The Word Made Plain

Guest (Female): Welcome to the Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 17, verses 16 through 21.

Tony Clark: Acts chapter 17. Father, thank You. Thank You so much for this tremendous privilege to study Your word, to sit at Your feet. Lord, we pray that You speak to us. Lord, grab our hearts. Lord, I pray change us, make us more like You, Lord. We need You. We're in desperate times now. And so God, I just pray that Your spirit would teach us the word of God. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Acts 17, looking at verses 16 to 21. The title of this message is American Idols Part 1. Now, an idol is defined as an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship. You have heard me define an idol as anyone or anything that we place before our relationship with God, that we give our time, talent, and treasures to. This is our God. This is the subject of these verses.

Now by way of background, Paul and Silas were secretly sent out of the city of Thessalonica because of a mob that wanted to kill them in verse 5. They ended up in the city of Berea where they were more open-minded to the things of God according to verse 11. After many people accepted Christ in verse 12, the unbelieving Jews from Thessalonica heard about what was going on in Berea, came there in verse 13 and stirred up the people. And once again Paul had to leave town and he came to the city of Athens according to verse 15.

Now let's see what happened once he got there. Look what it says there in verse 16. "Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols." Now Paul waited for them in Athens. The "them" refers to Silas and Timothy that he requested in verse 15 that they would meet him in Athens with all speed or quickly.

Now the background on Athens, an incredible city. Athens was in a period of decline at this particular time, though still recognized as a center of culture and education. The city was given over to a cultured paganism that was nourished by idolatry and philosophy. In its heyday several centuries before Christ, it had been the greatest city in the world. Socrates, his brilliant student Plato, and Plato's student Aristotle, perhaps the greatest and most influential philosophers of all time, they taught there.

So did Epicurus, the founder of Epicureanism, and Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, two dominant philosophies at this particular time. By Paul's day, Corinth had replaced Athens as the most important political and commercial center in Greece. Athens was also the home of the world's most famous university where almost every god in existence was worshipped.

The pagan writer Petronius sarcastically wrote that it was easier to find a god in Athens than a man. Every public building was dedicated to a god and statues of god filled the city. And this is the background and the setting of Athens when Paul arrived there. Now, how did he react to being in such a city? Verse 16 says that he was provoked as he waited on Silas and Timothy to arrive there.

The Greek word for provoked is paroxyno and it means to become angry or infuriated. The question is: what caused Paul to become so angry and infuriated where this verse says he was provoked within himself? He saw that the city was given over to idols. I wonder how do you feel when you drive through this city? Are you numb to what is going on? You hear about the shootings, the robberies, the stabbings. As you drive through, you see buildings and monuments erected for this and that and the other. How do you feel when you drive through this city or the city that you live in?

Or maybe you're just indifferent to it. You just don't care. Maybe you're numb and it's just another shooting, another killing, another robbery, another break-in. Or are you provoked like Paul? Now why was he so angry that this city was given over to idols? Here's the reason why. Because Romans 1:23 says idolatry robs God of His glory. Sometimes I ride through Newport News and I ask the Lord how many of these people in these vehicles that are passing by me really know You as the Lord and Savior?

How many of these people are lost? How many of these people are going to hell? Does things like that even cross your mind as you drive through this city or the city that you live in? Oh, it crossed the mind of the Apostle Paul and it provoked him from within. Look what it says there in verse 17. "Therefore, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the Gentile worshippers in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there."

Now, Paul was not a man to remain idle when he waited. As was his custom, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the Gentile worshippers. The Greek word for reasoned is dialegomai and it means to say thoroughly or to discuss in an argument or dispute. It is where we get our English word dialogue. And when Paul wasn't in the synagogue reasoning with the people there, he went to the marketplace daily and talked to those who happened to be there.

In other words, Paul did some street witnessing as he was waiting on Silas and Timothy to get there. This marketplace was the famous agora where all of the great philosophers taught and met. Look what it says in verse 18. "Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, 'What does this babbler want to say?' Others said, 'He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,' because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection."

Now, as the city of Athens made an impact on Paul, it looks like he had an impact on the people there. I was wondering about this as I was going over my notes. I was wondering: are we making an impact on the people around us? Do we make an impact? I wonder: are we making an impact on the world or the world's making an impact on us? As I look at the church here in America, we're not making a dent in this world in many cases, but the world is definitely making a dent on us.

The church is looking more and more like the world, sounding more and more like the world, living more and more like the world. Here Paul made an impact on these people because certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. The Greek word for encountered is symballo and it means to converse, to ponder, or to dispute. Once they heard the gospel message from Paul, which is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they mocked Paul.

