Sermon from Sunday 7th November 2010
Today our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches based on the reading from Acts 17: verses 16-23.
Have you heard the one about the anthropologist going to study the peoples of a far-flung tropical island? He found a local guide to take him up-river in a canoe, to where he would make his observations. On the 2nd day they began to hear drums. The anthropologist asked nervously, “What does this mean?”
The guide said, “Drums OK, but very bad when they stop.”
As they travelled on, the drums grew ever louder. The anthropologist grew ever more nervous, but the guide kept saying, “Drums OK; drums not bad. When drums stop, then very bad!'
Suddenly the drums stopped. The terrified anthropologist yelled to the guide: “The drums have stopped! What happens now?”
The guide crouched down, put his hands over his head, and said: “Guitar solo.”
OK so there's no deep spiritual point here: except perhaps that we all need help when we first encounter a foreign culture! We need to know what does happen when the drums stop, or we could be in big trouble. That principle applies to us today, as we study Paul's encounter in what appears to be such a foreign culture. Strange as this may sound, though, in some ways Athens was a more foreign for Paul than it is for us. But there are other significant cultural differences that we must grasp. Unless we do we won't understand what's going on here and why.
Having said that I don't intend to spend much time looking at cultural differences! These ones are fascinating, and we could take most of our time to examine them. But if we do we will miss the most important points from this clash of cultures, and philosophies! So, what are those most important points for us here? I'd say there are three. They don't all come directly from passage itself; but they are: 1. Instant success isn't guaranteed, not even with God; 2. That's no excuse to give up without trying; and 3. We must be willing to take the long view.
I will come back to those; but we first need to look at the story in detail. Half-term means we've had 2 weeks away from Paul and his companions – including Luke, the writer of Acts. We left them moving away from the excitements of Philippi, at the 'request' of the city leaders. That was at the end of Acts 16. Today we're picking up in the middle of chap. 17, where we find Paul in Athens, on his own. Why? Well, to put it simply, there had been more trouble! From Philippi Paul went to Thessalonica; there he preached in the synagogue as normal; and that literally caused a riot! Paul only just escaped being lynched; but other believers were arrested and punished. So they had asked Paul, Silas and co. to leave in a hurry; and they did!
Looking at the map, they went a fair distance – to Berea. Undeterred by his latest experience, Paul went to the local synagogue, to preach about Jesus. But before long word got back to Thessalonica; and a delegation of angry Jews turned up intent on causing trouble. Paul was clearly seen as the main problem this time, because he was the only one made to leave. The local believers decided to make sure this problem went a long way away. They didn't just put Paul on a boat; they got on it with him – to Athens! Again, looking at the map, Athens was a long way away. And it's possible that Paul himself wouldn't have chosen to go there then.
I know what you're thinking: this is where point 1 comes from – Instant success isn't guaranteed, even with God. But you're wrong! Think about it: aren't there letters, from Paul, to the churches – in Philippi and also Thessalonica? He didn't write to a church in Berea; but these other letters speak loud of the success of this part of Paul's journey. Years later Paul wrote to people he knew, to churches that he had founded. These were churches that had in turn grown and spread, as they had followed Paul's example, and heeded his teaching, on preaching and living the good news about Jesus. For Paul success wasn't measured by if he was or wasn't beaten, arrested, or forced to leave town. What counted was the legacy of a thriving church.
It is in fact from Paul's experiences in Athens that the 1st point comes. We didn't hear the end of this story today, and we won't next week. You'll need to read the rest of Acts 17 for yourself. Then you'll find out both more of what Paul said in the city council meeting and also just how few people responded to his preaching. And it is significant that there is no letter from Paul to the church in Athens in the NT. The evidence is that by his own measurement Paul was remarkably unsuccessful there. But instant success is not guaranteed, remember. And so this fact of Paul's apparent failure in Athens is both unsurprising and surprising at the same time.
This is where we need to grapple with some of the cultural and philosophical stuff. I'll do it as simply as I can, not least because its depths are beyond me. But I do know that Athens really was (and is) the cradle of Western civilization. That 2nd part may surprise you – but it is true: so much of what and how we think and live here today dates back to Greek philosophy from 4th Century BC on! Yes, much of it comes to us now in modern guises; but there really is little new under the sun. Our philosophical fathers are thinkers like Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. To that list add Zeno and Epicurus, founding fathers of the Stoics and Epicureans.
