Learning to be a Missionary
Acts 17:6 – 18:18
The writer Andy Andrews in his book “The Traveler’s Gifts” sends his readers to seven different historical persons to receive lessons about life that he wants them to learn. You might want to read his book if you are seeking help in living life. We must all be lifetime learners, and there are those periods of time in which we must be intense learners. These may be the times when you first become a parent, you start a new career or you face a major health threat. Learning can be formal, as in a classroom or informal as experience on the job or supervised as in an internship.
We are called to be “learners” of Jesus, even as those He called disciples. We often think of our spiritual heroes as not needing a learning period. I listened recently to Jim Henry, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Orlando, Florida, and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, tell of an experience in his first pastorate when a disgruntled member made a motion that he be fired. He spoke of what he learned from that experience.
In my study of the book of Acts, seeking to find Lessons for Growing Christians, I was surprised to find see how Paul must learn to be a missionary on his first journeys... We picture him as the strong missionary leader, moving into the frontiers of pagan lands with the gospel. However, in the first journeys there are snapshots of learning opportunities for Paul. Paul, the Jewish scholar, former Pharisee, preacher, bold leader and Godly warrior, found that all of his training and experience, including his dramatic conversion experience on the Damascus Road, did not adequately prepare him to be our first world missionary. Even his brief time with Barnabas in Caesarea and on the first journey had not prepared him for this next trip.
His first learning experience is found in Acts 17: 6-12, describing his time in Thessalonica. He was greeted with the pronouncement, “Those who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” In his first two to three years as a missionary, he had earned that reputation. At least he was not guilty of blandness, dullness and passitivity. We can often be seen as dull and boring. Many people will not come to our churches saying that the services are boring; the songs are old fashioned and the commercial too long.
Paul tried to speak to two very opposite audiences. In the synagogue he spoke to devout Jews who worshipped the yesterdays of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David. They practiced the same rituals their fathers had, heard the same readings and spoke the same chants. Paul came to tell them that The Messiah they had heard about all of their lives had come. The good news was that Jesus’ death on the cross replaced the regular Temple sacrifices for sin and faith in Him would bring them salvation. He also told of Christ’s resurrection and the present power and presence of God today. Jewish listeners could not understand and embrace such a message to live in the present-tense presence and power of God. He was correctly accused of disturbing them so the religious leaders put him out of the synagogue.
On the streets he met a new kind of audience. They were the working class pagans, always interested in a new god who could bring magic to their lives. When they heard about Paul’s Savior who was crucified on a cross as a common criminal and resurrected, his good news story didn’t fit their expectations. Their rulers turned on Paul as an enemy of Caesar’s peace.
There were a handful of new believers who helped Paul and Silas leave Thessalonica and journey to Beroea. As they walked that night to the next city, Paul may have pondered or discussed with Silas, “Why don’t they understand?” This is the gospel, the good news. Why had his own people treated him so badly and the common man on the street would not honored him by listening?
Change comes hard for a person or a congregation. Habits are firmly entrenched, old patterns are comforting and the practice of religion is only one small but important part of the average person’s everyday life. The new is always hard to understand and easy to dismiss. It took a Damascus Road experience to bomb Paul out of his past life and thoughts. We who lead, teach and proclaim a new life in Christ still encounter huge obstacles. Even miserable people resist change, defeated people avoid being rescued and religious leaders still fear change. Thessalonica, like many of our places, was the community that valued sameness and routine and had a sign warning “Do Not Disturb.” We have all been there/done that.
If Thessalonica and even Beroea were the sleepy cities where change was not welcomed, Athens was obviously not that. In Acts 17: 13-34, Paul arrives in Athens as a lonely traveler. His companions remained behind in Beroea. It was a challenging place to be for Paul. It was the site for our second life learning experience.
Athens was the intellectual capital of the known world. In the Greek world it was known for its scholars, philosophers, educational culture and its broad acceptance of ideas. It also had the largest collection of carved idols of pagan gods of any place in the known world. Perhaps Paul, in his idle times waiting for his companions to join him, walked among the idols and read their inscriptions. He may have often sat in public places listening to the discussion of ideas and philosophies. As he waited he was disturbed by their pagan beliefs. He attended a local Jewish synogue and discussed or disputed with the leaders their traditions and his faith. Interestingly, they were so passive they didn’t put him out but tolerated his message. Athens was like that!
As Paul roamed the city and discussed his faith with others, he became known as the source of a new religion. Because he was Jewish and a Roman citizen, he was invited to present his views to an elite group of scholars/philosophers that met at the Areopagus, their regular meeting place. Being an intellectual person, a trained scholar and an experienced debater, Paul found it challenging to meet with them.
For the first time since his conversion, Paul chose to adjust his faith with a rational approach, build a bridge from where he was to where they were, and try to enter by the side or back door of their mind. He chose to compliment them for the religious expressions of the idols, and identify one statue to “The Unknown God” from which to introduce Jesus. The patient, abstract listeners were listening to him until he explained that Jesus died on a cross and was resurrected. He did not meet with anger, but laughter. This was beyond their rational thinking and philosophy to be humanly possible and could not be true. Most left mocking him and some considered hearing him again. There were those who became Christians but this was the place where many say Paul “flopped.” There are those who compare Paul’s writings in I Corinthians and say that Paul decided that in the future he would “only preach Jesus.”
