Sharing the Gospel to Those Who Never Heard of Jesus

Imagine you’re out there sharing the gospel at an event like Tulip Time or the Creation Booth, and suddenly a teenager strolls up, eyes wide with curiosity. You excitedly hand him a gospel tract and ask, “So, who is Jesus to you?” He looks back at you, completely bewildered, and replies, “Who is Jesus? Is he the new pop star or something? Because I’ve never heard of him!”

If you are sharing the gospel on a regular basis, this happens all the time, and unfortunately more frequently with every year that passes. You see, unbelieving parents raise unbelieving children who grow up to be unbelieving parents, perpetuating a cycle of disbelief that echoes through generations. This cycle increasingly gets worse and worse until the Lord intervenes and changes the trajectory of the family tree—similarly to my situation. The impact of this cycle can be profound, as families drift further away from the teachings and truths of the gospel, often leading to a vacuum of faith that makes it more challenging for subsequent generations to embrace a belief in Christ. It is disheartening to witness the gradual erosion and spiritual decline in the “Untied” States of America.

But how does the Christian share the gospel to those who have never heard of Jesus? How do we take 6,000+ years of history and boil it down to a five-minute conversation? Sound impossible? But thankfully we have a blueprint if we just search the Scriptures. Let’s go to the book of Acts, chapter 17.

Setting the Scene: Acts 17:16-21

While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Paul was greatly distressed at the sight of numerous pagan temples and altars in Athens. Why? Because he believed that people were knowingly and unknowingly sacrificing not to God, but demons (1 Corinthians 10:18-22). He not only believed they were sacrificing to demons, but many who proclaimed to be Christian were still going to these temples maybe out of habit, tradition, or just ignorantly worshipping.

The worship of various gods was totally ingrained in Greek culture. These idols and temples were everywhere. They were in people’s homes, on street corners, and even in town squares. Cities adopted gods as their special protectors. Most of the food in the marketplace were offered in worship to different gods. You wanted the best meat money could buy; it was probably offered to a demon in worship (1 Corinthians 8:1-13).

Paul, in the heat of the moment reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and Gentile worshippers, and those in the marketplace that just happened to be there. His spirit was so provoked by what he saw that it drove him to action. As always, he started in the synagogue and appealed to the Jews first. Next, he went to the Gentile worshippers that probably were worshipping outside the synagogue. Then, he went to the streets of the marketplace and proclaimed in open-air preaching Jesus and the resurrection. Some listened like the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, who were curious about what he was talking about and others thought he was just babbling about nothing.

No doubt Paul was trying everything in his power to tell them about Jesus and who He is, why God sent Him, why He died, and that He was risen from the dead. Eventually they brought him to the Areopagus: a type of court where people would be given a hearing and discussed ideas of mutual interest and new things. He wasn’t arrested, but given the opportunity to give them more information about what he believed. Luke summed up the waste of their precious time: “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but to tell or to hear some new thing.” (Acts 17:21)

The Proclamation: Acts 17:22-31

Paul now had a captive audience with those who wanted to know more about what he was talking about instead of many passing by as he preached in the open air of the marketplace. It’s important as we analyze his speech that we glean what we can use in our discussions in the pagan Greek culture we live in today.

Paul used his senses in the shared space he was in

As he stood in the midst of the Areopagus, Paul used his senses and talked about the things he noticed around him in the shared space with those he was sharing Christ to. He appealed to his five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.

“Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; “for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:”

Acts 17:22-23 NKJV

Here, Paul used sight and used a particular altar to an Unknown God, which they made just in case they missed one along the way, as a springboard to share the true God whom they ignorantly worshipped.

Paul declared who the real God is

First, above all else, Paul declared who the real God is.

