Ambassadors For Christ (Part 3)

May I'm going to take a break from uh the book of Acts.

By the way, if you want a sermon outline, our ushers are roving around.

I don't think they offer anything else to eat or drink, but just go ahead and grab.

So at the end of May, we'll I'm gonna stop and pause the book of Acts for a while.

And this summer I'm gonna do a uh series for the summer, totally change gears on faith.

Um, what it is, how we get it, and how we live it.

I think you'll find it very interesting and encouraging in these days, and I trust you'll be with us for the summer.

Um, then we'll return and pick up where we left off in the book of Acts in September, just to let you know uh what we're gonna do.

Uh man went to uh see his doctor for a follow-up visit uh from the test results that came in, and the doctor said, I have some good news and some bad news.

And he said, Okay, tell me, tell me what uh what's the good news?

He said, The good news is you're not a hypochondriac, and the bad news is you're not a hypochondriac.

Let it let it sink in.

Ironically, the same news was both good and bad.

Uh, the gospel of Jesus Christ is both good news and bad news.

The bad news is we are all sinners, helplessly, hopelessly separated from God forever.

But because God loves us and he sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross, um, the good news is that we believe in Jesus as our Messiah, he gives us the free gift of eternal life.

Bad news, good news.

Um and as we continue our study in the book of Acts, if you've been with us, we've been following the Apostle Paul and his team share the gospel, uh, good news of the gospel in the cities of Macedonia during his second missionary journey.

Look at that, I got a light.

Uh so we he's he starts in Philippi, and then he's gonna move down to Thessalonica and then Berea, and then he gets, after some trouble there, uh his friends put him on a put him on his way, and he's now in Athens.

And that's where we'll pick it up.

Uh, the apostle Paul explained in his second letter to the Corinthians uh when we believe in Jesus, we become a brand new creation.

We're given a brand new identity, a brand new concern for people, and a brand new mission to reach them for Christ.

So I'm going to read it again.

Uh it's really our key passage for uh Paul's missionary journeys and what they're doing and why.

2 Corinthians 5, 17 to 20.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature.

The old things have passed away, behold, new things have come.

Now, all these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he's committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God himself were making an appeal through us.

We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

Paul makes the point that every single converted believer in Jesus is, by default, by definition, an ambassador for Christ.

The question is, what kind of ambassador are we?

We're all sent by Jesus to share the gospel, to meet people, uh, to serve.

And the last time in Acts chapter 17, this was, I'll remind you, this is Paul's passion.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

This is what's his calling.

This is what he gave his life to, being an ambassador to people for Christ.

And the last time in Acts 17, we he was dropped off in Athens to wait for Silas and Timothy to join him.

And while he was waiting, he didn't just sit there.

As Christ's ambassador, he began to engage the people around him.

And today we're going to look at how to be Christ's ambassador in the marketplace.

That's where Paul is going to focus his attention.

Um, and so if you want to follow along, I'm going to read really the same passage we looked at last time, but with a different emphasis this week.

Acts chapter 17, uh beginning in verse 16.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

Now, while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.

So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present.

And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him.

Some were saying, What would this idol babbler wish to say?

Others, he seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is and what you're proclaiming?

For you are bringing some strange things to our ears, so we want to know what these things mean.

Now, all the Athenians and strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.

I have three points that describe what Paul was doing in Athens.

First of all, our witness in the marketplace, challenges in the marketplace, and Christ in the marketplace.

First, let's look at Paul's witness in the marketplace.

Notice that when Paul is in Athens, he doesn't just go to people like him, the Jews in the synagogue.

He went there, but he quickly made his way to the marketplace every day.

The Greek marketplace, and there's a picture of the ruins in Athens of where the marketplace was.

The marketplace in Greece was called the Agora.

We don't have these kind of marketplaces anymore today.

In ancient times, the agora wasn't a farmer's market or a flea market.

In ancient times, the Agora was a huge assembly of everything in the middle of town: music, art, business, media.

Right in the center of the city.

Whatever you needed or wanted, you'd find it in the agora.

That's where Paul went with his faith.

Athens, if you're familiar with that ancient city, was the cultural capital of the world at the time.

It wasn't the power capital, that was Rome, but it was the cultural and intellectual capital of the world.

And so just off the marketplace were temples, libraries, shops, concert halls, dance halls, gymnasiums, public baths, galleries, and on and on and on.

Everything.

Who went to the marketplace?

Everybody went to the marketplace.

The marketplace was where business was done, where legal matters were discussed and settled, financial issues, philosophy, art, music, everything that was anything in Athens took place in the Agora.

Where did you get your news?

There were no papers or magazines, no internet back then.

