Jump Start # 673

Acts 17:21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

Our verse today is an explanation put in by Luke to help us understand the people of Athens. Paul had gone to Athens with the message of the resurrected Christ. Every day Paul was teaching—either in the synagogue or in the market place. He found an audience and he had a message. The philosophers among them enjoyed debating ideas as if it were a sport. Verse 19 says that they brought Paul to the Areopagus so they could hear this “new teaching.” Verse 20 states the philosophers proclaiming, “you are bringing strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.”

Our verse follows. Luke tells us that the philosophers spent their time doing nothing other than telling or hearing something new. In some ways I admire that they were not closed minded and refused to hear something because it is different. Some are like that. They don’t want to be challenged in their thinking and in many ways they have made their minds up so they refuse to consider any other thought. This trips many people because what they have chosen to accept and embrace is often not the truth but something that they are comfortable with and that they like. So when they are challenged with a Bible passage, they become defensive, angry and shut down any further discussion. There are many like that today. I have found it engaging to ask a person when they tell me that they go to a certain church, “Why?” “Why do you go there?” Many have never been asked that. Many don’t know other than it’s close to the house or it’s where mom and dad went.

However, there is also a danger in the free thinking of the philosophers. They liked to hear “new things.” Some are like that. They like to “rediscover” something that no one else has. They like to find a “new” twist, a “new” angle, a “new” truth. Like a bloodhound on a mission, they turn over every rock and look behind every bush to find something that no one else has. Our search for truth ought to be serious, yet, some in looking for the “new” find things that aren’t there. This is especially true of the parables. Jesus used parables as illustrations of Biblical truth and principles. The parables are found next to principles. The parables generally taught one specific truth. They are illustrations or stories. Not every cloud, not every bird, not every rock is intended to mean something. Those digging for the “new” will come up with theories and ideas that are more than the Lord intended. In doing this they often forget about the original audience, what these things would have meant to them and they add layer upon layer of ideas that are simply not there. They build a faith upon “the new” instead of the old, old story. It’s the “new” that excites them. They spend their time chasing the “new”. They pride themselves in having found something that so few others have. If not careful, chasing the new will plunge them deep into error. Our message is an old message. We may find things that are “new” to us, but to find something that no one else has ever seen, be careful! Many smart people have walked before our times and the search for new can be an old, old trick of Satan.

There is yet a third lesson I see from our verse about these philosophers. Luke explains to us that they “spent their time in nothing” other than talk. They liked to hear and tell new things. They liked to debate and argue ideas. Their world was a “think-tank.” Some are like that today. Not that they are deep thinkers, but they are long on talk and short on doing. They always seem to know what is wrong but haven’t a clue, much less, the ambition to try to fix things. They love to tell what others ought to do but somehow find a way not to do much themselves. More need to be visited they proclaim, but they don’t visit. More evangelism, but they don’t evangelize. More hospitality, but they don’t open up their home. Home classes, but they don’t come when they are offered. Nothing but talk. Some seem to move their faith that way. A lot of talk and not much action.

Later in this chapter, as Paul teaches about the resurrection, some of these “new thinkers” sneered him and rejected him. So much for new things. Some who claim they like new things do not if it involves them doing something.

Interesting people and interesting thoughts here. Do you see yourself here? Do you need to think about these things and see where you are with what God says?

Roger