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HopeLives365

Mark Finley

Sabbath School 4th Quarter 2023: God's Mission My Mission

01 God’s Mission to Us Part 1

02 God’s Mission to Us Part 2

03 God’s Call to Mission

04 Sharing God’s Mission

05 Excuses to Avoid Mission

06 Motivation and Preparation for Mission

07 Mission to My Neighbor

Unlocking the Secrets of Prayer

08 Mission to the Needy

09 Mission to the Powerful

10 Mission to the Unreached Part 1

11 Mission to the Unreached, Part 2

12 Esther and Mordecai

13 The End of God’s Mission


Can you believe it? We're on lesson number 10 in our Sabbath School lessons entitled God's Mission, My Mission. Our lesson today focuses on Paul's ministry in Athens, in Greece. Greece is 1 of my favorite places to travel. I've led many many tours to Greece.

We usually start up in Philippi and then eventually come down to Thessalonica, over to Athens and then down to Corinth. Each of these cities are quite different. Philippi was a Roman retirement center. They had discovered gold in the Pagonian Hills not far from Philippi and as the result of that it was a very wealthy city. Often Roman soldiers retired there So it was really a Roman city.

It was at the end of the Ignatian Way, which brought trade to all of that area of Europe, actually from Philippi to Rome, not far from the sea. So the beautiful sea breezes blew in. Beautiful community. Paul used 1 method there. He worked in small groups, met the woman from Thyatira, Lydia, out by the riverside, prayed with her.

He goes to Thessalonica. It's a quite a different situation there. It's a city of guilds, trade unions. They work with leather and brass and weavers and coppersmiths. And there's a number of synagogues there.

Paul preaches for 3 weeks in the synagogue, where he used the small group method in Philippi. He goes into the synagogues and preaches in Thessalonica. And as he does that, has a number of converts, he is chased out of the city, really. There's anger, bitterness by the Jewish fanatics. He goes to Berea where they receive the gospel regularly and openly.

Remember, Acts 17, verse 11, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and that they received the word with all readiness of mind. And as he leaves there, again, because the Jews from Thessalonica come down and put pressure on him, he goes to Athens. What does he find in Athens? Athens is the center of philosophy, intellectualism. It's the educational center.

So Philippi is more of a retirement center. Thessalonica is more of a blue collar, middle-class community, trades guilds. Athens is the intellectual center. Of course, Corinth is the party city. But let's go back to Athens.

When you think about Athens, you think about this educational intellectual center, 3 great philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Socrates believes that learning comes by questioning. You never accept anything, you just get question, question, question, by questioning you get answers. That's why it's called the Socratic method of questioning. Then Plato believes in the difference between body and soul, that whatever you do to the body, it can't destroy the soul, so we have a platonic thought, and you have the idea of the soul leaving the body, immortality of the soul, that false idea introduced.

Then when you come to Aristotle, and I'm simplifying it of course, Aristotle is 1 who believes in total knowledge, knowledge of geography, knowledge of culture, knowledge of language. He says the educated man, the Aristotle man, must be educated in all areas. In fact, that's why Alexander the Great's father sent him as a teenager to study with Aristotle. And that's why Alexander the Great, 1 of the reasons he was so successful in his military campaigns because he had such a broad education. He understood language, culture, geography, background, etc.

So Paul came into that kind of intellectualism. Now also the Athenians believed in a variety of gods. They believed in multiplicity of different gods. In fact somebody said that there's more gods in Athens and there are people. So that's the context that we have.

And Paul comes to Athens in The lesson that we have on Sabbath afternoon, the fourth paragraph down says, while in Athens, a city famous for its philosophy, Paul sought to reach the people there as well. Now, when you look at Paul, He's not intimidated by any city that he goes in. He believes that mission is God's. He believes that God is already working in that city, and he believes that the Holy Spirit can touch any heart in that city. So whether he's working in Philippi, a retirement city, Thessalonica, a blue-collar city, Corinth, a party city, or Athens, an intellectual city.

Paul believes that by the grace of God, that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. Paul's not intimidated by any of this, and Paul's an intellectual. He can match wits with these Athenians. So he goes into the city, and he has left Berea because of persecution, and he comes into the city. We find it in Acts chapter 17 that gives us some vital lessons about Paul's witness.

Acts the 17th chapter, the first verse, now when they had passed through Amphibolus and Apollonina to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And it goes down and explains how Paul reasons in the synagogue in Thessalonica, how he's cast out of that synagogue, how he is persecuted there, how he goes to Berea, how these Jews follow him there. And Paul then comes to Athens in verse 16. This is we're looking at verse 16, and it says this is for Vax 17. 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.

