"Ignorance is Over" | Donovan Drake preaching | 05.10.26

"Ignorance is Over" | Donovan Drake preaching | 05.10.26

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Imagine telling a world that is ignorant of Jesus about Jesus. Today we get to hear what the Apostle Paul said. Paul was in Athens, and Athens at that time was the Athens of the Mediterranean. Art, architecture, music, poetry, philosophy, all very cutting edge. Luke says the people there would spend their time in nothing but telling and hearing anything new. What's new with you? What's new? What's new with you? What's new? What's new? What's new? Well, Paul was new, and he was distressed by what he saw. Idols everywhere. And so he was quite vocal in his criticism of the city. Nothing as lovely as having a visitor criticizing your city. Hey, buddy, if you don't like it here, I'll show you somewhere else to go. Paul offered his criticism before a gathering of Stoics and Epicureans. Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. Kind of an odd mixture, like tax accountants showing up at a Grateful Dead concert. It's kind of like that. Stoic and Epicureans united in critiquing Paul. And so they take him up to the Areopagus. Let's see what this pretentious babbler has to say. Imagine telling a world that is ignorant of Jesus about Jesus. From Acts chapter 17, verses 22 through 31. Hear the word of God. Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, Athenians, I see how extremely spiritual you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription to an unknown God. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not sh live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the time of their existence and boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we too are his offspring. Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think about the deity as like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by art and imagination of mortals. And while God has overlooked the time of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. And this is the word of the Lord. How do you tell a world ignorant of Jesus about Jesus? Paul's elevator speech begins with a compliment. Well, a compliment of sorts. It's somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Athenians, I see how spiritual you are in every way. It's a town full of idols. But he uses their spirituality as a way into his argument. He says, I look carefully at the objects of your worship. I look carefully at the objects of worship. That's not a compliment. He's calling their gods objects of worship. I look carefully at the objects of your worship. I found one altar with an inscription to an unknown God. You see, he's found a doorway and a foot in. The Greeks had an unknown god. What's that about? Well, my guess is if you've carved out of stone a god of war, a god of love, a god of marriage, a god of wisdom, a god of agriculture, a god of sea, a god of hunting, a god of wine, a god of metalworking, a god of healing, a god of archery, Nike, the god of victory, psyche, the god of the soul, pan, god of wild, hypnos, a god of sleep, iris, the god of rainbows, god, god, god, god, god, god, god, god, god, god. After a while, it gets to be like the party buses in Nashville. We've had enough. Do you really need a god of nemesis there in the traffic circle? You see, you start down that road making an idol of everything, and you might leave something out. You don't want to leave out any gods. Imagine. Imagine if we did that in Nashville. Where would we put all the gods? The god of politics, the god of our schools, the god of career, the god of health, the god of golf, the god of hockey, the god of basketball, the god of football, the god of soccer, the god of baseball. The Canadians want their god of curling, Canadians. There's a god of uh traveling sports, the god of vacations, the god of social media, the god of looking younger, the god of worry. All these gods demanding, demanding, demanding, demanding, demanding our nervous system. Our Calvinist theology says our mind is a factory for idols. We can make anything into an idol. And an idol is something that needs to be defended. Imagine a worshiping a god that you need to defend. We're asking the governor to sign our bill to protect the Judeo-Christian Western God because they've taken away our God and we do not know where they have laid him. Anyway, Paul says, I noticed all the objects of your worship. How do you tell people who do not know Jesus about Jesus? So Paul says to this know-it-all city, there's something you don't know. You have this unknown God, and I know what you don't know. For I have a God who is over heaven and earth, a God who created all things and is in over and above all things, a God in whom we live and move and have our being, and this God can't be kept in a box, can't be carved in stone. And you all know, you all know about an unknown God. So you know what you're missing, and you fear it that you're missing something. Well, let me tell you, the holy and almighty God has overlooked the time of human ignorance, but now God commands all people to repent. Did you get that? God has overlooked the times of human ignorance. I think Paul just called his congregation ignorant. Now that's preaching. I looked it up in my introduction to homiletics book. If you don't know what homiletics is, it's a Greek word about preaching to the throngs. And it said in the introduction, now catch this. The preacher is called to bring a cherished word to people who do not know, or have forgotten, or are prone to resist the claim. The preacher is called to bring a cherished word to people who do not know, or have forgotten, or prone to resist the claim. What that translates to is what I say to myself every time I climb this pulpit. Thank God I'm here for this crowd. Their time of ignorance is over. Now I say that to myself. I would never say that out loud. I think you'd find that offensive. But Paul says, God has overlooked the time of human ignorance. You all have gotten a past until now. You know, ignorance comes in all kinds of forms. Ignorance doesn't always look stupid. When the mother is holding a baby, no one says, beautiful baby, but she sure is ignorant. Look at her, doesn't know a word, can't form a sentence, doesn't know a green bean from a booger. Ignorant. And all that's true, but we have a much nicer word. Innocent. Innocent. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. A new creation. We're all to be babies, we're all to be in the don't know. We're all to be innocent. Not hardened and scarred by the ways of the world. Oh, there are things I wish I didn't know now. I wouldn't mind being a little bit more ignorant. Innocent. Ignorance comes in all forms. There's a kind of ignorance that knows the truth, but chooses to be ignorant of the truth. Ignorance is bliss. You don't have to do anything. You just ignore. Ints. Ignorance. It's all those things we should do something about, but ignorance. I read in the Smithsonian magazine that the human brain may contain up to a spoon's worth of microplastics. That's not a teaspoon's worth of microplastics. That's a spoon, a plastic spoon's worth. Seven grams of microplastics in our brains. Microplastics in the water, microplastics in the fish, in the plants. Our time for ignorance is over. What are we doing? Collecting a whole set. I read in the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. debt tops 100% of the GDP. Lawmakers in both parties have expressed alarm. Maybe we should all join the Tea Party. If we knew where they met. Both parties expressed alarm. Is the time for ignorance over? I read that social media can cause cyberbullying, social anxiety, depression, and reduced attention span. Hello? Hottest April on record. Matthew and Maria Rain are opening are suing open AI because the chatbot not only discouraged their son Adam from discussing his suicidal notes with them, but it also offered to write his suicide note for him. However how heavily invested are we in AI? There's a kind of an ignorance that just pushes things down the road. And then there's the kind of ignorance that just dawns on you. I'm stupid. While God has overlooked the time of human ignorance, now he commands all people to repent. Because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged by righteousness. By a man whom he appointed, and of this he has given the assurance to all by raising him from the dead. And I said, Well, I am a preacher. No, no, no. I've seen you around worshiping other gods. Well, you know, everybody has gods. No, no, you've been spending a lot of time at the God of Calculation. I said, You saw that, did you? The person said, It's evident in your furrowed brow and your reticence to help. I mean, you questioned giving a tip at a restaurant. I said, Well, the person was just pushing buttons. I mean, how much do you give a person? He said, you know, she's 18 years old. Do you know how much money she has? No. Do you know how much money you have? I uh yeah. Okay, I'll I'll give you that. I've been spending some time, some time in my life, wondering if I have enough. I'm wondering, will it be enough? Wondering whether it will last long enough. I'm not sure I have enough. I I can't get enough. And someone said enough. Enough. Your time for ignorance is over. Repent. Have the same mind. Have the same mind in you that is in Christ Jesus. And there will be a peace that surpasses all understanding someone offered that word to me. I I think it may have been Paul. Unless it was you. How do you tell a world ignorant of Jesus? About Jesus.