The Word Made Plain

Narrator: Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 17, verses 5 through 15.

Guest (Male): When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too, and Jason has harbored them. And these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus."

Tony Clark: As the mob suspected to find Paul and Silas at the house of Jason in verse six, they instead dragged Jason and some of the brethren out to the rulers of the city crying out, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too." Then in verse seven, they accuse Jason of harboring these men. They have all been acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.

If you would notice in your Bible, there is a dash in between king and Jesus. A dash in English acts as a type of period. It is as if the writer is Luke, the author, and in the way it is constructed in the Greek language, it is like he wants you to pause right here. Don't just run that sentence together and say there is another king, Jesus. No, there is another king—and His name is Jesus.

This mob wanted to really begin to expose to the authorities that this is what they were doing, that they were going around saying that there was another king, Jesus. You understand, in order for anyone in the Roman Empire to acknowledge or pledge allegiance to anyone other than Caesar, it was high treason. That is why they said there is another king, and His name is Jesus.

On top of that, they said that Jason has been harboring them. In other words, they are saying Jason has been harboring criminals. This was serious here. It is my job as a pastor-teacher to prepare you for what is coming in the very near future in a greater capacity. We as Christians are going to be accused of turning the world upside down as well.

They are already starting to do this on a smaller level of arresting Christians who disagree with their lifestyle. The problem is that the world is already upside down from God's perspective, and as Christians, we are seeking to turn it right side up. They are already dragging pastors and devout Christians away in handcuffs to the authorities, like they did here with Jason, because we are seeking to turn things right side up, to speak out against what the Bible calls sin.

This is happening in a lesser degree in our country, but it is starting to happen. It is starting to happen where we are now being arrested for speaking out. Our book is a hate book, and speech is hate speech. Christian kids are being kicked out of school for speaking out against what the Bible calls sin. It is already starting to take place around our country, and I am here to prepare you.

I told you when we started the book of Acts that we were going to start seeing what is happening in this book happen in our very own country. We started teaching this three years ago. Now look, it is even more so. Now we are really seeing the parallels between the culture in the first century, where the church was taking place in the book of Acts, and our own country here.

We are going to be accused of turning the world upside down. It is already upside down. We are just seeking to turn it right side up. But here is the thing. It is an old saying, but I think it is still a heart-penetrating question that we must answer in our own hearts: If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

That is something you have to answer in your own heart. This is how hostile the world is getting towards us. To be honest with you, they were the ones who were turning the city upside down because they were the ones who gathered a mob in verse five and attacked the house of Jason. They were the ones who dragged Jason to the rulers of the city in verse six.

They accused Paul and Silas of turning the world upside down and acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar. As I told you, the decrees of Caesar included that to pledge allegiance to anyone else other than him was high treason. These were very serious charges, which got the attention of the rulers big time. We are going to see what it says in verses eight and nine.

It says, "And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go." Now the rulers heard what the mob had to say because verse eight says they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. The Greek word for troubled is tarasso, and it means to stir up or to agitate.

These unbelieving Jews stirred up and agitated the crowd and the rulers with these charges. This should not be the behavior as Christians. We should not be troublemakers, but peacemakers. Matthew 5:9 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." As children of God, we should bring peace everywhere we go. People should not see us coming and say, "Here comes trouble."

There are those who haven't even turned around, but they already know. You don't have to tell me who is coming. I already know who it is. That should not be said of us. We should not be troublemakers, but peacemakers. The only time this should be said is by people who misinterpret our peacemaking as troublemaking.

It is like King Ahab did in 1 Kings 18:17, when he saw the prophet Elijah. He said, "Is that you, O troubler of Israel?" I love the prophet Elijah. He said, "Me, troubler? No, I'm not the troubler. It's you, and your house, and that little bitty roundabout wife Jezebel. You all are the troublers of Israel." That was the Tony Clark translation.

