Sermon 29April 2018                        GreekIdols                               MartinBaker

We’ve beenfollowing Paul over these last weeks.

He is one ofthe people, like us, who Jesus spoke about when he said ‘blessed are those whohave not seen and yet believe.’

He was ahighly educated, multi lingual Jew who gained permission by the religious authoritiesin Jerusalem to go to Damascus to persecute the Christians there.

Heexperienced a huge conversion experience.

Filled withthe Holy Spirit, was baptised by Ananias, one of the people he came topersecute.

Paul leadthe mission to the world outside of Jerusalem and especially to the gentileworld.

Last week hewas with Silas when they were imprisoned and then released.

Now he comesto the ancient centre of the then, civilised world. The centre of culture religionand ideas. When the teaching of Plato Aristotle are so well known. Where theideals of democracy were first articulated.

A mixture ofOxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Silicon Valley, New York, London.

He comes toAthens. And now in front to these educated cultured knowledgeable people, Paulgives voice to this new faith. The Way.

Acts17:16-31

16 WhilePaul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that thecity was full of idols. 17 So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and thedevout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happenedto be there. 18 Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him.Some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said,"He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities." (This wasbecause he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19 Sothey took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, "May we knowwhat this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 It sounds rather strangeto us, so we would like to know what it means." 21 Now all the Atheniansand the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but tellingor hearing something new. 22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus andsaid, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of yourworship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, "To an unknowngod.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The Godwho made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth,does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by humanhands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals lifeand breath and all things. 26 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabitthe whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and theboundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would searchfor God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far fromeach one of us. 28 For "In him we live and move and have our being'; aseven some of your own poets have said, "For we too are his offspring.' 29Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is likegold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination ofmortals. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now hecommands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day onwhich he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he hasappointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from thedead."

 (May my words and our thoughts be acceptablein thy sight, O Lord our strength and redeemer. AMEN)

I think itwas Rex who told me that the two happiest days you ever have with a boat arethe day you buy it and the day you sell it.

I’veexperienced both those days in the last few years. I bought my little tinny LauraPalmer about 6 or 7 years ago and I sold her last week.  The engine meter tells me I, or my friends,have spent well over 500 hours fishing over that time. A little bit better than1 fish every 10 hours.

And yes,both really happy days for me.  We aregoing to get kayaks now.

It’s apowerful thing, I realise.

Imaginingwhat it’s going to be like if this happens. Getting that boat. Buying that thing.Having that bigger thing.  The average NZhouse size is 60% larger than it was 20 years ago – despite the fact thatfamily sizes have diminished over that time. What’s going on for us? 

Is this asymptom of the idol worship that Paul was so concerned about?

The ideasand dreams we have about our own sense of happiness and well-being and successand fulfilment. Oftenthat works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes we even feel we havefailed.

So a criticalquestion. A question we heard last week and comes up again and again indifferent ways. What must I do to be saved?

Could thatbe the most important question we ever ask ourselves? The Athenians have a lotof answers to that question.

But we findthe Gospel has such an unusual answer. You don’t have to do anything to besaved. God’s done it. So loves the world. In Jesus, born lived, healed others, restored, freed, and then torturedand executed. On the cross he said it is done. Completed.  He rose. We are asked to believe in the mostprofound love possible. A love that even overcomes death. 

Paul,Timothy, Silas, Luke, Tabitha, Priscilla, Julia, Phoebe.  These were men and women persecuted, arrested,tortured, jailed, executed in that first hundred years of leading the new missionproclaiming the Gospel. And yet, saved.

What’s goingto save us?

Let’s putthose things alongside another imagination today.

Imagine youcame here today this morning. Just coming along to church.

And I wasthinking about the next boat I would like to have.

And the firstthing you notice is a new sign. A big sign right at the front door. And it saysthe government has passed a law prohibiting the following from entering thischurch. No one who is in the military, no one who is a student, no one whoreceived government funding, no one who worked for the government, no member ofa political party, may enter this church.

And maybe youturn away at that point. Or maybe you enter into just outside the doors there.And there you notice a camera. And the camera is taking pictures of all who goby. And you know that they will go onto a facial recognition data. So thatforever after you will be known by the government as person who attends church.

