Acts 17:16-34 – In Athens.
- “How Love Communicates; 5 examples”
- What would our communication look like if we were driven by love?
- To those we lead or to our loved ones?
- Paul gives us five examples in Athens;
- Firstly: Love does not wait for it to happen.
- Paul goes to the synagogues to speak to the Jews, he reaches out to the ‘God-fearers’ and then to the markets to reach anyone who will listen.
- He goes every day.
- He does not wait in the synagogue for people to come to him.
- Secondly: Love is ridiculed but responds in kindness.
- He is called a babbler. Quite a clever put-down.
- Babbler was a type of bird, it literally means ‘seed-picker’ – it was a bird known for gathering different things from different places. Paul was being ridiculed as someone who was snatching from one idea here and another there in order to put together his own made-up religion.
- He does not respond in anger but changes his tact out of compassion.
- Thirdly: Love is not one size fits all
- Paul preaches the Gospel without using scripture.
- Although that worked with the Jews and God-fearers, it would not work here. So what’s the point? Unless you are not driven by love but duty.
- Fourthly: Love does not write people off.
- Paul saw a place full of idols.
- If he had been driven by anything else except for love he would have simply challenged them about their idol worship and told them to repent.
- Fifthly: Love always produces creativity!
- True love will always find a creative way to communicate itself.
- In this case Paul uses their idol worship, something he had campaigned against, to help connect them to God, which is of most importance.
- Praying today that I might see love in my communication.
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