Experience: S2 - Day 30

The risk of rejection

Acts 17:19 Then they took him to the high council of the city. “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. 20 “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” 21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)

I have a group of dear friends that desperately try to get together at least once a year to catch up on life, and to talk and wrestle with our beliefs, with the goings on of our world, and with where we think it’s all heading, a well as how we respond to it all.

What I love about these conversations is that they not only bring us closer together as brothers, but they are always driven by one guiding light: our belief and commitment to Jesus.  The reason this is important is that, without Jesus, I think we’d often leave these gatherings depressed over the state of the world.  But with Jesus, we have hope that not only can we make a difference here on this earth, not only can we follow Paul’s admonishment to “rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16, NIV) despite the challenges in our lives and world, but we also remind each other that our lives on this earth are only part of the story.

In Athens, there was a place where people went to simply discuss the latest ideas and trends of the day.  I’m not sure what the purpose of those meetings was, other than being seen as people “in the know.”  But this group heard Paul speaking, sharing a teaching they hadn’t heard before, couldn’t make sense of it, and wanted to know more.

It seems as if they placed a high value on knowledge; the more knowledgeable, the more you can speak to the things happening in the world, the more important you would be seen by others.

But what Paul had to teach them was so much more than mere knowledge; it was life. The question was, would they be willing to see past their thirst for worldly knowledge and be open to receiving that which is bigger than this world? Paul was willing to take the risk of telling them to find out.

Questions:

1. Are there any beliefs you have, or ways you practice your faith, that others have seen as strange or weird?  If so, how did you explain those beliefs and practices?  Did you help them understand, or do you think they walked away still confused?
2. Have you ever had the opportunity to share your faith in a setting that you weren’t sure how it would be received?
3. Do you have a community of people that you can wrestle with about your faith?  If not, might you consider joining a Crosswalk connect group and begin to develop that kind of community?