At this time, please open the Bible with me to the New Testament in the book of Acts chapter 17, verses 16 through 34. Again, Acts chapter 17, verses 16 through 34, which can be found on page 926 of the Church Bible. If you've been around and paying attention at all, you well know that the rationale behind this sermon series is to undergird our sense of mission as a church body. We know that we're called to help fulfill the great commission of Jesus Christ, as found in Matthew 28, verses 18-20, where Jesus' final words before his ascension are the command to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the triune God, and teaching them all the word of Christ, backed by Christ's own authority and promised presence. And yet to help us do that, we've crafted a freshly articulated mission statement, summed up on the front page of the Church Bulletin. As we see where we are and seek to give ourselves to carrying out the Great Commission at this specific point in our history, with a context all its own, as we are placed in the Cedar Valley in Iowa, in post-Christian America. And that means bearing witness to the God of Scripture in the midst of a culture that increasingly does not operate according to or even know the basics of a biblical Christian worldview, which isn't a far cry from where we find Paul in Athens, in the first century Greco-Roman world. as told here in the second half of Acts chapter 17. So perhaps we can learn a thing or two from his approach. That's certainly been our hope and prayer, and it still is as we come to the end of this mini-series this morning. What is the payoff to all of Paul's efforts? What can we expect as we follow in his footsteps? What are we to make of it all? Let's find out as we first of all listen to the reading of God's holy, infallible, life-giving word again, Acts chapter 17, beginning at verse 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. 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. 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. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 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, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 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. 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, 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. 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. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, 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." And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, We will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." Amen. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Holy Spirit says. Dear brothers and sisters, maybe this sermon series wasn't such a hot idea. Maybe investing so much time and energy in learning and following Paul and his model when it comes to proclaiming God and his gospel to pagans is not worth it. After all, one might ask whether or not Paul has very much to show for it. The numbers of people flocking to Christ according to the end of Acts chapter 17 aren't exactly overwhelming. And this is what many prominent students of the New Testament have pointed out. I won't repeat everything they have to say, but one argument suggests that Paul himself regrets the strategy and tactics he has been employing here, that 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1-5 indicate as much, where he writes to the church in Corinth that he decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. that he was not going to put any more trust in human wisdom, and, these alleged scholars add, that this is all because he had learned this lesson from the apparent futility of his outreach in Athens. In other words, instead of engaging with people on the level of their philosophies and worldviews, he would learn to simply say, Jesus loves you, as he would preach Christ and His cross. However, when you keep reading in the book of Acts and find Paul in Corinth in the very next chapter, you don't find him deviating from basically the same means of outreach. Instead, you find him, once again, reasoning in the synagogue and seeking to persuade both Jews and Greeks, as the author, Dr. Luke, tells us in chapter 18, verse 4. And there's this, too. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul is denouncing a trust in the cleverness of human wisdom, in Greek rhetoric, to be more specific. He is not denouncing attempts at persuasion, per se. Nor is he denouncing the expounding and applying of who the biblical God is and what He is like. It is not empty philosophizing that he has given himself to here in Athens, but the preaching of the God of creation and of Scripture itself. And that, by the way, is something he deems necessary in order to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If the Athenians don't grasp something of who and what God is as their Creator and Sovereign Lord and Judge, they won't be awakened to their need for the redeeming love of Christ. God's provision in Him will be answering a question they're not asking. Or meeting a need that they don't feel. And it's not all that different in our time and place with biblical illiteracy and paganism on the rise. Don't get me wrong, you will still find people who do know something of a holy, righteous God and how they fall short. And who will be hungry and thirsty and already prepared to hear it when you announce God loves you in Christ. Your sin is worse than you could ever imagine, but you are more loved and accepted in the Savior than you would ever dare to dream. And yet the trend is this, that more and more people in our world need to hear the big gospel of a big God, complete with its indispensable background and framework, with an integrated worldview that actually makes sense of the whole of human experience. Otherwise, our world will perceive the gospel to be some trivial thing. Besides all that, Paul does clearly speak of the resurrection of Christ, which means he must also speak of his death. Remember, what we have recorded here is just the outline of his speech. The shorthand version. And the data we do have does point to Paul very much making the gracious, a merciful, a