Be Better than the Bereans
1 Thess 2:13-16
Do you
come to worship to hear the preaching of the word with an inner expectation
that God will continue the work he has begun in you? Or, is that conditioned on
who is speaking, or what the topic may be?
I believe
the Thessalonians have something important to teach us. It is simply, that we
should be like them and be more noble than the Bereans were. We can be better
than the Bereans.
I believe
a lot of people misuse the passage in Acts 17 to misunderstand what a Berean
spirit is all about. It is usually used by unlearned men and women who want to
think that they are being more noble than others because they hear the Word of
God with a critical spirit in order to justify an examination of the sermon by
their take--which is usually unique--of the scriptures. They don't understand
what Paul and the apostolic band mean by the phrase, "more noble
than" in Acts 17.
I want to
remind you of the historical context of those words and how they relate to two
groups of people in Thessalonica. It is one of those groups who are commended
for recieiving the Word just as they heard it without any need to test what the
Apostles had said, thus adding to their preaching, their own private
judgment--which is what they did.
Turn to 1
Thess 2. I want to start at verse 13 and read through verse 16.
1.
Apostolic Thanks
1 Thess
2:13 For this
reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of
God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as
it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who
believe.
2. Apostolic Affects
14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in
Judea in Christ Jesus.
3. A Godly Pattern in a Godly Heritage
14b For you also suffered the same things from
your own countrymen, just as they didfrom the Judeans,
A. 15 who killed
both the Lord Jesus
B. and their own prophets,
C. and have persecuted us;
D. and they do not please God and are contrary to
all men,
4. Great Sins
16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as
always to fill upthe measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
Let's look at Acts 17 before coming back to this
text:
Acts 17:1-4 The first contacts in Thessalonica
Now when they [ Paul, Silas, Timothy, among
others] had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul,
as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them
from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had
to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I
preach to you is the Christ.”
The Apostle and those with him who preached, were
straightforward in what they said. They took the Old Testament scriptures,
opened them up and reasoned with the Jews in order to explain the true meaning
of the texts and demonstrating that true meaning was all about Jesus.
We don't know where they started, but there are
hundreds of places one could go to show the Christ was going to come. Jesus in
Nazareth read from the scroll of Isaiah to tell the people in his home town,
"Today, this is fulfilled in your hearing." They could have gone back
to the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures and shown how the promise in
Gen 3 was being worked out in intricate detail. They could have gone to the
dozens of other prophecies that point to Jesus especially in Deuteronomy, the
Psalms and the prophets. If, the materials that made up the gospel of Matthew
were known to them, there is over 100 times when the reader is brought back to
what the OT scriptures said and how they were fulfilled in Christ. All that the
apostolic band said to them was based on these scriptures, and we are told,
this Jesus that I preach to you, is the Christ--the uniquely sent messiah as
the anointed One from God to bring salvation to God's people. This was the
message preached in the synagogue to a wide collection of people over the
course of three Sabbaths.
Note: They kept coming back.
They
listened and seemed to understand
They
were courteous to the Apostolic Band.
The net effect of their ministry over three weeks
is expressed with these words:
4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout
Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.
The last time we look at this passage, I said
something like this is the spontaneous birth of the church in Thessalonica.
Consider the wonderful diversity of a sort: Some
were persuaded--they were convinced without any additional help. The first
group implies the Jews of the synagogue. The second group is a great multitude
of the devout Greeks--proselytes who saw in Judaism something unknown in
Paganism. They were attracted to the synagogue and what it had to offer them.
The third group was, and not a few of the prominent women. This establishes the
multi-strata nature of economic means among the Thessalonians. Christianity and
Judaism before her, did not appeal simply to peasants--it was attractive to
some prominent people. Here, a group of prominent or leading women.
This diverse group through in their lot with Paul
and Silas.
Not everyone believed and followed the scriptures
as explained by Paul and Silas--some did, without further inquiry or
reluctance. They heard for three week, believed and joined themselves with Paul
and Silas.
5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious,[a]took
some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the
city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out
to the people.
The rest of the Jews from the synagogue who were not
convinced by the words of the Apostolic Band, became envious--they despised
others for what the others had. In this case it was the ability to believe and
the presence of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The crowd saw something in all
of this that stirred them up to mischief. They went to the marketplace and
gathered a mob of men. But, not just any men, we are told, a mob of evil men.
Men, known for their contraryness to civility and order. They were looking for
the apostolic band. These Thessalonians were brutes; the earlier Thessalonians
were not. It is to that earlier group of men and women who believed on the
testimony of the Apostles over three weeks that the words in 2 Thess 2:10ff are
given.
