"Mars Hill really Rocked…" Last update from Greece!

[One of the most amazing sunsets ever, Porto Rafti, Greece]

Thank you, Dan Shannon, one of our speakers this week, for that lovely quote. As part of our teaching this week, the entire class and our speakers took a trip to Athens to spend the day around the Acropolis area, including the Areopagus (Mars Hill). A couple of us had spent some time there before, but one of our speakers, David Hamilton, gave some stellar background information on the area and the lifestyle of Athens at that time.

[First Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece]

It was the center of the world for the arts, education, and contemporary thought. The philosophers could gather around the monumental temples in the center of the city and toss around ideas of democracy, science, and life. We read Acts 17 where Paul walks in to the center of town and makes his voice and the Gospel that it carries known. They called him an idiot and threatened him with his life (Socrates had been put to death for introducing foreign gods). Even in the face of them, he spoke to them with the authority of the Holy Spirit. It was the first time the Gospel had been shared there, and he was all by himself

[Acropolis Panorama at Night, Athens, Greece]

To gaze on these amazing buildings and to have insight into their structure and intricacies, there is no wonder that people worshiped those whom the buildings were built for. At one time in the Parthenon (the largest, most prominent temple to the goddess Athena Parthenon), there was a giant statue made of pure gold, diamonds, pearls and other precious jewels. These people held their gods in such high esteem, but why? In polytheistic cultures, people live in fear of the gods. They fashion their lives around pleasing them and bribing them with elaborate sacrifices and practices. When bad things happen, a god is mad at them so further action needs to be taken. The gods were always trying to do bad to them. As David Hamilton so eloquently put it, “Religion was a minimizing of fear not an establishment of hope.” So Paul waltzes in and challenges them by saying that there is an Unknown God, and that is a God that cares deeply about them; enough to send his Son to them to be the last sacrifice. This was revolutionary for them, a God that cared? A God of Grace?

Now, there are many lessons that I took away from not only from the teaching, but my time walking around the Acropolis.

The first is that the idolatry of the Greek culture was immensely beautiful. These buildings brought out emotion and awe, and who they stood for brought awe as well. They were still false gods, but they were, and still are attractive. Even now, there are so many things that are attractive to us, pulling us, but aren’t things of God. We start to worship materialism and set up mere humans in the places of importance in our lives. That’s just the tip of the iceberg with all of the things we place in the high places of our lives… But, just as with the buildings in the Acropolis, the things of this world will come to ruin. No matter how fast we work, or how much we maintain, they will always be temporal, no matter how great the appear. We can use the illustration for idolatry and sin in our lives; it might look great for a time, but in the end, it all turns to dust.

The philosophers must have looked at Paul like he was crazy; pointing to the vast buildings just beside them as testimony of their god’s greatness. But the God that Paul shared with them on that day in Athens is the same God that is alive and well today, dwelling in the lives of his people. He truly does last forever and it has been proven time and time again throughout the history of the world. When our hearts and lives aren’t built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, they will crumble to dust.

The second lesson was just as valuable. Like I said before, the people lived in constant fear because there was no way to please the multitude of manic, compulsory, selfish, immoral, and illusory gods. Paul submits to them that there is a God who actually cares for them and will extend perfect grace to them, not by a manner of bribery, but acceptance and revelation. So many times, even as Christians, we come with this thought of God like the Greek pagans did… If I do this for you, God, will you be satisfied; can I go to heaven? We have this mental block that he doesn’t really want the best for us; that our plans are more effective than his; that our comfort is of utmost importance. We believe the lies of the enemy that God is angry with us and will never accept us with our imperfections…

Well, I felt like this is what God was telling me earlier this week, even before going to Athens…

Then the angel showed me myself standing before the angel of the Lord. The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against me. And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen him, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.”

My clothing was filthy as I stood there before the angel. So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to me said, “See, I have taken your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.” [Zechariah 3:1-4]

God is not far off, distant, and angry. He desires to take us as we stand before Him, filthy and unrefined. He cannot wait to extend his grace to us, but it does cost us something. We have to tear down the idols that we have and embrace him as the only Lord of our lives.

Last year around this time in my DTS lecture phase, I finally was able to co
me to this point. I realized that I had built my life on idols and didn’t know God. Those idols came crashing down and I found myself standing before God, afraid, but as my only hope. My clothes were black with sin, charred and filled with the smell of smoke. Satan stood there bringing accusations of all kinds which I had believed for so long. The Creator of the universe silenced him by extending his grace to me and I found myself renewed and clean; now standing before my Father.

If this is similar to your story, I would love to talk about it further. Like I said and my life testifies, God wants us to be in communion with him as His children. And, I want to challenge you all to examine your own lives and see if there are things that, although they may seem beautiful, you have built to unworthy places in you life. We can see from the story of the Greek gods, that they won’t stand a chance.

That’s it for now, until Turkey, may the Lord bless you and keep you

In Him

John Paul

The Eternal Muse

Christianity is something that I don’t understand. I am not sure I even grasp the concept of God (in the Trinitarian sense, or His character), grace, love, faith, and belief in general.

A friend brought an interesting concept to me recently that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. It keeps me up at night, and has led to more questions that keep on coming. The question related to the scope of humanity and if it was possible that God has more grace than what we realize; saving those who have never heard of Jesus Christ therefore, not believing in him. When I read the token salvation scripture, John 3:16-17, I see that God sent his son to save the world, not to judge it; that believing in him, we can enter the Kingdom of God and have eternal life. This I believe, then Nicodemus asks Jesus how to enter the Kingdom, and Jesus says that he needs to be born again. Just a few pages later, Jesus tells the rich, young ruler that he must sell everything he has in order to obtain the Kingdom. Jesus even says that He is the only way to the Father. But, Abraham’s obedience to the Lord was credited to him as righteousness, which makes me believe that salvation is possible through obedience to the Lord. That maybe belief in Christ is the belief in the Messianic message; modeling our lives after his.

