True Nobility

Please open up your Bibles to Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

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.

Acts 17:1–15

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,

Acts 17:1–15

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,

Acts 17:21

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,

Psalms 119:105

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,

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,

Luke 20:25

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,

Matthew 6:24

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

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.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.