Acts 17 - Same Gospel, Different Reactions
Notes
Transcript
Raise your hand if you’re right handed/left-handed
I love baseball.
There’s a pitcher named Pat Venditte
He’s a switch-pitcher (Right/left)
He’s the first switch-pitcher in 135 years.
Between batters, he is able to switch which hand he’s going to throw with to make it more complicated for the batter.
A curve ball is a curve ball, but where it’s coming from changes!
We’re going to see Paul be an ambidextrous preacher today.
You’ll see throughout the book of Acts, Paul engages both Jews/Gentiles
He preaches the same gospel, but his delivery varies to help whoever he’s talking to understand.
Throughout Acts we’ve seen a contrast between Jews and Gentiles
Jews have been waiting for a Messiah to come.
They have the Scriptures and a preconceived idea of what the Messiah would be.
Gentiles don’t know of the salvation that’s coming.
When the gospel is preached
Jews often reject because “I had expectations of who the Savior would be.”
Gentiles receive it and say, “This Savior is huge!”
Big Idea: Same gospel, different reactions
Big Idea: Same gospel, different reactions
Stand to read
1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
Leader: This is God’s Word.
Everyone: Thanks be to God.
Explanation
Paul commonly goes into the first synagogue he sees when he comes into a new town.
He’s a Jew, and naturally gravitates to Jews.
He knows their lingo; has report with them
He’s in the city of Thessalonica
These Jews knew the Scriptures
So that was Paul’s launch pad.
He pointed them to God’s Word to prove that Jesus was the Christ who had to suffer and rise from the dead for us to be saved!
That’s the gospel in a sentence!
If Jesus didn’t die and rise from the dead, we could not have a redemptive relationship with God.
It was absolutely necessary for our salvation
5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
They form a mob from unemployed bums from the marketplace and send a city into an absolute uproar.
Thess. wasn’t a small city. 200,000 people.
Think of the riots we’ve seen on the news recently and multiply it.
These Jews responded emotionally to the gospel with anger and outrage and so they stirred
Our modern day riots are in our hearts and the comments section on Facebook.
Where there were disagreements, it isn’t met with charity.
Online forums are not a helpful space for debate/argument.
Social media can cause such outrage within our hearts which leads to an emotional reaction to something we might not know much about.
That’s what happening here.
The Jews are emotionally jealous of Jesus’s kingship so they bring in these guys that have little to no understanding what the outrage is even about.
So they go to Jason’s house.
The early church didn’t have buildings, so they met in large houses.
So the mob goes to Jason’s house looking for Paul and Silas.
6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
Paul preaches the gospel, the gospel advances, and this message elicits a response.
The gospel turns our world upside down.
The gospel turns our world upside down.
For some, they realized they needed their world turned upside down (v. 4)
They recognized, “I have jacked my life up and this Jesus can turn everything around!”
That is such a freeing reality to us who believe!
Those of us who have made absolute shipwreck of our lives, sinners through/through, can be brought into God’s family through Jesus Christ.
However, there are those who do not think they’re that bad.
The thought that “I’m not a great person” hits people in the pride, which elicits an emotional response.
“I don’t like this Jesus to tear my away from my comfortable sin.”
This sparks outrage and absolute rejection.
How does the fact that only Jesus can save you sit with you?
Will you receive the gospel or reject it?
Transition
After this tension in Thess., Paul/Silas go to Berea.
They go into a synagogue (per usual) and find a different kind of crowd.
11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
This bunch was different than the Jews in Thess.
They took the Scriptures seriously.
They stood on the Word.
They were open, charitable, and teachable.
They took Paul’s expositional preaching seriously.
They truly wanted to know the God of the Bible, not one that could serve their personal needs.
They didn’t pick and choose what part of the Bible to believe like the one’s in Thess. who responded with jealousy.
The Bereans wanted to know what was true.
They applied intellect to their faith.
“I want to know what I love.”
They studied the Bible daily
They didn’t just take Paul’s word for it, but they went to the Scriptures.
They weren’t gullible.
They didn’t blindly love things.
We love from understanding, not emotion.
Think about something you know really well.
Something you’ve spent time doing and learning about
You tend to love that kind of thing or have a deep appreciation for.
Paul shows them from the Scriptures who Jesus is.
These people receive the Word with eagerness (v. 11)
They respond not based on how they feel about Jesus, but what God has said about Jesus!
12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
Their faith came from an understanding of the gospel from the Scriptures.
We want to love the Truth from Scripture.
We want to love the Truth from Scripture.
We can’t merely have an emotional faith.
We want to know Jesus.
What excites Him? What bothers Him?
In my marriage, I can tell you I love my wife.
I would also tell you that I love you.
I don’t love you like I love my wife.
I know her better than I know you.
I am a student of my wife.
