The Wonder of Possibility - Acts 17:16-28

Dave's the Dallas Cowboys fan. I said I wasn't going to say this, but I had a lawnmower issue

recently. It was with the choke. And I went to the local lawn shop and I said, hey, I've got an

issue with my choke. And they said, well if you just take this sticker and put it on it, you'll be fine.

And I looked at it and it was a Dallas Cowboy logo and so touché to you.

Wasn't sure if I should start with that, I may not again.

CS Lewis is an author that I love to read and he said this. He said life with God is not immunity

from difficulties. Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace within difficulty. That's

what our life with God is. I grew up in a single parent family. My dad left when I was six years

old. I don't think any mom who has a few kids is going. Man, I hope my husband leaves soon

after we get married and have children. And in 8th grade I remember opening the fridge and the

only two things that were left in our refrigerator. There was some vinegar and celery. That's all

that was left. And I kind of knew at that moment that we were in trouble. And indeed we were.

As a matter of fact, just a few months after that, my mom and my sisters and I, we moved in with

my aunt into one bedroom. So it was me, my mom and my two sisters, and in one small

bedroom, living in their house. And I knew how difficult that was. As a matter of fact, I look back

now and two of my friends who I had kind of grown up with and hung out with living in low

income housing in Pennsylvania.

One was named George Grubb and he has since died. He was shot and killed, and Keith is

doing life in prison. And I kind of think to myself, like, of the three of us, not only how did I kind of

find a way to make it out, but how am I even standing before you today? And I can, I can only, I

can only say it in this way when the power of God is released. In a person's life he meets you in

the most impossible places and it's often let's agree when he does his best work when we are

faced with difficulties and we are pressed on every side.

When God tends to do his best work, I'll just tell you it's not when He always does his best work.

But it's when he tends to do it, and these become the places of possibility. And God uses this

in our lives. My roommates in college called me the awkward one because there's three things

that I love. I love river dance. Yes, like the Irish dance. OK, so thank you for the one person who

is clapping with me. I love art and I'm a big Eagles fan. So the perfect day for me would be like 3

or 4 hours at the Art Museum, an afternoon river dance show, and then the Eagles game on

prime time. You know, what's crazy is that a couple of years ago I actually made that happen. It

just so happened that Riverdance was in Philly and the Eagles were playing at night and we

went to the Art Museum and there's a particular artist that I love. And of those three, art moves

me the most. And Vincent van Gogh. Has painted this picture that I'm sure many of you are

familiar with. It's called A starry night. And what makes this painting so powerful isn't just the

picture itself painted in 1889. It's kind of the story behind it. Vincent van Gogh wanted to be a

minister, a pastor. But had difficulties and faced mental health challenges even in the late 1800s.

And he found himself in an asylum in southern France. And he painted this picture kind of

looking out that window. And here's the thing about this picture in particular. I mean, it's iconic.

Just a couple of years ago, I was speaking in Amsterdam. And I was like, OK, I want to go and

see this. And so I went to the Van Gogh Museum and I went from the first floor to the 7th floor,

thinking it's here somewhere. And I finally asked a woman who worked there, well, where's the

Van Gogh painting? Oh, it's in New York City, like 90 minutes from my house. But the thing

about this painting that is so impactful is it's the darkness of the Blues. That let the yellow

and the white stands out. This painting would be average without the unique blend of those two

colors. And isn't it that way in our lives that through these impossible situations we see God

work in amazing ways? I just want to share with you kind of three things that I think are

important to understand as kind of a context to this passage: #1 hardship accelerates

possibilities. And it does so in three ways. It does it through improving self-awareness and so

hardships force us to come face to face with who we are, what role we play in the story. The

experience of hardship often reveals for me limitations, patterns, beliefs and skills that we didn't

see or appreciate. The way I would simply describe it as this. Hardships bring us face to face

with our own limitations.

Our imperfections, our brokenness. The second thing it does is it increases compassion. If you

have your Bibles, turn with me to Mark chapter one. Mark chapter one verses 40 to 42. This is

where we see probably one of the most profound and kind of unique perspectives of the way

that Jesus sees compassion.

Mark chapter one, verses 40 to 42, and this is what it says. It says a man with leprosy.

