We recently went to a wedding out of state.  We prayed that the trip would be a blessing and that we would be used by the Living God to touch lives.

While traveling from the wedding ceremony to the reception, we passed a church called Mars Hill Baptist Church.

I commented to my husband, “I really love how Rav Shaul (The Apostle Paul) gave us a plan for how to communicate with people who have no knowledge of the Bible or the God of the Bible.  Paul addressed pagan Greeks in Athens at Mars Hill (the Areopagus–’Hill or Ares’, the god of war) in the Book of Acts chapter 17.  While we drove, I opened my Bible to Acts and outlined the principles Paul delineated in sharing the truth with people who were totally disconnected from Judeo or Judeo-Christian thought.

Here’s what I told my husband.  First, please read what I told my husband; then see how, later that evening, the Chinese waiter we met found great fortune!

Acts 17:16-23:  A Summary

Paul was in Athens waiting for his companions, Silas and Timothy.  The Scripture says that “…his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.”  He was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day. Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him and saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?”  Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,” — because he was preaching Yeshua (Ieosus in Greek, Jesus in English) and the resurrection.”

They brought Paul to the Areopagus (the Hill of Ares, the Greek god of war) wanting to know what this new teaching was.  They told Paul he was “bringing some strange things to our (their) ears; so we (they) want to know what these things mean.”  So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.  For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’  Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”

Paul’s Style and Wisdom In Communicating

• First, his radar equipment was on — “his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing a city full of idols.”  Are you provoked when people are deceived — spending their time, talent, energies & money worshipping idols/false dreams/false gods, etc.?
• Then, he built a bridge. He acknowledged what was important to these people and their culture:  Religion.
• He spoke after studying their interests and told them that he checked out what was important to them (“examining the objects of your worship.”)
• He did not shrink back though he was with “sophisticated” thinkers: Epicurean and Stoic philosophers — knowing that the Truth of the Word, the Gospel, is stronger than the most sophisticated or arrogant thoughts of man.
• He also did not take offense and get sidetracked by their nasty words, having been called an “idle babbler”.  Instead, he had a spirit of boldness, stood in the midst of this famous place and began to speak.

The Principles (Acts 17: 24-31)

• Paul distinguishes the God of Scripture from their gods:
  1. He lays the foundation that God created the heavens and earth and He is in charge!: “There is a God who made the world and all things in it.  He is Lord of heaven and earth.”
  2. This God is different than their gods for He does not dwell in temples made with hands.
  3. This God does not have needs (as opposed to pagan gods which need to rest, be fed, be fashioned and be fastened down!
  4. This God is not provincial:  He gives to all people life and breath and all things.
• Paul discusses how this God relates to them
  1. God made every nation of mankind from one man, establishing the unity amongst us…we are all related! (And, as he states a bit later, we all need to repent or we each will face judgment.)
  2. God determines appointed times and boundaries of their habitation.  These are not random boundaries, neither is this determination for random purposes, but in order “that people would seek Him if they might grope for Him.”
• Paul states mega-truths about God’s relationship to people:
  • God is not far from each one of us — no matter what our nationality or thinking system is!
  • In HIM we live, move, and have our being (exist).  Every breath comes from Him.  We are not our “own person”.
• Paul relates truth to their own Athenian experience to build an intellectual bridge:
  • “Even as some of your own poets have said, “For we also are His children.”
• Paul builds on their experience to distinguish truth from pagan thought:
  • “Being children of God we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art or thought of man.”
• Paul moves into the principles of the Gospel:  People will give an account for their lives and must repent
  • “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.”
• Paul declares that judgment is coming:
  • “He has fixed a day in which He will judge the inhabited earth in righteousness.”
• Paul reveals who the Judge is:
  • “…He will judge the inhabited earth in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed.
• Paul proves why the Judge has authority to judge: The Fact of the Resurrection
  • “..having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Some people, upon hearing about the resurrection of this Judge from the dead, sneered.  Some wanted to hear more.  Paul left.  He didn’t beg people.  He didn’t argue.  He also did not want to engage in fruitless conversation where people are “forever learning and NEVER coming to a knowledge of the truth.”

The Chinese Waiter

A few hours after the wedding reception we got hungry.  The weather was cold and damp.  Chinese food with hot Chinese tea sounded great.
We found a restaurant close by, went in, and ordered.  We asked for chopsticks.  I know about five or six Chinese words, and said, “thank you” in Chinese.  The waiter asked where I learned how to use chopsticks and the few Chinese expressions.  I shared that I have had Chinese friends since high school.

“Where are you from?” I asked.
“Beijing.  But, I lived in Chinatown in NY for a little while.”

“What is your religious background?”
“My parents are Buddhist.”

(He did not take ownership of that religion.)

“May I share something with you?”

