Acts 17:22-34 "Mars Hill Brave"

We’ve been going through the Book of Acts verse by verse since May of last year, we’re up to chapter 17. It’s the story of the early church and what a ride it’s been.

When I’m reading Acts, I can’t help but put myself in the position of the apostles—they’re not that different than us. They were called by Jesus. They liked Him a lot. They followed Him and pledged their lives to Him. And they wanted other people to know what they had found—life, salvation, hope, meaning. Jesus is the wisdom of God made flesh—when we follow Him, life makes sense, it clicks into place, and it’s full of joy.

But joy doesn’t always look like sunshine and happiness—all those beautiful things Jesus gives us are also the same reasons people are going to hate us. Because they hated Him first. And the apostles—pretty much all of them—were killed by the very same people they were trying to help.

What would that have been like? To be stoned just for trying to have a conversation about Jesus in Lystra. To be imprisoned in Philippi for talking about my faith. To be chased out of Thessalonica by an angry mob. I can’t help but wonder—would I be brave enough to keep going like they did?

Maybe some of us hadn’t heard of Charlie Kirk until he was all over the news this week. Assassinated in cold blood in front of 3,000 people at Utah Valley University. Why? Because someone didn’t like his opinions. Because he dared to have public conversations with people about what he believed—usually starting with hot cultural topics but always coming back to his faith in Jesus. Yes, he talked about politics but his heart was for saving souls—using conversations about difficult subjects to point people to Jesus. He was the epitome of “Hey, maybe you disagree with everything about my opinions, that’s okay, let’s have a conversation, I’ll hear you out if you’ll hear me out.” 

But what happened on Wednesday is the same thing that always happens when people try to silence the truth. There is no argument that can disprove truth, so the only response is always violence. 

We see a lot of this in the Book of Acts, today we’ll find the Apostle Paul in a very similar setting to Utah Valley University. He’s at the Areopagus, the “Hill of Ares.” Ares was the Greek god of war. The Roman god of war was Mars—so this is also known as Mars Hill. It was a place where the big ideas of the day were discussed and debated. The ancient equivalent to a university or a TED talk.

Paul is trying to have a conversation with the intellectuals of his day, Mars Hill was the place to do it. It was going to be a spiritual battleground. Anywhere we share about Jesus in this world is a spiritual battleground.

I can’t help but wonder—would I be brave enough to stand up for my faith in a hostile room like this? Would I be Mars Hill brave?

Acts Chapter 17… 

[VERSE 22] Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”

He called them religious—it would have sounded to them the same as it sounds to us. Somewhere between devout and superstitious. Not exactly an insult but not a compliment either. They would have been like, “We’re not religious! Don’t put us in a box!” “We’re not really fans of organized religion—don’t really care for disorganized religion either.”

They really did have altars to unknown gods—Paul is being a little snarky. The reason they were unknown was usually because they were so old no one knew exactly what god they were supposed to be anymore. Maybe they had been defaced in a war or just eroded over time. So the inscription put there for tourists just said, “Unknown god.” Paul’s going to use this clever idea to make a point. They were all familiar with the statues of the gods.

This is basic presuppositional apologetics—start where they are, not where you are. Start with their presuppositions, their understanding. Paul was like, “You admit you don’t know about your unknown god—let me tell you what you don’t know.”

When we go to share our faith in Jesus with someone, we need to find a way that they can hear us. Don’t just slap people in the face with the Gospel. Start where they are.

[VERSE 24] The God who made the world and everything in it—he is Lord of heaven and earth—does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.

If he was talking to people who knew about the Bible, he could quote Scripture to them—but the Hebrew Scriptures would mean nothing to these guys. So, he starts with something they can’t deny—creation. Pretty obvious there’s a God who created all this, right? He says the unknown god is the living God, the Creator of the Universe. Unlike all those Greek gods in the parthenon, the true God doesn’t live in temples. And He doesn’t need anything from us. He doesn’t need food or to be served or sacrifices. Instead of humans providing for God, God provides for humans: life, breath, everything.

[VERSE 26] From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

This would have been hard for those Greek intellectuals to hear—that all mankind came from one common ancestor, Adam. They were pretty sure the Greeks were a separate and superior race—higher spiritual beings. Racism is nothing new. No matter who he was talking to, it was always fightin’ words when Paul would say in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no male or female, no slave or master. It always got their attention.

