To the ends of the earth

Imagine a new exchange student arrives at school. She has never been to church and never read the Bible, and she thinks all religions are basically the same. One lunchtime she turns to you and asks, "So what's the deal with Jesus?" You have two minutes. Where would you start? Which words would you avoid because she wouldn't understand them ("sin", "gospel", "saved")? What does she already believe that you could build on?

Paul faced exactly this challenge in Athens, a clever, religious, sceptical city where almost nobody had read the Old Testament. In this lesson you'll see how a church first sent out missionaries, and how Paul talked about Jesus in a culture full of other gods.

What you'll learn

• What was unusual about the church in Antioch that sent out the first missionaries
• How Paul explained the good news about Jesus in Athens, step by step
• How Paul's approach could help you talk about Jesus respectfully in Australia today

A church that sends

Antioch, in Syria, was where believers were first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26). Look at its leadership team (Acts 13:1):

That's a multi-ethnic team, mixed in class: Africans, a Cypriot, a man raised in a royal court and a former enemy of the church. While they were worshipping and fasting, the Holy Spirit told them to set apart Barnabas and Saul for a special work. So the church sent away two of its best leaders. Over the following chapters Paul travels through what is now Turkey and Greece, and Acts ends with him in Rome. Jesus had said his followers would be his witnesses "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8), and it was happening.

Paul in Athens

Athens was the intellectual capital of the ancient world, crowded with temples and statues. Two groups of philosophers appear in the story:

• Epicureans believed the gods, if they existed, were distant and didn't care about us. Live a calm, pleasant life; there's nothing after death.
• Stoics believed divine reason ran through everything. Do your duty and accept whatever happens.

Paul was deeply distressed by all the idols (Acts 17:16). He didn't shrug them off, but he didn't attack people either. He reasoned with them every day, in the synagogue and in the marketplace. Some philosophers called him a "babbler", literally a seed-picker who pecks up scraps of ideas. Some scholars think the crowd heard "Jesus and Anastasis" (Greek for "resurrection") as the names of two new gods!

Then Paul was invited to speak at the Areopagus, the city's council. His speech is a model of how to explain Jesus to people who start somewhere very different:

"God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." (Acts 17:27)

"Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:30–31)

Notice what Paul does. He knew their culture well enough to quote their poets, and he found real common ground. He didn't quote the Old Testament to people who didn't know it, but his whole speech is built on it, especially Genesis 1–3. Yet he didn't stop at common ground. He called for repentance and finished with the resurrection, the very point he knew Greeks found ridiculous, because many of them thought the body was something to escape, not something to be raised. Respect and truth go together. Paul was neither rude nor vague.

Three responses

The speech got three reactions (Acts 17:32–34). Some sneered. Some wanted to hear more later. And some believed, including Dionysius, a member of the council, and a woman named Damaris.

Paul didn't fill a church in Athens. Was that a failure? Not if success means telling the truth faithfully and leaving the results to God. Nobody is responsible for another person's response.

Unknown gods today

Athens had altars everywhere. What do people in Australia look to for meaning, security or identity? Success, appearance, sport, money, relationships, followers and likes, being "spiritual but not religious". Like Paul, a Christian can start a conversation from any of these by listening first, finding what's true and good in it, and then showing how Jesus answers the deeper longing. Peter gives the same advice: be ready to explain your hope, with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15–16).

The story so far

This term followed Jesus from a Passover meal to an empty tomb, and his followers from a locked room to the capital of philosophy. Jesus took the cup of judgement, was condemned in the place of the guilty, rose from the dead, ascended to reign and poured out his Spirit. The first church shared life and grace, the persecutor became a preacher, and the good news went out to the nations.

Acts doesn't have a neat ending. The last we see, Paul is in Rome, still telling people about Jesus (Acts 28:30–31). The story keeps going.

Key words

• Missionary: someone sent out to share the good news about Jesus in another place.
• Areopagus: the council of Athens, which met on a rocky hill near the Acropolis.
• Idol: an image or thing worshipped in place of the true God.
• Repent: to turn around, away from sin and towards God.
• Common ground: things two people agree on, which can be a starting point for conversation.

How this points to Jesus

Paul's speech starts with creation but lands on Jesus: the man God has appointed to judge the world, and the one God raised from the dead. Every Christian today heard about Jesus because someone, somewhere, kept passing it on, all the way from Jerusalem to Athens to Rome to Australia.

Think about it

Take it further

Go back to the exchange student at the start. Using Paul's steps, how would you answer her now? Think about one "unknown god" that people around you trust, and how you might start a respectful conversation from it. This term asked what Jesus achieved. Which lesson made you think the most, and which question is still unanswered for you?

Your worksheet helps you map Paul's speech, think about "unknown gods" today, and sum up the whole term in your own words.