A WITNESS TO THE PAGAN WORLD

Someone who knows the depth of my affection for cats recently sent me an article entitled: "How to Bathe a Cat."

1. Thoroughly clean the toilet and the required amount of shampoo to the toilet water, leaving the lid in the "up" position.
2. Get the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.
3. In one smooth movement and without warning, throw the cat in the toilet and close the lid (you may need to stand on the lid so that he cannot escape).
4. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "power wash and rinse."
5. Open the door to the outside and then, standing behind the toilet as far as you can, quickly lift both lids.
6. The now-clean cat will rocket out of the toilet, and run outside where he will dry himself.

Sincerely, The DOG

You can talk to Paula and find out how she has inadvertently attempted variations on this technique. But today we are going to look at a different technique. It is a technique which Paul uses, not for achieving clean cats, but for clean hearts.

Athens was a thoroughly pagan city. The crown of the city was its Parthenon, dedicated to the city’s namesake, the goddess Athena. Even today, people flock from all over the world to see the ruins of the Parthenon, to gaze at its magnificent columns.

Paul had come to Athens for a breather. He was on vacation. He was sightseeing like a good tourist. But the sights included all manners of idols. Pliny says that there were over 30,000 idols in Athens during this time in history. It was a saying that it was easier to find a god in Athens than it was to find a man.

Paul sees this gross idolatry. He sees the temples to all of the pagan deities. He sees the cultic sensual worship. He sees a city going to hell. At this point, he could no longer be silent. He is constrained to speak.

Are you provoked by sin? Does it provoke you to speak out? As we live in an increasingly pagan society, a danger that we face is that we are no longer provoked by sin. It no longer repels us. It becomes a part of our social background and, like a shot of spiritual novocaine, we become deadened to its effects.

I have seen death a number of times in my career as a fire fighter. It is a part of my job. And to a certain extent, I think that I have become a bit hardened to it. Exposure leads to hardening.

How can we combat this deadening process? By becoming alive to the gospel and tender to the Scriptures which set it forth. By coming to the cross and embracing it through faith. By believing the gospel each day.

Paul comes to Athens and he doesn’t know a soul in the entire city. There isn’t a Christian to be found anywhere. Is that bad? No, it’s good because it means that there are plenty of opportunities for harvest.

It is like the story of the two shoe salesmen that went to a community in the interior of Africa. One wrote back, "I am coming home as there is no market for our product. No one wears shoes here." The other salesman wrote back, "Send more shoes; there is a tremendous opportunity for sales. No one wears shoes here yet!"

Paul looked at this pagan city and he saw opportunity. As was his custom, he first directed his attention to the synagogue. Why did he do this? It is because they already had a knowledge of God’s word and they could build upon their faith.

But Paul didn’t limit his evangelistic efforts to once a week or to the locale of the synagogue. His Christianity did not stay within the four walls of the church. He took it out into the marketplace.

Do you have a marketplace faith? Or do you keep your faith safely tucked away to be brought out only when you come to church? Paul had a very simple strategy of evangelism. Anyone who happened to be around him was evangelized. He was always talking about the gospel and if you found yourself within earshot of Paul, then you could not help but to hear the gospel.

What do people hear when they are around you? They hear whatever it is about which you are passionate. If you love fishing, then they hear about fish. If you love sports, then that will be the thing they hear from you. Go to God and ask Him for a passion for the Lord. And then speak out from your passion.

There are two philosophical groups mentioned here who had dealings with Paul in Athens. While they were set apart and distinct from one another, they had both missed the truth.

These two philosophies are diametrically opposed. But they do agree on one thing. They both agree that they are opposed to the message of the gospel. What is it about the gospel that they are opposed? Both of these philosophies agreed on several points.

• There is no personal God.
• There is no purpose in life.
• There is no such thing as a resurrection from the dead.

