Light the World: Through Quiet Decisions And Decisive Actions

Pastor Joe Fuiten, April 17, 2005

15 The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.

Just yesterday our group of pilgrims was in Athens as we wrapped up our tour of Turkey and Greece following the New Testament authors through that region. I always appreciate these opportunities. They give me a chance to learn and to reflect. I have focused my ten trips on the biblical lands because it helps me. When I see, I learn. I think you have to learn the facts of history before you can discern its trends. Once you understand the facts and the movements of history, you can draw applications for your own life. The application of history helps me decide what is important in the present day. It usually takes me a while after getting back to digest what I saw and felt. I am still in the process of that from this trip. No doubt you will hear more of this from me in the days ahead.

In verse 16 of today’s text we have the response of Paul to what he saw. "Paul was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols." They say there were 30,000 idols in Athens in Paul’s time. One writer of the period said it was easier to meet a god than a man on the streets of Athens.

There are a great many of these that have survived to this very day. They were on every street corner. High above the city, on its acropolis, stood the great temple of Athena. Her 40-foot statue dominated the city visually and spiritually. Idols and temples populated the city everywhere. For those attending the services, you can see a few of the pictures that remind us of that era.

Paul could have taken the anthropologist’s approach, or today’s politically correct approach simply noting that these people have their own kind of religion. In such a case, Athens would have stayed a pagan city. However, Paul was sufficiently agitated by what he saw that he decided to do something about it.

What he saw distressed[1] him. Paul’s reaction to what he saw was based on personal conviction. However, his actions revealed that he had a biblically informed conscience not merely a persona opinion. There was an objective reality outside of himself which informed his opinion. It was more than just his opinion. His opinion reflected God himself. When we have a full compliment of biblically informed positions on life and culture, we have a Christian worldview—our view of the world is biblical and therefore Christian.

Having such a worldview is not what makes Paul different from most, although it is a good start. Many of us have read the paper or followed some aspect of the news and groaned inwardly at what we have read. We know that what we are reading clashes directly with the Bible and therefore with the Christian faith.

What made Paul different is that he allowed a biblically informed worldview to motivate him to action. He made a quiet decision that day which changed the world. His decision was not loud, neither was it immediately broadcast widely. He did, however, set in motion things which a few centuries later would completely change the world.

I am a lot more impressed by quiet decisions and private acts than I once was. Such decisions and acts matter for two reasons. First, many individuals acts together add up to society. More importantly, God notices then. When God notices what we do he releases other things in our lives as a consequence. You may not always notice the connection, but your life is an integrated whole.

It matters when you make the quiet decision ….

† to be faithful in marriage when there are lots of reasons not to be.

† to be a financial supporter of the church when you need the money yourself.

† to better educate yourself so you will be more useful to God and yourself.

† to be honest in your business when a lot of other people aren’t.

† to turn off the TV and do something to make your life better.

† your country needs help so you join the army or get involved in politics.

† children need help so you start helping in Sunday School.

† adults need you so you start a home fellowship group.

All these things have consequences beyond themselves. There are decisions that you could make today, decisions with which you are probably already wrestling. That decision, although quietly made, could have huge ramifications in your life.

There are three stages to what happened in Athens—three stages to changing the world. First is to take stock of the world, seeing it from a biblically informed moral conscience. Paul’s opinion was shaped by his knowledge of the Ten Commandments. The worship of other gods is forbidden. Whether it is a Greek, Roman, or American idol, worship is reserved to God alone. But it was far more than worship. Idol worship in Paul’s day included such issues as feminism, environmentalism, marriage, sex, acquiring knowledge of the future, prosperity and financial success, health and healing, psychological wholeness, politics and political leadership as well as art and beauty. You name the topic and the religions of antiquity spoke to the issues.

There remains a biblical way of thinking about all these things. Your personal opinion on these things is important but even more important is God’s opinion.

Second is to take the argument to the people of God. Paul did that when he took his distress to the Jews in the synagogue as well as to the God-fearing Greeks. He took his biblically informed moral conscience into the house of God and promoted it.

We are doing that today through our Cedar Park Christian Schools and through our other educational programs. I would like to see more of this type of discussion in adult groups. In fact, I think it would be wonderful if our adults could learn what our students are learning in our schools.

I worry that more and more we have people who are saved but are not yet converted to any system of belief outside their personal opinions. It is generally good to have convictions and to stand up for what you believe. However, that is only good if what you believe is based upon a biblically informed moral conscience.

Like Paul, I believe spiritual progress is related to the success of the churches. By success, I mean all the elements of what the Gospel brings about. 51% of Washington State says they are born again and an even larger number regularly attend church. 78% will pass through the doors of our churches this year. With such a majority, we should be absolutely changing the state. Instead, we see churches hell bent on copying the world. If diversity is the world's slogan, then let's allow homosexual priests, as some of the Seattle churches are doing. Instead of being shaped by the Bible, we are increasingly shaped by the culture, reflecting its changing tides, but lacking a secure shore of our own. When you look at the Catholic Church in Washington State, it is very weak in reflecting the moral values of the Pope, for example. The Catholic leaders need to disciple their own people into the moral values of Christianity. We need to do the same here.

Paul went first to the synagogue and we should go first to our own houses of worship and pray that they become what Jesus wants them to be.

Third is to take the argument into the marketplace. If something is actually true, it is true everywhere not just inside your head or inside the church. If it is only true inside your head we don’t call that personal opinion we call that psychosis.

When I came home I realize why there is such a battle for the soul of Seattle and this state. This is one of the best places on this planet. We have every kind of natural beauty with eight of the nine climatic zones (everything except artic) in this state. We have a strong economy and a functioning city. We have a well-educated citizenry. We have clean streets and good healthcare. It was great to eat wonderful American food like Pizza last night and I hope to eat something really American at Las Margarita’s today. I would choose this city over any city in the world.

Even so, we have our own modern-day, man-made idols. We have the goddess of materialism. We are absorbed in making money. News of the economy dominates our view of the city. We need a biblical ethic with regard to money and its use.

There is the god of secularism. A generation has arisen that is committed to keeping God out of education, government, and public life. There is the sexual god. We have more pornographic outlets than McDonalds restaurants in America. We are obsessed with sex, just like the Athenians and the ancient pagans. We are consumed by individualism. We would rather release a murderer onto the streets because of some procedural error than offend the right of personal privacy. We care more about how evidence is obtained than we do about justice being done. Like the ancients, we have elevated certain “virtues” to the status of gods.

We need to keep Cedar Park growing by planting new churches and schools, and Christian institutions. We need more home groups where people from the outside can enter into relationships with us. We need to keep an outward focus of taking the Gospel to others.

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[1] [His spirit was stirred in him] His mind was greatly excited. The word used here, parooxuneto (NT:3947) denotes "any excitement, agitation, or paroxysm of mind," 1 Cor 13:5. It here means that the mind of Paul was greatly concerned, or agitated, doubtless with pity and distress at their folly and danger. (from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)