Acts 17:1-34 (February 4, 2024)

Paul Preaches Christ from the Old Testament in Thessalonica

Bibles to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17 is where we will be this morning as we continue our series through the book of Acts. And what we see in Acts 17 is Paul and his team, Paul and Silas and Timothy.

We're going to see Paul going to three different cities to preach the gospel. We saw earlier how God had called him to go to Macedonia and to preach the gospel there. We're going to see him going to three different cities.

We're going to see varying responses to the word preached. And what I want us to do as we see these, I want us to kind of work our way through Acts 17. And so what I'm going to do this morning, I'm going to read a little bit and preach a little bit, read a little bit and preach a little bit, and we'll get through Acts 17.

There's a few things I want you to see as we go through it. One of those is that there's always a response to the word preached. There's always a response to the gospel preached. Sometimes it's positive here, sometimes it's negative, but nobody opts out, nobody gets out of giving some sort of response.

There's always a response. That means you are always going to have a response when the word of God is preached. You're going to respond in some way. Another thing I want us to see is that God is greater than the idols.

This is going to be a theme of Paul's preaching, particularly when he goes to Athens and there's idols everywhere. God is greater than the idols. We're going to see that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the king and Jesus is the judge.

And that what you do with Jesus matters more than anything else in the world. And so let's begin Acts chapter 17 reading beginning in verse 1. God's word says, Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.

And so Paul, he goes into Thessalonica, says he's, he preaches for three Sabbaths. That doesn't mean that he was only there for three weeks, but his kind of his time there in the synagogue was these three weeks.

If you read elsewhere in the New Testament, you can kind of see he was there a little bit before this and he was there a little bit after this, but he's there in the, in the synagogue for three Sabbaths and says he reasoned with them from the scriptures.

Now, why does he reason with them from the scriptures? Well, one reason is he's going, he's going to the synagogue. They're familiar with the scriptures. They have a copy of the scriptures there. They have the scrolls there and it's common ground with them.

That's one reason, but also believe probably more so is because the scriptures are where you find God's revelation to us. The scriptures are God's word to us. It's the source of knowledge where we find things that are true, where we find wisdom is in God's word.

And so he starts there and he reasons with them there from the scriptures, knowing that they are authoritative and they are God's words to us. This is, this is how God has communicated with us. And so when he's going to show them who Jesus is, he goes to the scriptures.

It also has the advantage of locating the source of the message, the authority of the message with God. This is not Paul's opinion that Jesus is the Christ. What he's preaching to them, it didn't originate within himself.

He's saying no, no, no. According to the Bible, it says this. And so if you have a problem with it, Thessalonians, take it up with God because God is the one who said this. And he reasons with them from the scriptures.

Now it's important to remember what were the scriptures that he reasoned with them from? We didn't have the completed, you know, all 66 books of the Bible yet because he's still writing them, right? What he is, he has the old Testament scriptures.

And so it's interesting. He reasons from the old Testament scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. Before that, that the Christ must suffer and then rise again. He proves that from the old Testament, probably going to places like Isaiah 53, where it shows that this servant of God, this Messiah must be the suffering servant.

And by his stripes, we are healed. And so he shows them from the old Testament, which is all about Christ. The whole book, not just the New Testament, the whole book is all about Christ. And he shows that the Messiah must suffer, die, and rise again.

And then he shows them that the Messiah, this Jesus who's crucified in Jerusalem, this Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the long awaited one. He is the anointed one of the father. He is the king.

And so he reasons with them from the scriptures. We'll see a response here in the next few verses. And some of them were persuaded. A great multitude of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas.

And some, the response was favorable. It was positive and they joined. But verse five, but the Jews who were not persuaded, some were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace.

I love one. There's another translation, translates the wicked men from the rabble and gathering of mobs that all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason and salt to bring them out to the people.

So there's always a response. Some believed they were persuaded, some were not. And what did they do? They went out to the marketplace to find some of the wicked men of the rabble, some of the men from the marketplace.

And so Thessalonica is kind of, it's kind of known for having a bunch of lazy men who aren't working and they're just kind of sitting around and it was easy to stir them up into a mob. And so that's what they did.

And the reason they did this is because they were envious. Let's tell you, let's pause here because often in scriptures, those who have rejected Christ, the Jews are described as being envious. Envy will make you do all sorts of wicked things.

Here it makes them go stir up a mob against Paul and Silas. Envy, Proverbs says, is rottenness in the bones. It will destroy your life. We must all be on guard against envy. I remember a friend of mine made a Facebook post, it's probably been seven or eight years ago.