substitutionary death of the Savior for sin something belonging to the heart of his message. He has been working his way in that direction, just as we ought to. So, here's my advice, my counsel. Don't jump to any conclusions here. Don't jump to the conclusion that Paul is somehow unfaithful or unwise here, that he is on the wrong track. And don't even write off the outcome as if his labors are completely unproductive. which would be careless, and we're going to find out, unwarranted. More importantly, let's not allow ourselves to entertain the notion that we need to scrap Paul's model and find some so-called new and improved example to follow in communicating with our own generation. Commander Presbyterian, let me remind you and myself from the Word of God as we find it here, that faithfulness in life and ministry does not always yield success as defined by worldly standards. Our Christian witness will not always be met with a warm reception. Revival will not break out in every instance. Some will come to the Christian God, but not all. And there will be those who are hostile, or just plain indifferent. But that shouldn't stop us. And that shouldn't divert us, taking us in some other direction towards the presentation of a compromised gospel, that is, no gospel at all, through the use of a compromised methodology that precludes. or perhaps just diminishes reliance upon the Holy Spirit. Though a faithful testimony to God's Word produces a mixed response, a mixed response, we should not give up. What I want to do though is acknowledge that at times we may be driven to the point of giving up. And that there are certain circumstances that push us there, to that place where we're on the verge of pulling the plug. We find three such circumstances confronting Paul here in verses 32 through 34. First, we mustn't give up when many reject us. Brothers and sisters, Paul is largely rejected here. So says the beginning in verse 32. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. At this point, he is cut off. The impression then is that a pretty strong majority takes over who bring the meeting to an abrupt end. Now it shouldn't come as a shocker to us that it is talk of the resurrection that brings things to a grinding halt. And remember that Paul is not only speaking of the resurrection of general, in general that is, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ in particular. Like it says back in verse 31 that His resurrection is verification that He is the divinely appointed man who is to execute God's righteous judgment. So the theme of the resurrection is intertwined with the theme of final judgment. which they can't stomach. Just like people today who, by and large, don't want to hear of such a thing. And you add to the mix that these are first century Greeks, some of them Epicureans who believe that death ends personal identity and existence, and some of them Stoics who don't believe there is an ultimate end to things, that instead history just goes on and on in repeating cycles. And all of whom are part of a broader philosophical heritage coming from those like Plato, which teaches that the spiritual realm is good, And material realm is evil, so that belief in bodily resurrection, that would be unthinkable. But you see, there is no culture anywhere or at any time that is ready for the biblical Christian worldview. And our own culture is no exception. If anything, its outlook and thinking is as incompatible as ever with a Creator God who is distinct from, and yet a sovereign Lord and righteous judge over, His creation. Who insists that all His image-bearers everyone, everywhere, turn from their disobedience and rebellion and unbelief and flee to His Son Jesus Christ for salvation, who insists that the cross alone provides atonement, and that the empty tomb alone promises eternal life. It poses a threat, after all, to alleged human autonomy, to our independence and people like you and me running our own lives and being in charge of our own world. Even if you befriend and love, and serve your neighbor and seek to win their respect. There are no guarantees. They still might not give a hearing to you and your God. Though you know, as I know, that He is their only hope. Because whether it's overt or passive-aggressive, they're on the run from Him. They are motivated by their commitment to their own idolatry and unrighteousness keep to their hideouts and lurking places. And fellow Christians, they might even find having a relationship with you, just a relationship with you in and of itself, to be too uncomfortable because of who you represent. You see, it's not Paul or me or you who are being rejected at the end of the day, just like it's not Moses and Elijah and the prophets of old who are rejected, but the God we speak for, the God they speak for, as this God and His Word are slighted and snubbed. It's the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God we identify with. He is the one being rebuffed, categorically. And we need to consider it worth it all, and not give up. So I ask you, as I ask myself, do you love Him? Is your passion for His name? Because if it is, you'll bear with it, even if it means Right now, in the present moment, not being at the center of popularity. Not when you're on his team. But that's not all there is to this story. Not everyone rejects Paul. And more importantly, not everyone rejects his God and ours. This is another reason to not give up. Because God in His electing, sovereign love and grace can and does, in the case of many, reject their rejection by His Spirit overcoming the resistance of their hearts. Opening their hearts. I mean, this is what God has done for Paul, isn't it? And the likes of us here today. And we begin to see Him doing it in Athens when we read verse 32 in its entirety. So first, we mustn't give up when many reject us. Second, we mustn't give up Should it take people a good bit of time to become Christians? Brothers, sisters, not only do others say they will eventually, later on, continue the discussion and hear more from Paul, but check out what verses 33 and 34 add. So Paul went out from their midst, but not alone. