It is Friday and we continue our reading thru the New Testament in Acts 17:1-15. Take your time, catch the tension, and imagine the scenes. When you finish it, come back and we’ll walk through it together.
We immediately notice a change in the language of chapter 17. Luke is not with them and so everything is written in the third person - “they”. Luke stayed in Philippi, perhaps because it was his home city; or perhaps to help the early church develop and grow. Luke’s account doesn’t again include him until chapter 20 on Paul’s third missionary journey, so the events are a record of Paul, Silas, or Timothy’s journals or memories - all directed by the Holy Spirit to become an inspired record of Scripture.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy left Philippi after a successful, but troublesome stay. The church is birthed through the labor pains of a beating and a prison cell. God is at work, and Paul knows that it is through much struggle that the Kingdom of God grows. Paul has a strong affection for this church in Philippi and it will be obvious as we read the letter to them later on.
Having left Philippi they turn south. In the second century B.C., the Romans knew that moving troops, collecting taxes, administrating a large empire required quick movement of troops, goods, and communication. They built a highway called the Via Egnatia from the Adriatic Sea to Byzantium (now called Constantinople) near the Black Sea, a distance of almost 700 miles. Nearly 20 feet wide and paved with hand-laid stone slabs, it was a masterpiece of engineering, and now it carried the gospel into Greece. Paul followed the Via Egnatia a little more than 35 miles from Philippi to Amphipolis, where the seat of the Roman government administered its affairs in Macedonia. From there, he continued another 30 miles to Apollonia, and then to Thessalonica 33 miles away.
Each leg of his journey required a long day’s walk but put him in a major city by nightfall. They passed through two Greek cities - probably because they had no synagogue - and headed to the larger and more prominent city of Thessalonica. Three days walking a hundred miles after being beaten, put in jail, miraculously released, witnessing the conversion of a jailer and his household, and meeting with the church before they left Philippi. Let no one ever doubt Paul’s persevering faith in what God called him to do.
“As was Paul’s custom” is how Luke described the beginning of their time in Thessalonica. Paul entered the Jewish synagogue as a former Jewish Pharisee and began to share the Gospel with the Jews - 3 Sabbaths in a row. Thessalonica had a large Jewish population and as he proclaimed Jesus, as the Messiah, who suffered and died, but God raised him from the dead - many of both Jew and Gentile came to faith in Christ and a church in Thessalonica was birthed.
Paul’s methodology was a combination of reason, conversation, and exhortation. Looking at vss 2-3, Paul “reasoned” with them - the Greek word is “dialegomai”, from which we get our word dialogue. His source was the Scripture and he “explained” - “dianoigō” - which means “to completely open up what before was closed.” He also “proved” “that it was necessary for the Christ (Messiah) to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’”
Luke’s summary is similar to his account of Jesus meeting the two men on that first Easter Day when on the road to Emmaus Jesus “opened their minds” proving from the Old Testament scriptures that the Messiah had to suffer and die, and then be raised from the dead. Let’s take note of this today. Our message is not politics, or social order, or even personal needs - as important as they all may be - our message is Jesus and I believe with all my heart and mind that it is through faith in Jesus Christ that the world will change - one person at a time.
Once again the pains of childbirth took place. Jewish leaders, jealous of conversions stirred up a mob and attacked one of the city’s leading citizens who had become a Christian - a man named Jason, who probably was hosting the church in his house even as Lydia had done in Philippi. Not being able to find Paul, Silas, or Timothy, the mob dragged Jason and some other believers before the magistrates with the false charge that Paul was bringing turmoil, insurrection, and treason against Caesar. Since Paul was not there to answer the charge they made Jason post a large bail, presumably that if the trouble continued it would be forfeited. It was enough, and Paul and Silas, along with Timothy left the city at night and began to journey 45 miles to the south to the city of Berea.
The pattern - at first - changed. Instead of confrontation, Paul entered into Berea and the synagogue to find a group of people who were willing to dive into the Scriptures to understand - to see if what Paul was saying was true. Berea has come to be used in thousands of places throughout church history as a name that signified a willingness and open faith to study the Scriptures. As a result, a large Christian church began to emerge (vs 12), made up of both Jews and Gentiles.
Again trouble followed Paul when Jewish zealots, probably wishing to arrest Paul and take him back to Thessalonica, arrived in Berea and again stirred up a mob to bring trouble. The church got Paul out of town, and off the road, hoping that these Jewish zealots stop trying to track him down. Paul takes a ship from the coast and sails to Athens. After he arrived and saw the city, he immediately requested that Silas and Timothy join him.
Why is the Gospel so controversial? It strikes at two different cultural issues that people without faith, therefore without understanding, cannot affirm. First, the Gospel is an exclusive faith. Jesus alone is the Savior of the world. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the message of faith to a fallen world. People reject the exclusivity often with an argument “how can God be unfair in saying there is only one way?” I often answer, “I’m glad there is one way...otherwise we’d all be lost.”
Second, the Gospel changes lives. Until Paul arrived in each of these cities he traveled to, Jews and Gentiles had little in common. Yes, there were pockets of “God-fearing” Gentiles in various places, but the birth of a church in each place meant the birth of a new covenant community - not based on race, gender, or status...but based on a common faith in Jesus Christ. Don’t be surprised when people reject the truth and even say things untrue about you because you share Christ. It happened all the time to Paul.
I close this with the words of a great Christian, now home with the Lord - Ravi Zacharias - who as I write this is to be celebrated today at a memorial service:
“We have a right to believe whatever we want, but not everything we believe is right.”
― Ravi Zacharias
Peace
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