Dear Friends in Christ,
How do we share Christianity with smart people?I mean those who believe their reason and intellect put them above the nonsense of religion. Isn’t there just a little extra hesitation when it comes to witnessing to them?
It is not that we doubt the truths of Christ and the Bible. We are not hesitant because of what we believe. Or, are we at times hesitant because of lack of conviction, or lack of understanding? I have heard people express more often the fear that their arguments will not be on a high enough level for highly intelligent listeners.
The apostle Paul has left us an inspired example how and what to preach to intellectuals.In Athens, the apostle encountered some of the great thinkers of his age. Essentially Paul’s message is the same message that is to be preached to all, whether learned or unlearned. At the same time, we keep in mind to vary the approach with a particular audience.
Before us, we have A Model Sermon for the Worldly Wise. It contains A glowing glorification of the true God; an understandable appeal to their conscience; a gracious call to turn to Christ.
Picture Paul standing in the midst of the Areopagus before an assembly of the world’s most learned men.“Men of Athens!, I see that in every way you are very religious.” I like the KJV translation, “superstitious” instead of religious. We hear that today. People say they are not religious which they associate with organized religion. They say they are spiritual.
Spiritual is another word for superstitious as Paul uses the word. It means to have a respect for and fear of the supernatural. All people are spiritual because of the natural knowledge of a god and a sense of right and wrong written on their hearts. Paul saw evidence of this in the many temples and altars to the pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses. There was even an altar “To An Unknown God. “
The apostle began with a glowing glorification of the true God. We don’t debate human philosophies about unknowns, but tell others about the one true God. We know him because he has revealed himself. Look around, the apostle told them, at the world and all the things in it. They reveal God who made them, the Lord of heaven and earth who “does not live in temples built by hands.”
We sense the holy awe with which Paul addressed these skeptics and scorners. He did not hesitate to glorify the Lord God before men who attributed everything to chance, the Epicureans, or ascribed all events to fate, the Stoics. The former were atheists, the later pantheists.
Paul’s is a model sermon. Begin with God. Begin with God’s wisdom, his power, his love rather than man’s. There are few true atheists. More are like Rudyard Kipling. A friend asked him in his last minutes, “What do you want?” Kipling answered, “I want God.”
Sermons like Paul’s are unacceptable today to the majority of intellectuals. That need not dissuade us from witnessing. Most people will talk about spiritual things even though they do not know what spiritual things really are or spiritual things they need. We know the big question is, “Can a man bear to live without God?” We know the answer that without God man can only go to pieces mentally, morally, socially and spiritually. Nothing less than God can satisfy the human spirit.We simply must break forth in continuous praises of the God who created and loved the world in Christ.
In the second place, Paul’s sermon was not without an understandable appeal to their consciences.
God put a conscience, the voice of what a person believes is right and wrong, into all peoples’ hearts. The conscience is based either on the natural knowledge of the law, which is unclear because of sin, or on the revealed Law in the Ten Commandments that are God’s clear expression of his holy will. In either case, the conscience condemns me. Every person knows our failures, whatever we call them, putsus in a bad place with whomever god is.
Paul appealed to the consciences of his hearers in Athens. They would see that the true God was not like idols of gold or silver or stone. They were not the offspring of any inanimate object. Even their poets knew that. There was need for repentance because God had set a day when he was going to judge them. Like the Geico commercial says, “Everyone knows that. “
A model sermon to the worldly wise includes an understandable appeal to their consciences. That is true with all people to whom we witness. It is true of you. You called me to preach the law to you. When I do, it arouses our consciences. It reminds us of our need for daily repentance. It helps us not forget a day is coming when “he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.” I have hundreds of assistants in my work- the consciences of all you hearers.
Not only the worldly wise but also the spiritually wise still have a sinful nature and need to hear an appeal to their conscience. A very literate congregation needs to hear the Word that reproves, rebukes and exhorts with careful instruction. The Holy Spirit appeals to our conscience. He leads us to cry out, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
We must follow such an appeal by a gracious call to turn to Christ.Therefore, Paul preached Jesus to them- Christ crucified and risen.He preached Jesus unashamedly and forcefully to this assembly of the world’s wisest men. Paul did not trust in human wisdom, or in the power of great oratory, or in the logical conclusions of his arguments. Paul relied on the message of the Word of Christ that creates faith.
It is a mistake to drop Christ from preaching to satisfy the demands of those who clamor for intellectualism. A sermon without the Savior cannot save. A sermon devoid of righteousness and peace in Christ is no different from any worldly message of hedonism, or about the meaningless of life. Without the cross and resurrection of the dead there will be no modern day Dionysius, or women like Damaris, and “a number of others.”
Satan and the other evil spirits stand back for no one but Jesus Christ. How necessary that preachers continue to extend the call to turn to Christ for light and salvation now before it is too late.
A pastor coming to a new parish found this note on the pulpit, “Sir, we would see Jesus!”Taking it to heart, he faithfully pointed the spiritually empty, and his congregation to Jesus Christ, our Savior. One Sunday he discovered another note in the pulpit, “The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” May that joy prevent us from letting the pretensions of the world deter us from preaching Jesus.Amen. <SDG>