SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Sermons from the Way Church KC, the community of listening saints in Kansas City, following the way of Jesus and pushing back darkness together.
SPEAKER_03: All right, good morning.
SPEAKER_03: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_03: If you will make your way back to your seat and stand for the reading of the word, today we are in Acts 17, verse 16 through 34.
SPEAKER_03: Now, while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
SPEAKER_03: So he reasoned with the synagogue, or in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
SPEAKER_03: Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.
SPEAKER_03: And some said, What does this babbler wish to say?
SPEAKER_03: Others said, He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities, because he is preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
SPEAKER_03: And they took him and brought him to the Arophagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
SPEAKER_03: For you bring some strange things to our ears.
SPEAKER_03: We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean.
SPEAKER_03: Now all the Athenians and foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
SPEAKER_03: So Paul, standing in the midst of the Arophagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
SPEAKER_03: For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I of I found also an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God.
SPEAKER_03: What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
SPEAKER_03: The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breadth and everything.
SPEAKER_03: And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.
SPEAKER_03: That they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.
SPEAKER_03: Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
SPEAKER_03: For in him we live and move and have our being.
SPEAKER_03: As even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring.
SPEAKER_03: Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
SPEAKER_03: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man who he has appointed.
SPEAKER_03: And all of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
SPEAKER_03: Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, We will hear you again about this.
SPEAKER_03: So Paul went out from their midst, and some men joined him and believed, among those, among whom also were Dionysus, the Araphagite, and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
SPEAKER_03: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Danielle, for reading God's word to us.
SPEAKER_01: Well, welcome everyone to the Waychurch KC.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Zach.
SPEAKER_01: I have the privilege of being the lead pastor here at the Way Church, and it's Father's Day.
SPEAKER_01: So happy Father's Day to all of the dads, all of the grandfathers, all of the spiritual fathers.
SPEAKER_01: Um we have a few different things to honor you.
SPEAKER_01: We have root beer floats after service, and that is because I heard it's Kyle Moody's favorite thing.
SPEAKER_01: So we have root beer floats for Kyle Moody and all the other dads.
SPEAKER_01: And then we also, this is for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: The root beer floats are for everyone, and this also is for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: We have some uh Father's Day cards.
SPEAKER_01: If you forgot to get your father a card or um your dad's here and you're like, crap, I forgot to get him something.
SPEAKER_01: You can go fill out a card, write, I love you, draw a big heart, and give it to your dad right here after service.
SPEAKER_01: So that's our gift to you and our way to honor the fathers of this church.
SPEAKER_01: Um if this is your first time here, welcome.
SPEAKER_01: We're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love for you to be a part of our way family, and we'd love for you to fill out a connection card to get connected with us.
SPEAKER_01: Um today we're gonna be, as Danielle read, we'll be in Acts 17.
SPEAKER_01: But before that, there's some uh business I want to get to before we dig into God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Um so we have a friend who will be, this is her last Sunday with us.
SPEAKER_01: Um so this Alvina.
SPEAKER_01: Um I just want to take a second to Alvina.
SPEAKER_01: So she's been here for about you know several months.
SPEAKER_01: Um how long have you been uh here?
SPEAKER_01: Two months, so short time in Kansas City, but made an immediate impact, served at our sports camp, um, and now you're moving west, right?
SPEAKER_01: Where?
SPEAKER_01: Did you say Manhattan?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, moving further into Kansas, right, for now, finishing up some uh medical school stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Um so I just want to take a second to honor Alvina.
SPEAKER_01: Let's give her a round of applause.
SPEAKER_01: And so as people, you know, especially with our proximity to KU Med, we have a couple people we'll be celebrating next week um as well.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, our proximity to KU Med, people might be here for a short season, but make a lasting impact.
SPEAKER_01: And the three individuals who will be um celebrating this week and next week, they've done that.
SPEAKER_01: They've made a lasting impact.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Alvina and then Richard and Maria next week.
SPEAKER_01: Um so I just want to take a second to honor them each time that we have this departure because it's not like a goodbye.
SPEAKER_01: It's a hey, you're being sent to continue the work of ministry um wherever it is the Lord is sending you.
SPEAKER_01: So that's that.
SPEAKER_01: Um but let's dig into God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: If you have your Bible, you can open it up to Acts chapter 17.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 17.
