Addressing the Culture

Brady Bassett

Acts • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

Acts 17:16–34

Culture

Christ and Culture

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Paul uses the culture to reach the culture in order to teach the culture.

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It’s great to be back in the book of Acts this evening and we have a really interesting passage that we will be looking at because it is in a way, really different from what we have been observing since the beginning of September. Open your Bibles up to Acts 17:16-34 and I’ll fill you in on what has been happening for Paul between now and when we were last with him in Acts 16. Paul and Silas leave Philippi after they are released from prison and they go to Thessalonica but the Jews of that city formed a mob and they basically got kicked out of town but this wasn’t until after quite a few people came to faith in Christ. Paul and Silas get sent away roughly 45 miles west to a place called Berea where they are given a welcome that every pastor dreams of: the people that they talk to actually really want to hear what they have to say and are even cross-referencing what they are talking about with the Old Testament Scriptures to make sure that what Paul and Silas are teaching is true but it isn’t long after that until the same Jews that caused so much trouble in Thessalonica make there way to Berea and do basically the same thing that they did in Thessalonica. The people that Paul was staying with recognize the danger that they are in so they send Paul off on a ship that brings him to Athens. Meanwhile, Silas and Timothy stay in Berea for a little bit to continue ministering to the people there. When we get to verse 16, Paul is safely in Athens and in a way, it seems almost like a shock to his system because of how idolatrous the city is. Let’s read these verses and then I’ll explain where I’m going with them. Acts 17:16-34

Acts 17:16–34 ESV

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. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Paul’s Approach

How does Paul approach this city that is just filled to the brim with idols and false religion? In many ways, he does it just as he has done it throughout his other journeys by reasoning with the Jews in the Synagogue and talking to people within the marketplaces about Jesus and the resurrection. The people want to know what Paul has to say because he is teaching something that they have never heard of and these people are a very knowledge heavy people. Luke even mentions in verse 21 that all the people of Athens would basically spend all of their free time talking about new thoughts and ideas so Paul is likely facing a very intelligent and philosophical group of people. Now you may not have noticed this but the way that Paul preaches to the people starting in verse 22 is unlike any other teaching that Paul does that is recorded in the book of Acts. Paul understands that the audience that he is standing before in verse 22 is different than the audience that he would teach to in the Jewish synagogue. He also recognized that these people are very religious because the town itself is very religious. However, this is a reminder that not all religion is created equally. The appearance of religion does not equate to salvation. Even the greatest Buddhist is no more saved than the hard-hearted Atheist. Just because these people from Athens look religious does not mean that they are religious where it actually will benefit them for eternity. Now Paul himself is a genius, this is something that even his enemies recognized, so he decides to speak to these philosophers and other like-minded individuals in a way that would make sense to them. He isn’t using lofty, Christianese language or Jewish language that would go over their heads, instead he speaks to what they know and he does this by addressing their culture and the things that they are familiar with. What I want to do with the time we have left is talk about Paul’s understanding of the culture, his usage of the culture, and how we too can use the culture to reach the lost with the Gospel truth.

Paul’s Understanding and use of the Culture

What is culture exactly? The definition that I found most helpful for it was that culture is: the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. I don’t know if you have noticed this or not, but we all tend to gravitate towards people that share our culture. You enjoy hanging out with people that have the same likes as you, the same morals as you, the same appreciations as you, because that is what is most familiar to you right? And chances are if I were to remove you from the culture that you have grown so used to that you would experience culture shock if we were to put you in a culture that is totally unlike your own. We may not want to admit it but the culture that you grow up in and are surrounded with is going to impact the way that you read and interpret Scripture. What I mean by this is that we within an American culture are going to read our cultural understandings into certain parts of Scripture and we are going to miss out on some important understandings because we are so unfamiliar with different cultures. Take for example one of the parables that Jesus told in the Gospel of Luke: the parable of the prodigal son. The way that we often read that as those that are enveloped with American culture is almost totally different than the way that other cultures would read it. Sure we as Americans can be very impressed with the capacity of love that the father has and we can even see the brashness and rudeness of the prodigal son but for someone that grew up in what is known as a shame or guilt culture, this story goes even deeper. To those that grow up in a guilt or shame culture, like China or Japan, a culture that places tremendous value on respect to parents and children not dishonoring or bringing shame on the family name, this parable is absolutely scandalous! The first century Jews heard this parable and were disgusted by the actions of the prodigal son. The fact that this younger son could do this heinous act to his father and then come back and ask for mercy and forgiveness is unheard of and that is just because of the culture that they find themselves in. Does our enviornment impact the way that we apply the Scriptures? Absolutely! That’s why it is so important for us to not just read the Bible as if it was written for today but to understand that it was also written at a specific time for people that lived at that certain time. Now saying that, I need to tread carefully. This does not mean that I am saying that the Bible is outdated and not as useful today as it was when it was first written. This book is as relavent, applicable, truthful, and needed today as it was in the 1st century. People have asked me how I can preach the Bible and make it relavent for teenagers today and I’ve said, “I can’t make it what it already is.” This book is as fresh and applicable today as it was thousands of years ago and that is a testimony to what God is doing in this book and I know this because I am constantly blown away when I read my Bible with how it sounds like Paul or Peter or Isaiah or whoever is writing to a 21st century audience! The Bible is absolutely needed today! Absolutely relavent today and fresh. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

