Acts 17:1-15

Pre-intro

Thank you Vicki for Reading

If you didn't know this is Vicki, she is someone that has had a huge influence on the women in this community. She has helped with Bsf for a number of years and, from what I’ve heard, is great and leading and teaching. We are so glad that she is here at first b and grateful for her ministry over the years.

I think I speak for many people who know Vicki, you often leave encouraged by her if you talk to her. So please get to know her this morning if you have never met her.

Finn Foster our youth pastor was actually suppose to was supposed to preach this week, but unfortunately, his grandma passed away last week, so he is in Oklahoma with his family. So please be praying for him and his family as they grieve the loss of his grandmother

If I’ve never met you before my name is Alan Hensley, I am one of the pastors here at First B. As always what a privilege it is to worship this morning together. A book that we as the staff are reading right now, talked about how when biblical churches are gathering, it is a moment where heaven and earth meet. At the end of Revelation, the last book in the bible we see this final picture of all of God’s people worshipping him around the throne. Today as we gather, even a little bit earlier than it was last week, we get to participate in the worshipping of God around his throne, in anticipation that we will be able to do that for all eternity. So, it truly is exciting to be here worshipping this morning.

Intro:

Last week my sister had the opportunity to come to church. Some of you who were here last week had the chance to meet her and her sons. Her name is Chelsie. She is a person that I have a ton of love and respect for. Being the younger brother I always looked up to her. For my whole life, she was so much smarter than me at least scholastically and that was and is the case. She is an audiologist in Grand Junction. To be an audiologist you have to go to a lot of school. Often times when I would joke around, I would always say “ she got the brains and I got the looks” then people would see her and say, “ I think she got both. ” And now that some of you have met her, you can say the same thing.

So growing up, one of the things that I loved about my sister is that she is so brilliant, but sometimes because she was/is so smart her brilliance turned to stubbornness. I remember getting into arguments with my sister about the funniest things that wouldn't matter at all. But both she and I were competitive enough that we would never admit when either of us was wrong. Both of us would be willing to win at any cost. We once got in a debate about Colorado Springs and if it is part of what is considered the “Frontrange” of Colorado. So, just like when anything is being debated for a while we went to our culture's authority for knowledge … Google. And we simply googled “is Colorado Springs a part of the FrontRange?” and got to this answer, “The Front Range Urban Corridor is home to Colorado's largest cities like Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Boulder, and the surrounding suburbs.” And my sister responded with “ that website must be wrong.” And Kristin and I just started laughing. All joking aside don’t we all do this? There are certain times that we are confronted with the truth, yet we are unwilling to be affected by that truth because of the possibility of dealing with the consequences of being wrong.

Context:

Today we're are going to see an example of something similar happening. If you have been with us at all during the last year or so we have been going through the book of Acts. Today we are in chapter 17 and throughout this book of the Bible, we have watched the history of the early church unfolding. But something Jimmy and I were discussing this week is everything up to this point has taken 17-19 years. Often times I read Acts and don’t think about everything taking as long as it has. Last week Jimmy preached on a new benchmark in the history of the church. We got to the second recorded missionary trip. Paul and Silas went to Lystra and we got to see 4 different people from very different backgrounds being called by Christ and given salvation. But at the end of the chapter, they are eventually asked to leave by the “police” because Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they had recognized civil rights, which were violated by the Philippian magistrates. So they leave after being apologized to and that's where we pick up today.

Before we dig in, let's pray

Message:

So if you have your Bibles open it to acts chapter 17 we are going to start in verse 1.

Context of the Chapter

Acts 17:1 (ESV)

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis (Am-fi-po-lis) and Apollonia (apple-onia), they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

So we’re going to go verse by a verse for a while here. But I am one of those people that needs to see things on a map to really understand what I am reading. The first map here on the screen is the second missionary trip. At the beginning of Chapter 15, they were in Jerusalem before the counsel. They then moved north to Antioch and this is where Paul and Barnabas had their disagreement. Then last week through a series of stops ended up in Phillipi. This is where they were kicked out of town and that's where we zoom in. Today as we continue through Greece we see them start to follow the coast of Greece. The author Luke writes about two cities they stop in but doesn't mention them necessarily doing any ministry. The first city was named Amphipolis which was about 33 miles away from Phillipi. Then they moved to the next city which was Apollonia which was then another 27 miles. then from Apollonia, they travel another 35 miles to Thessalonica. But Luke really zooms in on Thessalonica because just like Phillipi was an ancient city that was made free by the Romans to self-govern. It was a bigger city and it had a synagogue. And that was important to Paul. That moves us to verse two.

The section on Thess.