So here, this city is full of idolatry and you have these idol worshippers worshipping there. So the context of this lesson, the context of Paul's witness in Athens is you have a godless city, an intellectual city, an educated city, a city that is absolutely filled with idolatry. And the Bible says in verse 17 of Acts 17, therefore he, Paul, reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers and in the marketplace daily with those who happen to be there. So he's in the synagogue worshipping, taking every advantage to reach Jewish Christians, to reach the Gentiles, but that's not sufficient for Paul. Paul does not stay in, quote, unquote, the synagogue of the church.

He sees out there in the marketplace those who are debating in the Roman, in the Athenian Greek forum. Now the forum was the place where you would express ideas. The forum was the place where you would go and interchange back and forth with various topics. And so Paul goes there and he begins to reason with them. Now notice in Monday's lesson, Paul faces some real opposition.

You find that in Acts 17, verse 18 and onward. Think about the names that they're calling him. Verse 18, Acts 17. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. What's the difference between the Epicureans and the Stoics?

The Epicureans have this idea, feast and feast and feast and feast. In other words, live life to the fullest today, because tomorrow you're going to die. Eat what you want, drink what you want, party what you want. The Epicureans are people who live for pleasure, the Stoics. Very, very, I was going to say stoic in their personality, which don't use a word to define a word.

They're very sullen. They believe that all pleasure is wrong. And so there's a big conflict between the 2 groups. The Bible says here in verse 18, Acts 17, Then certain Epicureans and Stoic philosophers encountered him and they said, what does this babbler have to say? So notice what they call Paul.

They call him a babbler. They call him a proclaimer of foreign gods. They call him the 1 who speaks new doctrines. They call him 1 who says strange things. So how would you like that to be challenged by these groups?

They're saying you're a babbler. You don't know what you're talking about. You are talking about some foreign doctrine. You're talking about some strange gods. We don't comprehend it.

Does Paul give up? Does Paul walk away because of the criticism? Not at all. In Tuesday's lesson we see how Paul reasons with them. In Acts chapter 17, verse 22 and 23, Paul begins to reason.

He says to them, Paul stands in the midst and says, "'Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things "'you're religious, because when I was passing by I considered the objects of your faith and I found an altar, an altar to what? The unknown God. And so Paul is saying, look, You're pretty religious people here. They're criticizing him. I saw that alter to the unknown God.

And I'll tell you, I came to tell you about the unknown God that you don't know about. What genius in reasoning. What tact in reasoning. He is observant of their culture. He recognizes that there is a place of entry into their hearts, and that is this altar through the unknown God.

So he bases his arguments on something that he's seen in their very culture. The here In the lesson, I want you to look at Tuesday's lesson, the third paragraph down. Paul did not scoff at the negative idea of an altar to the unknown God. Instead, he appreciated and admired a people who cared enough about spiritual things to go to the effort and expense of worshipping something they didn't even know, just in case they were missing something. Were the people misguided?

Of course, but they could be addressed. What was important in the beginning was that they were devout in what they did understand, and Paul recognized that that was material the Holy Spirit could work with. I love that. That was material that the Holy Spirit could work with. Paul began not where he was, but where they were.

And you know that's the hallmark of a great soul winner. 1 who understands people sufficiently enough to start where they are. Paul started with the unknown God, but he didn't end there, and I think that's an incredibly important thought. He introduced to them in Wednesday's lesson a new God. How does he do that?

How do you begin with a heathen people who don't know the true God? You begin by sharing at this point creation. And so in verse 24 he talks about God who made heaven and earth and everything in it. He goes down And he says that this creator God has given us life and breath in all things. Verse 26, he's made from 1 blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth.

He's determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitations, so that they could seek the Lord in hope, and they may grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each 1 of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as some of your own poets have said, for we are his offspring." Paul begins with the idea of the unknown God, moves to the fact that this unknown God is the creator of the heaven and earth. But he points out something that's revolutionary to them, something that is so incredible to them. The Greeks believed that God was distant from humanity. Their gods demanded, did not give.

Their gods were unapproachable. Their gods needed to be appeased through sacrifices. But Paul says, this God is near to every 1 of us. This God created you, he fashioned you. In him we live and move and have our being.

You're not merely skin covering bones. You're not merely some genetic accident. You're not merely a collection of genes and chromosomes, but God created you, God fashioned you. And he's near to every 1 of us that in Christ, God drew near. Jesus understands our heartaches and our sorrows, our disappointments.

