Sixth Sunday of Easter May 9-10, 2026
“A Passion For Others” Acts 17:16-31
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
What has God entrusted to you? Two Sundays ago, we had the memorial service for Ed Geisler. Ed was a talented singer, singing with numerous choirs through his years. And evidently that talent was contagious. The sanctuary that day was filled with strong voices. The music and the hymns were amazing.
Ed chose the hymns that were to be sung that day. In fact, he wrote a number of them. For the hymn ‘The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want’, Ed said verse 3 was to be sung in harmony. And it was. As we ended verse 2 of that hymn, the organ went quiet and the voices blended in harmony for the third verse. I closed my mouth, listened, and cried. What a sound!!
Do you know what God entrusted to the congregation that day? Beautiful voices. What has He entrusted to you? Maybe not a voice like theirs, but He has given you something that is a gift. Maybe you have a talent or ability that is special. Maybe you have good health and you can pursue life. Maybe you have smarts. Maybe you have money and assets. Or maybe, like a few of us – you have more time than money. Maybe you’re a mom and you’ve been entrusted with a family.
We’re all given something, a gift from God, and He entrusts us to be faithful in what we do have and how we live. Today I want to tell you that all of us have been entrusted to fully love other people by our witness of Jesus to them. We must have a passion for other people. In a prayer printed in my Bible it says, “Entrust me, dear Lord, with the opportunity to tell another person of your redeeming love. Amen.” In I Peter we read, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (I Peter 3:15)
Many of us would say that speaking of our faith to others is one of the hardest things that we are asked to do as Christians. We are good at praying for our kids and grandkids, our spouses and neighbors and friends, to come to a saving faith in Jesus. We are good at doing kind things for others who are in need and can use our support and love. But we are not always prepared to give an answer to someone who asks us about God and Jesus and our faith and we’re not good about asking them about their faith. We’re Lutherans – we don’t do those things.
But you know what? We’re Lutherans and we must do these things. Like the prayer says, “Entrust me, dear Lord, with the opportunity to tell another person of Your redeeming love.”
Our account in Acts 17, Paul’s trip to Athens, is a wonderful teaching about how to witness to others. The main points that I take out of Acts 17 are:
Place
People
Points of Contact
Paul starts out in the synagogue (verse 17). It was a comfortable place. He spoke among Jews and engaged in a type of a Bible study. It could be compared to us being in church and sharing our faith with others here. It is a good thing to discuss matters of the faith in a safe place.
And then he went beyond his comfort zone. Day by day he went into the marketplace and spoke to the philosophers in Athens. The marketplace wasn’t a supermarket where you got your fruit and vegetables. It was a place of ideas and thoughts and religious discussion. Acts 17 says, “A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him.” (verse 18) They wanted to know what he was babbling about. Epicurean thought said that there was no god, that all things happened by chance and one of the main goals in life was pleasure. Stoics – well they look like a lot of us Germans and Scandinavians. We keep our emotions in check and live life by reason.
And then Paul went to the Areopagus (verse 22). Paul had no fear. Athens was where the brilliant, but unbelieving, thinkers stayed. It was a university town, so to speak. It says of them, “They spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.” (Acts 17:21)
Have you ever heard a person describe themselves as “I’m spiritual but not religious”? Usually that means that they believe in some higher power, but they do not define who or what that may be. They don’t belong to any congregation. They aren’t part of any particular denomination. They wouldn’t hold to any of the chief teachings that make a Christian, a Christian. No belief in the contamination of all mankind by sin. No belief that Jesus and His blood is the only cleansing for that sin. No belief that Jesus rose from death and gives everlasting life and the resurrection of our body through His resurrection from death. The people in Athens were “Spiritual and not religious”.
Though 2,000 years separate us from Paul and the folks in Athens – we have much in common. Please notice how Paul began his witness to them. He started where they were. Our opening verse says, “While Paul was waiting for them (his fellow missionaries) in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” (Acts 17:16) And though it ate him up, he didn’t look at them and call them names or question their belief in any and every god. He says to them, “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: To An Unknown God. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:22-23)
Isn’t that a great way to witness? Isn’t that the great opportunity God puts before us? You begin where a person is in their faith, or with their questions, or in their struggles. Though the people in Athens were involved in great idolatry and he could have barked at them quoting the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods.” “You shall not make any graven image.”, he began with, “I see that in every way you are very religious.”
We have seen that Paul went from a place of comfort to places where his witness was not as easily accepted. But he went. God’s Spirit would not leave him abandoned. He spoke to people who were far away from God’s great revealed truth in Jesus, but he began with their situation and spoke of God’s gift to them. Do you remember the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch? The man was reading from Isaiah 53, “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” The eunuch asked Philip. “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.” (Read Acts 8:32-40)
The point of contact that Paul made in Athens was to call for a better life, a different life, a full life for all those who were listening to him. With a challenge Paul said, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.” (Acts 17:30-31) We don’t want folks to miss knowing our great God. We don’t want folks to miss true peace and deep faith and the sure confidence that heaven is theirs. Without repentance and turning toward Jesus, life, full life, is missed.
The point of contact that Paul spoke on that day was about the resurrection of Jesus from death. The resurrection of Jesus is pure triumph. He is Lord over anything evil and ugly. His resurrection brings life. Paul gives this contact, “He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)
I’d like to tell you that all of Athens came to faith that day. But they didn’t. We read, “When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, ‘We want to hear you again on this subject.’” (Acts 17:32)
The response that others may have of you and me about our witness of Jesus may be the same. They may cross their arms. They may walk away. But they may listen. And by God’s Holy Spirit they may repent and believe. God is in charge of all of this.
May this be our prayer: Entrust me, dear Lord, with the opportunity to tell another person of Your redeeming love. Amen.