17:10 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious,[a]took
some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the
city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out
to the people.
So, remember there are two distinct groups of people in
Thessalonica. One heard and believed; the other did not, but acted as brutes
towards those who did and the Apostolic Band.
What did the apostles do when attacked in Thessalonica?
17:10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and
Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue
of the Jews.
The sense of the language is as long as it took
the apostolic band to get to Berea and not any more, they arrived in Berea
while it was dark. They went to the synagogue of the Jews.
Luke, the Greek, makes an editorial comment about
the Jews at the synagogue in Berea. We must remember, not a one of them had yet
believed.
Yet, it could be said of them….
11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find outwhether
these things were so.
Why were they more fair-minded, or noble as some
translations puts it? It is because they didn't act like brutes--something the
Greco-Roman world was well-known for.
They did not believe. A church was not started
spontaneously as it was in Thessalonica. Actually, we don't hear about Berea
much more in the New Testament. In Acts 20:4 we hear of Sopater who traveled
with Paul to Troas. Other than these verses in Chapter 17, their history and
experiences are lost to us. It was not a significant place as we look at the
New Testament. But, we know they were more fair-minded or noble.
This doesn't mean they believed when they heard
as the Thessalonians did, it is that they did not have such a visceral reaction
to the good news of the gospel and the explanation of how Jesus was the Christ
to whom the Hebrew scriptures pointed.
All the Bereans did was suspend judgment for
another time. They didn't take what Paul and the Apostolic Band said as the
Word of God. They took it, initially, as the Word of men. They wanted to test
it out against their own private judgment--unaided by the Spirit of God. I add
that because it was in the Upper Room that Jesus had promised the Apostles
alone that they would be guided into all truth--a promise not made to the
Bereans. They were on their own. That they wanted to search the scriptures
about what Paul had said, is not necessarily a good thing. It might be better
than what the brutes in Thessalonica did, but it surely wasn't better than what
the first group in Thessalonica did after hearing those first three weeks in
the synagogue.
But, it had an effect, nonetheless. We read….
12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks,
prominent women as well as men.
It is a similar response to what we found in
Thessalonica. Yet, the only fruit of the apostolic labors in Berea that we know
about is Sopater. I find it all very interesting because in Evangelical
clichés, to have a Berean Spirit is the end-all to spirituality. In my
experience, it is usually a different spirit that these modern people have. It
is a spirit of natural contrariness with a too high view of their own
abilities. Most border on legalisms or moralisms and almost all of the oepole
who say this about themselves are self-righteousness and self-pronounced
know-it-alls.
They stand in judgment on the word proclaimed
after a few minutes of looking at some other text. Rather, than dealing with
the text or texts of the day. And, it is often the case, that the church has
never believed to any great degree the positions being offered. They see
themselves as being the noblest because they search the scriptures in order to
refute what they hear, rather than to confirm as some of the Bereans did.
Notice, not all of them believed, but some of them did. Yet, we have no record
of their continuing in grace. I'm not saying they didn't. It is just that they
did not have a prominence in the New Testament. They are an ordinary place
graced by the presence of the Apostles where some believed.
There are the four groups: 2 in Thessalonica and 2 in Berea.
2 groups that believed and 2 that didn't. Yet, the two that believed received
the Word in very different ways.
Back to 1 Thess 2:
1.
Apostolic Thanks
1 Thess
2:13 For this
reason we also thank God without ceasing,
It is a very intimate thing to have unceasing
thanks toward God for a person or a people.
Think of those people who have meant a great deal
to you in your life or your spiritual life. Think of those people for whom you
give thank to God regularly. This is how the Apostolic Band felt about these
believers in the Thessalonian Church.
But, we haven't looked at the reason for this
thanks….
13b because when you received the word of God
which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men,
but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who
believe.
Why? It is because of how they heard and made the
Word of God their own. It is how they responded to the preaching of the Word.
The Apostolic Band didn't just cite scripture to
them, remember, they reasoned, they explained, so the truth would be
understood. Then once understood, they explained that Jesus was the Christ they
were talking about.
So, the preaching of the Word of God was the same
as the Word of God. At least according to this verse.
Let me read it again:
13b because when you received the word of God
which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men,
but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who
believe.
The translation is beautiful. You welcomed it not
as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. IRBS has taken this
idea for their motto--The Preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God.
Let me handle a possible objection: Some might
say, that si true for the apostles, but not for all who preach the Word,
especially in our time.
