September 18
Bible Reading: Acts 17:16-21
Acts 17:21, “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.”
According to a Pew Research Center study, Americans spend on average 70 minutes watching, reading and listening to news on any day. Another study found that more people are turning away from the news, describing it to be depressing, relentless and boring. Perhaps you can relate, for as Solomon once said, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The news is rather predictable. If it “bleeds it leads,” so the bad news gets the most attention, and in this sin-broken world, there is plenty of that to go around. But they are all recycled stories.
The Athenians had an appetite for news. In fact, they “spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21). They didn’t have TVs or radios or the internet to inform them, what they heard was by word of mouth (Luke 13:1-5). Worshiping a plethora of gods, the Athenians were “in every way…very religious” (Acts 17:22). According to their thinking, their mythical gods were the ones pulling the strings. The news was not just about what was happening amongst them, but what the gods were up to behind the scenes. We’re more sophisticated these days. People ascribe such things not to mythical gods, but to karma, astrology, or good old-fashioned luck, be it good or bad.
Nothing could have prepared the Athenians for the news story they heard from the lips of the Apostle Paul. His news was of the one true God who created everything, has need of nothing, and gives to man both life and breath (Acts 17:24-25). His news was of the need to seek this God (Acts 17:27), the one who commands all to repent in view of the coming judgment (Acts 17:31). His news was about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (Acts 17:31-32).
No news story like that had ever crossed the wires of the Athenian news network before! That story, the gospel, is the preeminent of all news stories, for it is both glorious and powerful to save (1 Timothy 1:11; Romans 1:16). Two thousand years removed, that news story is as relevant now as it was then. I’m thinking we perhaps spend too much time watching and thinking about the news of the day, when it’s the news of salvation from sin and deliverance to heaven that has captured our hearts. The God who knows the details of every bad news story this broken world has even ushered forth, is the God who responded by sending His Son to die for sins and rise from the dead. That story, the gospel, is news worth telling and hearing!
The bad news in this sin-broken world works to make the good news even more glorious and relevant!
JESUS SAVES!
We have heard the joyful sound:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Spread the tidings all around:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Bear the news to every land,
Climb the steeps and cross the waves;
Onward!—’tis our Lord’s command;
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Sing above the battle’s strife,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves;
By His death and endless life,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves;
Sing it softly thru the gloom,
When the heart for mercy craves,
Sing in triumph o’er the tomb,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Give the winds a mighty voice,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves;
Let the nations now rejoice.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves;
Shout salvation full and free,
Highest hills and deepest caves,
This our song of victory,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
LookingtoJesus 