David Ralph

Sensitivity

Acts 17 records three encounters that Paul has with three groups of people who live in three different places – the Thessalonians, the Bereans, the Athenians.  In the first two encounters we find Paul in the local synagogue “reasoning and explaining and proving from the scriptures” who Jesus was and why Jesus came.  He is in the building of a faith community and he is using the Old Testament scriptures to teach and explain about this person named Jesus.  But his encounter with the Athenians is a radical departure from the first two encounters.  He is in the marketplace or the town square and there is no mention of his use of scripture.   Instead of direct references to the scriptures he makes direct references to the various statues and images of the “gods” of that culture focusing primarily on the “altar to the unknown God”.  He understood and was sensitive to the cultural climate of his surroundings  and spoke and reasoned with that climate as his backdrop.  He didn’t approach it the same way as he did in the first two encounters.  Listen to his own words –  ”as I walked around and carefully looked at your objects of worship, I noticed…”  He was fully aware of and sensitive to the  cultural dynamics of his audience and he spoke to them from this place of awareness and sensitivity.  There is no mention of Jesus in this dialogue, only of God.  There is no mention of Jesus’ death and resurrection which was the hear in his teaching in the synagogues, instead he  talks about the life giving character of God.  They had reduced their “gods” down to images and statues that were displayed in town square and religious temples.  Paul talks about the impossibility of putting God in that kind of box.  To them, their gods were cold and distant and uninterested in human affairs.  Paul describes God as being close – that they could reach out and touch him.

I love the sensitivity that Paul had for his audience.  He took the time to carefully understand the unigue dynamics of that culture and then he shared about God in a way that they could relate to and understantd.  When he was with those who had a religious background he used the scriptures to reason with them.  When he spoke to those who had no spiritual worldview he reasoned with them in a different way. 

Before we share the life giving, life changing message of Jesus, we need to first carefully understand our audience and the culture that they live in.  Too often we use a “one size fits all” approach to sharing the good news of God’s word.  Then we wonder why we have little or no impact. 

Paul takes about this approach in 1 Corinthians 9:22 , “To the weak I became weak to win the weak.  I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”  To those who had a strong spiritual foundation Paul reasoned with them from the scriptures.  To those who had little or no spiritual worldview, he reasoned another way.  I think wisdom and insight tells us that we should do the same.

The Storm Is Coming

As I drove into the church today, no matter what radio channel I listened to, it was all about the impending snow storm that is to arrive over the next 24 hours.   One radio station was “in the street” asking people what they are going to do to prepare for the storm.   There were all sorts of practical suggestions when it came to being prepared.   Preparation for the upcoming storm would make it possible to ride out the storm – that was the feeling of many who responded to the question. 

Sitting at my desk I began reading Acts 16.  Paul and Silas faced a storm – not of snow or rain or wind.  But a storm of opposition to the preaching of the gospel.   The storm included being arrested, being flogged severely, being thrown into a cold, dark and damp prison cell, chained together to prevent any possibility of escape.  How did they ride out the storm?  We are told at midnight, after being beaten and thrown into prison, they started to pray and to sing hymns of praise to God.  They rode out this storm by worshipping God.  Would that be my response?   Would I worship and praise God or would I be ticked off at him?  After all, these men had served God faithfully and sacrificially, shouldn’t they be spared from this storm?  So often that is our line of thinking and then we are disappointed with God when the storm comes.  But not Paul and Silas.  They worship God in the middle of a severe circumstantial storm.  The important questions is, “how were they able to ride out the storm with this kind of response?”  It had everything to do with how they had prepared for the storm.  They had a continual abiding relationship with Jesus.  They constantly worshipped God through prayer and singing and solitude long before the storm ever came.  They had developed a depth of relationship that gave them confidence in God’s power and presence long before the storm happened.  Without this kind of preparation, they would have never been able to ride out the storm.  They would have given into the temptation to question God, given into their doubts about God and his ways and given into complaining about the way he let the storm come into their lives.  The would have ended up being disappointed and disillusioned with God.  It was all about preparing prior to the coming of the storm.  Jesus told us that storms would come into our lives (John 16:33).  How are you preparing your heart and mind and soul for those impending storms?   How you prepare determines how you will ride out the storm.  If it seems calm now, are you preparing for a storm that might come.  When there calmness, it is easy to not even think about preparing for a storm and that is where most people get caught off guard.  Then a circumstantial storm comes and little or no spiritual preparation has been made.  The storm overwhelms them.  It all comes down to preparation.

The flurries are starting to fall as I look out my window.  The news said the storm is approaching and gaining in intensity.  I have filled up the washer fluid and made sure I have lots of gas.  My snowblower is ready.  Shovels are in a strategic spot.  I feel I am well prepared.  Bring on the storm.