The Word Turning the World Upside Down - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Acts 17 we are encouraged by the example of Paul as he faces hardship and relentlessly continues to spread the good news of Christ.
Transcript:
Probably one of the more surprising moments in my life was when I was told I was going to blow up a gas station. To be clear, I, I wasn't given instructions to do that -- I was just scrolling on my phone while I was filling up my van. A guy pulled up in his car and was quite insistent that my phone activity was gonna blow everyone up. He was very serious, he was so insistent that he actually became somewhat physically aggressive, approaching me, to the point that I thought he might, like, come at me. Now to be clear, I didn't respond sharply to him-- I was just on my phone during that time. I decided to choose diplomacy in the situation, put my phone away, figured it wouldn't be good for a pastor to get, get in a fight. And you know what, a quick search on Google indicates there's actually never been a case of phones blowing up a gas station. But this fellow was convinced I presented a danger. Now was it my fault that he got upset? In one sense-- yes, my phone use is what aggravated him. But should he have been so aggravated by my phone use? No. That was his problem.
But that's how life goes sometimes-- we can at one and the same time be at no fault, and also the cause of someone blowing up. If this applies generally, it certainly applies to sharing the gospel. Sometimes people really react badly to the Gospel message. And it can spook us and make us feel like troublemakers, like we're the bad guys. It can convince us to clam up and never talk about Jesus. That quiet decision on our part often makes sense in our heads, but if you consider it more closely it doesn't make much sense at all. It'd be like me deciding never to take my phone out again at a gas station even though I know the truth. It's a decision to live in fear.
In our reading of Acts, we find plenty of opportunities for Paul and his companions to decide that they will live in fear, that they'll stop talking about Jesus. We'll see a bad reaction today. But we also see a good reaction to the gospel, and both follow from Paul's testimony. There's a lesson in here for us, regarding both the Christian message and the resolve and basis in communicating it again and again to people.
So we turn to Acts 17, beginning in verses one through three. You'll recall that Paul's companions have moved on from Philippi, where they had experienced some trouble there also that stemmed from Paul casting out a demon from a fortune telling girl. And they got put in prison, and then an earthquake happened, and they got set free because the, the city rulers recognized they shouldn't mess with these guys, especially since they're Roman citizens. And so they're moving on here. Beginning in verse one, it says, when Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. This Jesus I'm proclaiming to you is the Messiah, he said.
So if we look at our map, we can see that Paul is proceeding kind of in a Southwest direction from Philippi. He's going through Amphipolis and Apollonia. Now, we don't know if he preached in those places, it's possible he could have spent a little bit of time there, Luke doesn't tell us. His ultimate destination is Thessalonica, which you can see here, it's right in that little kind of cove, this nice bay, which bodes well for its significance as a place of, of commerce. And it's also along a major route in the area, the Via Egnatia. Now, that journey was about a hundred miles. So quite a far distance, especially after you've been beaten up in Philippi. I mean, I wouldn't wanna walk a hundred miles, I think under any, any, any conditions, nevermind those conditions. But Paul and his companions are so committed to sharing the gospel that they walk a hundred miles to Thessalonica.
And when he gets there, he goes to the Jewish synagogue. So apparently there was enough of a Jewish population here where they had an actual synagogue. You'll recall in Philippi it was Roman colony, they didn't have a synagogue in the city, they were meeting outside the city by a river. Now, some things to know about Thessalonica is that it was a free city. Now that doesn't mean that it was entirely independent of the Roman Empire, it's just that they basically were friendly with the Roman Empire instead of putting up a fight, and so they had the privilege of issuing their own currency and electing their, their own officials and a Roman garrison, Roman soldiers, they didn't have to be in the city. Now, ultimately, they still answer to Rome. If, if things, if, if things kind of go sideways there, Rome's gonna have something to say about it. Thessalonica was a pretty large city. It was around 40 to 65,000 people, so pretty big. Now as they were, as Paul goes to the synagogue in Thesallonica, he spends quite a bit of time there. We, we know that he spends at least three Sabbath days, so he is there for about, at least three weeks. Now, he could have been there even longer, but Luke just tells us about the time that he was reasoning with them in the synagogues, reasoning with them from the scriptures.
