Dialog About Jesus

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

DIALOG ABOUT JESUS

Acts 17:16-21

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

NIV

First, we should note that Paul was greatly distressed, which in Greek, reads more like he was stirred in his spirit, however, that Greek word is also akin to rapid, or sharpen alongside, to be exasperated. Considering that Paul was raised as a Jew who was of the tribe of Benjamin, and he became a Pharisee and a zealot who lived in a monotheistic culture, he would be greatly distressed over a multitude of idols throughout the city. What kind of people are these Athenians? However, there was a synagogue in the town which meant there were also Jews living among all this idol worship seemly contently. We do not know how there were any God-fearing Greeks, however, again the Greek word here means devout persons, or to revere. So perhaps that was to mean God-revering Greeks or other than Jews. The other thing we do not know is that as these God-fearing Greeks were raised in this idol worship culture, did they simply add the God of the Jews to their list of gods to worship, or had they abandoned all their false gods. We know from our personal experiences we have met people much the same. They profess their belief in God, and maybe even believe in Jesus, but they also have a relationship with various idols in their lives. So, Paul, going to the synagogue, began to reason, or dispute some translations put it. In Greek, it is more like he began to speak thoroughly or discuss. This Greek word, dialegmonai, can easily be seen as we get the English word dialog. Paul was having a dialog with all the Jews and those God-revering devout persons who came to the Jews synagogue. Paul also spent time in the marketplace speaking, dialoguing with anyone who would listen. This is the lesson we should pick up on. Before we get into the rest of this account, it would be good to simply focus on a passion for Jesus. There was no doubt that Paul was passionate about discussing or having a dialog about Jesus with whoever would listen, and maybe even with some who did not listen intently, but simply were polite enough to listen, and maybe even some might have been dialoguing with Paul, refuting his ideas about this Jesus, as they had many gods of their own to worship. Are we as passionate about Jesus as Paul was, and are willing to dialog with whoever would listen? Are we even looking for people to dialog with us about Jesus? Maybe we have just become like some of those God-fearing Greeks, in that we are devout in our beliefs about Jesus, or maybe not so devout because we have accepted the idols in people’s lives, and maybe even have adopted some of the idols of our culture. We have been raised in a culture, much like the Athenians, that sadly enough, our culture is full of what would be considered idols. Jesus was very clear that we cannot serve two masters, that is we cannot serve God and money, which definitely can be an idol, along with any form of materialism. This is not to say we should abandon all material things, as we need those things to live, homes, clothes, food, cars, and things that fill our homes, that make life a little easier to live. Then we have all the other interests in our lives, such as various forms of entertainment, and those team sports with all their heroes or stars, which we seem to know more about them than we should. However, we should never put them or anyone or anything before our relationship with Jesus. Again, that is not to say we should abandon all forms of entertainment, yet we should keep it in relationship with our commitment to God. Then perhaps our dialog with people would be more focused on the things of God, especially about Jesus, instead of the latest news about some sports figure, team, or some somewhat famous personality. Again, we can talk about the ordinary things of life, but our goal should always be to dialog about Jesus.