1. He made the world and everything in it (Creator)
2. He is Lord of heaven and earth (Lord of all)
3. He does not dwell in temples made with hands (Everywhere)
4. He is not worshipped with men’s hands (Unfathomable)
5. He is in need of nothing (autonomous)
6. He gives to all life, breath, and all things (sustainer and provider)
7. He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth (diverse in unity)
8. He has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings (Ruler, Master, Lord)
9. He is not far from each of us (Close)
10. In Him we live, and move, and have our being (He is the authority that gives us freedom)

If you were to take each of the ten points and break them down even further, it would take years to fathom its depths. Yet, he took just a mere minute or two to describe the One whom they yet to worship.

Paul showed who we are in relation to Him

It’s not only beneficial to show who God is, but who we are in relation to Him.

1. We are His creation (Acts 17:24)
2. We are His offspring (Acts 17:28-29)

If you are a parent, did you have kids to be ignored by them and to live independent of them; or did you want children so that you can raise them, nurture them, and take on your name and let them be the legacy to be proud of to leave this world better than you entered it? You had kids because you wanted to leave a piece of you to be remembered and live on after you leave.

God created us with purpose:

• To glorify Him: “Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” – Isaiah 43:7 NKJV
• To know and enjoy Him: “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” – Psalm 16:11 NKJV
• To reflect His image: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. – Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV
• For His pleasure:
  • For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. – Colossians 1:16-17 NKJV
  • “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” – Revelation 4:11 NKJV

Paul informed what God requires of us

Therefore, since we are the offspring and creation of this Unknown God, Paul informed them on what He requires of us mere mortals. Because let’s face it: when someone creates something, they do it with purpose in mind. Not only that, but the created serves the creator—not the other way around.

Therefore, we receive our purpose an Paul declares what we must do.

1. To seek Him in the hope they might grope for Him and find Him (He is hidden but knowable)
2. To not create idols of gold, silver, stone, or something shaped by art and man’s devising (do not worship idols)
3. God overlooked times of ignorance, but now commands all men everywhere to repent (repentance)
4. He knows of a day He will judge the world in righteousness by Christ Jesus whom He has ordained (will judge the world one day)
5. He has given us assurance of this by raising Christ from the dead (proof)

Let’s Break It Down

Now, if we were to break this section of Scripture down to the fundamental components of the gospel to the Gentiles like us here in the United States, we can declare:

1. Creation: God created everything and everyone good with a purpose to glorify Him and for His pleasure
2. Authority: He is Lord over all, and that includes you. We need to follow and obey Him.
3. Sin: The ignorant worship, self-pleasing, and disobedience to the Creator. We continuously break His law. This started in the garden when Eve listened to the Serpent and disobeyed God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We know what sin is by God’s standard of Goodness—the Ten Commandments. How are you doing?
4. Repentance: Since we are His creation and offspring, He commands everyone everywhere to repent and turn to Him. We broke the Law, and we need to turn around and seek Him with our whole heart.
5. Judgement: God will judge the world in righteousness (His standard of goodness) by Christ Jesus.
6. Resurrection: Assurance that these things are so through Christ Jesus by raising Him from the dead. The fact that He had to die for the sins of the world, so that through Him we might be saved.

As you can see it starts with creation, who God is, and what He requires of us because He created us with purpose and intent in mind. He is the Uncreated One, and without the authority of God and being our Creator, gospel tracts that start somewhere in the middle get confusing. When they state that you are a sinner and that God sees you as a liar, theif, blasphemer, adulter, and murderer…one might ask, “Says who?” Please read the article on my displeasure of gospel tracts for more information.

The Response: Acts 17:32-34

And what was their response to the gospel that Paul preached at Mars Hill? The same three types of responses that we receive today:

• Some mocked / rejected (Withdraw): “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked…- Acts 17:32a NKJV
• Some procrastinated (Wait): …while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” – Acts 17:32b NKJV
• Some believed (Want): However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them. – Acts 17:34 NKJV

All we can do, as Christ’s Ambassador’s, is to correctly represent Jesus to the world. We don’t speak on our own authority, but carry His message of reconcilliation. Let us faithfully deliver the gospel—not to change or soften it.

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 NKJV