Acts 17

Berea

In life, very occasionally, not nearly as often as we would like, but very occasionally, things go just as we wanted, just as we planned, and it all works out in a perfect, wonderful way, with a bow on top and we feel satisfied and happy in the results. This is a rare experience in life, and since the Biblical stories ARE real life, we find the same thing in the Bible.

Here is the moment in Acts, and it is a singular moment friends, so don’t blink or you’ll miss it. Here is that moment in Acts.

Acts 17:10–15 “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 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. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.”

Paul and Silas arrive in Berea, another Greek city, they preach in the synagogue, the people hear the Gospel, get excited about it, check it against their Scripture, and many of them believe, perhaps even most although the Bible is not clear on this. And it was not just the Jews, but quite a number of Gentiles believed too, including some women of high status in the city. And this was no half hearted conversion, Luke tells us they received the Word, “with all eagerness.”

Although this seems to have been a largely successful evangelistic encounter, it was, nevertheless, quite brief, as very quickly Jewish leaders from Thessalonica arrive and drive out Paul, and Luke’s narrative always follows Paul, so we don’t learn much more about what happens in Berea.

But we have, nevertheless, an image of unambiguously successful missionary work, so naturally through the centuries ministers and theologians have looked at this passage to determine, even as we will do this morning, what went right in Berea?

And it is very simple. It is not rocket science. The synagogue in Berea was a healthy synagogue for 2 reasons:

They cared about the truth. The synagogue in Berea was not worried about whether or not something was going to upend their traditions and the “natural order of things” like they were worried in Thessalonika. They weren’t worried about whether or not the Gospel would bring conflict to their synagogue or their city as they were in Philippi. They weren’t worried about whether or not Paul was eloquent or simple, wealthy or poor, they weren’t worried about Paul at all in fact. Their only concern was quite simple- is this true or not? That was the first part of what went right. They wanted to know if something was truth or falsehood. The consequences of it being true or false were secondary to whether or not it was true or false.

2. In order to determine whether or not something was true, they turned not to their traditions or their own desires, or to other leaders. No, they looked immediately to the Scripture to test the claims of Paul. Paul comes and says the Messiah has come, and He is doing a tremendous work of salvation among the Jews and the Gentiles. And, listen, here is the Gospel. And you can just imagine them poring over Genesis 2 and Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 9,11 and 12 (came on a donkey, betrayed for silver pieces, pierced for our transgression) and then hearing how the once for all sacrifice did not take place in the Temple but on a cross on a hill and how salvation is now freely offered to all who would accept Christ, and so on. And people get excited because this would be what they have been waiting for, for centuries. Could this be the Messiah, and they turn to the Bible to see. Has Jesus fulfilled the promise of the Law and the Prophets?

What I take from this is that the Jewish leaders in Berea were sound and wise pastors. Pastors who are grounded in the Word of God and believe in the living God and know that the Messiah is coming, they are not easily swayed by every rumor or story that comes their way. But they are open to the fact that any time the Lord might do something unexpected and glorious. So they don’t shut something down just because they did not anticipate it. AND if the glorious thing that comes their way does not come through them- say the Lord uses other vessels to bring His salvation, say, in this instance, Paul and Silas, they are not jealous or hurt or concerned about their reputation. Their only concern is the following: Do these facts fit the Biblical narrative? Does it seem as if this could be the Messiah on the basis of what the Bible teaches us? And they do their due diligence, as the Lord would have them do.

This does not mean that every single person will read the Bible and come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah. No, some do not have eyes to see or ears to hear the Gospel, but if they have been well nourished in God’s Word, and they are open to the Spirit of God, then many will see the Lord and be saved. The same remains true today.

Isn’t it interesting that Berea is where Paul seemed to have the most amount of success the most quickly and it seems not even one miracle was performed there? Or at least Luke makes no mention of any miraculous healings. No miracles are needed for the people of God whose daily bread is the Word of God. We do not need flashiness, we do not need to be ‘sold’ on God’s goodness, His love, His sovereignty in our lives, we know that the Word of God is trustworthy because we have tested it and found it to be trustworthy and His Word sustains us daily, providing wisdom, comfort and a hope for our future. We feel the same as Peter felt when Jesus asks him if he wants to leave along with all the others who have left and he says, Lord, where else would we go? You alone have the words of life.

The Bereans seemed to have been nothing more and nothing less than largely faithful followers of the Lord who were relying upon the Word of God. And so they received the news about Jesus the Messiah with “all eagerness.”

Of course, such an event was bound to be short-lived. The Jewish leaders in Thessalonika get wind of this and send their agitators to raise up another mob action, and Paul leaves Berea and heads for Athens, leaving behind Timothy and Silas.

This, of course, happens frequently to Paul and his group, and I want to reflect a little bit on mobs and agitation in general.

Mob actions are effective tools of persecution and chaos. Mobs cannot be reasoned with. They cannot be spoken to. Members of a mob are not in that moment, seekers of truth, they are instead given over to a kind of hysteria and emotionalism that only seeks to dominate and destroy whatever is perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be the enemy in that moment.

