Real Life, Real People, Real God

Paul at Athens – Acts 17

[Read from Theology Book]

“The topic of sin can be approached and studied in a number of ways. One is the empirical or inductive approach. One can either observe the actions of contemporary human beings or examine the deeds of biblical persons, and then draw some conclusions regarding their behavior and the nature of sin. In this case the general characteristics of sin are inferred from a number of specific examples.

“A second approach is the paradigm method. We could select one type of sin (or one term for sin) and set it up as our basic model of what sin is. We would then analyze the other types of sin (or terms for sin) with reference to this basic model, regarding them as varieties of elucidations of our paradigm.

“A third approach begins by noting all of the biblical terminology for sin. A wide variety of concepts will emerge. These concepts are then examined in order to discover the essential element of sin. This basic factor may then be used as our focal point as we endeavor to study and understand the nature of specific instances of sin.[1]”

[Read Sunday Paper – Headlines]

There is evil in the world. We see it in our world on a daily basis. There is little care for human life. Many people act out of selfish motives. Many people will do whatever it takes to get ahead. Some will act out of incredible cruelty and disregard for others if they fear their own life will be negatively affected if they get involved or take responsibility.

There are a number of ways to make a point. The first reading I shared with you this morning was from a Theology book that is used in many seminaries. The author of the book is very knowledgeable and is considered an excellent instructor. His classes are effective, and the students who study in them have an excellent opportunity to learn. The section I read was a very good discussion of the study of sin in our world.

The second reading I shared with you was also a study of sin in our world, from a different perspective. From the pages of today’s paper we can get an education about the nature of humanity, the decay of our society, and the need for someone to save us from ourselves.

Both sources of information I have shared with you this morning are excellent, and are accurate, and both can be used to gain an understanding of an important spiritual issue. What is the difference between the two? [One is intended for a classroom – a formal study, the other is taken from real life, an observation of truth leading to practical application.]

In the early 1940’s a young man fresh out of seminary accepted a call to pastor a small Baptist church in Western Springs, a suburb of Chicago. Although he felt his gifts were more in the area of evangelism than pasturing a church, he felt that God was in the call, and he accepted. There was a popular Christian radio program that was broadcast out of Chicago at that time into Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin called “Songs in the Night,” and this rookie pastor was asked to be the weekly speaker on the show. He agreed, and asked a guy he knew from WMBI radio to come on as his announcer. The announcer was George Beverly Shae, and the young rookie pastor was Billy Graham.

The show grew steadily in popularity. One of the reasons the show increased its audience was a practice that Graham adopted early in the work. The show was broadcast on a secular station, so he knew that many of the people who listened were not believers. Some were even atheists. So each week he made a special effort to connect with the culture. Let me quote from his autobiography, Just As I Am:

I built my radio talks around the events of the day. Keeping up with current events through newspapers and radio news programs, I began each message with a reference to something people would have been hearing and talking about that very day. Then I moved into a biblical message, showing that God and the Scriptures are relevant to every problem…

If you get a chance to see a Billy Graham evangelistic crusade on television, as we had the chance to do this week, you will realize that he still follows the same formula. Though he now has to sit on a stool behind the pulpit, he still references the people and events of the day. Here is this white haired man talking about the lyrics to the newest song on the radio, or the latest fad to hit the streets. He does his homework to make sure that the message of the gospel is relevant to the people he is attempting to reach.

Other great pastors do the same. You might hear Tony Evans talking about Dion Sanders or Chuck Swindoll talking about his Harley, but those guys really strive to make the message real.

As a church, it’s what we’re all about, too. You might have sensed it the first time you walked in. We’re not about religion, or religious traditions, or religious ceremony. You might hear music from Pearl Jam one week and Beethoven the next. One week you may come in and find the church chairman doing announcements in shorts and sandals. One week you might come in and find the chairs all turned around! The point is this – we are not about “doing church,” we are about “being church.” And the church is meant to be real – real people; involved in real life; seeking, serving and loving a real God. For the first 4 years of our church that was the words you found on the cover of our programs: Real Life, Real People, Real God.

But the concept of being real – being relevant - is not something we came up with, nor is it something we stole from Billy Graham or Tony Evans. It is something that has been engrained in the church from its earliest days. Today, in our study of biblical characters who were more than survivors, we are going to look at a guy who was the Billy Graham of the first Century. He went all around the known world, preaching the gospel to anyone who would listen, and he had remarkable results. His name was Paul.

In the book of Acts, we have a record of the first years of the church. We get a history of how the church grew from a few people in Jerusalem to literally thousands of people in hundreds of churches throughout the Roman Empire. In the 17^th chapter of that book, we have the account of when Paul visited Athens, Greece. Follow along with me as I read you this bit of history from Acts 17:15-31.

I find it interesting that Paul was not naïve about the culture of Athens in the first century. It really bothered him as he walked around the streets of this great city to see all the idols, and temples built to all the different gods of Greece and Rome. There was a lot of evidence that these people were spiritual, but there was little genuine faith. The people were evil and cruel in many ways, and gave in to any whim of desire.

But Paul was not put off by their obvious spiritual needs. And as we examine how Paul related to these people, this is the first thing I want you to notice. Paul was energized by the opportunity, not overwhelmed by it. “His spirit was provoked within him,” verse 16 says. He was motivated by his surroundings! He was grateful for the opportunity to bring light, rather than discouraged by the darkness. We need to be careful to do the same. Instead of bemoaning the fact that our culture is captivated by the “new age,” we need to recognize what that really means – people are spiritually hungry, thirsting for the truth. And we have what it takes to satisfy that need!

