Please open up your Bibles to Acts chapter 17.
This is after Paul and his missionary companions
take a detour with the Spirit's direction to Macedonia.
They preach the gospel in Philippi and Thessalonica,
and now they're leaving, going from there.
They preach the gospel in Thessalonica and Berea here in Acts 17.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Heavenly Father, you said that you look to those who fear you and tremble at all.
That we want to be people who rightly recognize
your greatness as creator,
the distance between us,
us man and you and God.
We want to be a church that rightly humble ourselves before you.
And we ask now that you address us.
Speak to us in your Word.
Exercise your rule, your worship over us
in the reading and preaching.
And show us, reveal to us the glory of Christ
and His good news and salvation.
That we may behold Him,
whose glory be transformed.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Acts 17, verses 1 to 15.
Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia,
they came to Thessalonica,
where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
And Paul went in as was his custom,
and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures,
explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ
to suffer and to rise from the dead.
This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you,
is the Christ.
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.
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.
And when they could not find them,
they dragged Jason in,
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.
The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea,
and when they arrived,
they went into the Jewish synagogue.
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.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
This is the first time I'm preaching with the real pulpit for Trinity Cambridge Church.
And the word pulpit comes from a Latin word that means platform.
And it's in the first few centuries of early church history,
the pulpit was featured prominently in the church's worship,
in the place of worship.
However, during the medieval ages,
the pulpit was set aside and replaced with the altar,
with the focus of worship shifting from the word of God
and being focused more exclusively on the mass.
And the pulpit relegated to a lectern off the side of the worship space.
It was not until the influence,
or due to the influence of the Protestant reformers,
that the pulpit started to be restored to its central place in the church's worship.
So that literally a platform was given for God's word,
so that we, as we gather as God's people,
we are sitting under the authority of God's word.
And 2,000 years later, here on September 12, 2021,
we continue that venerable tradition.
Our worship venue has changed, but the word of God has not changed.
And we learn from our passage here in Acts 17, verses 1 to 15,
that we must proclaim the word, the word of Christ,
from the scriptures in spite of opposition.
And we see how Paul and Silas do that,
first in Thessalonica, verses 1 to 9,
and then in Berea, verses 10 to 15.
Verse 1 tells us that after leaving Philippi,
Paul and his companions passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia,
and they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
Thessalonica was a major city, the capital of the province of Macedonia.
And because this narrative is condensed,
it sounds to us like these missionaries are making short trips,
you know, forays here and there,
maybe going from Boston to Cambridge to Somerville,
or something similar to that.
But the travel from Philippi to Thessalonica,
through Amphipolis and Apollonia,
was about 102 miles.
165 kilometers for British people and other citizens of the world.
That's about the distance from Cambridge to Portland, Maine.
It's not a short distance to travel on foot.
Most Bible scholars estimate that Paul traveled over 10,000 miles by foot
on all of his missionary journeys,
which is longer than going from Cambridge to Los Angeles
and back three times to over.
The Lord Jesus commanded Paul to go and proclaim the gospel
to the ends of the earth,
and he took that command, Jesus.
He knew that people would perish forever apart from the good news of Jesus Christ,
and that they would never hear the good news
unless someone were to go to them and tell them.
And so, Paul literally traveled to the ends of the earth,
and the known boundaries of the world at the time.
And wherever he went, he proclaimed the gospel.
It says in verses 2 to 3,
And Paul went in, as was his custom,
and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures,
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.
Paul reasoned with them.
He used his rational faculty to have a dialogue with these hearers.
But he didn't merely reason with them.
He said he reasoned with them from the scriptures.
Explaining and proving that it is necessary for the Christ
to suffer and rise from the dead.
Paul's reasoning was based on the scriptures.
The word explain is the same word that Luke used in Luke 24, 32,
after Jesus teaches some of his disciples after his resurrection.
And the disciples say to each other,
Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road?
While he opened to us the scriptures.
The word open is the same word here for explain.
Paul opens the scriptures, explains it, makes it sensible to his hearers.
Later in this chapter, Paul will again reason with people,
and there in chapter, starting in verse 17 and beyond,
with Athens' intelligentsia, their philosophers, their academics.
And there, Luke's assessment of the Athenian intelligentsia is not flattering.
He says in Acts 17, verse 21,
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there
would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Now Paul's evangelistic approach to them is understandably different
because they are pagans.
They have no biblical background.
