Last time we saw that the apostle Paul and his travelling companions,Silas, Timothy, and now also Luke, the
writer of this epistle[1],
were directed by the Holy Spirit in this second missionary journey[2], as they had to abandon all their own plans , submitting to the new
direction in which the Holy Spirit was now leading them sovereignly -into
Macedonia and Greece!
It must be said that that this is not the way of the Holy
Spirit always directs His work. Usually the Holy Spirit works through
the normal instrument of our faith. When we have prayed and have sought
counsel from His inspired Word, (and sought
counsel from other mature believers) we may assume that we are in line
with His will. A Christian normally lives by faith, fed by prayer and
the Word, just as our bodies normally perform by regular air and food/liquid
intake. In the same way the Christian lives by regular prayer and by absorption
of the Word of God, acting upon their knowledge and understanding of that Word for man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that comes from the mouth of God
(Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4 ; Lk 4:4)
But there are these unusual times when the Holy Spirit may
override our plans and sovereignly redirect our ‘mission’. When He intervenes in our lives, it will be so strong and so clear and so
inescapable, that there will be no other choice, but to follow His leading.
Paul and his companions had no choice but to go to Macedonia!
People have asked me at times how I landed up in the ministry.
It all began of course in God’s eternal counsel. But in time God laid His hand
on me, and opened my heart, like that of Lydia (Acts 16:14) and I was converted. And then,some years further down
the road, the Holy Spirit strongly directed me through
a set of unusual circumstances, to
enrol at Seminary in Cape Town,
and there He sustained us (Marcelle and I met in my first year) through
four years of no guaranteed
income. Then He led us with a strong calling back to Namibia prior to Namibian
Independence in 1990. But, if you had to
ask me whether these strong leadings of the Holy Spirit have been my every day
experience, then I must say, “No!” It has been, by and large an ordinary, daily
trusting in the Holy Spirit’s leading, daily prayer, daily feeding upon His
Word. I wanted to make that clear once
again before we moved on!
In our text we find Paul and his team preaching the Word of
God in two cities, Thessalonica and Berea. Two things stand out, as we look
at this passage. Paul's message hasn't changed, and people's responses haven't
changed! The same is true for today: the
old gospel message is the same, and people are the same… therefore the effects
and results of the preached gospel will be the same! The Gospel makes people
glad or mad.
1. THE SAME
MESSAGE AS ALWAYS:
Paul reasoned from the
Scriptures (v.2) - the
O.T. Scriptures. These would have been Paul's basis of authority. He explained
and proved from the O.T that the Christ
(Messiah) had to die and had to be raised from the dead. For instance in Acts 13 we have seen his
liberal use of OT Scriptures to proves the person and work of Christ e.g. Acts
13:33 (Psalm 2:1-7) Acts 13:35 (Psalm
16:8 -11) Acts 13: 34 (Isa. 55:3) etc.
In proclaiming Jesus he would have also spoken about His birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection, ascension, and the Gift of the Spirit at
Pentecost (Acts 2); His present reign and future return; His offer of
salvation and warning of judgement. Paul
would have given a thorough account of the saving career of Jesus from
beginning to end. Paul would have made a clear connection of Jesus
with the Messiah revealed in the OT Scripture: "This Jesus whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ" (17:3)
This message (gospel) which Paul preached, is the same
message which we should preach - no more - no less, if it is to be the true
gospel! The true gospel needs to deal with:
1. the original plan of God for man
2. the fall of man
3. what God has
done in Christ to resolve man's dilemma
4. the importance of preaching repentance from sin and
turning to God in faith
5. the importance of preaching the Judgement that is to
come!
2. TWO RESPONSES TO THE
GOSPEL:
As the gospel is preached we see two responses to the
gospel! Listeners become either GLAD or
MAD. There is no third option. Fence-
sitters are also against the gospel. "He
who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me,
scatters." (Lk. 11:23)
And thus Paul's preaching as such was effective! After Paul
had preached, people knew where they stood with Christ. People either came to
know Jesus Christ as Saviour, or they came to hate Him and His message. Successful
gospel preaching cannot be measured by everybody agreeing with the preacher. The
ministry of Jesus showed that. Jesus had
thousands in attendance. Many followed Him, but when He sat them down and spelt
out the implications of discipleship, many left Him (cf. Jn. 6:66). True and successful gospel preaching happens when people
know where they stand with Jesus. This is what marks Paul’s apostolic
preaching.
Those who are made glad by the Gospel, some Jews, some God-fearing Greeks
and a number of prominent women, would eventually constitute the church at
Thessalonica and Berea.
