paul preached about Christ crucified and resurrected from the dead.
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But there was a second part to Paul's message that likely also did not go over well. The text here in Acts 17 doesn't tell us just how well or poorly this part of his message received. But it is found in verse 30… Verse 30
"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent."
That is a verse that you ought to underline in your Bible.
For that single verse underscores the fact that with the New Covenant – what we call a "covenant of grace" – we see that the God of the New Testament really is not unlike the God of the Old Testament. And that just as we have this perception that the God of the Old Testament was really concerned about sin, and wanting people to repent of their sins and live holy lives, when we come to the New Testament scriptures, it still reads the same.
Now, if you do in fact have a pencil or pen out, here are some other verses that I also think you should underline… Let's read them…
Matthew 3:1-2. John the Baptist was the last in the line of the Old Covenant prophets. But he was anticipating the coming of the Messiah and the entrance in of the New Covenant period.
Matthew 4:17. In Matthew's gospel, apart from the earlier interaction that is recorded as taking place between Jesus and the devil (during the time of Christ's temptation in the wilderness), these are the very FIRST WORDS RECORDED as part of Jesus' time of adult ministry. And the very first word of these words was the same word that John used: REPENT
So John said, "Repent." Then Jesus said, "Repent."
Then along comes Peter, speaking to a Jewish audience… Acts 2:36-38
And now Peter says the same: "Repent."
But we're not finished, for here in Acts 17, what did we read of Paul and his message to the Greeks? 4
Acts 17:30
Yep. The same message as was preached by John, Jesus and Peter: Repent.
There is no change. In evangelicalism we have, I think, to some extent confused people's understanding of the gospel with our bumper stickers, our words of cheer, and so forth. We've been telling people things like "Smile, God loves you." Or maybe, "Just believe." And while the love of God is certainly more than enough to make any person smile. And while we affirm again and again the need for people to believe, there IS something more that we need to be saying. And what we have failed to often mention…indeed what we have often glossed over…is this call to repentance.
Recently our son, Jonathan, has been helping me move into the 21st century technologically speaking. And when it comes to music – a real passion of Jonathan's – he has been pulling me away from Pandora and turning me on to Spotify. (This may mean nothing to some of you for either you are already there…or you have no idea what I'm talking about.) But part of what I have been doing over the past couple weeks, over Spotify, is making up a PLAYLIST of MY FAVORITE SONGS. What an eclectic list it is: everything from classical music, to jazz, to gospel, to rock. One of the more contemporary songs on my list is one that is now some 30 years old: When Love Comes to Town by U2. (And, yes, we're going to hear that song at the end of this service.)
But in "When Love Comes to Town" singers like Bono and B.B. King sing about the things that they did "before love came to town." As in much of U2's music, the word "love" is used as a synonym for God. So in the song Bono and then B.B. King sing of the bad things they did…the sins of their youth…their hurting of people, their vicarious crucifying of Jesus, and of all the agony that they helped bring upon this earth. But, as they sing in the song, "I did what I did before love came to town." Meaning, these are the kinds of things that we did while we 5
were still IGNORANT. But once God came into our lives, then we quit.
When Love Came to Town is ultimately a song about repentance.
Here in Acts 17 Paul addresses the ignorance of these very learned men…these philosophers of the time. He speaks of their worshipping an "Unknown God" and therein infers that at least some of them had been worshipping things made by human hands – idols – made from gold or silver or stone, formed by the "art and imagination of man" (verse 29). Just how or why these Athenians had come to think of God or worship any god in this way we don't know and Paul doesn't tell us. But Paul does sum it all up in one word: IGNORANCE.
Paul, the one who here in Acts 17 brought up the Athenians ignorance, knew what it had been like to live in ignorance…
1 Timothy 1:12-13
Here Paul seems to be suggesting that he was shown mercy because of his ignorance. And then look at what Peter said to the Jews back in Acts 4…
Acts 4:13-17
Both of these passages seem to imply that there HAD BEEN a period of ignorance and that in that period there HAD BEEN some mercy shown to those who were ignorant. That's not all that different from what Paul said to the Athenians when he said that "the times of ignorance God has overlooked." But here in Acts 17, by the time Paul was preaching in Athens, the clear implication is that that time is now past. Maybe God really WOULD HAVE GIVEN THE PEOPLE A BREAK awhile back but regardless of what may have gone on before, that has now all changed.
Through the years of my life – spanning now over 50 years of driving, including the driving of at least a few truly great sports cars – I have had a number of speeding tickets. The truth is, in general, I am actually a very conservative driver. I have no problem with going down the highway and being passed by faster drivers all day long. I'm way past the point of feeling the 6
need of trying to prove something. Yet still I have had my share of speeding tickets. And among those speeding tickets have been at least a couple where I truly did not realize I was going over the speed limit. And so – thinking back now a year or so ago – when I was pulled over on Rohrerstown Road just north of Charlestown Road – the officer asked me if I knew how fast I was going. I did not. He said I was doing 50. And then he asked me if I knew what the speed limit was along that section of road. I told him I did not. And then he told me it was 35. And for that it cost me, as I recall, around $120.00.
Now, the officer did not say to me when he asked me if I knew what the speed limit was, "Oh…you didn't know? Really? Well, in that case, we'll let you go. It was 35…so from now on you know. Have a great day!" No. I expressed my IGNORANCE and then he gave me a ticket. And why?
Because "ignorance is….(no excuse)."
Right: ignorance is no excuse.
Well, here are these Athenians. And Paul speaks to them about their ignorance – worshipping among other things an "unknown god." And his point is that in times past, God was willing to overlook that ignorance. But not any more. For something has happened in the course of history that has changed all that. Up until now, you might have some how gotten away with things. But not any longer. For with Paul's declaration of Jesus, now people need to deal with things.
You may have done what you did "before love came to town" but no longer is that a valid excuse.
Because – and we're all about to celebrate it this week – God came down at Christmas. LOVE, TRUE LOVE CAME TO TOWN now 2,000 years ago…and with that coming, and the global declaration of that coming, everything changed.
Can people still claim ignorance? Sure, and maybe even a few can claim it somewhat legitimately. We'll leave that judgment up to God.
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But for the vast bulk of the world, the word is now out…
Christ has come into the world Christ has died for the sins of a fallen humanity Christ has been raised back to life, and Christ now lives as the victorious King of kings, and Lord of lords, before whom we shall all appear and give an account of our lives. And now, Paul declares, "Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is LORD to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11). Just precisely when that mark of ignorance being an excuse to ignorance no longer being an excuse I am not sure. But it is now long past.
And so now God commands all people everywhere to repent.
So to that couple who are living in sin, but say they don't feel a twinge of guilt over it, the Bible would say to them – along with their need to trust in Jesus – the Bible would say to them "repent." Change your behavior and your attitude. Be broken before an Almighty and holy God.
And to that one would lie on their income tax return, the Bible would say to them "repent."
And to that one who would steal…repent. And to the proud…repent And to the addict…repent And to the one who is filled with resentment in their heart…repent.
Repent, repent, repent!
Change your heart and change your ways. For God has "fixed a day on which he will judge in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
So maybe in ignorance you did some bad things. But now that love has come to town…now that love has come to earth and been made clear to us – O Holy Night! – now the challenge is to repent!
Ask God to forgive you; Ask Jesus to save you; Start over again.
Yes, we did what we did "before Love came to town."