Acts 17 - The Gospel for the Spiritual but not for the Religious

Tom Shrader walks through Acts 17, following Paul's missionary journey to Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. Paul encounters both religious opposition and spiritual seekers, preaching Christ as the answer to human longing. Shrader challenges believers to see themselves in this story, courageously sharing the gospel in their own communities despite opposition.

“God is not asking you to graft Him into your life. He's grafting you into His story.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Acts

Recorded: 2017

Duration: 39 min

Themes: evangelism, courage, opposition, witnessing, boldness, persecution, mission, community, facing rejection, sharing faith, missionary, evangelist, workplace witness, community outreach, spiritual seeker, new believer

Scripture: Acts 17:1-34, Acts 1:8, Acts 13, Acts 15, Genesis 3, Mark, Ephesians, Ecclesiastes

Theological Themes: missiology, gospel proclamation, apologetics, spiritual warfare, great commission, missionary work, kerygma, preaching

Full Transcript

Good morning. Good to be with you, see you today. Glad that you're here. Open your Bibles, if you would please, to Acts chapter 17.

The passage today is a long one. Acts chapter 17, verses 1 through 34. Sandy and I are on vacation, and we scheduled teaching before we scheduled vacation. So we came back from Flagstaff for this, and I was back a couple days and ran into Tim in the office, and he said, "Are you ready for Sunday?" And I said, "Well, I will be by Sunday." And he said, "It's a long passage," and it is long—34 verses.

It's the continuation of what we've been studying. We've been studying Paul as he's part of what God promised. He said the key verse in the book of Acts is chapter 1, verse 8: "You will receive power when my Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the remotest parts of the earth." So cut me slack. There's a sense in which the book of Acts is still being written, and you've been written into it. We are His witnesses in the remotest part of the earth. He meant Gilbert.

I taught here Acts chapter 13, which was the beginning of Paul's first missionary journey, and in Arcadia, Acts chapter 15, which was the beginning of Paul's second missionary journey. And both times, I made the point, and make it again today, that God uses real people in real places to have a real impact. That this is not fiction. This is real stuff.

Photoshopping Ourselves Into God's Story

What I want us to do is to understand what's going on in this passage today. But I want you, in essence, to Photoshop yourself into this story and see these principles in your life as a real person in a real place to have real impact, that you're part of this. We want to understand this story to see what God's doing, but God continues to do this through you. Just as Paul's going to Thessalonica, you're going to Chandler, Mesa. You're going into the hospital, into the job, into school, whatever it is. So let's look at the story and come back to that point again and again.

Chapter 17, verse 1, Luke—Luke is the author of the book of Acts—tells us that Paul has arrived in Thessalonica. Every once in a while, when I'm teaching, I'll start studying, and I'll find something that catches my attention, and I find myself all fixated on it for no reason. This is no big point, but I found it really interesting.

Paul moves from Philippi to Thessalonica, which is a distance of about 110 miles in three days. And most scholars believe that he traveled on horseback. I don't know why, but I find that really interesting. I don't think of Paul on horseback. I think of those guys as just schlepping along, but apparently they're riding horses, and they cover this distance.

There's no record that he stopped to preach in any of these places. His job, goal, desire, is to get to Thessalonica, and this becomes a gateway to the cities in Europe and beyond. Thessalonica was the capital and most important city in Macedonia, had a population of about 200,000 people. So if you can imagine filling Sun Devil Stadium, which takes a lot of imagination, but imagine Sun Devil Stadium filled, emptied, filled, emptied, filled, emptied four times. That's the population of Thessalonica. It's an important port city, and it's an important city in terms of commerce.

Paul's Strategic Ministry Approach

Paul, and we're looking at this from a human perspective, Paul's thinking was strategic. If I can bring that message to this city, God begins to use it to expand throughout the region, and ultimately, as we know, to be part of the world.