And here is Paul preaching of a personal Messiah who has come and who has died for sins and who has risen from the dead and who promises that those who believe will one day rise as well. And so, they resort to name-calling. Whenever someone resorts to name-calling, you can realize that they have no better argument to offer.

They call Paul a idle babbler - µ - literally, a "seed picker." It describes one who would pick bits and pieces from different philosophies.

The place to which they brought Paul was known as the "Areopagus." This comes from two Greek words. Ares was the Greek god of war; known to the Romans as Mars. Pagus is Greek for "hill." This is why some translations refer to this as "Mars Hill." But it was more than merely a place named after a Greek war god. The Areopagus was connected to the Acropolis of Athens by a narrow ridge. On the top of this hill was the traditional meeting place for the judicial body of Athens. We would call it "capitol hill." Unfortunately for the Athenians, they were no longer in charge of their own government. Like most of the rest of the known world, they were under the rulership of Rome. And so, the Areopagus had become a meeting place for discussion regarding philosophy.

As we read this, we are inclined to think, "How wonderful are these Athenians! They have a desire to know the truth." But their love was not for the truth; it was a love of innovation and newness. They loved innovation for innovation’s sake. And this made them fickle.

Paul does not immediately begin talking about Jesus. Neither does he quote from the Old Testament or appeal to the Jewish prophets. Instead he starts where they are. He starts with something to which they can relate. He points to one of their pagan altars.

Greek tradition had it that a mysterious plagues once swept through the city of Athens. All sorts of cures were attempted and nothing worked. The people assumed that one of the city’s many gods had been offended. But which one? There were thousands of pagan deities. Athens was the god capital of the world.

And so, the citizens called in a consultant; a prophet from the island of Crete. His name was Epimenedes. He concluded that the plague was the handiwork of some unknown god which had been offended.

Epimenedes ordered that a flock of hungry sheep be turned loose on the Areopagus. They watched the sheep and whenever any one of the sheep would lie down and not eat, an altar was erected on that spot and the sheep was sacrificed to the unknown god. Presumably there were a number of such altars which had been built.

It was now many hundreds of years later, but there still remained at least one such altar to the unknown god. We do not know for certain that it dated all the way back to the time of Epimenides, but its distinction was the same. And it is to this altar that Paul now directs the attention of his hearers.

"You Athenians have been worshiping at one particular altar who is known as the UNKNOWN GOD. Let me tell you about Him."

There are a lot of wrong perceptions about God today. They border on downright paganism.

• The impersonal force from Star Wars.
• The higher power of alcoholics anonymous.
• The "man upstairs."

But instead of walking up to someone and calling them a pagan, how about introducing them to the God in whom they claim to believe?

Paul answers both the Epicureans as well as the Stoics.

• They deny a personal God -- He shows them the God who is both personal and yet who transcends the little petty gods of the Greek pantheon.

• They deny human purpose – He demonstrates how that God’s ordination of man’s life gives him a unique and special purpose.

• Aratus, a Cilician, in the 5th line of his poetic work on astronomy entitled Phaenomena (315 B.C.).
• Cliontes, in his hymn to Zeus.

Something wonderful happened when the church began. There was an evangelism explosion and it sent the gospel throughout the entire world. Prior to this time, if you wanted to hear the gospel you had to come to Israel. But now the gospel came to you.

That brings a tremendous responsibility. It is a responsibility to repent - to turn to God and to be saved. There are three things that underscore this need for repentance.

a. There is an inescapable day coming.

b. There is an unchallengeable Judge.

c. God has given us the evidence of the resurrection.

There are always one of three reactions to the gospel. When people hear they will initially do one of three things.

• Rejection: Some began to sneer
• Reluctance: Others said, "We shall hear you again concerning this."
• Repentance: Some men joined him and believed

There are initially one of three reactions to the gospel. But eventually there are only two. Reluctance does one of two things. It moves either in one direction or the other. Every time you hear the message of the gospel, your heart is moved in one of these two directions.

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