Tag: speakinginpower

Pronouns Through the Lens of Evangelism

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a topic that sparks significant debate, especially among Christians who grapple with its implications on personal freedoms and faith-based convictions. Many believers feel that the push for DEI policies, particularly regarding language and identity, can infringe on their rights to express their faith and beliefs freely. For example, the use of preferred pronouns is often viewed as a moral dilemma—some Christians see it as an endorsement of behaviors they consider sinful, leading to discomfort and concerns about conscience and religious liberty.

These encounters typically occur outside the church – in workplaces, schools, and public spaces. They represent moments where Christians are called to engage with the broader culture, much like Paul did during his time in Athens. His experience offers valuable insights into how believers might navigate contemporary discussions on identity and inclusion while remaining faithful to the Gospel.

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Effective Evangelism: Spiritual Insights from Acts

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The phrase “ends of the Earth” as it appears in the book of Acts pertains to those who are far from God. Acts chronicles a great deal of evangelistic activity, yet it offers only a few instances where we are provided with detailed accounts of the messages shared with people who are in this category. These examples warrant closer examination to uncover insights about the methods used and their outcomes.

In one such example, Paul and Barnabas visit the city of Lystra (Acts 14:8-18). Here, Paul performs a miraculous healing of a lame beggar, which evokes a dramatic response from the townspeople. Believing that Paul and Barnabas are manifestations of their gods, Hermes and Zeus, the people prepare to offer them worship. This reaction is linked to a regional myth about the gods previously visiting in disguise and being overlooked, leading the people of Lystra to vow not to repeat the mistake. Paul and Barnabas reject this misplaced veneration, redirecting the crowd’s attention to the one true God. Interestingly, Acts does not record Paul explicitly mentioning Jesus in this instance. The outcome? There is no mention of conversions, and Paul and Barnabas eventually move on to the next city, seemingly leaving behind a community unchanged by their message.

Athens presents a starkly different scenario (Acts 17:16-34). Paul engages with the local populace in the agora, or marketplace, which leads to his invitation to address the learned elite on Mars Hill. His speech here stands out for its cultural resonance: Paul begins with the Athenians’ own worldview, referencing their religious practices and even quoting Greek poets to introduce them to the concept of the one true God. From this foundation, he moves on to the subject of Jesus and the resurrection. The results in Athens were more mixed: some listeners believed, while others expressed a desire to hear more, and still others dismissed him outright. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that Paul tailored his approach to align with the intellectual and cultural framework of his audience, resulting in tangible spiritual fruit.

Later in Acts, Paul finds himself arrested in Jerusalem, leading to an audience with King Agrippa (Acts 26:1-32). Given this opportunity, Paul shares his personal testimony, recounting his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. Rather than addressing Agrippa’s specific concerns or context, Paul focuses on his own story. The outcome is clear: Agrippa is unmoved, dismissing Paul’s appeal and showing no interest in embracing Christianity.

It is worth noting that the examples above are the primary instances in Acts where messages are delivered to those far outside the Jewish faith or the category of “God-fearers”—non-Jews who already believed in the God of Israel and needed to be introduced to Jesus. Among these three encounters, Paul’s only apparent success was with the intellectuals at Mars Hill. A possible reason for this lies in his method. Unlike in Lystra or before Agrippa, Paul at Mars Hill made deliberate use of the listeners’ cultural context and knowledge to frame his message.

In contrast, Paul’s approach in Lystra seems detached from the people’s preoccupations. The townspeople’s focus on their local myth appears to be ignored or unacknowledged in Paul’s exhortation. His message is a generalized appeal to accept the God of Israel, devoid of specific references to Jesus. Similarly, with Agrippa, Paul relies solely on recounting his personal spiritual journey, without any evident attempt to connect with the king’s unique perspective or concerns.

This leads to a broader reflection on the effectiveness of Paul’s strategies. Could it be that these accounts reveal the importance of speaking not just from personal conviction but in a manner that resonates with the audience? Paul is often assumed to have always spoken under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, yet Acts does not explicitly affirm this in every instance. The varying outcomes—particularly the apparent lack of conversions in Lystra and with Agrippa—might suggest that even Paul had to navigate the challenges of effective communication and cultural engagement.

Indeed, Paul later requests prayer for boldness and clarity in proclaiming the Gospel (eg, Eph. 6:19 and Col. 4:4), an acknowledgment that effective evangelism requires divine empowerment as well as thoughtful preparation. This is what I’ve termed “speaking in power” in this blog, and highlights a significant tension in Christian witness: the balance between faithfulness to the message and adaptability to the audience’s needs. The examples in Acts remind us that successful communication of the Gospel often requires humility, contextual sensitivity, and reliance on the Holy Spirit.

