welshie's wanderings

RUCU Houseparty 2005 - Freedom Opposed

Acts 17:1-10.

"The best laid plans can go to waste." We can feel like this when we're talking to people about Jesus...

Looking at Acts, doesn't look like the plans are coming together. In Luke 21:12 Jesus says "...they will lay hands on you and persecute you."

How do we hold together the reality that Jesus is BOTH King AND the suffering servant?

Today's socieety:- "Whatever works wins". "You've got your belief, I've got my belief - great, everyone's happy."

Why do you want to be a Christian? Why do you want Jesus in your life?

Genuine Christian faith is NOT based on what you GET from Jesus. We don't love Jesus because of what he adds to our lives. It's because He is supremely worthy of our love.

The gospel collides with a secular culture
Acts 16:16, 19 - we see the love of money, exploitation. The slave girl incident is a little spark but starts a huge fire - city riots. It's interesting that being motivated by money can often lead to this sort of behaviour.

Opposition is caused by thedevil. 2 errors we can make - 1 is to speak about him too much, and the other is not to speak abot him at all...

The devil is real. Bible makes that clear. But God is effortlessly more powerful.

When opposition comes it is a faith centered on Christ and His glory which equips us ot keep going.

Persistence, Priorities, Perspective.

Perspective
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. What is your light in the dark when things are going wrong? For Paul and Silas it was Jesus.

Priorities
Paul and Silas could have avoided this situation...in Acts 16:37 Paul says "They beat us publicly without trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison". Why didn't he say this earlier so they could have been released earlier?!
Acts 16:40 - who do they go to see when they first get out of prison? New Christians - they want to encourage them.

The Gospel collides with a religious culture
Acts 17:5. Jealousy. So their response? Riot.

As the gospel goes out, people are changed. Culture is shaped by the people IN the culture, so if people are changed, the culture will change. People won't like that! People don't like change!
As Christ is preached, the culture wil come into collision with that.

What does this mean for us at uni? What's the culture at uni all about? How am I gonna stand?

Think about hill walking - when you get to the top you get chance to look back at where you came from.
What's happened so far in Acts? The gospel advances despite opposition. Jesus steamrolls through it. In fact, he uses it!

Shawshank Redemption quote:- "The music was in my heart and my head. That's the one bit they can't take."

People can't take truth from us! And God is truth! And He lives in our hearts through faith and NOTHING can separate us form the love of God. Hallelujah!

posted by Welshie @ 1:53 pm