How To Be Christian Without Being Religious
Sermon
RESTORING THE FUTURE
First Lesson Sermons For Lent/Easter
One thing about ancient Athens. It was a marketplace for new ideas. In verse 21 of this chapter of Acts, Luke tells us that everyone who lived in Athens liked to spend time telling and hearing the latest new thing.
Greece itself was a cradle for numerous philosophical and religious movements, and combinations of the two, where philosophy became religion and religion became philosophy. And Athens was a center for religious inquiry. If a modern day actor can make a name for himself in New York, then chances are good his career will be successful anywhere. Similarly, if a wandering preacher of any religion of the first century could gain a hearing in Athens, chances were good that his star was on the rise.
So Paul spoke up in Athens. The occasion was unusual in itself. He never intended to preach in Athens, really. He just happened to be there waiting to meet up with Silas and Timothy so they could continue their missionary journeys together. As he waited, he went walking through the bustling city, and couldn't help noticing the incredible number and variety of religious shrines, temples, and trinkets that were in evidence throughout the region.
He looked at these things, not with the eyes of a modern person. When we see statues of the Greek gods, and amulets worn by people of the first century, we are inclined to look at them as works of art. Not too many people are serious followers of Zeus or Diana today, although, anything is possible. But when Paul saw them, there were thousands who saw the same things we see as art, yet who saw them through religious eyes. These temples, shrines and trinkets were as precious to them as our Bibles are to us today. Paul saw them through the eyes of a trained rabbi as well as a Christian believer. The Jews could never countenance the worship of man--made objects, but they never worried too much if others did.
Now Paul was in a predicament. He knew that because of Christ, Greeks as well as Jews were to be the chosen people of God. These children of God were worshiping idols of stone and silver, and he couldn't remain silent. He spoke up. And for his troubles, he was summoned to stand before the city council and defend his teaching. Rather like medical practitioners today, in the roiling religious atmosphere of Athens not just anyone could hang out a shingle and begin speaking of things religious. The city fathers wanted to know more about this strange doctrine of which Paul spoke.
The passage for today contains Luke's summary of the sermon that Paul delivered that day.
Paul began by saying that he saw in Athens evidence that the people of that city were very religious. I don't know about you, but I'm accustomed to hearing such a comment from another person as a compliment. On the occasion of a funeral service, pastors will often hear a family member say that Uncle Henry was a very religious man. And we know that in every way they mean that to be taken as a positive remark. It is meant as a compliment. But could Paul have meant it in that way? Is there something he can teach us if we are people inclined to call ourselves religious?
The Athenians were thoroughly pagan. They did not have the slightest notion who Jesus was, and if they knew about the Jews, they certainly gave little indication that they had been affected by Jewish belief or practice: the abundance of temples and statuary would have been ample evidence of that. Yet Paul called them "in every way very religious."
What do you suppose he was trying to say? Scurrying to a Bible dictionary can be a revealing exercise. Much as we may be inclined to call ourselves religious people, the Bible doesn't think much of the word, and uses the term that Paul used here only once. It is desidemon. It means, literally, "fear of the demons or of the supernatural." What Paul was saying was that the people of Athens were highly superstitious! Rarely are pastors told by a mourner at a funeral that Uncle Henry was a very superstitious man ... not if they want to compliment Uncle Henry!
We have to ask ourselves what Paul had in mind, using such a comment to open his speech. Did he want to say that because the people of Athens were very religious, they were going to be able to understand God's plan of salvation for them, as we might have suspected on first reading? Or was he saying the surprising thing, that in spite of their very religious - superstitious - nature, in spite of their inclination to put too much weight on the ritual and the magical in their religious behavior, in spite of all that, God can make his plan of salvation available to them anyway?
Paul was simply stating a fact, not a compliment. Their minds were clouded with unnecessary fears. Even so, God could speak to them in Jesus Christ. If we know any truly superstitious people, we know what kind of thing Paul had seen. People can be controlled by unnatural fears of cats crossing their paths, going out a different door than the one by which they entered a house, avoiding ladders overhead. Paul says, in the 25th verse, "Nor does [God] need anything that we can supply by working for him, since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone."