There’s also some wonderful mysterious language happening here: God determines the rise and fall of nations. God sets their timelines and their boundaries. The history of the world is all in His hands, God is sovereign, it’s all playing out according to His plans—and for what purpose? So that people might seek Him. So that people might come to know Him. Problem is, without revelation, without God telling us about Himself, revealing Himself—we’re all just groping around in the dark.

He says God is closer than they could imagine. Paul’s blowing their minds. Then he does something that would blow most of our minds if we really understood what he was doing. He says this about God… 

[VERSE 28] For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ Since, then, we are God’s offspring, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.

This is one of my favorite verses in the New Testament. Paul quotes two hymns written to worship Zeus to make his point. Think about that. Some pagan named Epimenides wrote a praise song to a demonic false god and Paul uses it to talk about Yahweh. That’d be like… oh, I don’t know… playing a Black Sabbath song in Church to illustrate a point about Jesus. I don’t know anyone who would do such a thing—do you? 

He also quotes another pagan named Aratus when he says, “We are his offspring.”

All truth is God’s truth. We are all children of God—and all of creation points to this reality.

This is pretty close to the center of how we do ministry at NewChurch. Everything belongs to God. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it—everyone in it. There’s no such thing as secular. 

We’re all made in the image of God—not the other way around. All the people who carved those marble statues had it backwards. They were trying to make God in man’s image.

But now Jesus has come into the world—the Word of God made flesh. The incarnation. God with us. Everything is different now. God has been fully revealed in Christ. He sent His Son into the world to save the world—all who turn to Him and believe. All who turn toward Jesus and repent.

[VERSE 30] Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.

The time of God putting up with ignorance of His plan of salvation is over. Turn to Jesus, trust in Him. He is unknown to you no longer. This is a call to all people—He is calling all His children back home. All the prodigals. All must repent. No exceptions. Outside of His mercy, nowhere is safe. Everyone is going to be judged. We will either be judged with Jesus—meaning, we get the same verdict He gets—innocent. Or we’ll be judged by Jesus—apart from Him—on our own. It’s not going to go well for anyone outside of Christ’s protection. God sent His Son, Jesus, to save the world, anyone who believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life—but anyone who does not believe is condemned already for their unbelief. John 3:16 and 17, look it up.

And the day is already set. The judge is appointed—I think you know who He is—the One God raised from the dead. 

Notice the flow of Paul’s little speech: It goes from general revelation (that God created the universe), their conscience knows it, their poets even know it—to specific revelation (Jesus, the Son of God who rose from the dead and will judge the earth).

The proof that it’s all true is the resurrection of Jesus. It all hangs on that—the most verified historical event in the history of the world.

But the resurrection can still be hard to swallow.

[VERSE 32] When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.”So Paul left their presence. However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

His TED talk was over. At first glance, it didn’t seem to go very well, at least not compared to other cities and other sermons. Some of the big-dog philosophers mocked him. Some of them were like, “Meh. I’ll think about it. Maybe later.” But a few people got it and came to faith. 

Those are still the three typical responses to hearing the Gospel. Rejection, delay, or belief.

To the Greek way of thinking, immortality of the soul was fine but the idea of a bodily resurrection made no sense. The soul is spiritual, of course it lives on, but the material world and the flesh are evil and gross. Basic Platonic gnosticism. World bad, spirit good.

So, he didn’t exactly start a thriving church in Athens but it wasn’t a total loss. Dionysius was a member of the Areopagus—so speaking at Mars Hill and converting one of the leaders would be like going on Joe Rogan’s podcast and convincing him to become a Christian. Which might have happened a few months ago when Wes Huff was Rogan’s guest. Not really a wasted day. Also an influential lady named Damaris and a few other people came to faith.

Paul probably didn’t think Mars Hill was one of his more successful sermons—I doubt if he imagined that 2,000 years later there’d be a street right next to Mars Hill named “Apostolou Pavlou Street” (Street of the Apostle Paul). There’s also one named after Dionysius.

There’s a lot packed into the sermon Paul gave at Mars Hill—a lot of important theology—and he never even cracked open a Bible to preach it. He proclaims the God of creation who made the world and everything in it, the Lord who is both transcendent above temples and also immanent, near to every one of us. He declares God’s self-sufficiency—He doesn’t need anything from us, because He is the giver of life and breath. He affirms God’s sovereignty, setting the times and boundaries of every nation, and humanity’s purpose—to seek and find the Lord. He calls us God’s offspring, made in His image, not the other way around. He announces that God has overlooked ignorance in the past but now demands repentance from all people everywhere. He warns of the coming judgment when Christ returns, and points to the resurrection as the center of our faith. 

