Sunday, October 28, 2012

You, Jesus, Are God!


Bereans
(Acts 17:10-12, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, October 28, 2012)

[10] The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea,
The Lord, He is God.

We think we set events in motion, and we do, but we are only secondary causes. The Lord is God. Paul and Silas made their plans, but God ordained their steps. What took place in Philippi and in Thessalonica was not the wisdom of man, but the wisdom of God. He was working, not through His servants' power, but through their weakness.

What was the key to the apostolic success in Philippi? I think it was the power of God at work in the hearts of His servants when their feet were in the stocks in the inner prison. They prayed and sang hymns to Him there. That was the wisdom and power of God.

What was the key to their success in Thessalonica? I think that it happened after they were sent away by night to Berea. The simple church that had formed in such a brief time in Thessalonica held to the faith after Paul and Silas left. That was the power of love, the power of the kingdom at work. The missionaries were thrown out, but the kingdom of God thrived. This is not a guess. It is what Paul wrote to them in 1 Thessalonians 3 based on the visit of Timothy. Timothy brought back to Paul the good news of the faith and love of the Thessalonian church.

When Jo Eliuk opened her eyes in her hospital bed after her day of surgery, before I had a chance to say “Hello,” she said, “Pastor, what a mighty God we serve!” This is the Thessalonian miracle. The humble people of God filled with faith and love, report the news of the mighty God that we serve in the midst of their own suffering. The Lord, He is God! Paul and Silas had to leave Thessalonica before their work was finished, at least in their opinion. But God moved them on, and He continued His mighty work through the regular people left behind. They had the wisdom of God planted in them. They knew what to say and what to do. But they had something more. They had the power of the love of Christ overflowing in their hearts. They knocked, and doors opened, and the suffering persecuted church in that great city prospered in faith and love.

and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
Paul and Barnabas continued to thrive as well, now in the city of Berea. They also knew what to do. They went into the Jewish synagogue there despite the troubles they faced in Thessalonica from the Jews there that rejected the Messiah King who died on a cross. Paul continued his custom. To the Jews first, despite the potential for controversy. They found courage in the Lord, and brought the same bold message that they preached to Jews everywhere. It was necessary for the Christ to suffer and die and then to rise again according to the Hebrew Scriptures. This Messiah had come, and His Name was Jesus, “the Lord is Salvation.” He had saved His people not from the Egyptians, but from a much more formidable enemy, their own sins.

[11] Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica;
Luke tells us that the people in the synagogue in Berea were different that those in Thessalonica. The word that he uses to describe them is only used in two other places in the New Testament. It might help us to examine those two instances.

The first is in Luke 19:12, where Jesus begins a parable with these words:
A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’”

The second is in 1 Corinthians 1:26, where Paul speaks of what the church in Corinth was generally like:
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”

Despite the fact that we have come to speak of the “Berean” as someone who is spiritually commendable or “noble” because he tests every message by the Word, that is not what the word noble means here. Luke is commenting on the general societal position and education of the people in the Berean synagogue versus those from the synagogue in Thessalonica. The Bereans were well-born. The problem with well-born people is that they often have a pride problem. Being well-born, rich, educated, and powerful is far from a guarantee that a person will give the Bible or the message of the good news a fair hearing. George Whitefield was shocked when he came to Exeter in the 18th century, because the people were well-born, rich, and educated, yet they actually responded to the message he preached. They were like the Bereans, well-born people that did not resist the Scriptures and the work of the Holy Spirit.

they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
The Bereans were actually very much like the Thessalonians in that they were very willing to eagerly hear the Word that was preached to them. The difference between them was that the average synagogue attendant in Berea was more highly born than those in Thessalonica.

Remember what Jesus said about the rich. It is harder for them to enter the kingdom of God. But all things are possible with God. It happened in Berea. It happened in Exeter in the 18th century. It can happen again in Southern New Hampshire today. God can humble the proud. And then He can give grace to the humble. The Lord, He can do it. The Lord is God.

What were the Bereans doing with their Bibles? They were “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” What were “these things?” The same bold message that Paul preached in synagogues everywhere. He told them to check the sacred writings to see if it was necessary that the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, would have to suffer and die. He urged them to see the necessity of the death and resurrection of the Messiah from their own sacred writings.

[12] Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
So many “smarter than thou” people reject the message of the cross without reading the Old Testament. If the unexpected fact of a crucified and resurrected King was actually taught in the ancient Hebrew Law, Prophets, and Writings alongside the fact of a victorious Messsiah should that not give an intelligent person pause? We have seen the victory of the Messiah all over the world. If we can see the suffering part too, should that not convince us that this Jesus really is Lord? See if what I am saying about Jesus is not backed up by the Jewish Bible. Jesus is Lord.

1. Why were Paul and Silas sent away by night to Berea?
2. How was the experience of the apostolic team different in Berea?
3. What is referred to by Luke as “these things” in verse 11?
4. What should be our relationship with the Scriptures?
OT Passage: Exodus 11