What a view of the world! It is not a place to be endured, feared, and tolerated. Rather, it is an evidence of God's good nature, which is to bestow gifts upon humanity, as a father bestows gifts on his children.
In our thinking about evangelism, which pastors and church committees are consistently encouraging us to do, we can find an answer to another question in this sermon delivered by Paul to the people of Athens. If ever we have said to ourselves, "I'd like to tell other people about my faith, but I wouldn't know what to say," we ought to take the cue from Paul. He provides a good example of a way in which any believer can share the Good News without requiring that the other people in the conversation be biblical experts beforehand.
Who did Paul quote to them when he said to them that God is not far from any of us? Did he quote the Old Testament prophets or Moses? No. When he said, "In him we live and move and have our being," he was quoting Epimenides, a pagan Greek poet from Crete. And when he said, "We too are his children," he was quoting the pagan Cilician poet Aratus. I think there is a very important lesson here for us, for anyone who undertakes the basic Christian responsibility of telling another about the Good News of Jesus Christ. Paul began with the people, quoting from their own poets, reaching out to them, where they were, with words they would understand. He did not begin where he might have preferred them to be.
It's easy to preach to people who are thoroughly familiar with the Bible. I have an easy job, preaching to you, the committed and faithful ones. It is you who have the more demanding job of evangelism, for you are called to tell the Good News to a world that in many ways hasn't the slightest idea what you are talking about, that sells its goods by appealing to the lowest instincts of all of us. If you don't think we preach the gospel in a strange land, then turn on the television for a short time and count the number of minutes that pass before you encounter a Christian theme ... unless you are on a religious channel ... perhaps even then.
Paul approached those Athenians the same way that God approaches us in the person of Jesus. God didn't wait for us to become experts in biblical literature. Pastors and youth leaders have the privilege in ministry of seeing young people begin to look at Jesus through eyes of faith, and they would be the first to tell us that they did not wait until they were Bible experts before they made a commitment to follow him. God has simply said in Jesus Christ that salvation is available to everyone now. There is no residency requirement. No amount of religious hoopla can purchase it for us. It is purchased already. It is ours now, in just the shape we are in at this very moment. In a way, the church should be a "come as you are" party. Paul spoke to those Athenians through the poets they knew and understood, using that as a means to introduce them to Jesus. We can do the same.
Everyone we meet has at some time asked a religious question, just like those Athenians: "Why is there death? Is there a God who cares? What must I do to have a happy life?" All these are religious questions. All of them provide an entr e to superstition, or a word of Christian Good News. We can lay hold of that, just as Paul did, without feeling it necessary to do a lot of fancy quoting from all the minor prophets in the Bible.
I'd like to close by asking two questions today. 1) What does membership in the church mean in light of what Paul is saying? 2) What can someone who cannot yet call himself a believer still learn from Paul's words?
First, what does membership in the church mean in light of Paul's sermon in Athens? It means a commitment to take the Good News to the nations. Out of these doors and into the streets. No matter how unlikely the receiver of this word of Good News might appear to us to be, if we are willing to speak with him rather than to him, willing to meet him where he is, rather than require him to sit in a pew for a few weeks before we will go to the trouble to speak to him, then we will be true members of the church of Jesus Christ. This is not a club we have here, but a fellowship that reaches out in love. That outreach must go on continually, or we are no people of God. We must take the Word to others, and we must share it in ways they can understand.
Second, if there are people here asking what Christian commitment means, who are ready to ask, but not yet ready to commit themselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, what does Paul have to say to you? A great deal. In reality, Paul's sermon is intended more for you than for believers. He would want us to know that we need not be religious in order to earn God's love. God's love has already been expressed exquisitely. His love is primary. Our decision whether or not to accept that love is secondary. We can love him because he first loved us. As the Greek poet said, "We too are his children." He has told us in the man Jesus Christ that he loves us in this very moment, in this very situation, whether happy or sad, well--adjusted or confused. In each and every circumstance which people in the real world can find themselves, God's love waits to reach out and heal, and redeem, and challenge, and call forth.