Paul comes, and we're told in verse 2, that as was his custom, he goes on the Sabbath and reasons in the synagogue. Paul's approach in Thessalonica was the same as his approach, frankly, everywhere, and a good model for us. He begins with the Scripture. That's what we have. Not our opinion. We've got the Scripture.

He reasons with them. From this Greek word that's translated reason, we get the English word dialogue. He talks to them. He converses. He explains the Scripture. Here's what it says. It doesn't mean that he had every answer to every question. There's a basic fundamental principle: If you know enough to believe the gospel, you know enough to share the gospel.

Now, you may not know everything you're ever going to know, but we should never be afraid to say, "I don't know." I don't know that. I find that to be much more helpful than giving an answer that I'm not sure is true. I don't know. And you dialogue, and you reason. You don't have to defend. You don't have to argue. You don't have to debate, but you do need to preach Christ. That's our message—Jesus.

The Universal Human Condition

I was in a discussion this week with a gentleman, a fellow baby boomer. And so, we're two old guys sitting around talking, and we talk about our physical problems, and we talk about the world, and then we talk about—and this is a little secret, you might not even know this—baby boomers' favorite topic. We talk about millennials. And we try to understand it. We try to explain it. I like them because outside of old people, they're the only group that it's still fashionable to beat up on.

And so, we're trying to understand them, and he's trying to explain them and all that. And I said, "Listen, here's the bottom line: Millennials are like Gen Xers, are like baby boomers, are like the greatest generation. We're all the same. We want to love. We want to be loved. We want to be understood. We want to have meaning. We want to make a difference. That's everybody. And that's impossible apart from Jesus."

So there's our message over and over again. Just like Paul's on a missionary journey, you and I are on missionary journeys. And our message is not "Jesus will make life better or easier." It's that Jesus is our answer.

I got a call one day from a business guy asking me if I would meet with one of His buddies. And I'd never met the guy, but I knew Him by reputation. And so I said, "Sure, this would be fun." So I went in, and we sat down, and this guy started...

I sat down with this guy, and he started talking about his wife who was mad at him, his girlfriend he didn't get along with, his kids, and his business. It was like a fire hose - this was just spewing out of this guy, minute after minute after minute without even a pause. Finally, he sat back and folded his arms, which I interpreted to mean he was done and it was my turn to talk. I said to him, "I don't even know what the question is, but I know Jesus is the answer."

That's our basic message to the world. You see it with Paul over and over again. When I ask you to Photoshop yourself into this story, as you go into your Thessalonica, your message flows from the Scriptures, and your answer is Jesus. Our fundamental problem is spiritual and sin, and the only answer is Jesus.

The Gospel's Appeal to Women

You will have happen to you what happens to Paul. In verse 4, we see the result: there are some who are persuaded, some of the God-fearing Greeks. Luke makes the point that a number of leading women believed. As you read through that, that kind of stands out - it's another thing that you don't necessarily expect from the text.

Ray Steadman offers this point: "You'll find this emphasis on women in several places in the book of Acts. The gospel had a particular appeal to women, especially women of the upper classes, who were predominantly citizens in the Greek cities." There's a reason for that. These were educated women who were instructed in the philosophies of Greece. But they found that these Greek philosophies were dead and empty, offered nothing to the heart, nothing to the spirit. They instructed the mind, but did nothing for the soul.

That's all human answers to our deepest yearnings. There was a guy in town here starting a church who asked if we could meet, so we had coffee. He said, "If you were going to start, what would you teach from the pulpit?" What surprised me was that an answer came out - which can be scary, an answer that you haven't thought about.

What I Would Teach

I said I would teach Genesis chapter 3, the fall, and then I'd teach probably a gospel, most likely Mark, because it's the shortest and the quickest. Then an epistle, likely Ephesians, which is kind of the book of Romans condensed. Then I'd go back and I'd teach the book of Ecclesiastes, because the book of Ecclesiastes is a memoir from the most successful person that's ever lived.

