In the above passage we find Paul in the city of Athens; his companions on his missionary mission had escorted him from the city of Berea where he personally was facing threats on his life. Athens was a powerful city-state in the Greek world. Paul was comfortable in this prestigious city, for he had been raised and educated in the Greek city of Tarsus. As Paul was strolling through the city, he noticed the people in this city were very religious, for it was full of idols. The Athenians were interested in the meaning of life and the purpose of existence. All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. Their darkness in them of knowing God, their Creator, greatly distressed Paul. Their attempts to understand life revolved around serving idols. Paul of course was in the Greek world to reveal the true God, so he began to minister this truth in the synagogue and the marketplace. The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated Paul about the meaning of life and how to have a pleasurable and good existence. The Greek philosophers were heavily into the ideas about how to have a rich and fulfilled life. The Epicureans were focused on living life richly by taking full advantage of satisfying one's life with the best of foods and entertainment, however, with moderation. The Stoic’s were more introspective, facing life under the dictates of reality and fate, accepting the world as it is, living at peace with your existence. Paul talks about the Greek’s strong desire to live under the stipulation of the rational mind. For them, wisdom and common sense should be the controlling forces in a successful and peaceful life. In analyzing the Jewish society and the Greek society, Paul distills the differences between them spiritually by saying, Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:22-25) The Good News does not need to be verified by signs, miracles, and wonders; neither must it be designed around the rational thinking of men and women. The true way to God comes only one way, through Christ crucified and his subsequent resurrection. Paul knew as he walked through Athens that the Athenians were trying to open another gate to the kingdom of God through their rational thinking, but Satan’s control over their minds had led them into great darkness and deception. Satan was playing his old tune that man can find God through his own wisdom and strength. His scheme is to convince men and women that they possess god-like power and wisdom—that they too can be like God through elevating their own attributes. But Paul places the correct perspective on man’s insignificance when it comes to comparing himself with God: the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. This darkness of the self-importance of men and women, their power to be like God had captivated the Athenians' minds. Paul knew their estrangement from God was great. He tells them that their altar to the unknown god is really a shrine to the living Creator.
The intellectual elite in Athens wanted to hear about this strange babbling of Paul; for them it seemed as if Paul was talking about some other God that existed. They invited him to speak to the Areopagus, the governing council of Athens, consisting of the elite of the city and philosophers. They wanted to hear about this new god or thoughts that Paul was so enthused about. 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. This of course was an open door to the people of Athens. By convincing the Areopagus of the Good News, he could reach into the depths of the society with the message of Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of the world. Paul uses their altar to an unknown god as a way to introduce the God of Creation to them. 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. He told them they were very ignorant of this god, but this god they have an altar to is the God he served. Paul said, He has come to reveal himself through his Son Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus, the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15-17) This revelation that Paul had of Jesus Christ is now told to people who exist by their own rational thinking; their own contrived light. Now Paul is telling them, your way of living is darkness and futility. A hard message to accept in their riches of philosophy. However, Paul was raised and educated in the Greek way of thinking, so he was able to debate them about life and the meaning of life, but what they thought and what the Jewish elite thought about life, Paul had abandoned and counted it all as dung, worthless trash. I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8-11) Paul was sent to the Gentile world, and he would experience the suffering Christ experienced, even his death by violent men. However, as he addressed these elite and learned men of Athens, he knew their darkness was very great. The devil had deceived them into idol worshipping, an irrational way of thinking about God. For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.” (Jeremiah 10:2-6) In Athens, a bastion of deep thinking, the people were captivated by the darkness of idol worshipping, deceived by the devil.
Paul’s call to the Gentile world mirrors greatly with Jesus’ call to the Jewish people of Palestine. Jesus came to minister to the elect, the descendants of Abraham. The Gentiles carried a derogatory name by the Jews: dogs. In healing a demon possessed child of a Gentile woman, Jesus refers to the Gentiles as dogs in his dialogue with the mother of the child. Jesus answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” (Matthew 15:24-27) He heals the child, but his primary focus on earth was to the Jewish people. Paul’s calling by God was to the Gentiles. “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.” "Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ” (Acts 22:17-21) After Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, he went back to Jerusalem, his home. But God had other purposes for Paul than staying in Jerusalem, where he felt at home. No, Paul, over his protest, was sent by God to the Gentile world, going from city to city ministering the Good News of Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. He had to leave his home to fulfill God’s purpose in his life. We see Jesus also leaving his home to go from city to city in Israel to minister about God’s goodness and love for the Jewish people. After an early morning prayer in Capernaum, Jesus was called away from his home base where He and his disciples were living. His disciples were not too happy about leaving their homes, but they followed Jesus. Jesus had a target on his back throughout his whole ministry. Paul in the Gentile world had a target on his back all the time he was fulfilling God’s call on his life. Both Jesus and Paul were warned by their followers not to go to Jerusalem at the end of their ministry, but both went. They were fixed on going to Jerusalem. Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, and Paul was chained, imprisoned, sent to Rome because of the Jewish pressure to kill him. Both Paul and Jesus died violent deaths. Jesus was called to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles. Of course Paul’s excursion into the Gentile world was for the cause of Jesus Christ, to introduce the Redeemer, sent by God to all the world. As God does with all people, He has a mission for people to fulfill in their lives. It is so interesting that God has a time schedule for all of us to follow, no lolly-dallying around when dealing with God. We see God telling Paul, Quick! Leave Jerusalem immediately. Not tomorrow, but TODAY. We see the angel when delivering Peter from jail, “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. (Acts 12:7-8) No messing around, hurry! Jesus tells those who want to follow him, you cannot go back and bury your loved ones or say goodby to them. No, you must hurry and follow me; no sign is needed. Often we want reinforcement in our decisions, but if God asking you to follow him, then do it with faith. Paul went into the lion's den; the Greek world. He was there in constant danger; never knowing if he would have the next day to live. But God had said to him, quick, go, leave your comfort zone. How hard that is for us; how hard it was for the disciples to leave their loved ones, their homes, the places where their ancestors were buried, but they did. They gave their lives for the purposes of God. Breakfast companions, you are the salt of the earth, the light to those who live in darkness. God tells you every day, Quick, Go, Tell the world about me, for I have a timetable for everyone you meet. This is your day to spread the Good News. God bless you richly.
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