Harvest 365Sample

Is our speech different from the culture?

Paul is in Athens and preaching, teaching, and defending the Gospel in the synagogue. He is explaining things to people who can understand him, but there are Greek philosophers present who want to know more. They take him to the council or the court of Athens to present his message. They didn’t understand what he was talking about. His speech was different even though he was able to communicate. He said some things that seemed strange.

Acts 17:20 - “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; we want to know therefore what these things mean.”

We cannot expect everything we do or say is going to be accepted by the culture around us. We are called to be different. The things we do are different, the things we say might sound strange.

Romans 12:2 - “Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

The thing is we were never meant to fit in. We were meant to stand out. In a culture that rejects God and wants to do its own thing, we are to be counter-cultural. 

Does that mean we intentionally alienate people with our strange speech? By no means, but we should talk differently, naturally.

Andrew Cartledge - Senior Pastor - Harvest Church