We all have our places where we feel that we have failed. An executive search firm listed as one essential for their candidate “to have an acceptable number of failures”. Like Paul, we may reflect on it and vow to never do that again. However, Paul would never again be in Athens and have the opportunity to share the gospel to the intellectually elite. He probably did his best. Our failures, like Paul’s, must be viewed as a learning experience for us and as one small part of a fruitful life.
We cannot get stuck in our Athens, our place of mental gymnastics and philosophical discussions, and camp out among the proud few who want to disassemble the gospel to one thought-pattern among many. There are the “core beliefs” in our faith, certainties that give life stability and certainty that we must sustain.
Paul’s next learning experience (Acts 18:1-18) was in Corinth, one of the most evil cities of the Greek world. In contrast to the nice, quiet, rational environment of Athens, Corinth was known for two major economic realities, sailors and sex. Corinth was a major seaport city, complete with all the business related to it, the international population it brought there and the coarse lifestyles of the workers. Corinth was also the world center for the worship of Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility. The temples of Aphrodite were popular places, especially for men, because sexual activity was part of the religious experiences. The charms and ornaments about Aphrodite were made and sold by local craftsmen and were a major economic force.
Into that world Paul came to experience a major, fulfilling learning experience. As he arrived he met Aquila and Priscilla, who became his life-long friends. Paul’s journey to this point had been largely a solo flight. While he always had companions with him, he saw them often as “helpers,” not peers. Aquila and Priscilla had become Christians before meeting Paul, so they saw him as a peer. They were from Rome where Paul had a great desire to visit. They were tent makers, as he was, and they had a home and a business where he joined them. Can you imagine their days a work, discussing their faith and their understanding of Jesus. Paul was from the Jewish tradition of Jerusalem while their background and faith experiences were from the Roman world. Aquila and Priscilla, not Paul, were able to teach Apollo, a new convert and new preacher, who came to Corinth.
God means for us to live in relationships of learning and work. Jesus chose disciples (learners) to learn together under His teaching. When Paul discovered the value of Christian companionship he stayed in Corinth longer than anyplace so far in his journeys. It is easy to be a “Lone Ranger” in God’s work today, driven by deadlines and duties. We need others, several others, to help us shape our lives, our faith and our ministries.
In this environment of work and ministry, Paul was able to plant a church in the least likely place. Corinth was obviously a “Blue Collar” city and Paul learned how to minister there. The troubles of that church are well documented in Paul’s letters to them. His relationship with them was obviously a two-way, open relationship that made him truly their pastor. In today’s churches, we practice roles more than relationships. Pastor is on a pedestal until he fails all by himself. Other ministers suffer the same conditions only in lesser ways. The give and take of living life together is sacrificed for “the success of the church.”
In Corinth, the church quickly formed itself apart from the synogue. The Christian faith was able to move outside of the shadow of Jewish influence. The people who formed this church were directly out of paganism, as we can tell by their church behavior. Doing church in Corinth was not neat and tidy because it was a “rescue mission next door to hell.”
What should our churches be like? When we are so neat and tidy, who do we discourage from belonging? If we are sweet and nice all the time, do others wonder if we are “for real?” Paul found at Corinth a totally different culture than he had ever seen. He saw that the Christian faith can reach the “down and out,” not just the “up and out.” Paul learned the value of a long-term relationship with these people and how it was the best way to grow them in their faith. I’m sure as Paul departed Corinth, he reflected on the victories won and lives changed and the value of his ministry there. He wasn’t stuck, he was settled!
What are the take-a ways from this study for me? To serve God well, to be successful in what you do, to enjoy a fulfilling life, there are two lessons we can learn:
Get Your Footing Established: If you want to throw a ball, you first get your footing set. To hit a tennis ball, golf ball, or bat in baseball, get your footing set. If you are going to have a good business, medical practice, etc., get your footing established. If you are going to serve Jesus, represent Him, speak for Him, get your footing established.
How do you do this? We must establish a right relationship with Jesus. He is Lord! We can learn the right things by studying the scriptures and helpful books. We should trust His Holy Spirit, because He will never fail you. We can rest in the Lord, relax and let Him use you.
Get Your Message Right. Paul struggled with his message. We have a political phrase, “getting and staying on Message.” What is our message and how consistent are we in proclaiming it? We must know and experience the message that He wants us to give. We must be confident of the message that it is of God! We must trust the message, and the Holy Spirit to be supportive of the message. We must speak the message, confidently, clearly, lovingly and faithfully!
Paul, in his letter to the Romans, asked the key question. “How can they call on him if they have not believed? And how can they believe in Him if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear of him if the message is not preached? And how can the message be preached if the messengers are not sent?” (Romans 10: 14-15)
