Meditation

Hi there,

Paul's sermon on Mars Hill is one of my favorite passages in scripture. Partly because I am a salesman by background, we see in this exciting passage Paul using all his art and guile to proclaim the Gospel in Athens.​

It's an absolute classic. It's also an incredible encouragement to all of us who live in an increasingly secular age.

This was one of the first passages I sent out in Bible Copy Club, and it originally went to 46 people. Today it's going to 10,000.

The setup from Acts 17 tells us Paul "was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there."

"They said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)​

Paul uses this Athenian disposition to the Gospel's advantage. He is not only clever, but he's also generous, fearless, and persuasive.

But most of all, what comes through from this passage is that our God is living and moving among us. He is not dead; he is not inanimate. He is personal, and he is in us, and we live in him.

Paul's address is an intimate introduction to a personal God.​

Today's text is Acts 17: 22-28. I've provided tomorrow's verses in grey for context.

²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said:

“People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

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 human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

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. 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.​

²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’​

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. ³⁰ In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 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 everyone by raising him from the dead.”​

³² 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.”​

³³ At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Encouragement

¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.​

Jeremiah 29:13

​Andy​

God's Word In Your Hand

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