So he first, in that context, establishes some common philosophical grounds
before challenging them from the truth of scripture
and proclaiming the resurrection of Christ.
However, here, Paul's speaking to Jews.
He's not at the Areopagus.
He's at a Jewish synagogue.
And they already believe in the authority of the Old Testament scriptures.
And so he reasons with them from the scriptures
to prove to them that, according to their scriptures,
that they believe Jesus was supposed to die and be raised from the dead,
the Messiah.
We Christians, like the Jews before us, are people of the book.
God has already revealed to us all that is needful for life and doctrine,
for our salvation.
He's already revealed the salvation plan to us in his scriptures.
So it is our privilege to open up the scriptures with each other.
We do not rely solely on our imperfect reasoning or finite wisdom
when we advise or counsel people.
We do not merely speak from our experience or from what others have told us.
As people of the book, we should make it our habit
when we are in each other's company to say,
let's open up God's word.
Let's see what scripture has to say about that issue.
Sometimes we're like people who are straining our eyes to see something,
to read something in the dark.
When we can simply bring that note over to the light.
Psalm 119 verse 105 says,
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
We should let the light of scriptures shine on our path of life.
Christians are not those who have found what's in scripture
to be agreeable to their sentiments and opinions.
Christians are those who mold their sentiments and opinions
to be agreeable with what is found in scripture.
We do not conform God's word to our mind.
We conform our mind to God's word.
So we should reason with one another from the scriptures.
And the most important thing to get from the scriptures
is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
This is what Paul calls in 1 Corinthians 16, 15 verse 3,
the matter of first importance.
That's what Paul is demonstrating to the Thessalonians here in this passage,
that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead.
Jesus is the Christ.
Christ is not Jesus' last name, as most of you know.
It's a title.
Christ is just a Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Messiah,
which in English we call Messiah or Christ.
He's the anointed one,
the prophesied king who was to come to rescue God's people.
This was Paul's main contention to his audience,
his Jewish fellows in Thessalonica.
This Jesus, when I proclaim to you,
is the Christ you've been waiting for.
And Paul makes his case using the Old Testament scriptures.
We don't know exactly what parts of scripture he turned to,
but it's not hard to guess what some of them might have been.
Genesis 3.15 prophesied of a suffering Messiah,
that a descendant of the woman who's healed would be bruised by the serpent,
Satan,
but who will then bruise the serpent's head,
lend the fatal blow to Satan's head.
Psalm 16.10 prophesied of a Messiah who would rise from the dead.
It says,
For you will not abandon my soul to shield to the dead,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
David,
who was a type of the Messiah,
or a forefather of the Messiah,
he's a forefather and a foreshadowing of the Messiah,
and he anticipated that this Messiah would die,
and you would not see corruption.
His body would never decay.
He prophesied that the Messiah would be raised from the dead.
Isaiah 53 prophesied of a suffering Messiah.
It says,
But he was pierced for our transgression.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
And with his wound we are healed.
All weed-like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way.
And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
And they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death.
Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth,
yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.
He has put him to grief.
When his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring.
He shall prolong his days.
Jesus is the Messiah who fulfills all of these prophecies.
He died on the cross,
bearing our sin and our iniquities.
It is because of his atoning death that many are accounted righteous
and have a pathway to God the Father.
Jesus died with wicked men and he was crucified with a criminal on each side.
And then he was buried in a rich man's grave.
But he didn't stay there.
After he made an offering for guilt with his own life,
Jesus was raised from the dead.
God prolonged his days,
gave him the spoils of victory,
and now he has many children,
offspring of faith.
That's what we call the gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ.
To admit that we need the Christ
is to admit that we are sinners who cannot save ourselves.
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
And he has ordained that the only way of salvation
is to give up our pretensions of saving ourselves
and humbly clinging to Jesus alone for salvation.
We have a way of describing, right?
People who have delusions of grandeur,
people who style themselves as saviors.
We say that they are afflicted with a Messiah complex
or a savior complex.
But the reality is that this is not a mental health problem
that's reserved for a few,
but a fundamental spiritual malady
that afflicts every single human being.
We always think that we are the heroes of the story, though.
We want to solve society's ills.
We want to civilize or educate people who disagree with us.
We want to save our country.
We believe that we can save ourselves.
We deny our need for the Messiah.
We seek to be self-sufficient and self-satisfied,
but God has already sent us a Messiah.
His name is Jesus.
And that means we are not the Messiah.
And that means we cannot save ourselves.