And so of all the worthless things that you'll find kind of just posted on social media, it must have been important that I can still remember it eight, seven or eight years later. But he's recounting this teaching moment he had with his son and he remarked, he said, one of the hardest things in the world to learn is to rejoice in the success of others.

Well, the hardest things in the world is to rejoice in the success of others. Now we can probably think of some times where it's really easy to rejoice. Your kid does something good, it's easy to rejoice in that.

Or a friend has some success somewhere, it's easy to rejoice. But think about it in terms of when it's in an area where you're trying to be successful too and someone's successful. It can be hard to rejoice in that because envy wells up within us.

Our indwelling sin gives an opportunity for envy and it will destroy us. It can lead to anger, it can lead to bitterness, it can lead to all sorts of dissension and strife in a relationship. Here it ended up and it led to a mob being set out against Paul and Silas as they go to Jason's house to find them.

One question for you this morning is, is there any area of your life where you're envious? You've got to root it out. Envy is rottenness in the bones and it will lead to your destruction. So what they did, they went to go find the missionaries there at Jason's house.

But when they did not find them, verse 6, they dragged Jason and some of the brethren to the rulers of the city crying out, these who have turned the world upside down have come here too. These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

It's a pretty big charge. They're saying, turn the world upside down. It might be a little bit of hyperbole, it might be a little bit of exaggeration, but it's also true because by their preaching they are upsetting the apple cart there in Thessalonica.

Here's the thing, when the world is upside down, it is the duty of Christians to turn it. When the world is, maybe a better way to say it, when the world is wrong side up, it's the duty of Christians to turn it upside down.

When it's wrong side up, it's the duty of Christians to turn it upside down. Thessalonica was an upside down world. It was wrong side up. They needed to be set right by the word of God. So Paul is preaching the word of God and they turned the world upside down.

We live in an upside down world. We live in a world that calls good evil and evil good. We live in a world that calls right wrong and wrong right. Men, women, and women. Men, true, false, and false, true, beautiful things.

We call ugly ugly things. We call beautiful glorious things. We call shameful shameful things. We call glorious. We live in an upside down world and it is the ministry of Jesus and therefore the ministry of the body of Christ to set things right.

And so if things are wrong side up, it is our duty to turn them upside down. This will upset the status quo. This will upset the keepers of the status quo. This will upset those who profit from or gain social standing from the status quo.

Yet it must be done. And that's what Paul and the missionaries are doing here in Acts 17. It goes on to say that Jason had harbored them. So Jason is Paul's host. Probably had stayed in his house. When they couldn't find Paul, they went to him.

He's the one who lived there. He's responsible for them. And so they bring him out and they charge him that Jason has harbored them. And these are all acting contrary to the decree of Caesar saying that there is another king, Jesus.

And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. We're seeing an escalation here. I mean they're charging Jason, Paul and Silas and the whole crew of them with treason, with sedition.

This is getting serious here. They're saying that they're acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar. This is serious. They're saying that there's another king, Jesus. Now it's true. They were preaching that there's another king, Jesus.

And it is true that there is another king, Jesus. Jesus is king. Jesus is Lord. If Jesus is Lord, that means he has ultimate allegiance. He has ultimate authority. That means Caesar is not Lord. And he does not have ultimate authority.

And he does not do ultimate allegiance. Jesus is. He was declared to be king by his resurrection. And he was crowned at his ascension. And so our ultimate allegiance and loyalty belongs to Jesus who has ultimate authority.

All authority on heaven and earth has been given to Christ. Matthew 28. And so it's true. But it's not true in the way that they were alleging. It's not true in the way that they were charging. Because Christianity is not revolutionary.

We don't...Christianity doesn't do away with all of our other governing structures here on earth. It doesn't do away with all the other kings. Rather that Jesus is the king of kings. He is king over kings.

He was king over Caesar in the same way he is king over the United States of America. And so here's how...here's how Christians think about this. God is over all. He delegates authority to human institutions, to human governments.

There are three of them. You have your civil government. And Jesus is king over the civil government. And he delegates authority. And it's limited authority. It's the same thing. They have authority in all areas.

But they have authority for the ministry of justice. To reward good. To punish evil. And to give proper order to earthly affairs within their realm. You have the realm of the household. The father is given authority by Jesus.

Jesus is over the father. Jesus is over the household. And he gives authority there in the realm of...in the ministry of health, welfare, and human services. And education belongs to the household. And to the church.

