WWUTT 2666 Turning the World Upside Down (Acts 17:1-9)

The Gospel That Turns the World Upside Down

Paul and Silas came into Thessalonica, turning the world upside down, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And for every one of us who have believed in the gospel, our world has been turned upside down as well, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we come now to chapter 17. A lot of big things happen in chapter 17. We start by reading about Paul and Silas sharing the gospel in Thessalonica. I'll start by reading in verse 1 to verse 9, hear the word of the Lord.

Paul and Silas Preach Christ in Thessalonica

Now, when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul's custom, he went to them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and setting before them that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, this Jesus, whom I am proclaiming to you, is that Christ.

And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas along with a great multitude of the God fearing Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews becoming jealous, taking along some wicked men from the marketplace and forming a mob set the city in an uproar and attacking the house of Jason.

They were seeking to bring them out to the assembly. And when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities shouting, these men who have upset the world have come here also.

And Jason has welcomed them. And they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another King Jesus. And they disturbed the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. And when they had received the bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

Acts 17 and the Expansion of the Gospel

Now this is how Acts 17 begins. We go from here to read about Paul and Silas in Berea. That's another famous section of Acts 17. If you've ever passed by a church, that's like Berean Bible church. It's named after these Bereans who search the scriptures to test and see what Paul and Silas were preaching about really came from God.

And then after that, we read about Paul and Silas in Athens and we have that famous sermon from Paul at the Areopagus in the latter portion of Acts 17. I'm going to dedicate the lessons that we get to next week to that sermon, but we will at least get to Paul and Silas in Athens in the lessons that we will be doing this week.

The Thessalonian Church and Its Persecution

So today we're looking primarily at Paul and Silas in Thessalonica. Earlier this year, I was teaching at a Christian school until things got so busy for me at the church that I couldn't continue doing that.

I was doing that for a couple of years. But the lessons that I took the kids through in the early part of this year, so the spring semester of 26, we were studying through 1 Thessalonians and I began that series by taking them to this account in Acts 17 so they could see how this all began with Paul coming to Thessalonica, preaching the gospel there and a church being planted.

Many of the things that Paul will talk with the Thessalonians about in that letter that he mails to them is the persecution that Christians are enduring throughout the world, even the Thessalonians themselves.

So we see that persecution come upon Paul and Silas here. And yet these Thessalonian Christians endure, even though they are brand new to the faith, having just heard the gospel, yet they hold fast to Christ, even in the midst of the antagonism that comes against them for believing that Jesus is the Christ as Paul preached to them.

Thessalonica on Paul's Missionary Route

So starting off here in this chapter with Paul and Silas traveling through Amphipolis and Apollonia, and then they come to Thessalonica. Now in a lot of your Bible maps that you look at, if you look in the back of your Bible and you got those maps, one of those maps will undoubtedly be a, it will show you Paul's missionary journeys, and you'll have four different colored arrows that will represent the first, second, third, and fourth missionary journeys.

When you look at that map, you probably are not going to see Amphipolis and Apollonia on there. It probably just shows you the major stops that Paul made, like Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, that's in Macedonia.

So Paul and Silas are still in Macedonia. And then going down into Achaia, Paul would go to Athens and Corinth. But these locations that are mentioned here at the start of chapter 17, this was still along the Aegean Sea in Macedonia, as I mentioned.

They would have gone from Philippi into Amphipolis, and then down a little bit into kind of this peninsula area where you would find Apollonia, and then up to Thessalonica. Now this is a major city in Macedonia and one of the most prosperous cities in Macedonia.

Thessalonica's Greek and Roman Setting

If you'll recall, later on when Demas abandoned Paul while Paul was in prison, Paul said that he went back to Thessalonica because he was too in love with this world. So he ran back to the comforts and wealth that Thessalonica gave to many of its citizens, many of the people that lived there.

This was a large, it was a major city. Of course, it was also a very pagan city. It was not as Roman-influenced as Philippi. Philippi, this would have been a lot more Greek, more Greek-influenced in Thessalonica.

