Category: Devotions

Leaving is as important as entering

Acts 17:33 “At that, Paul left the Council.”

Paul had understood their faith. He had understood their history. He knew the story of the unknown God. He knew about Epimenides of Crete and Aratus of Cilicia. He quoted these poets. He built bridges. He spoke of God the creator and the sustainer. He spoke of God the ruler and father of all and the judge. But when he spoke of Jesus the people didn’t want to hear, some did, but most didn’t. Others wanted him to finish what he was saying and they would listen again to him later.

So, what should he do?

Carry on building bridges?

Modify his message of Jesus and the resurrection?

If Paul couldn’t talk about Jesus then he didn’t want to waste his breath on anything else. Everything else was a build up to this one major point: Jesus!

Let’s talk about Jesus and if we cannot after all we have invested into the relationship then there is only one thing we should do. That is to leave.

Paul left at that. At what? At the point of being shut down.

We should all know when to exit as well as when to enter.

What is your exit strategy?

There are always some.

 

Acts 17:31 “When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, ‘We want to hear you again on this subject.’

There is always one, at least one, sometimes some.

Recently someone said to me “I haven’t heard anyone criticise your work, everyone says how great you are doing. I have only heard one person say something against you.”

Now guess who I was thinking about in that conversation?!

There is always one, sometimes there are some.

Recently I was in a church, a beautiful refurbished church. It is amazing. Before the service started I was just marvelling at the building to 2 nice old ladies. They sneered and mumbled something.

There are always two, sometimes there are some.

Recently I walked into a group of four pastors who were discussing the ministry. But on earshot I realised that though these guys have the awesome privilege of what I think is one of the best jobs in the world they were actually taking it in turns to denounce their positions as the worst jobs God ever thought of. I didn’t stay.

There are always four, sometimes there are some.

Jesus had people sneer at him, so why should we expect anything different?

So let’s get over it. Let us settle this once and for all. In who you are, what you do, no matter how much you give or how hard you work there is always some who will sneer at you.

Let us love the some because we already love the many.

 

 

Apollo was wrong 
Acts 17:31 “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
Creator, sustainer, ruler, father and now judge, this is our God.

Paul says that this God has set a time when he is going to do what the Jewish tradition always said he would do, indeed what he must do, he will set the world right and bring it to account, he will judge it, but how? Here is the crescendo coming to the finale. This is the pinnacle of Paul’s preaching, this is what we have been waiting for. How will God judge? Of course we know how. It is the risen Jesus Christ. 

Now here is some interesting information that you may or may not know. 

Six centuries earlier, Apollo who inaugurated the court of the Areopagus had declared in an Aeschylus’s play these words, “when a man dies and his blood is shed on the ground, there is no resurrection.” Now pause a moment. On that same spot Paul 600 years later declares that God unveiled himself by appointing a man to be a judge for the whole world and had certified this by raising him from the dead!

Did Paul know this historical truth? Er, yes!

The resurrection has heralded the commencement of God judging the world and making the world right. Jesus is the one part of the physical universe that has already been set right. Jesus is therefore the one person through whom everything else will also be set right. 

So let me finish with this thought.

600 years and a man says famously that once a man dies there is no resurrection. 600 years later Jesus proves that man wrong. 

What man says to you is only man. 

Man may have cursed you or laid claims to something that they feel is unchangeable but God changes what man cannot change. God always outruns and outdoes man. 

Man may say something to you but it is what God says that is important. 

Apollo was wrong. He was proven wrong. The resurrection of Jesus proves it. 

Today if someone has said to you, ‘that will never happen’, well, Jesus will prove them wrong, Jesus in you will show them that is foolish to say never when God is still on the throne. 

In the past …. but now
Acts 17:30. “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”

Paul continues and is heading to his finale, that is Jesus.
However, this morning I want to share something that was laid on my heart as I read this. 

Today I am at my mother-in-laws house because I am helping to move her from a house she has lived in for 49 years in to a bungalow. It will be an emotional day I am sure as 49 years is a whole lot of memories. In the house for 49 years, BUT NOW, the bungalow. It is a new chapter, a new day.
So that’s what I want to share. Five words: In the … but now.
We all have a past and (check your pulse), we all are in the now. 

