The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): 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 Bible to Acts chapter 17, verses 22 through 25.

Tony Clark: Since the Athenians were so religious and superstitious that they made an altar to the unknown god, just in case they forgot one and their misfortune could be attributed to offending this unknown god or their lack of blessing could be because they offended this unknown god. Now, let me give you the history of this. This started 600 years before Paul, when a terrible plague came on the city of Athens and a man named Epimenides had an idea.

He let loose a flock of sheep through the town, and wherever they lay down, they sacrificed that sheep to the god that had the nearest shrine or temple. If a sheep lay down near no shrine or temple, they sacrificed the sheep to the unknown god. Archaeological finds have shown many such altars with the inscription, "To the Unknown God." Paul was not endorsing this god but using it as a point of entry to preach the gospel.

Now, Paul gives us a beautiful example of how to talk to people about Jesus Christ. He gives us three steps to sharing Jesus Christ. Number one, he first took time to consider the objects of their worship. Number two, then he acknowledged that they were very religious. Number three, then he used this common ground as a way to talk to them about Jesus Christ. Paul didn't consider the objects of their worship and use it to bash or degrade them for being idol worshippers.

He acknowledged that they were religious, and I'm sure Paul was thinking, "These people are misguided, but they are religious." What was the result of Paul doing this? He had their undivided attention. I wonder if this is the reason why we end up in arguments; it's because we don't take this approach. Now, I am learning this. I have not learned this yet. I'm in the process, so you're listening to someone that's on the journey of learning this.

We must remember that the ultimate goal is to present people with the gospel of Jesus Christ and how He came to this earth to die on the cross for our sins, to forgive us, to set us free from the power and the penalty of sin, and to take us to heaven with Him. If we start off insulting them, making fun of what they believe in, which I am very good at, or degrading them, no wonder we end up in arguments with people. Learn from me. This is not the way to get people's undivided attention.

I was very good, and let me tell you something, I still am with making you feel stupid over some of the stuff you may believe. My background is apologetics, giving a defense of the Christian faith, and I would just make you feel dumb. I would do like what my mother used to say, "Now, that was just dumb." I would just degrade you over what you believed. Let me give you an example. I mentioned it in the first service, so let me just carry it on the second.

When I was in California, when I was in my 20s, my mind was very sharp at that time. There were those who would come, and they would peddle their books. One of their books they would peddle, they would say, "This is the word of God. The way that you will know this is the word of God, when you read it, God will give you a burning in your bosom as confirmation that this book is the word of God." And I would look at them and say, "Burning in the bosom? That could have been from that pizza you had last night."

See, that's what I used to do. I would make them feel stupid over believing such burning in the bosom. It's funny, I used to train people to defend the faith against such. This same guy met one of the guys that was in my class, and he mentioned something about, "Read this book and you'll have a burning in your bosom." He said, "Burning? That could have been from pizza you had last night. Do you know Tony Clark?" I used to make people feel dumb for believing such idiotic stuff, but that's not the way to do it.

Here's the thing. Don't miss this. I would win the argument but lose the soul. I would comfort myself in the fact that I won that argument, but they would leave no closer to Jesus than when they came to me. So, learn from me. Paul is showing us how to do it, and he had a captive audience. The end of verse 23 says, "Therefore," or as a result of you having an altar to the unknown god, Paul said, "the one whom you worship without knowing Him, I proclaim to you."

In other words, Paul was saying, "If you don't know Him, how can you worship Him? If you don't know Him, how can He help you?" Paul is saying, "I'm about to introduce you to this unknown god." Now, I don't believe that we as Americans know God. Oh yes, we know about God, but we don't know Him. We know God as a cosmic divine Santa Claus who's going to give us goodies on spiritual Christmas. We know God as a cosmic divine genie in a lamp that we rub our magic lamp of faith and out he pops and says, "What are your three wishes?"

We know God that way, but we don't know God. We know God as a God of love, but that is it—a God of love that happens to overlook or winks at our sin. That's not the God of the Bible. We know God as a God of love, and He's never going to be a God who would create hell and definitely we're not going there. I've had atheists and agnostics as well, who would say, "Well, I don't believe that the God I serve is a God of love. I don't believe He would ever send me to hell." I said, "You're right. Your god would never send you to hell because your god doesn't exist. You made him up in your own mind to suit your sin." That's what you've done.

I am confessing my faults to you all right now. That is not the approach anymore. That used to be the approach, but that's not the approach anymore. We don't know God; we don't know the God of the Bible. I believe that here in America, we're worshipping the unknown god. It's a god that's foreign from Christianity of the past. It's a god that's foreign to the New Testament here, to the Bible that we hold in our hands. I don't think we as Americans really know God.