Those were the two main schools of philosophy that Paul encountered in Athens. And it was quite a clash! As a Jew Paul's thinking patterns were very different to Greek ways. That's why I said that Athens was more foreign to Paul than it would be to us! And he clearly wasn't impressed by what he heard – or saw – in Athens. Luke says what Paul truly thought in today's 1st verse. Not to understate it, Paul was horrified! There's a whole sermon to be preached about idols, and how we respond to them as Christians. I preached that here, on this passage, 7+ years ago. This is different, because we now need to hear another message.
As I've said, this time we're learning about: the nature of success; whether we give up without trying; and taking the long view. But next we need to focus on the cultural stuff a bit. We may recognise the underlying philosophy of Greek culture, even if we couldn't name it as such. But I'd guess most of us don't 'get' how much danger Paul was in! It sounds friendly enough to us, this invitation to speak in the Aeropagus/city council meeting. Paul received it as a result of his speaking in the market place as well as preaching in the synagogue. People in Athens spoke in the market place, so Paul joined in, and gained much attention doing so.
This wasn't a friendly invitation, though. We get a hint of that from what the philosophers called Paul: an ignorant show-off, or 'babbler'. They also accused him of preaching about foreign gods. That was a crime in Greece, for which Socrates himself was tried and punished. And there was quite a threat in how Paul was invited to speak too. The NIV is right to translate it as a question in verse 19: 'May we know what this new teaching is?' If Paul's answer had been 'No', that would have shown this was a secret society, with certain information restricted to members only – and those didn't down well in Athens.
To be clear, this was an amazing opportunity for Paul. Pitfalls and all, he was being invited to present the truth about Jesus to the leading Gentile thinkers of his day. So that's what he then did, in very clever ways intellectually and philosophically. The details of that are also now for another sermon. It's worth noting now though, that Paul began at a point his hearers recognised. He chose something they already knew: that altar to an unknown God. Even in his summary of what Paul said Luke included some of his quoting of leading Greek poets and philosophers. But what Paul went on to say was no attempt to pretend that the gospel of Jesus only needed minor variations to Greek thinking.
Rather Paul showed how radically different way this was. He even challenged 1 foundation of the Aeropagus itself. This council was based on the belief that resurrection couldn't exist: and Paul said not just that it does, but that the whole gospel hinges on it. No wonder this message met with so little enthusiasm in Athens! For the Greeks to have received Jesus would have taken a fundamental shift in their philosophy and theology; and those don't happen quickly! Not many in the Aeropagus even wanted to hear Paul speak about this again – much less came to faith that day. And so Paul didn't establish a church in Athens: he failed, then!
In many ways there couldn't have been a better man than Paul for this job. He was bright, well trained theologically and philosophically, and a fearless preacher. But even he knew that he was unlikely to get very far, if anywhere, here. It is true that even with God instant success isn't guaranteed. We need to learn that lesson with Paul as we seek to live and share the gospel here today. But we also need to see how knowing that didn't stop Paul from trying – and his best at that. Paul found access points; he identified with Greek culture; he started from where they were and tried to lead them on. He may have doubted that he would succeed in Athens. It was too much for any one person to take on; but he still tried.
Nobody can know if Paul was taking the long view here. We know that he didn't stay too long in Athens, taking on their philosophers. Whether or not he thought his job was done, or impossible, he moved on. Paul preached the gospel in the rest of Greece, and in other places, with more obvious success. But I was so struck last week by what the judge said when sentencing the woman who stabbed the MP Stephen Timms. The judge spoke of Mr Timms' Christian faith, and how that supplies the values that our common law was founded on. More than that, the judge said that they still underpin our systems of law and justice today, and must continue to do so.
And I think that we have Paul and others like him to thank for that! Paul didn't expect instant success. Even when he feared failure, he didn't not try. In time the truth he taught became part of a culture to which it was once so foreign. We too can, and must, take the long view in our preaching and living of the gospel today. We may be successful; even if we're not, we mustn't ever stop trying – because God can, and will, take our efforts, and work them into his long-term plan amazingly. So let's pray ...
