Are You a Seeker, Fact Checker or Trend Chaser?

Seeker, Fact Checker, and Trend Chaser

Among the Apostle Paul’s audience in the 17^th chapter of Acts, Paul preached the Gospel to three different groups of people. They were the seeker, the fact checker, and the trend chaser.

I believe it is safe to say that in our communities today, we have the same different groups of people with whom we can share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Don’t you?

Thessalonian Seeker

First there are the seekers.

As was Paul’s custom, when he arrived in Thessalonica he went to the synagogue service. Three Sabbaths in a row, he used the Scriptures to reason with the people.

Paul explained the prophecies to his listeners. He proved from those prophesies that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. The Apostle explained to his listeners that the prophecies told about Jesus.

Many Jews, Greeks, and prominent women were persuaded by Paul’s message. All because he used the Scriptures to prove his case that Christ was the Messiah, our Risen Savior.

Berean Fact Checker

After Paul was driven out of Thessalonica for his preaching, he traveled to Berea. When Paul arrived, you guessed it, he went to the synagogue to preach Christ crucified.

The Bible tells us that the people in Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica.

They listened eagerly to Paul’s message.

They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if what Paul taught was the truth.

As a result, many Jews and prominent Greek men and women believed.

But those who stirred up trouble against Paul in Thessalonica, followed Paul to Berea. They stirred up trouble in Berea as well. So, Paul left Berea and went to Athens.

Athenian Trend Chaser

Paul was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw in the city of Athens. At the synagogue Paul reasoned with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and spoke daily in the public square to all who would listen.

The Apostle also debated with some philosophers. When he told them about Christ’s resurrection, some of them called him a babbler with strange ideas. Others said he seemed to be preaching about foreign gods.

These men took Paul to the council of philosophers, the most learned men in the city. They invited Paul to explain this new teaching.

So they took Paul, brought him before the city council, the Areopagus, and said, “We would like to know what this new teaching is that you are talking about. Some of the things we hear you say sound strange to us, and we would like to know what they mean.” (For all the citizens of Athens and the foreigners who lived there liked to spend all their time telling and hearing the latest new thing.) Acts 17:19-21 (GNT)

Professional Trend Chasers

The Athenians were professional trend chasers. They spent their time seeking new things. New ideas. New ways. It didn’t matter what those things, ideas, or ways were. If it was new. If it was trendy. They wanted in on it.

At that, Paul gave his great speech.

Paul stood up in front of the city council and said, “I see that in every way you Athenians are very religious. For as I walked through your city and looked at the places where you worship, I found an altar on which is written, ‘To an Unknown God.’ That which you worship, then, even though you do not know it, is what I now proclaim to you. God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. Nor does he need anything that we can supply by working for him, since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone. From one human being he created all races of people and made them live throughout the whole earth. He himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live. He did this so that they would look for him, and perhaps find him as they felt around for him. Yet God is actually not far from any one of us; as someone has said,

‘In him we live and move and exist.’
It is as some of your poets have said,
‘We too are his children.’ Acts 17:22-28 GNT

Paul met the Athenians where they were when he explained the Good News about Jesus, and so should we.

Paul went on to explain who God is and what he expects. He told the Athenians God is a just God and has set a day for judging the world with justice through Jesus; the man who was raised from the dead.

Some laughed. Some dismissed it, saying they wanted to hear more at a later time. Others joined Paul and became believers.

Seeker

When sharing the truth about who Jesus is, Paul shared facts from Scripture. He let God’s word speak for itself.

Some, like the seekers in Thessalonica, believed after Paul explained the Scriptures more clearly to them.

Fact Checker

Others, like the fact checkers in Berea, put everything Paul said up against Scripture. They wanted to know if what he said was true. The Bereans were open-minded, willing to receive new truth, but it had to be God’s truth. Not just any willy-nilly thing someone spouted off.

Trend Chaser

Then we have the Athenians who made it their job to be trend chasers. These folks were so open-minded, they couldn’t distinguish truth from falsehood. It didn’t matter what they chased. Just as long as it was new, they chased after it.

These folks were forever seeking, chasing, looking, but they weren’t interested in finding.

In each of these situations recorded in the 17^th chapter of Acts, Paul speaks the same message of Jesus. The Resurrected Lord and Savior.

Some people accepted the truth of who Jesus is, and others did not.

Your Turn

What about you?

Do you identify with one of these three groups?

Are you a seeker, a fact checker, a trend chaser? Or maybe a little of each?

No matter how we come to the conclusion, the truth is,  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus.

Here’s an additional post on sharing the Good News of Jesus for you to read.

I wish you well,

Sandy