We know about God, so we live in a culture that we now have to introduce to the unknown god because they think they know God, but they don't. They know about God. That's why they only say things like, "Well, God is a God of love," or they will only acknowledge Matthew 7:1 and that little part that says, "Judge not." See, that's all they know, so they don't know God. They don't know that there's a verse 2 after Matthew 7:1, and a verse 2, and a verse 3, and it keeps going.

So, I think we as Americans know about God but we don't know God. Paul is saying, "This unknown god, I'm about to introduce you to him." Look at verses 24 and 25. He says, "God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshipped with men's hands as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life and breath and all things."

Now, in this message that he is giving the Athenians—which is similar to the one he gave to the people of Lystra in Acts 14:15-17 where they eventually stoned him—Paul will share four basic truths about God. Number one, the greatness of God; He is Creator. We see this in verse 24. Number two, the goodness of God; He is Provider. We see this in verse 25. Number three, the government of God; He is Ruler. We see this in verses 26 to 29. Number four, the grace of God; He is Savior. We will see this in verses 30 to 34.

We're only going to get to the first two today. Number one, the greatness of God is seen in verse 24; He is Creator. Notice how Paul knew his audience, that he didn't give them Old Testament scriptures or quote from Jewish prophets. These Greeks didn't know these things. Whenever Paul was talking to the Greeks, he always talked to them about God being the Creator. Why? Because everyone in the history of mankind is wondering, "Where did I come from? Why am I here? And where am I going?"

Science tried to answer the first question: "Where did I come from?" They came up with a theory of evolution that now they are promoting as truth. It was a theory; now it's truth, popularized by Darwin's *Origin of Species* book of 1830. Today, they even gone even more bizarre. They just say we evolved from nothing. It used to be we evolved from apes or monkeys. No, we evolved from nothing. Or here it is, brace yourself, or nothing created everything, which Richard Dawkins, a well-known atheist, came up with, which is scientifically illogical.

If I can quote my precious mother, "That's just dumb." When Richard Dawkins was on a panel in a debate about evolution and creation, and when he said, "Nothing created everything," the audience started laughing. He was startled by this. He says, "Why are you laughing?" The Christian who was defending the faith against this evolutionary thought said, "They're laughing at the scientifically illogical statement you just made, that nothing created everything. That is... my mom said that's just dumb." Which it is. How can that be?

It goes against the first law of science, which says life arises from life. They either ignore this law or try to explain it away because to acknowledge it means that they have to admit that a life or Creator started all of this, something they don't want to acknowledge. This is why they came up with the illogical statement that nothing created everything. Just think about that. To me, that is intellectual suicide to believe such illogical, that nothing created all this.

A builder had a builder, a painting had a painter, a design had a designer, but creation doesn't have a creator? I told my atheist friend this, and it just went right over his head. I said, "Do you not get that? That's just like looking at Picasso and just saying, 'Hey, guess what? One day there was an explosion of paint colors and all of a sudden it just formed this picture here.'" Stop with that. That's the same thing you're saying, that this great creation just one day there was an explosion.

You still can't tell me who started the explosion. Where did that come from? Who triggered that? Who set these things in motion? It's intellectual suicide. Only the Christian faith gives us satisfactory answers to all three of these important questions: "Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going?" Only the Christian faith. Now, the Epicureans were atheists and the Stoics believed that everything was God, so they were pantheists.

Paul comes and boldly tells them in verse 24, "In the beginning, God." He made the world and everything in it. He is Lord of all He made. He is too great to be housed in temples made with hands, the end of verse 24 says. However, God is not too great that He is not concerned with man's needs. Let me just pause right here and say that God cares and is concerned about what you and I are concerned about.

First Peter 5:7 says casting all your care upon Him. Why, God? Because He cares for us. The Greek word for casting is *epiripto*, and it means to throw or to cast upon. It is where we get our English word "riptide" from. We're told to throw or to cast our cares upon God because He cares for us. "But Pastor Tony, my problems and issues, they keep coming back." Well, isn't that what a riptide does? You cast it and it comes back fast upon us like the riptide of an ocean.

What should we do? We keep casting it upon God until the waters of our lives are calm once again. Paul shows them that the unknown god was Creator in verse 24. Paul now moves to number two, the goodness of God; He is Provider. He tells them in verse 25 that this God is not known through an idol made by hands, nor does He need anything. I'm sure as Paul was saying this that they looked up at about a few hundred yards at the Acropolis, which was one of the wonders of the ancient world.

It was a magnificent temple, a spectacular temple. He said this unknown god doesn't need such temples to be worshipped, perhaps looking up at the Acropolis. He doesn't need anything, which was a subtle dig at the Greeks who taught that the gods needed humans to serve them. This would appeal to the Epicurean listeners who believed that the gods were above human events. Then Paul said at the end of verse 25 that God was the source of all life and breath and all things.

