ATHENS REVISITED: EVANGELISING IN THE 21st CENTURY

1. Preamble Dankie Jan, Marno vir die geleentheid. Dit is vir my baie spesiaal om vanoggend die kant van die kansel te staan en ted eel oor iets wat baie na aan die hart is en wat volgens my mening van die uiterste belang is vir di wat die evangelie ernstig opneem. Ek het oor die jare geleer dat as ek tegnies wil wees dan moet ek liewers by die moedertaal bly. Ek het al meer as een keer, op die harde manier, besef dat my Afrikanse weergawe en die werklikheid twee versillende dinge is. 2. Introduction Title: Athens Revisited: Evangelising in the 21st Century Challenge: Wetting the appetite. It is impossible to do justice to the subject in 40 minutes but yet is remain necessary to establish a firm Biblical foundation [ Missionary: swami, Hindu Priest- karma and samsara - He had been domesticated into the Hindu worldview. ] While most would understand our missionarys predicament many of us do not quite realise that we have very similar cultural constraints in our own society. Oh yes, you would say. I understand that there are major differences between our African and Western culture and we need to somehow bridge these differences. But thats not quite what I have in mind. In fact it is a lot more subtle than that. [Sunnypark, Arcadia Centre]. Sharing the Gospel has somehow changed over the last years. In the past people at least had a vague idea of what the Bible was who Jesus is, heaven and hell, sin [elaborate] and so on. [STUDENT] What has changed? Well, much in fact. Politically, economically, technologically, environmentally, etc. But most important of all the thinking has changed- if I be as so bold to use the word, the philosophy of the day has changed. The spirit of this age is quite different from the spirit of the last age, and by last age I am talking about not longer than 10 years ago. We are now living in what is known as a postmodern culture. It is the most pervasive philosophical system to date. It has penetrated every avenue of society including much of the church. [ANTS] Time does not permit me to explain what postmodernism is as that would take at least another hour.

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Even then it is very difficult to define postmodernism its like trying to nail jelly to a wall yet it does exhibit certain distinctive traits: There are no absolutes truth is relative It is pluralistic by nature it accommodates many sub worldviews and religions (except Christianity.) Tolerance is the key word. It some areas it seems so accommodating, so spiritual, transparent and relational and as a result has attracted many sectors of the church with devastating consequences.

This new cultural mood offers challenges to churches in that it forces them to do some significant rethinking on how the gospel is presented in our contemporary society. The old methods are simply not as effective as they were in the past. While I believe postmodernism is actually quite difficult to defend and sustain intellectually, we must nevertheless accept that it continues to shape cultural perceptions and we need to recognise that. We have to connect with where people are, not with where we think they ought to be. While we all to a greater or lesser extent understand that we are primarily involved in a spiritual battle I not always that sure we always understand what type a battle we are involved in. We seem to get it right is some areas while we miss other areas. It is here where the enemy slips in.
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For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. 2 Corinthians 10 Two important points emerge from all this: Ideas have consequences: We are called to confront the philosophy of the day not to retreat into places of safety. Our battle is a worldview battle.

3. Definition of a worldview A worldview is a way of viewing or interpreting all of reality. It is an interpretive framework through which one makes sense of the data of life and the world Two important characteristics need to be highlighted: 1. Every human being past, present and future has a worldview 2. A worldview comprises certain common fundamental questions and these are the questions that Paul deals with in Acts 17. If you dont get the questions right you will never understand the answers.

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4. The example of Paul All of this, of course, the apostle Paul well understood. In Acts 17, by his own example he teaches us the difference between evangelizing those who largely share your biblical worldview and evangelizing those who are biblically illiterate - a society very similar in many aspects to our society today.
Athens

[Background Amphipolis, Apollonia]

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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. Athens: An important spiritual; stronghold. One of the most important early engagements between Christianity and the classic philosophical beliefs is found in Pauls address in the Greek city of Athens, the former home of the gang of three, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle philosophy that has affected civilization to this present day. If Christianity was to take root in this city, it would have to engage the citys formidable philosophical heritage and pagan roots. P45aul rose to this challenge [clash of Kingdoms a worldview battle.]
Sharing your worldview

The setting, a synagogue, ensures that his hearers are Jews, Gentile proselytes to Judaism, and God fearers - in every case, people thoroughly informed by the Bible (what we would today call the Old Testament).
The Biblical illiterate

In Acts 17:16-34, however, one finds the apostle Paul evangelizing intelligent Athenians who are utterly biblically illiterate. Here his approach is remarkably different, and has much to teach us as we attempt to evangelize a new generation of biblical illiterates. Three important points need to be noted with regard to Paul and subsequent to our evangelical approach: the realities the culture Paul faces, He understood the pagan worldview and subsequently established a framework based upon a Biblical worldview. While radically different from the pagan worldview it was nevertheless clearly understood. The non-negotiables.

