Acts 14:15-17
There Is a God: The Foundations of the Gospel - Acts 14:15-17
Acts 14:15-17 (NIVUK)
15 'Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: he has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.'
Commentary
Revd. Mark Fletcher: The Christian gospel rests on foundational truths about God and what it means to be human. And perhaps we too in our society have been able to take those for granted for centuries. But in our world today, many of our friends and neighbours have no concept of these things. We need to help lay once more those foundational truths. So therefore, what are they? What are the foundations that the gospel rests on. Verse 15. You don’t get more foundational than this. There is a God. There is a God. This isn’t just myths and stories. The universe is not a random cosmic event. Before all things, there was God. The universe had a beginning. And this elegant, ordered universe was intentionally created according to consistent, finely tuned scientific laws. Secondly, we are created in God’s image. He made us for relationship with him, for love. But he also gave us the freedom to choose. And humanity has turned its back on God. Verse 16 said, and he let all nations go their own way. And so there is this kind of innate religiousness in all of us as we seek ways to fill that kind of God-shaped vacuum that we feel.