May 21, 2017 Text: Acts 17:16-31

Dear Friends in Christ,

In 4th and 5th century B.C. the Greek city of Athens was considered to be the greatest city in the world. When Paul arrived it wasn’t as prosperous but was still known for its culture and education. Today people still visit the city to see its ruins, which stand as a testimony to its greatness.
“While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” (v. 16) Paul sees through the blurriness of culture and education and gets a clearer picture of what is happening in this city. They had statues, and temples and shrines and altars throughout the public places to various gods. They had heathen festivals and all their temples to the false gods had priests.
Do we see today in our society what Paul saw then? How many gods are worshipped in and around us? More importantly and to get more personal, how many gods are getting in front of the one, true God for us? Let’s take a peek into your life by asking the question . . .
“WHERE IS YOUR UNKNOWN GOD HIDING?”
The example of Paul raises some questions. How do we look at society? Is our eyesight blurred by our technology and our abundance and our wealth? These are gifts from God but they should never take away from the reality of our sin and the need for salvation. The Athenians were prosperous and they relished in the latest ideas – as long as the latest ideas conformed to their wishes. They connected these two – prosperity and the latest ideas – to their false gods.
What did Paul do? “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.” (v. 17) He didn’t ignore the issues. He was compelled to speak of their sin and to tell them the good news of Jesus and His resurrection.
What do we do with the false gods of our day? Be passive. After all, doesn’t everyone have a right to believe what they want? We walk along with head in cloud and then notice one day, “hey, our world seems to have changed.” Really? Where have you been? To be a Christian we must confront the lie with the truth. The truth flows from our lips, strengthened through the means of grace and the Holy Spirit.
What about you and I? Where are our unknown gods hiding? The god of money. The god of fame. The god of technology. The god of sports. The god of family. The god of work. The god of confrontation. The god of passivity. The god of time. The god of good times – “ain’t we lucky we got ‘em – good times!” Maybe, just maybe our unknown gods aren’t hiding at all. When I read that list did they jump out of the closet or were they comfortably a part of your mindset?
To the Athenians they knew nothing about their unknown god – no name, power, or work. This altar was only one among hundreds and did not draw worshippers away from other gods and altars. The pagans had to build temples and altars to their gods to “live in.” The God of creation transcends earth and any structure on it.
Do the gods we struggle with just live in our mind or are they working to overtake our heart? Can faith falter when we worship at an altar of our own making? Sure, it can. Here we have a whole city struggling. Don’t you think the devil can work on you?
Paul tells the citizens of Athens and us. “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” (v. 30) Like Paul in our text, God works through His Word to help us see our need to let go of our gods. All of the gods that I listed above – money, fame, technology, sports, family, work, confrontation, passivity, time and even good times have a timeframe where they must end. The God of life and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ has no time restrictions. He is Alpha and Omega. Beginning and End. He is eternal and so will we be as we put our trust in our Savior from sin. He obliterates our gods with His cross. He promises a permanent temple of glory with His resurrection. Stop hiding and believe!
John F. MacArthur Jr. rightly comments, “Note the tact with which Paul confronts them. Having noticed the altar to an unknown god, Paul used that to make the very powerful point that their religion was unable to give them certain knowledge of any god, much less the true God. He gently implied that the existence of such an altar was plain admission that they did not know the truth about god at all. He clearly regarded the inscription on the altar as their own testimony of spiritual ignorance.”
This is how we go about our business today. Gently and with tact, but with truth on our side. They may call us “babblers” like they did Paul, but don’t let the personal attacks get in the way of the argument. Scripture is powerful. A Christian with the Holy Spirit on their side can win against the philosophers of our day. You can speak in the marketplace. You know the struggle but you have overcome. Share that. Share the love and forgiveness of this known God. We have the assurance because Christ has been raised from the dead.
Hello? You are hiding no more. Thanks be to the one true God!
Amen.

May 14, 2017                                                             Text:  Acts 6:1-9; 7:2a, 51-60

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Richard Wurmbrand was a Lutheran Pastor in Romania when the Communists came to power.  The Romanian communist government organized a Congress of Cults.  It was a platform for religious leaders to affirm their loyalty to communism and the new government.