To Jesus begging him on his knees, If you are willing, you can make me clean. Now you

have to understand the context of this leper. Leprosy was so significant that it would separate

you from every aspect of life, socially, physically and mentally, spiritually. As a matter of fact, in

this moment, a leper would have to walk down the street if they did so and openly declare

unclean, unclean so that people would know that he had leprosy. Could you imagine walking

through life and being like.

Addiction or brokenness or brokenness or temper. Temper. Lack of patience, lack of patience.

That's kind of what this did. And he comes to Jesus and notices how he comes to him. He

comes to him begging how? On his knees the proper way to greet a king. And he says, if you

are willing, you can make me clean.

Verse 41 says, filled with compassion. That word compassion there means a literal sensation of

the gut. I don't know about you, but one of the videos that I get pulled into when I'm online is

where they set up the family who doesn't know that their loved one is greeting them for the first

time after being away for six, 912 months on tour, serving in the military, right? And, the couple,

you know, the family, the mom usually is looking at the video screen as he's doing a greeting

and then all of a sudden they look to the left and they see him and there's one in.

Where they've got five kids and they see the dad at like the end zone coming and all five kids do

a dead Sprint. It's that literal sensation that is depth. And so this concept of Jesus being filled

with compassion, what does he do? He reaches out his hand, He touches the man and he says

I am willing to be clean. I mean, to touch a leper in this perspective was unheard of. Jesus was

doing something that was uncommon, that was countercultural.

And look at the results of it. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Verse 43, Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning, see that you don't tell this to

anyone, but go 1st and show yourself to the priest and offer sacrifices that Moses commanded

for your cleansing as a testimony to them. Basically Jesus was saying make sure you still follow

the way in which you need to, to kind of get clean. You need to go and have the authorities do

that. And instead, verse 45, he went out and he began to talk freely spreading the news. And as

a result, what happened? Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed out in lonely

places. When we go through hardships, it improves our self-awareness. It allows us an

opportunity to look in the mirror and say, there's something that I have to own here. I play a part

in this story. But the second thing it does is it increases compassion for others. And we see that

compassion unleashed in the life of Jesus. This compassion is a significant dose of humility that

often comes with hardship.

One of the ministries that I kind of have on the side, it's just volunteer, is I'm pretty passionate

about serving children who come from single parent homes. I don't get paid to do it. Very few

people know that I do it. Dave wouldn't come up here and announce that. That's a key part of

what I do. All I can tell you is I knew what it was like to grow up without a dad. And I hated it. I

hated every aspect of what that did. Here's the third thing that hardship does is it offers a sense

of resilience and suffering. Hardship allows us to move towards building and strengthening the

things that will allow us to face new challenges.

And future failures. And to me, the one person who represents this so well as the apostle Paul,

you know, Paul in Acts chapter 8 was this great Christian persecutor. In Acts Chapter 9, we see

him on the road to Damascus. He wrote the Pauline epistles. There's a deep theological

richness to the book of Romans that we could recount. The list would go on and on and on. But

the passage that I think is the most significant is in 2nd Corinthians 11, verse 30. And this is

what Paul says. He says if I must boast. I will boast of the things that show my weakness

meaning, like if I could recount all of the things that I've done, I'm going to recount to you the

things that reveal my weakness and my brokenness. So I tried this out some years ago at the

center. We do a lot of writing and a lot of leadership stuff and it's really fun. And one time I, I

thought to myself, I wonder how many mistakes I've made in ministry.

And I started just writing the list and I was surprised at how quickly it filled up. It actually filled

up so quickly that I had to pare it down to like, here are the 9 mistakes that I've made in

ministry that I told myself I would never make. And I wrote it in a blog. That blog became the

most read blog on all of the stuff we've ever done. Why? Because of our weakness, it shows a

certain gravitas that we're in some ways no different than you. The struggles that we face, the

difficulties that we face. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

There's a passage that I want to center on this morning that's focused actually in the book of

Acts, and we're going to spend our entire morning there. So if you hopefully have your Bibles or

whatever you're looking at, if you would just flip over to the book of Acts, I'd like to look at this.

