Acts 16:35-17
"Keys To Evangelical Success" • 3.10.09 • The Power Of One: One Man, One Life, One Mission Session #15
Intro.
- We are in the middle of Paul's second missionary journey. When last we left him, the earthquake in Philippi led to a jailer's conversion and a mighty deliverance.
- The Apostolic band moved from Philippi into Thessalonica where they met a crowd of Jewish adversaries that ultimately were the source of trouble for them.
- The Apostles moved on when the trouble became too much, going into Berea. The mission was looking like a success.
• Acts 17:12,13 : "Therefore many of them believed, and 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."
- These circumstances split the apostles apart by necessity. Timothy and Silas went off in one direction, while Paul moved into Athens.
- This is where I want to land today with what I view as instructive material when it comes to being on mission, which has been a strong topic for us recently.
- I find this story telling for the fact that it was unconventional for Paul.
- Paul's plans have been changed. He did not plan to move so quickly, neither did he imagine that a mob would be God's mechanism to move him!
- Additionally, Paul's personnel have not yet arrived when we catch him in Athens. Silas and Timothy have yet to join him and we find him in the streets of Athens.
- In every way, it seems that Paul is at a disadvantage and could probably justify a little down time. That's not what happens.
- Instead, we learn in Paul's improvisation, key elements to making effective contact with the culture that surrounds us.
- It's my hope that we will see principles of engagement that will spur us on to the same type of mission fervor that was such a huge part of Paul's heart.
- What we have here is a great example that we should follow if we are to be successful in the mission that God has called us to. Notice with me that Paul:
- First, it was Barnabas. On this second journey, it has been Silas and Timothy.
- Here, he is alone, waiting for the others to arrive, but not inactive.
- Often many believers are waiting for the team to show up before they are willing to engage themselves. Paul was not that way. He was aggressive, but not impetuous.
- I remember being in Europe for the first time. I was in Eastern Europe with a friend who had planted a church there. He picked me up from the airport and asked me what I wanted to do.
- I told him to put me out on a street corner and let me preach. Thankfully, he did not listen to me because I was asleep just an hour later from the jet lag!
- That is being impetuous. Rash, thoughtless, given to action without a thoughtful plan. I think that we picture being on mission this way. Notice that Paul waited for his friends and while he was waiting, "his spirit was provoked within him."
- This is an important concept for us to seize upon. The word "provoked" means to be irritated, stirred up. He looked around, saw the spiritual climate that he was walking in and it provoked him.
- In this case, the city that he was in was given over to idolatry. This was their spiritual problem. Paul, like a Doctor, took the time to see it. He saw the malady then pronounced the cure.
• Acts 17:17,18 : "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. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers 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." : Paul has seen and come to an understanding of the city that he was in, then springs into action.
- His message was the same. His method was slightly different. In other cities, Thessalonica and Berea for example, Paul taught, explained, demonstrated and preached.
- Here in Athens, it's recorded that Paul reasoned. Literally, he dialogued. He spoke, then listened and responded, then listened again and then responded again. He did this daily.
- Does this sound familiar? Without raising hands, how many of you are in the middle of a "dialogue" today? The conversation about Jesus has been ongoing for sometime.
- There is context. Arguments have been built. Questions have been refined. That is what Paul is doing here. Nothing glorious, nothing fancy and nothing special, in terms of result.
- That is until these certain people encounter him and they bring him into a larger audience. His message was getting out and it piqued the interest of these philosophers.
- Otherwise, Paul was going one by one, just like you and I do.
- Let me encourage you if this process has not begun: Don't force it! Ask the Lord to show you spiritually how to focus your attention. Wait until your spirit is provoked to move.
• Acts 17:19-21 : "And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, 'May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.' For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing." : Paul's method kept him under the radar, but his message had gained him attention.
- "What is this resurrection talk about?" they asked. They took him to the Areopagus. In Paul's time, this was the place where the city officials met and where they sat in judgment over ideas.
- Paul would gladly oblige! What follows is an incredible sermon, tailored to the situation, given in context of a thinking, philosophical society. Notice how he affirms and draws them in.
• Acts 17:22,23 : "Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:" : This takes us back to the earlier point of Paul's sensitivity to the spiritual climate.
