St. Petersburg's Viterian is a church known around the world. And it's primarily known because of the great preaching coming out of this pulpit. So I consider it a great privilege to stand here and open the Word of God with you. But let me also tell you that the pulpit I preach from every Sunday in Athens gives me another privilege. And that is to be in a church which is less than five minutes away from where Paul stood when he was in Athens, where he preached the gospel there. So I think it's only natural for me to choose Acts 17 and talk about Paul's visit in Athens. And so that is our text before us this morning. But when we are faced with this text, we always come before a temptation. And the temptation is to try to extract from it a methodology. We have this fascination about techniques. So let's try to find some tactics, some methods, some lessons, find out what Paul did, how did he do it, and let's try all those things in our case, and then we will have a fruitful and successful ministry. But what I want us to see today is that the important thing here is not Paul's methodology, but Paul's theology. Because that is what was really driving Paul to do what he did. His theology shaped and inspired his methodology and what he did in Athens. So, I would like us to examine that, and my prayer is that at the end of this hour, we'll come out with a new vision about God. So, let's start, and let's try to explore this chapter, and let's try to develop a theology about missions. And the very first thing I would like us to notice is that our God, Paul's God, is the God of the ordinary, the God of the ordinary. If you look at the text before you, Acts 17, verse 16, it starts in Greek with this phrase, in Athens. That's where our title comes. But then we have a participle. You know, I'm not going to do a grammar lesson here, but we all understand what a participle is. As Paul was waiting for them in Athens, we don't have an indicative. It doesn't say when Paul went to Athens or when Paul reached, arrived in Athens, but as Paul was waiting in Athens. So it seems that Paul was not really planning to be there. And the truth of the matter is that even though I'm from Athens and, you know, that is not really honoring for my city, Paul never planned to be in Athens. He wanted to go to Corinth. He was on a mission. He had a strategy. So even though we said bad things about methodology, of course, Paul followed a plan and a strategy and methodology. But his goal was to go to Corinth. Corinth is the important city. So that's where he wants to go. But some events in Thessaloniki, Thessalonica and Beria, persecution, he had to leave early. So he comes to Athens and there in Athens he's waiting for Silas and Timothy to come to join him so that he can go to Corinth. So there is no plan here. Paul just happened to be in Athens. And let me tell you, That's a good lesson we can learn from Paul. If you ever come to Athens, a good idea is to go out for a stroll. That's exactly what Paul did. He went out for a stroll. And he started walking around and seeing places, meeting people. And we read later on in verse 17 that he was speaking, this is another participle, to those who happen to be there. I hope you can see the ordinariness of all this narrative. Nothing is really planned. It's not that Paul stood and he tried to strategize how I'm going to go up at Mars Hill and preach the gospel. No, no, nothing like that happened. He's out there, he meets randomly with the people and talking to them, and he starts feeling things, saying things, and he ends up up in Mars Hill. And there, we read in verse 23, verse 23, as he is talking to them, he says, he starts with yet another participle. As I was passing along. The erchomenos. As I was passing along. And I love this phrase. You know, Greeks don't like things being too organized. We are notorious for that. And, you know, I love that. I love that part. Paul was passing along, and as he was passing along, he saw, he noticed, and this is a very important word. And it's a word that we see again in Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8. Then again, we have the exact same verb. I mean, in the translation it comes out in another way, but the idea there is, if you come with me, it's Acts chapter 8, verse 4. It's after Stephen's martyrdom, death, and the persecution, you remember, and the church is scattered, and that's what we read in verse 4. Those who were scattered went about, same word, their home, and as they were passing along, nothing planned, okay? They were persecuted, they left, and they were trying to find a secure place, and as they were passing along, they were preaching the Word. Now, keep in mind this simple thing. In the book of Acts, in chapter 8 and in chapter 17, we have two major movements for the gospel. The first one geographical, the other one cultural. In chapter 8, we have a geographical move. The gospel gets out of Jerusalem to the rest of the world. A huge movement. In Acts 17, we have a cultural move. The gospel goes out of the confines of the Jewish religious system and goes into the pagan culture, in the pagan world. Two major movements. And both of those movements happened with no planning. No planning. And they just happened through very ordinary means. Paul went for a stroll. People were scattered because of persecution and they were passing alone. And the Lord used these ordinary means in order to work His purposes. You know, many times God suffocates in our planning. I'm not against planning, and actually Paul is a man who likes planning. He's in a mission here, all right? He wants to go to Corinth. But