Can you move in the now moments ? Or are you stuck in the past?
Can you honour the past and not have to rubbish it? Can you carry the past for wisdom sake but also know this is the NOW time?
Can you begin again? In the past you were a different person to now. Now you have changed. You have changed not to live in the past but for now. 
In the past you may have been defeated but now is the time to try again. 
In the past your church had great moves of God but now the church is ready for God to do even greater acts.
You may like to stay in the past but now is for moving in the present in order to create a future. 
But now is a new moment, a new day that you have never seen before. In the past you were prepared for this very time. Psalm 118 tells us to rejoice in this now moment, in this new day, for the Lord has made it. 
In the past … but now. Whatever that means for you may today be a moving day and may it be God who moves in and through you as you move with love and grace towards others. 

This is our God!

Acts 17: 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by human design and skill.”

Paul’s gospel presentation commences with saying the unknown God they worship is the God he worships. His beliefs have some similarity to theirs, there are obvious differences, but he builds bridges and doesn’t alienate. Their unknown God is THE creator God, THE sustaining God, THE ruling God and now through the use of the lyrics of their historical poets Paul announces that this is THE God who is the father of all. Brilliant! It doesn’t get any better than this, well, it does actually, but that’s for the next few days for us to discover!

This is not necessarily a model for evangelism but may God grant us the ability to know more of the beliefs and the culture of those around us before we begin to speak our evangelistic mantra.

I love to see my friend share his faith with Muslims. He knows the Koran very well indeed. As he shares Christ I often hear him say something like this, “It says in the Koran …” My friend has planted over 100 churches in difficult countries and led thousands to Christ and he has done it through not only the knowledge of the Bible but the important knowledge of the Koran and the Islamic culture.

So what does Paul say? He says this, “All of us receive our life from him and it is ludicrous to think of him as some statue. This unknown God of yours shows you do not know everything. What you do not know is who I present to you now. This is our God.” Paul has found a way to connect their unknown god altar and statue to the divine being God. He is yet to connect God with what he has been preaching and why he is indeed standing in front of the Areopagus, that is, Jesus and his resurrection (v18). He is nearly there, the finale is coming. We are in this crescendo of a presentation. It is exciting and thrilling and may God grant us wisdom to learn from him.

 

Ariana Grande

Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.”

 

In these last few verses we have seen how Paul knew the beliefs of those he was speaking to, those of the Epicureans and the Stoics.

But today in this verse we see how Paul knew their history also.

When I was a teenager, I remember singing a chorus (that’s what we used to call them back then!) with the words, “In him we live and move and have our being”. I truly believed these were words from the Bible and they are but not really!

In order for Paul to illustrate the gospel that God is the creator, sustainer, ruler of all and now he will be saying father of all, he quotes from their history. These are not words from the Old Testament and Paul will regularly quote from there in his writings. Paul is saying “God is near but you know this, look at your poets and what they have said.”  In the first one he quotes from a 6^th BC poet Epimenides of Crete. As we have already seen this poet was directly linked to the story of the Unknown God (see 19^th May) who healed the city of the plague. He wrote, “In him we live and move and have our being”, “He is near and our lives are lived in him, it is how we were created to be.”  The second is from a 3^rd BC Stoic author Aratus of Cilicia. He wrote, “We are his offspring” and Paul is using this to show that we are the unknown God’s children. He is still speaking about their ‘unknown’ god. He is still building bridges. He does this by quoting 2 of their historical pagan poets who when writing were not thinking of his God. The point is Paul was culturally relevant.

In the aftermath of the terrible evil that happened at the Manchester it has been heartening to see the people of the city pulling together and helping one another. I believe if Paul was alive in Manchester today, in trying to present the gospel to them that though evil struck them they will get through this, may not of quoted the Old Testament scriptures but rather the opening song on that dreadful night that Ariana Grande sang. The words are “Baby, don’t you know All of them tears going to come and go. Baby you just got to make up your mind, We decide it. We’re going to be alright.”

The irony is moving. Little did anyone know how powerful these words would be for the devastated city, the grieving families, they were prophetic words.
Some will say but where is the cut and thrust of the gospel? Where is the ABC of salvation? The answer is look at Paul and how there are times when you need to go slowly. You need to demonstrate you are relevant, that you know something of the people you are talking to. We need to know their faith and the history of the people we are reaching and the words of Ariana Grande’s opening song of her set-list of that terrible night in Manchester. Maybe then people will listen to the gospel message.

