A Tale of Three Cities - Acts 17 (Sermon)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of time, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Now I did not intend to set out and find a longer, single sentence than that of last week's message. But it seems that Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities was such an example of an even longer opening sentence. And to that, I do love history, how the book seems to be looking at London and Paris and how they are handling the brewing wars each nation would soon be facing, one across the pond, while the other down in the streets of the cities.

But this morning, I am not going to be talking about the politics in light of history and in the light of the times that we are now living. Rather, this morning, I want to look at three cities that were each unique (which, by the way makes for the shortest introduction I've had in quite some time). Each church has a lesson for us when we share our faith.

With that, after Paul left Philippi, his next significant stop was the City of Thessalonica. Here for 3 weeks, he talked with the Jews in the Synagogue on the Sabbath. During the week, he'd talk with the Greeks of the city. The key here is verse 4.

Here is what we see: Paul preached and showed the Jews that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah whom the Jews had been looking. Now reading between the lines, Paul must have spent the rest week speaking to people where they were, be it the marketplace or the parks or other meeting places.

The Good News is accepted by people who may not have been likely candidates. I am not talking about the Jews, but also Greeks whose hearts were open to the truth of Jesus. Not just Greeks, but women as well. Now the question that I have to ask, are these women Luke mentioned Greeks alone, or are there Jewish women as well?

It is a question to consider because one of the largest complaints against Christianity is that it is chauvinistic against women. Why would women come to a faith that has them submitting to a man? This is the argument that many critics put up. Of course, the sad truth is that many people have used and do use the Bible as a weapon or a source of power. True faith, we know doesn't. Where it says that women are to submit, the previous verse says that we are all to submit. Besides that, coercion is not the same as submission.

But here's the point. When we share the Good News of Jesus, we cannot know who all we will reach. We may even reach those who we weren't seeing. Or perhaps another way is that we need to be open to reaching everyone we come into contact.

Berea is the next town in Paul's journey. My focus is on verses 11 & 12. Berea, however, is not what Paul's enemies would have thought. If a person leaves a place, then he would travel to another via the main road. Paul had to leave in the cover of darkness because people were wanting him stopped. As Paul would tell the Corinthians, preaching Christ is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentile. (1 Cor. 1.23)

Here Paul found a bit of respite because the city wasn't on a major highway. It was on a back road. Consider leaving Stuttgart to head to Pine Bluff. But instead of heading to Pine Bluff, you decide to go to Almyra. Here Paul was refreshed because it might be some time before his critics found him. But then there was eagerness in his audience. They had an open mind to hearing things of God and Jesus. But unlike many today, they didn't just take his word.

How many peopled do you know around you hear something and they automatically assume that it's solid. A friend recently saw how Judge Scalia resigned his weekend job as a scout master because of the decision of the BSA. He forwarded it to me, and I pointed to him that the source is satire. He was glad he didn't post that story as the truth for what might have been thought.

But this isn't just current events. There are many who will fall in line with what a preacher says because of who he is, what he has earned by way of pedigree or diplomas. I can imagine how comforting it is that what I preach isn't accepted out and out, that you take notes and consider what I've said in light of the Gospel message.

When we open the Word, when we look at our Bibles, do we seek to understand what we read, what we hear from other people, be they our friends, family or preacher? This is the lesson that the Bereans are teaching us. (Though it would also be an interesting study that I hadn't thought until yesterday, why does Luke now mention Greek women and men in that order?)

Then Paul's break was over. His critics didn't find him readily, but they did find him. He left in a hurry to Athens with half his team staying behind to help establish the Church there. He arrives in Athens, having taken a ship. My focus is on verse 16, 22-23.

This city teaches us about the opportunities that present itself. Too often, something comes along and instead of seeing ways to preach Jesus, we react to it. For example, a family comes to church. The dad is an accountant who is known for his shady practices. Rather than seeing a person who is open to the Gospel, we tend to shun and rain on him and the sins of thievery. Or perhaps we see a couple of men seeking to become married.

What would your reaction be? What should it be? Here are a couple of men who have come to a church to be married. One hand, they may be trying to set the church up. Perhaps. But they are at a church. What should they see and hear?

Paul took advantage of what he saw. He saw idols to everybody and everything. And just in case the city forgot a god, they had one to the “Unknown God”. The people, Paul surmised, were ripe for hearing about the unknown God. After all, He is unknown. Jesus comes from a no-count community in a no-count country. No one in Athens, the home of modern philosophy and civilization, would have heard of this Jesus of Nazareth.

We have opportunities all around us all the time to share the good news, to speak into another's lives if we see the invitation. Idolatry was just a symptom. The cure was Jesus. They didn't need to hear a message of how each of their gods were inferior. They needed to know the Creator of the Heavens and His Son who came to pay our punishment, not to dole it out, as their perceptions taught.

Three cities have shown us that the most unexpected people will respond to the Good News. Three cities have shown us that there is a need to keep an open mind on the standard of God's Word. Three cities have shown us that there are opportunities if we but look for them instead of react to events. What else have these three cities shown you?