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Now, if you're using the old New International Version, the translation will read that a few men became followers of Paul, which is unfortunate, because it downplays the response and falsely gives ammunition to those who wish to critique and dismiss Paul's approach as ineffective here. When the Greek word is tinnis, meaning some, and not just a few. Some and not just a few men joined him and believed. Literally, though, the text says that they are cleaving to and joining themselves to Paul as they believe. Which means the NIV does well when it translated by saying that these men became followers of Paul. In other words, Luke is indicating a process here. They don't become Christians overnight. It takes a while. It's as if they start out not by becoming disciples of Jesus, but disciples of Paul. Following him as he follows Jesus. Conversion can work that way. computer files. You may find yourself waiting for quite some time as a file converts from one program to another, or from one version of the same program to another. How much more when people convert? Exchanging one set of the most deeply held commitments and loyalties for another. You may also have to wait if you want to enjoy a really good meal that is both healthy and tasty, as opposed to something that will take a minute to cook up in your microwave. And yet it just doesn't so easily fly in our instant gratification society. We want it now, but this is what it often takes, slower process. You may have many conversations with someone about the Christian God and the message of his word, all in the context of developing a friendship, all in the context of your prayers and others' prayers behind the scenes. It could go on for months or years before you detect progress, a genuine interest on the part of your friend in wanting to explore Christianity. And you will need wisdom as to when to invite them to church or whether or not you should even be the one to initiate that. Though not all cases are like Dr. Rosaria Butterfield, whose testimony we are considering in Sunday school class these days. And though it would be better to expose others to the worship of God and the fellowship of his people in the church sooner rather than later in many cases. But still, you may find someone being drawn to Christ, but only as he or she learns of Christianity from you, or others like you, before ever darkening the door of a church, with church itself perhaps inevitably being uncomfortable to some degree, even if it includes a friendly, hospitable welcome. They have to learn the biblical Christian worldview. They have to unlearn whatever the world has been catechizing them in, whatever they've been believing, consciously or unconsciously, for years, decades. It may be a while before things start to sink in. It will take the Spirit of God being at work, according to His timetable, as He providentially uses circumstances in their lives to more and more get a hold of them. If they come to church, it may require them to keep coming. and coming, and coming, before they and you begin to sense a difference in what they actually believe and how they actually live. I believe I may have mentioned it before, but we had a slew of international students from China come our way at 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia in my days there as a pastoral intern. And we just had to encourage them to keep coming. Keep coming to conversational English classes with the English Bible as the text. Keep coming to church to worship the Christian God. As Christ would often displace their atheistic, communist worldview and commitments, though it would be through a very incremental process. On the mission field in Thailand, to give you another example, other short-term team members and I would witness professing believers and Christian church members openly, publicly struggle with all kinds of idols. in immorality, confessing everything from selling idols on the street, the kind actually made of wood, stone and metal, to giving in to homosexual temptations. And those with more experience in that setting would explain that it's as if they're simultaneously Christian and what they had always been. That there's this struggle between worldviews and lifestyles going on within them. And that in many cases it would remain to be seen who the real clear-cut Christians would be. Who would persevere as followers of Jesus and put behind them old ways. And such is the story, I believe, of many Christian conversions. It's the sort of thing that might become more obvious and pronounced in our own part of the world. You see, as we read back in verse 30, Paul has issued God's call to repentance. Last time I emphasized that at its core, repentance is a turning from everything else to God, to Christ. It begins on the level of the heart. the affections, the mind, the will, and yet it does involve the whole of one's life. This massive turnaround from one object and destiny to another. And this turnaround itself can be very gradual, seeming very slow. Dr. Benjamin Shaw of Greenville Seminary in South Carolina illustrates it like this. Imagine repentance as a man walking in one direction who suddenly realizes that he is walking in the opposite direction from which he should be walking. He stops. He turns around. Then he begins walking in a new direction. It is a quick and simple process. He realizes, he stops, he turns. But imagine someone on a bicycle realizing he is going the wrong direction. In one sense, it is still obvious. He stops, he turns around, he begins bicycling in the new direction, but it is a longer process. He has to come to a stop. Depending on his speed, that may take some time. The turning around also takes longer, and it takes longer to get up to full speed in the new direction. The process is the same for a man in a car, but it takes longer than for the man on the bike. And it may require going somewhat out of his way before he gets back on the right track. The process is the same for a man in a speedboat. He has to slow down, enter the turn, and come back. But the time and distance required to do so is much longer than what was required for the man walking. Now, imagine that the man is piloting a supertanker. It takes him miles to slow the ship down