Heart Rescue
Jon Taffer is an American entrepreneur and a consultant within the food and beverage industry – specializing in pubs, bars, and nightclubs.
He’s also the TV personality behind the reality show called Bar Rescue - where Taffer dives into dying, failing bars in an attempt to save them.
In every episode, he not only systematically highlights everywhere these bars have gone wrong, but he also strategically shows them a way out – giving them professional guidance on remodeling and rebranding their business in order to save them from shutting down.
If you have ever seen the show, these bars undeniably needed rescuing.
One bar, for example had kitchen staff who weren’t properly sanitizing their hands – handling cooked food immediately after handling raw meat. They had bartenders pouring beer from kegs that were a year expired. They served fried mushrooms with bits of dirt on them. They served salsa that was bubbling with bacteria. Grease was caked all over the kitchen. The deep fryers had not been thoroughly cleaned in years. Slabs of raw chicken sat unrefrigerated on countertops. And the walk-in freezer was covered with toxic black mold. The place was a health-code nightmare.
Jon Taffer’s reaction? The same as every episode: sincere, zealous, unbridled rage.
I’m sure you can understand why. Walk-in freezers full of black mold and unrefrigerated raw meat isn’t simply poor business protocol: it’s a serious health code violation. If left unchecked, it’s not just their bar that could get buried – but people. Customers and staff could get sick and die.
These bar employees were living in a deadly fantasy – and it was Jon Taffer’s job to bring them back to reality – to snap them out of their delusion and show them where they had gone terribly wrong – before it’s too late.
But the premise of Bar Rescue is nothing new. In fact, in today’s episode from the book of Acts, the apostle Paul embarks on a similar rescue mission. Except his scope is a tad bigger than just a bar, and the problem was significantly bigger than toxic black mold: Paul had entered a city in need of rescuing from rampant idolatry - a city drowning in a sea of false gods who could not save, and suffocating from empty philosophies that only emptied their followers.
Paul saw there were hearts in need of rescuing in Athens - and so, he preached the message that every heart needs to hear – a timeless and timely message that is for every time, every place, and every person: the good news of Jesus.
A Glaring Cultural Admission
That’s what we find Paul doing in Acts 17 at the Areopagus. Literally, the Hill of Ares or ‘Mars Hill’ – was a small rocky hill northwest of the Acropolis in Athens; historically, the Athenian Council would meet there, so they too were given the name “the Areopagus”. The Areopagus oversaw criminal courts, matters of law, politics, as well as discussions on philosophy and religion.
Meaning, they had the authority not only to demand a hearing of Paul, but even the authority to apply capital punishment – including execution.
While Athens prided herself in religious freedom and freedom of speech, the cultural pride and zeal of the Athenians didn’t tolerate every idea that was shared. The Greek verb used to describe how these philosophers took Paul to the Areopagus has an urgent, even a forceful connotation.
This wasn’t the first time in the book of Acts that Paul was dragged away to give an account for what he was preaching – and it wouldn’t be the last.
But that’s just it: it wasn’t really Paul under attack here – but his message, a message that directly conflicts with Athenian religion, philosophy, and culture.
Whether this assembly of Athenian councilmen and citizens was intended to be a preliminary hearing for a future trial, or just an opportunity to learn about Paul and his message, Paul seizes the opportunity to preach a Christ-centered sermon.
His starting point? An altar to “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD”.
Ironically, the Athenians who were putting Paul and his ideas on trial, had made a fatal “cultural admission” – an admission that they didn’t have it all figured out – that they were missing something.
As Paul walked the streets of Athens, noting the many altars and shrines to a myriad of gods and goddesses, he had seen an altar “TO AN UNKOWN GOD.” These Athenians who put Paul on trial – they who were so certain of their own thoughts, ideas, and deities that they would poke fun at this foreigner for entering the Athenian arena with such silly ideas – and yet they are the one hedging their bets, worshiping an “UNKNOWN GOD” so that all of their bases were covered.
That altar was the glaringly obvious lose thread on the sweater that was the Athenian culture and religious system – and while Paul begins to make that “UNKNOWN GOD” known to them, he simultaneously grabs that lose thread in their religious and philosophical systems and begins to undo their sweater into a measly, idol-ridden pile of yarn.
