Gospel Moments
Welcome to Grace Outpost! I hope you have had a great week! If you are new to Grace Outpost,
Welcome! I am glad to have you join us. If you have become a regular here, Welcome as
well! I am so glad to have you back and
I would love to know how I can be praying for you.
Have you ever noticed something that moved you in a way that
you had to act? Perhaps it was someone
being bullied and you had to speak up, or maybe a person about to wander into
traffic, etc etc. I can recall one time
while having lunch with my wife at a McDonalds when we lived in California that
this happened to me. It was a Friday afternoon
and the place was surprisingly full with kids, little kids mostly. My wife and I had just sat down when a group
of high school age kids came in and sat down right behind me. They were rowdy and excited, which made me
smile. I used to be one of those kids,
who was always having a good time with my friends and I still talk way too loud
when I get excited. As my wife and I
were talking I kept hearing several curse words coming from the table of high
school kids, now normally it wouldn’t bother me, but the place was packed with
toddlers and the mothers nearby were not appreciative, but kept quiet. I want to make this clear, I understand where
the high school kids were coming from, I too was one of those kids who was
often unaware of my surroundings and was free with letting loose streams of
curse words. I could see that the
mothers around us were bothered, but too intimidated to say anything, so I
decided to act. I leaned over to the
table of high school kids and pointed out that there were toddlers all around
them and that they should watch their language out of respect for the kids and
their moms. At first they were taken
aback and I was waiting for backlash for being the grumpy old guy, but they apologized
to the mothers and went back to talking now aware of the kids and doing their
best to curtail their profanity.
I am sure you can think of a circumstance where you were
moved to action because of something you have seen or noticed. If not, I know you can imagine such a
scenario that would make sense for you.
If you have been following along this week with our Facebook page or our
Instagram account, you might have noticed that the daily Bible posts were all
from the same chapter of Acts this week.
That is because this week I have been drawn to the story of Paul in Athens,
found in Acts 17:16-34.
16
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within
him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 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. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler
wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign
divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they
took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new
teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to
our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the
Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing
except telling or hearing something new.
22
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I
perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and
observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this
inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this
I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being
Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he
served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to
all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every
nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined
allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they
should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is
actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
“‘In
him we live and move and have our being’;
as
even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For
we are indeed his offspring.’
29
Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like
gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people
everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the
world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given
assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
32
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others
said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their
midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius
the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
So prior to arriving in Athens Paul had to flee from Berea
and he is separated from Timothy and Silas, ending up in Athens. He
sends for Timothy and Silas, but now finds himself in Athens with an unplanned
and unexpected stop. I don’t know about
you, but when the unexpected impacts my plans, going with the flow is not often
my first reaction. If you are a planner
like I am then you know when plans get changed it is irritating. We are going to see that Paul has learned to
live by the Spirit believing that every place he finds himself is an
opportunity for mission. We will see
that there are three things that Paul does to live a missionary posture, he is
aware, arranged (prepared, give me a break on this one, I needed another ‘A’
word), and he takes action.
Verse 16 tells us that while he was waiting his spirit was
provoked by the idolatry he saw around him.
He immediately turns inconvenience to his plans into mission. It is his Awareness of his surroundings that
brings this about. By not letting the
delay and unexpected detour on his journey become a crisis, he is able to
process the culture around him. Athens
was the religious center of Greece and one could worship almost any god one
could think of, even those unknown. When
speaking at the Areopagus Paul references an altar to the unknown god and he
uses this as an entry point to discuss the Gospel there before the
philosophers. In the midst of sharing
the Gospel, he uses two quotes from some of their own poets, showing his
awareness again of their culture.
So Paul was aware, but he was also arranged, or
prepared. Paul not only believed the
Gospel, but was ready to articulate why he believed. Sometimes he shared his story, we all have a
story of how we came to believe in Jesus and to follow him. Other times he appealed to people through
their culture and understanding, such as seen here in Athens. Paul begins by acknowledging that the people
of Athens are zealous in their religious observation, he even pokes a bit of
fun in discussing the altar to the unknown god.
Paul uses this altar to a god they may not know to speak of God the
creator of heaven and earth. He goes on
to talk about God not living in temples or needing to be served by human hands,
in this he is speaking directly to their practice of idol worship. Inside their temples they had statues of
their gods to which the followers would attend to. Throughout this account Paul shows that he
understood their culture and was ready to speak the Gospel in a way that was
meaningful in that context. He spoke
directly to their practices and engaged their understanding from the already
present ideas that fit the Gospel.
We can see that Paul was ready to share the Gospel in all
settings, lastly we see that he took action.
He didn’t just stop at noting the need, nor in thinking about how to
engage with the Gospel, he actually did it.
We see that he went into the synagogues and spoke to people in the
marketplace everyday, we see that it was here when he had the conversation with
the philosophers that lead to his invitation to speak at the Areopagus.
Paul’s attitude to look for where God was moving no matter
where he was and to use every circumstance as an opportunity to share Jesus
with people was driven because he valued people. He was moved by the idolatry because of the
death that it represented. God values
people and he has people in every corner of the world through all layers of
society. God gave up his son so that we
might be saved from our sin. Jesus came
and died on the cross so that we could be reconciled to God in relationship,
and through his resurrection we have hope of eternal life with him! For this
posture to take root in us, we must begin to see the lost as Jesus does. Jesus was not afraid of being around sinners,
he deliberately spent time amongst them sharing the great news of the hope
found in him. Paul and the apostles
continued that work, which has continued on down to us. Whenever I hear a talk on evangelism, I get a
picture of someone marking up conversions on the wall as if they were a world
war II ace marking kills on their plane.
But that is not what it is about, it is about understanding that without
Jesus we are the walking dead, life can only be known through Jesus. The values of God’s kingdom differ with that
of the world, but the treasures of God’s kingdom far outweigh any amount of treasure
found here on earth.
Maybe you are not a follower of Jesus today, that is okay,
but I want you to know that God cares for you deeply. God values you and has a calling just for
you, he made you with intention and has a purpose for your life. If you just think we are quacks, I get
that. I used to be a non believer too, I
didn’t grow up in the church and became a believer on my own in high
school. I hope you understand the
motivation behind our desire to share the Gospel with you, not only do we
believe that it is a matter of death and life, but we care for you and desire
to see you find the joy and contentment that can only come from God.