The Second Missionary Journey - Paul Preaching in Berea

Alright let's take our Bible. Let's turn to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17, many of you know where we are in our study, so you know that we are in verses 10 to 15. And even though we've been in and out a little bit through our summer, we are moving along in what we know as Paul's second missionary journey. Of course we know that Paul, the Apostle Paul, was not alone. He had a ministry team. He had a missions team. Before his second missionary journey began in Antioch, the first missionary team of Paul and Barnabas split up. We know that story. Barnabas went one way with John Mark and Paul took Silas and he went another.

And we know that Paul's ministry team grew. In Derby, Paul and Silas picked up young Timothy as a minister in training, a ministry assistant, and we know that Dr. Luke was with him at times. He was with him in Philippi but not in Thessalonica. It is evident that he stayed behind in Philippi, no doubt to teach those new believers and help that newborn church there. And we will see that Timothy and Silas stayed in Berea when their ministry was done in Berea while Paul went on to Athens by himself.

But the last time we were here in Acts, which was the end of June, we examined the missions team as they went from Philippi to the southwest and into Thessalonica. That message was titled Paul's preaching in Thessalonica. Rather simple. But I got the title of the message from the verses. Listen to verse 2 to 3. And Paul went in. We know that speaks of the synagogue and as was his custom.

And on three days, or three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead and saying, "This Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ." Of course we saw the reaction that they received by God's grace. They did have some great gospel success. Luke tells us that Jews, devout Greeks, that would have been Greeks who were proselytes to Judaism and a certain leading number of women of the city were among those who believed. And the church was born. But not all in the city were pleased.

Just like so many times before and so many times to come, persecution broke out against them to the point where the brothers had to literally smuggle Paul and Silas out of Thessalonica at night. We see that in verse 10. Now I said this before, but the Bible notes or references more than 1,400 cities and more than 25 ministries in those cities. And that is what we're seeing in these missionary journeys. City after city, city after city. Many times where we struggle to pronounce the names of these cities, I understand. But we see ministries in those cities. And here we find Paul and the team moving from Thessalonica to Berea.

Now at the time here, Berea was a prosperous city in Macedonia located about 50 miles southwest of Thessalonica on the base of some mountains there in the region. And unlike the big and busy commercial center of Thessalonica, Berea was a quieter city known for its fertile farm land and abundant springs. John MacArthur notes that Berea had a less politically charged atmosphere which made the city really a temporary refuge for Paul and Silas after the persecution of Thessalonica. And we will see where this less politically charged atmosphere comes into play. And we will see that that temporary refuge didn't last long, didn't last long.

And even though Berea was smaller and less influential than Thessalonica, Berea did become an important center to spread the gospel in the work of the church. Now let's read our verses and then I will share with us as I always do how we will approach the message. Verse 10, "The brothers." This would be the brothers in Thessalonica. "The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Many of them therefore believed with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the Word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way by the sea, but Silas and Timothy, they remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed." Now let me explain how we'll approach the verses, approach the message. First of all I want us to see their move.

That's in verse 10. It'll be rather short. Second, I want us to see the comparison. Here in verse 11 we see that Luke gives us a comparison between the Jews, the people of Thessalonica, and the Jews, the people of Berea. Third, we'll see the results of the ministry in verses 12 to 13. This would be the result of their gospel work. That's obvious. And then last, the ramifications of verses 14 to 15. We see it. It's obvious. It's the same old thing. The same old thing. Persecution. But before we get into the message now, I want to go ahead and tell you something. For years, y'all do know my 15 year anniversary is right here on us.

I think it's in September. But all of the years I've been here in the life of our church, I have taught you to be Berean. You may not realize it, but you will tonight. I'll come back around to that. I have taught you to be like these Bereans. So number one, the move, verse 10. This would be the move from Thessalonica to Berea. Now, we've really already covered this, but I want to point out one thing. And it is the same thing we have seen, and we will continue to see. Luke tells us that the first thing they did in their ministry in Berea was they went to the synagogue.

We saw this when they went to Thessalonica, but by going to the synagogue, they would have had a captive audience of both Jews and Gentiles. That would be Gentiles who were proselytes or converts to Judaism. So from a spiritual and practical standpoint, this really made sense. Jews and Gentiles were there seeking to worship the God of the Old Testament. They had and they believed the Old Testament scriptures, and it was custom for any visiting rabbi or teacher to be given the opportunity and the time to address those worshiping.

