Acts 17 Sermon for the University

As school starts up again, I thought this rendition of Acts 17 is a good reminder to be actively sharing the gospel and bringing it to bear on the "gods" of our day. You'll remember that, in Acts 17, Paul is preaching an evangelistic message to the pagan culture of his day. He is speaking to the philosophers on Mars Hill (the place of learning and scholarly debate). Here is how it might have begun if he came to one of our universities today:

"Men and women of the university, I see that in every way you are very religious. As I walked around the university, I observed carefully your objects of worship. I saw your altar called the stadium where many of you worship the sports deity. I saw the science building where many place their faith for the salvation of mankind. I found an altar to fine arts where artistic expression and performance seem to reign supreme without subservience to any greater power. I walked through your residence halls and observed your sex goddess posters and beer can pyramids. Yet as I walked with some of you and saw the emptiness in your eyes and sensed the aching in your hearts, I perceived that in your heart is yet another altar, an altar to the unknown God who you suspect may be there. You have a sense that there is something more than these humanistic and self-indulgent gods. What you long for as something unknown, I want to declare to you now...." (Daniel Denk as quoted by Derek Thomas in Acts, pg. 503).

And give them the good news of Jesus who fulfills the standard of perfect righteousness and whose death took the punishment for sin so that any who trust in Jesus as their Savior-King will have his righteousness and the forgiveness of sins. Show them that the idols they have willing worshiped are empty and that that God calls all people everywhere to turn away from idols and to him, the one, true God.