The Holy Spirit is the antithesis of mobs. Where the Spirit of God is, there is order, control, reason, and, yes, debate. Paul invited debate about who Jesus is. He did not insist that people follow Christ. He did not threaten or manipulate or talk over others. In this he followed the example of his Lord, Jesus Christ.

And when groups of Christians gather, they should never become, in any fashion a mob. The finest example, that I know of, in our country’s history of this phenomenon, is that of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s in the United States. If you go back and look at the pictures and videos of that movement you will find hundreds and sometimes thousands of people taking to the streets and you will not find any mobs. This was no accident. The leaders of this movement were largely Christian, and they had no interest in mob action. And so they gave rules.

During the 1960s, leadership organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) developed rigorous sets of instructions for protesters. These weren't just suggestions; they were commands.

The most famous distillation of these rules can be found in the "Ten Commandments" of the Birmingham Campaign and the instruction cards handed out during the Nashville sit-ins.

1. The Commitment to Nonviolence

The core instruction was that violence—physical or verbal—was strictly prohibited, regardless of the provocation. Leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and James Lawson taught that nonviolence was a proactive "soul force," not a passive surrender.

Do not strike back: If hit, protesters were told not to retaliate.

No verbal abuse: Protesters were instructed not to curse or shout back at hecklers.

Body positioning: Protesters were taught how to protect their vital organs (curling into a ball, covering the head with interlaced fingers) if they were pulled from lunch counter stools or attacked on the street.

2. Personal Conduct and Presentation

Movement leaders understood that the media would be watching. To counter racist stereotypes of the time, they enforced a strict "politics of respectability."

Dress Code: Protesters were often told to wear "Sunday Best." For men, this meant slacks and button-down shirts; for women, dresses or skirts. This was intended to show dignity and professional resolve.

Sobriety and Demeanor: Demonstrators had to be sober, polite, and "straight-backed."

The "Nashville Rules": During the 1960 sit-ins, the instructions were famously specific:

Do show yourself friendly on the counter at all times.

Do sit straight and always face the counter.

Don’t block entrances to the stores or aisles.

3. The "Ten Commandments" of Birmingham

In 1963, during the Birmingham Campaign (Project C), volunteers were required to sign a "Commitment Card." These instructions focused on the spiritual and internal discipline required for the movement:

CommandmentFocus/ActionMeditate DailyOn the teachings and life of Jesus. Remember Always That the movement seeks justice and reconciliation, not victory over a person. Walk and Talk In the manner of love, for God is love. Pray Daily To be used by God in order that all men might be free. Sacrifice Personal Wishes In order that all men might be free. Observe with Friend and Foe The ordinary rules of courtesy.

When the Apostle Paul arrived in Athens (around 51 AD), he encountered a city that was a shadow of its former political self but remained the undisputed intellectual and cultural capital of the Roman Empire.

Even though Rome held the power, Athens held the prestige. Here is a breakdown of what the city was like during that specific visit:

1. A "University Town"

By the first century, Athens had transitioned from a Greek superpower to a quiet, prestigious university center. It was the premier destination for the Roman elite to complete their education. The city was defined by its four great schools of philosophy:

The Academy (founded by Plato)

The Lyceum (founded by Aristotle)

The Stoa (the Epicureans and Stoics Paul actually debated)

The Garden (Epicurean)

2. A Forest of Idols

The Roman satirist Petronius once joked that it was "easier to find a god in Athens than a man." This aligns with the biblical account in Acts 17, which notes Paul was "greatly distressed" by the city's idols.

The Parthenon: Still dominated the skyline, housing the massive gold-and-ivory statue of Athena.

Religious Pluralism: The city was essentially an open-air museum of Greek religion, filled with altars, shrines, and statues dedicated to every conceivable deity—including the famous altar to the "Unknown God."

SLIDE- Idols from my youth - also include “way of the peaceful warrior” and “electric kool aid acid test” and “Anpao”.

And this city is a city full of idols. It is theorized that the ‘Seth’ material may have been the first to coin the term “create your own reality”- a self centered view of the universe. How many people in CU would say this- although they would probably say something more like “you make your own truth” or everyone “has their own truth”.

We may not have shrines to hundreds of gods as the Athenians did, but we have thousands of people here in CU who are their own gods, in their eyes.

Acts 17:22–27 “So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 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. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,”

Paul here is channeling my Back To Basics Bible Study. He is laying down the first layer of faith for those who have no idea who God is. God made you and wants to be with you. He lays down the good news first. (J Curve)

Acts 17:28–34 “for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.”

Then- repentance (sin) - followed by judgment of sin, but assurance of salvation and even resurrection through Jesus Christ. Some mocked, some said let’s keep talking. But Paul seems to not want to continue speaking.

"Let us begin with Zeus, whom we mortals never leave unspoken. For every street, every market-place is full of Zeus. Even the sea and the harbour are full of him. Everywhere everyone is indebted to Zeus. For we are indeed his offspring." — Aratus, Phainomena 1-5