By Eddie Ssemakula

“Now, while he was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols, so he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there; some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.” (Acts 17:16-18)

To be a Christian in the city is a whole different game. Paul planted churches, but he also dared to go places that threatened to upend the very foundations of a then-emerging Christian faith; no wonder his spirit “was provoked.” It’s one thing to go to fellow Pharisees in the temple, to go to church every week and hang out with fellow hippy-happy Christians; it’s another thing to patiently endure a conversation from your Epicurean-like buddy, a stoic philosopher, and maybe today, a Muslim workmate, a prosperity-only-thinking Christian at work, whose worldview upends your very foundation.

Greece stood as a tower of learning and advancement in the early church days; Paul would have retreated in light of that, but he went. Jesus to him was not only a savior, but also a king, so the great commission meant grit in the places where Judeo-beliefs had no foundations.

”His spirit was provoked” (16); it must have been. There is no way you encounter Jesus in the flesh (Acts 9:3) having spent time learning under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3); there is no way you are the “Hebrews of Hebrews” (Phil 3:5) and  “Artemis shrines” (Acts 19:24) don’t rattle you

He reasoned (16): Paul had his head switched on; he had earlier modelled it to Timothy by asking him to use his head, to think over what I say” (2 Tim 2:7) while taking care of the church of God, “and the Lord will give you understanding.” For Paul, thinking through things was not opposed to the gospel revelation; it actually supplemented it. Timothy was supposed to think and expect to “receive understanding from the Lord” while reasoning; was that a contradiction? No, we love God in secular spaces by prayerfully thinking through things. We hear motivational slogans and think biblically; we define terms; we ponder life biblically; we reject worldly thinking; we ask eternal questions.

Paul “tasted the medicine” he once gave Timothy; he was not to switch off his competencies or education in light of “Stoic and Epicurean” arguments; he understood the assignment to model ultimate wisdom in a city that idolized wisdom. Christianity is not an invitation to shelve our brains. God gave you academic and professional competencies that have the potential to take you into boardrooms and before kings (Proverbs 22:29), places many of us may never access. The reason you are there is so that you may also “love God with all your mind” too. (Matt 22:37),

Reasoning with unbelievers at work is patient work, especially when you could just “keep the peace” and play “Sinach and Nathaniel Bassey” (or, ok, City Alight) in your ear pods. You may not have enough patience to tolerate their lunchtime banter in a way that demonstrates Jesus is what they are looking for as they ponder their “unknown gods” (Acts 17:24).

In some instances, loving God with your mind at work may mean enduring some workmate’s “empty philosophy” for a while, at least until they are ready to see that you understand and empathize with them more than you want to teach them. But as Grace Noowe pointed out, most of us are unwilling to take this path; we would rather sneak out for lunch hour Christian fellowships or keep a scripture wallpaper and the gospel earbuds on.

It’s interesting in this passage that some unbelievers in Paul’s day were “devout“ too, perhaps because nobody is neutral; some in Athens wanted nothing to do with Christ crucified, but they still kept persistent in their beliefs. Similarly, our workmates may not call on Jesus, but they will be devout to whatever they are committed to.

Tim Keller used to say, I paraphrase, “A career will not die for you but will require you to die for it. ” Many in our work corridors are drowning in false identities that only the gospel can cure; they have tried “self-love,” kept gym routines, slept in on Sunday mornings, piled up academic qualifications, and slept through relationships, but they are still unhappy.

It may not be that she wants to keep the boss’s favour; it could be that she’s not yet discovered an identity deeper than her official role. Your other workmate is probably “devout” in his people-pleasing and ingratiation too, because there is a hole in his heart that only God can fill and only Christ can satisfy.

In fact, I discovered that staff retreats and team-building activities (if we Christians don’t dodge them) are good opportunities to point workmates to what ultimately matters, because in those meetings, questions of purpose, vision, meaning, and identity often pop up; unfortunately, many surrender them to motivational speakers and loud individualists, rather than to the biblically thinking Christian who often sits beside them at work, all year-round.

Finally, it’s fascinating in this passage that the “Stoics,” who held on to impersonal beliefs, and Epicureans, who elevated pleasure, “conversed” with Paul at all. Of course, Apostle Paul’s mission field elsewhere (like to the Galatians) sometimes got hostile; he exerted himself—he needed to—but here before unbelieving pleasure-seekers and idolaters, we see him “conversing and reasoning.”

That’s polite yet instructive; there is certainly a sense in which he’s not always talking down to people in error, people he’s supposed to reach. As an expert in the Torah, he probably recognizes their God-given human dignity, the image of God in them; the lesson therein is hiding in plain sight. If we are not growing in conversation, in listening well, and in asking good questions, we may not be growing missionally.

May God prepare us all, marketplace workers, to remain aware of the vain gods in these secular corridors even as we point those we spend the most time with to the only true God and Saviour.

May we stay historically and biblically missional in a changing city ridden with idols. Your workplace may not be Greece, but if you are looking, the idols there are opportunities to point to the all-satisfying Christ.

The writer is a member of the core team at Kampala Faith and Work.