It's Acts chapter 17. Now, just to give you some context, Paul is arriving in the city of Athens in

Acts chapter 17 verse 16. OK, just some things about Athens to give you context, because I

think a lot of us kind of understand Athens, but maybe we've not been there. We don't

understand it at this point. Athens was the heart of Greek culture. It was the heart of Greek

culture. It was renowned for its art and its philosophy. The city had reached its prime about 500

years prior to Paul visiting right during that era, the events of the book of Nehemiah were

unfolding. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah Malachi were ministering. But when Paul arrives

in verse 16 of Acts chapter 17, this is no longer kind of what that was. As a matter of fact,

historians estimate that at this time there were approximately 10,000 people in Athens. It was

not a big city like it had once been. And let's read in Acts chapter 17 verse 16, it says while Paul

was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

Greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols and why is that significant Well, the scene

Paul had been in Berea and he had been in Thessalonica and he was removed from those

kinds of cities because he was facing intense persecution about what he's preaching. And so

Timothy and Silas who are going to meet him say listen, you should go ahead so in the middle

of the night Paul finds himself in Athens. He knows that nobody and and as he's waiting for

them he's greatly. Distressed to see that the city is full of idols. Well, how would one know that a

city of 10,000 is filled with idols? You don't just hunker into the hotel. No, you've got to actually

walk around. You've got to get a sense for what's happening. One historian estimates that there

were well over 10,000 idols, one for every person. So Paul's walking around and he's not just

distressed, he's greatly distressed that the city is filled with idol worship. Do you ever feel the

same in today's culture? I have served as a chaplain in professional sports for a long time.

And there are times when I walk into a football stadium or into a basketball arena and I almost

feel like I know what Paul was thinking. There's this idol worship towards the things of this world

that you and I kind of look at and go, yeah, I can. I can understand that. And if we are not strong

in our faith, we could easily be pulled into it. We could be easily pulled into it. You know, the

greatest vulnerability for the Christian faith right now is the local church, the bride of Christ.

The Church is going through unspeakable difficulties. When I left pastoring, interestingly

enough, at Faith Church in the Lehigh Valley, we had grown to a church, I don't know, it was in

the thousands. And the person who started and leads the center, we had lunch and he said,

hey, what would it take to get you to come and join this work? And I was like, I'm not coming.

And over the next three or four months, God started to work on my heart, and I felt like God was

asking us to do that in the past six years. 80 to 90% of the work that I do is churches that are

facing difficulties. I didn't pick it. It picked me. This is not what I thought. Oh, I'm going to sign up

for that. But I do know this. I know that if we lean into this, if we agree with God that he has us in

this moment, the wonder of possibility of coming out on the other side is to see what God is

going to do that we had no. Idea he was going to do. Paul faces the same thing. Paul had

witnessed idol worship. This was not his first experience, and yet he's greatly distressed to see

that right. He goes on and he says, so he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the

God fearing Greeks and in the marketplace day by day with those who happen to be there. And

in some ways, I often struggle with that very thing. So I'm not necessarily worried about where

my next meal is coming from, whether my car is going to work, whether my wife is still going to

be home when I get back, the way I might interact with my kids, you know, those kinds of things.

So I've asked myself and COVID was a real eye opener for me. Where is it that I really am

trusting God? Like, where is it that I really have to put my full trust in him? Francis Chan said it

this way. “Oh, man, I'm sorry. I'm not used to moving these.” So I apologize if Francis Chan said

this. He said one of our greatest fears should not be a failure, but of succeeding in things that

life doesn't really matter. So here's what I would say if you are 65 and older.

This church desperately needs you now more than ever. It needs your experience, It needs your

history. It needs your convictions to pray. It needs you in every way that you currently show up.

Some of the most influential people in my life have been 65 and older and have spoken

unbelievable wisdom in my life. If you are married with kids, this church needs you right now.

This community needs to see a humble and growing marriage. Not perfect in any way, but

humble and growing. If you're a business owner, this community needs to see a model of ethics

that's very different from what we see in business.

If you're a teenager, you enter into one of the greatest mission fields the world has ever seen

whether you're homeschooled, whether you go to a Christian School, whether you go to.

A Montessori school or a public school? If you're a college student, this community needs to see

that there are young people who don't get to the age of 18 and just walk away from their faith.

