Acts 17 - Reach out and grab on!

I knew when I started on this journey that I would miss a day or two, that’s why I’m thankful there are 31 days in January and only 28 chapters of Acts! On we go!

In the first four verses of Acts 17 I see that Paul was in the synagogue discussing and debating with those that were present, and what jumps out to me is that the heart of his message to them, where he spent his time and focus and energy with them was the truth of the resurrection. Paul didn’t spend a bunch of time talking about removing sin or how to pray or why we should help people around us or other things that seem to consume a lot of our time and energy today, he focused on Christ. If he could show people and help them see through scripture the truth that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that He had to, and subsequently did, die on the cross and come back to life three days later so their sin could be wiped away forever that everything else was secondary. And, not only was everything else secondary, if they could understand that truth everything else would be a no-brainer. Compelling a non-believer to stop sinning is really difficult if your argument is, “well you aren’t supposed to do X,” or even “well the Bible says Y is wrong.” Instead, if your discussion centers around the fact that Jesus was God’s one and only Son, who went to the cross to remove the penalty of sin and to give you eternal life, that He sacrificed everything He had so you can have a chance to share in His glorious inheritance. God did that for us sinners through Jesus, and the thankfulness and gratitude that comes from knowing that truth compels us to want to live how He wants us to live. If someone can come to understand that truth, you don’t have to convince or compel them to do anything, their recognition of who God is and what He did for them will provide the necessary fuel to get them moving. Paul isn’t trying to convince these people of anything, he is simply presenting what Jesus did for them and letting the Spirit work through that. Once again, it comes back to my trust (or lack thereof) in the Holy Spirit’s work and my faith (usually far too much) in my own ability to convince someone.

I have to come to grips with the fact that someone’s salvation does not depend on me, not even a little bit. If God asks me to share His message with someone I should be faithful to that direction and have those conversations, but I shouldn’t think in my own mind well if I don’t do it their hope at salvation is gone. While thinking that way might help guilt me into responding more often to those callings from God, the negative side of thinking that way is that when someone does respond to the message of the gospel I will be inclined to give myself credit and not God. And, when someone doesn’t respond to the message, I will take the blame and become discouraged. It is a constant battle of humility to remember that it is a privilege and an honor for God to want to use me to accomplish His plans and purposes, but if He wanted to use the trash can sitting outside my house to do it He could. So, I am essentially the equivalent of a plastic container used to hold trash – encouraging!

Verse 6 includes an accusation against Jason and some of the other disciples that is something I would love to be accused of someday. I would love to stand before someone and have another person say, “these men who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” I desperately desire for the people of Indianola and Warren County to look at the churches in Indianola and say these people have turned Indianola and Warren County upside down. What an incredible indictment they received, and what rewards awaited them in Heaven because that was a true statement. I am in ministry to turn the world upside down, and that is a specific phrase I will begin praying for myself, for my church, and for the many churches around, that Warren County would be much much different because of God’s work through His churches.

I love the heart and the action of the Bereans in this next section, and it is my prayer for me and other Christians that we would live this way. It says that they were “open-minded”, and I think it is important to note exactly what is meant by open-minded, because I think that term gets tossed around in a negative way in the church world sometimes. Open minded today often gets equated with liberal or wishy washy in a belief system, which isn’t the case at all. The Bereans were open-minded in that they didn’t immediately write Paul off and say nope, you don’t agree with what we think so we aren’t going to have a conversation. They didn’t hear the beginnings of this “new” theology and this “new” belief system and put their hands over their ears because it didn’t agree with theirs. No, instead they heard Paul out and had a conversation. First of all, I sometimes really stink at this first part, and churches as a whole might be even worse than me. I have my beliefs and my theology and my points of view and when I hear the beginnings of something different I can quickly put up the defenses or zone out and not hear someone out. The problem with doing that is any credibility or relationship that was present is instantly gone. Nobody likes talking with someone who ignores them or writes them off or laughs at their thoughts, and no one goes back over and over to build a relationship with that person. When I treat someone like that, regardless of what they think or believe, I am killing any possibility of a relationship. I don’t care if someone really truly believes in their heart something that is ridiculous and nowhere near the truth, if I write them off I might as well write off any chance at sharing Christ with them as well. So, the first thing I can learn from the Bereans is their open-mindedness, and I am positive there would be millions of more followers of Christ if churches would act this way as well.

Now, the second part of this description of what the Bereans did is essential when we get to a place where we are open to discussing things and hearing people’s thoughts and opinions. They “examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” In other words, they didn’t just hear Paul out and assume what he was telling them was truth. Instead, they searched God’s Word, knowing that it was the absolute truth and if anything Paul said didn’t agree with it there was a problem. That is what I need to do with far more conversations and discussions that I do right now. Before I decide to take someone’s word or advice or pass judgment in thinking they’ve fallen off the deep end with their opinions, I need to examine the Scriptures. The Bereans didn’t immediately say Paul you are nuts or Paul you’re right, they were open-minded by listening and discussing, then they sought out the truth and made their judgment.

Father draw me to your Word more often. Before conversations, in the middle of conversations, after conversations are over. Let my guide and my standard for everything be the truth of your Word, and help me to encourage others around me to hold me accountable to that standard as well.

The last half of chapter 17 has so many parallels to our world today, and the goal and mission of the church needs to be the same thing Paul shared with the people of Athens. There are idols all around, in the lives of everybody, including myself, my neighbors, everybody I know. We all have idols that get in the way of God and detract from the worth and value and praise and commitment that He deserves. Those idols are destroying us, destroying me, and I need to get rid of them. Paul’s address to the people of Athens should be the address that churches bring to the people in a community. The God of this universe, that made all things and all people in all times, did so that we might seek Him, that we might reach out and grab on to Him, realizing that He is not very far away. We as followers of Christ need to be proclaiming this truth to everyone we know. God is not very far away, in fact He is incredibly close to each one of us. All it takes is for us to reach out and He will sweep us off our feet. There are so many parallels between God’s relationship with me and my relationship with my kids, and I feel like I have a fuller understanding of God’s view of me now that I am a dad myself. There are times when my kids need me, like really need me. They have fallen down and gotten hurt or have had their feelings get hurt or something has happened where they really need their daddy. And I, being their daddy, usually can see when those things happen and those situations arise. Sometimes I will run right in and save the day, whether they want me to or not, as all daddies do. But sometimes I wait, sometimes I pause to see if they are going to ask. Sometimes I’ll sit and watch to see if they recognize that they need me and let them seek after help. I’ll be honest I can’t put words to why I do this sometimes, I just do. God treats us that same way sometimes. There are times when we are broken and in desperation and we don’t know what we need and we don’t even ask for it but God sweeps in and saves the day. Those are incredible times, and that’s an incredibly emotional experience. But there are times, lots of times, when I think God sits and waits to see if we are going to ask for help, to see if we are going to reach for Him. He is right there beside us, right there in front of us but He wants us to reach out and find Him, to reach out and grab onto Him. Those are sweet times as well, when we realize we need help, we reach out to find help, and God provides for us. There are so many people all around me that need help, they are broken and hurting and for whatever reason God hasn’t chosen to just sweep in and overwhelm them with His provision, and those people need me to step into their lives and tell them this incredible truth: “God created you so that you might reach out and find Him, and know that He is not very far away!” I need to share that truth with people. I need to help people understand what Acts 17:27 means for them, in their lives, in their situations. I’ve reached out and found Him, I still reach out and hold onto Him, now it’s time to help others do the same.