”In many ways we are all sons and daughters of ancient Greece.”
Nia Vardalos
“For my part, it was Greek to me.” William Shakespeare
Today, while many of my pastor friends were enjoying great preaching at the Pastors Conference in Orlando, I painted a fence. I sweated more than I have in a while, but by tomorrow at noon a playground that looked like a training ground for urban street gangs will appear as if it were just opened.
I am in Thessaloniki, Greece, as part of a team from my home church, Richland Creek Community Church, including some great SEBTS students, and including our daughter Hannah. This morning we spent time cleaning up and painting a park for some servants who live in the community and seek to build relationships with neighbors. You would have to spend a little time here and catch a little of the political and cultural flavor to get how unusual it is for a Greek to watch a group of (mostly) young Americans paint and clean their park for free.
Thessaloniki, though a city of over a million, operates like a village. Word spreads fast. Community ties run deep. So an act of kindness like we are doing in the mornings speaks volumes. Tonight we will be in the open on the sea wall where about 1962 years ago (give or take a little) the apostle Paul came. Last night we had a devotion outside the gate Paul walked into as he entered the city then, with a population of 100,000 and prestige as the capital of Macedonia. I read from Acts 17 and described to our team how it was in Thessaloniki that the early believers were described as those who “turned the world upside down.”
This evening we will engage college students with the gospel. I am wearing a Harvard shirt (hey, I have been there). Maybe that will incite a little convo. Some will sing, all will share, and we pray for gospel fruit.
I personally think all believers should get out of the country at some point to tell people about Jesus who may be very different from us, but also to learn: to learn God is a big God of the whole world, to have our faith stretched, to learn about people and the gospel and how they intersect. There are many ways we can share Christ. Our son Josh led 4 to Christ Saturday as part of Crossover Orlando, out in the community speaking about Jesus. We will be doing that here, except that instead of a materialistic/consumer culture of America plagued by religious notions but desperately needing the gospel, we are in Greece which has its own form of religion in the Orthodox Church.
But the gospel remains the same. It is the power of God to salvation. I have seen its power save people on four continents myself. Read I Thessalonians, the first epistle written by Paul. Note how many times Paul mentions the gospel (hint: it is alot). This epistle gives a pretty good example of what it means to be gospel-centered.
Today, pray for us as we seek to help those called to live here to reach Greece. This nation needs a God-intervention. Just like ours. I pray for the SBC, that a similar God-intervention would come to my tribe as well.
