“New Beginnings-Act on Acts!”

26 Apr “New Beginnings-Act on Acts!”

4/28/19      Acts 17:22-31    “New Beginnings-Act on Acts!”

Today we are going to get back to our look at Acts and on church building.  Please keep in mind that we are not talking about buildings in a physical sense.  Buildings are not the church.  We are talking about people.  And one of the hardest things that we have to do in this process is to know how to present the gospel to someone.  Today we are going to take a quick look at how Paul presented the Good News and maybe take home some tips from him.  After all he was one of the most successful evangelists that ever lived and he didn’t have TV or radio or any of the modern conveniences to help him.

Years ago in the old Peanuts cartoon strip Lucy was talking with Charlie Brown.  She said, “I would have made a great evangelist.”  Charlie Brown responded, “Is that so?”  She responded, “Yes.  Yesterday I convinced the boy in front of me that my religion was better than his.”  Charlie Brown asked, “Well, how did you do that?”  Lucy answered, “I hit him over the head with my lunch box.”

This is just a typical Peanuts cartoon and well, we shouldn’t really do that in real life.  This is the wrong way to go about evangelism.  But I’ve got a feeling that some of you and me would like to do this sometimes because it gets very frustrating when people we love just don’t get it.  Satan has closed so many minds and I know that I get frustrated.

Michael Otterstatter tells a story of his wife driving along and seeing a sign telling about a lost dog.  She continued into another part of town and saw another sign for a found dog.  She had to do a little back tracking but she put the two parties together and the lost dog was found.  This is kind of what we are to do in our lives.  Jesus is looking for the lost people of the world and it is our job to help bridge the gap that is between them.  We try to make this a lot harder than it is.  I have found that most all the time when I start to talk about Jesus, people listen.  They may not respond but my only job is to plant the seed.  People are hungry to hear the truth about Jesus and the Bible so don’t be afraid to speak up when the time comes.

Before we look at today’s passage I would like to fill you in a little about Athens.  It was the center of Greece for just about everything including religion.  They had erected idols everywhere.  They also had houses of worship for just about everything.  The prevailing wind of worship there was to include everything.  They would take the best of this religion and that religion and make up a new one that would satisfy their needs.  Their religious philosophy was pretty much anything goes.

As we look at our own country, I think that we can see more than a few similarities.  We talked a little before about how we want everyone to have their own truth.  From this point of view, all of our school shootings and all the genocides in Africa and other places are all ok because the terrible criminals that do these things think it is ok in their minds.  It is their truth!  As a matter of fact, no matter what we do is ok by this kind of thinking.  There is no wrong.

And that is not all.  We have political correctness that is running rampant.  You cannot say anything to anybody anywhere any more.  The only exception to this is when the political parties slander each other daily and that is getting pretty old also.  We have wound ourselves up so tightly in this that we cannot even display the Ten Commandments.  I agree with some of this, when we might be hurting someone’s feelings.  But we have to use a little common sense.  It may be ok to allow Mormons, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims to worship.  But it is not ok to agree that they have their own way to heaven.  It is not ok to say that there are many ways to heaven.  I recently read about a Methodist pastor in this country talk about the different ways to heaven.  Are we crazy?  Many times I talk about John 14:6 as Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”  There is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus.  That’s what Easter is all about!

And this is where Paul comes into his strength.  Paul was a master at this.  If you have ever noticed, one of the first things that Paul did when he came to a new town was to go to the synagogue and teach.  He would go to the Jewish church and preach.  Then he would go out into the city and reach out to the Gentiles or the non-Jews.  And if we read the verses before this we find that he did this in Athens also.

As we begin, we see that Paul has gotten himself into a bit of trouble with leaders of Athens.  You see that just about any religion was ok there but you couldn’t introduce a foreign god.  You could mix and match all you wanted but that was all.  If you did more, then you ended up in front of the Areopagus which was the ruling counsel.  And most of the time you were not in serious trouble, but you only had to explain yourself or you would be in serious trouble.

And Paul begins to explain in a language that they understand.  He commends them for being very religious.  He tells how he has been admiring the many statues and idols which they worship.  And he was especially drawn to the altar or shrine that was dedicated to “An Unknown God.”  The people of Greece wanted to cover all the bases as far as gods were concerned so they erected an altar to the unknown god just in case they missed something.  These people weren’t dumb!  Paul, with God’s help, was really using his brain here to get himself off the hook and telling these people about Jesus at the same time.  He is telling them that he is not introducing a new god but rather he is explaining the unknown god.  He is talking about Jesus as their unknown God.  He is talking to them in a language they understand.

We have to be careful when we are talking to our world that we don’t talk in our language.  If we start to tell people about justification, sanctification, resurrection, saved by the blood of Jesus, people will not know what we are talking about.  They don’t know any of these terms that we take for granted.  Or at least a few of us might take for granted.  When we talk with someone we need to focus on their needs first.  We should be saying “Jesus can make your life better.  Jesus will help you from being lonely.  Jesus will make you feel better.”  These are some of the things that all people can relate to and understand.  Remember this when you are talking to people that don’t go to church.  Talk in their language.