If you've been an addiction, if you've been broken far from God, close to God, disobedient, if

you've faced unspeakable hurt, your story is needed now, just in this community. And in the

greater area of Boise needs more of Faith Church, not less. It needs more Kingdom impact, not

less. And so Paul finds himself in verse 17 reasoning with the God fearing Greeks as well as in

the marketplace day by day. And he begins to meet with a bunch of Epicurean and Stoic

philosophers and begins to debate with them. And this is what it says in verse 18. “A group of

Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to quarrel with him. Some of them asked, what is this

babbler trying to say?” Remarked He seems to be advocating of foreign gods. They said this.

Why? Because Paul was preaching the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

So it's important to understand that the Epicureans kind of subscribe to a philosophical point of

view that considers happiness or the avoidance of pain and emotional disturbance to be their

highest good. And they're hearing Paul preach what a message that they've not heard in a city

that's filled with idols. The Stoics promoted dignity, pride and orderliness. It was directly opposite

of the pleasure seeking Epicureans. So now you've got like one philosophy. You've got a

different philosophy. And Paul comes in and says, I'm about to tell you about Jesus who

changes everything. Six months ago, we were working with one of the largest nonprofit human

trafficking organizations in the country. And they were trying to figure out what their doctrinal

position was going to be. And there was a lot of going back and forth. And I finally just said this.

If you do not have Jesus Christ in your life. You are under-resourced. If Jesus is not the

center of who you are. You're under-resourced. Not well. It's my you know Jesus 1st and this

second. That is a failed philosophy. Jesus at the center of who we are.

Jesus Christ at the center in One Corinthians 1514, Paul said. And if Christ has not been raised

from the dead, our preaching is useless, and so is our faith. And Paul is sharing here in these

words the significance of what he is about to set up. And I want you to know that out of

heartache, Paul moved from Thessalonica, from Berea to Athens. He's kind of there alone. He's

waiting for Timothy. He's waiting for Silas. This is not a vacation. He is about to proclaim

something that is absolutely significant, and it's ironic that Paul was teaching the basics of

theology to those who are known worldwide as supreme intellectuals. And what it proves is

simply this.In one Corinthians 125, the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness

of God is stronger than men. This is what it proves. And so why is this so significant? It's

significant because what Paul is about to preach is so significant, and the movement that

happens is so significant that you have to understand where it's come from. What Paul is about

to speak to them does not come out of just a normal Sunday morning. Everything is good. This

comes out of incredible difficulty. And take a look at verse 19. It says, then they brought him to

the meeting of the Arapagus, where they said to him, may we know what this new teaching is

that you were presenting? You were bringing some strange ideas to our ears.

May we know what this is? We want to know what it means. Verse 21. All the Athenians and the

foreigners who lived there spent time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest

ideas. And so Paul stands up to this meeting and notices what he says. He says, “Men of

Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.” Now, why does he say that? He said

that because as he walked around and he looked carefully at their objects of worship, he found

things that were worshiping. Cops and worshiping, romance and worshiping, friendship and

worshiping how you walked. I mean there were thousands upon thousands of idols.

And he says, I even found in verse 23 this inscription to an unknown God. Now what you

worship is something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. Do you kind of get the picture

here? There was actually an idol in the city that just simply said to an unknown God, Meaning if

we forgot anything I think we're covered here. There were thousands of them. I mean think

about how careful Paul had to work through the community and walk through the community to

actually understand the uniquenesses of what he was experiencing. He says I, I look carefully at

your object of worship in verse 23 and I found this inscription to an unknown God. Now what

you know is something unknown. I am going to proclaim to you and take a look. At what he

says, he says in verse 24. The God who made the world and everything is the Lord of heaven.

And the Lord of Earth and he is not made by human hands. He is not served by human hands

if he needs anything, because he himself, and this is the kicker right here, He himself gives all

men life and breath and everything else.

Is there any better way to describe who Jesus is in our lives?than by that statement right there

that Jesus Christ gives everyone life and breath? And everything else. That is the Jesus.

Jesus we serve. But we connect the dots back to realize that it was out of the crisis in in Acts

Chapter 16

and Paul being moved to Athens kind of in the middle of the night for his own protection, for his

own safety, where he would later wait for Timothy and Silas to meet him. That he walks through

the town. He looks carefully at the objects of worship he's invited to come into the arrow

Pegasus, which is kind of this open market where they would argue and talk about.

Philosophies of the day. He meets with two of the most significant philosophical groups within

Athens and they invite him to speak and he simply says this. The God who made the world and

everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth, and He does not live in temples built by hands.