The ministry of word and sacrament. And he gives authority to pastors and deacons and to the congregation. But all of those fears report to King Jesus. Jesus does not...that his kingship does not abrogate other government structures as they were alleging here.

Rather it properly orders them. With Jesus at the top. Still, that threatened Caesar. That threatened the Roman Empire. Because they're saying that Jesus is king over Caesar. And he is. Caesar's power comes from Christ.

Therefore he is obligated to obey Christ. Our government's power comes from Christ. Our government is obligated to obey Christ. But they use this to stir up strife there in Thessalonica. Charging them with sedition.

What happens is, it says verse 9, when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. So they took money. And basically here, it was kind of this down payment saying, you take this money.

We'll make sure Paul and Silas leave. And as long as that current governing regime was in power, then Paul and Silas would not come back to Thessalonica. That's what that agreement was. And so they left.

The Bereans Receive the Word with Readiness and Search the Scriptures

Verse 10. Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went to the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica. Literally that word fair-minded means noble.

They were more noble than those in Thessalonica. In this, in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Let's talk about two things here.

One readiness and the other being they searched the scriptures. What does it mean that they received the word with all readiness? It means that they were eager to hear the word. They were eager for, they were hungry for the word.

They were also ready not only to hear it but to accept it. They were ready to believe it. They were ready to obey it. They had readiness to receive the word. Josh and I are coaching Connor and Hudson's basketball team with the YMCA.

One of the things we teach the kids there in basketball is playing defense. You got to get a good defensive ready position. You got to bend your knees. You got to get your palms up. That way you're ready to play defense with your feet and slide into position to stop the opposing player, right?

Or on offense we teach them get in a triple threat position. That's where your knees are bent, balls here at the side. You can either dribble or pass or shoot. You're ready to do all three. Because if you stand around on the basketball court kind of flat footed, you're not ready to do much of anything.

You're not ready to move on defense. You're not ready to take a jump shot if you're just standing there straight legged and flat footed. Here's the question. Do you come to church flat footed or in ready position?

Do you come to church ready to receive the word, ready to love it, ready to obey it, ready to put it into practice or are you flat footed? The Bereans received the word with readiness, ready to put all sin and put on Christ, ready to practice virtue, ready to give thanks and give praise.

We want to come to the word and come to worship with readiness to hear the word of God. Second thing they did is they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Now the image that pops up in our mind when we read that is we picture all the Bereans sitting dutifully in the synagogue and as Paul's teaching there they're doing the cross reference check and they're going through in their personal Bibles.

They didn't have that. They didn't have personal copies of the Bible. Then the synagogue had a copy of the scrolls. So this was more of a communal thing that they were doing under the guidance and the leadership of the synagogue leader.

But they did come there daily and they were checking it and so it's probably not what we picture there with them kind of doing the cross reference check as Paul's preaching but the principle is the same.

The principle is the same in that they measured the words of man by the word of God. They didn't have an individual copy of the scriptures to do that but we do. And so we ought to measure the words of men by the word of God.

Check. What does the scripture say? The scriptures are the authority. Not me. Whatever I say that has authority only has authority so much as it is what God has said here. And so they check the word of God and measure the words of men by the word of God.

We should do the same. And yes we do this individually. We should check but we also do it communally as a church. Under the leadership of your pastor, with counsel from brothers and sisters. This is part of what we do on Wednesday nights, the Midweek Family Fellowship.

We have a time where we talk about the sermon. This is a time for us together to be like the Marines and see if these things are so. Do we have questions? Do we need clarification? So I invite you to come on Wednesday night at 630.

It's something we also do not with just what we hear on Sundays but you read a book. A lot of Christian books out there. You listen to Christian TV. A lot of things on TV. On the radio. Measure it by what God has said.

There's a lot of trash out there that goes by the adjective Christian that is nothing of the sort. Measure it by what God has said. Does the word say it? Now to do that, what does that mean? You got to know the word.

It means we got to be in the Bible. We've got to take in the scriptures. So I encourage you, read the Bible regularly. Aim for daily. You're going to miss some days. It's okay. But aim for it. You're not going to hit what you don't aim for.

And read chunks of scripture. Don't read just one verse and then read somebody else talking about it. Read chunks of the Bible so that you, when you hear something, you can say, no, no, no. That doesn't sound right.

Or yes, yes, yes. That sounds right. Be a good Berean. And search the scriptures and see if it's so. Let's keep going. Therefore, because of this, because they received it with readiness, because they searched the scriptures, therefore many of them believed, also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. We see this pattern, don't we? Paul's in one place. He gets run out.