You went to the Agora and listened to the Herald.

Shout out the news, the brand new news for the day, for the week.

And Paul goes there with his faith as an ambassador for Christ.

He's not going to keep his faith in Christ private.

God has given him, as we talked about, a concern for the loss, a mission to share the gospel.

So what did Paul do in the marketplace?

Well, he started meeting people.

That's where it begins for all of us.

And the text says he reasoned, reasoned with whoever happened to be in the marketplace that day.

How about you?

Who do you see God bringing into your life in the public square in the marketplace?

I'm very grateful to the friend who began discipling me as a brand new Christian three days after I believed in Jesus.

He invited me to go with him to the local mall, which by the way was a much smaller version of the agora, in order to witness to people there.

Modern day marketplace.

We just wanted to meet people, engage with them, share our testimonies, share the scripture with people who would listen, who would give us an opportunity.

That's all.

Sharing Christ spontaneously, though, uh cold turkey kind of way, uh, is as much of a challenge today as it was for Paul back then.

In our culture today, uh people have essentially become pagan again.

Just like then, everybody seems to have their own God or their own idea of God or know God.

And for most, everyone, religion for them is private, not public.

It's always been a challenge to share our faith in Christ publicly, but it is essential uh if we're going to be Christ's ambassador, as we see in the life of Paul, who had a thousand times more challenges than we do today here.

That's what an ambassador does.

We need to go, engage, interact with people outside the walls of the church with our testimony of our faith in Christ, our story, if God allows, to share the good news of how people can have eternal life through faith in Jesus.

Now, as we continue in Acts, we see Paul encounter another challenge, not only breaking through the challenge of new people and starting conversation and getting to engage people.

We see another challenge he faced in Athens.

He knows that he's challenging the uh the Greek philosophies and idols in that pagan culture.

And I want to just take a look and see how he does that.

As ambassadors for Christ, we're gonna engage people.

What I would refer to, or others have referred to, as the marketplace of ideas.

You know what?

Paul warns us not to be taken in by the philosophies of this world, but to stay true to Jesus Christ.

In Colossians chapter 2, 4 and verse 8, Paul says, I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elemental principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

Very important to be aware and uh of the uh arguments in our world.

To do that, we must understand what the ideas and philosophies we're going to encounter in our world, in our culture, in our society.

Now, in Athens, uh Luke mentions there the Stoic and Epicurean Greek philosophers who began to debate with Paul.

They believed the Stoic uh philosophers were basically moralists.

They believed in moral absolutes, uh, and they called the moral absolutes the Lagos, the mind, capital L, the rational structure of the universe.

They believed that if you align yourself with the logos, the mind of the universe, the rational structure, that's what gave you meaning in life.

Today, when you hear people say, I just kind of laugh, when you hear people say things like, well, that's what the universe wants, that's that's the Stoic philosophy.

This some sort of mind behind the things that are happening.

Um and uh Stoics maintain that life's greatest fulfillment and meaning is achieved by being a good, virtuous, noble, courageous person, a moralist.

The Stoics' view was not to let suffering throw you in life.

You should suck it up, be strong, and press on.

Don't show your emotions.

When suffering cubs, don't get emotional, just detach your heart and be rational.

Think Mr.

Spock, stoic example.

On the other hand, the Epicurean philosophers were basically relativists, more or less relativists.

Paul's engaging in with both of them.

The meaning of life to them was not to be good and virtuous, in fact, just the opposite.

It was to be happy, whatever was your pleasure.

Uh, they believed that you should you live your life the way you want, because that's all you got.

And when you die, you die.

That's it.

So grab for all the gusell you can.

Now, it's funny.

As we move forward, and John writes his gospel, he comes out and makes this outlandish statement that the Lagos is actually God, the creator.

And meaning in life is found in a relationship with him, not some intellect in the universe.

Paul C is reasoning with the people in the marketplace.

We've seen this word reasoning before.

I want to explain it again.

Uh, what it means is what's happening is the Apostle Paul is giving people there, the philosophers in particular, a rational, logical, historical presentation of the gospel.

The Greek word for reasoning is dialogomi, from which we get the word dialogue.

We know what that is.

Um in Paul's day, though, uh it referred to Socratic reasoning.

Um, it wasn't just a debate, it wasn't preaching.

What's the Socratic method?

It's this you engage people and ask them a question about the faith, about their religion, about your religion, and then listen for the carefully for their answer.

And you discover then eventually the other person's premise to their argument, and then you try to show them they're wrong using their own premise.

For instance, if you say, if you say this is true, how can you explain this?

And engage people like this, you know, the universe just started out of nothing.

Really?

