Introducing Jesus

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. (Acts 17:22, 23 NIV)

At Vacation Bible School this week, the children have been learning a lot about Paul.  Most of the stories have come from the Book of Acts.  Although many of us do not study Acts as much as we should, there are many great stories there.  Who doesn't love when Jesus knocks Saul (Paul) off his high horse?  And how 'bout those tongues of fire and the wind whipping up the Holy Spirit so fiercly that onlookers thought they must be drunk?  And you gotta love when Paul's preaching got so long (and maybe a touch boring?) that a young man fell asleep and fell out the window!

But the story from the scripture above is awesome. Pastor Chad and I were talking about it last night, and how it is a great model for us today as we try to reach out to others.  In the Bible story, Paul's preaching was overheard by some very smart Greek scholars.  They were curious and wanted to know about this "new" foriegn god Paul was talking about.

Instead of Paul telling them how wrong they were to worship so many gods when there was "obviously" only one True God, he met them where they were.  He said, "I can see you are very religious!  Why you even have an altar to an unknown god!  Let me tell you about my God."

When we tell people that their belief system is wrong, we erect walls right away.  Our faith needs to be introduced, not shoved down people's throats. Paul knew this.  And he knew he wasn't dealing with dummies.  He spoke to them on their level and honored their own beliefs.

It is absolutely ok to let other people have their own faith system.  Our job is to introduce our Jesus.  And it is the job of the Holy Spirit to proceed from there.   We can honor others' faith without watering down our own.  We should just meet people where they are and love them.  We are all in different places in our walk of faith and we grow at different rates.  It's ok.

Lord Jesus,
Help us to learn how to share you with others in a way that doesn't put up walls.  Help us to introduce you gently and with love.  Amen.