I then took him through as much of Acts 17 as I could remember.  I told him how God loves him and though He spoke the universe into being, created the boundaries for the nations and knows the number of hairs on his head.  The waiter marveled at this truth about God knowing the number of hairs on his head!

“He does?”

“Yes, He does.”

I shared as much of the rest of the above principles as I could remember and gave the waiter opportunity to receive forgiveness from the Judge, because the Judge also paid the penalty for the waiter’s sin.

I don’t do easy believism stuff – “Ask Jesus into your heart.”  Acts 17 and many other passages of Scripture emphasize repentance.  I took him through the Ten Commandments – a good thing to do – because even if people think they haven’t sinned since they haven’t murdered, committed adultery or stolen, who has not lied or secretly coveted what someone else has?  (Commandments 9 and 10!)

The waiter humbly bowed his head, eagerly confessed his sins and believed and confessed Yeshua as his savior.  He kept saying how thankful he was.
We sent him a Chinese New Testament and Psalms, and a Chinese book on apologetics.  When we called him to see how he was doing, he related how grateful he was.

What can we learn from this experience of reading the Scripture and seeing an immediate application?

Don’t categorize or prejudge people.  Don’t assume people aren’t open because they come from a culture whose thought is so radically different from Biblical thought.  Let your spirit be provoked as Paul’s was that people were in bondage to falsehood and would be facing an eternity separated from the Lord of heaven and earth.

You never know what God’s purposes are for you in everyday situations.  So, if you are a believer, remain open to whom the LORD of the Harvest wants to send you on a daily basis.

God’s ways are not ours with respect to whom we think we are equipped to minister.  Remember, Paul was “advancing in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries among his countrymen, being more extremely zealous for his ancestral traditions. (Galatians 1:13-16)  He was “A Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the Torah (Law), a Pharisee.”…yet with all his sophisticated Jewish learning, the LORD sent him to the Gentiles, to reach out to people who neither knew nor cared about Paul’s intense rabbinic training and knowledge of Judaism.  God’s economy often does not make sense.  Peter, an unlearned (in terms of Judaism, Torah, etc.) fisherman, was made the apostle to the circumcision (Jewish people).
You never know to whom you are talking, or to whom the LORD wants you to speak.

There is a rich harvest for Yahveh’s glory out there.  Yeshua said the fields were white unto harvest.  Therefore, beseech the LORD of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest…even into a Chinese restaurant!

If you are seeking to know the LOVE God has for you and the TRUTH and would like to cancel that “Judgment” appointment:

Perhaps you have searched high and low for “that crazy missing part”, knowing that something is missing in your life.  You may have dabbled in different religions and read all sorts of philosophies (as the Epicureans and Stoics of old – one indulging, hoping to find happiness, the other withholding and living stoically, hoping to find meaning).  Perhaps you have even paid money for self improvement seminars and have come away feeling even emptier.  Please consider what you have just read: that the Scriptures declare that all people have an appointment with the Judge of the whole earth.  Believers in Yeshua had that appointment, but they will never be judged for their sins because the Sinless Messiah was judged two thousand years ago on the tree (cross) for them.  He made atonement for their sins and yours… the difference is they took the offer of forgiveness, love and eternal life.

If you, too, want to clear your conscience, find LOVE that lasts forever, and have everlasting life, then:

1. Speak to the Creator.  His name is Yahveh…the God of Israel…the God of the Bible.  The call is free!
2. Agree with Him that you deserve to be judged for actions, thoughts and/or words that you have done that have violated His law.
3. Tell him about those actions, thoughts and/or words.  This is what the word “confession” means:  “to agree with”; you agree with Him that these things violated His Holy standard and are worthy of judgment.  Reviewing the 10 Commandments may help jog your memory. (See Exodus Chapter 20 verses 1-17)
4. Acknowledge your rebellion toward Him and that in many respects you did not realize that in HIM you live, and move, and have your being.
5. Believe that Yeshua the Messiah, loved you so much that He gave His sinless life for you.  Acknowledge that His work alone, not your good deeds, are sufficient to soothe a Holy God, who, though HE IS LOVE, must punish sin.
6. In prayer, receive Messiah Yeshua into your life and heart.  (Say audibly:  “Messiah Yeshua, I receive you now into my life and heart”)
7. Tell someone else what happened.  For it is written in Romans chapter 10, verse 9 – 13:  “that if you confess with your mouth Yeshua as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  For the Scripture says,  “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD (YAHVEH) WILL BE SAVED.”

Tags: Acts 17, Athenian, Chinese, divine judgment, end times, Epicurean, evangelism, Exodus 20, Galatians 1, idol, idolatry, Judeo-Christian thought, Mars Hill, Pagan, Paul, Romans 10, Stoic

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Divine Appointments, Teachings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.