Acts 17:10-15 Noble, Eager, and Zealous
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 17:10, page 926 in the pew Bibles.
I’d like to play a little game with you as we begin. I want you all to take just a minute and think of at least one person who has contributed to your personal faith in Jesus, anybody who ever taught you anything about the Lord.
Would anybody like to share a name with the group? The only rule is you can’t name me!
Let me ask you one more question. When you think about that person and the things that they taught you, how do you know that they were right?
Let’s take a look at our text for this morning, Acts 17:10-15.
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 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. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. 13 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. 14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 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.
Let’s pray.
Paul and Silas had preached the gospel to the people of Thessalonica having left Luke and Timothy in Philippi. But after bringing many to saving faith in Christ the Jews who were jealous stirred up the rabble and formed a mob intent on coming after Paul and Silas.
Verse ten says that the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas to Berea by night. Berea is between forty and sixty miles west of Thessalonica. This would have been a two day trek on foot.
This is another great example of the Lord using what appears on its face to be a negative circumstance, but is actually the work of the Lord to bring the gospel to another city.
When Paul and Silas reached Berea they went right back to work and followed the same pattern, going into the Synagogue to reason with the Jews that met there. And the folks they met there were a very different sort than the ones they had dealt with in Thessalonica.
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 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.
I’m not sure if this is every preacher’s favorite Scripture but it ought to be!
What were the people in Berea like? They were noble, eager to learn, and zealous for the Scriptures.
The nobility of these folks didn’t have to do with their status or birthright but with their open-mindedness.
They were willing to listen and to learn. This is the kind of student any teacher would want, they were learners.
They received the Word with all eagerness, they desired to hear the Word of the Lord, they had an unconditional willingness to learn the Word of God. Again, model students!
But the third attribute of these willing students and eager learners was their zeal to study the Scripture to test the message of those preaching to them. They examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
They were open-mined enough to listen, willing and eager to learn, but they were wise and zealous enough to examine the Scripture to test the message of Paul and Silas.
This is exactly what the Scriptures are for! This is why I give you Scripture references when I share with you, so that you can look them up and see if what I am saying is accurate.
When you consider those who have taught you throughout your walk with the Lord, consider how you know what they said to you was accurate. How do you test their lessons? With Scripture!
“Money is the root of all evil.” Is that accurate? Nope, the Bible says, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evils.” 1 Timothy 6:10
“God helps those who help themselves.” Is that accurate? Nope, quite the opposite! This doesn’t appear in the Bible anywhere, and is in fact contrary to the teaching of reliance on the Lord. Instead, “Cast your cares on Him for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
“Cleanliness is next to godliness.” Nope, not in Scripture.
“This too shall pass.” Nope, not from the Bible.
The Bible, in its entirety, is our guide in the truth.
Jesus said in His prayer in John 17:14-17,
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
When you think about the Bereans and their desire to search the Scriptures to test the message, you have to remember that the messenger was not just some nobody from nowhere, this was the Apostle Paul! But even still, they didn’t blindly take his word for it, they searched the Scripture to see if his words were correct, to see if the message was accurate. True faith is not blind faith.
John Calvin wrote, “No doctrine, no teaching is worthy to be believed but that which we find to be grounded in the Scriptures.”
Jesus said in John 5:39 that it is the Scriptures that testify about Him.
JP Lange wrote, “True faith does not dispense with reason, evidence, and argument. It is, on the contrary, praise worthy – it is a Christian virtue – to prove all things with sincerity and earnestness, to investigate, to institute a thorough search. And the authority of a teacher and pastor should never prevail to such an extent that the hearer is expected to dispense with a personal search, and with personal convictions of his own conscience, as soon as the former has spoken.”
Paul used the Old Testament as the foundation for his gospel presentation, and he was able to say, “It is written,” just like Jesus did so that no one saw Paul as the source but God.
He would write later to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13,
10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
And also in 3:21-23,
21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Ray Stedman said back November of 1970,
“The value of this story to us, and the reason Luke includes it, is that we might learn the necessity of testing any man's word. Do not listen to just one man's tapes, or read only one man's books or messages. It is a very dangerous practice. You will be misled by his errors and you will not know how to recognize them. Never give yourself to following a single man. Paul writes to the Corinthians: "You who do this are carnal. You follow Apollos or Cephas or Paul, but we are all provided for your instruction. You need us all..."
Do not ever limit yourself to a single man's ministry, including mine. Do not read only the messages published here and take them as Scripture. Check them out in the Scriptures and with other teachers. Establish what the Word of God says. That is the authority. How delighted Luke is to commend these Bereans for their nobility in doing this very thing!”
So the lesson here for us is simply this, we have been given a great example in the Bereans: be noble, open-minded and willing to learn, be eager and desire to learn more about the Lord Jesus and what His life, and death, and resurrection is all about, and be zealous for the Word of God and test what you hear and read by the Bible for it is the Lord’s gift to us and He has given it the divine authority to define what is true and what is right and what is wrong.
Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…
Amen.
