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CORE: Uncompromising Relevance
Senior Pastor Jeff Maness
October 6, 2024
Uncompromising Relevance — To honor God and inspire people, the Church should pursue excellence and be culturally relevant while remaining Biblically faithful and doctrinally pure.
Look like your culture except where your culture contradicts the Scriptures. —Pastor Paul Washer
Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. —1 Corinthians 9:22b-23
We will do anything short of sin to reach people who are far from God. —Craig Groeschel
Big Question: What can an uncompromising relevance look like?
Main Scripture: Acts 17:1-33
As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. —Acts 17:2
What can an uncompromising relevance look like?
1. An uncompromising relevance is reasonable.
“I don’t know.”
He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” 4 Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women. 5 But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd. —Acts 17:3-5
What can an uncompromising relevance look like?
1. An uncompromising relevance is reasonable.
2. An uncompromising relevance is presentable.
Proved = To set before (especially a meal), to serve.
People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. —1 Samuel 16:7
What can an uncompromising relevance look like?
1. An uncompromising relevance is reasonable.
2. An uncompromising relevance is presentable.
3. An uncompromising relevance is relatable.
He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.” —Acts 17:18
So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.’ —Acts 17:22-23
“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. 27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ —Acts 17:24-28
And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. 30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” 32 When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.” 33 That ended Paul’s discussion with them, 34 but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council, a woman named Damaris, and others with them. —Acts 17:29-34
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