In our culture, there is a prevailing false dichotomy between the sacred and the secular, which is not biblical and does not honor the lordship of Christ over all of life. Unfortunately, the church has bought into this false divide in many instances. As a result, we have developed a fragmented view of Scriptures’ application and Jesus’ lordship over every facet of life.
This false dichotomy of faith and life occurs in youth ministry, as well. Many youth leaders have experienced students living a Christian life on Sunday and on youth group night, then partying and living however they desire during the rest of the week. These students have a dis-integrated faith that does not permeate the entirety of their lives.
Paul addresses this issue as he spoke to the idol worshiping Greeks in Athens at the meeting of the Areopagus in
“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. He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ ‘Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.'”
As Paul was waiting on Timothy and Silas to join him in Athens, he was moved by what he observed there. Scripture says, “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw the city was given over to idols” (
In Acts 17:17, Scripture tells us Paul was teaching in the synagogue and marketplace. We also see him teaching the believing and unbelieving, the God-fearing Greeks, the commoners, and the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. If we are to help guide our youth away from idols and their fragmented and compartmentalized faiths, we must go where they are and help teach them about the falsehood of their idols and introduce them to the one true God. We must move from youth group to Athens.
By being intentional, as Paul was, and by entering the world we are living in, we will have ample opportunities to share the good news in a way that is accessible and understandable. Paul was very intentional about his approach. He quoted from the Greek philosophers and from the poets of the day. Paul was well read and well versed and was living an integrated life in which he engaged the arts, as well as the intellect. Not only was Paul modeling and living an integrated and full life, he was also using his knowledge and experience to bring people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary says: “To buttress his point Paul apparently quoted from Epimenides, the Cretan poet (whom Paul also quoted later in
In Acts 17:24-29, Paul asserts God is not so well-behaved or manipulated as to be limited to handmade constructs. God cannot be limited to the confines of what humanity has made or to lesser parts of His creation. We cannot manage God, isolate God or reduce God. When we do attempt to reduce or to control God, we craft an idol, a lessor god.
According to Paul, God has made Himself known in all of creation in order to get our attention and our affections and to draw us closer to Himself. We can come to know and worship a God this way and we can relate to a God who is tangible and irreducibly omnipresent, omnipotent and sovereign; so can our youth. Paul asserts God is there, if we only reach out for Him. He said God is everywhere and that it is “in Him we live and move and have our being.”
The Bible Knowledge Commentary also notes, “One of God’s purposes in revealing Himself in Creation and in history is that people would seek Him (
Athens was very much like our present culture, especially our youth culture; similar to our culture, Athens was full of idols, gods made by human hands. In these passages, Paul spoke to a group of Athenians that had formed idol statues and inscribed one idol with “To an Unknown God.”
These God-fearing Greeks were covering their bases in their idol worship, much like some of our youth and youth leaders cover their bases. Some youth, as well as some youth leaders, go to church or youth group just to check the box or play the part so as not to anger or to upset God; but there is no real substance to their faith. While they are going through the motions at youth group or church, their faith has not been integrated into every area of their lives. Their faith has not reached Athens.
Our teenagers, and maybe some leaders, could have the idea that as long as they go to church or do a particular thing for God, which is what dead religion does, they can go on living any way they like in all the other areas of their lives. This is not Christianity. This is idol worship comparable with the idolatry of the Greeks in the time of Paul in the Book of Acts.
Most people are master compartmentalizers of their lives and teenagers are excellent at doing so. Teens may be one way at home, another way at school, another way at church and another way in the world. Their faith has not yet been integrated into their lives, and Jesus has not been made Lord of every facet of their existence.
Many of our youth have reduced God in order to manage Him and fit Him into their fragmented lives, rather than submitting all of their lives to His lordship. In this attempt at reducing God’s sovereignty and omnipresence, they are in effect creating and worshipping an idol, much as the Greeks were doing in Athens.
Students, as well as some youth leaders, may insist they have God managed in little compartments of their own making. They may welcome a little of God here and there, but refuse Him as Lord in all places and at all times. They may feel as if they have God pigeonholed at church or in certain other areas of their lives without allowing Him to get too omnipresent, omnipotent or sovereign. They are comfortable with the fragmented God of Athens, while having a little god-fix at youth group. However, God will not be reduced or minimized.
If we are to be effective and reach this fragmented and dis-integrated culture, we must first take the lead and integrate our faith into every area of our own lives as followers of Jesus and as leaders. Like Paul, we must model integration of faith and life and live an integrated and full life dedicated to the full lordship of Jesus Christ over every area of our living. We also must use our knowledge and experience to bring people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We must be like Paul and go where our youth are. We must reach them on their own turf and engage their culture. If we are to address this broken, lost and divided culture, we must leave youth group and church and enter Athens, addressing our youth from their presuppositions, recognizing that God’s truth will always prevail.
Bibliography
Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., Dallas Theological Seminary. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Ac 17:27). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Short Bio
Robbie Pruitt is a high school Bible teacher in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Robbie loves Jesus, youth ministry, the great outdoors, writing poetry and writing about theology, discipleship and leadership. He has been in ministry more than 17 years and graduated from Trinity School for Ministry with a Diploma in Christian Ministry and from Columbia International University with a B.A. in Bible and General Studies and a minor in Youth Ministry. Follow his blogs at RobbiePruitt.Blogspot and RobbiePruitt.com and connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.