In other words, this unknown god needs nothing. This appealed to the Stoics in the crowd who were trying to align themselves with the cosmic purpose of life. Paul had no problem with talking to people on their level. He understood their culture, being educated in the city of Tarsus, his hometown, which was the educational center at this time. My point is, take the time to study and educate yourself on today's American culture, its philosophical ideas, and how we can meet on common ground and use this to introduce them to Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 15 and verse 28 says the heart of the righteous studies how to answer. This is a huge verse because the question is, do you know American culture that we live in? Watch this. Do you know American history outside of the atrocities of slavery in American history? Many of you, when you think American history, immediately your mind goes back to the atrocities of slavery. Now, I'm not saying that should not have a priority in our minds when we think American history, but American history is more than just the atrocities of slavery, how ungodly that was.

It's a blip on our history as a nation, the tomfoolery we allowed with the atrocities of slavery. However, do you know what else was going on in our country outside of that? This is time for us to study American culture. Do you know Americans' ideas and ideals today? We live in a post-Christian society that is hostile towards anything Christian and anything biblical. You got to understand, I would just say let's go back 50 years.

50 years ago, it was still somewhat politically correct to go to church. It's not like that today. When I started the church 25 years ago, it was a different America then. In just 25 years, totally different. We weren't talking about "I'm offended" and "you offended me." We weren't talking about that mess. We weren't talking like that. We would say, "So what if you're offended? Who cares? Hear this gospel, and that's what we're going to do today."

But we talk like that today. So, we have to know the culture we live in today and not be disillusioned to what we think this culture is all about. This nation is... we're going to have a different approach in talking to people. Race relations are at its worse since 50 years ago. Stuff is nuts today; stuff is nutty today. Everybody's offended, everybody's mad. Unfortunately, this is why a lot of mass shootings and stuff is going on. You can call that mental illness; you can say all you want to say about that.

Folks are just mad. They're mad. 50 years ago, many people couldn't say anything. Race relation stuff, you couldn't say anything. Boy, you go over there and you shut your mouth. Nowadays, "I ain't shut nothing. Take these bullets for this talk." Folks are angry today. Do you know how to now share the gospel with an American culture that is angry? They're angry at their daddy that left, their mama had 50 guys in and out the house. They're angry.

Do you know how to minister to them in this culture? The Bible says present the truth with love, yes, but do you know this culture? Do you know how to do it? Paul gives us some understanding because the culture of Athens is very similar to the culture of America. He could have easily said, "I've gone through the cities of America, and I've noticed these idols all around." He could have easily said that because America has idols all over the place.

We have to do what Paul is doing here and then introduce them to what they would call the unknown god. Because let me tell you something, people don't know the God of the Bible. In America, they don't know the God of the Bible. So, when we start talking about the God of the Bible, that's the unknown god to them. We have to introduce them to the unknown god and then introduce them to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This is what Paul is doing here, and we will see what else he had to say, God's will, next week. Now, let me conclude with this: American Idols, part 2. We saw how Paul took the time to consider their worship, something we must do. Consider how people are worshipping here because everybody's worshipping a god no matter what. Consider their worship. Number two, acknowledge that they are very religious. Number three, meet on common ground to start the conversation and ultimately get to Jesus Christ.

Jesus did this in John chapter 4 with the woman at the well. He started off by talking about natural water and moved it to talk about how He is spiritual water. He came to quench people's thirst, the thirst of their souls. So, you start off naturally, and you turn it spiritually. You start off by talking about the weather or sports or whatever it is—it could be the military, it could be the job that you're on—and then you look for ways to introduce Jesus Christ into that conversation.

Start off natural and move to the spiritual. Jesus did. If it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for us. If we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ, we must employ these three things that we see that Paul did here. We must study how to answer this post-Christian nation we live in. Study how to refute evolution. Do you know how to refute that? Last summer, we did a whole thing about evolution to try to help you.

We're going to continue throughout the year to constantly educate you on how to refute, because I think apologetics, which is a defense of the Christian faith, is what's needed in the church today. Not only know what you believe but why you believe it. We're going to help you with that. We got our foundations class coming up. Some of you need to get in that. You need to know what in the world you believe. You say, "I'm a Christian," but do you believe this? "No." Do you believe this? "No." Well, that's foundational Christianity.

Do you know what you believe? Do you know why you believe it? This is what we're going to help you with. And then pray that God give you the power, love, and sensitivity of the Spirit to speak the truth in love. Luke 11:13 says that you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? The power of the Holy Spirit to share the truth in love is what is needed today.

Father, thank you so much for this time You've given us. Thank you for Your word. Lord, I pray if there's anyone here who has not repented of their sin and accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, I pray that today would be the day of salvation for them. Oh, dear God, I pray, oh Lord, may they repent today and draw close to You. Draw them to You by the power of Your Spirit. God, I just pray that Your hand would be upon Your people today. Help us to be better witnesses for You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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