His name is Solomon. Solomon writes, and his basic message is: whatever you think will make you happy, I've been there and done that, it won't. Then he lists it out. He says, "If it's fine wine that you want, I've had the best vineyards. I've had male servants, female servants. I've been a builder, built one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. I'm a poet, I'm a songwriter, I'm an author."

"If you think it's physical pleasure, if you think it's sex, I've had" - and I always mess this up, I don't know which one - "700 wives and 300 concubines, or 300 wives and 700." Here's the bottom line: he had a thousand ladies who were there to satisfy him and make him happy. He says, "I'm telling you, when it's all said and done, enjoy that stuff, but it's not going to make you happy."

You Think You're the Exception

Now, I've been teaching for 30 years, and here's what I've learned. At this point, right now, I can read your mind. You're thinking, "I'm the exception. I know I'd be happy. I know that would make me happy." Solomon says, "No, no, fear God, keep His commandments." Jesus is the answer.

As you share that in your Thessalonica, some are going to respond. You're going to get those that will believe, those that are going to say, "Tell me more," and you share with them. But Paul had a constant companion, and he had a reputation. His companion was opposition.

Opposition Is Guaranteed

The Jews, the leaders, they take up and they stir up people and they come against it. If you're going to live - this is really important - if you're going to be the man or woman or student that God's called you to be and share this gospel, it's going to take courage. It's not like they're probably going to haul you off to jail, but you're going to be in a zone that's uncomfortable for you, risking relationship, maybe. There's no way to share this gospel without being courageous, risking friendship.

One day, a lady was sitting over in the commons, and I was walking through. I said hi, she said hi, and it had that "can we talk" look. I'm not opposed to talking, but I had something to do. So I stopped and said, "Are you okay?" She said, "I have my best friend in the world. I love her to death - I don't know what that means, but she apparently loves her a lot - I love her to death. She's my best friend, and she's not a Christian, but I can't share the gospel with her."

I said, "Why? That's odd. Why?" She said, "I don't want to risk the friendship." Then I said, "Think about that. You don't want to risk the friendship because you're afraid you won't get to enjoy it here, but there's the potential to enjoy a friendship for all of eternity."

The Cost of Courage

You can feel what she's saying. "I'm uncomfortable with that." She intuitively knows there's opposition to this. I don't know what that version is for you. It might be within the family. It might be a friendship. Might be the people at work. Might be the students at school.

But I'm telling you, you're not better than Paul, who's not better than Jesus, who said to us, "They persecute Me, they'll persecute you." But you go and you'll develop a reputation. Paul had a reputation. We see it in Acts 17, verse 6. They're going and the Jews are stirring up the people against Paul, and they said, "These men who have upset the world have come here." The Living Bible paraphrases it this way: "Paul and Silas

have turned the rest of the world upside down, and now they're disturbing our city." That's what you are. You're somebody who comes into the world and turns it not upside down, but turns it right side up.

I love the visual impact of this. If I take my Bible, I've got on page 1 and 2, creation. On page 3 and an inch of page 4, I've got the fall. The rest of this, 1,300 pages, are the story of redemption and restoration. And you're part of it. God creates the world, and the fall turns it upside down, and you and I come along and turn everything right back the way it's supposed to be.

There was a book written years ago, and the title was "Who Switched the Price Tags?" The author sets up the title of the book in the first chapter, where he said he and a buddy used to go into a local drugstore, and they'd look around, and they found something they wanted. Let's say for sake of discussion, that the item was $15. They'd find another item that was $2. One of them would distract the store owner, and the other would switch the price tags. Now you understand we're not advocating this. We're explaining the story.

But the author says, "Then I grew up and went into the world, and I realized that somebody switched all the price tags on everything in the world." What the world said was really valuable, God said didn't have much value. And what God says is really valuable, the world says, "No, not that valuable."

Called to Be Agents of Change

I'm inviting you into Paul's world, and into the opportunity you've been given to be an agent of change, to turn the world right side up. That's what you do by your very nature: take a broken world and bring healing to it. And like Paul, you're going to find opposition, and it's going to take courage.