SPEAKER_01: Um we'll be continuing in our series entitled Living by the Spirit and Following the Way.
SPEAKER_01: Um so that's what we've been walking through for almost a year now, it seems like.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's been a sweet time.
SPEAKER_01: Um and today we'll look at verses 16 through 34 of Acts chapter 17.
SPEAKER_01: Um real quick, Glenn, is our translation services okay?
SPEAKER_01: We'll be in very good.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: So, what we encounter today in Acts 17, we find Paul he finds himself now alone in Athens.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Athens was not the political capital of the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_01: That was Rome, but Athens was something else.
SPEAKER_01: Athens was the intellectual capital of the Roman world.
SPEAKER_01: This was the city of Socrates, the city of Plato, the city of Aristotle.
SPEAKER_01: So this was the city where ideas were born.
SPEAKER_01: This was the city where philosophers debated in the marketplace, and where people spent their days discussing the newest theories and the latest trends.
SPEAKER_01: And I think we could argue that in many ways, Athens looked a lot like modern day America.
SPEAKER_01: It was in some sense highly educated, it was highly spiritual, it was deeply connected, yet it was profoundly lost.
SPEAKER_01: Luke says that as Paul arrived, he he immediately noticed something.
SPEAKER_01: He says right there in verse 16 that he was provoked because the city was full of idols.
SPEAKER_01: This isn't just like, hey, this is just a few idols.
SPEAKER_01: No, what this text is telling us is that the entire city was saturated with worship of idols.
SPEAKER_01: You had temples, you had altars, you had shrines, you had images, you had gods, little lowercase g gods for every single occasion.
SPEAKER_01: One ancient writer jokes that it was easier to find a god in Athens than a man.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, with all their gods, they still had an altar labeled to an unknown God.
SPEAKER_01: To an unknown God.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine that, guys.
SPEAKER_01: A city filled with religion, yet still unsure if they knew the living God.
SPEAKER_01: A city filled with answers, yet still asking the biggest questions.
SPEAKER_01: A city full of worship, yet still empty.
SPEAKER_01: And I think if we're being honest, that is not just Athens.
SPEAKER_01: That's Kansas City, that's Rosedale, that is America at large.
SPEAKER_01: That is, if we're being honest, that is us.
SPEAKER_01: Because what we're gonna see today is that everyone worships someone or something.
SPEAKER_01: The question isn't whether you worship, the question is who or what are you worshiping?
unknown: Amen.
unknown: That's good.
SPEAKER_01: Tim Keller, he puts it this way: An idol is anything more important to you than God.
SPEAKER_01: Anything that absorbs your heart and your imagination more than God.
SPEAKER_01: Anything you seek to give you what only God can give.
SPEAKER_01: Anything that is so central and essential to your life that should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.
SPEAKER_01: So the question then becomes is whether the thing or the person you are worshiping can actually save you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, now to present a question to you before we dig in, have you ever built an altar to something you couldn't name?
SPEAKER_01: Now I think most of us would probably say no, like we haven't built and worshipped an actual physical idol.
SPEAKER_01: But the Athenians literally did just that.
SPEAKER_01: They had literal physical idols that they worshiped.
SPEAKER_01: But what I want you to see today is that we do it too.
SPEAKER_01: We do it too.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of us may build an altar to success, some may build an altar to romance, finding the perfect spouse, that Mr.
SPEAKER_01: or Mrs.
SPEAKER_01: right.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're building an altar to comfort.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're building an altar to politics.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're building an altar to pleasure, maybe you're building an altar to approval.
SPEAKER_01: With this, it's as though we keep telling ourselves, if I can just get this one thing, if I can just get this one thing, then I'll finally be satisfied.
SPEAKER_01: But then we get it, and we're still empty.
SPEAKER_01: How many of us have been there before?
SPEAKER_01: Because what that reveals to us is that that longing underneath that altar isn't ultimately for success.
SPEAKER_01: It isn't ultimately for romance, for comfort, for pleasure.
SPEAKER_01: That longing that we feel deep inside of us is for God.
SPEAKER_01: Augustine, he famously said this you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
SPEAKER_01: Our hearts are restless until they truly rest in the living God.
SPEAKER_01: The Athenians, they didn't know that.
SPEAKER_01: But Crystal?
SPEAKER_01: Paul was about to tell them.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's about to tell them that.