enough to even begin to make the turn. The turn itself is immense, taking him quite a distance from his intended course. Then again, it also takes a large amount of time to get up to full speed in the new direction. If you are steeped in something so alien to the living and true God, then repentance for you might be more like that super tanker turning around. In fact, that's often how it still is for those who have been Christians, like myself. But if it's engineered by the careful, thorough work of God, then it's okay if it's messy and painful and even slow. So that's how it will be at times when we're seeking to lead others to the Christian God, and without any guarantees that they will all become Christians. Some will. Some will. Praise and thanks be to God. But some won't. The point, though, is that we can't let the process, maybe even the elongated process, throw us. First, we mustn't give up when many reject us. Second, we mustn't give up should it take people a good bit of time to become Christians. And third, we mustn't give up if the fruit of our collective witness appears modest. Brothers and sisters, verse 34 tells us that at this stage for Paul, there is Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and don't forget, others who are neither named nor quantified. These are all newborn Christians or those in the process of becoming Christian. Eusebius, the early church historian, claims that Dionysius would go on to become the first bishop and martyr of the church in Athens, but there is little evidence for it. There is scant evidence of much of a church being established in Athens at all, let alone some lasting legacy left behind. And maybe that would be God's plan, His will for this little congregation in the making here. Maybe they would be on the smaller side, but bearing a witness nonetheless. Not forsaken by God. With honor in that, and no shame. I don't know what God is going to do with Covenant Presbyterian Church, just as you don't know. In faith, I expect some growth, but I can't guarantee, say, a numerically thriving work which will spawn multiple church plants throughout the region. We might be like the church that I at least believe would go on to exist in Athens for a season at any rate. We might be this humble congregation in terms of numbers and size and so forth. The important thing, though, is that we be faithful. as God is to us in Christ, as we worship Him Sunday by Sunday, by the book, proclaiming the Word of God and spreading the good news of Jesus, both knowing Him and making Him known, both loving one another and all whom the Lord brings us into contact with. Not that we should take some twisted arrogance and pride in being on the small side. You know, some folks from another Orthodox Presbyterian Church congregation once shared with me that they were 80 strong, joking, yeah, we're what you call an OPC megachurch. And it's funny, but not really that funny. Because we don't want some fortress mentality setting in, in which we're satisfied with our biblical confessional theology, and yet callous and cold towards those outside of Christ and His church, who are perishing in their sins. when we're not exactly set on fire for the glory of God and their salvation. We need to be mobilized by God's Spirit, being gripped by His grace to reach out. But where that will take us, God only knows. It's something He will work out in the mystery of His providence. Here's the gist of what I'm saying, though. The encouragement we can derive from Scripture, namely this, Even if kingdom growth and adding new sheep to the fold here is something on the slow and steady side, we can't throw in the towel. We can't throw in the towel if God is in it. We can't act as though He is not in it. He is. At least if the end of Acts chapter 17 is any indication, as Paul here provides a laudable pattern to emulate. An apostolic pattern. There's no hint that God is anything but pleased. Christ will do it as He sees fit, but He will build His church, just as He promises in Matthew 16, verse 18. Dr. Don Carson of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois tells of his father's missions work in Quebec, with the bulk of it, I suppose, taking place close to the middle of the 20th century. So rewind 50 or 60 so years. For years and years, and years, he saw few converts, with not much in terms of visible results, while others in other mission fields were seeing disciples and churches multiplying innumerably, prompting young Donald to ask his father, why toil here Why stay here and toil for nothing when you could go somewhere else and actually accomplish something? Which irked the veteran missionary, which provoked him to give his son something of a rebuke, as he would steal a line or two from the Lord's Word to Paul in the next chapter of the book of Acts when he gets to Corinth. You would rebuke Him along these lines. I don't leave. I don't go. And here's why. Because He is with me and I am convinced that He has many people in this place. And beloved, maybe we should Call that to mind. Maybe preach it to ourselves and preach it to each other if or whenever we get a little discouraged over our own situation, our own sense of impact. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we give you thanks for this sermon series in which we have been able to see Paul model faithful outreach to those who do not know you. We are challenged by his motivation for your glory over and against all idols. method of persuading both Jews and Greeks, those exposed to the church and those far, far away from any knowledge of the Bible or Jesus Christ, those he would speak with in the marketplace, even the philosophers of Athens. We are also challenged by His message that starts with who and what you are, O God, as our Creator, Lord, and Judge. Enable us to follow His example, to follow in His footsteps, even when the response is mixed, like it was for Paul in Athens. Please, by Your Spirit, write Your Word upon our hearts that we might walk in repentance before you, clinging to our Savior and His righteousness, even as we seek to lovingly, patiently call on others to do the same and join us. And this we pray for the sake of your kingdom, in Jesus' name, amen.