sometimes we're so excited about our planning, and God wants to move even beyond of our plans and our strategies. You know, when American teams come to Greece for short-term missions, the very first question they ask as soon as they set foot on the ground is, guess what? So, what's the schedule? And I always say to them, listen, there is only one thing here in Greece. There is only one thing that you can know for sure about schedule. And that is that it is going to change. There is no way that we can talk about missions and not expect that we will go beyond our schedule. Because God wants to work beyond our planning. He's a sovereign God. Praise His name. And God wants to work sometimes through very ordinary things that many times we don't even pay attention to. The word missional has become very trendy. And sometimes I really am very cautious using it. But I think a good definition of a missional life, what it means to be missional, is this. I have found it in a book. Ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality. Ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality. That's exactly what's going on in Acts 17. And the first thing we learn about God is that our God is the God of the ordinary. The God who can work when we do extraordinary things for Him, but He also can work when we do simple and ordinary things. Don't take me wrong. In the scriptures, in the New Testament, we have imperatives. We go. And this is a call out of the ordinary. And that's what missions is all about. But it's very important, as we keep that, to not forget that God can also work through the as you go. as you pass along in your everyday life, in your ordinary activities. God is the God of the ordinary. But he's also, secondly, the God of providence, the God of providence. Saying that what happened in Athens, it was not because Paul planned it, We say half the truth, because Paul may have not planned it, but God did. It was in God's planning. And you know when God started planning what happened in Athens? Way, way back, in Cilicia, in Tarsus, where a young guy by the name Saul was born in a family which had this unique thing. They were Jewish, but also Roman citizens. So this young guy raised up, and he partook on both Jewish education, but also Roman education. And many times, you parents, you're going to love that, many times I can picture Paul, Saul's mother, saying to him, Saul, Have you done your homework? Have you read your Greek? Have you learned by heart that poem by Epimenides? And I'm the father of three sons, and I know that. And a typical teenager will answer, why do I have to learn all this stuff? How is it ever going that I'm going to use this stuff in my life? And I'm sure that Saul had said that a lot of times. He was struggling with Greek and memorizing poets and studying philosophy. Many times he has said, you know, how is this thing useful for me? But God had a plan. And after many, many years, Paul is standing in Athens, and he's ready to go. Keep in your mind that at that time there was no Wikipedia. That means that, okay, we see the Stoics, the Epicureans, okay, what do I say to them? Let's do a quick search on the internet and find out who they are and try to craft a sermon and say something. You don't have that. You know your stuff. Then you are dead. And Paul knows his stuff. He's there. He's the right person, at the right place, in the right moment. And that's a good definition of providence. And to understand that, let me say this. Imagine if, instead of Paul, we had Peter in Athens. We read that Paul was provoked in his spirit, right? Seeing all the idolatry going on. Imagine Peter being provoked. You don't want to imagine that. He was, you know, imagine him being irritated. He would go smashing down the idols, shouting at people, waving banners, stop this madness now and things like that. But Paul Listen what he did. He was provoked in his spirit and Paul was able, perhaps Paul and the British can do that, he reasoned. He was provoked and he reasoned. He was able to do it. And he knew his stuff. He was ready. And that, it was because of God's providence. Let's bring the definition of missional and add something here. We said missional means ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality. But I think we should add this extra phrase. Missional means ordinary people doing ordinary things under divine intentionality. So we believe in the God of the ordinary. We believe in the God of prophets. Nothing in our life is by chance. Every experience we have is part of God's work and is part of God's planning. but let's move on. We need to move on because God wants to move on into new territories. The third thing that we need to keep in mind as we try to develop a theology of missions to understand God is that Paul's God, our God, is the God who wants to go to the marketplace. Our God wants to go to the agora, to the marketplace. Come back with me to verse 17. There we read that Paul reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace, and in the agora. That little phrase, it's a huge revolution. Perhaps you don't notice it, but it is. I mean, the Bible and the Gospel and the preaching and all the activity before had to do with the synagogue. That means with the religious world. It was a place where Paul could argue from the Scriptures. It was a very convenient place in a sense because Paul knew this stuff and that was his upbringing. He was a Pharisee, so it was very easy for him to talk this language and to talk with these people and to reason in their religious spirit. But now, he has another challenge. He goes to the Agora. And it's a very