I once thought I had well-planned a mountain-climbing trip for 4 people. Excitement and expectations were high. It did NOT all go as planned. It would take a long time to really tell, but problems included our inability to get to our planned campsite because of rockslides on wilderness roads, having to change the climbing destination, one of our group coming down with pneumonia, all of us pinned down on the top of a 14,000 mountain while a lightning storm engulfed the peak, being pelted by ice while descending a narrow rocky ridge, and our car breaking down, requiring an extra day and a bundle of money to get us rolling back to home. As we came out of the mountains and started across the Great Plains, one of the back-seat travelers reflected, “I really think that went well.”
If you’ve been keying in on this sermon series, you know that the book of Acts provides marvelous testimony to a Gospel that seems to be overpowering. Nothing can stand in the way. Jon’s sermon last week highlighted the world-changing impact with its very personal power in the lives of specific people. . . But Paul’s mission trip is beginning to make my mountain climbing trip look like a luxury tour. Look at challenges they faced: Holy Spirit firmly rejected Paul’s plan to go deeper into Asia, the first European church was planted in Philippi. Was it successful? Yes, but if you remember the message last week, there were PROBLEMS. Paul and Silas were falsely accused, arrested, beaten, and locked up in jail—all of which was illegal. It would appear that God’s judgment supported the missionaries, as he shook the earth, opened the prison doors and broke the chains. Then political powers who illegally imprisoned them, only approved their release as they urged them to get out of town, almost certainly as a way to keep the peace in Philippi. Can you imagine Paul and Silas, in pain with their bruised and battered bodies as they set off on hundred-mile hike along the Via Egnatia, reflecting to one another, “I think that went well!”
I need to comment on the Via Egnatia. It was something that we have not encountered before. All the settings described in this chapter were located along the Via Egnatia. This was part of a network of paved roads built by Rome to enable military movements to control all parts of the empire. It also greatly enhanced commercial trade between Rome to the extremes of the Empire. It made it possible for the Gospel to spread as Paul & Silas and succeeding generations of Christians carried out the Great Commission. But it also enabled the Thugs and Rabble Rousers to carry their malice and persecution from city to city.
Here in Acts 17, Paul and Silas were ON MISSION. (Acts 17:1,2-- After they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish Synagogue. As usual Paul went into the Synagogue, and on Three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures.) They followed the strategy that Paul used repeatedly. As a visiting Rabbi, he delivered to the synagogue a Good-News message that we can summarize like this: For many centuries God has been preparing his people for the Messiah. Now Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world has come. I’m here to tell you all about it. This was the pattern in most of the cities so far.
Do you wonder why the Apostle usually went FIRST to a synagogue? The only settings where a synagogue was not mentioned were Lystra, where the Gentile crowd thought Paul and Barnabas were Greek Gods, and at Philippi, where there is no evidence of a synagogue. If the gospel is for the whole world, why seek out such a nationally-oriented launching pad in each setting?
Let’s talk about the synagogues. In the Old Testament, the worship of God was centered first in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple. But when Jerusalem was conquered and the people carried away into captivity, worshiping at the destroyed first temple was impossible. When captivity ended, many Jews did not return to Jerusalem, but began a process predicted by Ezekiel (22:15) that continues to this day. The DIASPORA saw Jewish people dispersing and conducting their business throughout the world. Wherever there was a settlement of Jewish people, a SYNAGOGUE was built to provide a gathering place to meet, pray, and teach the Scripture. Because this worship lifted up Yahweh, the one true God, many non-Jews (Gentiles) also frequently attended the gatherings, and often became converts. They too were looking for the Messiah. So as the apostles traveled, they expected to find God-honoring people in the synagogue, people who could be expected to rejoice and join in spreading the gospel. And this frequently happened.
You may also recall that the synagogues in Galilee became a place of frequent encounter when Jesus began his earthly ministry. He certainly won some converts there. . . and faced opposition.
At the synagogue in Thessalonica there were multiple responses. (Acts 17:4 Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.)—Some Jewish people were persuaded to join in the Christian cause with Paul and Silas. A large number of the God-fearing Gentiles signed on as Christian believers. Also, a significant following developed among prominent women in the community. In other words, the mission met with great success.
But it also met hostility. That should not surprise us. As you recall, many deeply religious people in Jerusalem did not like Jesus. (Calling for his crucifixion was pretty hostile.)
People tend to want God to enter their lives on THEIR terms. In fact, many people create in their minds an image of what kind of God they want. I have a friend who, after spending many years as an active Christian, chose, for a time, to abandon the faith and become an atheist. When asked about the God he no longer believed in, He described a harsh, unmerciful God, very UNlike the Immanuel, God With Us, that we see in Jesus. I was able to say to him, I don’t believe in that God either. It took my friend a time of deep reflection, and the witness of the Christian community living out the nature of Christ, to enable him to choose to believe again, but now with a clearer picture of who God is.