Paul faces this opposition. Remember last week, he was in Philippi. They were beaten there. Now Paul leaves Thessalonica and goes to Berea, and he finds a more inquisitive group of listeners there. In chapter 17, verse 16, Paul comes into Athens.

I don't know about you, but when I think of Athens, I think of ancient Greece, I think of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates. We're past that, but Paul's there. There's an interesting word: "Now while Paul was waiting." His waiting is not a passive waiting. If I'm in Athens waiting for something to happen, I'm watching ESPN, or House Hunters, or something. Paul's waiting is an anxious waiting. He's provoked. The Spirit's working in him. He's in this city, and look, it's filled with idols.

Athens: A City of 30,000 Gods

How many idols? Speculation is there were as many as 30,000 gods that were being worshipped. William Barclay writes this: "Athens was long beyond her glory days. She was still a city where people came and gathered." It was said there were more statues of gods in Athens than in all the rest of Greece combined. It was easier to meet a god than a man in Athens. They had a god for everything—30,000 of them.

So what Paul is doing is reasoning with them, verse 18. He encounters two groups of people, the Epicureans and the Stoics. Now this may be where you go, "That's interesting history," but this is your world as well. Some were saying, "What would this idle babbler wish to say?" The word that's translated "babbler" means "seed picker." Think of a bird that's going around and they're picking. "Here's this idle babbler. He's just talking." Some said, "No, he's talking about a god." They couldn't figure it out because he was teaching about Jesus.

The Epicureans: Living for Pleasure

Now look at his audience, the Epicureans. Their idea was that life was about pleasure. Their motto: "Eat, drink, be merry, tomorrow you may die." They weren't very spiritual. They were very material. No afterlife, everything happens by chance. If there were any sort of gods, they were remote. They were uninvolved.

Now here, let's connect it. Do you know people like this? You might not have called them Epicureans, but you got people all around you like that. "Just have fun. Do whatever you want to do. It doesn't matter. This is all there is. Eat, drink and be merry, party, party, party."

The Stoics: Suppressing All Emotion

The other group were the Stoics. They were kind of the flip side of this. Their motto was "grin and bear it." "I'll take control of my life. You can cut me, but I won't cry. I can have joy, but I won't smile." Do you know people like that? Sure you do. Their idea was to feel nothing.

This is me, but that's what I see when I walk through the mall. I go to the mall at weird times when old people go. I go to walk. So there aren't a lot of people in there. Most people in there are alone. I just see people walking around just like this. No smile, no tears. They just exist. Don't you see them? When you're at school and you walk down the hallway, don't you see hundreds of these around?

I was on ASU campus to teach a class on leadership. It was freaky. I could not get anybody to make eye contact. I couldn't get anybody to smile. I'm there. I'm dressed. I had slacks on and a bag. I clearly don't fit. Finally I stopped a young guy and I said, "Are there classrooms in this building?" And he said, "Yeah." I said, "Where are they?" He said, "Downstairs." I said, "How do I get downstairs?" He said, "I'd take the elevator." Now you can kind of anticipate the next question. I said, "Where's the elevator?" "Over there, around the corner." I said, "Okay, thank you." "No problem."

Well, of course there was no problem. You didn't do anything. You grunted four answers at me. I'm not kidding you. It was freaky to walk through that campus. No expression, no joy, no sorrow. "Over there, down the hall, take the elevator."

The Same Struggles Today

This is the world you live in. In the midst of this, you come in with the answer. F.F. Bruce makes this observation. He said, "Before Christ, we talk about Stoics and Epicureans." He said, "In a post-Christian paganism, the world you live in, it's essentially the same thing."

Paul's Approach to the Athenians

There's no appreciable difference in the world's answers to life's challenges. Everyone's answer is either have fun or suck it up. Have fun and exploit it all you can, or just endure it. You're not going to hurt me.