Friends, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and you believe in your heart that he's been raised from the dead
that he is for your salvation,
then you will be saved.
This Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ.
He is the Messiah.
The only Messiah.
And this message of Jesus is always polarizing.
It says in verses 4 to 5,
And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas
and did a great many of the devout Greeks
and not a few of the leading women.
But the Jews were jealous.
And taking some wicked men of the rabble,
they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar
and attacked the house of Jason,
seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
Some people, including a great many of the devout Greeks
and not a few of the leading women,
were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas.
And those who put their faith in Jesus for the beginning of their sins
also included some of them,
meaning some of the Jews of Thessalonica.
But there were not as many of them.
Most of the Jews did not believe in Thessalonica.
A lot of the Greeks believed.
So it says in verse 5,
But the Jews were jealous.
And taking some wicked men of the rabble,
they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar.
Why did the Thessalonian Jews oppose Paul and his missionary companions?
Of course, there's a number of factors that we could conjecture,
but the primary reason is here in the text.
Luke gives it to us.
It was not a concern for the truth.
It was not a sincere disagreement with their point of view.
No, the primary reason was jealousy.
They didn't like the fact that Jesus and his gospel
was gaining a following due to Paul's missionary work.
They didn't like the fact that Gentile God-fearers,
as well as influential patronesses from the city
who used to visit their synagogues
and come to hear them speak and teach,
were now going to hear Paul speak.
They didn't like the fact that Paul told these Greeks
that they did not need to become a Jew in order to be saved,
that they can be saved as Gentiles.
They were jealous.
And their malice is seen in their hostility and violence.
They recruit some ruffians, organize a mob,
and then rabble-wows the city,
and they attack the house of Jason.
Poor Jason's not done any teaching.
All he's done is host these people,
and now he's getting stormed.
The house is getting destroyed.
He's getting tried and beaten.
But when they can't locate Paul and Silas,
it says in verse 6,
they drag 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.
This is a remarkable accusation, isn't it?
In one sense, these Jews are being polemical and slanderous.
They're making exaggerated claims
that make Paul and Silas look like a menace to society.
The accusations that they have leveled against them
is baseless.
They've turned the world upside down.
They haven't even been to the whole world yet.
All they have done was preach.
They have not organized any protests or marches.
They have not vandalized any property.
They have never clamored for a political revolution.
They're not doing anything
to turn the world upside down in one sense.
But in another sense,
their accusation is quite accurate.
Without swords, guns, or missiles,
without microphones, blogs, and social media,
without money, and without political connections,
these men have turned the world upside down.
Simply by proclaiming the word of Christ,
by proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ,
the Messianic King,
the Son of God,
whom God the Father has appointed
to reign over His kingdom forever.
These men have shared this good news,
and in doing so,
have turned the world that was in rebellion against God,
a world that was upside down,
right side up.
Starting to do that.
Bringing it under the lordship of Jesus.
So they were right that these men have turned the world upside down.
Everywhere Paul preached the gospel,
there were some who responded with faith,
but others responded with unbelief and active opposition.
More often than not,
Paul was driven out of the city that he preached at,
by the hostile crowds.
Why was the gospel message so polarized?
It's because it's the message of King Jesus.
The King who ascended to the cross
to redeem His people from slavery to sin and death.
The King who was raised and ascended to the right hand of the Father.
The King who now sits enthroned at the right hand of the Father
to rule over His people forever.
Because the gospel demands that we bow before this King,
that we submit to this King,
pledge allegiance to this King,
in order to be saved.
That's why the gospel is polarized.
Look at their charge in verse 7.
They are all acting against the decrees of season,
saying that there is another King, Jesus.
After the reign of Julius Caesar,
the term Caesar became a title for the Roman emperors,
and Roman citizens were required
to pledge reverence and obedience
to the emperor, their king.
Proclaiming another king
would have been considered treasonous.
In one sense,
the governments should never feel threatened by the church,
because Christians will not seek to usurp
their rule,
the throne of the kingdom of man.
Jesus said in Luke 20, verse 25,
Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
and to God the things that are God's.
In saying this,
Jesus told His Jewish followers
that they should dutifully pay taxes to Caesar.
You should be subjected to your governing authorities,
as Romans 13 says.
But when Caesar demanded worship,
when He demanded total allegiance
that undermined the Christian allegiance to Christ,
they would in no way submit to the wishes of Caesar.
