This article is the third of six in a series on biblical preaching in light of cultural shifts and biblical illiteracy. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
“If information was the answer,” entrepreneur Derek Sivers observes, “Then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.”
In our context we could say if preaching was alone the answer, our churches would be filled with hungry disciples. But information doesn’t magically bring transformation any more than the act of preaching mystically creates mature disciples. Yet we know that faithful and effective preaching of God’s Word prompts a hunger to better know God and a desire to serve him more faithfully. Preaching aims to close this gap between knowing and doing.
So how do we preach in a way people today can understand?
In the second article of this series, we discussed principles to help us contextualize our sermons. In this article, I want to take us back to the first century church. By studying how Paul preached to the premodern, pre-Christian world in Acts, we can learn how to communicate with our postmodern, post-Christian world. When Paul preached at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:13-52), he preached to mostly Jews and God-fearing Gentiles: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.” But when he arrives in Lystra (Acts 14:8-20), he appeals to creation, the harvest, and the sun and the sea instead to reveal God’s truth. Here, it seems like he’s speaking to an animistic culture. And when we get to Act 17, we see even more contextual details about his audience that provide an excellent paradigm for preaching an unchanging message to our context. Let’s look at some lessons from Paul’s preaching in Acts 17.
Paul’s Example
First, he understands and starts his message in their context.
We see Paul doing this differently in Thessalonica and in Athens. In Acts 17:1-9, Paul comes to Thessalonica, enters the synagogue, and “reasoned with them from the Scriptures,explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ’” (Acts 17:2-3). He started with the Scriptures because he was addressing devout Jews—he was speaking in their terms.
But when he arrives in Athens (Acts 17:16-34), Paul starts with creation and an unknown god. He does not focus on the Old Testament Scriptures as he did in the synagogue. Mars Hill is a rock outcropping where philosophers would gather to speak and hear new ideas. That’s the world Paul stepped into and participated in when he came to Athens. You can still see Mars Hill today; perhaps it stands as a reminder that the world of Athens is not so far gone. When we step into those contexts today, Paul demonstrates that we can engage them without compromising the gospel.
Next, Paul begins with an interest in their beliefs rather than condemnation of their idolatry.
When Paul comes to Athens, he doesn’t begin with “You who fear God,” but “Men of Athens, I see you’re very religious.” Most of the sermons in Acts were to biblically literate Jews and relied on a past knowledge for Old Testament references. But at Mars Hill, Paul speaks to Gentiles. He never quotes the Old Testament; he quotes Epicurean and Stoic poets and philosophers who could witness—though imperfectly—to the truth of the gospel. It is in this way that he effectively communicates the gospel to this unique audience. In Acts 17:18-21, we see that Paul was successful at Mars Hill because he piques their curiosity: “We want to know more,” they said. We should share Christ so that even those who reject it would say, “I wish it were [true].”
Last, Paul anchors his message in the biblical storyline.
While we don’t have details on his message at Thessalonica, we know Paul demonstrates how Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the from the Scriptures. In other words, he ties the Old Testament narrative to Jesus. But while preaching in Athens, Paul talks about creation and how God created them at their time and place in history. He goes on to show how humanity is fallen and needs a redeemer.
This approach may be helpful today with biblically illiterate audiences.
Rather than a “saint versus sinner” framework we often hear in today’s preaching, Paul begins with the imago Dei, seeing everyone as bearing the image of God and worthy of respect. He affirms them and then shows them the error of their misplaced worship. Paul targets the error of their idolatry—he just doesn’t start there.
Paul ultimately and unapologetically calls them to repent and warns of judgment. We can see creation, fall, and redemption in his message very clearly. As we see from Paul’s example, contextualizing the gospel doesn’t mean watering down the message. It means communicating in such a way that people can understand.