They mocked him sarcastically asking, "What does this babbler have to say?" Now, this is an amazing word. The word babbler is an amazing word. The Greek word is spermologos and it means seed picker. It was used to describe a bird pecking indiscriminately at seeds in a barnyard. It became used to describe someone who picked up scraps of ideas here and there and passing them off as profound truth.

Oh, what an incredible definition. America is filled with seed pickers, with what I call quilt theology. A quilt is a blanket that has patches of fabric that are sewn together. Many people we encounter here in America, they have quilt theology. This country is nothing more but filled with a bunch of seed pickers. They have a little Christianity mixed with Hinduism and Buddhism. Oh, let me just bring it on closer to home because many of you, I believe, have been saying the same thing. And what I mean by a little Christianity and some Hinduism is talking about karma.

That's Hinduism. There was a girl on Facebook from my hometown and she loves the Lord, but she just kept using that term about karma's going to get you back, you do what you do to others going to come back on you, and all this. And finally, I was provoked within myself. I couldn't help it. I had to correct her. I said, "Karma, that's Hinduism." Now, if you want a biblical understanding: whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. That's biblical.

But karma is Hinduism. Talking about reincarnation: "I wonder what I was before this life." Cut it out. There are seed pickers throughout America with a little Christianity. What I mean by that is believing in heaven, but definitely no hell. The only attribute they believe is God's love and His forgiveness. That is it. Not in His holiness or His wrath against sin. No, they're just seed pickers, picking and choosing, grabbing a fabric from Christianity and a fabric from Hinduism and Buddhism and all this sort of stuff.

And they sew them together and then we meet up with them. And then they spout out their quilt theology. It blows me away. They're nothing but seed pickers. They're everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. And I believe that some of you are here in this church today because of the internet. Oh, help us, Lord. Seed pickers fill our very country, picking up ideas, scraps of ideas from websites and sew them together and then everybody you come in contact with is now an expert.

Expert on God. An expert on how a pastor is to pastor a church. I said, "How dare you think you can tell a pastor how to pastor a church and you've never pastored one." Oh, people were real quiet on social media when I put that up there. But everybody is an expert. There is a cultured paganism like in Athens. People bring their culture, their upbringing, what their culture is known for and they sew that into their theology as well.

Oh, I see this so often. People will fight for their race, fight for their culture and get mad with a vein popping out of the forehead and neck. And all it is is quilt theology. Seed pickers. No different than it was in Athens. A cultured paganism filled the city and America is filled with it today. The Epicureans, who were followers of Epicurus who lived from 341 to 270 BC, they believed that the chief purpose for living was pleasure and happiness.

If God existed, He didn't interfere in human affairs. Epicureans are similar to our modern-day materialists and hedonists, which America is filled with. We encounter these people all the time. Many Americans live for pleasure and happiness. And they make statements like this to let you know that you are a modern-day Epicurean. They make statements like this: "If God exists, He would want me to be happy, right?"

Or today's Epicureans say, "Well, I have to start looking out for me and my happiness." Are you an Epicurean? Normally, people say this after a breakup of a relationship, a breakup of a marriage, and you endured some things, and now your Epicurean philosophy out of abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, it comes out: "It's time for me to look out for me now. It was all about this husband, it was all about these kids, it was all about this. Now, I got to look out for me." You're Epicurean. Out of the abundance of your heart your mouth is speaking, showing that you bought into an Epicurean philosophy.

And see, there are many people just like the Epicureans looking for happiness, trying to seek happiness in a spouse, trying to seek happiness in a career, or in a home and cars, material things. Remember, the Epicureans were the modern-day materialists today. And people trying to seek happiness: "If only I had this job or this career. If I lived in this home and had these cars, then I will find happiness."

If so, then you're Epicurean. Just know Epicureanism will never get you to heaven. Never, never. Don't seek happiness. Oh, don't miss this statement. This is worthy to be repeated on social media. Don't seek happiness, seek holiness. See, and holiness is found in Jesus Christ and not in things, careers, or relationships. Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added to you."

When we seek God and His kingdom first, then the happiness we are longing for will be added to us because we're seeking the only one who can satisfy, and that is Jesus Christ. The Stoic philosophers, on the other hand, because you remember Paul encountered the Epicurean and Stoic philosopher. The Stoic philosophers, on the other hand, saw self-mastery as the greatest virtue. They believed self-mastery comes from being indifferent to both pleasure and pain, reaching the place where one feels nothing.