The name of the city is after Alexander the Great's half-sister, Thessaloniki would have been her name. Remember that Philippi was named after Alexander the Great's father, King Philip, and then Thessalonica named after his half-sister.

So you see the Greek influence here. Though Philippi was mentioned as a Roman city, it had a lot more Roman influence than Greek, at least at this time. The Romans conquered the Greeks. They filled this city with more Roman control.

Thessalonica would have been a lot more Greek. And we even have a mention of the Greeks there in this section that we're reading about. So according to Paul's custom, he went to them and for three Sabbaths, went to them meaning the synagogue of the Jews.

Paul Reasons from the Scriptures

So there was a synagogue in Thessalonica. That's mentioned to us in verse one. If you think back to what we were reading about Philippi and chapter 16, there was no synagogue there. Remember? Paul and Silas went to a place of prayer, which was by the river, but there is no mention of a synagogue.

Being that it was so influenced by Roman control, that could have been the reason why there was not a synagogue there. But Thessalonica being a more Greek city, and the Romans had not tried to force the Jews out, which had gone on during Emperor Claudius' reign, therefore the synagogue was able to remain there and apparently was thriving with the teaching of the Jews.

So Paul goes into the synagogue and for three Sabbaths, he reasoned with them from the scriptures. Now it's often said regarding Paul's time there in Thessalonica, that he was only there for three weeks.

Because of course, as we go on here, Paul and Silas are going to be persecuted and driven out of the city. So since we have a mention of three Sabbaths, and then Paul and Silas fleeing persecution, it's often assumed that they were only there for three weeks.

But that's only talking about Paul and Silas' time in the synagogue. They could have been teaching elsewhere after that. Doesn't mean that they were only there for three weeks. However, we do know that Paul and Silas were with them for a short time.

Paul’s Letters to the Thessalonians

And we're able to pick that up from the letter that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, because it's obvious that he was concerned about them and whether or not they were staying firm in the faith. So he sent Timothy to them, that Timothy could come back to Paul and Silas and report on how the church in Thessalonica was doing.

Plus, there were also some things Paul didn't have an opportunity to explain to them. We get that in both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. So he was there with them for a significant amount of time. It would have been longer than three weeks, but not as long as, like, say, for example, when he comes to Corinth, he'll be there for a year and a half, and he will be in Ephesus for longer than two years.

So there were cities that he was in for longer. Thessalonica was a short stay, but still deeply impactful with the things that he teaches to them. And of course, we've got these two great letters that come from Paul to this church, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.

The Suffering Messiah Promised in Scripture

So Paul is explaining to them as he's in the synagogue and he's teaching from the scriptures, he explains and sets before them that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead. Likely, Paul is preaching from Isaiah 53, which is the chapter about the suffering servant, talking about the Messiah and how he would suffer.

And of course, there are other passages that talk about Jesus or the Messiah, rather, being buried and risen again. When we read about the Christ, we're reading about the Messiah. Christ is the word for Messiah.

So as they are looking for their Messiah, they're looking for somebody who's going to be like David, somebody even like Solomon, who is going to sit on the throne and bring peace and prosperity. But Paul is saying to them, he's showing how Jesus is that Messiah, the one we are waiting for has already come and he has accomplished everything that the scripture said would happen to him, including that he would suffer and rise from the dead.

So Paul is showing from the scriptures that these things were prophesied about the Messiah, not the expectation that they had of their coming Messiah. But this is what the scriptures said about him. And so he is reasoning with them and saying, end of verse three, this Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is that Christ.

Christ the King and the Heavenly Kingdom

The Messiah we're waiting for has come. He is Jesus who died on the cross and rose again from the dead. And whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. And this is the kingdom that God is making through the spreading of the gospel in the world.

Many who are coming to faith in Jesus are part of this kingdom now that is expanding all throughout the Roman empire. Many more people are coming to faith, not just among the Jews, but even among the Gentiles, as is going to be stated here.

