16While Paul was waiting in Athens, he was upset to see all the idols in the city. 17He went to the Jewish meeting place to speak to the Jews and to anyone who worshiped with them. Day after day he also spoke to everyone he met in the market. 18Some of them were Epicureans [b] and some were Stoics, [c] and they started arguing with him. People were asking, "What is this know-it-all trying to say?"
Some even said, "Paul must be preaching about foreign gods! That's what he means when he talks about Jesus and about people rising from death." [d] 19They brought Paul before a council called the Areopagus, and said, "Tell us what your new teaching is all about. 20We have heard you say some strange things, and we want to know what you mean."
21More than anything else the people of Athens and the foreigners living there loved to hear and to talk about anything new. 22So Paul stood up in front of the council and said:
People of Athens, I see that you are very religious. 23As I was going through your city and looking at the things you worship, I found an altar with the words, "To an Unknown God." You worship this God, but you don't really know him. So I want to tell you about him. 24This God made the world and everything in it. He is Lord of heaven and earth, and he doesn't live in temples built by human hands. 25He doesn't need help from anyone. He gives life, breath, and everything else to all people. 26From one person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when and where every nation would be.
27God has done all this, so that we will look for him and reach out and find him. He isn't far from any of us, 28and he gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are. "We are his children," just as some of your poets have said.
29Since we are God's children, we must not think that he is like an idol made out of gold or silver or stone. He isn't like anything that humans have thought up and made. 30In the past, God forgave all this because people did not know what they were doing. But now he says that everyone everywhere must turn to him. 31He has set a day when he will judge the world's people with fairness. And he has chosen the man Jesus to do the judging for him. God has given proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from death.
32As soon as the people heard Paul say that a man had been raised from death, some of them started laughing. Others said, "We will hear you talk about this some other time." 33When Paul left the council meeting, 34some of the men put their faith in the Lord and went with Paul. One of them was a council member named Dionysius. A woman named Damaris and several others also put their faith in the Lord.
Paul did a couple of important things in Athens that we should try to apply in our own efforts to share the Gospel.
First, he met the Athenians on their territory. Second, he did not criticize them. Third, he put the Gospel in a context they could understand. And, he was successful in making converts.
We tend to do things far differently. First, many polls reveal 90% of Christians do not talk about their faith outside of the church. So, we expect unbelievers to come to our church to hear the Gospel. This means they are in unfamiliar territory and defensive...far less likely to listen. Second, Paul honored them for being religious people. He didn't criticize their polytheism. With this tactic he offered them nothing to argue against. We are more inclined to tell people what bad things they need to quit doing. Finally, he contextualized the Gospel for them. He said "I notice you have an idol to the unknown god. Let me tell you who he is". By doing this he used language and ideas that the people fully understood. I'm sure the comprehension level went way up. This is far wiser than our typical method of telling people they need to "be washed in the blood of the LambS. No wonder they don't get it!
In a nutshell, this is putting ourselves in their shoes. We should constantly ask ourselves "How would I want the Gospel presented to me if I was not a believer?
Live boldly out there today.
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