There is no end date or expiration date on that reality. From cover to cover this book is worth its weight in gold. Now just because we are American does not mean that we have done something wrong. We cannot totally remove ourselves from culture. Christopher Hall from Christianity Today wrote, “We can't stop being North American or Asian, African or South American; our cultural identity and language, though warped by sin, is a gift from God. What we can do, though, is increase our awareness of the cultural and historical settings in which God has graciously and providentially placed us. And we can better appreciate—through immersion in the global Christian family.” That line that I underlined there is exactly what I believe Paul does in his speech. He has an increased awareness of the cultural and historical setting in which God had graciously and providentially placed him. How does Paul do this then? In his speech, in this sermon, which I am assuming Luke does not record the entire sermon, but in what we have before us, Paul doesn’t quote any Scripture. He doesn’t use any direct quotations from the Old Testament Scripture but he does remain truthful to what Scripture teaches. Paul isn’t compromising his message to make it more truthful for one specific audience. No, what Paul is doing is addressing the mind and cultures that the Athenian people knew and saturating what they know with what the Bible teaches. Paul addresses their culture by referring to their own religious beliefs, their own religious symbols, and even directly quotes from the people that they would be familiar with. Paul is basically saying, “Look, you have an altar to the unknown god because you are so afraid that you missed out on one but let me tell you this: I know the God that you claim to be unknowable and He has made Himself known in a remarkable way. All of this religion that you have, all these idols, all these gods, with all these things, you are missing the point! You have elements of truth in what you know but you are not seeing clearly.” And then from there he explains his beliefs through language that is familiar to them. John Stott said, “The Aeropagus address reveals the comprehensiveness of Paul’s message. He proclaimed God in his fullness as Creator, Sustainer, Ruler, Father and judge. He took in the whole of nature and of history. He passed the whole of time in review, from the creation to the consummation. He emphasized the greatness of God, not only as the beginning and the end of all things, but as the One to whom we owe our being and to whom we must give account. He argued that human beings already know these things by natural or general revelation, and that their ignorance and idolatry are therefore inexcusable. So he called on them with great solemnity, before it was too late, to repent. Now all this is part of the Gospel.” Paul is really doing what a lot of preachers struggle with. A lot of preachers, and I’ve been one of them a time or two, struggle with teaching the audience in a way that makes sense to them. It’s hard for me sometimes to not teach you guys like I’m addressing the adults or a classroom because you aren’t those people. When I go and preach at Pineview to all the really old people, it’s hard to not preach to them like they are a bunch of high schoolers. I think I’m better than what I used to be but it is something that I’m still working on. If you think I’m hard to follow now, remember when I first got started my sermons were over an hour long on Wednesday nights so y’all are getting half of that. Believe it or not, there are numerous times where God providentially uses the things that saturate our culture to point us to Him or remind us of Him. Culture and the arts can be a tremendous help for telling people about Christ because the message of the Gospel and of Scripture can be seen in so much. I had a professor in college who said that we need to use the culture to teach the culture to reach the culture. The Gospel is so key to the world that it’s underlying message can be found in all these places where we may not think it possible to find it. Let me give you an example real quick: This is a story about a father who loves his child so much that he would undergo a tremendous journey to receive this child back. This is a story about how this father goes on this journey, risks life and limb to get his lost child back and not just have him back in a physical sense, but have him back in a way that far surpassed the relationship that they had before. This is a story that stresses love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and the extent that a parent will go for their child. Now was this a parable of Jesus or was this the plot of Finding Nemo? It’s Nemo right? But how much of what I just said is netted in Gospel truth? Yes, a great journey for the lost child of God is undertaken, yes there is tremendous loss on the part of the Father to get their child back and get them back for good, yes there is a great need for reconciliation, this is the message of the Gospel! Now, I’m not saying that Pixar picked up a Bible and said, “You know what? This is great but let’s turn the characters into fish. In fact, let’s make it so close to the real story that we’ll have one character get swallowed by a whale to appease the Jonah fans!” What I am saying is that God has given us truths that are so universal that they almost naturally fit into our cultures and the things we consume and I believe that God is very intentional in doing that even though the people that produce these things may be totally unaware of it. How about this one? Here you have the story of someone who becomes hopelessly lost and makes a huge mistake and ends up imprisoned and owing a debt that could not be paid. If this debt isn’t paid, this man will die in this prison. What happens though is instead of this person who committed the offense paying off the debt or dying before the debt can be paid, someone else, someone totally innocent comes in and takes the place of that man, pays the debt that he owes and not only is the life of that person who was imprisoned changed, but a great multitude is changed by the actions and love of this one person. Now is this the message of the Gospel or is this Beauty and the Beast? Or take the example of different arts like music, music has a way of touching the hearts and souls of people in a way that is almost unrivaled. There have been times in my life where I truly believe that God was reaching out to me through music, and not even Christian music! You can have someone who is totally unsympathetic to the world that can be touched by great music or great lyrics. In a way, great music peels back the curtains of what heaven looks like. Great music opens our affections and moves something inside of us. I remember a story about a man that was an unbeliever who was on his way to kill himself and as he was walking to the bridge that he was going to jump off of, he happened to walk past the church of Martyn Lloyd-Jones and he heard the music that was coming out of their and that drew him in. He was so impressed by the music that instead of going to the bridge to kill himself, he came back again and again to hear Lloyd-Jones preach and he eventually became a Christian. God has a way of using the arts to connect to us. Use the culture to teach the culture to reach the culture. Here’s what I know, you guys may not be able to quote the Bible perfectly but you can all do what I just did. I know a lot of people who have seen movies like Beauty and the Beast or the Lord of the Rings who have not read the Bible. You can say, did you see or hear this or that? You know what that’s like? It’s a lot like what God did for us here or it is like what the Bible says here. All of you can do that! All of you are cultural creatures who see the world in certain ways and have experienced and seen certain things! Be like Paul and proclaim the truths of God in ways that people understand but don’t do it at the expense of Scripture. I know that after Paul’s speech, he would open the minds of these people to the words of Scripture and we know this happens because people were saved.

