Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 27 November 2014 “Paul: God’s grace to skeptics"

Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 27 November 2014 “Paul: God’s grace to skeptics"
Today's Scripture: Acts 17:13-15 But it wasn’t long before reports got back to the Thessalonian hard-line Jews that Paul was at it again, preaching the Word of God, this time in Berea. They lost no time responding, and created a mob scene there, too. With the help of his friends, Paul gave them the slip—caught a boat and put out to sea. Silas and Timothy stayed behind. The men who helped Paul escape got him as far as Athens and left him there. Paul sent word back with them to Silas and Timothy: “Come as quickly as you can!”
Athens
16 The longer Paul waited in Athens for Silas and Timothy, the angrier he got—all those idols! The city was a junkyard of idols.
17-18 He discussed it with the Jews and other like-minded people at their meeting place. And every day he went out on the streets and talked with anyone who happened along. He got to know some of the Epicurean and Stoic intellectuals pretty well through these conversations. Some of them dismissed him with sarcasm: “What an airhead!” But others, listening to him go on about Jesus and the resurrection, were intrigued: “That’s a new slant on the gods. Tell us more.”
19-21 These people got together and asked him to make a public presentation over at the Areopagus, where things were a little quieter. They said, “This is a new one on us. We’ve never heard anything quite like it. Where did you come up with this anyway? Explain it so we can understand.” Downtown Athens was a great place for gossip. There were always people hanging around, natives and tourists alike, waiting for the latest tidbit on most anything.
22-23 So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. “It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, to the god nobody knows. I’m here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you’re dealing with.
24-29 “The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?
30-31 “God overlooks it as long as you don’t know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he’s calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32-34 At the phrase “raising him from the dead,” the listeners split: Some laughed at him and walked off making jokes; others said, “Let’s do this again. We want to hear more.” But that was it for the day, and Paul left. There were still others, it turned out, who were convinced then and there, and stuck with Paul—among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris.
Reflection Questions:
In Athens, the “other religions” capital of his world, the apostle Paul was “invited” (verse 19 said “they took him into custody”) to speak to a curious, skeptical group. He didn’t criticize their “idolatry,” but gave us a model for dealing graciously and respectfully with people of different faiths while still declaring his own faith clearly. In verse 28, he even quoted a Cretan philosopher named Epimenides and the Stoic poet Aratus.
• When Paul showed enough familiarity with Greek and Roman writers to quote them spontaneously, was he “selling out” his own faith or finding creative ways to open doors in the hearts and minds of his hearers? How have you seen a spirit open to ideas, cultures and lifestyles other than your own allow you to move toward conversation rather than confrontation?
• In Vanishing Grace, Yancey said, “It makes a huge difference whether I treat a nonbeliever as someone who is wrong rather than as someone who is on the way but lost … Instead of condemning his audience to hell for practicing idolatry, Paul begins by commending their spiritual search, especially their devotion to an ‘unknown God.’” How did Paul’s approach echo the way Jesus himself lived out the heart of God (cf. John 3:16-17)? How can you share your faith with non-religious and nominally religious people without condemning them?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you knew the brokenness, the shallowness and the ugliness of our world much more clearly than I do. Yet you came not to condemn, but to offer grace. Help me to grow daily in my ability to do the same. Amen.
Insight from Kari Burgess
Kari Burgess is a Program Director for the Catalyst team, handling promotion and marketing for all of the conferences held at Resurrection, as well as registration and coordinating hospitality volunteers.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I plan to EAT tomorrow. I love Thanksgiving, and I love Thanksgiving food. I love it for the traditions and memories it evokes and I love it purely for the deliciousness of it. Turkey and stuffing with gravy drizzled over the top, real mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, my grandmother’s cranberry salad…all of it. And then the pie. I love pie. I may heap a tablespoon of whipped cream on top of my pumpkin pie. And maybe another heaping tablespoon. Don’t tell anyone, but maybe even ANOTHER heaping tablespoon of whipped cream. And I don’t deserve it. Not at all.
Imagine those heaping tablespoons of whipped cream being the grace extended to us by God. Would you like another one of those? I know I sure would. And do I deserve it? No way.
Simply put, grace is God’s unmerited favor. A kindness from God that we don’t deserve. God sent his grace down to all of us in the form of his son, Jesus, to save us from our sins.
But what does it mean to show grace to others? Extending grace to others is to show kindness even when it’s undeserved, a reflection of what God does for us. Being kind to someone even if they are not kind to us, forgiving, responding kindly to a criticism, looking for ways to be kind to a stranger, saying you are sorry are all ways to show grace to other people.
In today’s text, Paul speaks to a group of skeptics and extends grace to them in a way that meets them where they are theologically and uses their current context to show them the love of God. He doesn’t criticize or tell them they are missing the point. He doesn’t belittle them or tell them that their idols are blasphemous. Instead he finds common ground and builds the case for the one true God using examples they could understand.
We are called to heap grace on skeptics and sinners the same way that God heaps grace on all of us. We are called to meet skeptics where they are, on their terms, finding common ground and ways to engage in their own environment. This doesn’t mean endorsing a faith you don’t believe in or engaging in sinful activity in order to make friends with a skeptic. But it does mean withholding judgment and loving people regardless of circumstances.
This Thanksgiving, let’s heap tablespoons of grace on those around us.

Thanksgiving Life Recipe

2 Heaping cups of patience

1 Heart full of love

2 Hands full of generosity

Dash of joy

1 cup full of understanding

Sprinkle generously with kindness

Add plenty of faith and mix well.

Add heaping tablespoons of grace

Spread over a period of a lifetime.

Best shared with everyone you meet![Author Unknown]

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