1. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!!! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I pray we will never get tired of this message. We’ve been saying it to one another all through the season of Easter. It’s a proclamation of truth that restores all mankind and creation from death to life. It’s a message that brings hope to a dying world, a world that can’t save itself. It’s the message that makes all the difference in the universe. In fact, as Paul understands, but as even he himself discovers in new ways as he preaches in Athens, our text today, the resurrection of Jesus drives the whole divine story. The message today is entitled, Proclaiming Christ’s Resurrection,” and it’s taken from Acts 17:16-31.
2. The resurrection of Jesus drives the mission of the Church. In today’s Gospel, Jesus, preparing to leave the disciples in death to take the sins of the world to the cross, calls upon them to keep his Word. This is how God shows love to his creation, for his Word gives life and presence with God. Jesus said to the disciples when he met them after his resurrection, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations” (Lk 24:46–47). That message of the resurrection is what sent the apostles on their way.
3. Our sermon text begins with Paul in Athens waiting for Timothy and Silas to join him. But he can’t wait! Acts 17:16–17 says, “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.” The spirit within Paul is provoked by all the idolatry in the city, people ignorant of the true and living God, enslaved by false gods. He can’t wait for the arrival of his companions to begin speaking to the people. He has a message of the resurrection of Jesus that drives him forward! It must be told!
4. Paul preaches the resurrection of Jesus first to his fellow Jews and those devoted to the faith. God is known to them. They wait expectantly for God to save them. Still, this is not a guarantee that, in their fallen state, they will trust Jesus to be the Christ.
5. The resurrection of Jesus drives away false wisdom. Paul next moves into the marketplace. Like Jesus’ parable of the great banquet (Lk 14:23), the servant, Paul, goes out into the streets and marketplaces, where people gather to call for all to come and receive life. Paul’s call is to proclaim Jesus and his resurrection. The philosophers in Athens overhear this proclamation and find it strange. Acts 17:18 says, “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.”
6. The Stoics looked for their god in nature. Nature revealed truth. So, if something died, it was for the betterment of the cosmos and was the will of nature. The Epicureans believed that the gods were material and made of the same basic building blocks as man. The Epicureans did not bother with rituals or observances. Their way to live in harmony with the gods was the pursuit of happiness through moderation and relationships. The Stoics and Epicureans labeled Paul a babbler, one who didn’t know what he was talking about, a pseudo-intellectual.
7. Still, they wish to know more about this teaching. “What does it mean, its implications?” So, they invite Paul to speak formally at the Areopagus, where new ideas are discussed (Acts 17:19–25). Paul uses the altar of the unknown God as his starting point to speak of the living God. This God they do not know created all. And since he is Lord of both heavens and earth, there is nothing God needs from us. Rather, he gives to the Athenians, Paul, and you sitting here today, life and breath and all things required to sustain them. Paul then alludes to the problem of man’s separation from God (Acts 17:26–28). The natural man, the old Adam, is like a man in the dark groping about, feeling and searching for God. This seeking is not a virtue but a symptom of a dead soul devoid of the Word of life.
8. This illuminates two false ways to God: mysticism (using feelings or emotions to find God) and rationalism (reason or logic as a way to him). Not that feeling and reason are bad. God intends them for good and, when used in service to his Word, edify you and neighbor. But the resurrection makes no sense to these men so dedicated to their own false wisdom. They thought death was a liberation of soul from body. “Who’d want to be back in a body? What foolishness!” (Acts 17:29–32).
9. Here’s an illustration that reasons and our feelings and emotions can’t help us to reach God. For anyone who’s in the hospital, the first thing staff might do is draw blood. Doctors and nurses may come in and ask how you feel. But they are not asking you about emotions, whether you’re happy or sad. They are more likely to ask about pain, nausea, or dizziness. They’ll take your blood pressure and temperature, listen to your heartbeat and lungs, using instruments to take an objective measure to be compared to a standard. But even these don’t lead to a diagnosis or prescription. Rather, they wait for the blood tests to come back. It isn’t until all the facts are assembled that one uses reason to make a diagnosis. Reason and feelings serve the facts. If a doctor were to prescribe a treatment based on your emotions without tests or limit the prescriptions to what you can comprehend, you may not find continued life but death.
10. Such is the case when we use our desires and emotions to determine a church service’s effectiveness or if we base our opinion of a service on whether it makes sense to us. God isn’t found in methods that cater to the sinful nature, as the Athenians expected of Paul (Acts 17:32). Instead, he’s found where he promises to be: in the right preaching of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments. Here, we are certain to obtain life though death.
11. Nevertheless, the resurrection of Jesus drives you back into the arms of God. Despite the Athenians’ foolishness, Paul proclaims that God is not far from them—or you. Not that they would ever find him by their own groping; sin has made that impossible. But Jesus’ cross has removed the sin that separated us from God, has reconciled us to God. The resurrection announced that God has accepted Jesus’ sacrifice as sufficient! God is no longer angry with the human race!
12. So now God is where he promises to be for you. In proclamation of Jesus crucified and raised, in water, bread and wine, he embraces you. By Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, he has authority to fulfill these promises.
13. The proclamation that Jesus is risen means life for you! This is the certainty, the proof. Jesus risen from the dead means you can be certain that you, being baptized, will also rise to life with him eternally.
14. So, die, old Adam! And rise, beloved of the Father, to new life. Walk in the new life, proclaiming and assisting his sent ones to proclaim that Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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