The Gospel provokes: The Search for Truth
Notes
Transcript
So far this series through Acts we have been to Phillipi, to Thessalonika, and now we read of Berea (70km away)
Today we find the most counter-cultural and inspiring response to the gospel in all of Acts.
The Gospel Provokes
Eagerness
Discerning
Practicing
Although not everyone believed, the reception of the message provoked careful, daily study of the Scriptures, very different to the response Paul and his team had received so far.
On arrival, went to the 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.
I don’t know if how the Jews' responsed mattered to Paul, but it mattered to Luke.
Luke is making comment that the Berean Jews allowed no prejudice to prevent them from giving Paul a fair hearing.
Displayed in two ways
they received the message with great eagerness,
They weren’t cynical, suspicious, or defensive;
they responded enthusiastically because they realised its relevance to their own lives.
They examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Not a quick glance
Not a once-a-week check.
Daily, intentional and communal searching
Paul had made the significant claim that Jesus was the saviour as told in scripture
Scripture → Story → Jesus → Resurrection → Salvation → Response
and they test this
We read that in Thessalonica some Jews believed and in Berea many Jews believed. But maybe it was the same number for the prominent Greek Women and many Greek Men.
Luke contrasts the jealousy and emotive defiance of the Thessalonians with the rational and reflective approach of the Berean Jews.
Suggesting
the initial response of belief, however enthusiastic, was reinforced and strengthened by examining the scriptural basis for the gospel.
David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 484.
This eagerness for the gospel and to practice the gospel is what spread the gospel.
When was the last time you were eager for the Gospel?
Eager to practice what you have learned?
Eager to share the fruits of the practice?
However, being eager is only part of the equation. As we read on, others were also eager.
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.
They were eager to disrupt what they were seeing happening: the spread of the gospel in other towns as well, going out of their way, travelling 70km of foot to disrupt Paul.
We too can be eager to do things that actually disrupt the spread of the gospel because we are not discerning.
They searched the scriptures together and were discerning
There are many things in this world that want our eagerness, our attention and our reaction.
We are constantly presented with algorithms, influencers, podcasts, political narratives, theological trends—everyone is preaching something. And we need to be careful not to be gullible and quick to jump on that point of view without a holistic and scriptural understanding.
That is why the local church community is still so important.
Reflect - recognise - respond
We hear, but do we test everything by Scripture in fellowship
Teachable and discerning
The rise of digital misinformation
Deepfakes, AI‑generated content, conspiracy theories, and polarised media have created a crisis of trust. Christians are rediscovering the need for a stable, authoritative, non‑manipulable source of truth.
Not just Christians are seeking this.
We have the globe on our phones, and it is easy to believe and trust people that we have no connection to because we agree with what they say.
Take Karl Stefanovic this week; it was reported that his podcast, a side project, is what ended his long-running time in legacy media (that means our traditional forms, our regulated forms). Karl interviewed a right-wing personality and did not challenge him on his statements. I have seen some headlines from Karl and supports that this transition to now podcast influencer is freedom. Yet this is opposite to the Bereans.
They did not allow Paul to get away with saying whatever he wanted and making click-bait claims to divide society.
They searched the scriptures together, in unity. Some believed, and some didn’t.
But through rigorous testing they understood each other and how they came to that understanding.
They discerned Paul's claim, they fact-checked, they went to the source.
We have to be very careful in this day and age to allow statements and claims made online to trigger us against others.
Paul warns against this to other churches caught up in this behaviour
To the Corinthian church he says, don’t follow eloquent speech but the power of God through His Spirit and
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
So we need to be discerning, and the Bereans show us that faith is not passive. It is active, but also thoughtful, and rooted in Scripture.
They didn’t search the Scriptures to avoid believing. They searched the Scriptures so they could believe well.
So we need to be eager, find that eagerness again,
Yet make sure you are discerning; test what you are hearing.
Put it into practice
This is the claim I want to make that you may need to search the scriptures for.
we read
The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.
Paul and his team follow the words, works and ways of Jesus; what they have heard or seen from Jesus they have put into practice. As they imitate Jesus, they ask their disciples to do likewise.