Back in Thessalonica, the text continues (Acts 17:5 notes—the Jews became jealous and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot) Jealous? The Synagogue leaders liked having the God-fearing Greeks attend, hoping that they might become Jews. These Gentiles disliked the pagan gods of the empire and liked the God of the Jews, but becoming Jewish involved rituals they did not want. The Jewish leaders had an idea of God that he was a Jewish Nationalist and should ONLY work through the Synagogue. If Jesus were the Messiah, these men thought God was out of control. They were confused about who God is. Do you know people who think they can control God? They are offended when God loves people they do not love.
These leaders were in a fix. If they tried to get government officials to join them in jealousy, they would fail. Paul and Silas as evangelists were of no importance to city officials. So, they got some rowdy people who enjoyed a fight, and developed some fake news. They set out like a lynch mob to get the preachers. Acts 17:6 These men have turned the world upside down. When they could not find Paul and Silas, they grabbed Jason, who was probably hosting the missionaries, then took him and other Christ-Followers to the city officials. “These people are trying to de-throne Caesar! This is treason.” Anyone looking at the teaching of Jesus would know that is false, but in Thessalonica as in Philippi, the officials just wanted things to be peaceful. So, Jason and the others posted bond and sent Paul and Silas back on the road again.
The mission team hiked 45 miles to Berea. What do you suppose was their first action? (This is a bit like watching a Hallmark movie. You know the plot already.) They went to the Synagogue. Did Paul not realize that trouble would come? At first, the response was encouraging. There is an interesting phrasing. These people in the Berean Synagogue were described as (Acts 17 :11) of more noble character than those in Thessalonica since they received the message eagerly and searched the scriptures to confirm the truth of the message being preached. ) The image in my mind is not everyone thumbing through their Bibles, or scrolling their Bible Apps. I imagine the synagogue leader opening the scrolls and the discussing the match-up of Paul’s teaching and the scripture. In this synagogue the truth won out---Jews and Gentiles, men and women, a new church was coming together, the kind of church that Jesus established with no racial, gender, or social class boundaries. But the word got back to the rabble-rousers in Thessalonica, and they travelled the Roman road to Berea to find rabble to rouse. They did not stop the church, but they created a dangerous environment. With Paul and Silas under threat, the church decided to protect Paul by sending him down to the coast to travel to Athens.
Paul and his Christian colleagues were consistently willing to face unsettling, disturbing, and even dangerous situations to do what Christ called them to do. But they knew the Gospel is rock solid and they just kept pressing on. It’s quite a story, but what does it mean to us”
Last month I attended a workshop discussing Artificial Intelligence and the general impact of computers and internet communications. The workshop leaders waxed eloquently on the wonders brought about by these advances. One expert said A.I. is a servant that enables us to do good things much quicker and more efficiently. Then he added, “but it also enables evil people to spread their evil much quicker and more efficiently.” We are all aware that internet communication and Artificial Intelligence has enabled widespread scamming, frauds that have stolen precious resources, promotion of pornography and sexual exploitation, as well as a host of disinformation and rumor-mongering. But when the medium is used for good, there are amazing blessings occurring.
Let me note some Paul and Silas-type activity taking place on the internet.
1. Sunny and I support a mission called Good News Productions, International. Using carefully developed media resources and the world wide web, Good News has launched a program Al Dar Aman (House of Safety), Focusing on developing a safe environment for Muslims to seek deeper spirituality through Jesus Christ, this program penetrates areas long considered CLOSED to the Gospel. Last year 2.5 million people in places like Algeria, Iraq, and Egypt logged on and began exploring the good news through this means.
2. Southeast Christian Church in Louisville is planning to send 250 families to live and work in Saudi Arabia to live with and strengthen the small churches existing in a land that is home to some of the most sacred sites of Islam. That could not have happened in another era.
3. Some of you may remember when Jeff and Laura Wilhoit invited Sunny and me to represent Lakeside at the dedication of a new Bible translation in Guinea, W. Africa. That beautiful event was the culmination of 27 years of work by Jeff and Laura and their teammates with Pioneer Bible Translators. Now, just 2 years later, with the help of computer programs, that work is reaching 14 related languages in Liberia, opening the door to another 2 million people who have never had the Bible in their heart language.
That’s happening out there—What about a more personal application?
1. Perhaps you have wondered if you might make a short-term mission trip. The options are many. Talk to the mission team.
2. You may have a mission concern to invest right here in Springfield. You don’t need a visa to take on a local or personal mission. Talk to Kerma (LSCA) in the foyer. Mark April 12 for Lakeside’s Serve Springfield Day, or other options.
3. You may have a long-term faith in God, but you are only now realizing that your perception of God is too small or too limited. Like the God-honoring men & women in Berea, you may be ready to move to a new level. Ask around here. There are people ready to help you grow.
Does evil still travel throughout our world? Certainly, but God is empowering us to do his work using every means available, and I want to be with him. I cannot promise you that your life journey will not face troubles, but we stand ready to walk together with you and to face the rabble-rousers that Satan is empowering.