SPEAKER_01: So, with that, here's our big idea from today's text.
SPEAKER_01: Our big idea is this that the risen Jesus reveals the God we were made for and calls us to turn from our idols and come home to Him.
SPEAKER_01: The risen Jesus reveals the God we were made for and calls us to turn from our idols and come home to Him.
SPEAKER_01: And with that, today we're going to see three realities from Acts chapter 17.
SPEAKER_01: First, we'll see a heart that sees the city.
SPEAKER_01: Second, we'll look at the God you're looking for.
SPEAKER_01: And third, we'll see three ways people meet the risen Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I'll pray and then let's dig in.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, we love you.
SPEAKER_01: We praise you.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for bringing us here today to worship you, to dig deep into your word, to see the words that you wrote years and years ago that are still applicable to us today, can still move us to nearness with you, with your son Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, I ask that you would move in this place, that we would write a new song on our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: That we would see your face clearly today.
SPEAKER_01: We love you, we praise you.
SPEAKER_01: It's in the mighty name of Jesus we pray, and all God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So point number one this morning is a heart that sees the city.
SPEAKER_01: A heart that sees the city.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 17, verses 16 through 21 read.
SPEAKER_01: Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him, as he saw that the city was full of idols.
SPEAKER_01: So he reasoned in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, What does this babbler wish to say?
SPEAKER_01: Others said, He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting, for you bring some strange things to our ears.
SPEAKER_01: We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean.
SPEAKER_01: Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
SPEAKER_01: So before Paul even preaches to the Athenians, Luke tells us something critical about his heart.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
SPEAKER_01: So the the word translated provoked, it's incredibly strong.
SPEAKER_01: It's the same word that if you look at the Greek Old Testament, that God actually used for reaction to idolatry.
SPEAKER_01: And so we shouldn't think of this as like Paul being irritated or annoyed.
SPEAKER_01: No, what we should see is like this is holy grief.
SPEAKER_01: This is righteous jealousy for God and his name and his glory.
SPEAKER_01: This is a heart, Paul's heart, that is deeply wounded because God's glory is being given to something else.
SPEAKER_01: One commentator points out that Paul isn't impressed by Athens' architecture as many were, or intellectual reputation as many were.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone else saw the beauty of Athens.
SPEAKER_01: But what Paul saw was the bondage that the Athenians were in.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone else saw an incredible culture.
SPEAKER_01: But Paul saw worship that was directed toward lifeless gods.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Idols are never neutral, they steal your life.
SPEAKER_01: An idol always promises what only God can give.
SPEAKER_01: And then it enslaves the people who trust it.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 1, it points out that humanity exchanged the glory of God for created things.
SPEAKER_01: So Athens, it was simply Romans 1 with marble statues.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that we could say that we live in that Romans 1 sort of age where we are prone to worship created things instead of the creator.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we're Romans 1 with smartphones.
SPEAKER_01: The form changes, but the worship remains.
SPEAKER_01: Notice Paul's response though.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't retreat.
SPEAKER_01: No, Paul engages.
SPEAKER_01: He contextualizes the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17 says that he reasoned in the synagogue.
SPEAKER_01: And remember, last week in verses 1 through 15, the text said that Paul reasoned in Thessalonica.
SPEAKER_01: So here in today's text, he reasoned in the marketplace, he reasoned in the synagogue.
SPEAKER_01: So what that shows us is Paul, he went where people were.
SPEAKER_01: He went where the religious were, he went where the secular were, he went where the curious were, he went where the skeptical were, he went where the philosophers were, he went where the average citizen was.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you think that is?
SPEAKER_01: Well, to illustrate, imagine a doctor walking through a city with a plague.
SPEAKER_01: This doctor, he sees disease everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't stand on a street corner mocking the sick, mocking those with the plague.
SPEAKER_01: No, what this doctor would likely do is move toward the people with the cure.
SPEAKER_01: That's Paul.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Paul's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And that is the early church, and that should be the church today.
SPEAKER_01: Church family.
SPEAKER_01: We cannot push back darkness, as is our mission statement, if we refuse to see it.
SPEAKER_01: What I think this text is showing us is that we, as the Way KC, must see our city the way Jesus sees it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: Not with contempt, not with fear, but with compassion, with Christ-shaped compassion.
SPEAKER_01: And just to let you in on a little bit of my personal quiet time, a prayer that I often pray is, God, break my heart for what breaks yours.