It is not a stretch to say that when Paul and the team walked in, and the leaders of the synagogue came to know that Paul was Jewish and a rabbi, and also he had been a Pharisee, they handed him the Old Testament scrolls and they asked him to address the congregation. I said this before. Some of you understand the illustration. It really was like fishing in a bathtub. Everybody was captive there in the synagogue. And look folks, I said this back when we studied the Thessalonica situation. They started off in the synagogue, which was the best point of contact to evangelize the lost and the plant of church.

Now back when I was studying those verses to teach that passage, I'm telling you that phrase "point of contact" really burdened me. I thought about that a lot. That was their best point of contact, and the lesson here for us is the same. We all have people who are our best points of contact. We do. We have family right near us, family bias, family that we're close to that are lost and need Christ. They are our close contacts. We have co-workers, neighbors, people in our community, people we run into all the time at Walmart, at the feed store, the hardware store, the bank, at school. We have people who are our points of contact.

And my question, same question I asked when we studied the church at Thessalonica. How should we react to them? We don't have to look very far to see the people the Lord has on our contact list to pray for and witness to. Next number two, the comparison. Verse 11, the comparison. Here Luke gives us an obvious comparison between the Jews of Thessalonica and the Jews of Berea. And I want us to see that Luke shows us two things about these Berean Jews. First, who they were and second, what they did. And we will see that what they did was directly connected to who they were. Another way of saying it is like this.

How they reacted to Paul, the gospel team, the gospel preaching was determined by who they were. It'll make sense when we unfold it. First, let's look at who they were. Now we see this in the first part of verse 11. Look at your copy of God's Word, the beginning of verse 11. Luke says now these Jews, the Jews of Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica. The Legacy Standard Bible, the New American, it says that these Berean Jews were more noble-minded. The Amplified says they were more noble and open-minded. And all of those translations are correct. This word translated noble or noble-minded, it means well-born or of a noble family.

And in their day and culture, it was used to describe someone who came from a high ranking or even a noble family. But here Luke was not speaking of blood, birth, or family line. He was speaking of a nobility of the heart, a nobility of the mind, and of the character. Here in this situation to be noble-minded meant that one was of a generous spirit with a good and with good and honorable intentions. They were morally good and open to truth and truthfulness. And we will see that the Bereans were noble. They were noble-minded. We could say noble-hearted, not because of birth, not because of blood, but because of who they were.

And who they were was proven by what they did when they heard the truth of God's Word and the gospel from the missions team, especially Paul. And look church, there is a lesson here. And one we will see as we continue. Who you are is revealed by what you do. It always is. Who you are is really revealed by what you do, how you respond to life and circumstances. And that can be applied to every area of life. And in this case here now, they, these Berean Jews, those in the Berean synagogue, they were responding to Paul as a preacher.

They were responding to the truth of God's Word, and they were especially responding to the gospel in this situation because Paul was preaching the gospel. So Luke is clearly and plainly telling us that the Bereans were of noble character while the Thessalonians were not. The Bereans were noble-minded. They were open-minded. They were good-hearted, we could put it like that in our language, to goodness and to truth. But the Thessalonians were not. And look church, we have both types of people around us today. There's really nothing new under the sun, church.

We know some who were more noble-minded, noble-hearted, open to goodness, open to truth, while some are not. We know some who are the opposite of these Bereans. And like the Thessalonians, they reject and they revile goodness, truth, and especially the gospel. And look folks, you may have some on your contact list who are more like the Thessalonians. They are more like the Thessalonians. Second, let's look at what they did, how they responded. Look back at verse 11. Verse 11. "Now these Jews were more noble or noble-minded than those in Thessalonica.

They received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so, these things referring to Paul's preaching." Here we can easily see what they did by how they responded. We see this in two words in the verse. "Received and examined." Really the English translation says examining. "Received and examined are examining." So first they received what they heard. And the meaning or what they did here is really clear and simple. The Bereans listened to Paul's preaching. They were respectful and attentive to Paul and his teaching.

They were open-minded to what they were hearing as Paul opened up the Old Testament Scriptures. He proclaimed Christ as the promised Messiah and the gospel to them. They did not refuse Paul. They didn't reject Paul. They didn't refuse and reject the missions team. And they did not refuse and reject what they were preaching, as did so many of the Jews in Thessalonica. But notice this. This does not mean they were simple-minded. This doesn't mean they were naive and easily influenced by any wind of teaching that may come along. Actually it means quite the opposite. And we'll see that as we continue. And second, they examined what they heard.