Uh and the conversation challenge it.

Uh or if you assume this, what's the logical result of that?

You're engaging back and forth, listening, asking questions.

That's the Socratic method.

And that's what Paul's doing with these philosophers.

And what's amazing to me is Paul believed that the gospel has what it takes to challenge the most dominant ideas of any culture.

He's engaging here with the intellectually elite.

So, as believers in Jesus, taking Paul's example, we shouldn't hide at work.

We don't have to preach, we don't have to be offensive, we don't have to be judgmental.

But we do want to engage with people where they are with questions and listening.

And where you see an opportunity, we'll challenge that premise.

How on earth can you say that?

What's the evidence?

I've done this quite a bit, and it's it's it's put uh my relationships in a good state.

It's not, I'm not condemning, I'm just asking.

We are Christ's presence and voice in the marketplace, and in the marketplace, made Paul made sure, as we read here, that Jesus and his resurrection became the focus of their conversation and debate.

Acts 17, 17 and 18.

So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present.

And also some of the Epicureanist Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were saying, Well, what would this idle babbler wish to say?

He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

Paul wanted them to know who Jesus is and what he has done.

That's the gospel.

First, notice how Paul speaks of Jesus.

Uh he speaks to, he speaks about him in very personal, intimate terms.

Uh he just refers to him as Jesus.

Um, this is one of only a few times uh in all the Paul's writings where he refers to him that way.

Personal, intimate, like he's his friend.

He doesn't refer to him as most often he'll refer to him as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ the Lord.

On and on and on.

You watch through his writings, very few times does he just use the intimacy of Jesus.

He told them that this Jesus had died for sins and rose from the dead.

And I'm telling you, that teaching piqued their curiosity and they wanted to know more.

We've never heard anything like that.

And we're going to um talk a little bit more about that next time.

Um I don't want to jump into Easter's messages too much.

Uh, we've watched Paul, though, live as an ambassador for Christ in the city of Athens.

And you know, in Athens people believed in many gods, all valid.

Choose your own.

Many people served their own special god, which they believed would answer their need.

And some of the philosophers believed the gods did exist, but thought that the gods really didn't care about humans or what happened to them on earth.

That's the that's the new what Paul finds himself.

So Paul's engaging people, and I think one of the things he's doing is showing there is a God who cares about you.

He's personal.

Let me tell you what he did, and um why Jesus is unique that warrants their attention.

So basically, the lesson for today from this passage is focuses on being ambassadors for Christ in the marketplace, where we work, where we play, where people are.

And that's what Paul did.

And following Paul's examples, we can be his ambassadors simply by just engaging, meeting people, and asking questions and listening, pointing to people where we can, to Jesus as the savior of the world that is proved by the fact of his resurrection from the dead.

And like in ancient Greece, there are many, many, many ideas in the world about life, its meaning, and the existence of God, and it's in Upon us to learn what those ideas are so we may engage.

Paul was very familiar with these philosophies.

He had studied them.

Could I encourage us all?

I mean, I could spend a whole class talking about here, here, here's what's out in the culture today, what people are basing their lives on.

And that's what needs to be engaged.

Really?

Um engaging people in those ideas and showing the alternative of Jesus Christ and God's love for them is just an excellent way to bring the gospel to people.

But let me ask you if you're here today and you haven't settled your ideas yet about who God is, who Jesus is, uh we're not sure about that.

Um I'd like you to consider the words and actions of Jesus, who lived and died and rose again in history, uh, to tell us that there is life after death, and that life is found in him.

And I would urge you to believe in him for salvation, but also just to have the assurance that you will be in heaven, you will be with God and others who have trusted in Jesus forever.

Um, and I trust that you've never done that, you would do that, especially coming up on Easter's at Easter as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Uh, because Jesus told us that eternal life is found, uh, not in doing all the right things, but in a relationship with Him and the Heavenly Father.

That's it.

Jesus said in his final prayer before the cross, this is eternal life.

He's praying to his father, that they may know you.

The true, only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

I pray that that's that's you.

You have that relationship and assurance of it.

And you can know him when you believe in him, the Son of God, who died for you and raised from the dead to give you eternal life.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you that you you sent Jesus for us to save us from our sins, to give us a new life and meaning in your kingdom.

Thank you that you have entrusted us with the message of the gospel as your ambassadors.

Lord, that's that's a scary thought to a lot of us.

Um we're not good at speaking, we're not good at uh engaging.

Uh but your if your spirit is in us, you can show us uh who we we can engage with and talk with and open doors.

And I pray that you would help us to engage with people with the truth of the gospel.

I pray that you'd give us boldness, the boldness we need when you open the door right in front of us.

I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.