The gospel on the morning when it doesn’t make sense.

Acts 17: 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

Paul is preaching to 2 groups of people who are still alive today in a new generation. He has built some bridges with them both. He has found common ground. He has begun by saying the gospel has elements of what you believe: God is the Creator and God is the Sustainer of life.

Paul now moves into the difference of the gospel truth.

The Epicureans are the people who say God is far away and not involved in our lives.

The Stoics are the people who say ‘God’ whatever that might be is in everyone but we cannot change anything in life, it is all down to fate.

I wake this morning to hear of the terrible news that a terror attack has happened in an arena in Manchester, UK. It is these kind of evil events that make people believe what the Epicureans and the Stoics believed. These events are known throughout the world every day.

The gospel is needed more than ever today. The gospel messenger needs to get to the place in the presentation to say, “You are wrong.”

You are wrong if you think God is beyond reach. God is not so far away He cannot be found.

You are wrong if you think God is automatically in you. God is still out there to be sought.

In the moving film ‘Silence’, Father Rodrigues battling in the darkest night of his soul prays what we have perhaps all prayed at some point, “Lord, I fought against your silence.”

At that moment the voice of Jesus is heard, “I suffered beside you. I was never silent.”

After a short exchange Rodrigues concludes, “It was in the silence that I heard Your voice.”

Those held in the terrors of evil today can find God, He is there. He is near to them. In the screams of pain, He can be heard in the silence.

Those watching who feel helpless because of the injustice of fate, they can find a divine plan for life. It starts by seeking after God. He is there. He is waiting.

When you wake in the morning and life doesn’t make sense then the gospel truth is there speaking words of sense in a senseless world.

God is near

Acts 17:26 “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”

Paul’s sermon is carefully crafted to the Epicurean and Stoic listeners. He knew their beliefs and he knew how to present the gospel.

God is the creator and God is the sustainer of what He has created. Both groups were in line with that and would agree. This was good bridge building. Having focused on what they know, Paul ventures into what they do not know.

God is the ruler of all nations. He is not responsible for the terrorism and aggression of certain nations, yet both the history and geography of that nation is under His control. Paul is saying: God created and God sustains and more than this, God is involved.

The Epicureans held to an impersonal view of the gods and the Stoics were known for their fatalism. Now they are hearing that from the creation of the world through Adam, God is indeed personal. The worshippers of Athens gathered at the feet of a plethora of gods and goddesses, but they could never know or be known by them. Paul says, “Your Unknown God can be known!”

Let us not underestimate the impact of this.

The Epicureans and the Stoics are not dead today. You will possibly talk with them in your everyday life. The people who may believe in a God but if He is there is far away from their everyday life and people who feel powerless to do anything about life and they cannot alter anything even if they had the power to do so. The gospel is that God is near. He is involved. Paul will continue with this message. So must we.

Keep building bridges 
Acts 17:25 “And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”
Having got the Epicureans on his side by commencing his presentation with God the creator, Paul now reaches out to the Stoics. They believed that each of us are our own gods and we are connected to one another by a shared divine life.

Paul says God is the creator but also the sustainer of life. He does not need sustaining. He does not need some supply from us. It is us who depend on God. He does not depend on us. He gives all men life and breath … The Stoics are nodding their heads because it is akin to their belief.
Paul addressing these 2 groups of people is saying, “the God I worship is what your doctrines speak of.” Now he could only do this if he knew their faiths. He will point out the difference but first he builds the bridge that is needed.
So let me summarise Paul’s approach:

1. I know what you believe.

2. I am not going to start with what you do not know or what you do not believe in. I will find common ground. Whether that be in the God of creation or a God who sustains man by being in man.
This is still good advice for our gospel approach today.

 

Bridge building 
Acts 17:24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.”

Now we see Paul begin his gospel presentation. Immediately we can see that Paul knew who he was talking to and more importantly he knew what they believed. This will be seen throughout his message.
The Epicureans believed God is far away and that is exactly why he started his message with God the Creator of the universe. No one can limit him or contain him in some building. He is far and beyond. So the Epicureans are sitting up listening to Paul because he has built the bridge for them to come to him to hear more. “We like this Paul, this is a message we can listen to.”

It makes you wonder why the Church is so desperate to point out the differences between them and the world. Surely it makes more sense to build a bridge?