Agnostic? Really?

A Man Appointed

(Acts 17:22-34, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 18, 2012)

[22] So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. [23] For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

Paul was alone in Athens and his spirit was greatly provoked by all of the idolatry in the city. That may seem like a situation that is far from your own. Yet this same apostle informs us that covetousness is idolatry, and we do live in a world full of covetousness.

Not only that, but we live in a world that is covetous and largely agnostic. Even many who may put a religious label on themselves, if forced to do so will openly acknowledge that they do not know if there is a God.

When Paul considered how he might speak as an ambassador for Jesus Christ in the city of Athens, he began with an agnostic altar that he encountered while going around this simultaneously religious and irreligious city. They had many objects of worship, but in the midst of all these was an altar with this strange inscription, “To the unknown god.”

The Greek word used in this inscription is the one from which we get the English word, “agnostic.” When I think about agnostics, I think of them sleeping late on Sunday mornings. But as I considered this altar that the apostle referred to before the Athenian Areopagus, it occurred to me that many people who are agnostics find themselves in situations where they suddenly turn to God in prayer. Many others find their conscience bothering them about something in their lives, and they have the distinct impression that the God that they do not know about is not pleased. Many may, during a very excellent moment, feel the presence of the God they do not believe in, and inwardly acknowledge that feeling, even enjoying it, and then go on with life.

How many agnostics feel that God is with them on their wedding day or at the birth of a child and never say anything about it to anyone? How many people might like to put a coin in a moneybox at some shrine with this inscribed on it, “To the agnostic god” just to say “Thanks?”

Paul used this agnostic inscription to start a conversation with people that were not steeped in the Hebrew Scriptures. He made a very exciting announcement to those who were assembled in front of him that day: “What you worship as unknown, I proclaim to you.”

[24] The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, [25] nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Anyone can be an agnostic, especially for some period of time in life. No one can live in this world without having any experience of God. Psalm 14 says, “The fool is saying in his heart that there is no god.” But, no disrespect, deep down the fool is lying. Everyone has experienced god.

The God that we proclaim with our words and our lives is the God of everything that we have ever experienced. As Paul said that day, “He is the Lord of heaven and earth.” People make temples to all sorts of gods, but it should be plain to everyone that the real God whom we all have experienced does not need our temples, or anything that our hands could build. We do not give life to Him. He is the Being who gave life to us. On your first day of life outside of your mother's womb, I hope that someone was very happy to see you. At that moment, that person may have had this thought racing through her heart when she heard your cry, “Thank you, God!”

[26] And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, [27] that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, [28] for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;[f4]
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’[f5]This God who does not need any of us to build Him a house, has made a house for us. Not only do we have a tent of flesh to dwell in, our bodies, but we also are part of a family, and part of a nation. Anyone can be agnostic about Him. That requires no special intelligence. But consider this: He is not agnostic about you.

He determined the places and times of every creature on this planet. He gives us our dwelling place. Consider this: “In Him we live and move and have our being.” That is why Paul can say to every agnostic in his hearing regarding the Lord God, “He is actually not far from each one of us.” He is not a disinterested heavenly being. Imagine this: “We are indeed His offspring.” Even people who were very far from the Hebrew Scriptures have figured these things out from their own experience of the god they were agnostic about. They knew themselves to be more than lifeless objects of silver or gold. They knew that they were created by someone in whom they somehow lived, but were not yet fully acknowledging.

[29] Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. [30] The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, [31] because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” [32] Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” [33] So Paul went out from their midst. [34] But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.What an outstanding announcement: “The times of not knowing are over.” How do we know that those days are over? God has appointed a Man for the forgiveness of all our covetousness and idolatry that only led to fear and death. That appointed Man, Jesus Christ, died for our sins, and became for us the living object of faith for the world in His resurrection from the dead.

This God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has also appointed a coming day on which He will judge the world through the Savior of the world, Jesus, the resurrection Man. Some will mock this and continue to have occasional logical, if hidden, slip ups, where they offer sacrifices to a god that they do not believe in. Their conscience will bother them as if there is a god to whom they must one day give an account. They will cry out to the god that they do not believe in when they are gripped by tragedy, and when the best things in life come through for them their hearts will murmur, “Thank God.” But we are those who are not content to worship an unknown god. We are those who at some point come to this conclusion, “We will hear you again about this.”

