How Do You Respond? - 1

	We have in many ways become a passive society.  We sit passively awhile the TV entertains us.  We stand passively at  a fast-food counter while someone prepares our food and hands it to us.
	Sadly, we have been lulled into thinking that we can deal with God in the same way.  We sit in a service while someone does our religion for us.  Or perhaps we tune in to a broadcast such as this one and feel as though we have accomplished something just by listening.
	But God is not satisfied with a passive response to His message.  He requires that we be motivated to action.
	"I know your deeds," Jesus tells the Laodicean church in Revelation  3:15-16, "that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot.  So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth."
	For the past few weeks we have been considering what the Bible teaches concerning Christianity.  So what is your reaction to what you have discovered?
	In Acts chapter 17, Paul encounters various reactions to what he has to say.  According to verse four, some of them accept the apostle's teaching.  But the following verses reveal another response.
	"But the Jews," we note in verses 5-8, "becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and coming upon the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. And when they did not find them, they {began} dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, 'These men who have upset the world have come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.'  And they stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things."
	Notice what happens.  Some of the people listen until their traditions are questioned.  Then they become jealous and stir up others against the truth.  In other words, their first reaction is to defend their traditions at all cost.
	It's almost funny to hear what people do when they develop this attitude.  Here the Jews accuse Paul of acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar and saying that there is another king.  Anyone who has read anything about Jewish history will know that the Jews were constantly guilty of rebellion against Rome.
	The reaction here involves a conflict between human traditions and the will of God.
	"Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him," John 12:42,43 observes of the reaction to Jesus, "but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God."
	Again we find a confrontation between man-made traditions and the truth...and tradition wins.
	The great tradition-keepers of the New Testament are the Pharisees.  In Mark seven the Pharisees attack Jesus and His disciples for not ceremoniously washing their hands in accordance with what is referred to as "the traditions of the elders."
	"Rightly did  Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites," Jesus responds in verses 6-8, "as it is written, 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'
	"Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."
	"You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition," the Lord adds in verse nine.  
	Jesus gives an example of what they are doing, concluding in verse 13 by noting, "thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that."
	"I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen," Paul says in Galatians 1:14 of his own background, "being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions."
	What had Paul done while following these traditions?
	"For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism," he recalls in verse 13, "how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it."
	"See to it," Paul warns in Colossians 2:8,  ”that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."
	This does not mean that all traditions are bad.
	"So then, brethren," Paul urges in 2 Thessalonians  2:15, "stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word {of mouth} or by letter from us."
	"Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," he writes in verse six of the next chapter,  ”that you keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us."
	How can we tell a good tradition from a bad one?  It’s really quite simple.  The verses that we have read condemn all traditions that have human origins.  They command us to follow only traditions that come directly from the new Testament.
	By the way, you will notice that the two are mutually exclusive.  We cannot have both.  If we accept human traditions, we cannot follow what we find in the New Testament.  If we strive to observe the traditions we find in God's Word, we will reject all man-made traditions.
	Unfortunately, the things that divide the religious world fall in the category of human traditions.  There is no biblical authority for practices such as the division of clergy and laity, sprinkling or pouring in the place of immersion for baptism, or the use of instrumental music in the worship.  These and countless other religious practices can be traced to human, and not divine, origins.
	The people in Acts 17 are faced with this problem.  Will they continue to follow human traditions, or will they practice only what God commands?  Many decide to stick with human traditions.  What is your response?

	There is another response to the Gospel, as we learn beginning in Acts 17:16.  Paul goes on to Athens where he waits for his traveling companions to meet him.  While wandering through the city, he is distressed by all the idols.  At first he reasons with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles; then he talks with some of the Greek philosophers.
	"And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him," verses 18-20 recount. "And some were saying,  ’What would this idle babbler wish to say?' Others,  ’He seems to be a proclaimed of strange deities,'-- because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.  And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, 'May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?  For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; we want to know therefore what these things mean.'"
	"Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new," verse 21 explains. 
	What is the reaction of these people to the Gospel?  It is simple curiosity.  In Luke 23:8-11 we learn that Herod is interested in seeing Jesus.  But he is motivated only by curiosity.  His brother's grandson, Herod Agrippa II, seems to have the same motivation when he asks in Acts 25:22 to hear Paul speak.  His lack of real interest becomes obvious in his exchange with Paul in Acts 26:24-29.
	Paul was used to this king of reaction, as we learn from passages such as Acts 13:42-46 and 28:22-27.  Many people were curious, but they often refused to obey what was being taught.
	Returning to Acts 17, we notice that there is a third possible reaction to the Gospel.  This is the reaction of some of the people of Berea.  They reject their traditions, abandon their simple curiosity and obey what they have learned.
	Another example of this attitude is Zaccheus.
	"And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord," we read in Luke 19:8, "'Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.'"
	Another example of this attitude is recorded in Acts 19.  A group of men find that their baptism is not valid.
	"And when they heard this," verse five reports, "they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."
	The various possible reactions seem to be represented in the parable of the sower recorded in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8.  Read this parable and see if you can match the attitudes with the different soils.
	Nicodemus  seems to be motivated by curiosity when he first approaches Jesus in John 3:1-21.  His attitude seems to be changing, however, when we next encounter him in John 7:50,51.  And his curiosity appears to have given way to open recognition of Jesus when he joins Joseph of Arimathea in asking Pilate for the body of Jesus in John 19:39.
	How do you respond?  Do you treat God’s message passively?  Do you listen until your traditions are challenged?  Are you motivated by curiosity?  Or will you obey the truth and be set free?

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."