Law—What God Requires of Us.

There’s so much in what he said gives us hope but there’s also so much that crushes us. 

He destroys the Pride of Human Wisdom — We trust our opinions and our favorite thinkers more than the One who gives “life and breath and all things.” We trust our own understanding and don’t acknowledge what God has told us. Too often, we fight against it.

We’re so Resistant to Repentance — God commands all people everywhere to repent— and we’d rather not. We’d want to put it off, spin our sin, justify ourselves, or just ignore Him completely. Pretend like God isn’t there.

The fool says in his heart there is no God. The fool does foolish things just because he wants to.

We think we can avoid Judgment — God says the day is set; the Judge is appointed—but we live like there’s no deadline. 

Jesus has come into the world but we ignore how close He is — “He is not far from each one of us,” but we try to push Him as far away as possible—away from our calendar, out of our everyday life—His word is far from our hearts, far from our lips. We keep our faith to ourselves.

God is calling us to be brave—Mars Hill brave. 

Paul used a sign pointing to an unknown god and a few lines he picked up from pagan poetry to build a bridge to some Greek intellectuals and tell them about Jesus. What things are bouncing around in your head that could be used to start a conversation about your faith?

We’re all a collection of random movie quotes, song lyrics, sports trivia, and half-forgotten school lessons—what if we started using all those seemingly “secular” scraps as bridges to share the Gospel? Start where people are—what they’re interested in. Don’t hit them over the head right out of the gate with Bible verses they aren’t ready to hear, and don’t just come out swinging,  condemning their sins — that’s not the Gospel. God will take care of their sins in His perfect timing. Just like He did with you—just like He’s doing with you. Just start conversations that might go somewhere good. Talk about things you’re both interested in. And then when it seems like a good time, ask them something like, “Do you think only good people go to heaven?” Then listen to what they think. Be kind. Be curious. Don’t be a know-it-all. Follow up with something like: “Do you think you’ll go to heaven when you die? Why?” And then, after you’ve listened to their answer, ask if you can share what you believe—something like: “I do think only good people go to heaven, but the problem is, there’s only one truly good person—His name is Jesus. The only way to heaven is with Him.” I also believe good religion will get you there but the only good religion is Jesus—He’s the only true religion. Bring that up with someone who needs to know Jesus. Text it to a friend. It’s going to take courage. A lot of courage. Especially these days. Because these days are just like the days of the Apostles walking around in the Book of Acts. It’s getting dangerous out there. But it’s not all bad news.

The Gospel—What God Does for us Through Jesus.

The God who was unknown has stepped out of the shadows and made Himself known to us—His name is Jesus. The Creator, who needs nothing, chose to give everything, even His own life, to rescue us. The same God who commands repentance is the One who grants it—He turns stubborn hearts like ours back to Himself. The Judge of the whole earth was judged in your place on the cross, so His verdict could be spoken over you—it’s your verdict now: righteous, forgiven, free. Not guilty. And when God raised Jesus from the dead, it wasn’t just a miracle—it was proof that everything He said is true. Jesus is Lord. He is near. He is alive. He’s reigning. He’s calling all of us home to our heavenly Father. And His Spirit puts courage in our hearts to speak all this truth in a hostile world. 

These are countercultural ideas. Grace and forgiveness sound crazy to a world bent on violence. When we live the Gospel out loud, the world is going to push back. We saw evidence of that this week. We see evidence of how hateful the world can be every week.

We might be tempted to fight back—to repay violence with violence. That would be a mistake—that’s not the Jesus way. He said to love our enemies. Those of us who know the truth need to let it set us free—not to give in to the lies of the devil. Hatred. Revenge. Despair. Those are not the weapons God has given us. We do not fight against flesh and blood.

Paul survived the hostile audience in Athens to preach another day. He kept going—despite discouragement, despite persecution and death threats. He would eventually be killed for saying the right thing to the wrong person. But hey, you only die once.

He is the one who assured us we don’t have to be afraid of death. 

1 Thessalonians 4:13 says, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”

This was true for Paul and the rest of the apostles, it is true for Charlie Kirk, and it is true for you and me. We can rest in this hope—the resurrection will be true for us because it was true of Jesus—in him we live and move and have our being. AMEN