For example, we see monks and extreme martial artists and fitness gurus and all these folks right here. You've seen many videos where many of these monks or these extreme martial artists and they're there in their position, got their arms out and they're breaking sticks over their arm or kicking them in the private area and they don't feel any pain. That's Stoic philosophy. Solomon said that there's nothing new under the sun. It's not some new thing. This was Stoic philosophy.

The philosophers here thought that Paul seemed to be a proclaimer of foreign gods. However, Paul preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. This seems to imply that the philosophers must have thought that Paul's use of the Greek word for resurrection, which is anastasis, was the proper name of a goddess. They thought this anastasis god is foreign to us. "We've never heard anything about her before." And they misunderstood him. He used that as the Greek word for resurrection.

They thought it was a proper name of some god because they worshipped so many gods. Everything was a god. So this anastasis must be a god. And they say, "You seem to be proclaiming to us some foreign strange god." Paul, that was not what he was doing. Look at verses 19 to 21. "And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus saying, 'May we know what this new doctrine in which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean.'"

For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Now as we can see, when they heard Paul talk about Jesus and the resurrection, they took him to the Areopagus which had been the judicial and legislative seat of government of Athens. It was their council or court. This area is commonly called Mars Hill, which was a low hill near the Acropolis. It was the court that condemned Socrates.

They believed that Socrates' philosophy was negatively influencing the youth of the day. And so they condemned him. It was here that they condemned him and Socrates was later poisoned to death. Now, this Mars Hill had an elevation of 337 feet high. And by Paul's day, their responsibility involved overseeing certain areas of religion and education. So they wanted to know in verse 19, what new doctrine is this that you are speaking about?

They continue in verse 20 by saying, "You're bringing some strange things to our ears." It is funny how they wanted to hear this "new doctrine" from Paul. Man is always fascinated with hearing something new. Let me say this. I've said it many times before. It's an old saying, but yet it is true. If it is true, it isn't new. And if it's new, it's probably not true. What the people of Athens needed was what we need here in America, and not something new per se.

We need to return to the truths of the Bible and be reminded of what it says and be exhorted to obey them. So if you're looking for some new truth, some new teaching, some new book that will unlock the mystery of spirituality, you will be on a wild goose chase. Paul warned in Second Timothy 4 and verse 3 that in the last days people will not endure sound doctrine, but heap up for themselves teachers who will tickle their ears with some strange new doctrine. We're living in such days.

Luke the author tells us in verse 21 that the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. America is no different. It reminds me of what Paul said in Second Timothy and 3 verse 7: always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Why? Because the truth is in Jesus. Jesus said himself in John 14 verse 6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father except through Me."

And our society has said we don't want Jesus Christ and Christianity in our nation. America is saying what the people in Jesus's day said of Him in Luke 19 and verse 14: "We will not have this man to reign over us." Now what did Paul say to them? Well, you got to wait until next week. Because he had a whole mouthful to say to them. Now, let me conclude with this. American Idols. Yes, America has idols just like the city of Athens.

But the real question is: do you have idols in your own life? What have you been placing in front of God in church? It is definitely time to lay our idols down and get serious about and notice the word I'm using get serious about cultivating a relationship with Jesus Christ. When you want to have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, you cultivate that relationship. You want to spend time with them. You want to get to know them. You want to know about their history, how they were brought up, what city were they brought up in?

Did they have both parents in the home growing up? You cultivate that. So the next day you're calling and you're talking some more. You want to spend time with each other. You want to go to the movies and go and get something to eat. And you're just cultivating that relationship with that person. I wonder: are you cultivating a relationship with Jesus Christ? Or has Jesus Christ become just this thing that you do whenever you are not too busy?

And here it is. We need to cultivate. And before we can cultivate that relationship, we have to lay down our idols. Remember, an idol can be anything it can be like we learned in school a noun, a person, place, or thing. Whatever it is in your life, you need to lay it down and start cultivating a relationship with Jesus Christ by daily reading the word, praying, church attendance, committing your life to Him or recommitting your life to Him.

And not allowing the world to squeeze us into its mold. This is what the word says in Romans 12:2. It says, "And be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The word conformed there in the Greek is an amazing word. It's syschematizo. It's where we get our word schematic from. It's a pattern of things. And don't let the world squeeze you into its schematic. Don't let the world squeeze you into its pattern.

And it seeks to do that. And that's why Paul said, "Be not conformed." The not there is passive, meaning that it's something that we are allowing to be done to us. We have to stop allowing the world to squeeze us into its mold. And this is why the American church looks more like American society instead of like Jesus Christ. Oh, may God help us.

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