August 19 2007 Reading: Acts 17.16-34

Theme: The good news of Jesus Christ

What an opportunity. Athens. !

For Paul it must have come as an answer to many hopes and prayers.

He had arrived in Athens, and was in lodgings there, waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him. It had been a pretty difficult couple of weeks back in Berea, away up in northern Greece, in Thessalonika. It wasn’t that the folks in the synagogue in Berea had caused trouble for Paul, and Silas and Timothy – no - on the contrary, they had carefully read and re-read the passages in the Old Testament that Paul had referred to, and there had been long, and deep and rich discussions about Jesus the Redeemer. In Berea, things had unfolded in surprising, unexpected ways through God’s grace – and they were still unfolding when some Jewish agitators arrived – disrupting the discussions, spreading rumours, and stirring up opposition. Berea went from being a place where Paul, Silas and Timothy could speak about the gospel freely, to a difficult, tense situation. This is why Paul was in Athens, ahead of Silas and Timothy – waiting for them.

But now – what, there now seemed to be many opportunities ! First, Paul had had chance to preach in the great synagogue in Athens. His hearers listened intently. Not only that, but in the big bustling local market square, as bustling as the High Street in the festival here, Paul was able to preach from the steps of one of the buildings about Jesus. There too, a crowd gathered to listen as he spoke. At the end, some of those with an interest in philosophy stayed behind to argue with him. What an opportunity, however, when some of those who were listening in the crowd came to him privately afterwards and asked Paul if he would like to come to a private conference the following week up at the Areopagus – this was a building up on Mars Hill, a small hall, with a select debating group of thirty members - and speak there. Tell us about your new teaching – they said – these things you say, what do they mean ?

What an opportunity ! Here Paul has been invited to speak at one of the great centres in the ancient world for discussion, debate, the exchange of ideas.

Here, surely was a great opportunity to speak of the message of Jesus – Paul knows, of course, that while some will be opposed to what he says, some sceptical – there might be those who are open to what he has to say, in God’s grace.

The question, it seems, on Paul’s mind was how best to communicate the gospel – ? would he adapt what he says for the audience at the Areopagus, to speak in a way they would understand ? or to declare the gospel directly, in all its fullness – the message of Jesus Christ.

What is that message ? Well, looking at Paul’s letter to the Romans, we find there the gospel that Paul preached, the message he proclaimed. And in Romans we find that this is first a message about the human situation. Where men and women have been created by a loving God, created to find life in Him – where men and women were made to be in a relationship with God, to know Him, to love Him as a Father – humankind has turned its back on Him. Men and women try to live instead out of their own wisdom. What Paul declares is that human beings are turned in on themselves, forgetful of God – this situation the Bible describes as sin.

What takes the place of the life with God that human beings were made for ? What has filled the void ? What fills the emptiness ? Well Paul invites us to have a look around us and see. The destruction, and sorrow, the misery of life lived without God. Life lived - closed in by sin and death.

The root problem of our situation, Paul declares in Romans, is that we have turned our backs on the living God.

But there is an answer to this situation. The good news of Jesus Christ.

And at the heart of this good news is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In His unique, loving, holy life Jesus shows us what perfectly lived human life is. Looking at Jesus we see His life lived in loving, full fellowship with God, in a life that flows out in sacrifice for others - in love and care for others. That sacrifice for others is continued at the cross. Where, in His death, Jesus lays aside the old human life - the old sinful human life – that rejects God. Jesus lays aside the old sinful life, by giving Himself, offering Himself, for us, breaking the power of sin in human life. Jesus’ resurrection means a new beginning. It is a new beginning because Jesus no longer lives under the power of sin – no longer lives in the shadow of death. He now lives to share life in God with us. This is good news !

But - Paul sees the death and resurrection of Jesus as a universal change in the history of the world. For Paul, in the death and resurrection of Jesus a new era has opened up. Instead of the old era under the power of sin and death – a new order of human life has dawned in Jesus, life marked by grace and faith.

The old era riddled with human deceit, injustice and ungodliness now has in its midst men and women open to trust in the living God, through Jesus.

Paul proclaims that in Jesus Christ, we move from night to day,

death to life, from the old human life to the new – and this is life offered to all men and women in all times and in all places. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus – there is rescue, as Paul says, ‘from this evil age’.

That’s Paul’s message.

So, when it came to the great hall of the Areopagus – what did Paul say ? From reading Acts 17, it seems that he decided to adapt the gospel for this sophisticated, philosophical audience, in a way they could understand. Paul began by complementing his hearers on the fact that they were very religious. He went on to speak of God, who has created all of human life – beginning with Adam. God looks for human beings to seek Him – and He is close at hand. God will judge the world by ‘the man He has appointed’ who has risen from the dead. Yet, before he could finish, he was interrupted it seems. Someone made a comment, and others asked if the discussion could be continued on another day. One commentator says that at this point, what Paul had said “would seem entirely fruitless”, were it not for that last verse, verse 39. Which tells us that a few believed, along with Dionysius, one of the thirty who listened, and a woman called Damaris, or Damalis.

Why should this this account in Acts of Paul’s preaching of the gospel in Athens be of interest to us today ? Well, while it seemed to have been less succesful, there was still fruit, Dionysius, Damaris and a few others. In committing himself to God for the sake of the good news of Jesus Christ – Paul had found a place where people were prepared to listen.

The difference today is that where Paul went to Athens, the Areopagus, to speak to the cynical, the sceptical, the amused, the indifferent….. and the interested. It’s the other way round for us - Athens has come to us, the cynical, the sceptical, the amused, the indifferent surround us. But the task is the same as Paul’s in Athens – to find those longing, hungering for good news.

And what Paul’s preaching at the Areopagus tells us is that he was able to preach the gospel in truthful speech and in the power of God… as he says in Corinthians. And as Paul’s letters show, perhaps one result of what happened in Athens is that from then on he put the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

decisively at the centre of his speaking, his preaching, his prayer, his life. In those wonderful words of 1 Corinthians 2.2 ‘we preach Christ and Him crucified’ .

There are no easy answers in our situation – or for the situation the whole Church finds itself in. But I believe we must continue to offer the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ for - like those few in Athens – there are still men and women who will receive the gospel as life giving good news of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But this also means that for us, a God-given task today lies in deepening our understanding, and recovering the heart of the gospel – which is Christ and Him crucified. This also means that our God-given task today lies in putting the cross, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at the centre of our speaking, our prayer, our thinking and our life.

AMEN.