What if people have never, and will never hear about Jesus, or even God? Will they have a chance to ever enter the kingdom? I almost feel guilty about being born at the space and time in which I was, knowing that there is a possibility that so many will(have) die(d) never accepting Christ spending the subsequent eternity in hell.

Like the rest of Humanity, I don’t deserve eternal life because of sin, but why am I so privileged, while the majority of the people in existence will have never believed. I struggle so much with it because it doesn’t really sound like justice to me to let so many people die. It’s like the gift is free, but not an option which is open to everyone. This frightens me. It frightens me because it makes me question whether I believe his love is really unfailing. I am not talking here about the people that openly reject Christ, but those who have never heard about him. Is it just by chance that they will not enter the kingdom? What if someone were to tell them, would they believe then? I would like to think that if all the people who have never heard the message of Jesus were to hear his message at least some of them would accept him as their Savior and enter into a relationship with Him. What about those people who never hear about Jesus, but seek something outside of themselves? Luke 11 promises that those who seek will find. Do we always know what we are seeking? Will He credit that to them as righteousness? I don’t know. Will he judge them by a different standard than he does those who have actually heard about him? Maybe? SALVATION BELONGS TO HIM ALONE

I don’t know the answers. I know that His ways are so much higher than my ways, and that my finite, sinful, and unjust mind doesn’t hold a candle to the Mind of the Creator. I have this feeling that I will never know the answers, but where does that leave me? What will I use my life for now? If salvation is possible for all people where they are, what is my role in sharing the love and message of Christ? Doesn’t that make it a bit futile? I can’t bring myself to believe that. So, if that is my mission, then deep down I believe that if the people of the world never have the chance to hear about Jesus, they will go to hell. Ouch.

Then, if that is true, there is something seriously wrong with our priorities. Not only are we as the Bride of Christ responsible for all those in the world today that don’t know Christ, we are responsible for all of the people since Christ that lived and died and never heard about him. Doesn’t that do something to you? It does something to me. It blows my mind. It fires me up to tell as many people as I meet about Jesus. It makes me want to give every breath I have for that end. Am I wasting my time? No. I probably will end up wasting a lot of it, but I would hope that the Holy Spirit can use me to influence those around me, by Him living and speaking through me. Diving into the word (discovering His message), then diving into the world. To be a true servant; to hold nothing back. It really puts things in perspective for me. Are we using every breath of our lives to the extent that we could? The challenge is to everyone, and so is the call.

I think that the reason I have been struggling so much with these questions is that I need to understand the call is to me as well. What will I use my breath for? What will use yours for?

There are an estimated 2.62 Billion Unreached people in the world; 40% of the 6.56 Billion living in the world Today. (The Joshua Project / joshuaproject.net)

Let me know what you are thinking… I would like that.

Love in Christ
John Paul

Benefit… Back in Denver

Back in Denver as of 10:30pm Labor Day, I am exhausted. The last 6 weeks has been amazing, and I have seen so much. Much of what God is doing in the hearts and minds of Christians across the country, and much of what he is doing in my own heart and mind.
The last benefit show is this Friday Night here in Littleton. Check out http://matt28.com/notalone for more information on that, like directions and what-have-you. When that show is over, I will be able to give an accurate update as to how much was raised for the orphans, and more of the miraculous that God did and will continue to do.

For now. I am tired. Honestly, I am tired of doing the show. I know thats not necessarily the right attitude, but let me explain. Somewhere along the way, I can’t really remember where it was, I stopped relying on God to be my strength and His provision for the show. I lost sight of His ownership and His goals and dreams for it. It was His vision that he shared with me all the way back in Uganda. I was selfish and proud of the Tour and it led to a burn-out from it. It is too big for me to think that I have any kind of control over it, yet I tried to take it anyway.

So, that is what I have been dealing with lately, and I share it with you for more than one purpose. The first is to share my struggles with you because I know that there is so much that I need to learn in this walk. I haven’t arrived at the proverbial “there”, or have all of the answers for how to live. I still have to learn daily to put my flesh to death and walk through the power of the Spirit within me. Sometimes its harder than others. Instead of hiding it, like everything is okay, I thought that I would experiment to see what happens when my struggles are exposed.
Since there is some identification of what is happening in my heart, I can (and am trying to) take steps to correct it, to get a sense of God’s passion for those He loves (which is everyone!), to realign my life with His will and word, and to get insight and guidance from those around me.

The other reason that I share is because I am not sure I am alone in my control issue. I may be wrong, but I think that it is part of who we are as humans to desire to be in control of our lives and the world around us. Its one of those things that we say we don’t want to be a part of, but if we take a closer look at our lives, we do see that we cling to control. I have done it my whole life and I don’t want to do it anymore. I want to be used by God as an instrument for His will, despite myself. It kind of goes along with the cliche saying that I am my own worst enemy. I am the one that stands in the way of being completely open for God to use… It all comes down to surrender, and when you give your life to Christ, surrender is mandatory.

What kinds of things are you holding on and not giving over to Him? It makes sense to give it to Him because He is the one that cares (1 Peter 5:7). And, after all… He is only the creator and sustainer of the universe… (written with sarcastic undertones)

So thats not really the direction that I saw this entry taking, but thats the way it goes sometimes.
Love and Blessings from Him!
John Paul