Just like they accused Paul and Silas of turning the world upside down, they were really trying to turn it right side up. However, verse nine says when they posted bond, they forced them to leave. There are times that this kind of unjust harassment occurs on the job where envious and jealous people stir up a crowd against you to bring you to the rulers on the job and you, like Paul and Silas and the others, may have to leave.

There are times by which you may have to leave. Your season at that particular job is done and you may have to go. That doesn't mean because all of a sudden a little opposition comes your way that it is time to go. No, you may have to endure hardship as a good soldier. You have to be in prayer. Don't just be trying to run. I am talking about unjust harassment where they are jealous of you and they have stirred up a coup or a crowd against you. It may be time to move on.

Look at verses 10 and 11. "Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now 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 out whether these things were so."

As we can see from verse 10, the brethren were hiding Paul and Silas from the angry and envious mob that came to Jason's house looking for them in verse five. They waited until it was dark to send Paul and Silas away to the city of Berea. Berea was 45 miles south of the city of Thessalonica. When he arrived there, as was his custom, he went to the synagogue there to preach.

How did they respond? It said that they were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica according to verse 11. The Greek word for fair-minded is eugenes, and it means noble, generous, and free from prejudice. It speaks of being open-minded. Instead of attacking Paul and Silas like they experienced in previous cities, they listened eagerly to Paul's message. They were open-minded to the things of God.

Instead of forming a mob to run them out of the city, they searched the scriptures daily to find out whether those things that Paul was saying were true. How we need Bereans today. People who will search the scriptures daily. The Greek word for search is anakrino. It is a compound Greek word because the prefix ana means up and down or back and forth. Krino is a word that means to judge.

Putting it together, it is to judge up and down or back and forth. It means to scrutinize, investigate, interrogate, or examine what Paul was saying backwards and forwards and up and down to see whether what he was saying was true. With this in mind, are you a Berean? Do you search, scrutinize, and investigate the scriptures daily?

I remember during first service, I asked if people were Bereans. One lady was looking at me and said, "Mm-mm." At least she was honest. Some of you are trying to look super pious. You haven't picked up a Bible in a year. But search the scriptures daily, not once a week when you come here. Do your kids know you to be a Berean? Does your spouse know you to be a Berean?

Are you a Berean on your job? You know the manual. You know what the laws are. You know section 24-46 says you are not supposed to be doing that or you are in violation of section 42-37. Are you a Berean of your favorite team? You know stats. You know when they were drafted. You know their career average. You know their dog's name. You are a Berean when it comes to your favorite team.

For those of you in the military, you can't get promoted without knowing that manual, and you know your manual. But do you know Emmanuel? That is what it comes down to because we have some crazy little jingles and things in our mind that we remember. But when it comes to the scripture, we are not Bereans of the scripture. We can quote all the data and stats.

I can quote you stats, data, and numbers on my favorite players and all that sort of stuff, but you better believe it is not at the expense of me knowing Emmanuel. The question is, are you a Berean? Or are you a Thessalonian, who stirs up trouble and causes problems at church and on the job? Everywhere you go, at family reunions, they see you drive up and start to whisper, "Here comes trouble."

All of a sudden you come there and you can kick up some mess. You are such a messy person. That is what the unbelieving Jews were. They were Thessalonians who just kicked up all kind of mess. What was the result of Paul preaching in Berea? Look at verses 12 and 13. "Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds."

What an amazing distinction here, because in the previous cities, only a few Jews would believe the gospel message. But in Berea, according to verse 12, many of them believed. Many Greeks believed, prominent men and women as well. Just because a previous group of people didn't believe and ran you away doesn't mean that this will happen everywhere.

In Berea, the preaching of Paul was very fruitful. If you got ran from some job or somewhere, your season there might have been up. God has shipped you here, and now you are sharing your life and sharing the gospel. Now it is very fruitful. This is true in our lives as well when we are like the Bereans where we search the scriptures daily. The word of God will be fruitful in our lives.

