Living On Mission with Paul

Paul must have been quite a character. People either loved him or hated him. He messed with the religious belief systems much the same way that Jesus did and therefore got treated pretty much the same as Jesus did by religious people. They were intrigued at first and then became angry when their comfort zone was invaded. (Because of this, he often didn’t stay in one place very long.) I can almost hear them now, “What do you mean we’ve had this wrong all along? Stop messin’ with our traditions!” Regardless of whether he was being loved or hated, Paul was always on mission. He knew what he was sent to do; preach Christ. And he did so—boldly, fearlessly, and in a culturally relevant way.

That’s why I love these stories in Acts 17. They show us that Paul knew how to work with the culture wherever he went. In Thessalonica he used his knowledge of the customs and beliefs of the Jews as a launching pad to tell the story of Jesus. In Berea he again went to the synagogue and started preaching about Jesus, knowing that they would continue to study the scriptures to determine if he was right or wrong even though he was only there a short while.  In Athens, he recognized that, “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas,” so he found a way to weave the story of Jesus into their daily discussions. (Acts 17:21)

Paul was smart and used the culture of his day find ways to preach Jesus. He didn’t try to win people by doing something completely foreign to them. He didn’t rush out and bring Billy Graham and his gigantic crusade team into town. He met the people where they were and found culturally relevant ways to bring the good news of Jesus to them.  He didn’t soft-pedal the message in order to fit in culturally; he boldly proclaimed Jesus as Messiah, the word of God, and showed how God has been at work, “…so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27)

We have been sent by God to proclaim the good news.  All of us. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us identify ways that we can use the culture of our city/workplace/neighborhood to bring the love of Jesus to those around us.

Let’s practice living on mission and get caught RedHanded – LovingOurCity.

Pastor Angela