Like any good apologist, Paul doesn’t simply give a defense of the Christian faith: Paul goes on the offense and puts Greek philosophy and religion on trial. Similarly, like any good evangelist, Paul’s objective is not primarily to win the argument: Paul’s objective is to win souls for Jesus – by proclaiming Jesus – the God who lived, died, rose, lives and reigns for you and gives you life!
To those who mocked his teachings as ridiculous, Paul fires back,
“Isn’t it more ridiculous to, on the one hand, strive to live moral, virtuous lives, yet simultaneously dismiss the reality of an afterlife? If there is no afterlife, what we do or don’t do in this life has no real meaning or purpose! Our actions would have no eternal value or significance.”
“You Athenians say my conception of God is strange. Isn’t the ubiquitous nature of your religiosity actually a testament to the fact that your gods are man-made? Manufactured? No more than glorified, venerated versions of yourselves?”
“You talk as if the True God needs you to survive! You build temples as if God needs them to live! How does that make sense? Why would the God who made time and space need our time and space to live? Why would the God who made matter then need matter to exist? If God brought everything into being, isn’t it us who then need him to survive? Isn’t it more reasonable that we live, move, and have our being in him – our Creator – than he in us? Is this really all that strange and foreign to you when even your own poets have acknowledged this? That we are God’s children? That he created us?”
That glaring cultural admission looks and sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it? I don’t have to walk the streets of first century Athens to see the idols of first century Athens. In fact, in many ways, should Paul walk the streets of our cities and communities, he might just say the same thing.
But I don’t have to point to my culture or community to find the Athenian-esque idol factory closest to home. In fact, I can walk the streets of first century Athens within my own heart.
The Idol Factory in Our Heart
The created world bears all the hallmarks of a Divine Artist – that God is wise, powerful, ever-present, eternal, even personal. Our conscience bears witness to God’s commandments which are written on our hearts.
And yet, in spite of all of God’s invisible qualities being made clearly seen from the natural world and human experience, the Athenians – even in all their religiosity – still hadn’t found God. Why?
Because the Athenians were born with an idol factory in their heart.
And so were we.
We, like the Athenians, were born with an inherited sinful nature from our parents.
As a result, our consciences aren’t wholly reliable: sometimes they will accuse us when we do evil, and other times justify the evil we do – even calling that evil good.
Our sinful nature warps our view of reality – bending it inward onto ourselves. We project this inward bend onto the world around us.
And yes, our sinful nature would project this inward bend onto God, too.
Contrary to popular opinion, my heart can’t be the locus (i.e. the foundation, the source) of absolute truth, be it about who I am or who God is. Because of our sinful nature, none of us can find God on our own.
This is why Paul says in Romans, “ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)
God says that same good news has gone out into all the world. That was the same good news that Christ himself had commissioned Paul to compassionately carry to Athenian hearts. And while a handful came to faith that day, the wide majority of them rejected the gospel. Their hearts were crowded with idols they were unwilling to let go.
The idols that seek to find commonplace in our hearts may not be made of wood and stone, but they are no less dangerous - because they don’t want to share room with God. They’re looking to rule the roost.
There’s the god of “my ego” who is always starving for attention, where it’s all about my glory, not God’s.
There’s the god of our “pride” who tells me I’m never wrong, that it’s all about “my truth” not the Truth: God’s Truth.
There’s the god of “convenience” who tells me to serve myself, not others.
There’s the god of “consumerism” who generates an insatiable hunger for more stuff – and leaves us wanting more even after insurmountable credit card debt – but always helps us make excuses come time to give back to God.
There’s the god of “nostalgia” who tells us to blindly fixate on the past and ignore the blessings God has given you in the present.
There’s the god of “comfort” who leads us to fear picking up our crosses and following Christ and instead pursue that which is easy.
There’s the god of “lust” who says it’s okay to just look! No harm, no foul, right?
There’s the god of “routine” who encourages our inner control freak to bristle when things don’t go according to plan – instead of giving it over to God in prayer.
