Acts 17:1-34
In Thessalonica
1 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.
5 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
In Berea
10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
13 When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
In Athens- Sermon on Mars Hill
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33At that, Paul left the Council. 34 A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Paul stood up, two thousand years ago, and gave a sermon in the meeting place of the Areopagus on Mars Hill in Athens, Greece...The Areopagus was a place for religious ideas and education to be taught and listened to...Paul's message was new and different and the Greeks wanted to hear him...Paul starts his message to the Greeks about God and His Son...God is not the sky, the sun, the grass, or trees -but He made these things and everything in this world...God does not live in any one temple, built by man...God desires that we seek Him, and determines the exact time and exact places where we will live...God does these things so that we may in our seeking Him perhaps reach out to Him and find Him, though He is not far from any of us...And God has appointed a day, a day of judgment, the Second Advent -when His Son Jesus will come and judge the world...Justice will then take place, by this Man He has appointed...He has given proof of this by raising this Man from the dead...
This sermon and speech was in a public place...Paul's roots were deep in the Bible and now getting deeper into Christianity...Paul's focus and life was all about God and His Son...When believers get as deep rooted in their faith as Paul did, their whole life revolves around God and His Son...Believers, and those with mature faith, see God in everything they do...Paul did not dismiss God, when he was talking to this individual or that group...Paul did not hide God, and then bring Him back when he was speaking to another group...Paul did not put Jesus in a drawer or box, and just bring Him out when he thought someone might want to listen...Paul had just been rioted with a mob in Thessalonica, talking about Christ and that He had to suffer and rise from the dead...But some people in Thessalonica did not like his message...Paul and his friend Silas, were literally ran out of town...
The Greeks created on invented philosophy...They wanted to hear, talk about, and listen to the latest ideas...Their world was mixed with ideas, old and new...Today, it seems at least to me, that people in general do not want to hear about the ideas of religion...Today, it seems that we do stick and put Jesus in our glove departments, or drawer, or shoe box, and bring Him out only at "the right time."...
Jesus teaches us that believers, like Him, who are focused on God, can and do talk about Him all the time...His life was not segregated with school, or work, social friends, work friends, and religious friends talking each about different things...Everyday and everything in His life was centered around God...Jesus knows, like St. Paul, that God is everywhere, and is not far from each of us...Wherever we are, and whoever we are with God is there...He did not put God up in a box, only to bring Him out at the right time...He went to His death, showing us that our physical and daily lives are intertwined with God and our Spiritual lives...