Now part of Paul's reasoning from the scriptures may have been an oral recollection of the scriptures that he would've possessed and the people that were in the synagogue would've also possessed. It's important to remember here that not everyone, they didn't have bibles, they didn't have books. The Codex, which was kind of the first version of the book, was kind of a new invention at that time. Most of the writings were on scrolls, and so they might have had scroll, there's a good reason to think that they had some scrolls of the Old Testament here. And so if you're gonna reason from the scriptures, gathering on the Sabbath would've been a good time to do that so you had access to those scrolls. And more than likely the gatherings of the Jews there was probably limited to those Sabbath days. Now remember, part of the reason why Paul wants to go to them is 'cause they have familiarity with the scriptures. So it makes sense that they would have a greater understanding about the idea of Jesus, the significance of who Jesus is because of what God has already given in the Old Testament. Also because the good news should be first shared with them, because the Messiah has been promised to them. Now, what, who is the Messiah? What is the Messiah? The Messiah is God's promise that an anointed one, a promised king, would arrive of the tribe of, of Judah, of the line and lineage of David, this king who would rule forever and establish God's rule here on earth. And so that's what Paul is getting into as he's going into the scriptures, is he's demonstrating that this promised Messiah, this promised one, is in fact Jesus.
Now, that's not entirely intuitive at its, at the forefront because think about Jesus, what happened to him. He got crucified. Most of the Jews were expecting that the Messiah would actually overthrow the Romans, maybe liberate the land of Israel. That's not what happens, but Paul says that's not a problem. We do know that ultimately the Messiah is going to overthrow all worldly powers, but there's other things that are gonna happen too.
And, and we can imagine that Paul would've taken them to texts like Isaiah 53 and Psalm 16. Look at Isaiah 53. I'm not gonna read even all the verses here, it's worth reading the entire passage. But basically, Isaiah gives a prophecy regarding the Messiah, who could also be identified, who can also be identified as the suffering servant, indicating that he was gonna endure a lot of hardship. He was gonna be rejected. He was gonna be killed. We seen in verse nine of Isaiah 53, it says he was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Now, this was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, and yet it seems like a perfect match for everything that we see happen in Jesus's life. You go to Psalm 16, nine through 11. This is a Psalm written by, by David. He says, therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; and my body will also rest secure, because you'll not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you'll fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Now, they would've, Paul would've pointed to that text and say, well, listen, David did die and he stayed dead. So who is he talking about here? Seems like he's talking, in fact, about the one who would follow in his line. And we see in the case of Jesus, that he did die and yet he did not see decay. He, he was only dead three days and then he was raised from the dead. So we can imagine Paul would've referenced scriptures like this in reasoning with the Jews. And his point being that Jesus is the man who matches the testimony of the scriptures regarding who the Messiah would be and what the scriptures really disclose is the mission of God, what is God's mission. It's not merely political restoration. It's an actual restoration of humanity, as such so that we become the people that we're supposed to be, but even more importantly that we become reconciled and restored in relationship with God. It's a deliverance not only from death, but from the punishment that we are due because of our sinfulness, our rebellion against God.
So after hearing Paul make his case, Luke tells us in verse four, he says, some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. Now, as we've seen before in our reading of Acts, it's not uncommon that in the community of the synagogue there's included those who are non-Jews, God-fearing Greeks. These are people who are interested in the God of Israel at the very least, they may have gone so far as to try to comply with Jewish law by becoming circumcised, following a kosher diet. And so as Paul is reasoning with the Jews in the synagogue, it says that some of them were persuaded, but there was also a large number of, of God-fearing Greeks too, who were persuaded, and also a few prominent women.
Now we don't know, regarding these women, were these people that, were these women that were God fearers themselves, or were they just Greek women that were generally, you know, curious about a new religion? It was not uncommon at that time for there to be some intrigue about a religion from the east, and, and women in particular were generally very open to some new ideas here because, as kind of secondary actors in the social political scene, they could get away with diverging, kind of from the mainstream in ways that men had a lot of pressure on them. It was more difficult, it was more costly for them to kind of be divergent in that kind of way. And so a few of these women, are persuaded.
