Paul Makes a Stop in Athens: He Kept Sharing

Hello Friends,

Welcome to a new month! July has come to a close and August has opened a new door! Although the start of a new month is exciting and refreshing, I bet realizing that this new month is August is causing you some dread, since August is when summer vacation comes to a close and school begins–meaning early mornings, bedtimes, homework, and new routines. So, as August begins and the start of school gets closer, make sure to enjoy each and every day: laugh, smile, and go on adventures. There is still time left to enjoy summer vacation!

During summer vacation, many people take trips; and as the summer vacation season comes to a close a lot of people are trying to fit in one last trip before life returns to routines. And I was thinking about trips and how Jesus and his disciples took many trips: traveling to towns, villages, and cities, staying in people’s homes, and camping under the stars. Well, they weren’t the only ones who travelled. Many people travelled back in the time of Jesus for many reasons, and one of those many people was Paul. Today, I want us to travel with Paul–an apostle and follower of Jesus–as he travels to the ancient city of Athens in Greece.

Make sure to pack your bags because we are going back 1,982 years to 44AD and traveling 5,610 miles!

When Paul arrived safely in Athens he sent a message back to Silas and Timothy, his friends, asking them to come to Athens as soon as they could. Alone in Athens, Paul could have decided to quit sharing the Good News.  He had already faced many hard times from those who didn’t believe the message. But thankfully, Paul didn’t allow the hardship to keep him from serving Jesus.  He had the power of the Holy Spirit living in his heart which allowed Paul to keep doing what God told him to do (Acts 9:15, Acts 1:8).

Now, Athens was a city full of idols. (Idols refer to things that people worshipped that weren’t God.)  The people of Athens worshiped many gods–like Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hermes, Aphrodite, etc. So, when Paul saw all the different statues of the gods the people worshiped, it troubled him greatly.  He went to the synagogue and shared the Good News of Jesus Christ.  He went to the market place day after day and shared the Good News. He didn’t stop. He shared and he shared and he shared…And the people there listened because they enjoyed knowledge.

There were two groups of philosophers (people who are considered intelligent). One group was called Epicurean. They believed in living life and fulfilling every pleasure that they had. The other group was the Stoics. They believed that people should be very disciplined and self-controlled not indulging in pleasure. As the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers listened to Paul they argued with him. Some people called Paul a babbler; others said he was teaching about foreign gods because he had shared about Jesus and Jesus’s resurrection. However, the people of Athens loved to learn new things so they decided to take Paul to a meeting called the Areopagus (Air-ree-op-agus). This was a meeting of leaders in the city. They asked Paul to explain this new teaching about Jesus to them.

The Holy Spirit gave Paul wisdom how to speak to these people. These people worshiped many idols and they also liked to learn many things. As he began to speak, he remembered seeing all the statues in the city that represented the gods the people of Athens worshiped. With all these statues was a stand with no statue on it that had a sign that said “To an unknown God”. Paul began to teach them about this unknown God that they worshiped along with all the other idols. Paul explained how God is the creator of all things and He placed people in the countries where they would live and He determined the time in history when they would be alive. Everything God does is so people will seek Him and reach out to Him because He is not far from anyone. Paul explained how God had overlooked their idol worship and didn’t punish them for their sin. But now God is commanding that people everywhere repent because one day Jesus, the Savior who was raised from the dead, will judge the sins of the wicked and punish them on the day of  judgment.

The crowd had different responses to Paul’s message. Some sneered, some wanted to hear him speak about this again, and a few became believers. Paul has been in many different places sharing the Good News and has had many different responses. The Holy Spirit enabled Paul to continue to share no matter what the response was. If you are a believer the Holy Spirit will help you each time you share and it won’t allow how people respond affect whether you will share or not. Even if someone does not believe the message that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again doesn’t mean they won’t ever believe. Paul is the perfect reminder for all of us that we need to be faithful, to pray for unbelievers, and to share the Good News.

As summer vacation comes to a close, think about how you can share the Good News. And believe me, you won’t have to travel 5,000 miles to do so. I bet there is someone closer that could be reminded that Jesus loves them. Paul didn’t let the people stop him from talking about Jesus, and neither should we when things get tough. So, go share the message of Jesus Christ and and let Jesus fill your heart with love.

Your Friend, Holy Spirit!