And you'll notice that when the mob is formed and comes against Paul and Silas, it is said of them that they are turning the world upside down. They are acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another King Jesus.

So they are proclaiming something that's even greater than the Roman empire. And as the gospel is going throughout the Roman empire, more people are coming to faith in Jesus. And this is the kingdom that God is growing through the gospel, not through a David-like King that sits on a throne in Jerusalem, but a King from the line of David that is sitting enthroned on high, fulfilling that Davidic promise.

These would have been among those things that Paul would have been teaching there in the synagogue. So the Davidic covenant is fulfilled in Christ, the one who is descended from David and the kingdom that he is building, not a kingdom on earth, but a heavenly kingdom.

And that heavenly kingdom is spreading on earth through each and every person that comes to believe that Jesus is the Christ. So some of them are persuaded by this as Paul is preaching this. Verse four, and they joined Paul and Silas along with a great multitude of the God-fearing Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

Gentiles Gathered as Christ’s Sheep

Now, given that they are described as God-fearing Greeks, this again would have been a group of Gentiles that were there in Thessalonica who already believed in the God of the Hebrews. They believed in Yahweh.

They did not believe in the false gods of the Greeks or even of the Romans, which were really the same gods with different names. They didn't believe in any of them. They believed in the true God. They were God-fearing Greeks.

And because they were God-fearing, they hear of the son of God and they believe in him, showing that they are among the sheep that Jesus said that he was going to gather to himself. In John chapter 10, he talks about being the good shepherd and saying, my sheep know my voice and they follow me.

They will not follow the voice of a stranger. And he says, I have other sheep who are not of this fold and I must call them also so that there will be one sheep and one shepherd. And he's talking about how the gospel is going to go out into the world and those who hear it and believe it will show themselves to be the sheep of God.

They will hear that call to repent and believe the gospel and they will follow it because they are among those sheep that were given by the father to the son. So many of these God-fearing Greeks come to hear the gospel and believe also.

Conversion from Idols to the Living God

Now that doesn't just mean that only God-fearing Greeks would end up coming to faith in Jesus. There were others who were pagans, just outright pagans, did believe in these false gods, even they through the power of the gospel would come to faith in Jesus Christ and believe.

It's just for the initial preaching of the gospel that's presented to us here in Paul and Silas's visit to the Thessalonians, the first among them who are persuaded and come to faith are the Jews, the Jews who believe in what Paul and Silas are saying and put faith in the Christ and God-fearing Greeks who put faith in Christ.

And it's also said here at the end of verse four, and not a few of the leading women. So there were some influential Greek women who likewise hear the gospel and believe. And the leading women were probably not among the God-fearing Greeks.

They may have been pagan women who now are believing in Jesus because Paul and Silas preached to them the gospel. But there would be more later on. There would be other Greeks later who would come to faith, turning from their false gods to the true God as proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Because as Paul will say to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 1 9, that you turn to God from idols to serve the living and the true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

So that testimony that's given there in 1 Thessalonians 1 shows us that there were those in Thessalonica who worshiped false gods and were convinced by the gospel of Jesus Christ to turn from their false gods to the true God in Christ.

Jealous Opposition and the Mob in Thessalonica

So then we go on verse five, but the Jews becoming jealous, taking along some wicked men from the marketplace and forming a mob, set the city in an uproar. So here you have an occasion where Jew and Gentile are teaming up.

Jews and Gentiles usually don't have anything to do with one another. They especially don't have anything to do with one another in the marketplace. Why is that significant? Because it was there in the marketplace where the Gentiles would be selling meat that was forbidden or the Jews would say was forbidden from them.

Yeah, forbidden from them, forbidden for them. They were forbidden to eat. They could not eat the meat that was being sold in Gentile marketplaces, so they would not go to the Gentile marketplaces. They would not be in proximity with them eating foods that the Jews did not eat and therefore making them unclean.

But on this occasion, the Jews are willing to overlook this uncleanliness here, the things that would ordinarily separate us. They're willing to overlook it so that we can team up together against these Christians.

