Gather to Go:: How to Reach a Lost Culture
The Point: If we want to reach a lost culture, we must be willing to engage it with the Gospel.
Text: Acts 17:16-34
Question: How can we reach a lost culture?
1) Understand that everyone worships something
"16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. " -Acts 17:16
"An idol is something within creation that is inflated to function as God. All sorts of things are potential idols, depending only on our attitudes and actions toward them...Idolatry may not involve explicit denials of God’s existence or character. It may well come in the form of an over-attachment to something that is, in itself, perfectly good...an idol can be an object, a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, a hero- anything that can substitute for God."
"An idol is anything in our lives that occupies the place that should be occupied by God alone. Anything that holds my life and my devotion, anything that is central in my life, anything that seems to be vital, anything that is essential to me; an idol is anything by which I live and on which I depend. Anything that moves and rouses and attracts and stimulate me is an idol. An idol is anything that I worship, anything to which I give much of my time, and attention, my energy, and my money; anything that holds a controlling position in my life is an idol." -Martyn-Lloyd Jones
"Whatever your heart clings to or relies on for ultimate security." -G.K. Beale
Takeaway:
a) What am I worshipping?
Questions to ask:
- What makes me sad?
- What makes me angry?
- What brings me the most joy?
- What makes me feel safe and secure?
- What do I complain about the most?
- Where do I make financial sacrifices?
- What am I scared to lose?
- What structures my calendar?
- What worries me?
- Where do I look for my identity?
b) Does seeing idolatry affect me?
"16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. " -Acts 17:16
"15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him." -Colossians 1:15-16
Question: What is my typical response to seeing lostness: ranting, retreating, or engaging?
2) Be willing to lean in and engage
"17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new." -Acts 17:17-21
Takeaways:
a) Ask Questions
b) Use things in the culture
"Consider also this: every great story has a rescue. Jack will come to rescue Rose. William Wallace will rise up to rescue Scotland. Luke Skywalker will rescue the princess and then the free peoples of the universe. Nemo's father rescues him. Nathaniel rescues beautiful Cora-not just once, but twice. Neo breaks the power of the Matrix and sets a captive world free. Aslan comes to rescue Narnia. I could name a thousand more. Why does every great story have a rescue? Because yours does." -John Eldridge
3) Point people to the only source of life
"22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”" -Acts 17:22-31
Takeaways:
a) Share my Restoration Story
b) Point them to Jesus
