Voices of the Bible — Finding Your Voice in a Foreign Place
Acts 17:16-31 (CEB) · Fresh Start: When Life Takes an Unexpected Turn
Imagine stepping into a place so different from home that everything feels strange. The buildings look different. The people speak in familiar words but unfamiliar ways. The values everyone holds dear seem backwards to you. That’s where Paul found himself in Athens, one of the most educated, sophisticated cities in the ancient world. And Paul? He was a Jewish rabbi trying to share his faith in a place that had its own long history, its own gods, its own way of doing things.
Paul arrived in Athens waiting for his traveling companions. He had time to kill, so he walked the streets. But what he saw disturbed him deeply. Idols everywhere. Statues of gods on every corner, in every marketplace, in every temple. The city was full of them, beautiful sculptures, impressive monuments to gods that didn’t exist. Paul was deeply distressed seeing this spiritual landscape so different from everything he believed.
Here’s the thing about being in a foreign place: you can stay silent, or you can speak up. Paul chose to speak.
He went to the synagogue where Jewish believers gathered, his safe space. But he didn’t stay there. He went to the marketplace, to the streets, to the places where ordinary people gathered. And he started conversations. He engaged with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, people with completely different worldviews. These philosophers were intrigued and confused by what Paul was saying. They brought him to Mars Hill, the Areopagus, which was kind of like the intellectual center of the city. They wanted to understand this strange new teaching.
Picture Paul standing there. He’s not in a synagogue anymore. He’s not surrounded by believers who think like him. He’s standing in front of the most educated people in the city, people who worship gods he doesn’t believe in, people who might mock him or dismiss him. He had every reason to be intimidated. But instead, he opened his eyes and saw something brilliant.
He noticed an altar with an inscription: “To an Unknown God.” Someone had built this altar to cover their bases, just in case there was a god they didn’t know about. And Paul saw his opening. He said, “What you worship as unknown, I now proclaim to you.”
This is how you find your voice in a foreign place. You look for the connection. You find the bridge between what they believe and what you need to tell them.
Paul didn’t attack their religion. He didn’t mock their gods. Instead, he started with what they already knew, their own uncertainty, their own awareness that maybe there was something more. Then he built on that foundation.
He told them about the God who made everything, not just their city or their country, but the entire world and everything in it. This God doesn’t live in temples that people build. Think about that. All those temples, all those statues, all those buildings dedicated to gods, and Paul’s saying none of that is necessary. The real God doesn’t need a building.
Then Paul got personal. “God gives life and breath to all people,” he said. Every single person in that marketplace, every person walking those streets, every person in their homes, they were alive because of God’s breath, God’s life force. And here’s something remarkable: God “made every nation of one ancestor.” In other words, we all come from the same place. We’re all family, even when we look different, speak different languages, worship different ways.
Paul then said something that must have shocked them: “God isn’t far from any of us.” The philosophers in Athens believed in distant gods, gods who were removed from human life. But Paul was saying God is close. God is present. “In God we live and move and exist,” he told them. Every breath you take, every step you walk, every moment you exist. It’s all happening inside God’s presence.
Finally, Paul delivered the call to action. God is calling everyone everywhere to change their hearts and lives. Not just the Jews. Not just the people in the synagogue. Everyone. And there’s urgency here. God has set a day when the world will be judged justly, and God appointed someone to do that judging. Paul was talking about Jesus, though he didn’t say the name yet. And God proved who Jesus was by raising him from the dead.
This is Paul finding his voice in a completely foreign place. He didn’t pretend to be someone he wasn’t. He didn’t abandon his message. But he did connect it to what people around him could understand. He started with their questions. He built bridges. He spoke with courage and clarity.
Today, many of you are about to step into a foreign place. Whether it’s college or a new job or a new city, you’re heading somewhere that won’t feel like home. Everything might feel unfamiliar and uncomfortable. You might feel pressure to stay silent, to fit in, to become someone you’re not.
But Paul’s story reminds us: your voice matters. Your faith matters. Your perspective matters. Find the bridges. Look for the connections. Speak with courage. You don’t have to compromise who you are to be heard in a new place. You just have to be willing to speak.
This is part of the Voices of the Bible series from Andrew Conard. Each week we explore the scripture passage for the upcoming sermon, helping you encounter the text before Sunday morning.