It is true that the Apostles had a unique calling
and promise from Jesus that they would be led into all truth. Yet, Paul was not
there to receive that commission. However, we understand the apostolic
authority of Paul to be no less than that of the other eleven. The major reason
for that is the direct authorization of the risen Christ for Paul to be an
Apostle--especially to the Gentiles. So, by personal commission, Paul is
included as an apostle in the Great Commission.
Yet, Paul was not on his own. Silas was not an
apostle, he ahd been a prophet in the Jerusalem Church. Nowhere do we find an
apostle pulling rank over someone else traveling with them doing the work of
ministry. Paul accepted Silas on a par with him. There may have been technical
differences in Paul's mind--but, he never reveals them to us in his writings.
When Silas spoke, he spoke with the authority of Jesus who gave him as an
apostle to the church. Remember the classifications of gifts given to the
churches in Eph 4:12? He gave some to be apostles (like Paul), some prophets
(like Silas), some evangelists (like Timothy), and some to be pastor-teachers
or elders as we find throughout this church age as the only abiding and
authoritative office in the church. Remember that for a minute or two.
Timothy was an evangelist. Paul tells him to do
the work of an evangelist. That work seems to be one of securing churches in
the faith. He establishes them on the good news of the gospel. Timothy had
Paul's full confidence and was given by the ascended Lord Jesus Christ to the
churches. He had a high calling. If we were to look at his life, we would find
him busily about the ministry. If we were to look at Paul's opinion of him as a
minister we would find the highest accolades--the only one who was still
like-minded in the book of Philippians.
The Thessalonians did not discern between the
three men who ministered among them. They were all doing the work that was from
or pertaining to the Apostolic ministry. Though they may not have all been
apostles, the work they did was apostolic in nature--therefore, what they said
was to be believed and practiced.
13b because when you received the word of God
which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men,
but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who
believe.
This is a fabulous report of the effects of the
power of God in Thessalonica. They did not save judgment for a future time. God
worked in them by his spirit so that they understood and believed upon hearing.
They did not need to pass private judgment on what they heard because they saw
it as the very Word of God.
No wonder the Apostles gave thanks unceasingly
for them. Do you realize how unique this is in the history of the church? Remember my academic field is Church History.
What would a church look like that heard and did
what they identify as the very word of God every time they heard it?
We need preaching more than we need anything
else. Preaching is the conscious attempt by a man to understand and convey the
revelation of God to the mind of men.
Preaching is designed to be a corporate
experience. That is how we find it throughout the book of Acts and the
Epistles. The church is always coming together--the word comes from the Jewish
synagogue. As the church met, they synagogue together. The pattern known by the
Jews becomes the pattern used in Early Christianity. The assembly gathered
together--the called out ones were called to be together.
The ministry had abiding ….
2. Apostolic Affects
14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in
Judea in Christ Jesus.
They were not innovators; they were imitators.
What the other churches did, they did, too. They did not sit around and
Think up ways to make the people feel a certain
way--they taught them the word of God.
Preaching is not the gathering together as a
family, or a couple, in order to read some Christian literature, watch a video,
or listen to a sermon. Those things are tools ancillary to the gathering
together for the preaching of the Word.
We have the technology, so these newfound things
have an allure for us. But, they keep us from the one on one fellowship with
God's people that worship is and the height of worship is the preaching of the
Word, no matter who is speaking.
We need preaching. It is where God promises to
continue the work he has begun in us. It is the tool he has used since the
beginning; through the prophets, in the gospels, in sending out his Apostles,
in the early church and to this day. God's purposeful use of preaching has
never changed. If we seek another way, we seek something less than what God has
for us. We need to realize how much we miss, when we miss hearing God's Word
from those he has given to us as gifts to direct us.
These things became so important in Thessalonica,
they were willing to die for the cause
3. A Godly Pattern in a Godly Heritage
14b For you also suffered the same things from
your own countrymen, just as they didfrom the Judeans,
It was because of the Apostolic ministry of
preaching the word that suffering first came upon them. It continued. Another
reason why they needed continual prayer.
Do preachers ever suffer these things in our
day--here in the early 21st Century? In many places, yes. And even in the West
preachers are threatened, even with death. Ask me sometime how my family and I
were threatened almost 18 years ago. People have not changed, except by a
powerful work of God's grace.
The sophisticated persecute preachers in
different ways. Not physically, but psychologically--others, still, seek to
hurt their reputation--to kill their ministries in the eyes of others.