The second thing I see here is that Paul started out with those to whom he could most quickly relate. Notice that when he began to speak, he went to the local Jews and Greeks who believed in God. He started talking to people who shared some common ground. These were people who believed in one God, who had the Old Testament Scriptures and who did not worship the idols. For us, we need to be looking for those people around us who have perhaps had a church background, but for whatever reason have given up on church, but haven’t quite given up on God yet. These are people with whom we can share the reality of the gospel – it’s not about baptism and confirmation, and reciting creeds or prayers – it’s about a day to day relationship with Him, it’s about knowing and loving the God behind those rituals and prayers.

But notice what happened. When Paul began to speak, and people began to listen, some said, “What does this babbler have to say?” There’s a lesson for us to learn here as well. When we begin to share the reality of Christ in our world, we should expect some resistance. Sure a few were intrigued, but many of the people were antagonistic toward Paul for his speaking to them about Jesus. The same is true today. I talked with one of our teens this week who told a close friend that he was going to get his life right with God, and the friend said, “I hate you!” He called him all sorts of foul names, and for the rest of the evening made fun of him, and taunted him. Whenever any of their other friends would come around, he would say, “Hey, now we let Christians in here!”

When John Ashcroft was being considered for Attorney General of the United States last year, you would have thought the guy was a Nazi or something. He was called a right-wing fascist, an intolerant fanatic, a dangerous individual. Why? Because John Ashcroft happens to be a genuine Christian. He has a strong personal faith, and he believes in the teachings of the Word of God. That is what makes him “dangerous” to so many in our society today. Don’t be fooled by the slogan on our currency. It may say, “In God We Trust,” but the days of America being a Christian country are behind us. But that’s not today’s topic.

What is today’s topic is reaching this post-Christian culture. And that brings us to our fourth lesson today. In order for us to reach our culture for Christ, we have to connect with that culture. When surrounded by a crowd of uninterested listeners, Paul brought the message of Christ right to the streets of Athens. Look at his message. He starts out by complimenting their spiritual nature. He says, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an alter with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.”

But Paul didn’t stop there. He also quoted some of the Greek’s most famous poets. Epimenides lived about 600 BC, and is the first one to write, “In him we live and move and have our being.” Aratus was a Greek poet who lived in the days of Alexander the Great. He wrote, “we are his offspring.” The point is this – Paul made an effort to get into the heads of the people and reach them where they were.

Instead of mocking their ignorance or judging their idolatry, Paul complimented them! And as a result, people listened, and some believed. If you think about it for a moment, you can see how each of the survivor characters we have studied did this to some degree or another. Joseph learned the language and business of his Egyptian masters to the point that he was made the second most powerful man in the land. Queen Esther worked within the cultural setting she was in, inviting the king to a banquet on two nights before making her plight known. Nehemiah worked as a servant to a conquering emperor, and was so loyal and well-respected that the emperor granted him his desire to rebuild his capital city, and even made him governor. In each case, these ones who were more than survivors found a way to work and relate to their surroundings, and be a Godly influence.

We need to do the same. We need to find ways to compliment the culture, to bring the theology to the streets. How do we do that? How do we make God real to our world?

Well, I doubt that many of us could, or would want to quote some Greek poet. But maybe we could keep up with some other modern writers, like John Grisham or Tom Clancy. While sharing a love of books with someone, it is possible to find a way to bring a spiritual reality into play. For example, in one of Tom Clancy’s books, a terrorist flies a 747 into the US Capitol during a Presidential address to Congress. What seemed like fiction 4 years ago seems all to real today – so sharing the reality of evil in the world, and our response to it is a way to talk about where God is in our world.

More common would be a connection through TV or a movie. You know that I love to use movie clips as a way of making a spiritual point. It’s not that hard, really. Movies like The Green Mile, Saving Private Ryan, or TV shows like Survivor can lead to opportunities to talk about spiritual matters. Now if you start off by saying, “I never watch survivor – it goes against all my values.” End of conversation. But if you said, “I heard that the one guy, from Kentucky, was a Christian, and he actually made it for a while, didn’t he?” You have found a common place to start. In the student journal this week, there are a couple of examples, including some from The Simpsons, when Bart sets out to find out if there’s a God.

This week a parent called and asked me about the Harry Potter series. I will tell you honestly that I have not read the books, but not because I think they are evil, rather I have had other stuff I have wanted to read. But I do not fear exposure to the Potter books or the movie – I would rather have myself and my children encounter it and be able to interact with the issues of evil and spiritism and the occult than to be faced with those issues one day and not have a clue how to deal with them. In addition, many of our children’s friends are seriously into Potter, and how can we hope to reach them if we simply tune them and their world out?

There are lots of ways we can connect with the culture around us without conforming to that culture. Jesus is the example we must follow. If ever anyone walked the earth to show that God is real, it was Jesus. His teachings were radical – he rejected religion and its rules and embraced personal godliness and its relationship. He broke all the traditions of church, and took his message of love and godly living to the street. We are called to do the same. This week, as you contemplate this call, and review the ideas suggested in your journal, ask the Lord to show you where you can make a difference bringing the real God to the real people in your life. Just like Billy Graham, just like the apostle Paul, just like Jesus.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we live in a world that still worships the unknown gods. It is sad, because it’s only through you that we can survive and thrive spiritually. Rather than being critical, help us talk about matters of the soul in a gentle and respectful manner. Like Paul, help us to learn to connect with the culture to share you message of love. Amen.

[1] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985), p 546. With all due respect to Dr. Erickson, this quotation is not intended to be critical of his outstanding work, but simply to show that various audiences require varying methods of communication.