Acts 17:2 ESV

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

Take note of “as was his custom” because this is what we have read Paul has done so far. He would go into cities with Synagogues and worships with them. But it wasn’t only to worship but also to reason with them from the scriptures. And so he goes into the Thessalalonian Synagogue and it says he is here for three sabbath days teaching and reasoning to these people. But the question becomes, what in the scriptures did Paul find it necessary to explain? Verse 3

Acts 17:3 ESV

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.”

Here we see 3 verbs describing what Paul would do this the scriptures.

He would first reason with them(v2) this would mean to dialog with them. Questions and answer type situation.

He would explain the scriptures (v3) the greek word meaning to open the scriptures. The Greek word here means to clarify or simplify. This was to help them understand the scriptures.

Then he would prove his point through the scripture. this is where he would prove his point and explain the evidence.

The Christ has come

What was it that he wanted to reason, explain and prove? That the Christ, ( the Messiah, the savior of the world) had to suffer and to rise from the dead.

Paul wanted to leave no stone unturned when it came to the understanding of what God was saying through scripture.

Paul wanted people to see the message that God had been explaining from the very beginning. That there would be a Savior and deliverer of the world who would crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). One who would make the world right again like it was in the garden. Perfect, with no sin or death. In perfect communion with God. Described as walking with Him in the cool of the day. But for us to return to this place it would cost something. Genesis describes that the one who would crush the head of the serpent would also have his heal bruised. Meaning the one who crushes the head of the serpent, would be hurt in the process.

This is exactly what we see fulfilled in the cross of Christ. As Jesus is killing death, he dies on the cross. Ultimately defeating Satan, sin, and death. Not only that but the curse that was laid on humanity in the garden and would continue through the law would be taken away by Christ. Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Which is quoted from Duet 21:23)

So the only way the curse of sin can be lifted is by the one who saves to become that curse and be destroyed. “He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God” Jesus became our sin, and the wrath of God was poured out on him. Meaning there was no more anger or punishment that the Father could pour out on the person of Christ. Every ounce of the Father’s wrath was poured out on Jesus to destroy what had separated the relationship between the Creator and the ones who were made in his image.

One of the cool things we might miss sometimes is that we see both God’s hatred and love were shown at the Cross. His hatred of sin and death was shown on the cross by the outpouring of His wrath on His Son. Yet, His love was shown, because Jesus being God in the flesh suffered and died on our behalf because He made a way for us to be back with the Father, adopted and restored to the family of God. It was necessary for Christ to suffer so that the justice and wrath of God would be satisfied with the penalty at hand because of our sin and brokeness.

This is what Paul is describing, that the one who was promised to come in the Old Testament must suffer. Yet this isn't the only thing he explains in the synagogue. He continues that the one who ultimately defeats death must not stay dead. Because you can’t defeat death if you stay dead. At that point, death would win. But Jesus being both God and man, suffered and died, yet was not defeated by death, because he rose from the grave. He wouldn’t be the one who would be defeated, but He would be triumphant over death. And by doing so, showing his ultimate power and majesty.

This is what Paul was describing in the synagogue of Thessalonica. Yet he ends verse 3 by saying, not only were these things necessary for the Messiah, but that Messiah has come and his name is Jesus and he has fulfilled these things.

Church, these truths are why we gathered here this morning. What a glorious truth to bring to these people. If you are in Christ, the wrath of God has been taken away from you. You now stand justified before God, because of what took place on the cross. The Messiah has come and has fulfilled what He said He would.

So what happens after he explains the Scriptures to them? Join me in verse 4.

Acts 17:4 “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.”

We actually see here that it was a fairly successful evangelistic trip to Thessalonica. He’s teaching in the synagague and people are following. We know he was there at least for three Sabbaths, maybe even longer. We see people persuaded and accepting the Gospel and coming to salvation. But we see not everyone accepts these words as true. That leads us to verse 5.

Acts 17:5 ESV

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.

We’ve seen this as a theme even before Acts, even with Jesus. Who were the people that usually ended up getting mad when the Gospel was preached? The Jews, the religious people. It was a stumbling block for them where they had to wrestle with truth. We see the same thing here in Thessalonica. They wanted to cause an uproar. They gather men from the rabble (marketplace) and they go set their sights on trying to find these men. This leads us to verses 6 and 7.

Acts 17:6–9 ESV

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, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

So here’s a recap: Paul goes to the synagogue in Thessalonica, he preaches the Gospel and now there are these people who are mad. So they come to riot but they can’t find Paul. They go to this man named Jason’s house. Most people believe this is where the believers would have been gathering and staying, but Paul and Silas weren’t there. The mob gets even angrier that they can’t find them. So they drag Jason and some of the brothers (other converts) before the cities authorities, bringing accusations against them.