In many places in the world, to preach Christ as
he ought to be preached is to call for persecution. Muslim world, Hindu
cultures, and others are still hostile to the gospel. It calls sin, sin and men
and women to repentance. Not everyone likes that regardless of how modern they
think they are. People don't like to hear their private doctrines undermined
from the pulpit, whether or not the preacher knows about them. It is often
amazing how the Spirit rebukes through the ignorance of the one preaching. I
have often been asked about visiting preachers,--did you tell him to preach
that? I am happy to shake my head, No.
They would rather hear things to make them happy
happy happy all the time. But, the Christian life is a life of repentance as we
seek God's transforming grace in our lives and the lives of others. It is
through thorough Biblical repentance that we experience real Christian joy.
Look at what Paul prophesied in 2 Timothy, his
swansong near the end of his writings….
Timothy, listen, this is coming--2 Tim 2:2-
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.
Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
What was the primary thing Timothy was to do?
Preach the word!
3 For the time will come when they [who is the
"they"?] will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own
desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;4 and
they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
We see some of this in the Book of acts and the
Epistles of the New Testament. But, does this still happen today?
Just because a man preaches, does not mean he
preaches the truth or that he gets it right most of the time. We need qualified
men to teach and preach. It is not something just anyone can do, or anyone
should be doing. It is a dangerous thing to put yourself forward as though who
would teach God's people. James 3:1 tells us of a stricter judgment that will
fall upon our teachers.
From the perspective of the elder or teacher, he
must be careful. Yet, from the perspective of the church, they must be careful
who they place over them in the Lord to rule over them under the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our hearts should yearn for mmen who know the Word to come and teach
us. Yet, any qualified man who does, regardless of his experience, should be
listened to as one who speaks the very word of God.
The men who are invited to this pulpit are
scrutinized by myself, or other men we trust. Sometimes they may have a quirk
or two. However, they agree not to make their private doctrines a public matter
here out of respect for the church. So, we ask for humility and deference to
how the church has defined herself. The church has never had an issue with a
preacher--even though individuals, some not members, some members, have taken
issue at a point or two. But, it has always been a private issue beyond what
the church accepts as our official position as those things surely believed
among us because we see them in the Word of God. Doctrine or putting together
doctrinal statements based on the Word is the first use of scripture in 2 Tim
3:16-17. The Bible does not present the theology of God in a systematic manner.
It is to trained capable teachers that we turn to for that.
Back to ….
The character of the Jews back in Israel:
A. 15 who killed
both the Lord Jesus
B. and their own prophets,
They didn't want to hear what Jesus had to say
and insomuch that Jesus said what the prophets had previously said, they didn't
want to hear that again. They rejected the word of God in two senses: the
spoken Word being proclaimed by the prophets and the Christ and the living
Word, the Lord Jesus who uniquely revealed the Father. His own people rejected
him. Those who had the OT Scriptures and should have known something of his
character and ministry shut their ears and eyes to his ministry--they willingly
took upon themselves and their children, the guilt of putting the messiah to
death--let it be upon our shoulders and those of our children.
C. and have persecuted us;
The treated the apostles with the same
persecuting hatred. It was nothing new. These Thessalonians saw it from their
own neighbors and fellow-synagogue members. Their Jewish friends became their
enemies because of the message of Jesus. He makes all the difference. He may
divide families and friends when he calls his own.
D. and they do not please God and are contrary to
all men,
How would you like to come across that epithet on
a tombstone? Yet, this is true of so many, even in our day.
But the worst of it all is this one….
4. Great Sin
16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as
always to fill upthe measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
The wrath of God is not always a venting of anger
against mankind or some portion of them. Sometimes the manifestation of God's
wrath is simply that God passes over a people leaving them to their sin.
People wonder, this isn't so bad, where is God's
wrath. Or they mock about God's chastening--the Lord hasn't done anything to
chasten us, thinking they are somehow justified because of the perceived lack
of imminent judgment upon them.
There are a number of possible options:
1. They were never God's true children to begin
with--that is why they could not understand.
2. God has already given them over to their
peculiar sin of unbelief and they cannot discern it because there has been no
change in doctrine.
3. God is waiting for the right time to judge.
That may not be until the final judgment. They will be shown to be goats and
not sheep, like the Jews in ancient Israel.
We must be careful to hear the message of the
gospel as the very word of God especially when it is given by a minister of
proven character and gifts, no matter how mediocre they may be. Does he preach
the Word and does he preach Christ?
That is what we need regardless of anything else.
So be better than a Berean for Jesus's cause.
Hear and obey. Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment