Pam and I are part of a tour right now tracing the steps of Paul as the Gospel was brought to Europe. Like much of life, we have found Greece thus far to be a land filled with stark beauty and the unexpected. It is also deeply contrasting. The gorgeous coastlines are in deep contrast to the high mountains. I immediately expected sheep and cattle to be grazing but never to find fields of cotton and rice not far away. Thessaloniki (or Salonica as the locals call it) is the second largest city in Greece. Its narrow streets hold newer buildings raised since the 1917 fire that destroyed much of the city along side fifth century and eleventh century churches and mosques. Contrast that with miles and miles of fields and forests, sparsely populated and seemingly unspoiled. It is a beautiful land of deep contrasts.
We started this tour following the exact steps Paul took, coming ashore in Macedonia in response to a vision God gave him along the coast of modern day Turkey. He was committed to spreading the Gospel and ran out of land. And through this vision he boarded a boat and arrived in Neapolis, the port for the main city in the region, Philippi. Check out Acts 16 for the account.
As you follow the story, we visited the seaport. We traveled the roads to Philippi. We walked into the ruins of the ancient city and stood beside the river where Lydia, the dealer of purple cloth, became the first convert (along with her household) in Europe. We went to the Jewish quarter where Paul reasoned with them at the synagogue about the Gospel. We stopped by the jail where he and Silas sang in the middle of the night after being flogged publicly for their faith and were miraculously released by an earthquake. We walked on parts of the Ignatian Way, the main road used to travel from east to west in Paul’s day.
And these were the ancient reminders that struck me. Ours is not a fairy tale faith in which human beings seek to be better and live civil existences along side other world views. Ours is an urgent faith, a real faith, a daily faith, a meaningful faith, that takes advantage of the connecting points and social constructs of our day to voice hope as contrasted with despair, godliness in contrast to evil and supernatural wisdom and power to transform contrasted with human ingenuity and control. It is a faith committed to the voice of God first and foremost, and when hardship comes as a result, is given to praise rather than complaint. The Bible is the story of a real God, working in and through real people, in a real world, to redeem real sinners and transform them into real saints, for His real glory. It is graciously proclaiming the simple Gospel of Jesus who came to earth to die for the sins of the world, died, rose again on the third day and now as ever calls on all people everywhere to repent. In a couple days we will be standing in the spot where Paul uttered those words to the Athenians in the midst of all their idols. Our faith is real.
I want to be clear, I have never doubted our faith is real. But it is good to be reminded that when it feels hard to walk the journey of faith for us today, there were real people in harder real circumstances who were committed like us to follow the Lord wherever He takes us and they found Him sufficient every step of the way, victory and hardship, plentiful days and sleepless nights in prison. And He still is today.
I’m looking forward to experiencing more reminders on our journey………..
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