And the meaning or what they did here is clear and simple as well. They examined what they heard. Notice up against the Old Testament Scriptures. But this was no casual or flippant examination. This examining the Scriptures, it means to investigate. It meant to examine and to come to a good judgment. And in their day this was used in legal or judicial circumstances and investigations. And we see this examining in other places in the Scriptures. I mentioned three. Herod examined Jesus in Luke 23 14 to 15. The Sanhedrin examined Peter and John in Acts 4 9. And Felix examined Paul in Acts 24 verse 8. And those were no casual examinations.

But look at how they received what they heard, the Bereans. And how they examined those things up against the Old Testament Scripture. Luke says they received Paul's teaching eagerly. And that they examine what they heard daily. So this was no casual receiving. This was no one-time examination. I like what Warren Wiersby says here. And I'm quoting him. Paul went into the synagogue and there discovered a group of people keenly interested in the study of the Old Testament Scriptures. I like that. Keenly interested in the study of the Old Testament Scriptures.

He continues, "In fact they met daily to search the Scriptures to determine whether or not what Paul was saying was true." So here we see the comparison between many of the Jews of Thessalonica and the Jews of Berea. Paul and the missions team found a group of Jews in Berea who were genuinely and eagerly interested to hear the preaching and the teaching of the Scriptures. And they were genuine and eager in their daily search of the Scriptures looking for truth and what they were being taught. But the opposite was true of so many of the Jews of Thessalonica.

But before we move on to how we should apply what we see here, there is one thing that one commentator pointed out that may help us understand why the Bereans were of noble character. Think about it. Why were the Bereans noble-minded in character but not the Thessalonians? Thessalonians. One commentator pointed out that the Bereans judge Paul's preaching on the basis of Scripture. They did not judge Paul's preaching on the basis of any political or cultural implications or ramifications. Let me restate that. One commentator pointed out that the Bereans judge Paul's preaching and teaching on the basis of Scripture.

They did not judge Paul's preaching and teaching on the basis of any political or cultural implications or ramifications. And MacArthur pointed out that Berea was not a politically charged people or environment. So we can kind of deduce that culture, their environment, may have played a role here. I don't think that's a stretch. But notice how that applies to us. A few questions here, rhetorical. Do you, do we judge the teaching and the preaching we receive up against a daily even rigorous study of the Scripture? And let that judgment determine what we do. Let me restate that.

Do we judge the teaching and the preaching that we receive up against a daily even rigorous study of the Scripture? And then let that judgment determine what we do. Do we judge the teaching and the preaching we receive up against what our family would say? Up against what our friends would say? Up against what our co-workers will say? And let that judgment determine what we do. Oh, that needs to be repeated. Repeat it. Do we judge the teaching and the preaching we receive up against what our family would say? Our friends would say? Our co-workers would say? And let judgment determine what we do.

Folks, how many proclaiming Christians and so-called churches allow culture and politics determine how they react to the Bible? See? Now at this point I want to learn a few lessons here from these noble, noble minded Bereans. First, we should be eagerly receiving the preaching and the teaching of God's Word. They received it eagerly now. Second, we should be examining what we hear up against God's Word. We have Old Testament and New Testament. We have multiple translations to help us. We have Bible study aids. I mean we have at our fingertips quite a lot to help us here. Look, we should be doing this third daily, you see?

So we should be receiving eagerly. We should be examining what we receive up against God's Word and we should be doing it daily. In other words, whenever we need to. And notice what this shows us. This is a great, great lesson for us folks. The Bereans were doing this so as not to fall into error. You see that? Remember they weren't naive. They were doing this the Bereans. Oh, as not to fall into error, but the rejecting and the reviling Thessalonians, they went had long into error. Isn't that right? And notice they had the same copy of the Old Testament. And the lesson here is this. I'm quoting Albert Barnes here.

He says, "The constant searching of the scriptures is the best way to keep the mind from error." Y'all know me. I love to take someone's comments and elaborate on them. Notice this. The constant searching of the scriptures is the best way we can keep our sales from error, our family from error, our church from error. See? Now one more thing here, church. You have no excuse. We have no excuse. We are not perfect at this. No. Sometimes I think we do a pretty good job. Sometimes I think we do a real good job, but I know we're faithful. We give you a balanced, faithful diet of teaching.