- Here when he is seizing the opportunity, he references all that he has seen. He notes that they are already people who believe in spiritual things.
- Among those idols is the idol that points to the God that Paul serves. From there, he starts to instruct them about and introduce them to God.
- I need to summarize for the sake of time, but Paul tells them that the "Unknown God" is the creator and the one that has placed them in their location.
- He is provoking their hearts to seek Him, which makes sense seeing that all of us are to have our being in Him. In other words, because we are made in His image, we naturally need to fill that hole with worship. They are listening intently until Paul comes to this last point.
• Acts 17:30,31 : "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 to all by raising Him from the dead.'"
- Paul is coming to his point. He has taken the door that they have given him and he is swinging for the fences.
- Turn with me to Colossians 4. Paul is in prison, writing to the Colossians about open doors, not to freedom from prison, but for freedom to minister.
• Colossians 4:2,3 : "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,"
- Turn with me to Revelation 3. Jesus is talking to the church of Philadelphia. He speaks to them about the doors of opportunity that lay before them.
• Revelation 3:7,8 : "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens': I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name."
- I wonder how many doors of opportunity lay before you today? What doors are there that you have refused to go through? Paul looked for a door and when it came to him, he walked through.
• Acts 17:32-34 : "And 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 among them. However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them."
- Just like any other time, when it comes to Jesus, there is a dividing line. Paul lays out the logic and the strong foundation of God's mystic power and authority over creation.
- Then he spoke about the resurrection. The Greek mind was stumbled.
- The Greeks believed in immortality of the soul, but not the resurrection of the body. To their minds, the body was the source of evil. A new body meant a new evil.
- Some in the crowd mocked. For others, there was a willingness to hear more at some other time, but merely as something to tickle their ears. Either way, the response was lukewarm.
- Here is an important principle that needs to be understood when it comes to being on mission: You cannot control the results!
- Paul is an Apostle. He has personally met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. He has had access to the Apostles teaching almost first hand. He has super gifts. Here, he strikes out!
- He has put together a great message. It's articulate, logical, cutting and culturally in tune.
- He still struck out! So what did Paul do? He kept egging them on! He pestered them with his second sermon. No. Wisely, Paul knew when it was time to walk away.
- In the same way that you are sensitive in discerning the cultural temperature, so also should you know when to stop pushing. You should know when you are just wasting your words.
- Turn with me to Matthew 7. Jesus uses a wonderful picture to us that is perfectly apt for this passage before us.
• Matthew 7:6 : "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."
- The picture here that sticks with me is the pig farmer attempting to feed hungry pigs with a pearl necklace. That is not going to end well!
- A pig wants slop. That pig desires the most gross looking food. Pearls, of great value to us, are of no value to pigs!
- When a person who has knowingly turned down the offer of salvation and has looked at Jesus Christ with contempt, we can try with all of our heart to change them, but it will hurt us more than it will help them!
- I think back upon a man like Pharoah, who was confronted by Moses about the existence and power of God. The Bible says over and over, that the Pharoah hardened his heart.
• Exodus 9:12 : "But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses."
- Our job is never to control the outcome. Ours is to testify and add to any person's story. In doing so, we add water to the seeds that have already been planted.
- Turn with me to I Corinthians 3. Paul comments on this concept there.
• I Corinthians 3:5-8 : "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor."
- Peace and success in being on mission comes when you realize that you are a part of another person's redemption. Play your part and watch the Lord bless your ministry.
Conclusion
- Today, you can begin this process even if you have neglected to do so up to now. Ask the Lord to show you what the spiritual temperature is in your environment.
- Look for, wait on open doors that He will present to you and be bold! Walk through them!
- Finally, stop worrying about the results! You worry about doing your part and watch what God does with His!
"Keys To Evangelical Success" • 3.10.09 • The Power Of One: One Man, One Life, One Mission Session #15
Intro.
- We are in the middle of Paul's second missionary journey. When last we left him, the earthquake in Philippi led to a jailer's conversion and a mighty deliverance.
- The Apostolic band moved from Philippi into Thessalonica where they met a crowd of Jewish adversaries that ultimately were the source of trouble for them.
- The Apostles moved on when the trouble became too much, going into Berea. The mission was looking like a success.
• Acts 17:12,13 : "Therefore many of them believed, and 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."
