Teacher's-Lesson 10-Mission to the Unreached: Part 1

Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Acts 17, 1 Cor. 2:2, Rom.
1:18–25.
Memory Text: “ ‘The God who made the world and everything in
it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built
by human hands’ ” (Acts 17:24, NIV).
Depicting what Paul did in Athens, Luke wrote: “Therefore he
reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile
worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there” (Acts 17:17, NKJV).
Naturally, Paul would have been most comfortable working among
the Jews, his own flesh and blood. But Paul refused to be satisfied with
working among only his own people. He had been called to reach others, as well.
Or Paul could have worked just with the “God-fearing” Gentiles,
whose worldview already had undergone substantial change. They
had a biblical foundation that Paul could build upon, even if they still
needed to know the God whom they “feared”—Jesus the Messiah.
But, no. While in Athens, a city famous for its philosophy, Paul
sought to reach the people there, as well. Many of these had a radically
different background and worldview from that of the Hebrews and
their sacred history, which formed the foundation of the faith that Paul
wanted to teach the Athenians.
How did Paul go about seeking to reach these people, and what can
we learn from his attempts?
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 9.
Lesson *December 2–8
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December 3
A Hebrew in Athens
Read Acts 17:1–16. How did Paul wind up in Athens, and how did he
respond to what he found there?
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The city of Athens was “given over to idols” (Acts 17:16, NKJV).
Knowing the history of his own people and their proclivity (despite the
endless warnings) to idolatry, Paul was upset at all the idols he found
in Athens, as well. No question, Paul was motivated by compassion for
the Athenians, who would die in their sins if they did not learn of the
true God.
Today, our cities are still full of idols, even though they are less obvious
than what Paul saw. And unfortunately, many believers are fully capable
of walking through a city without reacting in the least to its idols. Paul,
though, was tuned in to the Holy Spirit enough to respond. Out of
step with some other believers, who still didn’t grasp that the gospel
was for all the world, Paul knew that God wanted the Athenians to be
saved along with everyone else. He understood that the global mission
concept was to take the gospel to those who were entirely unreached,
including idol-worshiping pagans, as well as the philosophers who
filled the streets of Athens.
Paul, therefore, frequented the marketplace where these people were
to be found. We might say that he formed the first Global Mission
Study Center, where he used the marketplace to study and test methods
of reaching the hearts and minds of these pagans.
Paul knew that he could not approach the Athenians in the same
way that he approached Jews or even God-fearing Gentiles. These
were people whose starting point was not the God of Israel or His
works among the nation of Israel. No matter how central these
concepts and beliefs were to the Jews and even to the God-fearing
Gentiles, they meant nothing to the people Paul encountered in the
Athenian marketplace. Hence, an entirely new approach would be
needed.
Today, we often seek to reach people whose background has nothing in common with what has been called “the Judeo-Christian”
heritage. Hence, like Paul, we need to adapt. An approach that might
work fine, for example, in Buenos Aires could be useless in Bangkok.
What kind of idols are people worshiping in your society, and
how can you open their eyes to how worthless it all is?
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Sunday
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December 4
Paul in the Areopagus
No matter where he was, Paul, given his commission from God, was
going to preach the gospel. So, that’s exactly what he sought to do in
Athens.
Read Acts 17:18–21. What were some of the different ways that the
pagans in the marketplace reacted to Paul’s speaking and questioning?
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Clearly, with his “foreign gods,” Paul made an impression on these
people in the marketplace (Acts 17:18), and so they took him to the
Areopagus, a part of the city where legal and religious matters were
adjudicated, though it does not seem as if Paul was facing any kind of
legal trial. It was just, it seemed, to give him and his “new doctrine”
(Acts 17:19) a hearing. It would be hard to ignore someone of Paul’s
eloquence, passion, and intelligence, even if he were promoting ideas
that seemed very strange to these people.
Acts 17:21 says the Athenians did nothing but talk about and listen
to the latest ideas. Was Luke accusing them of laziness? Probably not.
More likely he was pointing out that they were experienced thinkers and
debaters. After all, the Greeks produced such men as Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle, philosophers whose influence has reached down to our day, as
well. Athens for centuries had been seen as the center of intellectual and
philosophical thought. Though some of these thinkers were not atheists, certainly not in the sense that we think of atheism today, many of
their philosophical ideas were radically different from the teachings of
Christianity. It’s hard, for example, to find a place in the philosophy of the
Epicureans and Stoics for something like a resurrected Messiah.