Breaking Natural Cycles

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When people look at trends in society, especially their relationships with history, it’s common to point out times when similar things happen over and over. This is sometimes captured by the statement that “those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.1 Beyond that, various people have suggested that history proceeds through cycles, that similar behavior happens over and over, regardless of the political situation. It would seem that such cycles occur in varying situations because human nature itself is constant, so that large groups of humans will inevitably follow similar behavioral patterns.

For those who seek to make improvements to human society, it seems these cycles need to be addressed. But any attempt to break out of them would run into the same issue of unchanging human nature. Regardless of the social and political systems that we come up with, they don’t change our nature. And without a change to our nature, there will always be a tension drawing societies back to the same behavior.

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White Garments in Laodicea

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Evangelism is important, but the church’s efforts today seem not to be working. This is not a problem with the world, but with the church. If there is an element of ineffectiveness in the church today, perhaps we can gain insight by looking at the letter to the Laodiceans.

The letter to the Laodiceans is the only one of the seven letters that has no commendation. They are described as being lukewarm, a contrast to two nearby cities that provided water. At their sources, one was cold and refreshing while the other was hot mineral water that was useful for healing. By the time the waters made it to Laodicea, however, they were lukewarm and ineffective for their original purposes.

Thus, the Laodiceans could be said to have been ineffective in their service to the Lord.

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Freeing the Slaves

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The Lord’s Prayer starts with a focus on God and His purposes. After acknowledging His holiness, the first request is for His kingdom to come and His will to be done. These days, it sometimes seems that things are actually getting darker and we yearn to know how the light can be brought forth more clearly.

Of course, the best starting point for such questions is to look at Jesus. When starting His ministry, He began by presenting a picture of what it looked like to be bringing the kingdom.

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
 because he has anointed me
 to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
 and recovering of sight to the blind,
  to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:17-19 (ESV)

One of the things that strikes me about this passage is how it seems to point to a fundamental shift, more than just some people being provided for, liberated, healed, and set free. It seems to be about the end of the very forces that cause such suffering. He seems to be declaring the end of slavery, not just the freedom of some slaves. This would truly be an example of the kingdom coming and God’s will being done, wouldn’t it?

And in fact we have seen this happen in history. When wealthy Romans became Christians, they started providing money to establish hospitals, instead of public works projects with their names on them. This provided healing for many more people than had been available before.

A similar story exists for the establishment of organized education, allowing people to become much more able to improve their position in life. And again, when slaveholders had their eyes opened to their own involvement in the evils of slavery, that institution ended.

Note that slavery ended when the slaveholders became freed – freed from the level of greed that blinded them to the evil that they were perpetuating. So in a sense, freeing and bringing sight to the slaveholders is what really freed the slaves because that ended slavery as an institution, and that had much greater impact than even the precious task of freeing individual slaves.

There are still many places that need to be transformed in ways that go beyond mere human effort. We can do many good deeds on our own, but bringing the kingdom involves more than a lot of good deeds. We need the Spirit’s help to bring transformation of the sort described above.

Part of working in the Spirit is to see beyond the physical to spiritual realities, like Jesus did when eating with the “tax collectors and sinners” in Matthew’s house.

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:10-13 (ESV)

Like Matthew, most of the people there would have been comfortable, maybe even wealthy and influential. Jesus, however, didn’t see them as rich and comfortable, but sick and in need of a physician. Focusing on the unseen, He didn’t regard them according to the flesh.

This is a view that is often absent from Christian ministry. It’s common to quote Jesus’ comment about the rich as part of the rich young ruler episode, in which the focus is on what’s possible with human ability, and shake our heads at the hard-heartedness of such people. But it’s far less common to acknowledge the Spirit’s fruit among the rich in Acts 2 or among powerful Christians throughout history.

As a result of our focus on human ability and what’s physically seen, our actions focus on what we can do physically, allowing us to feel good for stepping out and doing good. We may talk about wanting to do more, perhaps feeling chagrined that we’re never doing enough, but we still readily accept the acclaim from the world for what we do. Jesus was also highly regarded for the things He was doing and the compassion He showed people, but He was also reviled when He was with those who didn’t need such help.

Do we feel uncomfortable with reaching out to those who don’t need our physical touch? Perhaps they just need prayer and eyes opened to God working in their lives or a word of clarity about Jesus. Is it that we’re afraid of being reviled like Jesus that we don’t deliberately pursue such opportunities?

As disciples, we are supposed to grow into greater and greater likeness of Jesus, our master. However, it’s all too easy to focus on those aspects of Jesus’ walk that we like and that agree with our theology. Who is being made in whose image as we slip into the all too comfortable place of freeing slaves while ignoring slavery?

The fact is that Jesus reached out to everyone around Him with both physical and spiritual ministry. Some individuals do the same today, yet it is common for local bodies of Christ, congregations of diverse individuals, to focus only on one area such as physical ministry. It’s as if the important thing is for the body to reflect the pastor’s interests rather than Jesus’ character.

