Evangelism In the Square

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Opening Prayer

Great and Glorious God, I bring my life under Your rule. Once more, forgive my sin and direct my ways.

Read Acts 17:16-34

^[16] While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ^[17] So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. ^[18] A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. ^[19] Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? ^[20] You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” ^[21] (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) ^[22] Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ^[23] For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship-and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. ^[24] “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ^[25] And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ^[26] From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ^[27] God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ^[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.

Meditate

“When physical needs are satisfied, people become aware of a deeper kind of hunger–a longing for something that will really satisfy” (Alister MGrath). So true of our Western societies.

Think Further

In Athens, as in Lystra (Acts 14:14-18), Paul demonstrates how the Gospel resonates not only with Jewish history, but also with Gentile thought. His presentation in the Areopagus is different from his approach in the synagogue, but in both places Jesus is the focus (compare vs. 3 and 31). In the Areopagus, Paul does not expound the Scriptures as he did to audiences of Jews and God-fearers. Instead, he quotes well-known pagan poets and discerns in the altar to an unknown God a sign of a deep spiritual hunger in Greek culture. Such points of contact exist in every culture. Chinese Christian believers engage non-Christians by identifying memories of the creation and flood narratives suggested by certain character symbols of the Chinese alphabet. Before you pray later, take a moment to reflect on the signs of emptiness in Western culture which currently floats in a parenthesis between modernity and post-modernity. Ask the Spirit to reveal where you might find a point of contact in the particular subculture you inhabit. Allow the Spirit to show you how you might demonstrate, without first quoting the Bible, that the death and resurrection of Jesus make sense for twenty-first-century people.

We can communicate effectively with people enveloped in contemporary culture if we sense distress (16) as well as exercising discernment (22,23). Critiquing culture from afar is scarcely enough. It is when we feel the spiritual pain of people groping their way in a cosmos devoid of meaning and purpose that those to whom we witness will grant us a degree of authenticity.

Communicating the Gospel in the cultural marketplace of the early twenty-first century is not an exercise in “dumbing down” the Good News. Finding the right balance in accessing culture and being biblically faithful is crucially important.

Apply

Paul uses idols and Greek poetry to connect with these people. What could you use to connect with people today in your efforts to relate the Gospel?

Closing prayer

Holy Spirit of God, I’m dependent on You as I seek opportunities to share my faith. Bring thoughts, ideas, and bridge-building concepts to my mind as I witness to others.

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