Have you heard the one about the anthropologist going to study the peoples of a far-flung tropical island? He found a local guide to take him up-river in a canoe, to where he would make his observations. On the 2nd day they began to hear drums. The anthropologist asked nervously, “What does this mean?”
The guide said, “Drums OK, but very bad when they stop.”
As they travelled on, the drums grew ever louder. The anthropologist grew ever more nervous, but the guide kept saying, “Drums OK; drums not bad. When drums stop, then very bad!'
Suddenly the drums stopped. The terrified anthropologist yelled to the guide: “The drums have stopped! What happens now?”
The guide crouched down, put his hands over his head, and said: “Guitar solo.”
OK so there's no deep spiritual point here: except perhaps that we all need help when we first encounter a foreign culture! We need to know what does happen when the drums stop, or we could be in big trouble. That principle applies to us today, as we study Paul's encounter in what appears to be such a foreign culture. Strange as this may sound, though, in some ways Athens was a more foreign for Paul than it is for us. But there are other significant cultural differences that we must grasp. Unless we do we won't understand what's going on here and why.
Having said that I don't intend to spend much time looking at cultural differences! These ones are fascinating, and we could take most of our time to examine them. But if we do we will miss the most important points from this clash of cultures, and philosophies! So, what are those most important points for us here? I'd say there are three. They don't all come directly from passage itself; but they are: 1. Instant success isn't guaranteed, not even with God; 2. That's no excuse to give up without trying; and 3. We must be willing to take the long view.
I will come back to those; but we first need to look at the story in detail. Half-term means we've had 2 weeks away from Paul and his companions – including Luke, the writer of Acts. We left them moving away from the excitements of Philippi, at the 'request' of the city leaders. That was at the end of Acts 16. Today we're picking up in the middle of chap. 17, where we find Paul in Athens, on his own. Why? Well, to put it simply, there had been more trouble! From Philippi Paul went to Thessalonica; there he preached in the synagogue as normal; and that literally caused a riot! Paul only just escaped being lynched; but other believers were arrested and punished. So they had asked Paul, Silas and co. to leave in a hurry; and they did!
Looking at the map, they went a fair distance – to Berea. Undeterred by his latest experience, Paul went to the local synagogue, to preach about Jesus. But before long word got back to Thessalonica; and a delegation of angry Jews turned up intent on causing trouble. Paul was clearly seen as the main problem this time, because he was the only one made to leave. The local believers decided to make sure this problem went a long way away. They didn't just put Paul on a boat; they got on it with him – to Athens! Again, looking at the map, Athens was a long way away. And it's possible that Paul himself wouldn't have chosen to go there then.
I know what you're thinking: this is where point 1 comes from – Instant success isn't guaranteed, even with God. But you're wrong! Think about it: aren't there letters, from Paul, to the churches – in Philippi and also Thessalonica? He didn't write to a church in Berea; but these other letters speak loud of the success of this part of Paul's journey. Years later Paul wrote to people he knew, to churches that he had founded. These were churches that had in turn grown and spread, as they had followed Paul's example, and heeded his teaching, on preaching and living the good news about Jesus. For Paul success wasn't measured by if he was or wasn't beaten, arrested, or forced to leave town. What counted was the legacy of a thriving church.
It is in fact from Paul's experiences in Athens that the 1st point comes. We didn't hear the end of this story today, and we won't next week. You'll need to read the rest of Acts 17 for yourself. Then you'll find out both more of what Paul said in the city council meeting and also just how few people responded to his preaching. And it is significant that there is no letter from Paul to the church in Athens in the NT. The evidence is that by his own measurement Paul was remarkably unsuccessful there. But instant success is not guaranteed, remember. And so this fact of Paul's apparent failure in Athens is both unsurprising and surprising at the same time.
This is where we need to grapple with some of the cultural and philosophical stuff. I'll do it as simply as I can, not least because its depths are beyond me. But I do know that Athens really was (and is) the cradle of Western civilization. That 2nd part may surprise you – but it is true: so much of what and how we think and live here today dates back to Greek philosophy from 4th Century BC on! Yes, much of it comes to us now in modern guises; but there really is little new under the sun. Our philosophical fathers are thinkers like Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. To that list add Zeno and Epicurus, founding fathers of the Stoics and Epicureans.
