Today’s story, Acts 14:26-28, is a lot like that.
Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch where they left two years earlier to
preach. The Antioch Christians wanted to hear of their travels and wanted to
hear the things God had accomplished through them.
Paul and Barnabas had visited many towns and
cities in modern day Turkey as well as the Island of Cyprus. They encountered
sorcerers, abusive crowds, Jews who stoned Paul, and even people who thought
Paul was a god. The stories must have been incredible!
But that is far from the best part. God “had opened the door of faith to the
Gentiles.” The Gospel was now available, not just for the Jews, but for all
people, everywhere!
This no doubt caused some problems. The Jews and
Gentiles were not exactly the best of friends, although they tolerated each
other. There were significant cultural differences and significant religious
differences.
Paul’s preaching bridged the gap between the
religious differences. The saving grace of God through Christ’s death and
resurrection was meant for even the Gentiles. Christ displaced the multiple
gods that the Greeks had, such as Hermes, Zeus, Neptune, Artemis and so forth. However,
the Jewish Christians were going to have to live with many of the cultural
differences, regardless how distasteful some of them might be.
Today we have the same obligation to preach Christ
crucified that Paul had 2000 years ago. Our risk of being stoned or driven out
of town for doing this is probably remote. However, we do have to deal with
cultures that are different than we are used to, and I am not speaking of just
ethnic differences.
There are things that some non-Christians do that
irritate me. However, when trying to reach them with Christ, I have to overlook
my irritation and carry out my assignment.
That is what Paul did, and that is what I can do
too!
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