Acts 17:1-9

Read Acts 17:1-9

We see in this section Paul the evangelist at work. He does not hold back from telling the message that he carries...regardless of his audience! No, he reasons (dialegomai) with the Jews in their own synagogue, and you will note that of course his main message is Christ...

Brothers and sisters...the focus and the purpose of all true evangelical work is to bring the sinner face to face with the Person of Jesus Christ!

And by what method does Paul do this?

"He reasoned with them from the Scriptures..."
In other words, he used sacred text to show how Jesus was the One whom they should have recognized! He used sacred text to show that the suffering, the death, and the resurrection of Christ were foretold! Verses such as these demonstrate to us why it is so important to rely on the Word of God for all of our witnessing. We don't need silly gimmicks or anything other than the Word of God! Do you know why? Because it is the Word itself that is "living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword..." I have said it before and I will say it ever more...it is NOT our presentation of the gospel that works in the heart of people, it is the Word! But today we have chosen too often to rely on other things. My wife attended a women's gathering at a church we used to belong to where they had a missionary share his experiences. This saint was called to the Middle East and shared his experiences there. During the question and answer session, one of the ladies asked him what tools he used in order to share his faith...after a temporary moment of puzzlement, this worthy Believer responded that he used the Bible (i'm sure in his mind he was thinking, "DUH!"). Some of the ladies present seemed put off by the fact that he did not use one of the myriad of tools available for "reaching the lost" such as the evangi-cube, or some other silly thing.

But you know what? Relying on the Bible means more than just having it with you so that you can open it up...we should also know what the Word of God says and be intimately familiar with it so that we too can reason from it!!

Getting back to our text, we see the result of Pauls' reasoning with the Word:

Some believe, come to faith, and the church at Thessalonica is born! See however, what happens in verse 5)

[We don't know much about Jason, but we must assume that he was a Believer and the one hosting Paul and his companions.]

Once again, those who do not come to faith are angry! And so they seek the men to try and drag them into the clutches of the aroused mob...a lynch mob if ever there was one.

Realize this brothers and sisters: When we teach the Word, when we share the Gospel with family, friends, and neighbors...by the grace of God some will believe...but not all of them. And of those who don't...many will feel animosity towards you. Not because you have been out of line, but simply because the truth is a "stumbling stone and a rock of offense" to those who don't believe (1 Peter 2:8). It dares to challenge their view of themselves as inherently good...you know this to be true.

Pastor Kevin L. Smith delivered a sermon at Southern Seminary in which he exhorted the student body to be bold. He challenged them by telling them that they had nothing to lose by being bold in sharing their faith...he said that those who are true Believers that love the Lord are ALREADY thought of as different anyhow! People are going dislike us anyway...why not be disliked while being bold and never hesitating to tell the Truth of Jesus Christ??? I myself at work have a co-worker who seems to enjoy putting down the Christian faith...so what do I have to lose right? He already has a hostile attitude towards me...why then should I ever hesitate to be anything less than bold with him? Amen?

But note now verse 6)

Since the ones they want cannot be found...they turn on Jason and others and take them before authorities...

But look at what they say..."These who have turned the world upside down..." Here they are referring to Paul, Silas, Timothy, and possibly others whom they have heard of...who are passionately preaching the Gospel wherever they are at...

In what way was the world being turned upside down?

The message of the cross was radical...and it was a call to a radical style of living...we are called to a different mindset! Read Romans 12:1-2

We need to be so very different than the world around us and if we are not...then in what way are we turning the world upside down?

But to return to the question above: In what way did these men turn the world upside down?

Matthew Henry wrote the following:

In one sense it is true that wherever the gospel comes in its power to any place, to any soul, it works such a change there, gives such a wide change to the stream, so directly contrary to what it was, that it may be said to turn the world upside down in that place, in that soul. The love of the world is rooted out of the heart, and the way of the world contradicted in the life; so that the world [is] turned upside down there. But in the sense in which they meant it, it is utterly false; they would have it thought that the preachers of the gospel were incendiaries and mischief makers wherever they came, that they sowed discord among relations, set neighbours together by the ears, obstructed commerce, and inverted all order and regularity. Because they persuaded people to turn from vice to virtue, from idols to the living and true God, from malice and envy to love and peace, they are charged with turning the world upside down, when it was only the kingdom of the devil in the world that they thus overturned.

So the world is turned upside down by the radical manner in which the Holy Spirit changes lives, and I say without any reservation that whenever a lost person is found and saved...that one is never the same again! Not only positionally (as in headed to heaven rather than hell) but also in practice of life...because for the Believer, the practice of holiness is an essential part of the new life in Christ!

Look now at v. 7)
"acting contrary to Caesar..."

Because our first and foremost allegiance is to Christ our Lord...the authorities that demand our allegiance will always suspect us.

Because Christ is our only King, the world will have reason to suppress our faith. (mention Am. rebellion's motto "No King but King Jesus!")

Because we obey God rather than man, there will always be Christians in the prisons of the world.

While I have often said that we as American Christians have it rather easy...I do not believe it will always be the case...and one of the things that will set our countrymen against us is that our motto is NOT "My country right or wrong" but "Christ Alone!"

Amen?

Let us pray