He is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. Why? Because He himself gives all

men life and breath and everything else. Take a look at verse 27. It goes on and it says God did

this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for him, though He is not far from each

of us. It's no secret that. This church and many of you. Are trying to figure out what's happening

here. But I would invite you at this moment. To maybe see beyond this moment. And ask

ourselves, God, what is it that you're asking of me first, personally? How are you unleashing

an added sense of compassion for what's happening in our body, and how will you build an

extra muscle of resilience? So that out of this difficulty and out of this crisis, you are going to

move in ways just like Paul.

Just like my life. I'm actually writing a book. The book is called Celery and Vinegar. And it's kind

of a look back at what it was like to grow up. In that atmosphere I want to just give you just a

quick insight on how that happened, which may. Encourage you for what we plan to share

tonight. When I hit 24 or 25, a very good friend of mine who has a very salty mouth came up to

me and he said, “If you don't get a couple things figured out in your life. Within two years. You

will wreck it.” And he said, here's a book I want you to read and I think this book explains you.

Do you think I wanted to read that book? At first, no. But several weeks later, I had the courage

to open it. When I opened that book, it began to describe exactly what I was feeling on the

inside. For the first time in my life I had language to the struggles that I had. You see when you

grow up in a single parent family and you're trying to out kick everything that you're frustrated

by. So when you show up at Little League tryouts and you're 12 and you're the only kid without

a dad. Or you go to middle school and you show up for basketball and you've got sneakers that

have holes in them and people make fun of you. And when you have to make the walk down

from your homeroom with Mr. Zuck every Monday morning to get the free lunch card to come

back and actually eat each day, you don't go for months. And then finally, you're so hungry that

you go. When you live in that for long enough, something begins to take shape for me. And that

was shame.

Shame was nipping at my heels. It. was nipping at every aspect of who I was. And So what it

did, it was a great motivator. I mean, I was out kicking my coverage. I was graduating early and

playing soccer overseas and doing all of these things, but I knew inside of me there was

something fundamentally wrong. There was an infection that had to be healed. And that book

gave me a language that I desperately needed. And I will tell you even today. If it wasn't for

Tyler at 25 coming and saying if you don't get something settled in your life, you will train wreck

your life within the next two years. I will be forever grateful for what he shared. I stand before

you today. I share with you this passage today. Because out of heartache and out of difficulty

and out of crisis is often when God shows up best, He does His best work. So I just want you to

know we do not have a diagnosis to give you yet. We will in a few weeks. But the fact that

you've come to the point and said I think we need some help. That we need to figure out what's

happening. I look at it and go.

That's the step to possibility. That is the first step to God. What is it that you are doing? So just

to close out a couple of things.

Number one - is the wonder of possibility starts first in my own heart. Nobody else's. Not the

person behind you, not the person next to you. It starts with me.

#2 is to embrace this idea, this, this burden that God is stirring in your heart.

What is he stirring inside of you? And then the next one is to walk well, to reason often, and to

point people to the one that gives all men life and breath and everything else. That, my friends,

is the hope that we have that is Jesus Christ.

#3 - The power of God is most evident. In the impossible places of life, they become the places

of possibility. And God uses these in powerful ways in our lives and in our church and in our

community. And so while I grieve with you and I come alongside you, I'm also excited to see

what God is going to do through this season because I will tell you that there's a family that

doesn't know that they need Faith Community Bible Church yet.

There's a college student that doesn't know that they're going to intersect. With this ministry, at

some point there's a man that doesn't know that he's going to find himself here on September

17th at night or September 18th in the morning to study the book of Nehemiah. And God is

going to work. The power of God is most evident in the impossible places of life.

Let's pray together. God, thank you so much for this time. God, I thank you for this body.

I thank you for the way in which you have sustained this church. You've grown this church.

There are testimonies and stories of your faithfulness even in this room. Lord, I pray that You

would give us a heart of compassion like you have, that we would be filled with it right now. I

pray to God that You would build for each of us that muscle of resiliency that allows us to stand

firm in the midst of crisis and acknowledge the fact that we at least know that there's something

that's not right. Something is broken and needs to be fixed. And God, we will trust you, knowing

that you are the great provider. You are the one who gives all men life and breath and

everything else. Amen.