So now Paul starts to talk their language for the glory of God.  He tells them that this unknown God does not live in their temples or really need anything from them.  He made everything and is beyond all of us.  And most importantly, he tells them that they/we are His children.  Here they erected this altar because they were afraid that they might have left out a god and they would be punished.  And instead they find that God wants to love them, not punish them.  This is what all of their gods were about, punishment.  They were worshipped for fear of punishment.

This sound so much like what we have today.  How many times have you heard that God will punish you for something?  People take the Ten Commandments and read them as if we will be punished for breaking them.  They don’t know that they were made out of the love that God has for us.  If we follow them the best we can, then our lives will be better because this is what God made us to do.  It should make sense that if I follow the rules of the person who created me, I would have a better life.  That is just common sense.  However, you will never be able to keep all these Commandments.  They were made so we would fail and see that Jesus is the only way in which we will ever be saved.  Following the 10 Commandments will never save our souls.  They just show us how much we need Jesus.  He is the only answer.

Or how many times have you heard that “I don’t get anything out of church.”?  People don’t realize that you are not supposed to get anything out of church.  You are supposed to put everything into church.  This is a tough concept.  If you go into any kind of relationship with God expecting a better life, or more money or more satisfaction from church, you will be disappointed.  God doesn’t work like that.  But if you go into that relationship with God by being centered on Him, all honoring to Him, and being totally committed to Him, then He will reward you in some fashion.  Christianity is not a ‘me’ centered religion.  It is centered on Him.

Then Paul continues on telling the Areopagus that they are the children of God and they should not think in terms of golden or silver idols.  These are man-made things and not God-made things.  The time has come for the people to repent and quit looking to their idols.  Notice that they/we are commanded to repent.  This is not something that is negotiable.  This is not something that you can do if you feel like it.  In the end Jesus will judge the world.  As proof of this we know that God raised Jesus from the dead.

If we read on we find that some of these people accepted Jesus.  There were others that sneered at Paul and rejected the message.  This is a pattern that we find even today.  Unfortunately, many people still reject Jesus.  This is a free gift from God.  This is God’s grace and we still reject it because in many cases people don’t understand it or Satan has them fooled that their lives are pretty good without Jesus.  And maybe we aren’t presenting the gospel right.

Paul started by talking in their language.  You know, I have heard of two places in the world where they held church services in a bar.  How crazy is that?  That pretty much goes against everything we have ever done but it is going out and meeting people in their setting, on a bar stool.  It really isn’t any different than sending a missionary to another country.  I think that it is important that we rethink how we do church.  Church should always be an outreach of some sort.  However, I don’t think that it’s right to sit and drink in the bar as you are trying to represent Jesus.  There is a fine line here.

Another example, we used to have something called an Annual Salad Fest at one of the churches we served.  It was quite successful.  We had quite a few people come and it was a lot of fun.  It was an effort to reach into the community.  But I did notice something.  There were very few people under 50 years of age attending.  Now I think that they should do things like this again but they should also be thinking of ways to try to get some of our younger people to know God.  We have to try to think like them so that they will attend some of the church’s functions.  This is a problem all over the country.  This might be why you are watching this today.

I think that for many folks, there are too many false idols pulling at them.  We really have more choices than the people of Athens did.  We have set up our own idols and we sure do have a bunch of them.  Often times we find that many parents are too busy with their children to do anything else.  And most of the time this is a good thing and I commend them for it.  Parents belong with their children.

However, we should beware, young people and old people alike.  This is like driving down the street and not wearing a seatbelt when you have your child strapped in a car seat.  The false reason that you don’t wear a seat belt is that you want to be able to help get the child out in case of an accident.  However, if there ever was an accident, you would get hurt and would be unable to help.  Wearing the seatbelt will prevent you from getting hurt and then you would be able to help your children.

If we are going to be successful in raising our children in the Christian faith or bringing new people into our church, then we have to be strong ourselves.  We need to be in a daily prayer life, attending church, and being in Christian groups.  If you don’t stay strong in your faith, then how can you teach your children and others about your faith?

You need to think of ways to minister like Paul.  Every person you meet is different and needs to be reached in a special way.  I would like you to be aware of this as you go about your week.  Ask yourself when you meet someone, “How can I come along side this person and speak his/her language?”  “What are their interests and how can I incorporate these interests to help them become a Christian or help them in their faith walk?”

Springtime is a time of changes and new beginnings.  We have confirmations in our churches and graduations in our high schools and college.  These people are moving on to a new phase of life.  These are exciting times and congratulations.  I hope you remember these things as you model the behavior of Jesus to your friends.  Talk to them so they understand.  It is easy to do as Paul shows us this morning.

And the rest of us are to do the same thing.  Invite someone to our broadcast.  Ask them for coffee or a meal at after church.  Invite them in such a way that the love of Jesus surrounds them.  This has been what Paul was talking about today.  If you love the non-believer in such a way that is honoring to God, then you will add to His numbers.  Jesus wants to save every human being in the world.  Let Him use you in your small corner of the world.  And thank you Jesus for always being there and first loving us.  Let’s pray.