The Acts of the Silicenten Martyrs,
it's the oldest extant document from the Latin church,
the Latin-speaking church.
It's a second-century account
of 12 North African Christians
who were executed for their faith
on July 17, 180 A.D.
by Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
What was their crime?
Their crime was refusing to swear
an oath of allegiance to the emperor.
As they were being tried and sentenced,
the proconsul Saturninus
is recorded to have said this,
We too, Greeks, are religious people,
and our religion is a sinful one.
We swear by the genius of our Lord, the emperor,
and we offer prayers for His health
as you also ought to do.
The Silicenten Martyrs
refuse to subscribe to such religion.
Jesus said in Matthew 6, verse 24,
No one can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one
and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one
and despise the other.
The person who tries to serve two masters
is called a spy
or a traitor.
And he is executed as soon as he is found out
because his ultimate allegiance
lies with one and not the other.
The gospel is polarizing
because it admits no neutral ground.
You can serve only one master.
Totalitarian governments throughout history
have always persecuted Christians.
Why?
Because they understand this reality.
They knew that the Christians' ultimate religions
lay not with them,
but with the Lord Jesus.
Look at verse 8.
It says that the people in the city authorities
were disturbed when they heard
that Christians proclaimed another king named Jesus.
When a person reveals who they truly are,
we have an expression for that, right?
We say that they're showing their true colors.
That expression has an origin in sailing.
It has a nautical origin.
The flags that ships were raised,
that ships raised,
were called colors of the ship.
Sometimes a ship would lower its colors
or even fly the enemy's colors
in order to stay undetected
and to gain an advantage in a naval battle.
But when the time came
for the ultimate confrontation,
when the time came
to show their true loyalties,
they would take down their counterfeit colors
and show their true colors
by raising the flag
of the sovereign
to whom they pledged the Jesus.
Christian brothers and sisters,
have you raised your flags?
Have you shown your true colors?
Does the world know which king you serve?
Is it apparent to your neighbors
that you are citizens of another heavenly kingdom?
Are your purposes and priorities
governed by the Lord Jesus?
Or is it governed by another prince,
another Lord,
rulers of the spirit?
You cannot fly two colors at once.
You can't serve two masters at once.
Have you made the choice
to follow your king, Jesus?
We must proclaim the word of Christ
from the scriptures
in spite of the opposition.
Jason and some of the Christian brothers
who were dragged to the city authorities
are then released
after posting bail.
I mean, they ultimately
didn't want anything to do with Jason.
They wanted Paul and Silas.
And since they can't catch him,
they let him go.
And the Christians in Thessalonica,
seeing the imminent danger
that Paul and Silas were in,
they send them by night
under the cover of darkness
as a safe precaution.
In verse 10,
they send them away to the river.
When they arrive in Berea,
they don't hide and keep quiet.
A little bit foolish.
Foolish for the Lord's sake.
They preach the gospel again.
But thankfully this time
they get a better reception in Berea.
He says in verse 11,
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.
What comes to your mind
when you think of a man
or a woman of nobility?
Someone who has a noble bearing
or an upbringing or an heritage.
Wealth?
Titles?
Parental lineage?
Educational pedigree?
In God's perspective,
what makes one noble
is not any of those things.
What made the Berean Jews
more noble than the Jews
in Thessalonica
was this day
received the word
with all eagerness,
examining the scriptures daily
to see if these things were so.
It's such a telling verse.
It reveals the heart of God,
what He values in us,
what He cherishes.
What is your posture
toward His word?
Those who accord to scripture
the proper authority
as the word of God,
those who handle God's word
with care,
those who are eager
to receive God's word,
those who diligently examine
the scriptures,
such are the man and woman
of noble bearing.
You might have no status
or privilege
or prestige
in this world,
but if you are such man
and woman,
you are noble
in God's eyes.
And we should strive
to do this more and more.
Verse 11 says
that Berean Jews
received the word
with all eagerness.
They weren't reluctant,
inattentive listeners
because they knew
that God Himself
speaks in His word.
Think about it.
They didn't even know
who Paul was.
Paul said,
Newcomer in town.
Who is this guy?
And yet they listened,
received the word
with all eagerness,
not because of their reverence
for Paul,
but because of their reverence
for God's word.
The reception of the word,
however,
was not passive
or undiscerning.
It involved examining
the scriptures daily
to see if these things
were so.
Because preaching
involves human interpretation,
human application,
and human proclamation
of the divine scriptures,
it is not infallible,
the preaching.