What does it take for us to call ourselves Christian? Certainly not that we go to great lengths to prove to others that we are religious. Merely that we accept the gift that has already been given, the love of God in Jesus Christ, the man that God raised up from death to give life to the world.
Greece itself was a cradle for numerous philosophical and religious movements, and combinations of the two, where philosophy became religion and religion became philosophy. And Athens was a center for religious inquiry. If a modern day actor can make a name for himself in New York, then chances are good his career will be successful anywhere. Similarly, if a wandering preacher of any religion of the first century could gain a hearing in Athens, chances were good that his star was on the rise.
So Paul spoke up in Athens. The occasion was unusual in itself. He never intended to preach in Athens, really. He just happened to be there waiting to meet up with Silas and Timothy so they could continue their missionary journeys together. As he waited, he went walking through the bustling city, and couldn't help noticing the incredible number and variety of religious shrines, temples, and trinkets that were in evidence throughout the region.
He looked at these things, not with the eyes of a modern person. When we see statues of the Greek gods, and amulets worn by people of the first century, we are inclined to look at them as works of art. Not too many people are serious followers of Zeus or Diana today, although, anything is possible. But when Paul saw them, there were thousands who saw the same things we see as art, yet who saw them through religious eyes. These temples, shrines and trinkets were as precious to them as our Bibles are to us today. Paul saw them through the eyes of a trained rabbi as well as a Christian believer. The Jews could never countenance the worship of man--made objects, but they never worried too much if others did.
Now Paul was in a predicament. He knew that because of Christ, Greeks as well as Jews were to be the chosen people of God. These children of God were worshiping idols of stone and silver, and he couldn't remain silent. He spoke up. And for his troubles, he was summoned to stand before the city council and defend his teaching. Rather like medical practitioners today, in the roiling religious atmosphere of Athens not just anyone could hang out a shingle and begin speaking of things religious. The city fathers wanted to know more about this strange doctrine of which Paul spoke.
The passage for today contains Luke's summary of the sermon that Paul delivered that day.
Paul began by saying that he saw in Athens evidence that the people of that city were very religious. I don't know about you, but I'm accustomed to hearing such a comment from another person as a compliment. On the occasion of a funeral service, pastors will often hear a family member say that Uncle Henry was a very religious man. And we know that in every way they mean that to be taken as a positive remark. It is meant as a compliment. But could Paul have meant it in that way? Is there something he can teach us if we are people inclined to call ourselves religious?
The Athenians were thoroughly pagan. They did not have the slightest notion who Jesus was, and if they knew about the Jews, they certainly gave little indication that they had been affected by Jewish belief or practice: the abundance of temples and statuary would have been ample evidence of that. Yet Paul called them "in every way very religious."
What do you suppose he was trying to say? Scurrying to a Bible dictionary can be a revealing exercise. Much as we may be inclined to call ourselves religious people, the Bible doesn't think much of the word, and uses the term that Paul used here only once. It is desidemon. It means, literally, "fear of the demons or of the supernatural." What Paul was saying was that the people of Athens were highly superstitious! Rarely are pastors told by a mourner at a funeral that Uncle Henry was a very superstitious man ... not if they want to compliment Uncle Henry!
We have to ask ourselves what Paul had in mind, using such a comment to open his speech. Did he want to say that because the people of Athens were very religious, they were going to be able to understand God's plan of salvation for them, as we might have suspected on first reading? Or was he saying the surprising thing, that in spite of their very religious - superstitious - nature, in spite of their inclination to put too much weight on the ritual and the magical in their religious behavior, in spite of all that, God can make his plan of salvation available to them anyway?
Paul was simply stating a fact, not a compliment. Their minds were clouded with unnecessary fears. Even so, God could speak to them in Jesus Christ. If we know any truly superstitious people, we know what kind of thing Paul had seen. People can be controlled by unnatural fears of cats crossing their paths, going out a different door than the one by which they entered a house, avoiding ladders overhead. Paul says, in the 25th verse, "Nor does [God] need anything that we can supply by working for him, since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone."
What a view of the world! It is not a place to be endured, feared, and tolerated. Rather, it is an evidence of God's good nature, which is to bestow gifts upon humanity, as a father bestows gifts on his children.
