Oh God, Stir Our Spirits

“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.” (Ac 17:16 AV)

 

Athens is a city crammed full of false Greek gods.  I am sure Paul was aware of the reputation of the city.  We don’t know if he had ever seen this city before.  What we do know is when Paul entered the city and stayed there for a bit, waiting on his support to arrive, he observed the city and allowed the spiritual darkness of the city to bother him.  It is said that in ancient Athens, idolatry was so invasive one could not walk a random street without seeing vendors hawking their little gods.  Athens was the equivalent of a tourist spot that is heavily commercialized.  What stirred Paul was the nature of their commercialization.  It wasn’t the necessities of life like food and clothing.  It wasn’t crafts or other trades.  The cities entire existence was given wholly over to the worship of false gods.  We can be so surrounded by something like this that we hardly notice it.  It could be so hard to discern because to us it is normal.  But an outsider comes in and he observes what others have become numb to, and the obvious becomes a concern.  We are surrounded by a lost world given over to something.  Where I live, it is alcohol and sports.  The thing is, unless we are stirred in spirit, we will never take initiative to do something about it.

Our churches are struggling.  Numbers across the board are in decline.  There seems to be no urgency to be in the house of God.  Yet, the world does not have a problem packing the crowds in.  Last night, I watched a football game.  The team was in the playoffs for two consecutive years.  Last year, because of fear over COVID, they only allowed 10% capacity at the games.  This included their home playoff game.  Last year, they had an attendance of 9000.  This year, there were no restrictions.  The stadium holds somewhere in the neighborhood of 80,000.  It was packed.  As the cameras do, they scan the stands and find the most avid of fans.  The game last night was played in sub-freezing weather.  The high at game time was 6 degrees.  That is cold!  Yet, the camera was able to find people who wore more paint than clothes.  I might go out in that kind of weather without a coat for all of about a minute.  These people were in that cold like that for four hours.  Insane!  Why?  Because they have given themselves over wholly to idolatry.  So, the question comes to the saint.  Does that bother you?  Does a rabid sports fan with no interest in eternal things stir your heart to do something about it?

I have to admit, I have been soul-winning pretty heavily for the last few years.  But soul-winning as a practice does not necessarily indicate a stirred spirit.  Action may become more programmed than it is motivated by the stirring of the spirit.  Note also that when Paul was stirred in the spirit, it was more than being concerned with their lost state.  It was something very specific.  It was their false worship and being wholly given over to it.  When Paul was stirred in the spirit, he was compelled to go to the heart of the situation. He went to Mars hill.  Right in the middle of a nerd argument over philosophy which one cannot prove, Paul spoke of that which you could prove.  The existence of God!  He took on the most difficult of all cases.  He did something extreme.  What should concern us is the inability of the Spirit to stir our spirit and do something about the lost condition of those around us.  May God stir the heart for the lost souls of men!