1. What does Paul say about the Athenians?

2. What does he say about God?

3. What would repentance look like for Paul's listeners that day?

4. What was the reaction of those listening to Paul's teaching about the resurrection of Jesus, the appointed Man of God?

OT Passage: Psalm 4

Why did this happen?

Old Testament Reading: Proverbs 18:24

New Testament Reading: John 15:12-17

Message: A Beloved Brother – Philemon 15-16

[15] For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, [16] no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

Why did Onesimus run away? He may have had his own reasons, but those are not my chief concern in asking the question. What was the Lord doing in this providence?

This is always worth our consideration when we face some challenging experience in our lives. Consider the patriarch Joseph. Why did his brothers sell him? We might come up with some guesses. But Joseph himself thought that the bigger question of God's purposes was more significant. What was the Lord doing in this providence?

Move on in the history of revelation to the cross of Christ. Why did people kill Jesus? Again, we could have a fascinating discussion about this. But how much more life-giving to consider this question: What was the Lord doing in this providence?

So why did Onesimus run away? What was the Lord doing in this providence? Paul suggests a possibility here. Onesimus left as a bondservant that would be of no eternal benefit to his Christian master, Philemon. But the man who came back to Philemon with this letter was Onesimus, the new man in Christ. Here was Onesimus, the beloved brother of Paul. Here was a runaway bondservant of Philemon who could now return as Philemon's brother in Christ forever.

Something happened to Onesimus after he ran away. In the Lord's plan, perhaps this needed to take place in order for Onesimus to receive the greatest gift that can ever be given. “To all who would receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

Children of God are all brothers in a divine family. Whatever the Lord used to bring any of us to that point, we can celebrate His purposes of grace in all that He has done for us.

It was not a good thing to run away from Philemon. But God had a plan. Embracing the grace of God in the cross of Jesus Christ is the beginning to seeing everything from His purpose. Men may mean many things for evil, but God is working out His good purposes in all that He does.

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto...

A Babbler In Athens

(Acts 17:13-21, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 11, 2012)

[13] But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. [14] Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. [15] Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.First century Judaism was full of controversy. At the center of the controversy was one Man: Jesus of Nazareth. Who was He? Was He the Savior of the world, or was He an imposter who deceived the people? To settle that question, ministers like the Apostle Paul turned to the Old Testament Scriptures and proved from them that it was necessary that the Messiah would suffer, die, and be raised on the third day.

Those who believed this message became Christians, and many non-Jews who were interested in the Jewish Scriptures and others who saw the love of the new disciples joined with them. That was first century Christianity, a growing movement that has continued to the present day, expanding to all the earth. Those who rejected this message remained Jews and were part of a dwindling number of people that also still exists today, but remains a very small minority group.

As Jesus had warned, this controversy would get violent, and those who believed in Him would suffer for His Name's sake. That is still true today. In Acts 17 it was the Jews from Thessalonica who heard about Paul's activities in Berea who followed him to that more remote location in order to make life difficult for him there, hoping to thwart the progress of his efforts.

[16] Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. [17] So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Though they succeeded in part, they ultimately failed. Paul was pushed out of Berea, but he was sent by the church on to Athens. Alone there for a time, he waited for Silas and Timothy to join him. But God was with him, and Paul's spirit was provoked within him. He found it difficult to be calm in the midst of a city that was full of idols. (As an aside, what gets you all worked up?)

He did not wait for his colleagues. He got right to work as a messenger of good news, both in the synagogues as he had always done, but also now in the marketplaces every day with those who happened to be there.

Paul could not be content to leave the city as he found it. His spirit was troubled. It was not enough for him to stay among the enclave of Jews in this educated city. He insisted on engaging non-Jews right in the public square. To do less than that would have been unbearable for him. He had to preach the message of Christ. But how to do that?

[18] Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. [19] And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? [20] For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” [21] Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.He had to understand the people he would be engaging. More than that, he had to make them understand his message. This was not an easy task.

Understanding the Christian gospel is not a matter of IQ. It is also not necessarily aided by advanced degrees in philosophy. There were many people in Athens who chased down new ideas about the meaning of life, and about what it meant to live a good life in a difficult world. Some of them conversed with Paul and they had a hard time understanding his message.

