A Lesson from Paul
The Book of Acts records this incident in the apostle Pauls life that took place in Athens. It reads,
“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.
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. 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?
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“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.
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
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.”
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.”
At that, Paul left the Council.
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 Acts 17:17-34.
Here is something the individuals in the Church and indeed the Church as a whole need to look at.
Someone said to me. “It’s time for our nation to speak up against the moral filth in our society. To get rid of the moral filth in our nation and return to God.”
I pointed out to this person that first of all our nation has never been a godly nation despite what the nations founders had carved into walls or printed on nice pieces of paper.
As for moral filth in our society we are probably equal to what went on in the Roman world. We might even be better. We don’t have slaves, We don’t condone the killing of people in a coliseum for entertainment. We don’t have temple prostitutes.
All of which the apostle Paul would have seen while in Athens. Yet Paul did not speak out against what he would have considered “immoral filth” Paul knew better.
Paul knew he had the answer to overcome every sin the Athenians were committing, Jesus Christ.
Thus when he spoke to the Athenians he presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Christ alone. The results were when he had completed some sneered, but more importantly they wanted to hear more and some came to know the Lord.
This came about because Paul presented the pure gospel and did not attack or criticize the beliefs or actions of the Athenians.
Paul writing to the Corinthians who lived in one of the most, if not the most morally corrupt cities in the Roman Empire said,
“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 1 Corinthians 5:9-11.
Notice Paul tells believers in Christ not to associate
“with with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler.”
It is actually our duty as believers in Christ to take the gospel to the whole world and that will mean associating with people of all walks of life even the immoral.
For it is only in doing so that we can show them the way to heaven.
Please think about it.
The Book of Acts records this incident in the apostle Pauls life that took place in Athens. It reads,
“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.
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. 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?
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“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.
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
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.”
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.”
At that, Paul left the Council.
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 Acts 17:17-34.
Here is something the individuals in the Church and indeed the Church as a whole need to look at.
Someone said to me. “It’s time for our nation to speak up against the moral filth in our society. To get rid of the moral filth in our nation and return to God.”
I pointed out to this person that first of all our nation has never been a godly nation despite what the nations founders had carved into walls or printed on nice pieces of paper.
As for moral filth in our society we are probably equal to what went on in the Roman world. We might even be better. We don’t have slaves, We don’t condone the killing of people in a coliseum for entertainment. We don’t have temple prostitutes.
All of which the apostle Paul would have seen while in Athens. Yet Paul did not speak out against what he would have considered “immoral filth” Paul knew better.
Paul knew he had the answer to overcome every sin the Athenians were committing, Jesus Christ.
Thus when he spoke to the Athenians he presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Christ alone. The results were when he had completed some sneered, but more importantly they wanted to hear more and some came to know the Lord.
This came about because Paul presented the pure gospel and did not attack or criticize the beliefs or actions of the Athenians.
Paul writing to the Corinthians who lived in one of the most, if not the most morally corrupt cities in the Roman Empire said,
“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 1 Corinthians 5:9-11.
Notice Paul tells believers in Christ not to associate
“with with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler.”
It is actually our duty as believers in Christ to take the gospel to the whole world and that will mean associating with people of all walks of life even the immoral.
For it is only in doing so that we can show them the way to heaven.
Please think about it.