Verse 21 of chapter 17 tells us the Athenians and the strangers visiting there were spending their time in nothing other than telling and hearing something new. It was just chatter. That's what you and I have all around us—a new idea, this is new, that's new, a new version of trying to explain away the pain and the hardship in the world we live in.

We live in a world where there's vast amounts of hardship, pain, strife, and suffering. One explanation is try to avoid it, have fun. The other is don't feel it, don't try to do something about it. They're worshiping these gods, and in the midst of this—and they're curious, that's the good news—they give Paul a chance.

Paul's Strategic Message

Paul preaches a sermon to them, and here are His points. In verse 22, Paul says, "Men of Athens, I observe that you're very religious in all respects. While I was passing through and examined the object of your worship, I found an altar with an inscription, 'to an unknown God.' Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, I proclaim to you."

Isn't it beautiful? Paul doesn't come in and slam them and put them down. He said, "I've got to tell you, I've been walking around, you've got religion, 30,000 gods. You got a God of wind and fire and snow and rain, a God of wood. It seems if I had 30,000 gods, I can't imagine picking wood, but you got a God of wood?"

But He said, "The best statue of all"—look how He relates to them on their terms—"is you got a statue to an unknown God. Let me tell you who He is. You're already worshiping this God. You don't know who He is. I'll tell you who He is. He's Jesus. He's the answer to all your questions. He's the creator. He's a sustainer. He doesn't need you. He doesn't need me. He's sovereign. Seek Him. You don't have forever. He's patient, but you need to repent. You need to come to Him."

The Predictable Response

The reaction is what we've seen all along. Some sneer—"I'm done." Some say, "How about another day?" And some believed. That's what you can expect.

We've been brought into this army that God's assembled to infiltrate the world. And we've done it. This is the third group that's been in this room today. There's enough firepower in this room to turn Gilbert right side up. All we got to do is live it.

All we got to do—you've heard this before from me—all we've got to do is make the invisible God visible and speak the truth boldly. When you start to live this way with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, when you live this way, people are going to want to know what's up with you. They're going to know there's something different about you, and they're going to want to know what it is.

When you tell them, don't be surprised if some sneer, and some say, "Maybe another day," and some will believe. And don't be surprised when there's opposition and there's pushback. That's the normal reaction. This is the normal Christian life.

The Repetitive but Essential Message

Here's what I also know, having taught twice in the last three or four weeks: this is exactly what we've heard for five or six weeks in a row. My daughter texted me last night and said, "I'm excited to hear you tomorrow. Do you have something to say?" Which I guess is important. Sandy asked the same question. And I texted back, "The text is very repetitive." And I hit send: "Repetitive, send, repetitive, send."

Here's what she texts back, and she speaks for many of you in this room: "God created, man fell, enters sin, a need for a Redeemer. Jesus comes, man can't believe. God does it all in spite of us. Grace, grace, grace, grace, Jesus alone." That's the message.

If you are paying that much attention, and if you're that smart, you had to have heard this eight times in the last eight weeks. So here's the question: Are you turning your world upside down? You got all the nuts and bolts—are you doing it? And if I want to make this really fit for what I'd like to say, are you turning your world right side up?

Living the Transformed Life

When you walk out of the classroom, does it feel—do people around you go, "Wow, what just happened? Bam!" When you walk out of a meeting, do people go, "Wow"? You come into the gym, and somebody has an encounter with you, and they go, "Hmm, something's different." That's what God's called you to. That's what the book of Acts is about. God is redeeming the world, and you are part of that story.

One last point, and we have to go: God is not asking you to graft Him into your life. He's grafting you into His story. This is not about you. I know you want to make it about you, and I know you want to be a key figure in this, and I know you want to be at the center of it. But it's His story, not your story.

The only way your life is ever going to have true meaning, significance—I'm at that age where we're starting to talk about legacy—the only legacy that matters is, are you being used by God to turn your world right side up? I encourage you to come back next week and hear this same message again, because that's what will happen.