Monday, April 20

Monday

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. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.  Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 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. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.   - Acts 17:16-21

In 1941, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was invited to preach at Oxford University to a mostly student congregation. After the message, there was a question and answer time. Dr. Lloyd-Jones later learned that the first student to venture a question was studying law and was one of the leaders of the Oxford debating society. He got up and with all the polish of a debater, said that he had much enjoyed the sermon, but that it left one great difficulty or perplexity in his mind. He really could not see how the sermon, which he admitted was well constructed and well presented, might not equally well have been delivered to a congregation of farm laborers or any- one else. Then he sat down, as the crowd roared with laughter. 

Dr. Lloyd-Jones responded that he really could not see the questioner’s difficulty. He admitted that he had regarded under- graduates and indeed graduates of Oxford University as being just ordinary common human clay and with precisely the same needs as farm laborers. He went on to quote Martin Luther, who said, “When I preach I regard neither doctors nor magistrates, of whom I have above forty in the congregation. I have all eyes on the servants, maids and the children. And if the learned men are not well pleased with what they hear, well, the door is open.” 

If the thought of sharing the gospel with intellectuals intimidates you, then Paul’s sermon to the philosophers of Athens should both encourage and instruct you. He was at Athens, not by his plans, but because he was waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him.  As he strolled around the city, his spirit was provoked by the abundance of idols that he saw. One early observer said that you were more likely to meet a god in Athens than a man, and it was statistically true. It is estimated that there were about 30,000 idols in the city, but only 20,000 people when Paul visited there. 

It is fascinating to me that Paul was not planning to preach the gospel in Athens, but he could not help himself!  He simply could not keep silent when he saw all of the lost souls and false religion in the city.  How could he in a place full of people pursuing countless false gods and not tell them about the one true God?

Consider these questions for a moment...

What provokes your spirit when you observe the culture around you today?

Are you provoked and/or disturbed by politics, the economy, health care, etc., or are you deeply moved by the fact all around you are people who seeking God in all the wrong places?

Jeff Frazier