Acts 17:16-34 (NIV)
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[a] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[b]
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
The title to today’s devotional is not a typo, but an acronym for the phrase “Win at all costs.” One of my favorite hobbies is to play a table top war game called Warhammer. I won’t bore you with the full details on how to play this game, but to put it in simpler words, I play make believe war battles with toy soldiers. If this interests you, then we can talk about it at another time.
In the wargaming community there is a group of individuals called “Power Players” who do everything in their power to win at all costs (WAAC). This type of player sucks the fun of the game, or in other words, they don’t understand the spirit of the game. In their pursuit to win, they become rude towards other players and they insult others for choosing to play an army that may not be competitive even though that person chose it because they love the lore behind that army. These type of players fail to see the spirit of the game which is about community.
As our culture shifts and the political divide grows every day, we sometimes take the mentality of the power player in that we feel that we must win at all costs, we must win every argument, and we must become crusaders for the gospel. We often lose sight of the spirit of the gospel and winning souls to the kingdom and instead focus on winning the argument at any cost. In my experience with people, the reason they are so resistant to the gospel, is because we act like mean spirited “Power Players.” We forget that the great commission given to us by our Lord Jesus is to go to all the nations and make disciples. Our job is not to win the argument but to share the gospel. Even though it may feel good to win the argument, that is not what we are called to do.
In Acts 17, Paul is in Athens and uses the title of the “Unknown God” in order to preach the gospel to the Athenians. In v. 16, he is distress by all the idolatry around him, but he is not a “Power Player.” He is not there to WAAC. He is there to share the gospel. In the end we see three different results:
Some sneered.
Some became interested and wanted to hear more.
Some believed.
By understanding that the gospel is not a “game” that we must win at all costs, we can share the gospel knowing along the way there will be those that will believe in and follow Jesus, and those who don’t.
Prayer:
Dear Lord,
As we travel together doing God’s Story, let us remember that we are called to share the gospel not to win arguments. May lives be changed by the work of the Holy Spirit as we share the gospel and make disciples. May we not become power players, but rather display the love of Christ for all to see.
Pastor Luis Rodriguez is an avid board gamer and would love to teach you how to play Warhammer any time you have three hours to kill. He joined the FBC Weslaco staff in October of 2021 and shares the gospel by whatever means possible.