Glory to Glory

Part 6: Paul with the High Council

If you don’t see something the right way, it will never work the way it is intended. This is particularly true with evangelism. The term evangelism is what we use to describe the process by which we lead people to Jesus or help others back to God. Repeatedly, when Paul goes from place to place sharing the good news of Jesus, he either gets beat up, thrown in jail, or thrown out of town. Unfortunately, some of Paul’s legacy can leave us to believe that evangelism, helping people move towards Jesus, is always painful, frequently difficult, and sometimes comes at a very personal cost.

However, in Acts 17, we learn about what Paul experienced in Athens and how it is very similar to what we walk through today as followers of Jesus. When Paul arrived in Athens, he went to the synagogue and spoke about Jesus to anyone who would listen. There, he got into a debate with the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Paul wasn’t making sense to them, and they accused him of proclaiming foreign gods. They then had Paul brought before the high council of the city where Paul was on trial with a heavy charge against him. Paul was asked to plead his case and share with the high council about his God.

When Paul concluded his speech, a large portion of the council laughed at him, there were others of them that were curious and interested in hearing more, and there were others who were moved to faith in Jesus. There is shared experience in what Paul was doing at that moment and what we are doing in the world today. We, like Paul, are not ministering in a culture that is particularly receptive to our message either. During Paul’s argument, he made points of connection and contrast with the way his audience thought. He was building bridges and demolishing the arguments of his listeners. That is the key to evangelism, allowing God to move through us and meet people where they are—asking the Holy Spirit to allow us like Paul to make points of connection and contrast in the lives of those all around us.