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How Do We Respond to Jesus and the Resurrection?

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Clément Tendo
February 23, 2025

Sermon Manuscript

How Do We Respond to Jesus and the Resurrection?


Acts 17:29-34
February 23, 2025
Pastor Clement Tendo

Good evening, everyone!
As we come to hear God’s word read and preached, let us pray for the Lord’s blessings: Dear Lord, we thank you for your living word.
As I preach, I pray you will use me as your instrument.
Please, help us, so that your voice will go from our ears to our hearts.
Establish us as hearers and doers of your word, for your glory, our good, and the joy of those around us.
In Jesus’s name, amen!
Hear God’s word from Acts 17:28-34.
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.
As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone–an image made by human design and skill.

30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.
He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed.
Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.


Together we read, Isaiah 40:8: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

When I visited the Grand Canyon, I saw people from many ethnic groups.
They spoke many different languages, and were eager to see the beauty that was there.
I also saw one man who literally knelt down because of the sheer wonder that he experienced– just seeing the grandeur that the view of the Grand Canyon offered him.
Whether or not this man was worshiping mother nature, I can’t attest.
But honestly, when I saw that guy, it looked like worship to me.
Last week, we looked at how Paul addressed the philosophically and intellectually sophisticated people of Athens.
We saw how, while in Athens, Paul was greatly distressed because of the proliferation of idols.
Yet, Paul addressed the Athenians by saying, “I see that in every way, you are very religious.”
Because of the compassion he had for the Athenians, he saw in their idolatry the universal human urge to worship.
This is because Paul understood that we are all created in God’s image.
As a result, we have the seed of religion in us.
So, when we don’t worship the true God of the Bible, we end up worshiping ourselves, someone else, or anything.
All human beings have something they have substituted for God.
We are all religious and spiritual.
In some way we have a general knowledge of God, but we do not respond to God as we should because of our sin.
Paul preaches Jesus and the resurrection as the solution to the problem.
He also uses the general knowledge of God as a point of contact, to teach 5 lessons.
Last Sunday we saw how Paul teaches us that God is” (1) the Creator of the universe, (2) Sustainer of Life, and (3) Ruler of all the nations.

Now the fourth and fifth lessons are: (4) God is the Father of all human beings.
Acts 17:28-29: “28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone–an image made by human design and skill.”

God is our Father because He created us.
Paul is not saying that all human beings are saved.
He is saying this because it is the Creator God who knit us together in our mother’s womb, as Psalm 139:13 shows.
Although we are children to our parents, ultimately, it is God who is the Father of all people.
The problem is that, because of our sin, not all of us acknowledge this fact.
We choose to act like orphans, as if we are self-made.
In verse 29, Paul tells us never to think that God “is like gold or silver or stone — an image made by human design and skill.”
That is idolatry and is inexcusable and liable to God’s judgement.
Dr. John Stott tells why idolatry is inexcusable.
He says: “For idolatry is the attempt … to dethrone God, demoting him to some image of our own contrivance or craft, whereas he is our Father from whom we derive our being.”
In Romans 1:18-21, Paul writes: “18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Paul has one more lesson for us: (5) Because idolatry is inexcusable, God is the judge of the idolatrous world.
Acts 17:30-31 says: “30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.
He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”


That “God overlooked…ignorance” means that God, in His mercy, didn’t judge the world as it deserves.
None of us will plead ignorance when the certain day of judgment comes.
The resurrection is proof that Jesus is who He said He was, the Savior and God.
The claims that he was God would have been a pure hoax if he did not rise from the dead.
Also, the resurrection is good for those who believe in Jesus, and also a proof that those who are lost in unbelief will be judged.
How can we escape this judgment?
Because God owns the entire universe, “He commands all people everywhere to repent.”
This means that instead of pleading ignorance and excusing our sin, we should plead God’s mercy and repent.
Repentance is turning from sin and idolatry, and turning to God in faith for forgiveness.
Repentance is but a 180-degree turn.
In our sin, we are all on a rebellious and disobedient way, a way leading to eternal judgment.
The call to repentance is a call to do a U-turn.
We turn our heart away from the path of to death, to follow instead the way that leads to eternal life.
John 3:17 says: 17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Jesus did not come to condemn but to save.
This means that between now and Jesus’s second coming, the general call to believe is still extended to all sinners.
It could be that Jesus will come in ten years or ten minutes from now.
None of us knows.
So, responding to this call to repentance is an urgent command to all sinners.
The question is: Have you responded to gospel of Jesus and the resurrection yet?
Acts 17:32-34 says: “32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed.
Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.”


In this passage we see three responses that are common when the gospel is preach: (1) sneering, (2) curiosity, and (3) faith.
How are you going to respond?
Friends, the reality is that there are many things we have all done and left undone.
But none of that should be an obstacle to us embracing the free gift that God has given us.
We are estranged from our Creator and Sustainer.
We all need a Mediator, Jesus, to reconcile us to Him.
In 1 Timothy 2:5-6 we read: “5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

All this is summarized in what Paul says about Jesus and the resurrection.
And what we do with the resurrection determines where we will spend eternity.
It would be sad if any of us chose indifference instead seeking to know whether or not this is true.
What have you done with the message of Jesus and the resurrection?
Have you sneered at it and rejected?
Are you curious about this message?
Or do you believe it?
Friends, sneering and just being endlessly curious will not help.
The message of Jesus as the Mediator who lived, died, and rose again calls for a response.
And how we respond is a matter of life and death.
If you still have questions about what you heard, talk to the One Voice leaders.
But if you already understand what this means, please, do let silence your conscience.
As Paul says, “repent of your sin” and believe in Jesus for your salvation.
Let us pray for God’s help: Dear Lord, we thank you for speaking to us.
We pray that our hearts will seek to respond to Jesus and his resurrection in faith.
Forgive us for our unbelief and by your Spirit, enable us to trust in Jesus wholeheartedly.
We pray all this, trusting in Jesus’s name, amen!

Questions for Meditation and Discussion


Read Acts 17:16-34, highlight what stands out for you, and then answer the following questions:
Question 1: After reading this passage, what are some of the observations and questions you have?

Question 2: from Acts 17:24-29, Paul uses the fact that Athenians know God in a general sense as a point of contact. After that he proclaims God as Creator, Sustainer of the universe, Ruler of the nations, Father of all human beings, and Judge.

a. Do all people around you know God as Paul proclaimed Him? (see also Romans 1:18-21)
b. How do you think this message would be received in our world today?
c. It has been said by some that God being a Judge is not a good idea.
(i) Why is it good that God will Judge through the resurrected Jesus?
(ii) How would you reconcile Jesus as Judge with John 3:16-17?
(iii) How can anyone escape the judgment to come?
(iv) What does God command all people everywhere to do? (Acts 17:32)

Question 3: When he met idolatrous Athenians, Paul was “greatly distressed” and began to preach the message of Jesus and the resurrection.
After he mentioned the resurrection of the dead, there were three responses: sneering, curiosity, and faith.
a. How would you explain these three responses?
b. What response have you received recently when you proclaimed the gospel to those closest to you?
c. How can you prepare yourself to faithfully share the gospel despite the responses you receive?
d. What do these three responses teach us about God’s saving power?
And how can we respond when the people we evangelize do not believe?

Please, let’s take some time to pray for gospel opportunities in our families, neighborhoods, workplaces and communities.


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