Acts 17: in the world, but not of it

 

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While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the market-place day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, ‘What is this babbler trying to say?’ Others remarked, ‘He seems to be advocating foreign gods.’ They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, ‘May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.’ (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship – and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. “For in him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.”

‘Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.’

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, ‘We want to hear you again on this subject.’ At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Acts 17:16:34

If you arrive in a big and magnificent city, what do you think when you look around?  You may be amazed at the lights, the speed, the structures.  There may be many marvellous sights.  When you enter a large, historical place of worship, with beautiful architecture, statues or art - what do you see?

Athens was one of the great metropolises of the time, but when Paul looked around, he was amazed - he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.  I think we can assume that the first thing that would have popped into the heads of the readers of Acts on reading this account would have been statues of gods to which people offered sacrifices.  Athens certainly would have been full of them, reflecting the Greek pantheon.  But perhaps Paul would have also seen some of the things that are more familiar to us.  He might have seen great edifices built to commerce and wealth, and people putting their trust in making more and more money or improving status - constantly giving themselves over in the hope that their wealth will keep them secure.  Or he might have seen evidence of people in the constant pursuit of pleasure, so much so that it takes over their lives and dulls their senses to anything else.

Paul was not swayed by what the world views as impressive.  The only thing that mattered to him was what was important to God.  And in Athens, he saw people who had turned away from God, people who were lost, and lots of evidence of the infinite and all-loving God being replaced by things that are but a feeble copy; and he longed for people to know the true and living God.

So what did Paul do?  He went to where the people were - not just physically, but mentally and intellectually.  He looked around the city - we knew that he properly looked at the statues the people were worshipping, as he was able to observe a statue 'to an unknown god'.  He didn't just stay in the synagogues either - he went to the market place where the people would meet and debate.  And he observed that the people were religious - they were seeking spiritual assurance - but they didn't know the true creator God.

And so Paul joined in the conversation: not with lofty sentiments that only meant something to Christians, but starting where the people were.  He takes their world and does what we've probably all done in English lessons - compare and contrast.  The Greeks had an idol to an unknown god, but our God has made himself known throughout history.  Their gods lived in temples made by human hands and required feeding by the people, but in contrast the living God made the world and requires nothing from us to keep him.  Finally, that God gives us life - so much so that he raised Jesus from the dead - and our life is in his hands.

This passage is the epitome of being in the world but not of the world.  We are useless if we hide ourselves away in a Christian bubble and never engage with those outside it, and we can never hope to reach people if we do not listen to and try to understand them.   And yet if we are sucked into the ideals of the world, we are not witness at all.  Jesus said: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." (Matthew 5:13). Likewise, Paul writes to the church in Rome: do not conform to this pattern of this world, rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).

I work in business consultancy, and if you bring a consultant in to do something you pay far more than you'd pay one of your employees.  You bring a consultant in if you want some additional value - an external look at things, knowledge based on working across the industry, the ability to reach back to a lot of experts in different fields.  We're not intellectually superior - we just bring a different perspective that can be worth paying for.  But we still have to relate to our clients - find out what their company values are, what people talk about at the metaphorical water cooler, and generally understand their world.  I once heard a story where a director was talking to his client:  'look at all these people', he said, 'they fit in so well with your team that you can't even tell which ones are mine and which are yours'.  At that, the client terminated the contract.  'What's the point of paying consultancy rates if they're exactly the same as my colleagues'.  The consultants had lost their saltiness - their distinctiveness - and so they were useless.

We must engage with the world, but we cannot be drawn into its values.  When we look at the world, do we see what everyone sees, or do we see it through God's eyes?   Do we see the sin that is dressed up attractively?  And do we see what can be - people coming to the living God and knowing life to the full in him?

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