Those who become mad as a result of understanding the
implications of the gospel , do
everything in their power to silence the
gospel, and to silence the preacher, as
they did with Jesus, and here in this case with Paul and his team. In this case the opponents of the
gospel are starting a riot, and are becoming physically violent. The response
depends on the setting. In places where Christianity is accepted as a
cultural phenomenon, hatred for the gospel is seen when old traditional
churches that have lost the gospel
resent those churches that do preach the gospel. (Here in Namibia, some of the
mainline churches resent those ‘born againers’). In another way we see it in
the lives of people who attend a gospel preaching church, who are in reality
fruitless, who feel attacked by the pulpit, feeling perhaps that the preacher
is going at them, when in reality the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the
Word is convicting their own dark hearts of sin. Their reaction is then to find some petty argument to get ‘a riot going’ in the church, attacking the message
of the pulpit, the pastor, the leaders
- everybody except themselves , and then, after having done damage
through malicious speech or other actions, leave the church in a huff ! Many pastors
have felt this sort of subtle hostility sorely. Pastors must learn that wherever the gospel is
preached in truth, there is opposition! Suffering is the inevitable accompaniment of a
biblical ministry. Why should they be better off than their Master?
Trouble for Paul and his team was so great that Paul and his companions have to fear for
their life, and have to leave Thessalonica undercover at night (17:10) , and eventually also Berea (17:14).
The "jealousy" here is attributed to the Jews, who
refused to believe the gospel. Notice briefly how they go about seeking to
destroy this message. First of all they rounded up some bad characters; then
they formed a mob. Then they started a riot in the city. See how the devil
carries out his plans. He gets mobs
going through agitation and
misinformation, "and then fishes in
troubled waters" (Matthew Henry: p.1704) . In that process the bringers of the gospel are
often made to look as if they are the divisive elements.
But what is the answer to that? How can we make sure that we
do not crucify the Son of God all over again, by crucifying those who preach
the gospel to us? When we hear the Gospel preached, what should our response
be?
We must be eager to hear! God help us if we come to hear
God's Word preached with a fault-finding, censorious and negatively critical
attitude! God help us to come to church to find fault and afterwards have
"Roast Preacher" for lunch! Remember that it is God's Word we are coming
to hear, and if it is the gospel preacher we are rejecting we are also
rejecting the God who sent them to us. Does this mean that we must accept the
message that is preached to us uncritically? By no means! This is where we can
learn from the Bereans. Their eagerness to hear God's Word is balanced with a
questioning mind! How can we apply that to our own lives? Learn from the
Bereans
1. Be persuaded by the Word of God. (17:4)
2. Receive the Word with great eagerness (17:11)
3. But do so in a discerning manner, examining the
Scriptures for yourself to see if what is
preached is true (17:11b)
4. Believe! (17:12).
When somebody preaches the Word of God let us, as a rule, be open
minded, unless of course their reputation is of such a kind that it would be sinful
to listen to them. The Bible warns against any association with false teachers.
As a rule do not abandon yourself to the preacher, but to the
Word. Make the Word of God your Judge. Measure the sermon by the Word of God (cf
17:11). Systematic Expository
preaching is probably the safest to sit under.
One suspects that the jealousy of the Jews w.r.t the gospel
message that Paul preached was not related to the fact that they could disagree
theologically with Paul, but that he upset them in their religious mind-set. They had never really thought through or
prayed through the Scriptures that Paul presented to them in a "reasoning
and persuasive way" ,to see that Christ was really the Messiah. He did
not fit their cultural expectations!
Now the Bereans weren't like that. They were willing to
listen eagerly. But then they would go back to the Scriptures and compare what
Paul had said. See the difference? There is an open heart, and an intelligent
faith. The emotions and cultural bias were pressed into the background, until
the message had been evaluated! Now that is how we should receive the Word. You
are by no means required to believe that which is not biblical. You are by no
means required to be uncritical. But - having examined the message you must
come to some sort of conclusion.
And notice that not everyone in Berea was necessarily
persuaded (particularly after some of the Thessalonian crowd had come over). But,
in the words of Acts 13:48, "All who were appointed for eternal
life believed". Or to put it differently: All those into whose hearts the mysterious
Holy Spirit blew (like Lydia and the Philippian jailer), believed, were
baptized and joined the church.
CONCLUSION:
The preaching of the gospel has these two effects: It leaves
you either glad or mad. But then in the end we need to understand that when we come to deal with the Scriptures we
come to deal with Christ, and when we do so, we must accept Him or
reject Him. There is no middle ground! And rejecting Him means that there
can be no heaven for you in
eternity.
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