Christians are in the World but not of the World

Now where does this leave us? You can play a part in the world and not be totally consumed by its religiousness, falseness, and idolatry. In fact, Paul proves to us that we as Christians can use worldly language to help bring about heavenly changes in the lives of those around us. What we need to remember though is that this doesn’t give us a pass to remove Scripture from what we do. It doesn’t invite us to only use cultural references as a way to reach people. Instead, it opens a door sometimes to conversations that really matter. We as Christians need to remember that just because we are still in the world, that does not mean that we are of the world. Jesus says in John 15:18-19

John 15:18–19 (ESV)

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

We are in the world but not of the world. We are people of another world, we are pilgrims on our way to the Promised Land. Each and every one of us as Christians are simply passing through to another kingdom because Christ has said that His kingdom is not of this world! We are people of another world but that doesn’t mean that we cannot use that which the Lord has given us to point others to Him. We need to know culture because God has placed us in our cultures! But that doesn’t mean we embrace the sinfulness that culture brings about so we have to be careful. Kevin Vanhoozer said, “Everyday theologians must understand culture before they either exclude or embrace it. We must therefore do all that we can to resist two opposing temptations, each equally dangerous inasmuch as each compromises the integrity of the church’s mission. The first is an uncritical acceptance of and fascination with the newfound religiosity and spirituality of popular culture. The second is to write off popular culture as one more symptom of sinful rebellion.” Next I would say that this section of Acts reminds us that Christ is a Savior of all types of people. From those that know next to nothing to those that are the philosophical elites, Christ is a savior for all peoples. You can be the smartest man in the room and be utterly lost. You can also be the stupidest man to ever live but be saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

1 Corinthians 1:18–31 ESV

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Anthony Thiselton said, “The gospel itself is the proclamation of the cross (v. 18): folly to many it may be; but effective reality and transforming power it is to those who are on their way to salvation.” Wise or foolish, strong or weak, powerful or nothing, this is a Gospel that is for you and one that all of you desperately need. Finally, I would ask this: Are you just in the world or are you of the world? Are you passing through or are you setting all of your hopes on what this world has to offer? Or are you like the people of Athens? Are you just grasping at straws when it comes to eternal life? Are you hoping you can just appease some greater power or live a good enough life that some god will take notice of you and let you in? Is the God of Scripture still unknown to you? If He is, I hope you will allow us to help make Him known to you because He is there and He is not silent. Let’s pray.

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