In Athens, Paul had expected that the Holy Spirit could use his
knowledge and oratorical skills, which he had gained in his education
under Gamaliel. But in reality it was Paul’s education on the streets
of Athens that the Holy Spirit was able to use even more. “The wisest
of his hearers were astonished as they listened to his reasoning. He
showed himself familiar with their works of art, their literature, and
their religion.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 237.
After Paul’s experience in Athens with these pagans and philosophers, he wrote to the Corinthians that “I determined not to
know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2, NKJV). What lesson is there for us about how
central Christ must be to our message regardless of whom we are
preaching to?
Monday
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Paul and the Unknown God
Notice that Paul did not disparage the false religion or false gods of
the Athenians. He gathered whatever points of good he could find, few
as they were, and capitalized on them.
Read Acts 17:22, 23. What was Paul doing here in his attempt to reach
these people with the gospel?
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“ ‘People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious’ ”
(Acts 17:22, NIV). Paul was complimenting pagans! Their religion was
misguided in every way, and yet, Paul complimented their devotion.
Paul continued, “ ‘As I walked around and looked carefully at your
objects of worship . . .’ ” (Acts 17:23, NIV). By describing his own
study of the Athenian religion, Paul communicated a respectful attitude
toward the people. He was not rushing in as a self-proclaimed expert
with all the answers for how the people needed to change. In reality,
he was, in fact, an expert and did, in fact, have the answers that these
people needed! But he did not present himself that way, or else he
would have been rejected outright. Instead, he was seen as someone
who cared for the people and desired their good.
Commenting on the inscription, “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD” (Acts
17:23, NKJV), Paul took advantage of what could be seen as common
ground. They believed in god (many, actually), which was a great start
(some people back then didn’t believe) and could open the way to
deeper conversation. He did not scoff at the negative idea of an altar
to an unknown god. Instead, he appreciated and admired a people who
cared enough about spiritual things to go to the effort and expense of
worshiping something they didn’t even know, just in case they were
missing something.
Were they misguided? Of course, but that could be addressed. What
was important in the beginning was that they were devout in what they
did understand. That, Paul recognized, was material the Holy Spirit
could work with.
Paul had found a talking point that would pique their interest.
What bridges and points of contact can you think of that would
open opportunities for deeper conversation with others with
whom you come in contact?
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Tuesday December 5
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December 6
Introducing a New God
Now that Paul had the attention of the thinkers in Athens, he turned
his audience to the God of heaven.
Read Acts 17:24–27. What approach was Paul taking here in an
attempt to reach these people?
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For a people who cared enough about spiritual things to build an altar
to an unknown god, Paul’s words were intriguing: a Creator God who
does not live in a temple needs nothing from humans, but instead supplies human needs. For a culture steeped in Greek mythology—in which
the gods were unpredictable, self-centered, and cruel—the idea of a God
like the one Paul described was a wonderfully intriguing thought. And the
men of the Areopagus took their first baby steps toward a God of love.
The fact is that this God, whom they did not know, could be known!
Indeed, He wants to be known, as well.
Paul probably spoke longer at the Areopagus than just the few words
Luke shared in this story. It seems reasonable for the sake of space that
Luke just summarized Paul’s speech. If that is true, then each of the
concepts we have read so far Paul probably fleshed out in more detail.
Then we break down Paul’s speech into concepts:
1. Paul first complimented their current spiritual awareness and sincerity.
2. Next he showed that he had studied their belief and that he found
some things that he respected from what he had learned.
3. He then told them about one particular thing that he had discovered
in his study of their religion that they admitted they did not understand.
4. After that, he shared the aspect of God that he knew they desperately needed, which is the fact that God exists and that He loves
them and is not far away.
5. Finally, at the end of his speech, Paul moved to warning them of
what it means to reject the knowledge of this God they did not yet
know.
Paul took them as far as he could, based on what he knew about what
they believed. If he could get them that far, he was making good progress.
Notice Paul’s appeal to the created world and to God as the
Creator (see also Rom. 1:18–25). Why is this such a good
approach to take, at least as a start, with most people? What is it
about the created world that points so powerfully to God?
Wednesday
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Crossing a Line
Read Acts 17:24–34. How does Paul continue his witness?
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It’s also interesting to note that Paul actually quoted some of their
own writers, who, having written something fairly close to biblical
truth, gave Paul an opening to take his hearers further along. That
is, he used his familiarity with their beliefs to seek common ground
with them, only to then take it further. No question: in seeking to
reach others, having a familiarity with what they believe and seeking points of common ground can be a powerful method of reaching
people.
Notice, too, that Paul uses this common ground with them to go
then to where he wanted to go: the resurrection of Jesus and the
hope it offered them all. Luke described the reactions to Paul’s
closing words about the Resurrection. Some sneered at the idea;
others said they wanted to hear Paul again on the matter; and some
believed. What is key in this story for our purposes is that all of
them had actually listened. And that was Paul’s hope from the
beginning.