Notice that Hebrews is deeply theological about the supremacy of Christ. Of course we moved into the practical portion of the book, but notice the book of Acts is a different genre of Scripture. We're studying the birth and the development of the church, the great actions of the Holy Spirit of God. And then we have a good diet in small group ministry. So you have no excuse. I made this comment Sunday morning. I have grown spiritually in very weak churches before. There's no excuse for us.

And if we eagerly take what we are taught here at Grace Life and we study these things daily up against the Scriptures in our own time, regularly, even daily, we will grow. We will. Now let's move on to the results and the ramifications, and this will be a good bit shorter here. Really this is fairly obvious. So next number three, the results. The results. Verse 12 and 13. "Many of them, therefore believed," this would be savingly believing, "with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the Word of God proclaimed by Paul at Berea, also they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds." Agitating and stirring up the crowds. Now here we have the results of Paul's preaching in the synagogue there in Berea. No doubt the others were helping as well. And notice we have two results. First it's obvious some believed. Luke actually tells us many believed. We have Jews and we have Greek men and women of high standing. Now right here I have two questions I want to answer. Did these Jews and Greeks savingly believe because of Paul's gospel preaching? I'll repeat that.

Did these Jews and Greeks savingly believe because of Paul's gospel preaching? Or did they savingly believe because they searched the scriptures eagerly and daily? Did they savingly believe because they eagerly daily searched the scriptures? Well the answer is yes. It was both. God the Holy Spirit used Paul's gospel preaching and their diligent study of the scriptures to birth them into the kingdom. You see? Now I love something that Albert Barnes says here as well and this applies to us. He says and I'm quoting, "The result will commonly follow when people search the scriptures.

Much is gained when people can be induced to examine the Bible." And get this church. These were lost people examining the scripture and God used it to birth them into the kingdom. And this is the lesson for us folks. If someone is lost we should work to get them to study the scripture. We should and we should work to get them under gospel preaching. If we can get a lost person to study the scripture, buy them a Bible, get them a study aid, give them everything they need. If we can get them to study the Bible and to be in a pew under gospel preaching, God will use it.

And if you know you are lost, besides being under gospel preaching, study the scripture. If you're here and you suspect that you are lost, if you know someone in our church and you suspect they believe they're lost, ask them. Are they studying the scripture? Are they studying the scripture? Studying the scripture? Remember now these Bereans were lost studying the scripture, examining it up against what Paul was preaching and God used it to birth them into the kingdom. So many believe. Church was born. Second, some of the Jews from Thessalonica came and started up the people. They started up trouble.

Now I'll be short here because it is real simple. We've seen this before. Somehow, some way those rejecting and reviling Jews from Thessalonica heard what was going on in Berea. So they traveled to Berea and they stirred up, agitated, excited others against Paul, the missions team, and those brand new believers. I like what Warren Wearsby says here. He says Satan has his missionaries too. Let that sink in. Satan has his missionaries too and they are always busy as well. And what that tells us is this. God had his missionary team in Berea and Satan did too. So here we see the results of this evangelistic gospel ministry in Berea.

Great gospel success. Many Jews, many Greeks believed a church was born and Satan, he raised up his own missionaries to persecute the work. And look folks, the lesson right here is simple. Anywhere and anytime God is working, Satan is too. It's always been the case. It has always been the case since the Garden of Eden, even since heaven itself. Before time in human history, think about it. In heaven, in eternity, before time in human history, Satan rose up and rebelled against God. It happened in the Garden. It always goes on where God's working, Satan is too. Last, the ramifications. Verse 14 to 15. Let's look at those verses.

"Then the brothers," that would be the new believers in Berea, "immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea. But Silas and Timothy remain there, there in Berea. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens. And after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed." In other words, the brothers went back home. They went back home. So here we see the ramifications of it all. It's the same thing we've seen before. The new believers in Berea outsmarted the missionaries, Satan's missionaries that is, and they sent Paul off.

And notice though what we see here, the missions team divided their missions team for further and more effective ministry. Paul went on to Athens and we know that he went to evangelize there. We'll get there. But Silas and Timothy stayed behind. And the text doesn't say it, but we know they stayed there to continue to minister to these brand-new believers in the church. We see this going back and forth, leaving people all through these missionary journeys. Now, a couple of questions I want us to ponder here. I've said stuff like this before.

If God used us to plant or to help revitalize a church, would we be willing to send some of our very best to help the work? Paul left Silas, his ministry assistant, and Timothy, his young and up-and-coming ministry assistant, he left them behind. If God used us to plant a church or even to help revitalize the church, would we be willing to send out some of our very best? And another question, if God opened up a door in a distant place in the States, even in a foreign land, would we be willing to send some of our best to help in the work? Sometimes that could be a temporary sending and sometimes that could be a permanent sending.

