Sermon Notes: Acts 17:1-15 – The Bible Matters for Gospel Work

Intro: The Bible Matters

What matters to you as a Christian when we gather in Church? What’s your bible look like? Hold it up today in church, whether that’s your phone, tablet, or whatever version. Hold it up high and let’s see it. If you don’t have a bible in church, I want to help you. Let me buy you a bible. I’d like for you to have a way to take notes and a way to read the scriptures when we gather as a church. It is going to matter so much to how you grow as a believer in Jesus Christ. This bible my wife bought for me 10 years ago for our wedding and I am going to gift it to my son David when he is 18 as I have made many notes in it and I am preparing it for him as a keepsake. Soon I will be done and starting Nathan’s and then Zadok’s, and then Selah’s. This is my journal through the book of Acts. I start here every week as I set out to let the word of God affect my mind and heart before it ever is turned into a sermon. I mapped out and outlined the year of Acts in it, and now every week I sit down to jot down my thoughts on each verse we will cover each week. It’s become a really healthy rhythm of my life. I can track some of the growth of my discipleship this way and for that reason I want to encourage you to do the same. It’ll change your life for the better I guarantee it.

This morning we are in Acts 17 and oh how I love this chapter of the bible. We’re going to split this into two weeks and talk about why understanding our bible matters for gospel work today, and next week we’ll use Paul’s sharing of the gospel at the end of Acts 17 to build a biblical model for sharing the gospel. We are going to see how God is actually calling those who are spiritually curious and know their bible and sit in church to Jesus Christ. That sounds rather odd at first listen doesn’t it? There are people that read the bible, that attend church, and don’t know Jesus. Now that might not have been such a shock in Acts 17 because these people were mostly Jews who had the scriptures and were waiting for a Messiah, but I can all but guarantee you that we face this predicament in the United States today. Why? Because we founded this country on biblical principles. For the longest time in our history we took the bible and had used it as a form of a moral compass. Not a bad strategy, until you have people at some point use the bible as a resource to build their documents instead of as the word of God which is living and active for your life. You then end up with people who know bible stories and truths about God and sit in church but they don’t have Christ.

Movement 1: The Word of God Matters

Proclaiming the Scriptures in Thessalonica (v. 1-4)

Paul makes it to Thessalonica and continues proclaiming the gospel the way he’s always done. He heads to the synagogue, again, people who read the bible, sit in church, and don’t know Jesus. He has a 3 part series on explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead with his crescendo ending piece, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” This is why it is so necessary in our representation of Jesus to know our bible. This has to deeply become a part of our understanding of Jesus. Do you know why it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead? Do you know where you would find that from Genesis to Malachi? One of my favorite passages in Isaiah, God says, “Come now let us reason together.” There is a call for us to have a logical, reasonable, thinking faith. Paul is dealing with the logic of believing in Jesus from what they already know. For this reason, some are persuaded to believe in Jesus. I want to spend some time today at the end of our time together mapping this out for you, but for now, let’s look at verses 5 through 9.

Movement 2: A Gospel That Turns the World Right Side Up

Accused of a Gospel Upheaval (v. 5-9)

A shift happens and people are jealous which provokes even more sin in their life: they form a mob, they set the city in an uproar and they attack the house of Jason. It seems like the house of Jason is the first church gathering spot in Thessalonica. They couldn’t find Paul and Silas in the house so they dragged out Jason and some other believers. They accuse them with what I would say is one of my favorite accusations about Jesus and our faith: “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 there is another king, Jesus.” These men turned the world upside down and say Jesus is King! Gosh, I want to be known for that! Anyone else? That is a powerful accusation. Really, what is being done, is after the effects of sin upon the world, Jesus is finally putting the world right side up. It is our custom as Christians who follow Jesus and His word to pray for those in authority over us, to submit to them knowing that God put them in their position of authority, and yet to also unapologetically worship Jesus as our king. All of these things should make model citizens for any moral government. In a world that thinks they are right side up, I want to be upside down and following Jesus, the King of kings. Are you with me today?