It can be the case
that even when a preacher
preaches from the Bible,
that what he's saying
is actually not biblical.
That happens.
And so it is incumbent
upon all of us
as God's people
to keep our Bibles open
as we listen to a sermon
and examine the scriptures
to see if the preaching
is saying
what really the Bible
is saying.
The Greek word
translated examine
here refers to
a careful study
of an issue
or a question.
The word is often used
to describe
what a judge does.
A judge examines
the evidence
of a case.
many of you are students
or have recently
been students
and you have excelled
in your studies.
What if you apply
that same industry
and resourcefulness
with which you apply
yourself
to the subject
of your specialty
to the examining
of God's word?
What if you believed
what was preached
not merely because
the pastor said it
but because you yourself
also see it
in the scriptures
with your own eyes?
That inspires
so much confidence
and enthusiasm
when you see
and understand
the truth of God's word
firsthand
not merely
secondhand.
Don't despair
of understanding
God's word.
Don't be discouraged
that competent
godly pastors
disagree on certain things.
As you saw
in chapter 15
godly people do
at times disagree
with each other
because our knowledge
this side of heaven
is partial
and imperfect.
Most of the
Korean Jews
likely didn't have
Paul's
academic training
Paul had
an impeccable pedigree.
If you remember
he was a Pharisee
he said
according to
the strictest
party of his religion
he was trained
under Gamaliel
the most prominent
rabbi at the time
who was himself
trained by the
famous Rabbi Hillel
presidents of the
Sanhedrin
the highest ruling
Jewish body
ruling authority
Paul in every
sense of the word
had the Ivy League
Jewish education
he belonged to
the strictest
Jewish sect
he was advancing
beyond the
people
beyond his peers
in Judaism
and yet you don't
see the Korean
Jews kind of
throwing up their
hands in despair
and saying
well that's settled
well Paul said
he's smarter than me
he's more learned
than me
so he must be right
there's no need
to search the
scriptures
no look at their
response
they're ordinary
Jews
they were noble
not because of
their intelligence
or academic
pedigree
they were noble
because though
they were ordinary
Jews
they had a sincere
commitment to the
authority of God's
word
and because they
had a humble
disposition
and faith
that they can't
understand God's
word
I want to encourage
you with this quote
from J.I.
Packer's classic
Knowing God
he says John Owen
and John Calvin
knew more theology
than John Bunyan
or Billy Bray
but who would
deny
that the latter
pair knew
their God
every bit as well
as the former
all four of course
were beavers
with Bible
which counts
for far more
anyway than a
form of theological
training
if the decisive
factor was
notional correctness
then obviously
the most learned
biblical scholars
would know God
better than anyone
else
but it is not
you can have
all the right
notions in your
head without
ever tasting
in your heart
the realities
to which they
refer
and a simple
Bible reader
and sermon
hearer
who is full
of the Holy Spirit
will develop
a far deeper
acquaintance
with his God
and Savior
than a more
learned scholar
who is content
with being
theologically
correct
of course
if you
undertake
your formal
theological
education
with the
same
humble
posture
you can
also
develop
a deeper
acquaintance
with God
but that's a
privilege that is
not restricted
to formal
education
all those
who are
as
Patrick
calls them
eager
beavers
for the
Bible
all those
who like
the Bereans
receive the
word with
gladness
and search
the scriptures
thoroughly
can know
God
personally
profoundly
isn't that
such a
wonderful
invitation
every
Christian
can
understand
the
Bible
if you
study it
diligently
and
prayerfully
depending
on the
Holy Spirit
in the
nation
in our
day and
age
we are
likely to
assume
after
a
verse
like
that
we're
likely
to
assume
that
this
kind
of
diligent
study
only
involved
personal
Bible
stuff
sitting
at a
table
with your
own Bible
open
maybe
putting
your
headphones
on
and
listening
to
a
podcast
or
YouTube
comment
there
on a
topic
or
on a
passage
but
that's
that
would
be
not
a
completely
accurate
picture
of what
the
Bereans
were doing
in this
case
why
because
remember
that
Jews
at the
time
didn't
have
personal
Bibles
like
all
of us
the
printing
press
hadn't
been
invented
yet
most
scriptural
manuscripts
were
hand
copied
which
means
they
were
very
rare
and
expensive
so
there