SPEAKER_01: God, break my heart for what breaks yours.
SPEAKER_01: And that's my prayer for us as a church, that that would be our prayer.
SPEAKER_01: God, would you break our heart for what breaks yours?
SPEAKER_01: Would you break our heart for what breaks yours in this neighborhood?
SPEAKER_01: Would you break our heart for what breaks yours in this city?
SPEAKER_01: Would you break our heart for the addiction that you see in Kansas City?
SPEAKER_01: Would you break our heart for the suffering that you see in Kansas City?
SPEAKER_01: Would that be our prayer, Way Church?
SPEAKER_01: Will we have a heart that sees the city, that sees the lostness, the brokenness, the heartache, the suffering, the pain.
SPEAKER_01: Will we have a heart that sees that as Jesus sees it?
SPEAKER_01: What we see in the text is Paul's heart is broken.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's heart is broken for the city of Athens.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul's heart is broken because he sees people searching for God in all of the wrong places.
SPEAKER_01: And that leads directly to his message.
SPEAKER_01: Who exactly is the God they're searching for?
SPEAKER_01: Which brings us to point number two.
SPEAKER_01: The God they are looking for.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 22 through 31 of Acts 17 read this.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
SPEAKER_01: For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God.
SPEAKER_01: What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
SPEAKER_01: The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
SPEAKER_01: And he made from one man every nation of mankind, to live on all the face of the earth, having determined a lot of periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.
SPEAKER_01: Yet he is not actually far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring.
SPEAKER_01: Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
SPEAKER_01: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul, he he stands before the intellectual elite of the ancient world.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as scholars, some scholars disagree on this.
SPEAKER_01: Either way, Paul is speaking before the intellectual.
SPEAKER_01: Elite of the ancient world.
SPEAKER_01: And he begins brilliantly.
SPEAKER_01: He's not mocking them, he's not condemning them.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't even start with a Bible verse.
SPEAKER_01: No, he starts with contextualization.
SPEAKER_01: He is putting the gospel in a form in a way that they can understand.
SPEAKER_01: He starts with something that they already know.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God.
SPEAKER_01: Then Paul says, The God you are searching for is the God I proclaim.
SPEAKER_01: This is masterful missionary strategy.
SPEAKER_01: One commentator notes, Paul takes a thoroughly biblical worldview and clothes it in language his audience understands.
SPEAKER_01: He speaks Greek philosophy, but he fills it with biblical truth.
SPEAKER_01: He builds a bridge in order to bring the Athenians to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And then what Paul does after this is he unfolds five truths about God.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to look at them together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're taking notes, I want to encourage you to write these down.
SPEAKER_01: First, Paul shows the Athenians that God is the creator.
SPEAKER_01: God is the creator.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 24, Paul says, the God who made the world and everything in it.
SPEAKER_01: So this language echoes Genesis 1, it echoes Isaiah 42.
SPEAKER_01: G.K.
SPEAKER_01: Beale notes that Paul's theology here is deeply rooted in the Old Testament and the doctrine of creation.
SPEAKER_01: God is Lord over heaven and earth because he made heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_01: He's Lord over it because he made it.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying that creation is not ultimate, that God is ultimate.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying that the universe is not random.
SPEAKER_01: It was spoken into existence by this unknown God that they built an altar to.
SPEAKER_01: So first we see that God is the creator.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, we see that God is the sustainer.
SPEAKER_01: God is the sustainer.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 25 says, He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
SPEAKER_01: So the irony here is stunning.
SPEAKER_01: Athenians, they fed their idols, they carried their idols, they maintained their idols.
SPEAKER_01: But Paul, he's saying that the true God, the living God, doesn't need you.
SPEAKER_01: You need him.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 50 says that if I were hungry, I would not tell you.
SPEAKER_01: So what I hope that we see this morning is that God is not sustained by our worship.
SPEAKER_01: He's not sustained by our Sunday attendance.
SPEAKER_01: Although our heart posture should seek to glorify him through our worship and our study of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: But he's not sustained by it.
SPEAKER_01: We are sustained by him.
SPEAKER_01: We are sustained by his grace.
SPEAKER_01: Every single breath that you've taken today came from him.
SPEAKER_01: Every heartbeat that your heart has beaten today came from him.
