Sneering at the gospel
This week is on Acts 17:32-34:
Every now and then, when I get time to leave my office during lunch, I notice men on the street corner preaching the gospel. They are almost universally jeered by the local college kids they are trying to reach. These are college kids who will politely listen to international criminals deliver talks, and who wear pictures of terrorists admiringly on their t-shirts. These things don't offend them. The gospel, on the other hand, is something to sneer at.
To be honest, the whole resurrection thing seems kind of nuts when you first hear about it. Our post-Christian culture depicts death as the final exit. We do everything we can to hold onto life. We worship youth and push the aged to the edges of our society so we don't have to deal with it. When people are dying, we spend millions of dollars to stick tubes into them and keep their bodies running, like some kind of living taxidermy project. When they finally do die, we stuff and mount them like trophies, and then stand around gawking at the body, talking to it like it's alive. Death is the irreversible exit. Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die.
Resurrection is a slap in the face of our death-worshiping, death-fearing society. The idea that death isn't the end of everything challenges our whole value system. It makes our choices seem silly. It is easier to mock it, and to go back to our old secular way of thinking than it is to dwell on what it really means. I haven't even seen crooked politicians get jeered as consistently as these old gospel-yelling guys do.
The story about Paul preaching to the Greeks shows that nothing is new in that department. People don't like to hear the gospel. The good news is that people do sometimes respond to the truth. Paul reached some people via the yelling evangelism thing. People find God via tracts, or being spoken to by annoying pushy strangers on the street. People find God from movies and concerts and words spoken to them by friends. The fact that it is annoying, or offensive, doesn't necessarily make it wrong.
If you are someone who God has given this gift to share the gospel, or if you are called to preach, don't let people's negative reactions stop you. People are going to be offended by the gospel, no matter what form it takes. They'd rather cling to the death they know than be open to the life being offered to them. Don't make it about you. It's been like that since the beginning.
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.” At that, Paul left the Council. 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.
Every now and then, when I get time to leave my office during lunch, I notice men on the street corner preaching the gospel. They are almost universally jeered by the local college kids they are trying to reach. These are college kids who will politely listen to international criminals deliver talks, and who wear pictures of terrorists admiringly on their t-shirts. These things don't offend them. The gospel, on the other hand, is something to sneer at.
To be honest, the whole resurrection thing seems kind of nuts when you first hear about it. Our post-Christian culture depicts death as the final exit. We do everything we can to hold onto life. We worship youth and push the aged to the edges of our society so we don't have to deal with it. When people are dying, we spend millions of dollars to stick tubes into them and keep their bodies running, like some kind of living taxidermy project. When they finally do die, we stuff and mount them like trophies, and then stand around gawking at the body, talking to it like it's alive. Death is the irreversible exit. Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die.
Resurrection is a slap in the face of our death-worshiping, death-fearing society. The idea that death isn't the end of everything challenges our whole value system. It makes our choices seem silly. It is easier to mock it, and to go back to our old secular way of thinking than it is to dwell on what it really means. I haven't even seen crooked politicians get jeered as consistently as these old gospel-yelling guys do.
The story about Paul preaching to the Greeks shows that nothing is new in that department. People don't like to hear the gospel. The good news is that people do sometimes respond to the truth. Paul reached some people via the yelling evangelism thing. People find God via tracts, or being spoken to by annoying pushy strangers on the street. People find God from movies and concerts and words spoken to them by friends. The fact that it is annoying, or offensive, doesn't necessarily make it wrong.
If you are someone who God has given this gift to share the gospel, or if you are called to preach, don't let people's negative reactions stop you. People are going to be offended by the gospel, no matter what form it takes. They'd rather cling to the death they know than be open to the life being offered to them. Don't make it about you. It's been like that since the beginning.
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