There’s the god of our “busyness” and allocate time for everything but service to God in our families, church, and communities.
There’s the god of “revenge” who tells us to justify our hatred towards those who have wronged us and withhold forgiveness from them – ignoring how much we have been forgiven in Christ.
There’s the god of “fear” who beckons us to cower from gospel ministry opportunities, instead of creatively using our God-given talents to carry out the Great Commission.
Such manmade idols and manmade gods certainly sing us sweet nothings, but that’s just it: they amount to nothing.
Be it the false gods with names or the nameless false idols in my heart, they might as well be spiritual toxic black mold.
And these cancerous idols threaten our relationship with God, because they don’t want to share a heart with God.
And God doesn’t want to share a heart with them either.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul strength and mind,” God himself says.
I haven’t done that.
Neither have you.
Not only have we done what is evil, we have failed to do that which is God-pleasing. No one stands superior to another in God’s sight. We are all equally in need of a Savior – all equally sinful – equally in dire need of salvation – equally estranged from God as a result of sin.
And for the sins of idolatry in our hearts, we all were equally deserving of not heaven as our home, but hell.
But just as you and I have in common a sinful nature and a shared need for salvation – so also we share a common Savior. And through our common Savior – Jesus – our God and our salvation is revealed!
Christ, the Rescuer of Our Hearts
God didn’t save us because he needs us to survive.
God didn’t save us because we substantiate his existence either.
After all, our Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – could have existed completely sufficiently without you.
And yet, God, lovingly created you anyway.
Not because he was lacking something that you needed to give him; but because he freely desired to share all that is himself with you.
And he didn’t just uniquely and wonderfully create you: he’s uniquely and wonderfully saved you.
In Christ, we see our God living and breathing grace for us. Our God would, out of his love for us, be born. He came to serve, not be served. In Jesus, we see the Lord of all creation restore the lame, give sight to the blind, and raise the dead. We see our God ride humbly to Jerusalem to wage war against sin, death, and hell itself to win us heaven. We see the King of Kings wear a crown of thorns to win us a crown of glory. We see the blameless Lamb of God become a sin offering for us – so that we would become the righteousness of God. There, on the cross, we see the Son of God win for you a new identity as his redeemed child. We see the Lord of Life give up his life so you would live - just as we see that same Lord of Life rise from the dead on Easter Sunday morning.
In Christ, we see with contour and color exactly who our God is: the rescuer of our hearts.
That same God continues to pursue the people of this world through his Word - just as he pursued you and brought you to faith through his Word.
And just as that same God pursued you with his gospel, see how that same God graciously pursues the world as he commissions his disciples – including you and me today – to use our God-given gifts for his eternal glory and to share the good news of eternal life in Jesus with everyone - no matter where they are or who they are. Our God and his gracious promises are bound neither by time nor space. After all, he’s the same God who - through faith in Christ - sets up shop inside of you!
Hearts Rescued
At the end of every episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer, after all his renovation and remodeling, shows the bar employees their brand new space. It’s all new. New tables, new countertops, new glassware, a new kitchen. No more caked grease. No more toxic black mold. It’s all new – infinitely better than it was before.
How that picture pales in comparison to the newness of life that we have in Jesus!
In Christ, you are completely, and totally forgiven; the “grease” of your guilt is gone forever; the “black mold” of even your most toxic sins has been scrubbed clean by the cleansing tide of Jesus’ blood.
In Christ, you have an unassailable identity as God’s holy child; the world can call you what it wants: Jesus speaks a louder word than they do - and he says “You are forgiven.”
In Christ, your life has eternal significance and purpose; your Savior hasn’t just grafted you into his family: he’s grafted you into his advancement of his divine, holy agenda.
In Christ, you - right now - have the sure hope of heaven waiting for you; no matter what danger seems to lurk, our heavenly home is secured in who Jesus is and what' he’s done.
For a sin-stricken world living and dying for idols, our God would take on flesh and live and die for us. In the Crucified Christ we find both the power and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). We see the beating heart of God bleed to win a dying world life. May that timeless and timely message for every time, every place, and every person be proclaimed by us, too.