Those were the two main schools of philosophy that Paul encountered in Athens. And it was quite a clash! As a Jew Paul's thinking patterns were very different to Greek ways. That's why I said that Athens was more foreign to Paul than it would be to us! And he clearly wasn't impressed by what he heard – or saw – in Athens. Luke says what Paul truly thought in today's 1st verse. Not to understate it, Paul was horrified! There's a whole sermon to be preached about idols, and how we respond to them as Christians. I preached that here, on this passage, 7+ years ago. This is different, because we now need to hear another message.
As I've said, this time we're learning about: the nature of success; whether we give up without trying; and taking the long view. But next we need to focus on the cultural stuff a bit. We may recognise the underlying philosophy of Greek culture, even if we couldn't name it as such. But I'd guess most of us don't 'get' how much danger Paul was in! It sounds friendly enough to us, this invitation to speak in the Aeropagus/city council meeting. Paul received it as a result of his speaking in the market place as well as preaching in the synagogue. People in Athens spoke in the market place, so Paul joined in, and gained much attention doing so.
This wasn't a friendly invitation, though. We get a hint of that from what the philosophers called Paul: an ignorant show-off, or 'babbler'. They also accused him of preaching about foreign gods. That was a crime in Greece, for which Socrates himself was tried and punished. And there was quite a threat in how Paul was invited to speak too. The NIV is right to translate it as a question in verse 19: 'May we know what this new teaching is?' If Paul's answer had been 'No', that would have shown this was a secret society, with certain information restricted to members only – and those didn't down well in Athens.
To be clear, this was an amazing opportunity for Paul. Pitfalls and all, he was being invited to present the truth about Jesus to the leading Gentile thinkers of his day. So that's what he then did, in very clever ways intellectually and philosophically. The details of that are also now for another sermon. It's worth noting now though, that Paul began at a point his hearers recognised. He chose something they already knew: that altar to an unknown God. Even in his summary of what Paul said Luke included some of his quoting of leading Greek poets and philosophers. But what Paul went on to say was no attempt to pretend that the gospel of Jesus only needed minor variations to Greek thinking.
Rather Paul showed how radically different way this was. He even challenged 1 foundation of the Aeropagus itself. This council was based on the belief that resurrection couldn't exist: and Paul said not just that it does, but that the whole gospel hinges on it. No wonder this message met with so little enthusiasm in Athens! For the Greeks to have received Jesus would have taken a fundamental shift in their philosophy and theology; and those don't happen quickly! Not many in the Aeropagus even wanted to hear Paul speak about this again – much less came to faith that day. And so Paul didn't establish a church in Athens: he failed, then!
In many ways there couldn't have been a better man than Paul for this job. He was bright, well trained theologically and philosophically, and a fearless preacher. But even he knew that he was unlikely to get very far, if anywhere, here. It is true that even with God instant success isn't guaranteed. We need to learn that lesson with Paul as we seek to live and share the gospel here today. But we also need to see how knowing that didn't stop Paul from trying – and his best at that. Paul found access points; he identified with Greek culture; he started from where they were and tried to lead them on. He may have doubted that he would succeed in Athens. It was too much for any one person to take on; but he still tried.
Nobody can know if Paul was taking the long view here. We know that he didn't stay too long in Athens, taking on their philosophers. Whether or not he thought his job was done, or impossible, he moved on. Paul preached the gospel in the rest of Greece, and in other places, with more obvious success. But I was so struck last week by what the judge said when sentencing the woman who stabbed the MP Stephen Timms. The judge spoke of Mr Timms' Christian faith, and how that supplies the values that our common law was founded on. More than that, the judge said that they still underpin our systems of law and justice today, and must continue to do so.
And I think that we have Paul and others like him to thank for that! Paul didn't expect instant success. Even when he feared failure, he didn't not try. In time the truth he taught became part of a culture to which it was once so foreign. We too can, and must, take the long view in our preaching and living of the gospel today. We may be successful; even if we're not, we mustn't ever stop trying – because God can, and will, take our efforts, and work them into his long-term plan amazingly. So let's pray ...
posted by Parish Administrator at 2:08 pm
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