When Paul traveled to Athens he was met with a culture where
the majority of the day ‘was spent doing nothing but talking about and
listening to the latest ideas.’ (Acts 17:21)
You know the type of people… they check tarot cards…are guided by their
daily horoscope…visit fortune tellers…follow new age philosophies. Some things never change across the divide of
time, and searching for wisdom in all the wrong places is one of them. To say that Paul was bringing strange ideas
to their ears is a great understatement.
Athens was a city of anything goes where altars were
erected everywhere so not one of their gods would be offended. They even erected an altar with this
inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD just to
cover all bases. So when this newest
teaching talked about the one and only God it must have blown their minds. They were a city of extravagance, worldly
views and freedom to practice immorality.
I am saddened this morning to consider that over the past
decade or two we have built our own Athens with the mantra anything goes. Our country has torn down altars of
God…public prayer…words removed from statements of belief…God Himself. We have erected altars of
self-indulgence…Scripture taken out of context to support our cravings…placing
trust in things that are hollow and empty.
We sometimes fail to share the strange
ideas of the great commission with others fearing we will offend them, when
really they are hungry for the message. The
reality of people supporting anything and everything is the evidence that they
are still searching for the One thing. What
are these strange ideas that we are to not only share with others but follow
ourselves?
The idea that we are here to serve others instead of
ourselves. Christ’s teachings that when
we place ourselves last we will become first.
This strangeness in the kingdom of God includes that when we die daily
to the flesh we will be resurrected daily into His spirit. Included is the idea that if one betrays us
and offends us we offer ourselves in grace and forgiveness without a spirit of
entitlement or bitterness. The strange
ideas go on and on and live inside the 66 chapters of the only Book that has
endured – the Holy Bible. We must not
miss out on our spiritual opportunities in the short time God has assigned to
us on earth. It is no coincidence where
we live and who God has placed in our path to share the message. ‘…and he determined the times set for them and
the exact places where they should live’ Acts 17:26.
We must remember that if we do not recognize Him before
people we will not be recognized before the Father. “If anyone is ashamed of me
and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be
ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels"
Mark 8:38.
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