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5. The Realities Paul faces I mentioned the philosophical background of Athens but we also need to take note of its pagan background and then to realise how similar this gentile society is to our 21st Century society. [ Romans -religion, land, and people.] Religious pluralism was not only endemic to the Empire but was buttressed by the force of law. After all, it was a capital offense to desecrate a templeany temple. But let no temple and no God challenge Rome. Ultimately Caesar was lord [Jesus is Lord.]
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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 divinitiesbecause 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. The Areopagus (Areios Pagos; lit., Court or Council of Ares, the Gr. god of thunder and war). Its membership consisted of all city administrators. So we should doubtless understand Pauls appearance before the Athenian Council of Ares as being for the purpose of explaining his message before those in control of affairs in the city so that he might either receive the freedom of the city to preach or be censored and silenced. 6. The Framework Paul establishes Preliminary observations Here it will be helpful to run through Pauls argument from 17:22 to 17:31: First, it takes you about two minutes to read this record of Pauls address. But speeches before the Areopagus were not known for their brevity. In other words, we must remember that this is a condensed report of a much longer speech. Doubtless every sentence, in some cases every clause, constituted a point that Paul expanded upon at length. Second, if you want to know a little more closely just how he would have expanded each point, it is easier to discover than some people think. For there are many points of comparison between these sermon notes and, for instance, Romans.

[ Theology, Anthropology, Historical and Soteriology worldview questions ]

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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,

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Theology: First, Paul establishes that God is the creator of the world and everything in it Paul finds a common starting point. I perceive that in every way you are very religious. There is nearly a hint of sarcasm here. He makes reference to their unknown god and now proceeds to explain who the known God is. .. does not live in temples made by man, Paul insists that God is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands The sovereignty of God over the whole universe stands over against views that assign this god or that goddess a particular domainperhaps the sea (Neptune) or communication (Hermes). Because of the universality of his reign, God cannot be domesticatednot even by temples (v. 24). He is so much bigger than that.
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nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything,

God is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. God is Transcendent. God is utterly independent of his created order so far as his own well-being or contentment or existence is concerned. God does not need us - a very different perspective from that of polytheism, where human beings and gods interact in all kinds of ways bound up with the finiteness and needs of the gods.
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. since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

The truth of the matter is the converse: we are utterly dependent on him - he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
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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 From theology proper, Paul turns to anthropology. He insists that all nations descended from one man (v. 26). This contradicts not a few ancient notions of human descent, which conjectured that different ethnic groups came into being in quite different ways. But Paul has a universal gospel that is based on a universal problem. It is important for Paul to get the anthropology right so that the soteriology is right. We cannot agree on the solution if we cannot agree on the problem.
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that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

For the first time one finds an explicit reference to something wrong in this universe that God created. The assumption is that the race as a whole does not know the God who made them. Something has gone profoundly wrong.

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Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, From the one transcendent God Paul shows that He is also intimately involved in His Creation [and not the other way around.] The God he has in mind is not far from each one of us (v. 27)[EPICURIANS]. He is also a personal God who wishes to also communicate with His creation. The apostle recognizes that some of this truth is acknowledged in some pagan religions, cf. Romans 1:18 (.who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.)
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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. Paul then quotes from one of their philosophers and a poet Epimendes of Crete and Aratus poem, Phaenomena. Note how he subtly shows the incoherency of the pagan worldview. We live and move and have our being in this God, and we are his offspring (17:28) - not, for Paul, in some pantheistic sense (STOICS), but as an expression of Gods personal and immediate concern for our well-being.
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Being then Gods 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, The entailment of this theology and this anthropology is to clarify what sin is and to make idolatry utterly reprehensible Idolatry the original sin de-goding God. because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Rom 1:25
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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. So here is the framework Paul establishes. He has, in fact, constructed a biblical worldview. But he has not done so simply for the pleasure of creating a worldview. In this context he has done so in order to provide a framework in which Jesus himself, not least his death and resurrection, makes sense. Otherwise nothing that Paul wants to say about Jesus will make sense.

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7. The Non negotiables When it comes to Christs death, burial and resurrection, i.e. The Cross, there is nothing in any pagan or philosophical terminology that even remotely represents the finished work of our Lord.
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Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.

Paul does not flinch from affirming the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And that is what causes so much offense that Paul is cut off, and the Areopagus address comes to an end. Paul does not trim the gospel to make it acceptable to the worldview of his listeners it is centred upon Christ and Christ crucified. Again: The reality of the culture; The Biblical Worldview Framework; The no negotiables.

8. Conclusion: The implications of postmodern thinking for evangelism Evangelism today, means starting farther back. The good news of Jesus Christ - who he is and what he accomplished by his death, resurrection, and exaltation - is simply incoherent unless certain structures are already in place. You cannot make heads or tails of the real Jesus unless you have categories for the personal/transcendent God of the Bible; the nature of human beings made in the image of God; the sheer odium of rebellion against him. One cannot make sense of the Bibles plot line without such basic ingredients; one cannot make sense of the Bibles portrayal of Jesus without such blocks in place. We cannot possibly agree on the solution that Jesus provides if we cannot agree on the problem he confronts. We must translate our faith into a language that can be understood by our audiences. That is why our evangelism must be worldview evangelism. 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. I end off with a quotes by the great reformer Martin Luther: If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of truth of God except precisely that point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.

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