- These circumstances split the apostles apart by necessity. Timothy and Silas went off in one direction, while Paul moved into Athens.
- This is where I want to land today with what I view as instructive material when it comes to being on mission, which has been a strong topic for us recently.
- I find this story telling for the fact that it was unconventional for Paul.
- Paul's plans have been changed. He did not plan to move so quickly, neither did he imagine that a mob would be God's mechanism to move him!
- Additionally, Paul's personnel have not yet arrived when we catch him in Athens. Silas and Timothy have yet to join him and we find him in the streets of Athens.
- In every way, it seems that Paul is at a disadvantage and could probably justify a little down time. That's not what happens.
- Instead, we learn in Paul's improvisation, key elements to making effective contact with the culture that surrounds us.
- It's my hope that we will see principles of engagement that will spur us on to the same type of mission fervor that was such a huge part of Paul's heart.
- What we have here is a great example that we should follow if we are to be successful in the mission that God has called us to. Notice with me that Paul:
I. Sensitive To The Spiritual Climate (v.16-18)
II. Seized The Open Door (v.19-31)
III. Surrendered The Results (v.32-34)
TextII. Seized The Open Door (v.19-31)
III. Surrendered The Results (v.32-34)
I. Sensitive To The Spiritual Climate (v.16-18)
• Acts 17:16 : "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." Something about this passage really stuck out to me. On each previous trip, Paul had been with a team.- First, it was Barnabas. On this second journey, it has been Silas and Timothy.
- Here, he is alone, waiting for the others to arrive, but not inactive.
- Often many believers are waiting for the team to show up before they are willing to engage themselves. Paul was not that way. He was aggressive, but not impetuous.
- I remember being in Europe for the first time. I was in Eastern Europe with a friend who had planted a church there. He picked me up from the airport and asked me what I wanted to do.
- I told him to put me out on a street corner and let me preach. Thankfully, he did not listen to me because I was asleep just an hour later from the jet lag!
- That is being impetuous. Rash, thoughtless, given to action without a thoughtful plan. I think that we picture being on mission this way. Notice that Paul waited for his friends and while he was waiting, "his spirit was provoked within him."
- This is an important concept for us to seize upon. The word "provoked" means to be irritated, stirred up. He looked around, saw the spiritual climate that he was walking in and it provoked him.
- In this case, the city that he was in was given over to idolatry. This was their spiritual problem. Paul, like a Doctor, took the time to see it. He saw the malady then pronounced the cure.
• Acts 17:17,18 : "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. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers 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." : Paul has seen and come to an understanding of the city that he was in, then springs into action.
- His message was the same. His method was slightly different. In other cities, Thessalonica and Berea for example, Paul taught, explained, demonstrated and preached.
- Here in Athens, it's recorded that Paul reasoned. Literally, he dialogued. He spoke, then listened and responded, then listened again and then responded again. He did this daily.
- Does this sound familiar? Without raising hands, how many of you are in the middle of a "dialogue" today? The conversation about Jesus has been ongoing for sometime.
- There is context. Arguments have been built. Questions have been refined. That is what Paul is doing here. Nothing glorious, nothing fancy and nothing special, in terms of result.
- That is until these certain people encounter him and they bring him into a larger audience. His message was getting out and it piqued the interest of these philosophers.
- Otherwise, Paul was going one by one, just like you and I do.
- Let me encourage you if this process has not begun: Don't force it! Ask the Lord to show you spiritually how to focus your attention. Wait until your spirit is provoked to move.
II. Seized The Open Door (v.19-31)
• Acts 17:19-21 : "And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, 'May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.' For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing." : Paul's method kept him under the radar, but his message had gained him attention.
- "What is this resurrection talk about?" they asked. They took him to the Areopagus. In Paul's time, this was the place where the city officials met and where they sat in judgment over ideas.
- Paul would gladly oblige! What follows is an incredible sermon, tailored to the situation, given in context of a thinking, philosophical society. Notice how he affirms and draws them in.
• Acts 17:22,23 : "Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:" : This takes us back to the earlier point of Paul's sensitivity to the spiritual climate.
- Here when he is seizing the opportunity, he references all that he has seen. He notes that they are already people who believe in spiritual things.