In a sense, we’re still following the way of the rich young ruler, seeking whatever can be done with human power, rather than following the leaders in Acts and the early church in seeking what can be done by the Spirit. Of course we need to reach out to the poor, sick, and oppressed and be willing to sacrifice of ourselves to demonstrate God’s love to them. But why stop there when Jesus didn’t?

Instead, we need to recover the belief, seen throughout history, that the Spirit can work through all people regardless of their station in life, and go into the places of power to open eyes and free slaves. For when that happens we may see slavery ended instead of just freed individuals, diseases eradicated instead of just some people being cured, hunger ended instead of just some people being fed.

This is when the world will change and the kingdom will come.

Proper Motives

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Jesus often taught the importance of having correct motives, the need for our hearts to be correct and not just our actions. This reinforced the Old Testament prophets who taught that even sacrificing in the temple wasn’t good if one’s heart wasn’t right. The ancient Israelites found this out when, despite their proper sacrifices, God was not blessing them because of unfaithful hearts.

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit (motives). Proverbs 16:2 (ESV)

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (ESV)

For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:17 (ESV)

In these verses, we see how important it is to always check our motives, and this is no less true when speaking of Christ. It may be that God will honor words spoken to proclaim Him for the benefit of the unbelievers who hear, but if we want to truly walk in the benefits of obedience ourselves, then we need to check our own hearts.

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Prayer for Wisdom

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In any venture, but especially spiritual ones, we need to be equipped by God. Our talents, skills, strength, and thinking all need to be enabled and guided by Him. In fact, our ability to think well underlies much of what we do, which is perhaps why wisdom literature is a specific portion of the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:17-18

James gave us a description of wisdom from above – Godly wisdom. It is very different from many earthly descriptions that describe wisdom as the ability to know how to get things done, for example. James’ description is more about the character of wisdom, and note how that character includes characteristics of the Holy Spirit.

When he describes the results of this wisdom, it is less about accomplishing goals than producing righteousness and peace.

Wisdom is important for us to live successfully in the world, but the success we should be concerned with is the realization of God’s will, not our own.

Because this description applies to all of life it must apply to evangelism. For example, Stephen is described as speaking with wisdom in Acts 6:10. Thus, we should seek Godly wisdom in our own efforts to speak about Jesus.

Heavenly Father, as You give us Your Spirit to speak of Jesus, I ask to also be given Your wisdom that my words would lead people to Jesus in righteousness and peace.

Asking God to Reveal Himself to Unbelievers

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We need boldness to go and proclaim the gospel in a dark world, but we also need to remember that God will work to bring people to Himself as we obey Him. We need Him to reveal Himself to people through our words and deeds, through His actions in the world, in their spirits, and so on.

When the believers gathered in Acts 4 to ask for boldness to speak the word in the midst of ongoing threats, they also asked God to continue revealing Himself.

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Prayer to Have a Servant’s Heart for Sharing Christ

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In order to reach others with the gospel, we need to communicate in ways that they understand. This may sound obvious, but it’s easy to stick to familiar patterns. Communicating well means conforming ourselves in some manner to what they need, rather than what we want or think. Doing this requires a heart that’s willing to be flexible.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Paul was passionate about sharing Jesus, even saying at one point “woe to me if I do not preach the gospel”. This drive led him to do whatever it takes, to the point of becoming a servant to this work such that he changed to become whatever was needed to reach others.

We may or may not need to change ourselves radically to share Christ, but we do need to be open to whatever the Spirit requires of us. Thus, whether or not we really need to change in some way, we do need to have a humble and open heart to the Spirit’s leading.

In other words, one of the most important things we need, and an important starting point, is a servant’s heart.

Heavenly Father, I humble myself before You and ask You to mold me according to Your will to share Jesus with those around me. Give me a servant’s heart to become whatever they need.

Prayer for Effective Speech

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Prayer is important, even when God has already declared His will in a situation, especially when we are telling people about Jesus.

…keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, Ephesians 6:18b-19

Towards the end of Ephesians, Paul encouraged the church to pray for all believers. For himself, Paul asked that they would pray that he would be able to speak effectively.

This wasn’t a new idea, of course, because it was an example of praying according to God’s will as described by Jesus when He sent out the twelve. At that time, He taught that the words they spoke would be given to them by the Holy Spirit, that He would actually be speaking through them (Matthew 10:19-20).

Thus, Paul was really just reminding the church of that truth and asking them to pray that this would happen during his ministry. While God speaks through believers in many ways, this was specifically for proclaiming the good news.

Clearly, there is still a need for us to be speaking with the Spirit’s voice, so we still need to be praying this for each other.

Heavenly Father, I ask that all who are sharing the good news of Jesus’ salvation would be given words by Your Spirit, and that You would speak through me as I share Jesus with words that will speak into other’s hearts.