Have you ever noticed how people are affected in different ways by different experiences? Some people love to go to social gatherings; others are exhausted by them. Some people are enthralled with baseball games; others wonder why no one is breaking a sweat except the pitcher. Some people love to read; others fall asleep as soon as they even look at a book. Some people love college football; others don’t even know that it’s football season. Some people love Chick-fil-a; others are wrong.
People have different reactions to certain experiences, don’t they?
Well, in today’s passage, Paul and his missionary companions are traveling through Thessalonica. We’ll learn that the people there in Thessalonica reacted in various ways to the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In fact, in this passage, some reacted by saying that Paul and his companions had “turned the world upside down.” We’ll see what happened.
I’ve entitled this sermon, “Thessalonica Turned Upside Down.” Let’s go to the Lord in prayer, then see how He speaks to us through this sermon.
(prayer)
So, let’s look at the passage.
Look at Acts 17:1–9:
1 After they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As usual, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” 4 Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.
5 But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. 6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, 7 and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king—Jesus.” 8 The crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset. 9 After taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.
Before we get too far into the sermon, let’s go to our map.
You may recall that last time we were in Acts, the missionaries were in Philippi. Then, we see in verse 1 of our passage today that they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, then land in Thessalonica.
Thessalonica is where this entire story will take place today.
So that’s the setting for this passage. Now, let’s look at three different reactions people may have in response to hearing the gospel.
First, . . .
I. Some people will be persuaded by the gospel.
Verse 2 shows a pattern that we’ve seen the last several times that we’ve been in the Book of Acts. It’s a pattern for how the missionaries generally work in a town.
Verse 2 says, “As usual, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures.”
This is the methodology of the missionaries. If possible, find a synagogue preach to the Jews, and then preach to any others who will listen.
We see that they did that; they preached to the Jews, and then they preached to any others who would listen.
Verse 4 indicates that some of these other people who listened included a large number of Greeks (that is Gentiles, or non-Jewish people) as well as the leading women of the city.
Verse 3 gives us the content of Paul’s message. Paul’s message was the gospel (or the good news) of Jesus Christ.
Verse 3 says that Paul was “ . . . . explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead.”
Paul said to them, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.”
Church, this is the gospel message. This is the good news: That Jesus is the Messiah; the Christ; the Anointed One.
Paul said that it was “ . . . necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead.”
It was necessary for Him to suffer so that we could escape suffering, and it was necessary for Him to rise from the dead so that we also could experience new life as He did.
Brothers and sisters, we must hold this message dear, and we must proclaim this message freely.
When we do, as Paul and the other missionaries experienced, some hearers will be persuaded.
Verse 4 says, “Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas.”
As some people hear the gospel, the Holy Spirit of God will open their blind eyes, soften their hard hearts, and draw them to Himself, as He did for all of us in this room who are persuaded that Jesus is the Messiah.
Some people will be persuaded by the gospel.
Next, . . .
II. Some people will be provoked by the gospel.
We see a pattern not only throughout the Book of Acts, but really throughout the history of Christianity: When the gospel is proclaimed, there will be some who oppose it.
Jesus was opposed, Peter was opposed, John was opposed, Paul was opposed, the early Church was opposed, and the modern Church is opposed.
Some people simply do not like the gospel of Jesus Christ; in fact, some are actually provoked to anger or jealousy when they hear the gospel message.
Look at what happened here in verse 5. It says, “But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city.”
I mean, this is crazy, isn’t it?
Some of the Jewish people in Thessalonica (likely Jewish leaders) joined forces with wicked men (not righteous men, by the way, but wicked men), then they formed a mob and started a riot.
Why did they do all of this? Because the missionaries were preaching the gospel and some people were becoming followers of Jesus.
Church, you must understand that there are some people who are unreasonably opposed to the gospel.
There are some people who will not only disagree with the gospel message, but they will be downright hostile towards it.
There are some who will be jealous, angry, fearful, enraged, and antagonistic because of the message that Jesus Christ can save sinners.