Now, this would've been beneficial to the church in a couple of ways. One, you can imagine financially they could have helped out the early church, and it also kind of gives a, it's kind of a boon to the credibility of the church. And as you think about Paul, uh, Luke, in writing this record of Acts, he has a gentile audience in mind. And so he notes these details in order to convince his audience that this is, this is a, this is a message that other people, serious people, have taken seriously, and so you should also give it a fair hearing. Now we see in verse five that other Jews became jealous. Now it's easy for us to kind of roll just right past that detail and into the riot, but it's important we ask, why are they jealous? Well, they're jealous because Paul's preaching the gospel. Paul's good news includes that the Messiah is not just for the Jews. The Messiah is in fact for the world, for Jew and non-Jew alike, and that these God-fearing Greeks, they don't need to be circumcised. They don't need to be compliant with all of the regulations of, of Jewish law because those things have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, so they become jealous that the tent is growing a whole lot bigger here, and as a result, they round up some bad characters from the marketplace.
Now these bad characters probably would've been people that just kind of hung around the marketplace. There was, it was an interesting detail, Craig Keener notes in his commentary that there is a fair amount of unemployment, and actually, Thessalonica had a sort of a welfare system where they would actually dispense grain to people. And so you can see how that could be abused, where they would just hang around, they'd get free food provided by the government, and they'd just spend their days, kind of rabble rousing, stirring up some trouble. And that's what happens here. These, these Jews, they go and they decide, let's get some of these guys, get 'em all riled up and we'll, we'll real, we'll make a real issue of this. We'll start a riot.
Now, as I shared in the video that I sent out on Friday on the importance of noticing historical context, it's a video I encourage you to watch, starting riots is not a good idea in the Roman Empire, because the Roman Empire is all about the Pax Romana, the the Roman Peace, the Empire is supposed to bring peace and order. Now Thessalonica, as a free city, has some leeway. You know, they kind of manage their own affairs, but if things really start blowing up there, the empire's gonna take notice of it. They could decide, okay, you guys aren't mature enough. You're not responsible enough to have your own free city. We've gotta go, come in here and manage things and take away your free status. You don't wanna be a city that has riots and, and so this brings a lot of negative attention to Paul and Silas and their, and their company.
Now, apparently, and we'll learn this definitively later in verse seven, a man named Jason had offered some hospitality to Paul and Silas. And so the crowd figures that they should go to his house to get these guys that have been causing this trouble. But it turns out that they can't find them. Continuing on in verse six, it says, but when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there's another king, one called Jesus. When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. They made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
So because Paul and Silas weren't there, and we don't know why they weren't there, maybe they just happened to be out, maybe they had gotten worried that this was gonna happen and Jason had told them, Hey, get outta, get outta here. Because of this, Jason and the other believers have to answer for Paul and his company. So very early on, we see these new believers having to endure some suffering here for the sake of the gospel. Now, the charge that is brought against them, against Paul and his company, and by association Jason and the other believers, is men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come, come here to start trouble. Now, other translations will say that they turned the world upside down. That's the kind of trouble that they've, they've caused. These guys are turning the world upside down. And I think that rendering is actually a very kind of vivid sort of rendering about the sort of distress, the, how, how angry they were about the message that was being shared. They're messing things up.
You think about, in the eyes of these Jews, the Jews are supposed to be set apart, the Greeks are, are set apart on their own thing. Now he's, he's bringing it all together so that from that perspective, but then they're going to try to drag this into a, a matter that would be of concern to the, to Roman authority and power by saying that, in fact, what Paul and his company are trying to do is, is actually suggest that there's another king, one called Jesus, that they actually are engaging in sedition and treason. Now, this leads us to ask is, is there any merit to these, these charges? And, and, and think about, you know, how far back does this actually go?
And when we go to the gospels, we find that it goes right back to Jesus. This is in fact part of the charge that led to Jesus being crucified. We see in Luke 23: 2 says, and they began to accuse him, saying, we have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.
Now that was a lie. Jesus didn't say that you shouldn't pay taxes to Caesar. He says, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. But he did give him indications that he is the Messiah. Now in, in John 19:12, we see that the, the crowd puts pressure on Pilate to Crucify Jesus, says, from then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, if you let this man go, you're no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.