Pastor Wurmbrand’s wife, Sabina, said to him, “Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ.”  Wurmbrand warned, “If I do this, you’ll lose your husband.”  “I don’t wish to have a coward as a husband,” she replied.  In a speech broadcast to the whole country and in front of 4,000 others, Wurmbrand confessed that the Christian is to worship Christ alone.

Wurmbrand’s example reminds us that it is against Jesus as God and His authority that His enemies rail against.  We are comforted by remembering that it is our Lord whom they hate as God.

This is the story of Stephen in our text.  He gave a passionate, Bible-based plea for Christ and the faith.  We know it made a difference in at least one life that day.  Let’s see the day enfold and how it brought about . . .

“A CHANGE OF HEART”

Here is the background that Stephen has been placed in.  He is a Christian believer and a member of the Jerusalem church.  “The word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.  And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.” (v. 7-8)

Well this was causing trouble.  Stephen was doing miracles in Christ’s name, something only the called disciples had been doing up to this time.  Certainly the Spirit of the Lord was upon him.  Things were in motion for a change of heart.

Are people ever bothered that you tell them the Lord has healed you?  What about the protection you receive from the Lord’s angels?  Is that ever scoffed at?  We all know someone who could use a change of heart.  Someone questioning the faith or downright antagonistic toward it.  Someone in our inner circle or on the fringes of our personal contacts.  Oh, we want them to have what we have so badly.  Why can’t they see it?

Why the Word melts some hearts while others deliberately and permanently harden themselves against it, no man knows.  The former is due wholly to God’s grace; the latter is due wholly to man’s guilt.  You and I cannot change hearts so don’t get worked up or frustrated.  The Holy Spirit working through the means of grace is the ultimate heart-changer.

This is what Stephen understood.  When he gave his speech in Acts 7, which is not in our text, but which I encourage you to read, he was conducting a Bible Class.  What he said was all true and part of Israel’s history.  His accusers also know the validity of his pronouncement but they can’t turn toward the truth because they are “stiff-necked” and “uncircumcised in heart and ears.”  Stephen is like a surgeon cutting deep into their unbelief.  The corruption needs to come out.  The heart cannot be saved if the cancer has ravaged the other organs.

They were enraged.  Grinding of teeth is heard.  But Stephen preaches on.  He sees Jesus at the right hand of God just as the Savior had promised when He ascended into heaven.  Now he has gone too far.  Jesus is dead.  He has to be dead.  Our ears can’t take anymore, you have offended us.  He is seized, taken outside of the city where stones are readily available and the arms of those men sling hatred and death his way.  But before the onslaught takes him to eternity the Lord allows these five last words that will change hearts.  “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Stephen countered hatred for Jesus with love and truth.  Like our text and from those around us, we get most upset when we are told the truth.  That seems to set us off because we have no defense.  From childhood on we can rant and rave when our conscience and brain battle our heart.  This is the way of Satan.  Who has always yelled the loudest on planet earth?  Those who know the truth told is about them.  Today it is reaching epidemic proportions.  We need to pray for a change of heart.  We need to pray for others to have a change of heart.  Like Stephen, the gift of the Holy Spirit is ours.  He gives words.  He gives actions.  His power can work the miracle that we can’t see.

Who had a change of heart in our text?  “The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.” (v. 58b)  Stephen’s prayer had a notable fulfillment.  Being a young man like Stephen, Saul soon stepped into Stephen’s vacant place, took up the martyr’s work, and carried it forward with great power.  The apostle Paul had a change of heart that could not have been imagined that day.

Don’t give up on the Saul’s in your life.  The Lord might just have a Paul waiting to happen.  Love them.  Pray for them.  Share the Word with them.  Live the faith that changed your heart.

I have now read a couple of books about Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand.  This is what they did.  Richard wrote in Tortured For Christ, “A flower, if you bruise it under your feet, rewards you by giving you its perfume.  Likewise, Christians tortured by the Communists, rewarded their torturers by love.  Many of our jailers were brought to Christ.  And we are dominated by one desire: to give Communists who have made us suffer the best we have, the salvation that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The murdered Jesus, now resurrected seeks in love to change hearts and draw the entire world unto Himself.  May it be so for His sake.

Amen.