"How to Tell the Gospel" according to Acts

Overview/Taking Stock

We’re in this series to understand how we can build stronger relationships with others and be more effective at sharing the gospel. And from the very first lesson, we acknowledged that if we really commit to doing these things, Satan will do everything in his power to put obstacles in our path and silence us. We saw that the Jewish leaders persecuted the early church quite badly - they arrested them and were even ready to kill them. And we saw how the early church endured those challenges by praying together, sharing all things in common, and choosing to obey God rather than men.

I don’t know about you, but I am quite in awe of how the early church was so resilient and persistent and confident under such intense trial. Wouldn’t you like to have that same confidence? Wouldn’t you like to be known as someone who stands up for what they believe in?

But what exactly do you believe in? Most of us have grown up in church, and we have learned that we should believe in the gospel of Jesus and tell other people about this gospel. And a lot of our lessons are about how we can do that, the method of sharing the gospel. But what is the gospel? What is the content?

I think we kind of know it, we have a rough idea, but we’ve almost never had to actually say it. My sister saw me preparing this and she quoted John 3:16 at me. And then I asked her “Okay but what does that mean to you?” And then she fumbled.

If we are honest, most of us here have never shared the gospel with anyone. Sometimes it’s because there’s some kind of obstacle that prevents us from sharing it, but I think that a lot of the time we're just not confident enough about what the gospel is. So today what I want to do is give us an opportunity to practice just that. I’m deviating a bit from the book here, but I think it’s beneficial.

The Sermons of Acts

We’ve been going through the book of Acts, and although we started at Acts 4 and went forward, I want to backtrack and go to Acts 2. Some fun facts about the book of Acts:

One third of Acts is made of extended sermons or speeches. This is significant because back then, paper and writing materials were very expensive, so writers had to be very selective about what they wrote. Which means that what is written down has to be important. Especially if something is repeated, because you wouldn’t waste space on something unimportant.

Luke records at least 4 extended gospel sermons. Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, the first sermon to the Gentiles in Acts 10, Paul’s sermon in Acts 13, Paul’s very famous sermon in Athens in Acts 17. And these are just the long ones - there are many more mini speeches peppered throughout Acts.

Think about it: these are the first time anybody in the world is hearing about Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The apostles like Peter and Paul have to decide in the moment, “What is the first thing that people need to know about Jesus so that they believe in him?” And then led by the Holy Spirit, they say what they say. So Acts gives us a handbook of “What the gospel is really all about”. So my point is, if you want to learn what to say when someone asks you what to believe, read the book of Acts. Ideally, read all the sermons, compare them, and when you see something that repeats between sermons, that is the essential thing.

We’ll look at just one sermon today, which is Paul’s sermon in Acts 17. I thought this was most relevant because Paul’s situation is the most similar to ours. He is in Athens, and he is talking to Greeks who believe in a lot of different gods, but they have no clue who the Israelite God is. And that’s kind of like how if you talk to a non-Christian friend about Jesus, they may have some idea about gods and religion, but they don’t really know what this Jesus guy is all about. So let’s read Acts 17:16-31:

In this scenario, Paul's message is not as successful as it usually is, but it contains many of the essentials for talking about the Christian God to people who don’t know about the Christian God.

The Task

What I would like for you guys to do now is to tackle this scenario. What can you say in 2 minutes to a friend who knows very little about Christianity? Work together as a group to form an answer, and you can use as much as you want from Acts 17 or the rest of the Bible. When we come back and share our answers, I’ll play devil’s advocate and try to poke holes in your argument. Remember: the goal of this exercise is, how can you say everything important about Christianity in the shortest time possible? What is the simplest way that you can tell the gospel? You will need to pick and choose things to say and things not to say, so don’t worry that you left something out. We are looking for the most important things.

What I recommend is that when you get into your groups, each person quickly answer what comes immediately into your head. When everyone has said something, you can pick out the things that were common, and maybe a few things that only one or two people said but that you think are important as well.

If you get stuck or you don’t know how to proceed, here are some guiding questions.

Also, when you share, group leaders, please pick one of your members to share - I want to hear their voices.

Conclusion

I hope that you now have some idea about what you would say if someone suddenly came up to you and asked you what you believe. Don’t worry if you don’t have a complete or perfect answer yet; we’re all still learning and growing. The point is that you know what you believe in, because nowadays, a lot of people go to church, call themselves Christians, but don’t even know what they believe.

Here’s a sample of what I might say. It’s not perfect, but I’ve had some time to think about this, and the more mature of a Christian you become, the easier you will be able to give an answer.

Above all, trust that the Spirit will anoint your lips when the time comes to speak about him.