SPEAKER_01: The sunrise, I know it was a little cloudy this morning, but the sunrise came from him.
SPEAKER_01: That sunrise you saw in Colorado, Joshua, it came from him.
SPEAKER_01: Every meal came from him, every blessing came from him.
SPEAKER_01: Everything came from him, the living God.
SPEAKER_01: So God is our sustainer.
SPEAKER_01: Paul shows God as the sustainer.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, Paul shows that God rules history.
SPEAKER_01: God rules history.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 26, Paul says, He made from one man every nation.
SPEAKER_01: So immediately Paul destroys racial pride, he destroys ethnic pride, he destroys national superiority, he destroys arrogance.
SPEAKER_01: Every nation, every nation traces back to one man, to Adam.
SPEAKER_01: And every nation exists because God ordained it.
SPEAKER_01: The text goes on saying that God, that God determined the boundaries, that God determined the times, that God determines the kingdoms, that God determined the empires, that God determines when you would live?
SPEAKER_01: That God determines where you would live.
SPEAKER_01: Like maybe that's something that some of us need to wrestle with.
SPEAKER_02: Yep, me too.
SPEAKER_01: And could we just say that God determines that you'd be sitting here this morning?
SPEAKER_01: It's not chance that you seemed decided to show up this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: God determines that you would be here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing is random.
SPEAKER_01: God is ruling history.
SPEAKER_01: God rules history and he's ruling history today.
SPEAKER_01: The fourth thing that Paul shows us about God is that God is near.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God that we serve a God that is near.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 27.
SPEAKER_01: He is actually not far from each one of us.
SPEAKER_01: What a beautiful statement.
SPEAKER_01: The Athenians, they imagine God as distant.
SPEAKER_01: But here Paul says that he is near.
SPEAKER_01: This God that we serve is near.
SPEAKER_01: Yet humanity stumbles in darkness trying to find him.
SPEAKER_01: Patrick Schreiner notes that the language suggests blind people who are groping in the darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Humanity searches, but because of sin, we search wrongly.
SPEAKER_01: We reach for idols instead of God because we think those idols will fulfill us.
SPEAKER_01: Then Paul goes on to quote their own poets.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, in him we live and move and have our being.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, we are indeed his offspring.
SPEAKER_01: So he uses their culture to point beyond their culture.
SPEAKER_01: Their poets, they had glimpses of the truth.
SPEAKER_01: But Paul says, hey, let me tell you where the truth ultimately comes from.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you where the truth ultimately leads.
SPEAKER_01: The truth ultimately leads to the God who made you.
SPEAKER_01: And that God who made you is near.
SPEAKER_01: The last thing about God that we see Paul show us in this section of text is that God has revealed Himself in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: God has revealed Himself in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is where Paul lands as he preaches to the Athenians.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
SPEAKER_01: So this word overlooked, it does not mean that God excused sin.
SPEAKER_01: No, it means that he withheld immediate judgment.
SPEAKER_01: But now something has changed.
SPEAKER_01: History has turned.
SPEAKER_01: A new age has arrived.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that the case?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's because Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_01: Because the early church in Acts and us today are living on the other side of the cross.
SPEAKER_01: The unknown God is no longer unknown.
SPEAKER_01: The Creator has revealed himself in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The judge has stepped into history.
SPEAKER_01: The Savior has appeared.
SPEAKER_01: And now everyone, everywhere, is commanded to repent.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is turning from your sins, turning from one way of life, 180, to a new way of life.
SPEAKER_01: New heart, new life, new creation.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone, everywhere, commanded to repent.
SPEAKER_01: Not just Americans, not just Jews, not just Greeks, everyone.
SPEAKER_01: And notice what Paul says after this in verse 31.
SPEAKER_01: He says that God has given proof.
SPEAKER_01: God has given evidence.
SPEAKER_01: God has given assurance.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity, friends, is not built on our little private feelings, our private thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is built on an empty tomb and a risen Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So the resurrection, God as Savior, through the resurrection, is God's declaration that Jesus is King, that Jesus is judge, and Jesus is savior.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it this way.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe this is how the Athenians were feeling.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe this is how some of us feel at times.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever, um maybe, maybe you wear glasses, maybe so this might work for those with glasses.
SPEAKER_01: Um or you can insert your phone into the illustration.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever looked for those glasses?