Movement 3: The Gospel is Rooted in Scripture

The Noble Bereans (v. 10-12)

Jason posts bail for something he didn’t do, and they let him go. He didn’t incite a mob or drag anyone out of their house but now he’s the one posting bail. In verses 10 through 12 it seems like Paul and Silas skip town to Berea and I want to think that this is because they don’t want to cause unnecessary problems for themselves or the bail money that Jason produced. So Paul continues doing what he has set out to do, to preach the gospel again and again and again. So he goes into the synagogue to start it up here in Berea. In verse 11 we find a key piece about these Bereans: They are more noble because they received the word with all eagerness and this is seen through how they examined the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying is true. Since I started studying the bible, I have always loved the Bereans. Every time I get to this text I pray, “God, ignite in me the burning eagerness for your word that the Bereans had.” Notice the result of their eagerness through daily examination of God’s word: many of them believed. Isn’t that interesting? By searching the Scriptures they are strengthened in their faith in Jesus Christ. There is no place in your bible where God commands that you must read your bible every day. And no one can force you to read God’s word. That’s true. But, Can I show you a few passages in Scripture that might encourage you to desire this same eagerness to search the scriptures daily? First, What is the purpose of the Scriptures? “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) I love this passage because it tells us why we should desire God’s word. The second piece we must understand is: How do we receive God’s word? “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13) This is powerful because there will come a time when God’s word won’t be received, look at Amos 8 with me: “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” (Amos 8:11) Notice that God isn’t saying He will take His word away, but that there will be a famine in hearing the words of the Lord, meaning, how we receive God’s word. So finally, What do we do when we receive God’s word? “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2) We delight in it, we meditate on it. We let it in to do its work in our lives. And what is the work of God’s word? “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) We can have faith that God’s word is working.

An Old Testament Apologetic for Jesus (v. 13-15)