Notice that they called Paul a “babbler.” Roughly translated, that means something like, “You're not from these parts, are you stranger.” Paul had grown up in another section of the empire among the Jewish minority in Tarsus. He was educated in the Pharisee subculture in Jerusalem. That was the life that he understood.

When he was left in Athens all by himself as a messenger of Jesus Christ, he encountered an entirely different challenge. If he could have been content to stay in the synagogues he might have not had this experience. Have you every found yourself trying to talk to someone about faith or holiness and the other person does not seem to get your message at all? That was what happened to Paul. The best that people could make out from what he was saying is that he was a preacher of foreign gods.

What was Paul talking about? The passage tells us: “Jesus and the resurrection.” That is the message that we have come to believe is the most precious news that heaven could ever be spoken on the face of the earth. Jesus is the Savior of the world. His resurrection followed His saving death on the cross. In every time and place the true message of Jesus and the resurrection is the message of a foreign Deity. It is never a message that comes by nature out of first century Athens or twenty-first century Exeter. It is heaven's message come to earth, and only the Holy Spirit can make any town or any individual heart receptive to it. But we are assured of this: “To all who would receive Him, who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

When Paul started talking to strangers in Athens about the message that could deliver that city from idolatry, the people shook their heads and tried to find some philosophers who would be willing to listen to him. When some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers tried to make sense of Paul's message of Jesus and the resurrection, they took him to the place in town where people talked about all kinds of new ideas and judged them. They wanted to understand his message, not to follow it, but to catalog it along with the other intriguing messages of the world. They just wanted to know. But we are messengers of the Resurrection Man and the King over all.

If we stay in our enclave, we do not have Paul's troubling experience. But the Lord has His ways of getting us out of our hiding places. He has more people for us to love, people we care about. He will show us evil in places where we never thought it would thrive. When we speak about what matters most to us, we may seem to be dangerous babblers talking about foreign deities.

There are times in life when we suddenly realize that we are not where we thought we were. Recognizing that fact is the first step to figuring out how to speak the truth in love in that place.

1. Compare and contrast Paul's experiences in Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens.

2. What is the significance of Paul going on to Athens and Silas and Timothy remaining in Berea?

3. Why was Paul's spirit provoked within him in Athens?

4. How does Luke's description of Athenian life prepare us for Paul's message in the following passage?

OT Passage: Exodus 19:1-6

Freedom Christ has set me free!

My Very Heart – Philemon 12-14

[12] I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.

Paul was sending Onesimus back to Philemon, because he wanted the right result accomplished in the right way. He had come to love the young man who had run away from his Christian master, Philemon, only to find the love of an even better Master, Jesus Christ. Paul sent him back home as one whom he called “my very heart.”

What if he would be imprisoned or mistreated as a runaway slave? What if were tried and convicted for theft? Paul needed to trust the Lord. He needed the perfect love that casts out fear, not only for himself, but for this new convert.

[13] I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel,

Paul's own desire as Paul would have been to keep Onesimus with him. This man might served him very well during his imprisonment, or beyond his captivity, as a servant of Jesus and His life-giving gospel . Onesimus would have been like a gift from Philemon, better still, like a gift of Jesus the King to His ambassador.

Paul was confined under the terms of some imprisonment for the gospel. He needed someone like Onesimus in order to do what he, Paul, could not do. He was not a free man. But even when he was released from the chains of men, Paul was not free.

A man on a cross is not a free man. But what if he is on the cross as a matter of the freedom of holy sincerity? What if He stays on the cross as an act of the highest worship? Then He is God's free servant, and the Lord's faithful Son. This is the Man we follow.

[14] but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord.

Because of the only-begotten Son of the Most High God, we have gained the right, through faith in His Name, to be free sons of God. We do not desire to force others into worship and obedience by some force or compulsion. We have come to see the beauty of a willing sacrifice.

That is why Paul not only wrote a letter to Philemon, but sent the young man back with that letter, a man who had become his very heart.

Do you know that Jesus Christ looks at you as His very heart? Won't you willingly put away all fear, and trust in Him? If you will, even if you end up homeless or in chains, you will be free. You will be free to love even your enemies with the love of Jesus.