I’ve grown deeper in love with her the more that I know about her.
When we dated, I began getting to know her deeper than when we were friends.
I got to learn Hilary as we got married.
I know more about her as she became a mom
I got to know Hilary through conflict/sadness
I got to know Hilary through intense joy.
The deeper the knowledge, the deeper the love I have for her.
God has communicated to us through His Word His intentions, His heart, His will.
Too often, people rely on traditions, experiences, and opinions to formulate how they feel about Jesus.
Perhaps a Christian hurt you or you’ve had issues with church people
So you base your view of Jesus from your feelings about church people.
The more we spend time in the Bible, the more the Holy Spirit will reveal Jesus to us.
The more we know about Jesus, the more amazing the grace of God is to us.
The Bereans grew in their understanding of Jesus and they were happy to receive the beautiful gospel!
This transformation of the Bereans reach the Thess. who respond with emotions.
So the church send Paul off to Athens.
Explanation
Athens was a major political and intellectual capital in Greece.
Greece was a very polytheistic area, so Paul only spent a little time in the synagogue.
He spent a lot of his time preaching in the marketplaces.
Garners the attention of different philosophers.
Many learned and studied lived in Athens.
Acts 17:21 “21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.”
They would sit around and throw out and discuss new philosophies.
They worshipped many gods, both Greek and Roman gods.
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
When Paul gets to Athens, he sees that it’s full of idols.
He looks at the city from a Christian worldview and sees that there is nothing in this city that gives God glory.
They substitute the worship of God for their own pleasure.
These fake gods give them a false sense of security.
Idols don’t only look like worshipping a shrine, but take the form in:
A need for approval and status
Success and money
Sex and pleasure
Food
Allegiance to a sports team or political party
Pursuit of education
Obsession with an individual.
When these things become idols, we are robbing God of glory.
Paul sees these things and he can’t help but be moved by this.
He feels this deep anger, and this anger is mixed with love.
He felt deep outrage against these false gods and a deep compassion for these people who worshiped false gods.
These idols reveal a hunger for God, but it also reveals their spiritual emptiness.
Paul doesn’t respond by taking a sledgehammer to the idols, but engaging the people.
He’s motivated by love for the Lord and for people.
Frederick Fleet was the first person to see the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.
He immediately called the bridge to warn the captain, shouting, “Iceberg, right ahead!”
When he saw the impending doom, he didn’t say, “I don’t want anyone to feel judged” “I don’t want to be pushy”
Paul sees the spiritual death that’s coming.
They are not worshipping God and they have not been forgiven by faith in Christ.
This prompts Paul to proclaim, not out of judgement but compassion, “Watch out!”
We want to proclaim from compassion
We want to proclaim from compassion
We have to be a people marked by a love of Truth from Scripture AND a love for people.
If our lives do not reflect gentleness AND boldness, we’ll either become a coward or obnoxious when sharing the faith.
There are people who are skilled with their Bibles, but they don’t have an ounce of compassion.
They can tell you the deep works of God and how to apply it, but they will not connect with others or love them to Christ.
They tend to be jerks for Jesus.
On the flip, there are really loving and gentle people who really feel deeply about Jesus but they don’t know their Bibles enough to be moved to actually do something.
Only having an intellectual faith can be harsh and demeaning.
Only having an emotional faith can be weak and shallow.
We need believers who deeply love the Scriptures AND feel a deep compassion to proclaim the only message of life to a lost and dying world!
There are people who are dying and spending eternity separated from God in their sins and we have the Words of eternal life printed in our hands!
Doesn’t this matter?!
Paul thinks so! So he moves in.
He goes to this place where the philosophers go to hear the new teachings and debate.
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
They had so many gods that they didn’t want to miss any so they created one to the unknown and named him “Justin” Justin Case.
Then Paul, like a craftsman, preaches the gospel in a way they can understand.
What is the gospel that Paul preached to them? To the Jews?
This same simple gospel message is for you today.
Gospel presentation
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Our existence is from God! He created us in His image and has given us life!
He created us to worship and have relationship with Him.
Yet in our sin, we’ve all rebelled against Him and have sinned.
We’ve thrown ourselves into evil and self-worship.
We’ve walked away from God.
But He’s not far from us.
He sent for us!
He sent His Son, Jesus, who died for us on the cross to give His righteousness to those who would believe!
Then God gave us assurance of eternal life by raising Jesus from the dead!
Now through faith in Jesus, we can be fully forgiven of our sins and walk in the abundant life that God has for us!
You can be changed and forgiven today!
You can be made new in Christ!
How will you respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Outro
You’ve all heard the same gospel.
The same reality is true of you.
You can be forgiven and saved through Jesus Christ.
Some of you will mock
You’ve come with your expectations/ideas of Jesus
Some of you, the Spirit of God is speaking to your heart.