The first accusation is that these men (the apostles/disciples) have caused trouble all around the world or turned the world upside down. Remember, there’s probably been 17-19 years of history that has unfolded since the crucifixion of Christ. So they had most likely heard at least some of the stories of Jesus and the disciples as they were starting to travel around. And now these people that they had heard the stories about are in their town and community. You can almost hear how defensive some of these Jewish rioters are in saying, “Everything was fine before you guys showed up.”

And on top of that accusation, they accuse Jason and the brothers directly of receiving them and being hospitable toward them. The last part of the accusation is that they were all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king- Jesus.

These accusations sound so familiar to the accusations that Jesus faced.

What’s interesting here is that there’s some truth to their accusation. I don’t think the rioters understand it completely, they don’t have the whole picture. One of the bits of truth we see is that these men actually have turned the world upside down because they are spreading the message of the Gospel. In almost every city that Paul has been to so far, he has been kicked out of. But not because he’s a trouble maker, it’s because they don’t like what he’s saying. And as people are hearing what he’s saying, they are being changed and communities and cities are being changed. It’s causing this uproar worldwide. So, in a way, their accusation is partially true.

It wasn’t the intention of the apostle Paul to go cause an uproar, but he has quite a bit of gentleness. He has boldness, but also gentleness. We should follow this example in how we share the Gospel.

This mob’s big accusation came against Jason and the brothers. And to ultimately try to get them in trouble, the mob says that Jason and the brothers have acted against the decrees of Ceasar and that there is another king: Jesus.

Once again, there’s a partial truth here. But these men were again stubborn to the full understanding of the truth. One of the things that I think it’s safe to assume is that Paul preached Jesus’ kingship. He may not have said it directly, but as he is talking about Jesus being the Messiah and the Savior, it must be that he is preaching in a way that shows the ultimate power and authority that Jesus has. To even bring this accusation before the city authorities, these men must have understood the authority that Jesus had which Paul proclaimed.

It’s easy to look down upon these Jewish people for accusing these men of disturbing their lives and ultimately not seeing the truth. But oftentimes, we do this with Christ as well. Let me explain that some. What often can drive us in our living is comfort and self-gratification.

With this mob, we see that they believe their livelihood and everything they had known was threatened. They were extremely scared of what might come if Jesus was actually king. These men valued their manmade religion and their comfort over the truth of God’s Word being proclaimed by Paul.

They were confronted with the truth, yet were unwilling to be affected by that truth because of the possibility of dealing with the consequences of giving up what they felt gave them purpose and worth. I remember having the same problem before I was converted in college. I knew that God had something better for me in Him, yet I was unwilling to give up my sin. At the time, I had such a proud heart, I thought I had all of life figured out. Just like these men, what I valued most was status and comfort that I thought I could control. I thought life was about momentary thrills and pleasure and about being liked or loved to make myself feel better.

Many of you may be able to relate to that feeling before you came to know Christ. It is ultimately described as a proud heart that has no reverence and no love for who Christ is and what He has done. A proud heart is unwilling to admit weakness or defeat. Proverbs says that pride comes before the fall. The proud heart would rather meet its demise before admitting its need for rescue or that it is wrong.

And that is exactly how these angry Jewish men are. Their hearts are completely against the Word of God, just like mine was before I met Christ. They are unwilling to humble themselves. They are not even willing to discuss the Scriptures with Paul, so they instead push Paul and Silas out of town which makes them flee to a new city, called Berea.

This leads us to verse 10.

Section on Berea

Acts 17:10(ESV)

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.

So Paul leaves Thessalonica because the other brothers told him to leave and they arrive in a town close by called Berea.

What does Paul do when he arrives? He goes into the synagogue and preaches. Isn’t this awesome. Paul just got kicked out of a town because he preached this message.

Imagine if you were kicked out of Durango, or your job, or somewhere else because people said you talked about Jesus too much. And because of that, you were causing a division with your coworkers, community, or family.

Do you think when you went to your next job or town you would be a little more hesitant? I think I would be. Paul isn't. He goes right back into the synagogue and preaches the same message.

But, what happens this time? Let’s read verses 11-15 to wrap up the chapter.

Acts 17:11–15 ESV

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.

The author Luke is doing something here in verse 11 that I think is extremely important for us to catch in our passage for today. In the first part of this verse, he is comparing the Barian Jews to the Thessalonian Jews. The Barian Jews were “more noble” than who? the Thessalonian Jews.

He is comparing the two stops of the missionary journey. So I think we should too.

What is similar between the two cities?

Paul Goes into the synagogues and preaches the same message in both places

A great number of greeks believe in both places

a great number of leading women believe

Paul is ran out of town by the Thessalonian Jews

What's different?