He goes to the next place. They follow him and cause trouble there. Same thing happens. Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away to go to the sea, but both Silas and Timothy remained there. So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

Paul Confronts Idolatry and Preaches the Unknown God in Athens

Verse 16. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Paul, he gets into Athens. Athens is a place, it's full of idols.

It's full of statues to false gods. Think about the Greek pantheon of gods, Roman pantheon of gods, different names, same beings. Basically, there's statues to demons all over the place. It's a very religious city.

He's provoked as he sees these statues to false gods and demons. He's stirred up within himself. He's bothered by what he sees all around him and why? Why was he provoked? Why was he agitated? Why was he stirred up?

I'd suggest at least two reasons. One is because it was an affront to the living and holy and true God. And two, because it was a danger to the people of Athens. It was an affront to God and it was a danger to man.

It was an affront to God. You see, God is due all worship. We are made to worship God. We are made in His image and we are made to give Him praise and give Him glory. That is our fundamental duty as human beings.

And instead, those in Athens had given themselves, they had given their city over. They had glorified with statues and ornate idols. They had glorified the worship of demons instead. They did not worship God as He was due.

And instead, they exchanged the glory of God, the glory of the Creator, for the created. They exchanged the glory of God for an image of an ox that eats grass. This was an affront to God. This was an injustice actually.

So if justice is giving one what he is due, simple definition of justice, then this is the greatest injustice because they are not giving God the glory that is due His name, Psalm 96a. And it was bad for them.

So it was an affront to God, but it was dangerous for the Athenians because idolatry will destroy them. Psalm 115 talks about the futility of worshiping idols. It says their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

They have mouths but do not speak. Eyes they have but they do not see. Ears but they do not hear. Noses but they do not smell. Hands but they do not handle. Feet but they do not walk. Nor do they mutter through their throat.

Those who make them are like them. You become like what you worship. You become what you behold. They are worshiping idols and becoming like them, deaf, dumb, and mute. And it is dangerous for them because if they do not repent of that, it is only going to get worse because sin only grows.

And if they do not repent, eventually they will be judged for it. And they will be cast into the eternal lake of fire. And so he is provoked because God is not getting what He is due. And man is doing what is going to lead to his destruction.

And out of love for God and love for neighbor, love for God and love for man, he is provoked. And what is he provoked to? Verse 17. Therefore because his spirit was provoked within him, therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

He was not provoked to anger. He was not provoked to rage. He was not provoked to envy. He was not provoked into some sort of desire to go get them. He was provoked to preaching, proclamation, and reasoning with them.

So he goes to the synagogue, he goes out into the marketplace and he reasons with them presumably again from the scriptures. Then verse 18. Certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. So Athens is also a place of great learning.

It is kind of like a university town. It is a place where people come to talk about philosophy and debate philosophy and to tell something new and hear something new. So there are the philosophers that are there and they encountered him.

And some said what does this babbler want to say? Others said he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. We get a little glimpse of what he is preaching to them.

He preaches Christ crucified and Christ resurrected. And they took him and they brought him to the Areopagus. The Areopagus is also known as Mars Hill. It is the hill of Ares or the hill of Mars, the god of war.

And there, so the Areopagus both refers to that hill and also refers to the council that met there. And so they took him to the Areopagus to this council saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?

For you are bringing some strange thing to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean. For all of the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but to tell or hear something new.

So Paul stood in their midst, in the midst of the Areopagus and said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God.

So Paul is there. He stands up. He begins his speech. He is making some common ground with them. He says, I perceive that you are very religious. I see that you worship. And in fact they are so fastidious about their worship of these gods that they want to make sure they don't miss one.

And so they have the unknown God. The inscription to the unknown God. And this is what Paul says, therefore, this is his starting off point. This is where he has the common ground. And he is going to transition from there and proclaim to them the one true God.

And he says, therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing him, I proclaim to you. Now I don't think Paul is saying that they actually worship him in the way that God wants people to worship him.

They are not worshiping in spirit and truth. They are not worshiping with reverence and with awe because they don't even know who he is. But he is, rather he is saying, you make this inscription to the unknown God.

I want to tell you who he is. Him I proclaim to you. And he goes on in verse 24 saying, God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men's hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life and breath and all things.

The first thing he proclaims to them is God is the creator. God is the maker of the world and everything in it. So everything that you see here in Athens, all these so-called gods, all these idols, the stone that they are made of, the gold that you have laid over it, the wood, the iron, God made it all.

