In the social media world, there exists a phenomenon unique to the digital age – influencers. Like the old Ronseal ad, they do “exactly what it says on the tin.” Influencers influence. They influence others to buy products or buy into ideals and lifestyles. They leverage their position and experience in an industry worth over $16 billion. Politicians, businesses, activists, and governments spend $16 billion trying to get you to like them, think like them, and buy their stuff or buy into their ideals.
Influence is nothing new. From the dawn of time Satan has sought to influence humanity against God and man has sought to influence others for his own agenda. I do not doubt, however, that technology has allowed our generation to fine-tune influence like none before us.
So, we must ask ourselves. Who is influencing me? Who is influencing those I allow to influence me? Who is influencing my children?
Paul had an approach for the influencers of his day that we find often in the New Testament, but especially in Acts 17.
Paul at Athens – His Compassion (Acts 17:16)
On Sunday mornings, at Bedford Bible Church, we are working our way through the book of Acts verse-by-verse. We are in a 3-week mini-series looking at Paul’s time in Athens. First off, we noted his compassion.
Paul Waited – Paul was a pioneer, but he was not a lone ranger. He almost always served with a team. In recent days Paul had Silas and Timothy with him, but temporarily they had gone separate ways. When Paul arrived at Athens he waited as long as he could before launching into action.
Paul Watched – Think of Paul as spending some time on a survey trip, much as any modern-day missionary would. While he waited, he watched. He saw its greatness, but also its sinfulness and hopelessness. It was a city wholly given over to idolatry. The statues, streets, buildings, and trinkets devoted to every god imaginable numbered in the tens of thousands.
Paul Wept – While weeping is not mentioned in this text, we read often of Paul shedding tears for the glory of God and the need of lost men and women (Phillippians 3:18; Acts 20:31). I believe he would have wept as he waited and watched.
Paul at Athens – His Compulsion (Acts 17:17-21)
In submission to the great commission, and with the love of Christ filling and overflowing within him, Paul was compelled to act. His spirit was stirred and he had to preach the Gospel. It is on this point we focused this past Sunday.
The Preacher Emphasized the Savior (Acts 17:17)
Therefore… Paul saw the idolatry, his spirit was stirred, therefore he disputed, he preached, he evangelized. What did he preach? In verse 18 the record is that he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Paul expertly would deal with the influencers when he arrived at Mars Hill, but always he came back to a simple and yet profound truth – Christ, crucified, buried, and risen!
The Philosophers Emphasized Self (18)
Every philosophy of man is ultimately a philosophy of self. It is one chosen by ourselves. I am increasingly convinced there are no modern philosophies, just a regurgitation of ideas that originated millennia ago, repackaged and sometimes given a bow, but there is nothing new.
Specifically mentioned in this city are the Epicureans and the Stoics. A broken clock is right twice a day, and so any human philosophy will get some things right, but absent from God they all ultimately fall short and fail as signposts in life and certainly can never save a person from their sin.
The Epicureans
This group, founded by Epicurus, were existentialists and held to a form of Deism. They believed the gods existed, but had no interest in humanity. They could not and would not conceive of a God that would care about them, and certainly not one that would die to redeem them.
Epicureanism is still with us today. Epicurus posited, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able but not willing? Then he is malevolent.” If you have evangelized at all you will have encountered this argument.
In some lists by current Epicureanists the first two items defining their beliefs are:
- Don’t fear God
- Don’t worry about death
Their goal in life, originally, was pleasure in moderation. Over time many dropped the “in moderation” limitation and they devolved into an indulgence of whatever pleasure they desired.
We see this reflected in the good, and yet abused, phrase in the US Constitution that declares that we have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson was influenced by Epicurus, the Stoics, and the Bible. He also knew of the writings of the Englishman, John Locke, Locke write against the Divine right of kings and in favor of the power of the people and the consent of the governed. He wrote of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of property.
Jefferson took that phrase and changed happiness for property. In and of itself there is nothing wrong with it. Yet, what do we see today? Many ignore the part of the well-known phrase that says we have a right to pursue happiness and believe they simply deserve happiness.
This is not just a curiosity, it is vital to understand that the influences Paul encountered and challenged are the same we face today.