unfortunate translation to translate Agora as marketplace because it's not a big shopping mall what is going on there. Let me read to you a few quotes. Immediately surrounding the marketplace in ancient Greece were temples law courts, state offices, public archives, libraries, shops, concert halls, dance halls, gymnasiums, theatres and galleries. It's the place where you find the media, art, politics, education, religion, commerce, all these things in one place. It's the public square. When we say the Agora is the public square, everything that has to do with public life is there in the Agora. And Paul is faced with this question. Is God only for Jerusalem or is he also for Athens? It's the very first time that Paul comes before this question there. Is the gospel good only for the religious or for the pagans? Is the gospel only for the synagogue or is it for the agora? I don't know how would you answer this question. My instinct would say, stay in the synagogue. Stay there where it's safe. Stay in your comfort zone. Let me share a little bit about our story. We are a very old traditional Presbyterian church. 160 years old. We have a nice building in the center of the city now with a pipe organ. We're good Presbyterians. And we sing the anthems and all this stuff. But let me tell you that when we first bought, I mean not us, but our forefathers bought the building, it was back then right at the edge of the city, almost outside the city. You know why? Because at the very beginning there were a lot of difficulties with the Greek Orthodox, a lot of misunderstanding. Thank God things are getting better and better, but back then it was very tense. So these people, they chose to go outside the city and the mentality was, let's go outside so that we don't bother them and they don't bother us. And you know what? That can become a mission statement. And it did. Especially if you're a minority. you develop this kind of, as we call it, fortress mentality. Let's be protected in our little world, and let's do all the activity here, and let's focus here, and let's talk our language, the language of Zion, things that only us, we can understand, or a believer can really figure out what we're talking about, and let's do evangelism even in the church. You know, because we need to reach out to the younger generations, so let's stay in the confines of this building, in the synagogue, so to say, where it's safe, where it's convenient. The Lord brought conviction in our hearts through many ways. First of all, he did this terrible thing to us. He brought the city around us. You know, we tried to escape, like Jonah going outside Nineveh. Imagine Nineveh, you know, coming all around Jonah. That's what happened to us. Outside, really, the most visible building in Athens, you know, really the center of Athens. So that was a terrible joke on his part. But then we started thinking, OK, what does the Lord want from us? We started thinking, because of all the riots, I'm sure that you have seen in the TV, on the news, all the activity, violence, riots in the city. We felt a burden to go in a particular area, which is called Exarchia, and it's an area where all the anarchists live. It's the safest place. If you ever are in Athens during demonstration and riots, the safest place is Exarchia, because all the anarchists are downtown fighting, so nobody's there. You can be really safe there. But we had a burden to plant a church there. And I have the temptation to tell you this, and I will, you know, okay, fall into the temptation. When I said that with the Board of the Elders, keep in mind the average age is close to 80. We're good Presbyterians, as I said. And everything in future tense got them panicked. You know, we will, we will. So, you know, it was very difficult because I understand that our instinct is let's keep it in the synagogue, quiet, so that, you know, we understand each other. And I remember sharing that with a Greek Orthodox friend of mine, saying, you know, we have this burden. to plant a church, to be there in Exarcheia, right at the center of all the action. And he said, are you crazy? They will burn you alive. And he was right. So for a long time, we really struggled with this question. And the question literally was, is God only for us, or is he also for the city? And during the year of 2008, We had some terrible riots in the city. Days, nights, young people outside breaking, burning. And at that time, two times that happened to our church, that was the first time, at that time they came by our church. And we had marbles all around. They broke the marbles and they broke all the windows. like imagine this place, all the windows. And I was the first one to enter the sanctuary. And it was full with tear gas and it was a big mess, glasses, stones, marbles. And as I was in the building, I received a phone call. the treasurer. He saw it on the news. So he said, what happened? The treasurer of the church, I mean. And I said to him, oh, you won't believe, they broke all the windows. And he said, oh. And of course, he started calculating all the money that we had to spend to fix it. And he was a good treasurer. But I don't know if I was a weird guy or not, but I felt, I felt deep down in my heart that that was the time to decide. Is God only for the inside? Is God only for what happens on that side of that wall? Or is God also for what happens on the other side? And I felt that God sent these people tear down the wall so that we can see outside. We can realize that God is the God of the synagogue, but He's also the God who wants to go to the marketplace. And my brothers and sisters, this