The importance of Athens during this period can hardly be exaggerated. It was a city full of philosophers. It was the city of Plato and Socrates. It was the adopted home of Aristotle, Epicurus and Zeno. Historians tell us that the oratory, the art, the architecture and the sculpture from this period in Athens has not been and will never be equaled in the history of the world. This city was a breathtaking monument to the best thought, speech, art and philosophy in the history of mankind.

In this great city, Paul was a lone traveler. He had left his travelling compassion back in Berea and was running for his life from the Jews in Thessalonica. He came to Athens hated, hunted and pursued.   It is possible that Paul was there to get lost in the crowd and to take a rest from those who so heavily persecuted him. However, the city began to get to Paul. It was a beautiful city, but it was a city full of false gods. Some said that the number of gods in Athens outnumbered the number of men there.

People tend to be attracted to what interests their mind the most. My father is a master mechanic and a craftsman. He is fascinated with mechanical things. We would take him to a football game or a concert, or to the fair and we’d find him out in the parking lot, looking at the buses and the trucks. Or behind the scenes, looking at the machinery. “Dad, don’t you want to see the game?… Don’t you want to see the show? Don’t you want to ride the rides?” Nope…he really just wanted to see the busses. Often when I was with my dad, he would not just gaze at the machines, but he’d find himself finding their owners and fixing the machines.

We could have said the same for Paul. Paul could have simply enjoyed the glory of this city and all of its man-made beauty. However, when Paul saw Athens, this man of God could not help but to see the religion. He saw the myriad of gods and he quickly concluded that it was a city full of idols. He became determined to fix the city and began to preach.

Verse 16

¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

There was a council of 30 men in Athens who gathered at the Areopagus, or more commonly referred to as Mars Hill. This council took care of civil issues having to do with murder, insurrection and other various crimes. As part of their civil responsibility, they also had the assignment of protecting the existing religions in the area from blasphemy.   Any new philosophy or religion that came to the area might pose a threat of blaspheming an already approved religion and this council would have demanded a hearing for this new religion in their court. This was not a casual visit. This was a very official court hearing where the gospel itself was on trial.

Verse 19

¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰ For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”

Paul is going to give a radically different explanation to everything these Greeks know to be true. His speech will confront the lies these people believe and it will offend many people. Let join with Paul as He begins to unpack the God of the Bible before this council.

Verse 22

²² So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,

The Greeks only knew of gods that were uncaring or consumed with their own affairs. They knew gods that acted like powerful and immoral men. They only knew gods they needed to be served and appeased. God is far greater than the gods they served. The God Paul referred to was the Creator of the universe. He is the giver of life. He is the source of life. He gives us the ability to think. Our thoughts, our art and our intellect are not even possible with His power… without his creativity… without his provision.

Paul continues…verse 25

²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

God is not served by human hands. Here’s what that mean:

God empowers us to serve and then blesses our service

God shares with us His wisdom and gives us strength to follow him.

God gives believers his spirit to guides us and to lead us and to instruct us in righteousness

God leads. God corrects. God instructs. God rebukes. God encourages. God comforts.

God’s does all the work and we enjoy all the blessing

God is not served by human hands. (Acts 17:25) God does not need us to be justified as God. An all-powerful being does not become more powerful. He already has all the power. An all knowing being does not learn new things. You can’t imagine how big God is. Your mind can’t grasp how his awesome power. You can’t have a thought that is bigger than God.

God is radically self-sufficient (2 Cor 3:4-6)

⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵ Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, ⁶ who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

This message did not come as good news to Paul at first. It was shattering. It meant that his pharisaical religion was torn apart. It was like he had spent his whole life training to be a sprinter just to find out that the final contest of life is shooting pool. He was be forced to cling on to grace rather than his religious works.

But that grace is the good news. God’s grace is the best news in the whole world. (Rom 3:23-24)

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Paul is preaching here a God that cannot be served, but who loves to serve. God’s message to the world is not a help wanted sign, but a help available sign. To those who feel morally desperate and hopeless before a holy and infinitely righteous God, this is good news. Our all-powerful God is so awesome, He can provide us what we need the most…A Savior… Namely, Jesus.

Jesus also did not come to be served. Mark 10:45 says, “⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

When Jesus tells us why he came into the world, he does not say he came to be a good teacher or a positive role model. He says He came to serve. He did not come in need of us. He came because we needed him. He came to serve us!

Charles Spurgeon in the late 1800’s gives this illustration:

“A prisoner is taken out to die and as he rode along in the death cart his heart was heavy with the thought of death. Nothing could cheer him up. The gallows were in sight and they blotted out the sun for him. But then, a prince quickly rides up beside the cart bearing a full pardon for his crimes. Then the man opened his eyes and as though he had risen from the dead, he returned to happy consciousness. The sight of his prince had chased all his gloom away. He declared that he had never seen a more beautiful sight in all his days – and when he read his pardon, he vowed that no poetry should ever be more dear to his heart than those few lines of Sovereign Grace.”

Jesus is that prince. Jesus is the prince who paid the ransom with his very life. He paid an infinite price because of our sin caused infinite debt to God. Jesus is the one who we need. Only Jesus could have paid that price.

When we understand the great love of our Savior, we are compelled to throw ourselves on his grace knowing that He paid a debt that we could never repay.

Why do we serve?

Then why do we serve? Doesn’t God command us to obey? Didn’t the Apostles refer to themselves as servants of God? We are called to serve God, but even in our service God serves us. 1 Peter 4 says:

¹¹ whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.

We serve by using God’s creation, God’s breath, God’s talents, and God’s strength so that God may be glorified in us. God uses us to testify about himself and then He goes before us and gives supernatural power to the testimony. Acts 17 continues:

²⁶ And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ²⁷ that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

God served us so that we might have eternal life through his son Jesus. God is glorified in us when we find that Jesus is truly our greatest treasure. He is intimately involved in this process.

Life Application

God’s not far off. He’s not a distant, uncaring deity. He not like the man-made gods who are hungry for power, fame and position. He already has all that and more. He does not need us, but He does love us.

He is near. In Him, we live and move and have our being. He is near. He is present in all places. He is present on the earth and in the far reaches of Space. God’s signature is evident over the entirely of creation. He rules and reigns over it all.

God knows no bounds. He is infinite and awesome. The Truth of God is so high and we cannot grasp it, but God’s awesomeness does not diminish his intimacy. He is especially near to His people. God is near each one of us. He knows the secret intents of the heart. He feels for us. He thinks highly of us. Psalm 139 says:

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

He is ready to help us when we cry out to Him in prayer. He is ready to offer salvation to all those who would turn to him with a repentant heart. Know God’s tremendous love for you and be filled with awe

Acts 17, Paul concludes his sermon by pleading with his hearers. As I read this last passage, I plead with you who have gathered here:

³⁰ The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Have you repented? – Have you turned from your sins and cried out to Jesus to be your new master?

Are you allowing God to work through you? Or are you serving to impress God. God wants you to live the Christian life in His strength, not in your own.

 Teaching Outline

Acts 17 – God’s Sufficiency and Our Service

God is not served by human hands. (Acts 17:25)

God is radically self-sufficient (2 Cor 3:4-6)

⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵ Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, ⁶ who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. – 2 Cor 3:4-6

God’s grace is the best news in the whole world. (Rom 3:23-24)

…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… – Romans 3:23-24

Jesus also did not come to be served. (Mark 10:45)

⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

Why do we serve?

So that God may be glorified in us. (1 Peter 1:4)

¹¹ whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. 1 Peter 1:4

God served us so that we might have eternal life through his son Jesus.   (Acts 17:27)