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Acts 17:16-34
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.
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.”
21:Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
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,
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.
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. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
28:for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
29:Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
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.”
32:Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
33:So Paul went out from their midst.
34:But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Word for Today: While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was troubled by all the Idols he saw everywhere in the city. v16 NLT.
Athens was a great city with magnificent building and the center for Greek culture, education and philosophers. Educated persons were always ready to hear something new. Paul was troubled by what he saw in the city of Athens as he waited for his team just like Jesus when he waited for his disciples at the Samarian Well.
In vv 17-18, Paul connected with them in the public arena and it opened a door to his discussion in the higher Council (vv19-21).
In vv24-29, Paul provided them with a superior alternative to all they have believed and called on them in vv 30-31 to a radical change of life, he also pointed out to them to the consequence of not embracing the truth. Their response was that some become believers. Paul provided a superior and better alternative by engaging their system with a biblical mind.
Today negative cultural influences may not be manifested in the existence of idols and shrines. It may be corruption, examination malpractice, immorality, Indecent dressing, ethnicity, poor work culture, provision of substandard products and services etc.
Remember, until you give people a better option to believe you have done nothing yet to the idol they hold dear.
Prayer: Lord, help me provide a superior alternative for the Idol in my environment.
