I. Background and Setting'17:17-21 A. The Marketplace Good morning. My name is Dionysius. I am from the great city of Athens in Greece. Athens is the city of the wisdom and philosophy. Its an exaggeration I know, but it seems like everyone is Athens is a philosopher or thinks they are one. We love to listen and talk, discuss and debate ideas about the world and life and the meaning of our life in the world. Everyday I, and many others go to the marketplace in the city. The marketplace is not only where we buy and sell food and clothing and all kinds of things. It's also the place where people come to promote new ideas and men like me come to listen for any new ideas that are being promoted.

B. The Stoics In Athens, there are basically two schools of thought about the meaning of life and the world. One school of thought is that the world contains god. God is not only in the world but He is contained in the world. God is contained in the trees, nature, temples, and statues. The meaning of life therefore is all about living in harmony and peace with the world and nature and with one another. To be at peace with the world we live in is to be at peace with god'because god is contained in the world. Those who think that this philosophy is true are called "stoics."

C. The Epicureans The other main school of thought is the "epicurean." Epicureans believe that the world exists for pleasure and so, the meaning of life is to experience pleasure. But "pleasure" is not simply physical pleasure and good feelings. "Flesh pleasers" are shallow-minded and ignorant. Sensual pleasure is temporary and it often become corrupted. True pleasure is to be found in tranquility and contentment. True pleasure is to be free of any troubling thoughts or disturbing emotions, like superstitious fears or the fear of judgment or death. As far as god is concerned, if there is such a thing at all, it's such a remote and distant concept that it has no real bearing on our life according to Epicureans.

D. The Areopagus These are the two basic philosophies in Athens. Of course, that's not to say that there aren't always new ideas and philosophies popping up. In Athens, there are a group of men who are recognized for their wisdom in these things. They are looked to, to determine if new ideas that come along are sensible or nonsense, safe or dangerous. These men are called the Areopagus, and I happen to be one of them, which is why Luke calls me Dionysius the Areopagite.

II. Paul's Speech'17:22-31 A. "Babbler" Some time ago, there was a fellow who came to the marketplace promoting a very strange philosophy. It was different than anything we had heard before. To us, it all sounded like "babbling." We really couldn't understand what he was getting at. We called him a "babbler."

B. Jesus and Anastasis It seemed like he was talking about two gods. One named Jesu and the other named Anastasis. In the Greek language, "Jesu" means "one who saves." And "anastasis" means "one who is raised up." We had never heard of them before. We figured that they must be foreign gods.

C. To the Areopagus. We asked him to explain his teaching to us and brought him to where the Areopagus meet for formal speeches and debate. He readily accepted our invitation and, if I may say, he was quite "prepared to make a defense of the reason for the hope that was in him."

D. From God to Man. His philosophy was radically different than what we were accustomed to hearing. Most philosophies which we were acquainted with began with an understanding of ourselves which led to an understanding of the gods. But he said that it was only as we knew God that we were able to know ourselves.

E. Unknown God. To us, this seemed impossible philosophy. Everyone knows that the gods are unknown and unknowable. Since no one has ever seen the gods, we must understand them according to what we have seen. What we can see is nature and ourselves. And so we can only understand the gods according to our image and the image of nature. We have an altar in the city to the "unknown god." That altar sums up our understanding of the gods better than any other, whether you're a stoic or epicurean.

But this fellow claimed that God was knowable and that He has made Himself known to us. And then he said, he would make God known to us too.

F. God the Creator. He described a God who created the world and everything in it. This was not a new idea but one that no one accepted. As Creator of everything, God was distinct from creation itself. He was not contained by it. That made the stoics growl. As Creator of everything, He is Lord over everything. And as Lord, He has the authority to sit in judgment upon all that He has made. That made the epicureans growl.

G. Created to Know God. As Creator of everything, God needs nothing, not even man. But man needs God and depends upon God for everything. Everything comes from God, even life and breath. Even our wisdom and knowledge come from God.

So, the meaning of life is to know God and only by knowing God is one truly wise. A lot of the stoics were nodding their head with that. But when he talked about knowing God as an intimate relationship and the only basis for real pleasure and tranquility in life, the epicureans were all nodding too.

H. From One Man He talked about everyone coming from one man. The one man was made in the image of God. He knew God perfectly and experienced perfect pleasure from his fellowship with God. God is not an aloof, impersonal, far removed from the world of man at all. God wants all men will know Him and find their perfect pleasure in His presence with us. He created man, "that they might feel their way toward him and find him."

Now I hope you're not one of those ignorant and shallow-minded epicureans who think that he was talking about feelings and emotions. What he meant was that we are made with a desire to find God but that our search for God is like groping about in the dark. He made it sound like man is blind and can't see God. And lost and can't find God.

I. God Is Close Then he said that the irony of it all is that although we can't seem to find God for all our groping about for Him, He's actually not far from us at all. In fact, He's very near to us. To support his argument, he quoted one of our own philosophers, Epimenedes. "In him we live and move and have our being." As if to say, "look, even your own philosophers say that God is very near to us."

J. His Offspring Then he quoted the poet Aratus who wrote, "For we are indeed his offspring." As if to say, even your own poets understand that God is not a stranger to us. We are His children and He is our Father. We may relate to God as dear children relate to their dear father.

K. The Turning Point He said that the God He was making known to us, knew us before we knew Him. In fact, we are only able to know God because God first knew us and made Himself known to us. Everything, even our knowledge of God comes from God. That unless God makes Himself known to us, all we can do is grope around in the dark like blind men.

And then he got to what seemed to be his main point, which was that God has made Himself known to us. For awhile, He tolerated our groping for Him by our own reason and all of our wisdom and philosophy which could never find Him or know Him. That was excusable only until He made Himself known to us. And now that He has, we've come to a turning point. He called it "repentance," but that's what it means, a turning point. Now, there are no excuses for not knowing God.

L. By A Man. What he said next was truly new and quite incredible. He said that God made Himself known to us by a man. God shed light on our darkness by a man. He opened the eyes of the blind, by a man. We had heard of gods who possessed men, but mostly to torment them or have their way with women. But never a God who became a man to make Himself known to men. What god would set aside his deity and humble himself to become man? It made no sense.

M. Proof In The Resurrection He then spoke about a dramatic proof that should convince us that this man was the revelation of God Himself and why we should be convinced that to know this man is to know God. God raised Him from the dead. This man is the "anastasis," the one who is raised up. This man has made God known to us.

God has made Himself known to man by a man? Foolishness. And this man, who is God, died? Folly. And he was raised from the dead? Amazing. And now, all men are without excuse for why they do not know God? Compelling. And all men will be judged by their response to this man? Convicting.

N. Resolution of Greek Tragedy What this fellow was proclaiming was the solution to the classic Greek tragedy. No Greek philosophy has a concept of resurrection from the dead. The essence of Greek tragedy lies in the futility of striving for truth and beauty and goodness and but ultimately ending in death and nothingness.

What this fellow was suggesting was that his God had solved the dilemma. The quest for truth and goodness and beauty does not end in futility but is accomplished in the resurrection from the dead. This man, whoever he is, has overcome the ultimate tragedy of death.

III. Response'17:32-34 A. Some Mocked Him. For some of the Areopagus, this was more than they could comprehend and their pride would not allow them to admit that it might be true. They mocked him.

B. Some Postponed Him. Some were amused and said that this would make a nice topic for another day. They postponed him.

C. Some Followed Him. But some followed. And I was one. I wanted to learn more about this man and His resurrection from the dead. I didn't know where all of this was going to take me. But I did have the thought that I would probably never worship again at the altar to the unknown god.