- Among those idols is the idol that points to the God that Paul serves. From there, he starts to instruct them about and introduce them to God.
- I need to summarize for the sake of time, but Paul tells them that the "Unknown God" is the creator and the one that has placed them in their location.
- He is provoking their hearts to seek Him, which makes sense seeing that all of us are to have our being in Him. In other words, because we are made in His image, we naturally need to fill that hole with worship. They are listening intently until Paul comes to this last point.
• Acts 17:30,31 : "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 to all by raising Him from the dead.'"
- Paul is coming to his point. He has taken the door that they have given him and he is swinging for the fences.
- Turn with me to Colossians 4. Paul is in prison, writing to the Colossians about open doors, not to freedom from prison, but for freedom to minister.
• Colossians 4:2,3 : "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,"
- Turn with me to Revelation 3. Jesus is talking to the church of Philadelphia. He speaks to them about the doors of opportunity that lay before them.
• Revelation 3:7,8 : "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens': I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name."
- I wonder how many doors of opportunity lay before you today? What doors are there that you have refused to go through? Paul looked for a door and when it came to him, he walked through.
III. Surrendered The Results (v.32-34)
• Acts 17:32-34 : "And 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 among them. However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them."
- Just like any other time, when it comes to Jesus, there is a dividing line. Paul lays out the logic and the strong foundation of God's mystic power and authority over creation.
- Then he spoke about the resurrection. The Greek mind was stumbled.
- The Greeks believed in immortality of the soul, but not the resurrection of the body. To their minds, the body was the source of evil. A new body meant a new evil.
- Some in the crowd mocked. For others, there was a willingness to hear more at some other time, but merely as something to tickle their ears. Either way, the response was lukewarm.
- Here is an important principle that needs to be understood when it comes to being on mission: You cannot control the results!
- Paul is an Apostle. He has personally met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. He has had access to the Apostles teaching almost first hand. He has super gifts. Here, he strikes out!
- He has put together a great message. It's articulate, logical, cutting and culturally in tune.
- He still struck out! So what did Paul do? He kept egging them on! He pestered them with his second sermon. No. Wisely, Paul knew when it was time to walk away.
- In the same way that you are sensitive in discerning the cultural temperature, so also should you know when to stop pushing. You should know when you are just wasting your words.
- Turn with me to Matthew 7. Jesus uses a wonderful picture to us that is perfectly apt for this passage before us.
• Matthew 7:6 : "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."
- The picture here that sticks with me is the pig farmer attempting to feed hungry pigs with a pearl necklace. That is not going to end well!
- A pig wants slop. That pig desires the most gross looking food. Pearls, of great value to us, are of no value to pigs!
- When a person who has knowingly turned down the offer of salvation and has looked at Jesus Christ with contempt, we can try with all of our heart to change them, but it will hurt us more than it will help them!
- I think back upon a man like Pharoah, who was confronted by Moses about the existence and power of God. The Bible says over and over, that the Pharoah hardened his heart.
• Exodus 9:12 : "But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses."
- Our job is never to control the outcome. Ours is to testify and add to any person's story. In doing so, we add water to the seeds that have already been planted.
- Turn with me to I Corinthians 3. Paul comments on this concept there.
• I Corinthians 3:5-8 : "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor."
- Peace and success in being on mission comes when you realize that you are a part of another person's redemption. Play your part and watch the Lord bless your ministry.
Conclusion
- Today, you can begin this process even if you have neglected to do so up to now. Ask the Lord to show you what the spiritual temperature is in your environment.
- Look for, wait on open doors that He will present to you and be bold! Walk through them!
- Finally, stop worrying about the results! You worry about doing your part and watch what God does with His!
1 comment:
1 Paul was sensitized to the spiritual climate in Athens before he spoke out and addressed that need. He noted in his spirit that idolatry was their spiritual bondage. What have you noticed about the spiritual climate of your mission? How can we be more aware of the spiritual needs around us?
2 Paul seized the opportunity to address the Areopagus. God opened the door, but Paul was bold to go through it. Speak about doors that God has opened for you recently to share the gospel. What doors are you praying will be open for "work" in the near future?
3 Paul surrendered the results of his labor by not continuing when it was clear that his message was falling on deaf ears. What makes us so driven by results? What is important to your mind in keeping from falling into this trap?
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