- good news of Grace and forgiveness
- good news of eternal life
- good news of an opportunity for a personal - eternal - relationship with God
Jesus reminds us in Matthew 28: 18-20 (The Great Commission) that EVERYONE needs to hear that Good News. The command to "Go" really involves two concepts. There is the intentional "going" which involves a conscious effort on our part to go out of our way to bring the Good News to others. But there is also the implication that the Good News is to be shared with others "as we are going" about our daily activities. This is a very important concept. Whereas we may not all be able to "go" to distant places on structured mission trips, we all are "going into all the world" in our daily activities. Opportunities abound to share the good news with others.
One of my favorite narratives in the New Testament Book of Acts involves Paul the Apostle during a time he was in the great city of Athens, Greece. Paul was in the midst of his Second Missionary Journey (an intentional effort to affirm churches born of his first mission trip and to win others to Christ as well). His travels were temporarily suspended as he waited in Athens to be joined by two of his co workers, Silas and Timothy, whom he had left behind in a place called Berea. While Paul waited in Athens (Acts chapter 17) he basically did two things. First he found a local Jewish house of worship (the synagogue) and shared the Gospel with the worshippers there. This was standard operating procedure for Paul wherever he went for it was in the synagogues that he would always find folks (Jews and Gentile proselytes) who were seeking God, and who understood the concept of a coming Messiah. Paul always took that road first - using the "Old Testament" scriptures and his own testimony to reveal Jesus to them as the true Messiah. This would seem to be a natural place for an evangelist go and share. The hearts of those in the synagogues should already be fertile ground in which the Gospel could be sown.
The second thing that Dr. Luke tells us that Paul did was go into the marketplace and, "reasoned ... in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there." Very simply, Paul just went about his daily business, loafed around the marketplace, made contact with the local folks, and shared the good news with anyone and everyone who would listen. Think about it. If Paul came to your town today, where would he go? Most likely you might find him visiting with the "spit and whittle" gang sitting on the benches outside the courthouse. Or maybe you would find him at a table in McDonalds, next to the regulars having their coffee and sharing stories in the morning "liars club" that meets there every AM. Perhaps you'd see him at the local flea market, or in the mall. In other words, Paul would just be going about daily activities, and using the opportunity to make contact with the others who were there - offering small talk - and always bringing it back around to Jesus.
He had a motive. The Bible says "... his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols." (vs. 16) Paul recognized the lostness that surrounded him. He didn't just see the crowds. He saw the crowds as individuals. People who were looking for something in life but just weren't quite sure what. People who desperately needed a personal relationship with the Savior that he knew! Oh, that God would make us aware, today, of the lostness of the people around us!
Paul's stories of the resurrected Christ caught people's attention. In fact, his testimony regarding his relationship with Jesus ended up getting him invited to a place called the Areopagus (or Mars Hill) a special spot in town where ideas and philosophies were debated on a regular basis. Look at what he was asked when he arrived at the Aeropagus - "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? "For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean." For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. (vs. 19-21). Doesn't that sound like folks we know today? People are always interested in telling or hearing "some new thing". They were then... they are now. So Paul accommodated the request.
It's not likely that Paul went into "preachy mode" with a special "holy" tone to his voice. There was no prelude. No choir prepared the congregation for receiving the Word. Paul simply used something very familiar to those in his audience. The people of Athens were into gods (with a small "g"). They were a religious and superstitious people who had invented gods for every manifestation of nature and every aspect of their lives. There were temples and altars everywhere dedicated to this god or that goddess. The ruins of many of those temples still stand in Athens today on an adjacent hill known as the Acropolis. Paul used the inscription on one of those altars as his starting point - "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 altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you..." (vs. 22-23)
Paul shared with them how a god whom they ignorantly worshipped could be known.
"This 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. He doesn’t need help
from anyone. He gives life, breath, and everything else to all people. From one
person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when and where
every nation would be.
God 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, and 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.
Since 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. In 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. He 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." (vs. 24-31 CEV)
Paul used his knowledge of the Greek's culture and their own literature to bring the message of Jesus. That is the task before us today. We must identify the culture and meet people there before we can effectively share the Good News with them. The message must be relevant to others before they will receive it. For example, witnessing to skateboarders will definitely require a different approach than that used with a group of "Red Hat Ladies". The country club crowd needs to hear the same Gospel that the local Bikers group needs, but most certainly the approach would not be the same. The Body of Christ is made up of people from all cultures and with varying backgrounds and gifts. Some among us can reach people groups that others can't, but we can ALL reach someone if we will meet them where they are.
Well, what about the results? We learn a final lesson from this passage regarding sharing the Gospel. When we meet people where they are, relate to them, and share the message, one of three things will happen. Notice the three reactions that Paul got. "And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, "We will hear you again on this matter." So Paul departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed..." (vs 32-34). These are the very same three reactions to the Gospel message that we can expect today.
- Some will laugh it off and think we're nuts
- Some will be convicted enough to want to know more
- Some will believe
The beauty of the whole thing is that God does not require us to produce a certain result. He only asks us to share the Good News with others. He will take care of the results. That's His job. If we do ours - He'll do His. Kind of takes the pressure off us doesn't it? Knowing this, our only responsibility is to "go and tell".
Who will you tell about Jesus today?
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