SPEAKER_01: Looked all over the place for your glasses, but it's actually on your head?
SPEAKER_01: They're on your head.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody been there?
SPEAKER_01: I'm like so blind that I gotta keep my glasses on my eyes at all times.
SPEAKER_01: Um but it's like my dad does that.
SPEAKER_01: He'll have his glasses on his head and he'll be like, where are they?
SPEAKER_01: They're on your head, dad.
SPEAKER_01: We've all done it though, whether it's like maybe it's you're looking for your phone but it's in your pocket, searching frantically for something that's right in front of you.
SPEAKER_01: Well, can I just tell you this morning that that is humanity?
SPEAKER_01: That's us.
SPEAKER_01: We search for meaning, we search for purpose, we search for fulfillment, we search for God, but meanwhile, God has already revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's right in front of us.
SPEAKER_01: The issue is not that God is hiding, the issue is whether we will recognize him.
SPEAKER_01: That's Paul's point here.
SPEAKER_01: The light has come.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ has come.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection happened.
SPEAKER_01: Everything has changed.
SPEAKER_01: Now the question becomes: what do people do when confronted with the risen Christ?
SPEAKER_01: What do the Athenians do when confronted with the risen Christ?
SPEAKER_01: And what do we, way church, do when confronted with the risen Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Well, Luke shows us three responses.
SPEAKER_01: Point three in our last point, three ways that people meet the risen Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Verses thirty-two through thirty-four of Acts 17.
SPEAKER_01: Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, We will hear you again about this.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman's named Demaris, and others with them.
SPEAKER_01: Everything changes.
SPEAKER_01: Everything changes when Paul mentions the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Notice carefully, the controversy isn't creation, the controversy isn't morality, the controversy isn't judgment, the controversy that is brought up in front of the Athenians is the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Because if Jesus rose from the dead, then everything that he said is true.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus rose from the dead, then he is Lord.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus rose from the dead, then what we talked about last week, then Jesus is King.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus rose from the dead, then repentance is necessary.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus rose from the dead, then eternity is real.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus rose from the dead, then everything changes.
SPEAKER_01: Everything changes.
SPEAKER_01: I have a friend, a friend, a dear friend who I pray for daily who is not following Jesus, and we've had many, many gospel conversations.
SPEAKER_01: And he I've shared this before.
SPEAKER_01: He believes that Jesus lived, that he was a good moral teacher, that he was a good guy.
SPEAKER_01: He even believes that Jesus died on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: But what he can't get past is the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: He cannot get past the empty tomb.
SPEAKER_01: He cannot get past that this man, Christ Jesus, rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, that is critical.
SPEAKER_01: That is a critical piece for us to get.
SPEAKER_01: Because if Jesus rose from the dead, then everything changes.
SPEAKER_01: And that is the hands that is forced in Athens.
SPEAKER_01: So three responses emerge.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at them quickly.
SPEAKER_01: First, some mock.
SPEAKER_01: Some mock.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 32, some mock.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the text says.
SPEAKER_01: The Greeks had no category for bodily resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: To them, resurrection sounded absurd.
SPEAKER_01: And if we're being honest, many today in culture, in KC, in the U.S.
SPEAKER_01: see the resurrection as sounding absurd.
SPEAKER_01: Because the world will tolerate a dead Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The world will tolerate a moral Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The world will tolerate a symbolic Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The world will tolerate a therapeutic Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But a risen Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: A risen Christ, that changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: So some mock, secondly, some delay.
SPEAKER_01: Some delay.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 32 also shows us that some delayed.
SPEAKER_01: They said, we will hear you again about this.
SPEAKER_01: And I think like as we do evangelism, as we do compassion ministry, as we do outreach, this is probably the most common one that I see in our context here in Kansas City, here in our neighborhood of Rosedale.
SPEAKER_01: We will hear you again about this.
SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes, maybe it's different for you, but from where I'm standing, oftentimes we don't see hostility.
SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes we don't see outright rejection.
SPEAKER_01: What I often see is postponement.
SPEAKER_01: I'll get to figuring out who this Jesus guy is someday.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe later.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe after college, I'll get plugged into the church and I'll start following this Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe after I get married, me and my new spouse will start following Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe after I get my life together, I'm a mess right now.
SPEAKER_01: I can't come to Christ right now.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's after I finish this tough season I've been in.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, can I just tell you that this is how I lived much of my life?
