Can we enter a pagan, idolatrous culture and find some who will listen to the Gospel? Is our modern materialism also idolatry? Do we verify what is preached by studying the scriptures? Let’s look at Acts 17.
When Paul preached in Thessaloniki how many came to faith in Jesus as Messiah?
Then they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As usual, Paul went to the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” Then some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a great number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women. (Acts 17:1-4 HCSB)
Who caused a riot in Thessaloniki and what was the result?
But the Jewish leaders became jealous, and they took some contemptible characters who used to hang out in the public square, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason’s home and searched it for Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the people. When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials and shouted, “These fellows who have turned the world upside down have come here, too, and Jason has welcomed them as his guests. All of them oppose the emperor’s decrees by saying that there is another king—Jesus!” The crowd and the city officials were upset when they heard this, but after they had gotten a bond from Jason and the others, they let them go. (Acts 17:5-9 ISV)
What was different about the Bereans? Should we also verify any preaching in the Bible, ready to let the scriptures change our minds?
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble [receptive, fair-minded] than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still. (Acts 17-10-14 KJV)
How did Paul react to the extensive pagan worship in Athens?
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present. And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are speaking? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. So we want to know what these things mean.” (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something newer.) (Acts 17:16-21 LSB)
How did Paul discuss the nature of God with people who believed that statues were gods?
So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’ Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought. (Acts 17:22-29 NASB)
Did some recognize that idolatry is ignorance of God’s true nature and follow Paul? Is worshipping material wealth also ignorance of the divine?
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 everyone 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. Some of the people 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 17:30-34 NIV)
Can we enter a pagan, idolatrous culture and find some who will listen to the Gospel? Is our modern materialism also idolatry? Do we verify what is preached by studying the scriptures? You decide!