We have to understand that there is real political dynamics involved that the message of Christ, the message of the gospel, is running smack into. Now is there a necessary conflict between human government and the kingdom of God? No. And, and Jesus testifies to this in John 18 verses 36 through 37. I've already mentioned how in Matthew 22, he says, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God's what is Gods. And we have a further kind of extension of that by his own testimony of his, of his kingship in John 18, he says, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place. You are a king, then! Said Pilate. Jesus answered, you say that I'm a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.
I mean, Jesus there, he's not denying that he's a king, but he knows that Pilate's idea of a king is worldly in nature, whereas Jesus's kingship does not come from this world, it's not derived from human powers. It's, it's divine in nature. It actually outstrips everything that is merely human. And so there is truth to the claim that Jesus is, in fact king, and this does ultimately, in the end, have political ramifications, and we can see how this message would've created conflict with Roman society, given the sorts of claims that Caesar would make about himself, and which the Romans also attributed to him.
Caesar did not present himself as a merely humble civil servant. I mean, maybe he would've wanted people to think that he, they would kind of speak out of both sides of their mouths on this. But in fact, they, they actually wanted people to view them as semi divine figures, as actually divine figures. They'd, they would actually construct temples for them. They had cults for the emperor. We find, and this is an older inscription, but it very much speaks to kind of just the idea here. This inscription by one Paulus Fabius Maximus, the Roman proconsul of Asia in nine BC regarding Caesar Augustus. Now this would've been the previous, this was an older Caesar since it's in nine, nine bc but it very much applies to the sort of conflict we, we're seeing here. Notice just the, the nature of the language here, it sounds very religious. Says, providence has ordered all things and set them in order by giving us Caesar Augustus, whom she, meaning Providence, has filled with virtue that he might benefit all humanity, and has sent him as a savior for us and our descendants, that he might end war and bring order to all things. The birthday of the God was the beginning of good news for the world.
Now doesn't that sound very much kind of like the gospel message? Except its Caesar Augustus, and, in fact, the same word there, good news, euangelion, is the same word that the Christians were using regarding Jesus. So there was definitely some political friction here in the claims that they were making about Jesus.
And we see this if you, if you look at first and second Thessalonians, gives you some great insight to the interactions that Paul would've had with the Thessalonians. These are letters that he wrote after his visit to Thessalonica, but we learned the sort of things that he was saying to them. In First Thessalonians one verses eight through 10, it says, the Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-- your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-- Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Now to Roman ears, that could sound very treasonous because among those false idols would be, be included, the worship of the emperor. And if you're going to be talking about any heavenly son, well you should be talking about a Roman figure, not about Jesus. In First Thessalonians four 16, Paul also says, for the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
So Jesus possesses a whole lot of authority. Seems like more authority than Caesar possesses. That's a, that's a testy claim to make based on the claims that Caesars are asserting for themselves. Now, the response that should have followed from, you know, Paul's message that he's bringing is, of course, acceptance. But instead, what follows is riot, because they just can't accept that, that claim, anything that would subvert the Roman Emperor's total authority. They're charged with sedition and treason and the city officials, again, these are, these are, not Roman officials. These are officials actually of the city of Thessalonica. They're responsive to the people's concerns, but it doesn't seem like they take them too seriously given that they allow Jason and the other believers to go, though they have to basically pay a fine of sorts. They have to pay a bond in order to be released, and probably with some assurance that they're not gonna cause any more trouble or something, something like that.
Now this gives them an opportunity to send Paul and Silas along. And it's, it's important that they, they do probably seek other places because of how their welcome has deteriorated. Continuing on in verse 10, it says, as soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
So when we're thinking about Berea, Berea is basically to the west of Thessalonica. It's about 50 miles inland. So again, another far journey to walk. And it's a significant city, but it is out of the way and, and there might have been some intention there with choosing a city that's out of the way, because they didn't want continued trouble from the Jews in Thessalonica.
Now going to the Jews in Berea, their experience is far different. Luke says that the Jews there were of noble character and they were very interested in studying the truth of the scriptures, closely examining it. So if you say, maybe some of you have heard that, heard it said that someone's a real Berean or they have a Berean spirit, and the, the idea there being that that's a person that's really interested in carefully studying the scriptures, considering what the message actually says, rather than just assuming things. And that's the sort of character that defined these Jews in Berea. Now, the reason why we have a difference here in terms of their reception that's noted is because if you just look carefully, it says that, that many of these Jews, that many of them believed, whereas previously in Thessalonica it says that only some of them believed. And so he had had some of a hearing in Thessalonica, but it was way different here in Berea. And as in Thessalonica, you had some prominent Greek men and and women also believe.
