Witnessing to Unbelievers

Psalter

Psalm 80:1–2 NRSV

1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!

Psalm 80:1

Psalm 80:8

Psalm 80:8–19 NRSV

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches; 11 it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River. 12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? 13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it. 14 Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, 15 the stock that your right hand planted. 16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance. 17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself. 18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. 19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Opening Prayer

Lord of the vineyard, we ask for your presence and your guidance. In your holy wisdom, tend the vines of our hearts. Teach us your righteousness, that our lives may flower with justice. We come as wild grapes, yearning to grow fruitful in your love. Show us the way, through Jesus your Son, to discern your will, hear your word, and grow in your ways, as we deepen the roots of our faith.

We ask in Christ’s name. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

We are such a fickle people, O Lord. It is easy for us to accept greedily your blessings in times of peace, and to cry for mercy in times of difficulty. We want you to pamper us. We want to be your special people. We don't like the idea that you might indeed care for those whom we would reject. Such is our lot! We need once again to be reminded of the many ways in which we have chosen to be the "wild grapes" rather than the faithful vines. We have been given opportunities time and time again to serve you by helping others. Today we have gathered in worship to praise you and to offer our gifts. But it is our commitment and our lives of service that you would appreciate. Witness and service to you are not easy. They may require some sacrifice. We may face some misunderstanding and ridicule from others. But you call us to be faithful, to be steadfast. Help us, O Lord, to make the kinds of commitments which will bring healing and hope in this troubled world in which we live. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.

Sermon: “Witnessing to Unbelievers”

Acts 17:

Acts 17:16–34 NRSV

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19 So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. 22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28 For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 29 Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” 32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 At that point Paul left them. 34 But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Introduction

Why do we need to eveangelize others?

Romans 1:18–25 NRSV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Romans

In order to understand the importance of evangelism, we must have a proper understanding of the human condition. As Paul states in the first chapter of Romans, we are a people in need of a savior because of our complete and total unrighteousness. As we have stated over the last couple of weeks, humanity is not born with a clean slate. We are born with a bent to sin. We are a depraved people. Because of that, we must be saved from that sin in order for us to be in relationship with God. This is not something that we can do on our own.

We can recognize God. We can see him even in our fallen state around us because of the image of God that is in each of us. Part of issue in our culture is that we have this overarching belief that given the opportunity, human beings will choose what is right. We also take it further to say that what I feel and what I experience is truth. In that mindset, truth becomes a relative concept and the idea of absolute truth is not only discouraged but seen as closed minded. Our natural state is to be as Paul says to have our minds darkened. God has plainly shown himself and his truth to the world, however, because of sin we have chosen to deny that truth and instead base our lives not on God but on the idol of self. What is right for me.

If you read the Facebook post that was shared on our church page, you would have read about the apostasy that is infecting the church at the current time. Over the past few weeks, two prominent evangelical men have renounced their faith in Christ. Joshua Harris, who wrote the book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” in the late nineties, was the star of the purity culture. We used to have “True Love Waits” events at the high school when I was in Princeton primarily based on Harris’ writings. He was the pastor of a mega-church in the Balitmore area. Now, he has completely left the faith and has embraced a secular worldview. He has apologized for his past and is virtue signaling to the secular culture. He has become popular not with the church but with those who oppose the church now. The other prominant person is Marty Sampson, who was a part of Hillsong’s band and wrote much of Hillsong’s music. He has said that the truth is not in Christianity but in science. That Christianity doesn’t answer the big questions, which in all honesty I find laughable that he says such things. He has now defined who God is or who God is not through his understanding. Again, these actions highlight Paul’s spot-on definition of the human condition. We are fallen, sinful creatures who are out for ourselves at the heart of it all.

The concept of telling others that there is an aboslute truth that is finds in grounding in God’s word is completely antithetical to the secular worldview. And because of that, we have to be able to demonstrate the truth of God’s word not through brow beating but through his love and grace so that those who do not yet know Christ may come to know him as Savior.

This morning, we have the example of Paul in the city of Athens talking to a group of people filled with philosophers and learned men and women. He goes around the city spotting several of the temples and idols to various gods and goddesses of the Greek and Roman pantheon. Paul is in the middle of a culture that is not unlike our own. I have said many times before that we do not live in a post-Christian world. We live in a pre-Christian world. Our society is no different than the environment that the early Church found itself in 2,000 years ago. I want to take Paul’s example of evangelism to that kind of culture to help equip us how we might be better at telling others about Jesus and the kingdom of God that is at hand.

1. Paul uses the language of the people to communicate the gospel.

Ephesians 3:8 NRSV

8 Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ,

Paul speaks to the people of Athens not in a condescending way but in a way that is truthful. It is easy for us to speak to those who are not followers of Christ in a way that can belittle them.

2. Paul proclaims repentance and judgement.

John 5:30 NRSV

30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 3:36 NRSV

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.

3. Paul allowed the Holy Spirit to change hearts.

Romans 3:24 NRSV

24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Benediction

Send us, Lord, into your world to proclaim the good news of the gospel to all people. May we be bold with the truth and empowered to declare your righteousness to all. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.