We have already examined a repeated practice of going to the towns' Jewish synagogue, and last week that Paul would share
Scripture → Story → Jesus → Resurrection → Salvation → Response
As we find in Acts, we can constantly read the information being delivered: Paul preaching the gospel to repent, believe, be baptised and receive the Holy Spirit. RBBR.
What we don’t get a sense of is the time that passes that Paul and his team spend discipling the people of peace, the first converts, those born again, to put into practice what they observe, and it is not just the words; it is also the ways and works of Jesus, and that can now be observed in the Apostles.
To the church plant in Phillipi
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
This pattern is repeated in 1 Thessalonians 1:6
You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
And in 2 Thessalonians 3, Paul warns against idleness: the gospel is not passive; we must put it into practice
If we come back to this small statement in v14, Paul may not have spent much time in Berea; maybe that is why we don’t have a letter for this church, but Silas ’ and Paul’s disciple Timothy do. They disciple the church in how to put this teaching into practice, how to focus their eagerness, discern the will of God and do it.
Last week we looked at how jealousy can guide our actions, and we see a practice here from some of the Jews wanting to disrupt Jesus teaching and the Gospel.
We can have bad patterns of behaviour that inform our actions.
That is why we need to be intentional in who we imitate, because we are all allowing our lives to be guided by others. We have already talked about influencers, but also family patterns and friends all form habits in our lives. Some are Godly practices, but I suspect some are not, and we need to reflect, recognise, and respond.
Repent and believe God has more for your life than to be trapped in habits of sin.
Paul never uses the word disciple, but from the passages it is clear that Paul wanted followers to take the information and move to Imitation
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Paul’s practice was to have relationship, to be in proximity to people so that His faith in action, the example he set could be observed.
It starts with Information
What you have heard me say - a revelation or insight to truth. I think this series and probably all the sermons we have heard over our life attest to this starting point, the awareness, but we cannot stay there; discipleship is not just information transfer.
It also must be Imitated
Imitation was core to Jesus and Paul's discipleship strategy. Paul says not just what you have heard, but what you have seen in me. Paul has opened up his life, so would Silas and Timothy to be life-on-life discipleship. How they see the good news influences all areas of their life. Not just what they want them to see.
It is then Integrated
Paul says whatever you have received from me. Meaning receiving something into my life, and integrating it in such a way into my life that I can pass it on to someone else. This is receiving the baton and passing it on. Simple, repeatable and transferable, like passing on traditions in our family.
The question here is, what we have been talking about- the gospel- is it something we want to put into practice? Is it real in my life?
We can’t pass on anything meaningful if we are not living it!
This is best observed in the organic and spontaneous stuff we do, which shows the overflow of who we are.
So what you have heard from me - Information
What you have seen in me - Imitation
What you have received from me - Integration
Now put it into practice
Paul says, listen to what I’ve said and let it stir something in your heart.
Observe how I live this out, giving you an example to follow.
Take this into your life in a way that is authentic to who God has made you to be, and then you will be able to put it into practice.
Live it out in such a way that you are able to pass it on.
Here, see, receive, and then do.
I think a lot about this, and that is why I am currently testing if it is right to have in our position descriptions for the Team leaders of our ministries
to have a God-desired outcome
Who are you apprenticing
A God-desired outcome is what sparks our eagerness; it is a discerned outcome, one that seems good to the kingdom of God that should spark a joy, a desire to put our prayers, our time and our energy into action.
Chat n Choose - our God-desired outcome was to see everyone in the same room; this would be more welcoming to newcomers and increase unity
This year is that we want to build a two-way bridge - to highlight this great ministry more to our church family and greater connect the chat n choose group with our church family.
Imagine if every ministry had a clear God-desired Outcome; what would that look like for our ministries?
Men
Women
Little fish
Drop-in centre
prayer
AV
PA
Office Secretary
What would it look like to discern and work towards glorifying God in these roles and ministries?
Our strategic plan - I must admit I am getting very eager to get into it; this discerning process has got me excited about the next 5 years and I am keen to get into it.
Are you with me?
Who are you apprenticing?
I look around, and I see such Godly wisdom and lives living this out, but who are you passing this on to?
What would it mean for every ministry and every person to be involved in disciple-making activity?
The Gospel provokes us to take our eagerness, our discernment, to take the gospel message Paul shared with those in Berea- the information, the imitation and the integration and put it into practice.
Prayer
