The Gospel Project for Adults Leader Guide CSB, Session 11

The Gospel Project® for Adults Leader Guide CSB, Session 11

© 2017 LifeWay Christian Resources

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The Culture: Idolatrous but Intrigued

Summary and Goal

Paul understood that the gospel must be presented in a way that is comprehensible to people in different cultures. As a result, when Paul reasoned with those in Athens, he found points of contact between the biblical view of the world and that of Greek culture. Then he proclaimed that all nations came from the first Adam and that the second Adam, Jesus Christ, will judge all nations. Paul’s message focused on the risen Jesus and included a fervent call to repentance. Like Paul, we need to allow ourselves to be provoked by the idolatry of our culture so that we can boldly and sensitively proclaim the gospel into it.

Main Passage

Acts17:16-34

Session Outline

1. Know the culture and grieve over its idolatry (Acts17:16).

2. Affirm the good, rebuke the bad, and proclaim the truth (Acts17:17-31).

3. Expect some to laugh, some to ask questions, and others to believe (Acts17:32-34).

Theological Theme

The gospel must be presented in a way that is comprehensible to people in different cultures.

Christ Connection

When Paul reasoned with the men in Athens, he found points in common between the biblical view of the world and that of Greek culture. Then he proclaimed that all nations came from the first Adam and that all nations will be judged by the second Adam—Jesus Christ. His message focused on the risen Jesus and included a fervent call to repentance.

Missional Application

God calls us to be provoked by the idolatry of our culture and to proclaim with boldness and sensitivity the gospel of His Son.

Session Plan

Introduction

Share the story of the Irish worship band traveling to Pattaya, a city in Thailand known for sex tourism, as an example of how Christians can respond to a broken and dark world (leaderpp.142-143; PSGp.110).

What are some songs that have become the prayers of your heart? Why have they become so?

What will it look like for us today to live in the world but not be of it?

Summarize this session about Paul’s proclamation of the gospel in spiritually dark Athens (leaderp.143; PSGp.111).

1. Know the culture and grieve over its idolatry (Acts17:16).

Note what happened in Thessalonica and Berea in the preceding verses, and then read Acts17:16. Show how God prepared Paul to minister to Greeks in Athens by using his previous experiences (leaderpp.143-144; PSGpp.111-112).

When has God used your past circumstances to prepare you for your next steps or to have a conversation with another person about the gospel? What were the results?

Emphasize Paul’s grief over so many idols in the city, which provoked him to begin sharing the gospel (leaderp.144; PSGp.112). Ask groups of 3-4 to work through the questions in the table in the PSG. After a few moments, reconvene and allow time for responses to be shared with the group (leaderp.144;PSGp.113).

For Further Discussion

What sort of questions can we ask our non-Christian friends and neighbors to discern what their idols mightbe?

How does getting a sense of a person’s idols help with presenting the gospel to that person?

Pack Item 10: The Promise of Acts

Call attention to this poster of the Holy Spirit’s ministry working through the apostles and disciples of Jesus to share the good news of Jesus in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Then ask the following questions:

• How might your community resemble Paul’s experience in the city of Athens?

• How does Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit—and the power of His ministry that we have already seen through previous sessions—encourage you to testify to the good news of Jesus’ salvation forsinners in your city?

• What part are you playing in the inevitable spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth?

2. Affirm the good, rebuke the bad, and proclaim the truth (Acts17:17-31).

Read Acts17:17-23. Call attention to how Paul started with the Athenians’ worldview and then laid a foundation for sharing the gospel with them (leaderpp.145-146; PSGpp.113-114).

What are some ways we can affirm the good we see in ourculture as preparation for sharing the gospel?

Ask a volunteer to read Acts17:24-29. Show how Paul contrasted manmade idols with the self-sufficient God of Scripture. Then connect this truth with our twenty-first century context (leaderpp.146-147; PSGpp.114-115).

Read Acts17:30-31. Make it clear that the resurrection of Jesus marks a new level of accountability for the nations, which missionaries are to proclaim as they call people to repentance and faith in Christ (leaderp.147; PSGp.115).

What attitudes and actions should repentance involve?

How does a repentant life display the work of the gospel toa lost world?

3. Expect some to laugh, some to ask questions, and others to believe (Acts17:32-34).

Read Acts17:32-34. Discuss the Athenians’ varied responses to Paul’s gospel proclamation, especially to the idea of physical resurrection, and how we should respond. Instruct them to intercede for those who reject, ridicule, or laugh, that God would soften their hearts. Encourage them to dialogue with those who are interested in asking questions. Advise them to connect individuals whom God transforms by the gospel to a local church that can disciple them (leaderpp.148-149; PSGpp.116-117).

When have you seen these various responses yourself (perhaps even from yourself)? How did you respond?

What biblical truths regarding human nature must we keep in mind to respond appropriately to various kinds of responses to the gospel?

Conclusion

Communicate that the gospel is not only for knowing but for sharing. Encourage the group to meet non-Christians where they are but not to leave them there—present the gospel in a compelling manner so some might believe (leaderp.149; PSGp.117). Apply the truths of this session with “HisMission, Your Mission” (PSGp.118).

