Act 17 - A Blog in 28 Acts

Presenting a Truth People Can Understand Read all of Acts 17 Here.

The second half of Acts 17 tells the story of how Paul preached to a very educated and pagan (non-Jewish) group of people called the Aeropagus in Athens. This crowd was very different from the Jewish and God Fearing audience he usually taught in the local synagogues. They were very secularized and worshiped any god they chose. You could say that theologically, they were very far from God. Yet Paul didn’t shy away from presenting the Gospel story to them because he realized that they had equal value in God’s eyes as everyone else and were worthy of being saved.

So Paul stood in front of this council called Aeropagus (literally means hill or place of the God Ares) where the philosophers typically stood to teach, and he began to share the Gospel. He did so by using one of their own statues in Athens that they had dedicated to “an unknown god”. Paul used this statue and inscription as a starting point to describe how the God that was unknown to them was Jesus and then progressed through the basics of the Gospel. Acts 17:34 tells us that “a few men became followers of Paul and believed”. There was no great group of people coming to Christ, but the mere fact that some believed the message and came to Christ is a miracle.

This story from Acts 17 reveals three main truths about sharing the Gospel with people in our culture today, who are often “far from God”. First, we must be bold and courageous when sharing our faith. It had to take a lot of courage for Paul to preach a new message to very educated and high society people. But Paul didn’t shy away from the challenge. He properly understood the value of the Athenians and their need to hear the Gospel.

Second, when we share Christ we need to use language and images that people understand. Paul radically altered his message when he preached in Athens compared to when he spoke to a Jewish audience. Did the Gospel change? Of course not, but the way Paul presented it certainly did. Paul used words the people of Athens would understand and he began his message with a cultural reference point that everyone could understand. We need to follow his example and share Christ with words that make sense. We shouldn’t use church words like regeneration, sanctification, salvation etc. We need to use terms like love, forgiveness, breaking God’s commands and belief. We need to use our personal testimony and share what God has done in our lives.

Thirdly, we learn from Paul that even if only a few people believe when we share Christ, our efforts are worth it. Sometimes we expect everyone to respond to Christ’s love the first time they hear it and fell like we are failures if someone rejects us. In reality they aren’t rejecting us, but God Himself. Our job is to share the Gospel and leave the results up to God. The bible tells us that the Holy Spirit draws people to himself. We are only the messengers.

Who are the Aeropagus people in your life? Who are the people who seem to know everything, but are far from God? How can you present the Gospel to them in a way that will make sense to them? What cultural reference points can we use to reach people today? Preaching Christ today is as important as it’s ever been. We need to find relevant and contemporary ways to share the timeless message of the Gospel. We need to make it a Truth that people can understand.

Chip

This 28 part blog will post each Tuesday through Friday from April 1 through May 16. We'll post on one chapter of Acts each day. Be sure to join us in reading this entire book. We'll learn about Jesus, about his disciples, and about how we can become more fully devoted followers of Christ.