Our brothersand sisters in China are facing this very reality. And the churches are growingand growing.

So do youstop there?

Losing the thingsyou own. You’re right to travel. Your movements being monitored. Your economic security.All those things.

Everythingtaken away from them.

There isthat question that Jesus asks that is behind Paul’s address today, the Gospelasks, could it be that despite all you have built up around you, the prioritiesyou have established the things that give you security and a feeling of safety. Could there still be another way ofthinking?  About ourselves, about ourworld, about our relationships and priorities. Could there be another way ofliving and thinking about things that provides us with a greater, even a wholenew way of understanding fulfilment and safety and joy and achievement?

So what mustI do to be saved? The prison guard asks last week in our story.

Just believePaul says.

Then theJailer learns more and more about this Jesus.

Love those who hate you, do good tothose who despise you. And ultimately it would be for Jesus disciples found inthe proclamation that Christ has risen from the dead that the earliestChristians would affirm that a new way of seeing, a new creation had come intobeing.

Onlookersasked questions of those early Christians. What are they doing that for? Whatdoes this mean? They asked.

We’ve gotPaul here today in our story.  He’s not speakingto the Chinese authorities but he knows that the people he is speaking too willcompare what he has to say with their own reality of their own experiences.He’s at the Aeropaus. (air eee opogus) Ares hill.  The Greek God of War.  Mars in Latin.  Just out of Athens. The great seat oflearning.  Nearby was the temple ofAphrodite or Venus. The goddess of love. Who in mythology was a wife of Mars.And then all the other alters around the place. Unnamed Gods.  For home worship.  A god for all occasions. Mars Aphrodite whichway are you going to go here?  Wouldn’tthat be easier?

This is asermon. Paul looks around him and says, Athenians I see how extremely religiousyou are in every way. So Paul’s teaches us a lesson here. He’s telling ussomething which our church reformers thought of as being very important. Thateverybody believes in something. That everyone believes that some things arevery important. Paul doesn’t see these people as enemies; he doesn’t see thesepeople as heathen masses dancing with the devil. He acknowledges the reality ofbelief in everyone’s life.  Pauls knowsthat Christian belief as Paul speak about it here is a belief among many - itcan and will be compared with every other system of beliefs that speaks aboutmeaning and purpose and direction and fulfilment and so on. Including thebeliefs we have today around consumerism and success. The unquestioning value ofbeing busy.

Paul speaksabout the God he believes in a way that anyone could understand. He sees theseshrines, he sees these idols which people have made, he doesn't simply condemn them,and he takes them seriously. These embody your beliefs but let me tell youabout mine. The God who made the world and everything in it, one God monotheismhere, -

God made allnations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allocated the times of theirexistence and the boundaries of the places where they would live.  So that they would search for God and perhapsgrope for him and find him though indeed he is not far from each one of us. Forin him we live and move and have our being as even some of your poets have said. For we too are his offspring. There isno sense of exclusiveness he, there is no sense of self-righteous judgement.

Paul isopening up opportunity as wide as possible. God created you and me. Let'ssearch out creative ways to respond to the loving creator together. For peoplewith little private God, for people who establish exclusive little groups, forpeople who insist that God is interested only in one people or place thisGospel message is  revolutionary. 

Look at thechoices the people are making.

We need tofollow Paul here. To talk about this Jesus. Not because we are arrogant butbecause we want to talk about the things that make a difference, the thingsthat lead us to reset our priorities. Our connection points are around thethings we all have in common. Our common search for something greater, for God,who Paul tells us is not far from anyone. Paul is talking about overcoming our fears. Discovering what the mostimportant things really are.  There isanother way of thinking believing, understanding ourselves and our world. 

There is atough question here. We don’t face the persecution as Christians do in so manyplaces. Where there are stark choices to be made. The comfort of Athens, thecomfort of Clevedon. Choose your idol. Ares, Mars, even a generic unnamed idolif you can’t make up your mind. 

Theproclamation that God raised Jesus, and that new life and salvation are foundin him. Paul tells us that all people are created in the freedom to discoverthat truth. And that truth will make you free. The truth is to believe as Paul says, that in God we live and move andhave our being. AMEN