So here we see the ramifications of the gospel work in Berea. The ramifications were what, the ramifications were very positive until Paul was run out of town. That temporary reprieve that MacArthur spoke about didn't last long. Now, I want to begin to close by showing us something, something short and giving us some short practical, very important instructions here. First of all, what I want to show you, I mentioned this earlier, I've taught you to be Berean for years. I have taught you as individuals, family, in a church to be Berean for years.

I preach and I teach God's Word, others preach and teach God's Word in the life of our church, and I am constantly calling you to take notes. I'm constantly calling you to pray over what you've heard. I'm constantly saying you go study what you've been taught on your own. I call you to study your Bibles, to take our small group material, what you get on Wednesdays and Sundays, and I say go study it, go study it, go study it. That's what the Bereans did. So I've been calling you to be Berean for years. They're not here tonight. They have some little ones that are sick, but I don't think they'll mind if I share it.

I mean, you know that Jared and Megan moved from the Jackson area to be a part of our church. We go way back with Jared and Megan. Jared was in my youth ministry years and years ago. I knew him when he was 16. He was just as tall, but when they were preparing to move, I remember Megan would be listening to some of the preaching and teaching here, listening to some of our sermons, and Jared said one day she would listen and pause it and say, "He tells everybody to take notes," and Jared says, "He does that all the time.

He's done it for years." She would listen and pause and say, "He tells everybody to take the sermon and go study it at home." Jared would say, "He's been saying stuff like that for years." She picked up on what we see here. I was calling the church. I call you to be Berean. Now a few short practical but very important points of instruction here. What does it mean not to be Berean? Think about that. You need this more than you know. What does it mean not to be Berean? Being Berean is not being a skeptic all the time. Being Berean is not being suspicious all the time. It is not being a cynic. It is not always scrutinizing others.

Being Berean is not being the never-trustful one. I've heard people say stuff like this, "Well, you know, I have the gift of discernment and I am called of God to be skeptical and suspicious so that I can scrutinize others in their teaching to know if they are of God." Look folks, I've been around a little while and in my experience 99% of the time, if not a hundred percent of the time, that person that I just described is arrogant, prideful, they're a know-it-all, they're not teachable, and they usually have sinful and selfish motives. The Bereans were Berean and they were open-minded to truth in anyone speaking the truth.

They were not open-minded to just anything or anyone. That would be dumb and dangerous. They were open-minded to scriptural truth and open-minded to the one sharing truth and they were close-minded anyone and anything contrary to truth. Again, when someone says they are being Berean and they are being skeptical all the time, they're always suspicious, they have this cynical attitude, this cynical approach, they're always scrutinizing everyone and scrutinizing the one preaching. That's not Berean. That's the person that's prideful, not humble.

That's the person that's a know-it-all and not teachable and usually their motives and the end goals they have in mind are sinful. And look church, when the skeptical know-it-all comes along, when the one comes along and they're always wanting to scrutinize the pastor, always wanting to examine and scrutinize the preaching, it usually takes time but in time their motives and their end goal or goals will be revealed. And look church, look how fortunate you are here. This is all by God's grace. We have three elders who know scripture, no doctrine.

They're scripturally, they understand scripturally accurate and healthy preaching and teaching and it doesn't mean they know it all but they have the ability that if something comes along, they're not sure of, they know how to go study it and find it out. And if I preach something wrong or if I brought someone in the life of our church who preached something wrong, they would come straight to me to sort it out. And there are other men in our church who would do the same thing.

Now it doesn't mean they would come huffing and puffing but they would come and say, "Pastor, what did you mean by that?" As a matter of fact, you don't realize it but there are times when I cover a topic or a doctrine or a word or something that is debatable, there are men that'll come up and say, "Well, you know, Pastor Spurgeon believed this and R.C.

Sproul believed this and John MacArthur believes this and I see the different attitudes, the different approaches." They'll come up, they're examining, they're thinking, "That's healthy, that's good." So what I mean is this, we are fortunate, we have elders and we have men who know how to be Berean. Now let me finish up with the title of the message. This is all about the second missionary journey, Paul preaching in Berea, but I kind of want to give it another title. This is the call to be Berean. Many of you are, you may not have realized it, but let's just keep on being burying and let's be better at being burying.