was
one
place
that
they
could
go
to
search
the
scriptures
synagogue
where
they
kept
for
public
use
the
scroll
of
scripture
so
they're
not
doing
this
independently
they're
studying
the
scriptures
with
their
fellow
community
they're
searching
scriptures
together
this
is an
aspect
of
Bible
study
that
often
is
lost
on
us
modern
our
modern
individualistic
sensibilities
when we
study
the
Bible
with
other
brothers
and
sisters
the
diverse
gifts
of
the
spirit
come
to
bear
and
we
gain
more
insight
and
we
benefit
and
we
are
edified
I
found
this
time
and
time
again
when
after
preaching
a
sermon
that
I
spent
20
or so
hours
preparing
studying
a
passage
and
then
I
go
to
a
community
group
that
week
and
I'm
talking
to
brothers
and
sisters
who
haven't
spent
the
same
amount
of
time
studying
and
yet
every
single
week
if
there
is
active
participation
and
lively
discussion
I
am
learning
new
things
and
I'm
being
edified
by
the
body
of
Christ
and
when
we
study
the
Bible
as
a
community
we
also
check
one
another's
most
errant
impulses
if
we
are
in
our
own
heads
when
we're
studying
the
Bible
without
input
from
other
people
that's
really
a
dangerous
ground
to
incubate
Harrison
you
can
think
about
it
this
way
when
we
didn't
have
this
happen
today
which
I'm
thankful
for
but
sometimes
when
you
have
microphones
and
speakers
you
get
feedback
right
feedback
happens
when
you
speak
into
a
microphone
but
then
the
sound
that's
coming
off
the
speaker
is
so
loud
and
so
close
to
the
microphone
that
the
microphone
picks up
the
sound
that's
coming
out
of
the
speaker
again
and
then
there
this
vicious
cycle
and loop
and it
creates
that
annoying
howling
ringing
deafening
sound
the
feedback
this
is
this
is
why
the
speaker
can't
be
too
close
to
the
microphone
like
guys
are
listening
our
listening
shouldn't
be too
close
to our
own
mouth
it
shouldn't
be
limited
to
our
voices
the
Bereans
studied
the
Bible
in
community
and
when
they
did
they
saw
the
gospel
that
Paul
proclaimed
was
true
that it
was
consistent
with the
scriptures
and then
we see
their
response
in
verse
12
many
of
them
therefore
believed
with not
a few
Greek
women
of high
standing
as well
as
men
they
therefore
believed
because
they
searched
the
scriptures
because
they
had
that
humble
disposition
toward
God's
word
they
came
to
faith
after
determining
that
Paul
was
faithfully
claiming
the
scriptures
believing
that
the
promised
Messiah
was
Jesus
who
died
on
the
cross
and was
raised
from
the
dead
would
not
have
come
naturally
for
these
Jews
it
might
have
even
seemed
implausible
for
most
of
them
at least
initially
because
the
Jews
were not
expecting
the
Christ
the
Messiah
to
be
crucified
but
because
this
attests
to the
humility
of the
Burians
when they
saw that
the
Old Testament
scriptures
do
indeed
prophesy
of a
Christ
who
would
suffer
and die
and be
raised
again
they
believed
even
though
it
was
counterintuitive
and
countercultural
to do
something
pray that
God would
grant all
of us
that same
humble
posture of
faith
for God's
word
love
you
try to
see so
depending on the hardness or the softness of the audience's heart.
For this reason, when we proclaim the gospel, we should expect conversions,
but we should also expect persecutions.
Man, these Thessalonian Jews,
they pursue Paul and Silas to Berea,
track them down,
agitate the city, turn the Jews there against them again,
so that they have to flee the city again.
But we must proclaim the word of Christ from the scriptures in spite of opposition.
It's not because we worship the Bible,
it's not because we believe that the Bible itself saves us,
but because 2 Timothy 3.15 tells us that the scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
God's word is able to make us wise for salvation,
the Bible itself doesn't save us,
but the Bible leads us to Jesus who alone can save us.
The scripture is where the gospel of Jesus is recorded permanently and preserved reliably.
It helps us to know the one who died for our sins,
who paid the penalty that we deserved,
who bore the wrath that we incurred.
Jesus who gladly laid down his life for us,
to save us,
it is in the word that we need him.
In the word we get to know him,
to hear him.
So let's proclaim the word together.
Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would grant us this humble faith.
that our lives might be so conformed to your word,
to your word,
that in our lives we might
announce to the world the worship of Jesus,
that we might show our true colors
for your glory.
In Jesus' name we are.
Amen.