That was even more repulsive to them than even pagan meat in the marketplace. So they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar and attacking the house of Jason. They were seeking to bring them out to the assembly.

Jason is the leader of the synagogue. So when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities and shouting, these men who have upset the world have come here also.

“Another King Jesus” Against Earthly Allegiance

And there's some translations that will say here, that will read, they have turned the world upside down. They have come here also. So it has been heard throughout other portions of the Roman Empire what Paul and Silas are doing, that they have come into places preaching the gospel and they're just messing things up.

They are turning our world upside down, not the entire globe necessarily. That's not what they mean by their words, but even cities beyond our city, they have been a menace in other places is what they're trying to say.

They've turned the world upside down. Our way of life is being disrupted by these men. And Jason has welcomed them and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another King Jesus so that the people will know that what is going on here is even contrary to the laws of Rome.

How can there be a Caesar that's greater than the ruler who has made our lives so pleasant and easy? And this is why it was, it was so easy for many of the Greeks and Romans to look at Caesar as a God, because our way of life has been so established is so good and easy.

And we're able to make such money and prosper and we're healthy and, and well, and all of this is because of Caesar. But what are these men saying? There's another King Jesus. And you know, even though the United States of America is often categorized as a Christian nation because of how abundant Christianity is here in this nation.

And of course the role that Christianity played in the founding of this nation, there are yet many people, even among professing Christians who think the same way about the president of the United States.

They may not call him a God. They may not even verbally say that he is some person that has a higher authority or influence than Christ, but they sure act like it. Whoever is our president is who's making our lives so good and so simple, and they will compromise all kinds of ethics and morality for the sake of this guy that they exalt to a place of believing he's, he's like a God who makes my life so good and so pleasant.

Citizens of Heaven Await the True King

But we need to understand that Jesus Christ is the one who has saved us and has promised us an eternal kingdom beyond whatever is going on in this world. What we are going to receive from Christ is even greater than anything we will receive in this world.

So do not cling so closely to the things that are of this world, even in a great nation that we live in, such as the United States can be a lot of evil here, but it is great that we're able to worship God without fear of our government persecuting us or shutting down our church.

Though this can be a great nation for us to live in, we must not think that this is heaven on earth. For we are seeking a kingdom greater than this, as said in Hebrews chapter 10, or remembering what Paul said in Philippians 3 .20, our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jason’s Release and the Gospel’s Advance

So going on, finishing up verses eight and nine, they disturbed the crowd, the mob disturbed the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. And when they had received the bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

So Jason ends up paying an amount of money for Paul and Silas to be overlooked. That way they could leave the city and be able to go on in safety. They were angry about Paul and Silas, but willing to take a bribe to let Paul and Silas go.

And then Paul and Silas are going to go from here into Berea, which is what we're going to read about tomorrow. But as we finish this up, looking at Paul and Silas in Thessalonica, the gospel that they preached was turning the world upside down.

The Gospel Requires Putting Sin to Death

It was upsetting even the Roman or Greek way of life. And indeed for every one of us, my friends, when we believe in the gospel of Christ, there will be things in our lives that will have to be sacrificed, that we will have to put away with or put to death.

As Paul says in Colossians 3, 5, put to death what is earthly in us. Some of those things that worldly people enjoy, we as Christians cannot enjoy those things with a good conscience if they are rejoicing in and celebrating sin.

As John MacArthur was known for saying, do not be entertained by those things for which Christ died. Don't be entertained by sins that Christ died to redeem us from. We must turn away from the sinful pleasures of this world and walk in holiness before our Savior.

Our worlds are turned upside down by the gospel of Jesus Christ. And let's continue to turn the world upside down when we go out with the gospel of Christ to others. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the goodness that you have shown us in Christ our Savior.

And may we continue to walk in those things that we are taught about in Christ and also continue to spread the message of the gospel to others who need to hear of Jesus so that they will believe in him, be forgiven their sins, and have everlasting life with God.

Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand the Text.