The fruit of it would be that we would anticipate coming to church. It won't be a drag to come. It won't feel like an obligation or something you have to do. When you are a Berean, you can't wait to get here to see what else God is going to reveal to you from the word of God. It wouldn't be this spotty attendance.

When you're a Berean, you can't wait to be here. When you are a Berean, we need to give you a key to open up because you want to hear what God has to say to you today. When we are not like the Bereans, we will take on the characteristics of the Thessalonians and we will look to attack the messenger of God, like they were doing with Paul. We become messy and we gather crowds and we come against those trying to share with us what God has to say.

We become critical, judgmental, and mean-spirited. I know it is some of you in here. I am looking right around at you. That is how you are: critical and mean-spirited. You are a Thessalonian. You say you are a Berean, but the devil is a lie. You are a Thessalonian. A Berean is excited about the things of God and the word of God. You are eager to dig into it. That is the nature of a Berean.

In verse 13, we see that the unbelieving Jews from the city of Thessalonica heard about what was going on in Berea, came there, and stirred up the crowd. Look at verses 14 and 15. "Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away to go to the sea, but both Silas and Timothy remained there. So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens and, receiving a command from Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed."

We see in verse 14 that the brethren sent Paul away to the Aegean Sea. But Silas and Timothy remained back in Berea to instruct the new believers in their faith. Those who escorted Paul to Athens by ship stayed with him until he arrived in Athens. Then Paul told them in verse 15 to command Silas and Timothy to come with all speed as soon as possible.

I was thinking about this last verse. He wanted Paul and Silas to hurry up and come. The Lord showed me that even the great Apostle Paul needed companionship. We can't do this Christian life alone. There is no lone ranger stuff in the body of Christ and Christianity. A lone ranger Christian is a Christian that is an easy target for Satan.

We just came off of a holiday. For those of you who were back there with that grill, you know that when those coals are together, they can stay hot. If one of those little coals gets kicked off to the side, it is going to burn for a little bit, but then it is going to burn out because it needs to stay with the crowd in order to stay hot and stay on fire.

When you begin to isolate yourself and separate yourself and say, "I can do this thing on my own," you will burn for a little while, but you are going to burn out. Satan is going to pick you off and he is going to give you the one-two and you are going to be on the canvas. Simple as that. Paul needed companionship. He needed them. We need each other. We can't live especially in this hostile world we are living in alone.

I never dreamed that I would see my country in this condition spiritually. Not in my lifetime. I used to say my grandkids would live in this condition, but it is here now. I am looking at the turn of events and it was fast. He needed that companionship and we need each other. Don't try to do this Christian life by yourself. You can't make it. You can't last. The great Apostle Paul wanted Silas and Timothy to hurry up and make their way there.

We saw what will happen when we are driven by envy. We stir up crowds and travel great distances to stir up trouble. Remember Berea was 45 miles from Thessalonica and they traveled this far to stir up trouble and kick up some mess. Don't be a troublemaker like the Thessalonians, but instead be a Berean who searches the scriptures daily to see all that God has to say to you.

When you are a Berean and you are searching the scriptures daily, you won't have time for mess. You are too busy searching the scriptures. You won't have time to be involved in people's messy mess. People are messy today. I can see them coming a mile away. May God help us to be Bereans today who search the scriptures daily.

Father, thank you so much for Your word. We are so grateful for Your lovingkindness and tender mercies towards us. Thank you for gracing us with Your presence. Thank you for gracing us with Your word. Lord, I pray now if there is anyone here who has not repented of their sin and believed that You died on the cross and was buried and rose again, I pray if there is anyone here that has not done that.

You said if they confess with their mouth and believe in their heart that God raised You from the dead, they shall be saved. God, I pray that You would save souls through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Christ crucified for our sin. Lord, I pray, draw people to You today. Lord, I just pray that if we have been Thessalonians and been messy, we will repent of our sin for Your name's sake and for Your glory, in Jesus' name, amen.