What is our Fruit

The situation Paul encountered in Acts 17 has a lot of parallels to living in the twenty-first century. While Christianity may still seem to be the primary religion in the West, the number of people who profess to be Christian is declining so that those who claim to be Christian are feeling increasingly like outsiders. In addition, idol worship is still present, though in different forms. Imagine that thousands of years in the future archaeologists who know little about us are digging through the remnants of our current society. What would they conclude about their findings?

Might they conclude that in almost every single household the people would gather around a flat-screen box for a time of worship? Or would they assume that every city had a temple to the god of the golden arches, the bell, and the cute red-headed girl? Without getting too dramatic, it is safe to conclude that our society is becoming increasingly secular. Paul’s interactions with the people of Athens provide critical insights into how those who profess Jesus as Lord should engage an increasingly secular society.

Our task is to reveal Christ by telling the story of God using a language that people can understand. Paul quotes one of their own poets to help convey God’s truth. As Christians living in the twenty-first century, we are called to engage our society using a language people can understand. We need to familiarise ourselves with the work of current poets, authors, artists, and entertainers so that we know how to speak the language of our society. And we also need to be excellent at telling stories. We must be able to narrate salvation history in a way that captures the attention of people and meets them where they are.

You know as we leave wherever we find safe haven and go out into the world, we are entering a world filled with people who need to hear a good story. Remember that we who are Christians are those who are called to tell the story of God and shine the light of Christ into the darkness using the gifts and the talents that we already have. We are also promised that we are to know that we are not alone. The Spirit of God goes ahead of us and will be present with us.

A seven-year-old granddaughter said to her grandfather, "In this family we are kind of serious about God, aren't we?" He said, "Yes." She asked, "Why?" The grandfather hugged the little girl and said, "So that I can hug you, tickle you and try to tell you how much I love you and how glad I am that God gave you to us." She said, "That's cool."

It probably wouldn't be well understood if you walked up to a stranger and hugged, tickled and told them that you loved them and were grateful to God because they are here. But, that is exactly what we are somehow supposed to figure out how to do. God is love. Jesus said so. The fruit that Jesus calls us to bear as his branches is love. Since we are Christian, plan on leaving this worship in order to love. So the job we have is to go and bear some fruit.