Real Christians Ask Questions
Sermon Summary:
Acts 17:17-32 - Paul’s Sermon on Mars’ Hill.
Paul spoke on Mars Hill to a group of gathered philosophers, judges, and generally wise people. He expressed to them the nature of God, but he never used a passage from scripture. Paul spoke to the surrounding masses through their own language, their own history, their own religion, their own poetry, their own philosophy. He told them the metaphysical, cosmological, relational, and religious nature of His God, and he did so through their own devices. Paul knew his audience and confronted and challenged them where they lived.
This is what we are called to do. If you do not understand why someone believes what they believe, you are pretty useless in talking to them. Knowing their beliefs only gets you so far: an argument. Understanding why the individual (not the collective) believes a thing brings you to conversation, and possibly change, in you and them.
If you tell someone they need Jesus but don’t know what they believe and why, why would they believe what you have is better? It is like telling someone your car is better than theirs when you haven’t even seen it with your eyes, not to speak of a test drive.
Sometimes your personal religious experiences and knowledge of the Bible means nothing, while an understanding of where the other person is coming for is everything.
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matt… this is such a good word. in “the present future” reggie mcneal turns this passage upside down from any way i’ve ever heard it… he notes that paul tried arguing with people and all of that, but in the end he just lived with them and loved them. mcneal paints this argument stuff almost as a “failure.” i realize this isn’t exactly what you are saying, but it sort of is, too. paul met people where they were, and that opened the door to relationship. relationships are what change people, not arguments…
i don’t know. good stuff. crazy.