Then of course you have continued trouble, and it's coming. They're in, they're exporting trouble from Thessalonica to Berea. Verse 13, it says, but when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
So trouble has followed them and in the same fashion they create trouble, agitation. That seems to be kind of their strategy to get Paul out of a town, is like causing trouble. And so he's sent, ultimately sent along to Athens and we'll kind of pick up there next week. And at, for the moment, Silas and Timothy stay behind in Berea to continue working with the believers. But they too are supposed to follow along with him as soon as possible.
Now we have to understand that Paul was not surprised by the rejection and persecution that he experienced. In First Thessalonians three, four, he reminds the Thessalonian Christians of this. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. So again, no surprise on Paul's part there, the rejection that Paul experienced. In fact, it was also shared by the Thessalonian Christians.
1st Thessalonians two verses 14 through 16 says, for you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: you suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and also drove us out. They displeased God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
I want you to notice what Paul is saying here. He's saying that the Thessalonians experience of rejection and suffering actually repeats, not only the experience of the Judean Church, as you think about what happened at the time that Stephen was stoned, and then a huge persecution began led by, actually, Paul himself at that time. Yes, but it also just goes back to Jesus himself. The fact that he was rejected, and in fact, the prophets, they too were rejected. So the experience of the Thessalonians is just repeating that pattern, which has preceded. When we think about the ministry of Jesus and the backlash it created, it ultimately led to a cross. That reaction is to be expected.
There's also encouragement here in Acts 17, that while there are those who will reject Christ, there will be those who embrace him, who hear the testimony of God's word and believe. Some will reject that testimony, others will accept it. Our task, like Paul's, is simply to share what the Bible says. To dialogue and reason with people, to persuade and demonstrate from the scriptures that Jesus is truly the Messiah, that he is the true king. Yes, Christians should show respect and appropriate submission to the civil authorities, but we do not believe in the cult of any emperor, king, president, or prime minister because those kingdoms are merely of this world.
It's to be expected that the gospel message will create some friction with those powers when they assume too much for themselves. Christ's kingdom is of a different order and will consume all worldly governments on the day of his return. And it's important that we emphasize that and, and it's an emphasis that Advent Christians have stressed since our denomination was formed. The Bible testifies that Jesus is king and that he is coming again. This present age is not forever. Heaven and earth will not exist in separate spheres for all eternity, the material and immaterial. Jesus Christ is going to bring heaven to this earth. Does that have political implications for us? Does it affect our outlook on the world? Yes, it certainly should, and we can understand why it would upset dictators who have God delusions. They might throw a fit, the people may riot, all because we have the audacity to speak the truth. We're the cause, but it's not our fault. The fault lies in their own hearts. Knowing the truth, we have no reason to fear. Like Paul, we keep speaking, maybe needing to move on from time to time, not, maybe not literally from a location, but you can share the gospel with someone and if that person's not gonna have it, okay, we move on. Whatever the case, we never stop telling the truth about who Jesus is. And so my encouragement to you is this, be the good kind of trouble that in the name of Jesus turns the world upside down. The reason being we do not find it right side up. It must be redeemed, restored, rectified, and it can only happen by the power of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
Dear Father, we thank you for the testimony of your word, which reveals to us the truth, the truth about who you are, the truth about our broken condition, and the truth that there is hope that you have sent a Savior, our Messiah, and that his name is Jesus Christ.
Father, our prayer is that like Paul, we would faithfully communicate the gospel by means of the use of scripture so that others would come to believe that people would no longer be held captive by pinning their hopes on worldly powers.
That, that in fact, we would be able to liberate, and we'd be able to liberate people from their captivity to these powers that just want to use them to the power and salvation of Jesus Christ who wants to restore us to be the people that you created us to be, to restore us from life to death. To enjoy eternity with you.
Give us encouragement, father, by the example we have here, that even as we face rejection, we know that others will accept, and that we need not live in fear because we know the truth is on our side. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)