MESSAGE FOR US TODAY AUGUST 18 then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ Hill, and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you (Acts 17:22–23). When Paul went to Athens, first of all he ministered in the Jewish Synagogue (17:17). Paul reasoned to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah and proved it from the Scriptures. In the marketplace where great crowds always gathered, he began daily to minister, with a platform, so to speak, for public speaking. Paul took the opportunity to minister the Gospel. At a point in time, he was opposed by the “philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, who encountered him” (Acts 17:18). The Epicureans were those who claimed that pleasure and gratification of the appetites were the only ends in life. The Stoicks taught that man was not to be moved by either joy or grief. These groups challenged Paul’s statements about Christ. However, Paul’s arguments were so convincing, so powerful, and so moving that he was invited to speak on Mars’ Hill, which was, at certain times, somewhat similar to our Supreme Court. Strangely enough, those who brought Paul to this place labeled what he said as mere babblings, but yet they thought it important enough to be taken to the highest court in Athens. Even though the Message Paul preached that day at Mars’ Hill was phenomenal, to say the least, still, I’m not sure if the great Apostle was pleased with the direction he took. In other words, I wonder if he felt he had missed the Perfect Direction of the Holy Spirit. And what do I mean by that? When Paul left Athens, even though he had had some small success, I’m sure he had not seen what he would have liked to have seen. He now departs for Corinth. A Church was established there, and many people were saved. After going on to other fields of endeavor, his first recorded Epistle to the Church at Corinth is given to us. In that Epistle, he said, “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your Faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the Power of God” (I Cor. 2:2, 4–5). Does this tell us that, reaching back to when Paul left Athens and was on his way to Corinth, he no doubt sought the Lord earnestly about how he could make spiritual inroads into the city of Corinth, one of the most jaded cities in the world? I personally believe at that time the Holy Spirit spoke to the great Apostle’s heart and told him, “Preach the Cross!” Corinth was an excellent test case. It was simultaneously a city of unbridled vice and a city of philosophy—the two hardest nuts to crack, so to speak. The Holy Spirit would show Paul that if the preaching of the Cross would work here, it would work anywhere. As stated, he did not preach the Cross at Athens, and the results were meager. He preached the Cross in jaded Corinth, and the results were phenomenal. That’s why he also said: “But we preach Christ Crucified (this is the Foundation of the Word of God, and thereby, of Salvation), unto the Jews a stumblingblock (the Cross was the stumblingblock), and unto the Greeks foolishness (both found it difficult to accept as God a dead Man hanging on a Cross, for such Christ was to them [I Cor. 1:23]). That is to be the Message of every God-called Preacher. We must preach the Cross, that is, if we are to see anything truly done for the Lord! POSTED BY PASTOR GIL
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 23:58:33 +0000
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