The difference is how the Jewish people responded, even though Paul preached the same message.

In Thessalonica, some believed, but those who didn't were skeptical, proud, and stubborn as the word of God was presented to them. In verse 11, we read that the Jews from Beria received the word with all eagerness. When they heard the message of the suffering servant named Jesus, who now reigns as king they searched the Scriptures further to see if it was so.

Spiritual Truth:

A couple of things that I think are worth noting here.

Paul faithfully shares the same Gospel message without knowing the response of the people who were present.

2.. The Berians had a true love for God’s Scripture and were willing to be corrected and conformed into citizens of the Kingship of Jesus.

3. The response by the Thessalonian Jews showed that their hearts were proud and arrogant. While the response by the Berian Jews revealed their humble and eager hearts.

Ultimately, what can we take away from this passage today?

Sharing our faith, pursuing the knowledge of God eagerly through His Word, and repentance are all graces that we get to experience because of the freedom we have in the Gospel of Jesus.

Application:

What does this mean for us? This means that because of the Gospel, it is a grace that we get to share our faith with our family members, co-workers, neighbors, anyone. It is a privilege that we have the opportunity to even say those words and explain them at all. Now, just like Paul, we have to understand that we may not know the response of the people who are present with which we are sharing. But I think it’s important that we don't assume we know how they will respond. Oftentimes in my life, I get so scared of sharing my faith, because I have this expectation of an unfavorable response. But what Paul did here was preach open-handedly because he knew it was not up to him how people would respond, but that it was completely reliant on the Holy Spirit. Church, there is a freedom we get to experience by sharing the Gospel and trusting the Holy Spirit. We are freed from the idea that it has to be completely dependent on us to save everyone ourselves. The part we play in people’s salvation is simply sharing with and praying for them. But it is ultimately the Spirit who uses those moments to bring people to Himself.

This also means that because of the Gospel, we are now free to pursue knowledge through God’s Word. Spurgeon once said, “The more you look at Christ the more there is to see.” -Spurgeon What we have in our Bibles is the ability to look at Christ and who He is, and to see Him more and more. The Bible is the story of God’s character played out through all of human history. It is the main way that God communicates to His people so that we can know Him and know His ways. The book of Romans talks about this idea of renewing our mind and the main way we do that is through reading the Word. Just so you know, this takes time. As a younger believer, when I would hear I needed to read my Bible, I would purely be motivated by guilt or shame. I never felt like I was getting into the Bible enough. Which would ultimately sometimes paralyze me from reading the Bible at all. But remember, reading the Bible is a grace we get to experience because of the freedom we have because of the cross of Christ.

And finally, because of the Gospel, we also have the grace of being able to repent. In the story of the Thessalonians, we see their response comes from a place of pride and the Berians’ response comes from a place of humility. This is not to say that as believers, we are always humble and never prideful in our hearts. But the Holy Spirit, through His sanctifying process, allows us to bring those things before Christ and experience new life. I’ll be honest, my heart has been extremely prideful over the last two weeks. What this usually looks like for me, is when I see any sort of weakness within myself, I don’t bring it before Christ, but I try to fix it myself. But this morning I want to remind us all that if you are in Christ, you have the grace to turn back to Christ in the midst of your weakness and your struggle. Repentance is not a way of earning God’s love but is an acknowledgment of God’s Kingship over our lives. It is because of His kindness and grace that we even have an opportunity to repent and turn back to Him because of the work of Christ on the cross.

Questions:

1. Do you view sharing your faith as a freedom of the Gospel?

-Who are some people in your life that you would like to share the Gospel with?

2. Do you view the Bible as a gift, being the very words of God?

3. Are you willing to be corrected by the Word of God and experience the grace of repentance this morning?

-Is your heart proud in any area?

And now we come to this time of communion where we remember the sacrifice of Christ in a tangible way. We remember that His sacrifice has made us clean and has given us the ability to experience gifts such as sharing our faith, reading our Bibles, and coming to Him in confession.

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Benediction and announcement

Amen. God is extremely worthy of our praise. Jesus is the Hgh King of heaven. He has won us our victory because of His work on the cross.

Today I really only have one announcement. At noon today, you will get a text from the church at noon (if we have your phone number on file. ) that will have a link for you to click. That link will take you to a place to download our new app. Once you download it on your phone, click the “profile button on the top right. It will ask you for your email and phone number. Use the email you believe the church has on file. This is how it verifies you to be able to use our mobile directory. If you have any questions reach out to us this week and we can help you.

With that Remember it its a grace of God, if you are in Christ, that we get to pursue God with Eagerness. So go remember the freedom that the gospel has given you through Christ to pursue Him.