Dear Student of the Word,
Greetings from the continent of Africa, specifically Zimbabwe. I had some time today, so I thought I would continue our study from over here - otherwise we will be studying Acts well into next year. This week we look at Acts 17 and Paul's ministry in Athens. Many believe Paul preached a magnificent sermon, yet saw little in the way of converts. I discuss that and much more in this week's installment. This week I wrote in part two of this seven-part study:
Study Twenty-Two, Part Two
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. 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. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each 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.'
17:24 – This seems like a basic statement of truth, but the Epicureans and to some extent the Stoics believed that the world was a random accident of creation, sort of like the Big Bang Theory that is popular today. Paul confronted their atheism head on by declaring that God is the Creator. Then Paul took a swipe at the Greek panoply of idols, which was a collection of petty, vain, conceited, erratic and vengeful beings. The Greeks fashioned their gods after the fallen nature of man. The stories of Greek mythology often portrayed humans as being more noble and righteous than their gods!
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them (Psalm 135:15-18).
The Greeks fashioned petty gods and, true to Psalm 135, they became just like them. Paul came to deliver the truth so they could be set free from their idolatrous bondage. What are you doing to deliver others from their individual idolatrous bondage?
17:25 – Paul was undoubtedly familiar with Jeremiah’s words:
For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good” (Jeremiah 10:3-5).
God gives breath to all living things because He is life and the source of life. We worship God not because He needs our worship (as was true with the Greek gods), but because He is worthy of worship. Do you see the difference? God needs nothing from man; He is self-sufficient.
17:26 – Since we are descendants of Adam and Eve, we share in a common humanity and nature. Furthermore God establishes when and where we will live, so our ethnicity and life isn’t a random act, but the will of God! God chose your nationality, so you can exalt in your ethnic origin as a gift of God. Don’t idolize your heritage, however, for there is no one people group who is superior to another. They are all the same in the sight of God.
17:27 – The Gentiles had to grope after God, for up to this point, God had not chosen to reveal Himself to many of them. Yet He is not far from every man, and Paul was there to declare the way to God in Christ. While there was a season when the Gentiles had little access or knowledge of God, that season was now changing due to the work of Christ.
17:28 – This is one of the most basic verses for me: “In Him we live, move and have our being.” God is all and all. We exist because of Him, whether one knows Him or not. We are His children by creation, but only salvation in Christ connects a person to the Fatherhood of God. Until then we are objects of God’s wrath, cut off from God’s grace by sin:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath . But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:3-5).
Don’t ever be lulled into thinking that everyone shares in God’s grace, whether they are in Christ or not. They may share in the common grace of life and physical existence, but they are cut off from eternal life without Christ.
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the unpublished volume of The Faith Files.
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I NEED $500: If I receive another $500 before I leave Kenya on December 10, I can give two of our orphan ministries $1,000 each to buy food. Can you help me out? If you can, please do so through my website or by sending a check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 8882, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-0882. Write and tell if me if you send a check and I will front the money until I get home. Thank you and God bless you!
KENYA TIME: After Zimbabwe, I will be in Kenya for a week. I will be conducting a three-day seminar from December 5-7 for The Pacific Institute and then a one-day seminar on Saturday, December 10 for Royal and Rich. I am attaching the Royal and Rich flier to this post (click on it to enlarge). If you are interested in The Pacific Institute, I can send you plenty of material that describes exactly what that is - which is quite simply the best training for goal setting and change with which I have ever been involved! Write me for more information and then invest in yourself at one or both of these outstanding seminars.
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