is the theology behind missions. Because the theology behind mission is, is God only for us? Is there any place that God doesn't want to go, there is a great quote. If I'll find it here. It's by Abraham Kuyper. There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine. Can we rephrase that? There is no square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, I want to go there. I want to go there. There is no place, there is no nation, there is no area of life, there is no city, there is no part of the city which is beyond God's desire for Him to go there. Amen. There is something more here, though. The fourth thing that I would like us to see is that our God is also a passionate God, a zealous God. Now, let's come to this provocation. In verse 16, we read that Paul was provoked within him. In Greek, there is the word paroxysm. perhaps a medical, psychiatric term or something like that. Paroxysm. He was provoked. But sometimes we think that that is a statement that has to do with the psychological state of Paul. No, no. This term also has to do with Paul's theology. It's a theological term. You know why? Because this very word is used in the Old Testament by the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, to describe very often how God feels when he sees idolatry. This very term. And just one example to illustrate, Isaiah 65, Isaiah 65 verse 2, I spread out my hands all the day to rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices. People who provoke me, the very same words. People, God is speaking and says, people who provoke me, doing what? To my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks. You see, it's a good thing to know theology, but it's not enough. Knowing theology will never get you out of your comfort zone. You need to feel your theology. Paul here didn't just know God, he felt the same way that God was feeling. Because theology is not about understanding an idea and coming to grips with and analyzing a theory. Theology is about knowing and being identified with a person. And in order to do missions, we need to bring theology from our mind down to our heart and to feel the same passion that God feels. So because of this theology, Paul is in Athens. He ends up up on Mars Hill. And I want you now to use your imagination. Paul is up there. And he's very confident. You can tell. Like, see this little detail in verse 22? another participant, standing in the midst of the Aeropagos. Standing in the midst. So Paul is not afraid, he's not coward, he goes there, he's very bold, he stands in the middle, and he starts talking to them, he proclaims, Luke is using this word, and then And as we listen to Paul's sermon, we can see his confidence through this illustration. And by the way, what I'm going to tell you is the best excuse to convince your spouse, if you are married, to visit Greece and be in Athens. Let me give it to you. It's in verse 24. It says, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by men. Now, come to Greece, take your Bible, go up on Mars Hill, open your Bible, read that, and when you finish, look up. What do you think you're going to see? the Acropolis, and the Parthenon, and all these temples. Even today, they're ruins, but still, they're impressive. Imagine how they looked like back then, with all the decoration, all the colors. The statue of Athena, high up, made of gold, and you could see it from everywhere in Athens. And Paul is standing there, and he defies that. He says, you can have that. I'm talking about another God who does not dwell in head made tables. That's great, but doesn't say anything to me. So Paul is very confident. I want you to feel that. He's very bold. He has it. He's in control. But now, come to the end. See how this whole scene ends. We read in verse 32 and 33. Now, 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. Paul went out from their midst. I want you to feel the pain and the darkness that there is in this little phrase. Why Luke says that? Isn't it obvious? You know, when we are through, I'll go out from your midst, of course. Why Luke says that? First of all, because the way that happened was really unnatural. And second, because he wants us to focus on this little phrase. He wants us not to miss the scene of Paul at the end leaving from their midst. Of course, Paul had to leave in unnatural ways many other times in his career. For example, in the beginning of the chapter, in Thessalonica, in Berea, there was persecution. The whole city, can you imagine that? Paul is there and the whole city is in turmoil and people are upset. They want to kill him. the whole city knows that Paul is there and then he goes to Berea and people follow after him and he has to flee and come to Athens and then another good illustration in Acts 23 he's in Jerusalem they put him in a council the whole city is divided over him and the Sadducees and Pharisees they just fight one another over Paul and the Roman guard has to come and protect Paul and take him out let me tell you This is an unnatural way to go out from their midst, but there is something, how can I say it, honoring there. You know, it's scary, but still it's flattering. The whole city noticed that you are there. That is what happened in Thessalonica, in Berea, in all the other places where persecution arose. At least you feel that you matter, you are significant. You know, people feel threatened by you. But what happens in Athens is totally different. Let me give you an analogy. You think that you have something very important to say, and you are in a company of friends, and you start saying it. And the people at the beginning, they