When the World Comes to Us
Acts 2
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. (Acts 2:5 NIV)
If I asked you in a Bible study or class about evangelism, “What would you do if the world came to you?” (And I mean the world in the sense of geography, not in terms of saved vs unsaved.)
How would you answer?
Would your brow furrow as you shook your head at me and said: “The world isn’t coming to me. I live here. I work here. I only see people in a small circle of friends. I suppose a foreigner might show up via a foreign exchange program at school or something. An immigrant might buy a house on my street (or rent an apartment in my complex). But other than that, the world isn’t coming to me”?
Or maybe you live in a place where newcomers are the norm, where people passing through from the ends of the earth is a daily thing. In fact, it’s so common you don’t realize the opportunity that is standing in front of you in line when you’re waiting to order your favourite cup of coffee. Maybe you shrug in reply and say, “Um, invite them to church?”
Either one of those answers are not unexpected. They’re pretty normal. When we hear a question like I posed, our thoughts think in the physical: Who do we see at the park or grocery store? What mix of ethnicities do we find in our population? Are they permanent or transient dwellers?
But today, I want to caution you to not get stuck in the physical world. Do what you can to share the goodness of God with the people around you, but don’t see that as the end of the matter.
Today, I’m going to jump up on my soapbox for a minute and discuss a topic that is a favourite for me to rant about – our view of technology.
As I type this into my computer and prepare it to be posted on the internet, I am fully aware that the world is at my fingertips. When I share this post on Substack and Facebook and then, point anyone who sees my post on Instagram to Substack, I am sitting in the corner of my living room just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia, but the people who read this post won’t necessarily be just down the street or across town. They could be from Australia or New Zealand or anywhere between here and there whether you travel east or west. The world is literally on the other side of this computer screen.
Technology is a tool. Social media is a tool. Websites and blogs are tools. Email is a tool. (Insert another technology like ebooks, podcasts, or YouTube here) is a tool. They are all things that can be used to build up or tear down just like I can destroy a house with a hammer or build one.
Just because using new technology isn’t how things have always been done, doesn’t make the technology wrong. Just like using a nail gun to shingle a roof instead of a hammer and nails isn’t wrong. It’s just different.
In Acts 2, we see a massive shakeup in how things have been done. Never before has there been an outpouring of the Holy Spirit as happens in this chapter. Never before has the Spirit come to dwell with all who believe on and follow Christ.
Now, I know, the Holy Spirit is not a new technology. But this filling with the Holy Spirit is new. Things are not going to be done the same way they always were in the past. A new age has dawned. God now dwells with His people in a whole new way.
On that day when this new way of things was unveiled, there were people from “every nation under heaven” in Jerusalem, and also, in Jerusalem, are the disciples, doing what Jesus told them to do – wait.
Why were these people from every nation in Jerusalem? It was for Pentecost, one of the feast days when they were required to journey to Jerusalem.
The world was literally at the doorstep of the upper room in which the disciples were waiting. The world had been brought to them. And it’s this gathering of people from across the world that is about to hear the disciples praising God in their own language. It’s going to be a day to mark down in their journals as a momentous event. It was so momentous that we have it recorded in our Bibles.
And when the world at the disciples’ doorstep began questioning what was going on, do you know what the disciples did?
Well, according to Acts 2:14 (NIV), “Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd.”
And what did he say in this address?
He proclaimed that, according to scripture, Jesus, who had done great and mighty signs among them, who had been crucified, and who had been raised from the dead, was the Messiah.
It was a message that turned the hearts of many to God. It was a message that added about three thousand to the number of disciples of Christ that day. It was a message that was delivered to people from far and near because of a new way of doing things.
It’s Peter who later writes in the first of the New Testament books that bear his name:
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” (1 Peter 3:15 NIV)
He was ready that day, and the fact that something new was taking place didn’t keep him from giving his answer when asked. God had brought the world to him, and he was not going to waste the opportunity he had been given.
With all that in mind, let me ask my question again: What would you do if the world came to you?
It’s a question that demands an answer, for the world is right on the other side of this screen on which you are reading this journal entry. They are hanging out on social media. They are perhaps binging videos. They are consuming content. They are standing at your virtual doorstep.
The tool of technology, quite literally, is in your hands. How are you going to use it? Will you add to and build up the kingdom of God or tear it down? Will you draw others to God or push them away? Will you simply indulge your desires without a thought for anyone else? Will you scorn the use of technology as a ministry tool because it’s not how things have been done historically?
What are you going to do since the world has come to you?