Another clear example of Epicureanism today has to do with abortion. Epicurean liberalism has two, virtually synonymous virtues – liberty and self-fulfillment. Devoid of any Divine guidance these two have been used to justify abortion. In the Supreme Court case, Parenthood vs. Casey, Epicurean philosophy led the major ruling to go in favor of abortion. How? They determined the woman’s right to liberty and self-fulfillment were more important than the child in the womb. If her liberty and self-fulfillment were at risk by giving birth, then she could dispose of the child.
The Stoics
The philosophy of the Stoics impacts us today as well. The Stoics rejected idol worship but did lean towards Paganism. They emphasized, in contrast to the EPicureans, self-control, and discipline. As a result, they were known to be indifferent, stern, and apathetic. One out-working of their philosophy we find today in the realm of abortion again, but also eugenics and euthanasia.
Using Stoic logic, Cicero reasoned,
“When a man has a preponderance of the things in accordance with nature, it is his proper function (officium) to remain alive; when he has or foresees a preponderance of their opposites, it is his proper function (officium) to depart from life.”
Cicero
Is life good? Then live! Is life bad? Then commit suicide!
Summarizing These Philosophies
“To oversimplify, it was characteristic of Epicureans to emphasize chance, escape and the enjoyment of pleasure, and of the Stoics to emphasize fatalism, submission and the endurance of pain.”
John Stott
The Epicureans said to enjoy life and the Stoics to endure life, but neither could enter into the fullness of life that only Jesus Christ could offer!
In the Pharisees and Sadducees there are echoes of the Stoics and the Epicureans and in society today we see the same ideals, and multitudes of other human philosophies permeating the minds of men and women.
What was Paul’s response? To preach Jesus, crucified, buried, and risen!
The People Emphasized Study (Acts 17:19-21)
The entertainment of the day for many, their pastime, was to hear some new thing. They wanted the novel, the fantastical, they wanted their ears tickled and their minds dazzled always with something new.
Sound familiar? In an age of the 24/7 news cycle, we’re always blasted with something new. An event occurs and we turn to our favorite news source, and then we can go to 10 others to see what they are saying. Not too long ago we would have the headlines at 6 pm, an update at 10 pm, and then usually nothing until the next day. Not too long ago it could be weeks or months before we heard the news and then weeks and months more for an update. Today there is also something new from the news, discussion panels, podcasts, websites, political rallies, and the ever-present social media.
What does this all amount to? Billions of dollars spent to influence you and those around you to think something, buy something, do something.
Conclusion
At Slope Point in New Zealand, you’ll see a peculiar sight. Trees growing virtually sideways. This happens in several places around the world, I’ve seen it in England, but it is unique in its impact at Slope Point. Located almost equal distance between the Equator and the South Pole (about 3000 miles between both) there is nothing to stop an ever-present wind blowing from the south. And so, the trees there grow sideways, influenced and shaped by the wind.
One novelist described it this way,
“It is not a wind that will necessarily break and snap at will, although clearly it can, it is its sheer relentlessness like a gnawing toothache, that never ceases until total submission from the victim is achieved.”
Trevor Cree
The trees don’t always break, but they always bend.
Know Who is Influencing You
- Try the Spirits
- A political or philosophical voice is still a spiritual influence – test them!
- Limit what you take in by what you can carefully assess. If you can’t analyze and test what some podcaster or talking head on the TV is telling you, then don’t let them speak into your life.
- First and foremost know God through His Word
Know Who is Influencing Your Children
- Know their friends – the ones in person and online.
- Our children should have little privacy with respect to the influences on their lives. What are they doing on social media?
- What are their teachers, coaches, favorite movie stars, musicians, and authors telling them?
- If you do not control the influences in their lives then predators, spiritual and human, will use some of that $16 billion to influence them.
The enemy knows who to break and who to bend. You and your children and everyone around you are the targets. What can we do? Like Paul, we must know and preach Christ, crucified, buried, and risen! We must know all the accompanying truths that God’s Word gives us about who we are, who God is, the nature of life, holiness, and sin. Paul’s approach to the influences of his day gives the formula for the approach we must take today. You do not need to be an expert on all the philosophies of the world, but you must know, to the best of your ability, the Word of God.
God willing, I’ll conclude the mini-series this Sunday with a close look at Paul’s Challenge to the Athenians.
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