Some of you have witnessed this reality before; I have as well.
I remember talking to man about the gospel. He worked at one of the many jobs I worked when was in seminary. He asked me a straightforward question about whether or not Jewish people needed to come to heaven through Jesus. I answered him honestly and clearly. I told him that the Bible teaches that Jesus is the Messiah for all people, Jews and non-Jews, and that they must come to God through Jesus. After that, he said that he didn’t want to hear another thing from me about it. He was closed to anything I had to say. The very mention of eternal salvation being found in Jesus alone provoked that man.
It also provoked these men in this passage.
Well, what happened after these men were provoked? That takes us to our final point:
III. Some people will be persecuted for the gospel.
Notice what starts to happen in verse 5: When the mob went to look for the missionaries, they started attacking Jason’s house.
Now, we don’t know a lot about Jason, but apparently he lived in Thessalonica and apparently he was a follower of Jesus who was helping the missionaries.
As a result of following Jesus, he had his home attacked.
It appears that Paul and the others were not there at Jason’s house.
However, the rioters didn’t simply leave once they were unable to find Paul.
Notice what happened instead. Look at verses 6 and 7, “When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, and Jason has welcomed them.”
First of all, notice that the rioters were making some general accusations against the missionaries.
Second, notice that they are saying that these men were turning the world upside down.
By the way, that’s true. The gospel does turn the world upside down.
The gospel of Jesus Christ changes everything!
However, these men were so provoked to anger and jealousy that they wanted to do whatever they could to bring harm against the missionaries.
The crowd that was present and the city officials heard enough to be upset, so they arrested Jason and some others in order to persuade Paul and the missionaries not to continue to preach the gospel in Thessalonica.
Finally, it seems that the city officials took some money from Jason and the others that they would lose if Paul and the missionaries returned to preach again.
There’s evidence that Paul did not come back to Thessalonica, probably because of this incident.
In fact, in 1 Thessalonians, which is a letter to the Thessalonians, Paul says in chapter 2, verse 18, “So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us.”
It seems that Paul saw this for what it was: an act of evil meant to prevent the work of God through the missionaries.
Indeed, this event would prevent Paul and the missionaries from continuing their work in Thessalonica at that time, but it would not stop altogether. The work of God would continue through them and through the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ for generations to come.
Despite persecution, the Church would still have the Holy Spirit, the Church would still be filled with power, and the Church would still be witnesses for Jesus Christ!
One of the ways that the gospel affects people is that some will be persecuted.
Let this bottom line summarize what we are learning today:
Bottom Line: The gospel of Jesus Christ affects people in many different ways.
Some people are persuaded by the gospel. Some people are provoked by the gospel. Some people are persecuted for the gospel.
We never know how God may work through the gospel. We never know how people will respond to the gospel.
We can’t control that, can we?
Here are two important truths we must remember about that:
(1) We should remember that people will respond differently.
(2) We should ask God to do His work in the hearts of people. We are not in control, but He is.
Challenge yourself this week in these two ways:
Weekly Challenge #1 – Seek to prove, proclaim, and persuade.
In verse 3, it says that Paul was “ . . . proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead.”
Also, in verse 3, Paul says, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you.”
Then, in verse 4, it says, “Some of them were persuaded.”
Church, as Paul sought to do, we must as seek to prove, proclaim, and persuade. Then, we are to trust God with the results.
We cannot control how people will respond, but we can control whether or not we will obey.
Weekly Challenge #2 – Pray for the persecuted.
To be persecuted means that you’re harmed because of your beliefs.
Did you know that there are many Christians who are persecuted for their faith today?
Some lose family and friends relationships. Some lose job opportunities. Some lose their homes. Some lose their freedom by facing imprisonment. Some even lose their lives.
Persecution is a very real part of our world today.
Learn more about persecution by visiting the Voice of the Martyrs website, which is simply persecution.com.
Pray for our brothers and sisters who are facing persecution.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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