He understands our joys and our happiness. And Jesus is there to give us hope and strength and courage. What is Paul saying? He's saying this Christ came, lived among us. He is our creator God.

He died. And then Paul goes into the resurrection and talks about the resurrection of Christ that he came to life. So his whole theme here in creation is that Jesus Christ is the life giver. The lesson makes 5 points that I think are worthy of notice. You'll find these 5 points at the end of Wednesday's lesson.

0.1, Paul complimented their current spiritual awareness and sincerity. 0.2, he studied their belief. He even quoted from 1 of their poets and he talked about the altar of the unknown God. He told them 1 particular thing he discovered in the study of their religion. And they admitted that they didn't understand it because it was the altar of the unknown God.

4, he shared the aspect of God that he knew they desperately needed. God exists, he loves us, he's not far away. At the end of his speech, Paul moved to warn them of what it means to reject the knowledge of this God they didn't know. Now, were there a lot of converts in Athens? Not a lot, but there were some.

In fact, the Bible tells us that 1 of the key diplomats in the city was converted. He was called an Arapacanite, 1 of the leading men of the city. It also tells us about a woman, Damaris, who was converted in Paul's preaching. So we do know that there were converts in Athens as the result of that. Paul then spoke in Thursday's lesson about the fact that not only did God create them, but you could cross a line, and the line you could cross was to reject this Creator God who drew so near to us.

The lesson ends with this somewhat sober but powerful thought on Thursday, second to last paragraph. We know that some people will reject the gospel, But we must do everything possible to ensure that before they reject it, they understand what they're rejecting. Paul, by this method, among the Athenians, in his strategic use of what he had studied and learned of them, ensured that they heard with open minds, 1, that God existed, and 2, that this God that existed loved them. It's important to keep in mind that when you share Christ, not everybody's going to accept it. Our responsibility is not success, but it's faithfulness.

God is working among all humanity. Mission is God's. He invites us to work with him in his mission. Athens was 1 of the toughest places that Paul ever worked. There were some results, not a lot initially.

And look what it says here. Ellen White in Acts of the Apostles, page 240 and 241, says this, Paul's words contain a treasure of knowledge for the church. He was in a position where he might easily have said that which would have irritated his proud listeners, brought himself into difficulty. Had his oration been a direct attack upon their gods and the great men of the city. He would have been in danger of meeting the fate of Socrates, you know, who was poisoned and killed.

But with a tact born of divine love, he carefully drew their minds away from heathen deities by revealing to them the true God who was to them unknown. Paul didn't attack them directly. There are some places where you can give a head-on direct exposition of certain prophecies in Revelation, but there are other places you have to be much more careful when you do that, much more sensitive when you do that, always doing it of course with a tact born of divine love. What do we learn from the Apostle Paul's ministry in Athens? We learn the importance of understanding a person's culture, we understand their background, we learn the importance of meeting people where they were.

Paul met them with logic, reason. We understand as well that not in every place you're going to have tens of thousands that come to Christ. You're going to have some. In every place we can win some souls. We also learn, too, that tact and kindness and love win for us the opportunity to share the gospel.

And our role is to make the gospel as plain and as clear as possible for every human being. Let's pray today that we'll take advantage of every opportunity. And even when we're criticized, even when we are mocked or ridiculed, that we will still respond with tact and love because there is something in every heart that wants to know Christ. Everybody won't accept, but everybody should have the opportunity. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for his wonderful love. Thank you for his grace. Thank you we could study these Sabbath school lessons today. Help us like the Apostle Paul, not become discouraged when some don't respond, but to reach out intact in love and kindness.

In Jesus' name, amen. And audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about AudioVerse, or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audioverse.org. ♪

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Series

Sabbath School 4th Quarter 2023: God's Mission My Mission

10 Mission to the Unreached Part 1

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

01 God’s Mission to Us Part 1

19m

02 God’s Mission to Us Part 2

18m

03 God’s Call to Mission

19m

04 Sharing God’s Mission

22m

05 Excuses to Avoid Mission

17m

06 Motivation and Preparation for Mission

25m

07 Mission to My Neighbor

20m

Unlocking the Secrets of Prayer

21m

08 Mission to the Needy

25m

09 Mission to the Powerful

29m

10 Mission to the Unreached Part 1

19m

11 Mission to the Unreached, Part 2

25m

12 Esther and Mordecai

23m

13 The End of God’s Mission

25m

Sound Doctrine