We know that some people will reject the gospel, but we must
do everything possible to ensure that before they reject it, they
understand what they are rejecting. Paul, by his method of working
among the Athenians and his strategic use of what he had studied
and learned of them, ensured that they heard with open minds that
a God existed whom they did not know but who had created them.
This God loved them and wanted to be known by them. He had been
merciful to them in spite of their ignorance. But Judgment Day was
coming. And if all of this sounded too unbelievable, there was verifiable evidence for it in the resurrection of Christ.
Now that the people had actually heard and comprehended the
message, they had to choose for themselves whether to reject it
outright or investigate further. And some did investigate further and
became followers of Jesus (Acts 17:34).
Challenge: In prayer, ask for God’s specific guidance in knowing
how best to witness to someone you know.
Challenge Up: Explore social media as a possible “Areopagus” for
you to represent the gospel—with Paul’s clarity and discretion—
to unbelievers.
Thursday December 7
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December 8
Further Thought: One of the primary takeaways from the story of
Paul’s experience at the Areopagus is its on-the-ground study of how to
approach an unreached group of unbelievers, which resulted in a small
group of believers starting in Athens.
“The words of the apostle, and the description of his attitude and surroundings, as traced by the pen of inspiration, were to be handed down
to all coming generations, bearing witness of his unshaken confidence,
his courage in loneliness and adversity, and the victory he gained for
Christianity in the very heart of paganism.
“Paul’s words contain a treasure of knowledge for the church. He was
in a position where he might easily have said that which would have
irritated his proud listeners and brought himself into difficulty. Had his
oration been a direct attack upon their gods and the great men of the
city, he would have been in danger of meeting the fate of Socrates. But
with a tact born of divine love, he carefully drew their minds away from
heathen deities, by revealing to them the true God, who was to them
unknown.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 240, 241.
By his direct contact with the people, a study of their culture and
religion, and his respect for their devotion to spiritual things, Paul
managed something notable in Athens—something that is a treasure of
knowledge for the church. He avoided irritating his listeners. This was
in and of itself a major, God-inspired accomplishment. This, according
to Ellen G. White, is the treasure of knowledge that we as a church need
to pay attention to in this story.
Discussion Questions:
Ê With the story of Paul in Athens as a model, what is the first
step for anyone beginning new evangelistic work in a city?
Ë What sort of behavior is required of a Christian to build
bridges with people in the city (and frankly, anywhere else) who
do not know God?
Ì When we are provoked by the modern types of idols, what
should we avoid doing, especially right at first, in starting new
work among the people who worship those idols?
Í Paul could have stopped with just introducing the people to
this God who loved them, and they would have been quite pleased.
But then he crossed a line that made people think he was deluded
when he brought in the Resurrection. Should he have done that?
Why, or why not?
Friday
Provided by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission, which uses Sabbath School
mission offerings to spread the gospel worldwide. Read new stories daily at AdventistMission.org.
Story inside
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Mission Path to Spain: Part 4
By Andrew McChesney
Luis Paiva decided to open a fruit stand in Spain. But he moved forward
with fear, sensing that God was calling him to serve elsewhere. He also
worried that his new business might prevent him from giving his all to God.
Two short weeks after opening the fruit stand, everything seemed to fall
apart. His business was failing. His partners were cheating him. He fell ill
and no longer could walk. But Luis didn’t want to give up. He asked fellow
Seventh-day Adventists for business advice. One of them, knowing that Luis
had trained to be a pastor, reprimanded him. “You shouldn’t be engaged in
worldly business but in the business of winning souls for the Lord,” he said.
For Luis, the rebuke was like hearing God’s voice. But he felt even more
hopeless. How could he serve as a pastor without a church? Luis talked over
the matter with his wife, and they decided to return to their native country,
Venezuela. Perhaps he could recover his health there.
A short time later, Luis got a call from Gabriel Diaz, a leader of the
Adventist Church in Spain. The church was looking for a missionary to
work in Lugo, a city in northwestern Spain. Luis was delighted at the prospect of returning to full-time ministry, but he acknowledged that he had
serious health and business problems. “I’m not even able to walk,” he said.
The church leader was not dissuaded, and the two men prayed together.
In two weeks, Luis regained his ability to walk, and he opened a house
church in Lugo. On the first Sabbath, only two people, both church members, showed up to worship. But in just four months, 22 people were gathering in the house church every Sabbath. Among them were three newly
baptized members and others preparing for baptism. In addition, Luis had
opened a Bible study school and a school of evangelism to teach people
how to win souls for God. He was making plans to plant an official church.
