Anyone who has ever travelled to Athens will never forget his first impressions. The senses are heightened by the exotic smells, the incomprehensible language, the appar­ent lack of road rules and the antiquity of the city. Although the Apostle Paul lived in a different time, I’m sure that when he arrived in Athens on his second missionary tour he could not help but notice the city.

For centuries Athens had been the proud home of philosophy, literature, architecture and art. Many tourists flocked to this famous city. But when Paul arrived in Athens, he did not see the city through the eyes of a tourist, but from God’s perspective. Luke records for us in Acts 17:16 that when Paul came to Athens he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

How do we see our city? Some curse the city as a place of smog, overcrowding, traf­fic jams and impersonal relationships. Others thrive on coffee shops and the bus­tle of the CBD. But have you ever seen the city through God’s eyes, as a home of idolatry?

I live in Sydney, 10 minutes drive from Mt Olympus where the gods of the Sydney Olympic Games organising committee prepare to meet, 15 minutes drive from Australia’s oldest university where modern and ancient philosophies are discussed, 20 minutes drive from where international vis­itors come to the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, 15 minutes from the world’s most beautiful harbour where people live for the simple pleasures of swimming, sailing and sun-baking. Yet I rarely notice the idolatry of where I live. If I did, I would be far more motivated for evangelism and church planting. If I saw the city through God’s eyes, I would not ask the question, “Why do we need to plant churches?” Instead, I would ask, “How can we be more effective in evangelism and church planting?”

Our motivation for evangelism and church planting will affect how we engage in these activities. By and large, Christians are motivated to share the Gospel by one or more of the following reasons.

The first stimulus for evangelism is that we need to be obedient to the Great Commission. Jesus has commanded us “go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). Motivated by obedience, we will plant churches. This is good and proper, but it may result in the Christian fulfilling the Great Commission merely out of a sense of duty. It may not stir one’s inner passion for church planting as it should.

Others will therefore talk about a love for the lost. On the judgment day all people — our neighbours, family and friends — will stand before the judgment seat. Out of love for these people, we need to share the gospel that they might escape God’s com­ing wrath. Such motivation for evangelism is concerned with compassion rather than obedience. Some may even say that compassion is a higher motivation than legalistic obedience. Both these motivations are good, and I don’t want to belittle either. But there is another motivation for church planting that should be overarch­ing, the one that motivated Paul when he came to Athens and saw the idolatry of that city. This motivation is that we are jealous for the name of God in the midst of idolatry. God and God alone is to be worshipped.

God is jealous for His own name’s sake, and we, His children, should be jeal­ous for that Name. This is what Jesus meant when he prayed “hallowed be Your name”. Look around at your local community, whether it be urban or rural, and try to see things from God’s perspective.

This jealousy for the name of God will lead to all sorts of missionary endeavours. In 1848, John Geddie, a missionary from the Presbyterian Church in Nova Scotia, became the first missionary to settle in the islands of Vanuatu. He landed on the island of Aneityum, and when he was confronted by the idolatry of the local people, as expressed in cannibalism, in the custom of widows being strangled and buried at their husband’s funeral, in fear and superstition, he was deeply dis­turbed. He wrote in his diary the words from Ezekiel 37:3: “Can these dry bones live?”

But Geddie did not give in, because he was jealous that God alone should be worshipped. He preached the Gospel on the island of Aneityum for 24 years. By the time he retired from this ministry, every person on that island, as far as the human eye can see, had turned from idol­atry to worshipping the living God.

If you visit that island today, you will see behind the pulpit of the main church the famous words of the church historian Robert Steel, who, speaking of Geddie’s ministry, said when he landed in 1848 there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872 there were no heathens. Such a ministry of church planting is motivated by jealousy for the name of God.

Although we are encouraged by such stories from far-away shores, and we continue to send missionaries to countries that are still steeped in idolatry, we fail to see the idolatry all around us.

How does Paul preach the Gospel in Athens?

It would have been easiest, perhaps, for Paul to reject the city with its idolatry by preaching against the evils of the city; to be like many moderns preachers with a totally negative message. Instead, in the most amazing way, Paul embraces the city. He goes to the seat of learning, the Areopagus, and quotes the philosophies of the day. He understands the worldview of the Greeks and even cites their poetry. For Paul does not want to reject the city, but to redeem it. After all, one of the images the New Testament gives us of Heaven is that of a city, the New Jerusalem.

And so, in a pluralistic society, Paul builds a Christian worldview. He begins by explaining that, in the light of the fact that God has created the world, idolatry is nonsense. We have not made God, as if He were some idol that we could domes­ticate and feed, rather He has made us. This fact, that God has made us all, means that we must all worship Him. Our God is not a tribal God for Jews only. He is the God over all.

One of the central tenets of today’s political correctness is that it is always wrong to dismiss someone else’s views. That does not leave much room for evangelism! We are to respect other people’s tribal gods, in whatever form, and our tribal god will be respected by them. But that is not the message of the New Testament. Our God is not only the creator of all, He is the judge of all. And therefore all need to hear the gospel, no matter how offensive it may sound to their ears.

Thus Christians must necessarily give offence. The question is, to whom? Do you want to offend your neighbours by implying that their worldview is wrong, or do you want to offend God by tolerating idolatry? Are we more jealous for our neighbours than we are for the name of God?

The final objective in our work of evangelism will be that Christians are gathered together in worshipping communities where they are jealous for the name of God. Churches, whether they be new or old, are to be earthly reflections of the Heavenly reality.

Why should we plant churches? That question can be answered by another question, How do you see your local community? If you see it through God’s eyes, you will be jealous for His name, that He alone will be worshipped.

Therefore we engage in church plant­ing that we might be stimulated to evan­gelism. We engage in evangelism that we might plant churches. And all of this is done because we are jealous for His name.