In verses 13 through 15, we see that these people are still so fighting mad from Thessalonica that they follow them to Berea. We end this portion of time in the Scriptures reminded that there is an enemy to the plan of God. Satan doesn’t want the gospel moving forward. He doesn’t want you in your bible and delighting in the Lord. He doesn’t shape you as a devoted christian. Many times the ploy of the enemy isn’t to trot around with a pitchfork, it’s to keep you stagnant. To keep you from all that God has for you. I wanted to give you the flow of what God is doing in Acts 17, but more than that I’d like to reverse engineer what Paul might have been saying in his 3 part series in talking with the Jews in Thessalonica and what he might have shared with the Bereans to cause them to search the Scriptures. Remember, he said he was proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead. So what about this idea of the Christ, or an anointed one in English Messiah in Hebrew, what about Him and what about His resurrection? Is this just a thought of the new testament? No! If I had to prove to you from your bible and specifically just the Old Testament that Jesus is the messiah, this is what I’d do. Let’s put Jesus on the stand and I’ll act as His defense attorney, here’s the defense I would give. I’m going to put a timer on my phone for 10 minutes and prove that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and raise from the dead. Here we go! If I had to prove that God would send a Messiah this is where I’d start: In Genesis 1 we learn the very principle things about God- He is before all things, He is Creator, He brings order, and what does He do? He makes good things. He specifically set apart humans as distinct from all else by making humans in His image. He made us from the dust of the ground, breathed the breath of life into us, made us in His likeness, and then gave us dominion over His creation. But with great power comes great responsibility spider man! The fruit incident happens, which by the way my wife reminds me that there will be a line of all women in heaven to slap Eve as she ate the fruit and all women are cursed with painful child bearing, but in the curse of Genesis 3 we receive the greatest promise: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) In every bible I own this is underlined and highlighted with, “Jesus Christ!” right next to it. This is the prototype of the gospel. As sin enters into the world, God already promises a Messiah. Well, if this is about a baby from the woman, who’s going to crush the serpent’s head, how perfect! The very next chapter Adam and Eve have kids! Cain and abel. Well, that lasted 8 verses, they are sinners too. And now we have our first murderer in the bible. But then Seth is born, yay! Nope, not him either. How about Noah? Well, not him either. And then we get to Abraham. And God has something special for him: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3) Ok, so God makes a forever promise to Abraham and we have another glimpse of hope, that forever promise He made through the curse in the garden, we now see is going to be fulfilled through Abraham because all the families of the earth shall be blessed through him. Well, we have a quick stint with the mistress when Abraham and Sarah stop fully trusting in this promise, but then Isaac is born, but it’s not Isaac. Then Jacob is born, and it’s not Jacob. Jacob gives us 12 tries and the most promising seems to be Joseph on the surface, but really we find something out on Jacob’s death bed, he says this to his son Judah: “Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.” (Genesis 49:10) Awesome, so now we have another glimpse into this, the offspring of the woman of genesis 3, will come from abraham and bless everyone on earth, and now we know that he will rule with a scepter. We are looking for a lion from the tribe of Judah, Shiloh Himself. Well, after this, Israel is plunged into slavery for over 400 years. But we keep getting glimpses throughout this process. The passover of Exodus 12, Strike the rock in Exodus 17, the blood of the covenant in Exodus 24, the sacrificial atonement of Leviticus, the bronze serpent of Numbers, The Prophet like Moses of Deuteronomy 18 and the hanged man of Deuteronomy 21. These are all pieces that God is weaving together. So it’s not Moses the great leader, it’s one like him. So then Joshua steps in, and it’s not joshua. Then all of the judges and it’s not them either, but we get to Samuel who is a prophet and judge. And he anoints Saul as the first king of Israel. And it’s like finally! We made it! Except… he’s not from the tribe of Judah, so this can’t be the guy. But, in 2 Samuel 7, we get another forever promise from God to the next king of Israel, David, who is from the tribe of Judah: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:12-16) So from the tribe of Judah and from David’s son we are now promised a Forever King. So now we have a king but what about his suffering? This same David we’ve been talking about wrote a prayer, we call it Psalm 16 where he finally writes these beautiful words, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” (Psalm 16:10) Meaning, he doesn’t just not want to die, he’s asking God not to abandon his soul, and the holy one mentioned is not just David, it’s this offspring we keep mentioning, it’s this forever king, who is part of the forever promise David’s clinging to that God gave him. So there’s the start of resurrection in the idea of abandonment. God will not abandon this person and what’s assumed is this person will die. We learn later from the prophets that came, specifically from the prophet Isaiah this instrumental piece about what will happen to this offspring. Try your level best to read this chapter without picturing Jesus on the cross and then weep for your salvation you have received in Him. I want to point you to a few verses here and encourage you to read the whole chapter some time soon: “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 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; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53: 5, 10,11) We will be healed, and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand by this suffering servant. Well there is one final connection we have to make from the prophets so then we can roll this piece out for you, which is probably the greatest Old Testament piece on what happens after the suffering servant dies and bears our sin. Daniel would say, the son of man, who is the suffering servant, who “acts wisely,” that’s our connection piece that Isaiah and Daniel would say, does something: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” (Daniel 12:2-3) So we learn that this offspring is going to rule forever from the line of David, and that He is going to suffer as a servant for our sins, and He is the son of man who’s forever connected to His people, the saints, earlier in Daniel, and they will awake to everlasting life. But I want to end this look at the Old Testament with a Psalm that David wrote that really helped me understand that this wasn’t a fluke, Jesus dying and raising from the dead, but Jesus knew what this was the whole time. Do you remember what Jesus said on the cross? He said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) Why would He say that? Did He just think, well, I screwed up the mission and didn’t get to pull this thing off.. No, not at all. He’s quoting His great great great great, I don’t know how many greats back off the top of my head, grandfather’s words in Psalm 22. He’s letting everyone know exactly what was done. It is by far one of the greatest pieces of Scripture of what happened on the cross and why Jesus so confidently said 4 words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; 31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.” (Psalm 22 abr)

What shall be told? The story of Jesus! We are the people that were yet unborn and there’s more to come. The good news of what He just accomplished on the cross! He suffered and now, He will raise from the dead! You have been healed, You have been restored! That’s resurrection! This is the reason men and women have died to tell this story. We have waited our whole lives to find healing and hope and it has been accomplished through Jesus Christ! That’s my story, that is your story. And thank you Jesus that you accomplished it all for your glory.