“We know that we have to win many souls in order for that to happen,” he
says. “But I trust God, and I have confidence in Him that this will happen
because we are using Christ’s method alone.”
“Christ’s method alone,” according to Ellen White, “will give true success in
reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their
good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to
their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade
them, ‘Follow Me’ ” (Ministry of Healing, p. 143).
As a pastor in Venezuela and later a missionary in
Mexico, Luis never dreamed he would be serving God
in Spain. “I’m here because of God’s grace,” he said.
Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offering that
helps support missionaries around the world.
Part I: Overview
In His farewell speech before ascending to heaven, Jesus commissioned
His disciples to be His witnesses among people of every nation of the
world (Matt. 28:19). “Nations” in Matthew 28:19 refers not to nation
states but to “people groups.” A people group refers to a group of individuals that have a common sense of history, language, beliefs, and identity.
There is no human society on earth where the gospel of Jesus should not
be presented and where disciples should not be made for Him. Frontline
mission agencies, such as Global Frontier Missions and the Joshua
Project, estimate that there are about 17,446 people groups in the world,
with more than 7,400 of them considered to be unreached by the gospel.
In other words, 42 percent of the world’s people groups lack indigenous
communities of Christians who are able to evangelize, without an external
witness, the rest of the people groups. Ninety-five of the least reached
people groups by the gospel are spread across the 10/40 window, an area
mostly populated by tribal people, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and the
non-religious. Some of these people groups have little or no access to the
gospel. People not yet reached by the gospel also exist in Western nations,
because of the widening impact of secularism.
Part II: Commentary
Paul: A Versatile Missionary
This week’s study introduces us to witnessing to people who have nothing, or very little, in common with Christians in terms of religious beliefs
and values. People of diverse ethnic origins and many dissimilar religious
commitments live and share public life together. Because of their unique
set of worldview assumptions, these people have different spiritual needs
and aspirations. It is within this multireligious world that we are called
to share our faith and make disciples for Christ. At first sight, this task
is daunting. It necessitates venturing out of our religious comfort zones,
exposing ourselves to unfamiliar jargons and codes, reevaluating our attitudes
(stereotypes and biases) toward people with perspectives other than our own,
and learning new evangelistic approaches. As if that were not enough, many
non-Christians do not view Christianity favorably. Fortunately, we have in the
Bible precedents of missionary endeavors to reach such people.
After his conversion to Christianity, Paul demonstrated untiring commitment to the propagation of the gospel to all nations. However, Paul
approached his audiences differently, depending on whether they were
Jews or Gentiles. In comparing what he said to the Jews at a synagogue
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in Antioch (Acts 13:13–43) with his presentation of the gospel to a
Gentile audience at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:16–33), we see
that Paul showed a great deal of sensitivity to his given situation, as well
as to his audience. In Antioch, Paul quotes Scripture to build his case
that Old Testament prophecies find their fulfillment in Jesus. In Athens,
Paul begins with what his Gentile audience was the most familiar with:
the altar to the unknown God and sayings of their own poets, instead of
a series of Bible passages. Paul uses what his audience knows to speak
to them about “the Lord of heaven and earth,” who created everything.
Without condoning the Athenians’ beliefs, Paul commends them for being
religious. This positive statement about his audience might have been
intended to secure their interest in the rest of his speech. Although he was
deeply disturbed by the multiplicity of their idols, Paul was restrained in
his behavior. Any display of anger and accusations against these people
who had no knowledge of God’s special revelation would have deprived
him of a precious opportunity to present the gospel to them. It is important to note that Paul’s sensitivity to the Athenians’ life situations did not
prevent him from calling them to repentance.
The above point is best illustrated by Mark Allan Powell’s 2004 publication of the results of his research on the impact of people’s daily realities on
their reading and interpretation of Scripture (see Mark Allan Powell, “The
Forgotten Famine: Personal Responsibility in Luke’s Parable of the ‘Prodigal
Son,’ ” in Literary Encounters With the Reign of God, Sharon H. Ringe and
H. C. Paul Kim, eds. [New York: T & T Clark, 2004]). In the first phase
of this research, Powell surveyed two groups of seminary students, one in
the United States and the other in St. Petersburg, Russia. The experiment
consisted of asking the students to read the story of the prodigal son in Luke
15:11–32, close their Bibles, and then recount it from memory as accurately
as possible to one another in their respective groups. Powell discovered two
major differences in the oral recounting of this parable. On one hand, while
only 6 percent of the American students remembered the famine mentioned
in verse 14, 84 percent of the students in St. Petersburg referred to it. On the
other hand, 100 percent of the American students emphasized the prodigal
son’s squandering of his inheritance, whereas only 34 percent of the Russian
students remembered this detail. For the American students, the mention of
the famine seems to be an extra detail that adds nothing fundamental to the
story. Because they had no recent recollection of famine, they all emphasized the squandering of wealth as irresponsible behavior. However, for the
Russian students, who lived and interacted with some of the survivors of the
900-day Nazi army siege of the city of St. Petersburg in 1941, which triggered a famine that killed up to 670,000 people, the mention of the famine
was a significant detail that added a lot to the story. This experiment is a
good illustration of the need to adapt our message to our audience, both in
style and content, just as Paul did with the Athenians.
