07.09.2024
By Pastor John Crotts
If you are a Christian you care about the eternal condition of the people around you. You also care about the glory of God. You want to see God’s kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I know you do.
In spite of these genuine passions in your heart, if you are like typical Christians, you aren’t speaking up for Jesus like you need to be. Other passions compete for the throne of your heart. The desires to be loved by others (even strangers) and desires to not be bothered by the needs of others are selfish acid eroding the best motivations of your heart.
The Book of Acts is the history book of the early church. One of its purposes is to give later Christians good models to follow. By tracing the lines Paul and his friends drew across western Asia into Europe for the gospel has motivated and inspired later Christian men and women for nearly 2,000 years.
Acts 17 highlights the Apostle’s adventures in three cities: Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. This slice of his lifestyle answers the most common objections to living out gospel passions.
How many times have you just found yourself floating through your week without any thought of trying to share Christ? Distracted by good things, you neglect intentionality about one of the best things you could do. Paul wasn’t like that.
After being pummeled and unjustly imprisoned in Philippi (Acts 16), Paul marched into Acts 17 on a mission. He entered Thessalonica with his sights set on the synagogue. In that place filled with Non-Christians who had gathered with open Bibles to talk about God, Paul joined the conversation to direct the discussion to Jesus as the fulfillment of the Scriptures. Three Sabbaths worth of meetings are mentioned in Thessalonica, and further reports followed, daily engagements in the next town of Berea, and more synagogue meetings happened when Paul moved to Athens.
Paul kept his eye on the ball. Many other good Christian activities could have crowded out Paul’s main mission, but they didn’t. When Paul wasn’t in the synagogues in Athens, the historian Luke tracks Paul’s mouth to the marketplace. He was intentionally looking for people and places where he could talk to people about Jesus.
Sadly, Paul didn’t leave the pains of persecution in Philippi. His rivals started a riot in Thessalonica to get the preachers to shut their mouths and get out of town. When the flare of the gospel fired off in Berea, those same rivals tried to start a fresh riot there. Paul had to be whisked away under the cover of darkness. In Athens he was called names and openly mocked by respected philosophers of the city because he spoke up for Jesus.
Paul didn’t enjoy being beaten, ridiculed, having his reputation caked with Athenian mud, or even risking his life. While in Roman jail, he begged the Ephesian church to pray specifically for him, “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:19-20). To the Colossians he cried out, “pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak” (Colossians 4:3-4).
How much persecution for Christ have you endured? How did it affect your witness? Paul needed God’s powerful grace to continue proclaiming Christ. He begged churches to beg God to help him be courageous in wisely telling others about Jesus. You need God’s help too. But don’t you think God will give it to you? Don’t you think he wants you to speak up for Jesus again? Pray and persevere.
Are you ever tempted to blunt the hard parts of the gospel as you share it with others? Do you minimize facts like the resurrection of Jesus around those you know won’t believe it? Is the coming judgment an area that you keep in the closet unless it absolutely has to come out? Do you shy away from calling God the creator in a world that embraces evolution? Have you told a Jewish person that Jesus is their Messiah lately?
Certainly, Christians should be gracious and loving when we say these potentially hard things to Non-Christians. Tracking Paul through Acts 17, however, demonstrates that we must say these things. Is it possible that the hearers won’t believe some of our words or that they may insult you for saying them? Yes, indeed. All of that happened to Paul and much more, and yet he still said them. And some of his hearers repented of their sins and believed in Jesus.
When you see the sins of society how do you react? Do you get mad at the sins and the sinners who commit them? Are you motivated to target those sins by addressing them or by engaging in political activism? Paul, instead of those reactions, burned with passion over the robbing of God’s glory. As opposed to assaulting the idols of Athens, Paul used their ignorant idolatry to address the heart of the Athenians with the gospel.
It seems natural to be concerned with how you come across in public. I’m sure Paul had times of hesitation in verbalizing trouble for himself. In spite of those temptations, however, Paul consistently speaks up for Jesus.
He loved people. He cared more about the reality that Non-Christians are heading towards eternal hell than that they liked him, said nice things about him, and that they gave him various honors of society. He loved people more.
Paul loved God. He cared about the advancement of God’s glory in saving more and more sinners. According to the scales Paul used, the weight of God’s glory inspired him to intentionally speak up for Jesus. The other serious issues of reputation, persecution, and fear could not compete with God’s glory in Paul’s heart. He loved God more.
Spend the time necessary thinking deeply about the details of Acts 17. Pray through Paul’s track record. Pray them into your passions. Pray that God will consume your heart with Paul’s zeal for God’s glory and the hearts of fallen men and women. May he give you wisdom, boldness, and skill as you open your mouth for Jesus.