SPEAKER_01: Like I wasn't an atheist.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't militant to Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: I was just delaying.
SPEAKER_01: I was, for all intents and purposes, an agnostic.
SPEAKER_01: Like I believed there was a God, but it was an unknown God, like the Athenians had.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't outright reject God, but it was this idea of like, hey, I'll get to this Christian thing, this Christian faith, the way of Jesus, I'll get to it someday.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe once I grow up, I get a little older, I stop, you know, living my wild teenage and early 20 years.
SPEAKER_01: That's how I lived much of my life.
SPEAKER_01: But what I know today is truth, and why I'm so passionate about this is that I know that the problem is that later is not promised.
SPEAKER_01: Later is not promised.
SPEAKER_01: Come to Christ now.
SPEAKER_01: Don't delay.
SPEAKER_01: That some believed.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 34, some men joined him and believed.
SPEAKER_01: Luke names two people.
SPEAKER_01: Dionysius and Demaris.
SPEAKER_01: One who is connected to the Areopagus, and one, a woman in a culture that often marginalized women.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel reaches both the insider and the outsider.
SPEAKER_01: The powerful and the overlooked.
SPEAKER_01: Luke records it as a victory.
SPEAKER_01: There's only two names mentioned, and Luke records it as a victory.
SPEAKER_01: Not because thousands responded to the gospel, but because anyone responded.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel does not fail when crowds don't gather.
SPEAKER_01: No, the gospel succeeds when one sinner believes.
SPEAKER_01: Every person in Athens was searching for something.
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's fair to say that every person in this room is searching for something.
SPEAKER_01: So the question then becomes is whether you've found what you're searching for.
SPEAKER_01: The Athenians, they built an altar to an unknown God.
SPEAKER_01: And many people today still do this.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe what I want you to do where you're sitting, close your eyes, pray this, ask the Lord to reveal this to you.
SPEAKER_01: Where, to who or to what are you building an altar?
SPEAKER_01: To who or to what are you building an altar?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's an altar to money.
SPEAKER_01: Are you building an altar chasing after finances?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's an altar to pleasure.
SPEAKER_01: Are you building an altar to substances?
SPEAKER_01: To different sins that you can fall into that are giving you short-term pleasure?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's an altar to politics.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's an altar to self.
SPEAKER_01: Are you the lowercase G God of your own life?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's an altar to success.
SPEAKER_01: Are you building an altar to success in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's an altar to uh being well liked by others, to popularity or just fitting in.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, whatever it is for you, what I want you to hear this morning is that none of these things can save you.
SPEAKER_01: None of them can forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: None of them can conquer death.
SPEAKER_01: None of them can conquer the grave.
SPEAKER_01: But the good news is that Jesus can.
SPEAKER_01: And the risen Christ now calls all people everywhere to repent and believe.
SPEAKER_01: Because he is not far away.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what you've been walking through, no matter what you've been feeling, Christ is not far away.
SPEAKER_01: In him, it is in him that you live, it is in him that you move, it is in him that you have your very being.
SPEAKER_01: And today he's calling you home.
SPEAKER_01: So may our response not be to mock.
SPEAKER_01: May our response not be to delay.
SPEAKER_01: May our response be to believe and follow the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Church family, will we be a people who turn from our idols and turn to Christ?
SPEAKER_01: And will we be marked as finding the God that we've been looking for all along?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're gonna close in worship and I want you to spend some time considering these things.
SPEAKER_01: If there's something you need to repent for or pray for, or a brother or sister that you're praying for, the altar as always is open.
SPEAKER_01: You can come to the front and pray.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you if you're like, hey, today I want to receive this Christ, then come grab me.
SPEAKER_01: I'd love to talk with you about what that looks like.
SPEAKER_01: I'll pray and then let's close and worship.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, we love you, we praise you, we thank you for this day.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you that you are the God who is near, that your son Jesus has drawn near, has died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that that truth would transform us, transform the way we live, that we would be a people who follow the way of Jesus and push back darkness together.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your Holy Spirit that now indwells us.
SPEAKER_01: We love you, we praise you.
SPEAKER_01: It's in the mighty name of Jesus I pray.
SPEAKER_01: And all God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
SPEAKER_00: Join us Sundays at 10 30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: in the Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City.
SPEAKER_00: Or find us anytime at the wake-c.church.