Conclusion Option

Consider closing the group meeting by listening to and singing along with the song “God of This City” highlighted in the Introduction (performed by Chris Tomlin in the linkbelow).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEFGr1S8SkA

Christ Connection: When Paul reasoned with the men in Athens, he found points in common between the biblical view of the world and that of Greek culture. Then he proclaimed that all nations came from the first Adam and that all nations will be judged by the second Adam—Jesus Christ. His message focused on the risen Jesus and included a fervent call to repentance.

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Missional Application: God calls us to be provoked by the idolatry of our culture and to proclaim with boldness and sensitivity the gospel of His Son.

Expanded Session Content

Introduction

Years ago a small and relatively unknown worship band from Belfast, Ireland, sensed God calling them to go to a city in Thailand that receives over 10million visitors per year—Pattaya. While many people visit Pattaya for its beaches and shopping malls, many more do so for sex tourism. In fact, Pattaya is known as the sex tourism capital in the world. 1 This city is full of women and men living in captivity and in the grips of the evil one.

When this band arrived in Pattaya, they went about praying and singing over the city. As they were walking around, they passed by a bar that asked them to play a two-hour set. Now I’m sure that this bar was so excited that a bunch of white Irishmen were going to play for them that they probably did not care what type of music they were going to play. Providentially, this was not any ordinary bar; it was actually abrothel.

So when this worship band from Belfast got up on stage, they just began singing praise and worship songs over the people in the bar, as well as prophetically into the city. As the night went on and as they continued to worship God in such a dark place, God’s light broke through and He birthed a new song in their hearts. You might have heard it before—it’s called “God of this City”—and that night, they began proclaiming this song over Pattaya as a prayer.

What happens to your heart when you see the brokenness in our world? When you see the idolatry in our culture, how do you react? Do you have a posture of judgment? An attitude of indifference? A desire to run away? Or an urge to act and do something?

In church history, we read about people who believed that the world was so evil that they had to get away and separate themselves from it as much as possible. These kinds of people were often called “ascetics.” As a result, many lived in the desert and created monastic communities where they could guard and protect themselves from the idolatries in the culture. There were even some who believed that their bodies were such a source of temptation and evil that they would mortify their bodies.

According to Acts17, however, we are not to separate ourselves from our culture but to distinguish ourselves from it with a biblical worldview that we maintain and the gospel message we proclaim. We are to be in the world but not of it (see John17:14,16).

What are some songs that have become the prayers of your heart? Why have they become so?

What will it look like for us today to live in the world but not be of it?

Session Summary

We should pay careful attention to how Paul interacted with the men and women of Athens since this has many parallels for us today. Paul understood that the gospel must be presented in a way that is comprehensible to people in different cultures. As a result, when Paul reasoned with those in Athens, he found points of contact between the biblical view of the world and that of Greek culture. Then he proclaimed that all nations came from the first Adam and that the second Adam, Jesus Christ, will judge all nations. Paul’s message focused on the risen Jesus and included a fervent call to repentance. Like Paul, we need to allow ourselves to be provoked by the idolatry of our culture so that we can boldly and sensitively proclaim the gospel into it.

Voices from Church History

“Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from yourBible.” 2
–Karl Barth (1886-1968)

Voices from the Church

“What if I told you that every sin you are struggling with, every discouragement you are dealing with, even the lack of purpose you’re living with are because ofidolatry?” 3
–Kyle Idleman

1. Know the culture and grieve over its idolatry (Acts17:16).

In the preceding verses, Paul was preaching and proclaiming the gospel in a Jewish synagogue at Thessalonica. Some Jews were convinced, but it was the God-fearing Greeks and the leading women in the city that experienced much of the transformation (Acts17:4). As a result, many Jews in the city “became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city” (v.5).

This led the disciples to send Paul and Silas off to Berea, where they were able to continue to share the gospel in the Jewish synagogue. In Berea, many more people heard and accepted the gospel, “including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men” (v.12). However, once the troublemaking Jews from Thessalonica heard that the gospel was being proclaimed in Berea, they also went there and stirred up the crowds. This is how Paul made it to Athens.

16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols.

It is amazing how God prepares us for our next steps. In and through Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica and Berea, God was preparing him to minister to the Greeks in Athens. After all, though he was preaching in the synagogues to the Jews, the God-fearing Greeks were the main ones with softened hearts who experienced transformation through the gospel.

When has God used your past circumstances to prepare you for your next steps or to have a conversation with another person about the gospel? What were the results?

When Paul arrived in Athens, things were quite a bit different from the previous cities. Paul had experience in cities where people worshiped idols, but Athens was on another level. This is why we read that Paul “was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols” (v.16). Paul was not troubled in the way that a teenager is troubled when they realize that they forgot to study for an exam. Paul was not fearful of the idols nor the quantity of them in the city. Rather, Paul was grieved that there were so many idols in the city. This provoked him to stop waiting for Silas and the others to join him and instead to go out and begin sharing the gospel in the synagogue and in the marketplace.

How did Paul know that the city was full of idols in the first place? Did he read the latest copy of Lonely Planet for Athens? Did he read a brochure in the town’s welcome center? Or did he look up the city onGoogle?

No, Paul studied the city. He walked around and observed the culture. He became aware of his surroundings. Instead of running away, closing his eyes, or returning back to a “safer” city, he allowed himself to grieve over the idolatry in the city. He allowed the Holy Spirit to move his heart, which was the foundation and impetus for what he did next in the following verses.