We know from experience that truth is not always obvious, and that plenty of people will try to deceive us. How did the Apostle Paul share his truth? By making connections.
Here’s a transcript:
I’m thinking about the end of the seventeenth chapter of Acts of the Apostles (Acts 17:22-31): Luke’s account of the Apostle Paul’s speech in the Areopagus, one of the great public centers of the city of Athens.
Paul began his speech by commending the Athenians on their religious practice, on their devotion and dedication to religion and to the Spirit. Specifically, he commanded the fact that they had a shrine to an unknown God. In the rest of his speech, the Apostle attempted to make a connection between this unknown God that they worshiped, and the God of Israel, the God of Jesus Christ. He concluded his speech by saying that Christ’s resurrection from the dead was a confirmation of the love of this unknown God for all people.
This is one of the few extended evangelistic appeals that we find in the New Testament, which seems odd, but the New Testament was by and large, written by people who were already a part of the faith, for people who were already a part of the faith. That is true of the gospels. They were not written for neophytes, for people who were interested in Christianity. They were written for existing Christians to learn more about the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Likewise, the letters were written in Paul’s case mostly to people who already knew, and even when he wrote to strangers, he was writing to members of Christian churches.
This is one of the few times that we hear the words of an early Christian being addressed to a pagan audience. And what did he do?
He met them where they were, and he tried to bring them along a path that led to where he was.
He believed it was important for them to learn these things, and he chose a way that was as likely or more likely to be successful than other means. He helped them make connections between things that they already knew, and things that he hoped they would come to know and believe.
I keep saying that there are things at the heart and foundation of Christianity, and I can’t help saying that because it’s true. One of those things is connection.
Connection in the sense of relationship: Paul was hoping to build actual person to person relations with people in Athens and to build a community of followers of Jesus. To do so, he helped them to make connections within their own lives, things that were familiar, things that were comprehensible, in order that they might move towards things they had not yet experienced, not yet heard about, things that, in the end, are pretty much indescribable, but nevertheless, leads towards making that connection, and again a connection of relationship, between those people and God.
May we find ourselves making those same connections: person to person, ourselves to things that we do not yet know, and most of all, may we find ourselves always connecting to our God, our Savior, and the Holy Spirit.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you are thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