look at you, they pay attention, but right in the middle, They start talking to each other, laughing, living, and you say, hello, I'm not finished. I'm here, I'm speaking. Don't you pay attention? This is what Paul experienced in Athens. He left from their midst in a cloud of insignificance. In this little phrase, I want you to see the suffering, the pain that many times we need to face when we are in mission. And Luke is putting this detail there and emphasizing that. Because it's very easy to develop a theology about missions and wrong expectations about missions and to think that missionaries are like Indiana Jones or Rambo who go to this place and they are afraid of nothing and they at the end kill the enemy and they are always successful and powerful. They're not. Many times you will stand at the end saying, do I matter? Have I done anything here? And I know there is all this discussion about the fruit, the outcome. Some people feel that Paul failed because there were not thousands. Some other people say yes, but, you know, some believe. I think this is totally irrelevant because there will be times, and in my ministry there are times, especially in a country like Greece, that there is no fruit at all. and you need to leave, and you say, what's the point? And you feel totally humiliated. Why Paul stood there? Why Paul kept on going? He gives us the answer in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 5. There he says, For as he talks about sufferings and difficulties in mission, and he says, for as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings. Before Paul, my brothers and sisters, on a hill, our Lord Jesus Christ stood, and people mocked at him. They didn't take him seriously. They were making fun of him. You remember the soldiers, pilots, the king of the Jews, the crowd, even the thief. So, Paul actually is not doing something new. Paul is really standing up on Mars Hill carrying on his cross as he followed Jesus. There are a lot of people who say, if you read Paul's sermon, that he does not mention the cross. And they say, OK, you know, perhaps Paul didn't get it right there. You know, Paul was embodying the cross. He was standing up there on the hill, suffering and sharing Christ's sufferings. And the question is, why he did that? My brothers and sisters, we don't love pain. We don't idealize suffering. Why Paul stood there? What kept him moving and going? Why he didn't abandon ministry? I'll tell you. He continues 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. It's because, and this is the last piece, the most important piece of the theology of mission, because we believe in the God of the resurrection. Without that belief, there is no point in missions, and not only missions, in Christian life. There is so much suffering, there will be times that you will feel so insignificant, your ego will die, and you will say, what's the point? The only way to carry on is if you really believe in the God of the resurrection. We sang that state conveniently from the previous service. We sang, scoffers mock and sinners jeer. We sang it. Now is the time to see if we really believe it. Scoffers mock and sinners jeer, but the truth proclaims a wonder. Thoughtful hearts received with tear. He is risen. He is risen. Now receive the risen king. At the beginning of the book of Acts, we read that Jesus Christ for 40 days, he spent 40 days convincing his disciples about his resurrection and talking about the kingdom as well. Why? Because what they were supposed to do, it didn't make any sense without the resurrection. And many times in our life and in our mission, we will need to trust that. We will go through experiences of death. A very interesting detail, and I'm done with that, I promise. The Athenians, making fun of Paul, they say that he is a bubbler, which in Greek means that he's a seed speaker. It's like the chicken that picks up seeds and puts them in another place. So that's making fun of his seed speaker. Paul is not a seed speaker. He's a seed planter. And he knows that many times you need to plant the seed and leave unfinished business. And you say, now what's the point? What happens? And that can drive you crazy unless you believe, you really believe in the God who raises the dead. In a God who works where you think you have failed. In a God who has the power to bring to life what you think is dead and pointless. The Athenians were worshipping the unknown God. Unfortunately, I'm afraid, many times here in our churches, we also worship an unknown God. And my prayers, my beloved brothers and sisters, is that we will leave this place with a new vision of our God. of the God of the ordinary, but also the God of providence, of the God who cannot be confined in our little world and wants to go everywhere, the God with holy passions that He's calling us to share, the God who raises the dead. So, I pray that this new vision of God will transform us and through us that it will transform our families, our neighborhoods, our communities, our cities, our nations. Amen. Let's pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank you because you are a God so powerful, so full of life, that you are a God of love, of grace. Lords, we pray that you may open our eyes so that we can see your splendor. Move our hearts so that we will be willing to follow Jesus Christ on the cross, believing that you are the God who raises the dead. And Lord, we pray that you may give us this new vision of your greatness and holiness, a vision that will transform us for your glory and for the sake of this world. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.