In The Word
Read Acts 17:16-34
Paul at Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. 18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—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 which you are proclaiming? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” 21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
Sermon on Mars Hill
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.” 33 So Paul went out of 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.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
Have you really thought about this message we proclaim? Jesus, the Son of God and born of a virgin, subjected Himself to His creation to be nailed to a cross, rose from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of His Father giving salvation from sins and eternal life to those who believe! As we read today, the Greeks, whom Paul was able to share this message to, called him “an idle babbler,” a “proclaimer of strange deities”; they said Paul brought “strange things to our ears” (Acts 17:18-19) and “sneered at the thought of a resurrection” (Acts 17:32). This did not discourage Paul though, as we read in Acts 17:34, “But some men joined him and believed.” It is truly a miracle that anyone accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!
Have you ever been discouraged when hearing of someone rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you understand that would be a normal response? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” Romans 8:7 says, “Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.” Enmity means “a condition of hostility, hatred, animosity.” Wow, the natural state of the mind towards God is hatred, that’s what we must overcome to bring someone to the point of accepting Jesus Christ! This is the reason why we should first pray that God would draw them, call them by name. Binding the evil influences on their life would also be an important step as you bring the gospel to the lost and dying. Be like Paul: don’t give up!