God is the creator of everything. Therefore, he has authority. Therefore, he has creator rights. God is the one who obligates. We have obligations to God because he is our creator, he is our maker. He is the one who determines what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil, what is true and what is false, what is beautiful, what is ugly, what is glorious, what is shameful.

God is the one who determines all of that because he is the creator. If you make something, if you are an artist, you make a sculpture, you determine what that clay is, right? All the world is a sculpture and God determines it.

He is the creator, therefore he has creator rights. And in this way, he is greater than the idols that are made with human hands, that are made. Idols are created, the spiritual beings, demons that they often represent are created, but God is the creator.

God does not dwell in temples. So in Athens, it's this very religious city. If you're going to start kind of a new cult of a new god, then you have to buy property and build a temple. That's kind of how it worked in Athens.

Paul says he doesn't dwell in temples. He made the whole world. The whole world is his. He's bigger than all of it. He doesn't fit in your tiny little system and he surely doesn't fit in your tiny little temple that was made with human hands.

He is greater than the idols. Nor is he worshipped with men's hands, verse 25, says though he need it. He doesn't need anything. He provides everything. You can't make God with your hands. God made you.

Therefore God is greater than the idols. We see in Paul's speech here, verse 26, that he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.

Here we see God's providence. You're here. You live in 2024. You're in Travers dress because God put you here. God determines our pre-appointed times and the boundaries of our dwelling. He does that for people.

He does that for people. We see the providence of God that he upholds and directs and disposes and governs and orders all creatures and all things by his holy and wise providence. And he does so. So that, verse 27, they should seek the Lord and hope that they might grope 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. For we are also his offspring, therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising.

Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.

He has given assurance of this all by raising him from the dead. I just want to draw attention to a couple of quick things here. One is that he commands all men everywhere to repent. That is the command given to everybody.

Everybody is obligated to God's word. Everybody is obligated to obey God. It's not just for Christians only. It's for everybody and everybody ought to repent. He is overlooked. There are times of ignorance and God was patient and long-suffering and he let the Gentiles kind of live their life.

Not that he approved of their sin, but that he didn't mete out the judgment against them, but now he's saying that time is over. The gospel is being preached to you. The word is being preached to you.

Those times are done. Repent. Turn. That is true for every last one of us today. We are all commanded to repent. No one gets to opt out of obeying God. We're all held to account. He grounds this command in the future reality of a coming day of judgment, because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness.

That ought to remind you of Psalm 96, Psalm 98. He will judge the world in equity. He will judge the peoples in righteousness. Judgment is coming. It is appointed unto man, wants to die, and then comes the judgment, Hebrews says.

I'm reminded of this great Johnny Cash song. He recorded it in his later years. It says, you can run on for a long time. You can run on for a long time. You can run on for a long time, but sooner or later, God will cut you down.

Sooner or later, God will cut you down. That song is a warning about God's judgment. It's a warning about God's judgment on sinners, but here's the good news. If you're trusting in Christ, that judgment has already been poured out and measured to Christ.

He has already been cursed for hanging on a tree. Deuteronomy says, when he's hanging on a tree, he's cursed. He's already been hanged. He's already been cursed. He's already had the judgment poured out on him, the wrath of God.

Therefore, because he died in your place, and he rose from the dead in your place, so that you too might rise from the dead. All your sins can be washed away, and you will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, to give account for the deeds done in the body, but you will do so clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, which is as white as the fresh fallen snow.

There's good news in the gospel of Jesus for you, if you trust and if you believe. When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, we will hear you again on this matter.

So Paul departed from them. However, some of the men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. And again, we see response. Some, they hear and they mocked.

Others said, we'll hear you again. So they kind of gave him a polite dismissal and others believed. There's always a response to the preaching of the gospel and the preaching of the word. How will you respond today?

With readiness, with searching the scriptures, with polite dismissal. Maybe we'll hear that again another time, kind of delayed. I tell you the same thing I tell my kids, delayed obedience is disobedience.

Receive the word with readiness, not with mocking, not with rebellion. I would remind you that God is greater than the idols. God is greater than anything you're going to set up in his place. God is greater than anything you might trust instead of him.

We don't really have gold statue little idols so much today. We have things that function in that way in our hearts that we trust in. God is greater than whatever you set up in his place. And Jesus is the Christ.

Jesus is the king. Jesus is the judge. What you do with Jesus matters more than anything else in the world. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, we love you and we come before you asking that you will work in our hearts that we would respond in the right way.

You would give us grace. We ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.