Taking a Stand in a Christ-less Culture

The Apostle Paul’s passion for the gospel never ceases to amaze me. As I have written before, when Paul met Christ, he went from chief persecutor of the church to chief propagator of the church. Paul never missed the opportunity to proclaim the gospel. It is as if it burned within him and no matter the circumstance he had to share it. Sometimes this is in the form of a simple testimony and sometimes he argues his case as if he is standing before the Supreme Court.

A story is recorded in Acts 17 of one such instance when Paul makes a case for Christ. Paul is in the city of Athens. He is waiting for Silas and Timothy to arrive to assist him in the ministry. However, while Paul is waiting on them he begins to take note of all the idols that are within the city. At the same time we are told that, “his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols” (Acts 17:16). As a result, he begins to make his case for Christ and the gospel.

As Paul is making his case, he approaches it in an interesting way. He starts with what they know; he finds common ground with them. He says, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘to the unknown god’” (Acts 17:22-23). Paul found an open door and walks through it. He then says, “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). Paul then goes on to make a very detailed argument as to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

As we think about sharing the gospel, there are several things we can learn from Paul. First of all, this event takes place in the normal flow of Paul’s life. He is simply waiting on some friends to arrive and killing time. Second, Paul finds common ground with the Athenians. He does not start a huge argument as to the sinfulness of worshiping idols; he simply uses these idols as a connecting point to share the one true God with them. Third, Paul is not shy about sharing the truth even though idol worship was clearly the accepted practice of the day in Athens. Every believer would do well to model their life and witness after Paul.

Desperate Dependence

If we desire to see people come to Christ, then we must recognize that we are desperately dependent upon Lord. We continue to see the progression of the gospel unfold as we examine Acts 11. Stephen has been martyred for the faith and believers are scattered because of the subsequent persecution that erupts. As the believers travel from place to place they are preaching the gospel. At first they are “speaking the word to no one except the Jews” (Acts 11:19).

Some of these men begin sharing the good news with the Greeks (Hellenists). In other words, they began “preaching the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20) to those outside the Jewish religion. The Bible tells us, “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21).

While these nameless missionaries certainly stepped out in faith, it is clear that their success was rooted in the fact that the hand of the Lord was upon them. In a day when strategies, approaches, and methods abound, we must recognize that one thing remains more important than it all. If the hand of our Lord is not upon us, we will not succeed. However, if the hand of our Lord is upon us, we cannot fail.

LOST AND FOUND

In Luke 15 we are given three parables that speak about things lost – a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. All three of these parables are in response to the fact that the Pharisees did not like that Jesus received sinners and ate with them. Though we often examine these parables from the point of view of the thing being sought, Jesus’ focus was on the seeker.

First, he focuses on a shepherd who has lost one of his 100 sheep. He easily could have said, “oh well, it’s just one.” Instead, the shepherd leaves the 99 to pursue the one. Second, there is a lost coin. This time it is a lady that’s lost one of her ten coins. Again, she could have said, “at least I still have nine.” Instead, she lit a lamp, swept the house, and searched diligently until she found it. And finally, there is the man who lost one of his two sons. He easily could have given up on the lost son, been embittered by his rebellion and moved on. However, everything in this story indicates that this dad hoped for his son’s return each and every day.

All of these stories are beautiful as they shed light on how desperately God will seek out His own. While each of these stories are significant, the story of the prodigal son is the one that really speaks to me. What speaks to me about this story is that it records that, “while he [the son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).

How does a father see his son while he is a long way off unless he is looking for him? While this is simply a story that Jesus told to get a point across, I can still see that dad, sitting on the porch each morning, staring down that road hoping that today is the day. How many days must he looked only to be disappointed? Maybe he had already given up hope, but out of habit he looks down that road one more time.

Though he had been disappointed a hundred times before, today would be different. Down the road a shadowy figure appears. It couldn’t be? That person looks like him, though he’s a lot thinner than when he left. I think it might be…IT IS, that’s him, he’s come home!

This heart – the heart of this father, the heart of a lady who desperately needs the money she’s lost, the heart of a shepherd who has lost a sheep – this is the heart that we need. A heart that longs to see the lost come to the Father. A heart that prays for the lost to come to the Father. A heart that rejoices, not twitches with jealousy, when one comes to the Father. We need a heart that looks like the heart of our Father.