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Need for Innovation in Mission Praxis
Compared to his contemporaries, Paul was unconventional in his approach
to ministry, especially in Athens. He could even be described as avantgarde when it came to the need to be versatile and adaptive in mission. His
unique missionary qualities are desperately needed today. The modern-day
Areopagus exists in different parts and forms in many urban centers. It
could be a city square, a park, a street corner, a shopping center, a university amphitheater, or a café. The church needs members with corresponding gifts, talents, personalities, and creativity, empowered and released
for ministry in such centers. Members who are equipped to enter into
nontraditional spheres, as well as engaged non-Christians, should be
entrusted with the latitude to explore new ways of sharing the gospel, even
if these ways appear at first to be unorthodox.
God’s asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the son through whom God
promised to make him the father of many nations, was unconventional
(Genesis 22). Elisha’s telling Naaman to “go in peace” after Naaman made
his two strange requests (2 Kings 5) was very unsettling at best (see last
week’s lesson). God’s telling Isaiah to roam the streets of the city naked
for three years, declaring a message of doom for Judah’s allies, was really
bizarre (Isa. 20:2–4). Think about the embarrassment Micah might have
felt when God asked him not only to walk around naked but to howl
like a jackal and moan like an owl (Micah 1:8)! In light of these biblical
precedents, “When read in its context, the Bible offers many statements
and examples that show God’s approval for methods of mission that may
go against the grain of our comfortable practices. Broad reading and the
clear texts of the Bible . . . suggest that God is more open and creative than
we are. If that is the case, we should not be quick to condemn that which
is different or uncomfortable.”—Jon Paulien,“The Unpredictable God:
Creative Mission and the Biblical Testimony,” in A Man of Passionate
Reflection, Bruce L. Bauer, ed. (Berrien Springs, MI: Department of
World Mission, Andrews University, 2011), p. 85. Instead of continuing
to plow the mission fields with traditional methods, we need to be flexible, resourceful, and open-minded in regard to new, and even unfamiliar,
approaches to God’s mission. Mission originated with God and remains
His provenance. We therefore need to be dependent on Him. As King
Jehoshaphat did, let us always turn to God, saying, “We do not know what
to do, but our eyes are upon you” (2 Chron. 20:12, NIV). If we are sincere,
God will reveal His will to us. Maybe His way will not be conventional to
us just as Jehoshaphat was instructed to send his army to war with singing. But one thing is sure: doing mission and ministry God’s way, and
with God’s power, will accomplish His salvific purposes of reaching all
segments of society.
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Part III: Life Application
All humans are influenced, and limited, by the assumptions of their cultures
and their worldviews. That important fact should be taken into consideration
in our presentation of the gospel. Paul’s ministry offers us a good example
of outreach to non-Christians. Below are a few basic principles meaningful
to our mission to those who have not been exposed to the gospel:
1. People’s cultures, with their deep-seated worldview assumptions,
are their only frame of reference. People cannot be confronted with
things that are beyond their frame of reference and be expected to
respond positively to them. It is, therefore, essential to always be
sensitive to the daily realities of the people to whom we witness.
2. We need to act with restraint and respect in our attitude toward
non-Christians. We can get significant insights about nonChristians by studying their belief systems and talking to them for
the sake of finding common ground that could be used as a point of
contact for presenting the gospel.
3. We also should focus on our audience’s felt needs and aspirations and
show them how Christ answers them. We should not allow our own
cultural perspectives to get in the way of how God wants to introduce
Himself to non-Christians through us. It is important that, in presenting the gospel, we refrain from assuming that our audience
knows what we know about God, cares about values we care about,
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understands the concept of sin as we do, and feels guilty and in
need of God’s forgiveness.
4. Finally, we need to guard ourselves against watering down our
message in the process of adapting it to our audience. The gospel
is meant to challenge aspects of all worldview assumptions that
are not in line with Scripture.
Notes
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