In our thinking about evangelism, which pastors and church committees are consistently encouraging us to do, we can find an answer to another question in this sermon delivered by Paul to the people of Athens. If ever we have said to ourselves, "I'd like to tell other people about my faith, but I wouldn't know what to say," we ought to take the cue from Paul. He provides a good example of a way in which any believer can share the Good News without requiring that the other people in the conversation be biblical experts beforehand.
Who did Paul quote to them when he said to them that God is not far from any of us? Did he quote the Old Testament prophets or Moses? No. When he said, "In him we live and move and have our being," he was quoting Epimenides, a pagan Greek poet from Crete. And when he said, "We too are his children," he was quoting the pagan Cilician poet Aratus. I think there is a very important lesson here for us, for anyone who undertakes the basic Christian responsibility of telling another about the Good News of Jesus Christ. Paul began with the people, quoting from their own poets, reaching out to them, where they were, with words they would understand. He did not begin where he might have preferred them to be.
It's easy to preach to people who are thoroughly familiar with the Bible. I have an easy job, preaching to you, the committed and faithful ones. It is you who have the more demanding job of evangelism, for you are called to tell the Good News to a world that in many ways hasn't the slightest idea what you are talking about, that sells its goods by appealing to the lowest instincts of all of us. If you don't think we preach the gospel in a strange land, then turn on the television for a short time and count the number of minutes that pass before you encounter a Christian theme ... unless you are on a religious channel ... perhaps even then.
Paul approached those Athenians the same way that God approaches us in the person of Jesus. God didn't wait for us to become experts in biblical literature. Pastors and youth leaders have the privilege in ministry of seeing young people begin to look at Jesus through eyes of faith, and they would be the first to tell us that they did not wait until they were Bible experts before they made a commitment to follow him. God has simply said in Jesus Christ that salvation is available to everyone now. There is no residency requirement. No amount of religious hoopla can purchase it for us. It is purchased already. It is ours now, in just the shape we are in at this very moment. In a way, the church should be a "come as you are" party. Paul spoke to those Athenians through the poets they knew and understood, using that as a means to introduce them to Jesus. We can do the same.
Everyone we meet has at some time asked a religious question, just like those Athenians: "Why is there death? Is there a God who cares? What must I do to have a happy life?" All these are religious questions. All of them provide an entr e to superstition, or a word of Christian Good News. We can lay hold of that, just as Paul did, without feeling it necessary to do a lot of fancy quoting from all the minor prophets in the Bible.
I'd like to close by asking two questions today. 1) What does membership in the church mean in light of what Paul is saying? 2) What can someone who cannot yet call himself a believer still learn from Paul's words?
First, what does membership in the church mean in light of Paul's sermon in Athens? It means a commitment to take the Good News to the nations. Out of these doors and into the streets. No matter how unlikely the receiver of this word of Good News might appear to us to be, if we are willing to speak with him rather than to him, willing to meet him where he is, rather than require him to sit in a pew for a few weeks before we will go to the trouble to speak to him, then we will be true members of the church of Jesus Christ. This is not a club we have here, but a fellowship that reaches out in love. That outreach must go on continually, or we are no people of God. We must take the Word to others, and we must share it in ways they can understand.
Second, if there are people here asking what Christian commitment means, who are ready to ask, but not yet ready to commit themselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, what does Paul have to say to you? A great deal. In reality, Paul's sermon is intended more for you than for believers. He would want us to know that we need not be religious in order to earn God's love. God's love has already been expressed exquisitely. His love is primary. Our decision whether or not to accept that love is secondary. We can love him because he first loved us. As the Greek poet said, "We too are his children." He has told us in the man Jesus Christ that he loves us in this very moment, in this very situation, whether happy or sad, well--adjusted or confused. In each and every circumstance which people in the real world can find themselves, God's love waits to reach out and heal, and redeem, and challenge, and call forth.
What does it take for us to call ourselves Christian? Certainly not that we go to great lengths to prove to others that we are religious. Merely that we accept the gift that has already been given, the love of God in Jesus Christ, the man that God raised up from death to give life to the world.
