Acts  Sermon Series

Wheelersburg Baptist Church 4/27/03 Brad Brandt

Acts 17:1-9 "Making Christ Known in a Pagan Society" **

We are living in a pagan society. The majority of people, even many people who would call themselves "Christian," do not know the truth about Jesus. They may know bits and pieces of the story, but they don’t know the whole truth about Jesus and why He came to earth.

One hundred years ago the average person in America probably knew the basic message of biblical Christianity. That’s not to say they accepted it, but they knew it. My grandmother used to tell me about her experience in the one room school house. They used the McGuffy Reader. They also used the Bible. It was part of the curriculum.

I don’t believe that’s true of Americans today. That’s why I refer to ours as a pagan society. I have shared the good news with folks—the simple story of our problem as sinners and God’s provision of a Savior in Jesus—only to hear the person say afterwards, "I have never heard that before." Oh, the person may have heard about Jesus before, but he didn’t know why He came, and why he needed Him as personal Savior.

How do you do evangelism in a pagan society? That is our task—Acts 1:8—to take the good news of Jesus to the world. But the world in which we live today is full of people who are biblically illiterate, and furthermore, may even have a bad taste in their mouth from what they think is true Christianity.

How can we reach the people around us? That’s the question. In our study of God’s Word today, we’re going to find the answer. We’re going to learn how to make Christ known in a pagan society. Acts 17:1-9 shows us both how to do it and what we can expect if we do, namely two responses.

The setting for Acts 17 is Paul’s second missionary journey. In Acts 16 Paul and Silas went to Philippi to preach Christ. While there they were beaten with rods and imprisoned unjustly. But God was merciful. He sent an earthquake to set them free from jail, and allowed them to lead several to Christ before they moved on.

In Acts 17 the duo headed west to find others who didn’t know the Savior. Verse 1 states, "When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica." Apparently, Paul and Silas followed the famous Roman highway called the Egnatian Way. They trekked about 30 miles from Philippi to Amphipolis, then another 30 miles to Appolonia, but there’s no indication they did ministry there. Luke says they "passed through" them. Paul had another site in mind, and so on day 3 they traveled about another 30 miles and arrived in Thessalonica.

Paul’s missionary strategy typically took him to the large cities, for once reaching the city he left behind a missionary center from which others could reach the rest of the region. Thessalonica certainly qualified as a strategic city.

Thessalonica was the capital and largest city of Macedonia. It had a population of 200,000 people. It was a bustling seaport city, located on several important trade routes, and was a center for business. It was a "free city," which meant it had an elected citizen’s assembly, could mint its own coins, and had no Roman garrison within its walls.

We don’t know how long Paul ministered in Thessalonica. Verse 2 says he preached in the synagogue for three Sabbaths, but it’s possible he ministered outside the synagogue for awhile longer after the three weeks. We know he was there long enough to receive financial help twice from the church in Philippi (Phil. 4:15-16). We also know, as we’ll see shortly, he was forced to leave town sooner than he wished.

Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica may not have been long, but it was effective and we can learn from it. In fact, we can learn two things about evangelism from his example.

A. In evangelism, here is what we must do (1-3). Listen to the account, and then we’ll discuss five lessons about evangelism that Paul modeled. Verses 1-3—"When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,’ he said."

Let’s call this "synagogue evangelism." It wasn’t the only method Paul used to reach lost people (we’ll see him take a different approach later in this same chapter when he went to the city of Athens), but it was his usual method. Whenever he went to a new city the first thing he did, if possible, was go to the synagogue. Why? It’s related to lesson #1. If we are going to be effective in evangelism, here’s where we must start.

1. Go to where the people are. Why did Paul go to the synagogue? For several reasons, including his commitment to the Jews in the redemptive plan of God. But don’t lose sight of this reason. He went to the synagogue because he knew he’d find people there! Lost people. Religious, but lost.

Beloved, we’re not supposed to wait for the lost to come to us. The Lord told us to go. But it’s at this point that many of us struggle. We may wonder why we’re not seeing more people get saved, and should look no further than this for the answer. Are we going to where the lost people are?

The late Sam Shoemaker, an Episcopalian bishop, summed up the situation this way: "In the Great Commission the Lord has called us to be--like Peter--fishers of men. We've turned the commission around so that we have become merely keepers of the aquarium. Occasionally I take some fish out of your fishbowl and put them into mine, and you do the same with my bowl. But we're all tending the same fish."

If we are going to reach lost people in a pagan society, we must go to where the people are. The fact is, God has given each of us points of contact to touch unsaved people.

Answer this. Why did Paul do evangelism in Jewish synagogues? It’s because he was a Jew. In fact, in God’s providence he was trained as a Pharisee in his pre-Christian days. His Pharisee-card was his ticket to the pulpit of synagogues throughout the Roman world, and he used it. Whenever he went to a new town, he went to the synagogue for he knew that a traveling rabbi would be asked to speak. And once behind the pulpit he told his audience about the Messiah. To do synagogue-evangelism was natural for Paul.

What has God given you, what background or abilities, that you can use to make contact with lost people? Do you have a love for computers? How about using the chat room to talk with people about Christ? Do you like sports? Why not be a part of our Thursday evening basketball outreach? Do you have a neighborhood that’s full of children? How about starting a backyard Bible club this summer?

One Sunday evening, William Booth was walking in London with his son, Bramwell, who was then 12 or 13 years old. The father surprised the son by taking him into a saloon! The place was crowded with men and women, many of them bearing on their faces the marks of vice and crime; some were drunk. The fumes of alcohol and tobacco were poisonous. "Willie," Booth said to his son, "These are our people; these are the people I want you to live for and bring to Christ." Years later, Bramwell Booth wrote, "The impression never left me."

My friend, to be effective in evangelism, we, like Paul, must go to where the people are. That’s lesson one.

2. Use the Scriptures. What does God use to produce saving faith in the hearts of unregenerate people? Romans 10:17 makes it clear that God uses His Word. We must use the Scriptures.

How do you reach a city of 200,000 people? First of all, you realize it’s not our job to "reach" 200,000 people. It is our job to do what Paul did in Thessalonica. Find people who will listen, and teach them about Jesus from the Scriptures.

I’m struck by the first words of verse 2, "As his custom was." This was Paul’s bread-and-butter approach to evangelism. He went to the synagogue, taught the Scriptures, and then worked with the people whose eyes the Spirit of God opened. He wasn’t into numbers for number’s sake.

Today the strategy often is, simply stated, to give a little truth to as many people as possible. And so we put together a big evangelistic rally designed to attract a lot of lost people and then give them a 20 minute message. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, but look again at Paul. Rather than giving a little truth to many people, Paul sought to give as much truth as possible to the few who would listen, and then to disciple and train them to do the same.

If you were given the following two options, which would you choose? 1) To win a million dollars a day for 30 days? Or, 2) To receive $1.00 a day, doubled every day for 30 days? Dann Spader, with Sonlife Ministries, writes, "I offered this possibility to my three daughters to see if they’d choose the growth method ($1 million per day) or the multiplication method ($1 doubled every day). Unfortunately for their pocketbooks, they chose the growth method. My children are not unusual, as their choice is duplicated by many of us who are content to experience growth in our lives.

"If my daughters had chosen the growth method, they would have ended up with $30 million, a respectable amount of money. If they’d chosen the multiplication method, they would have earned 714 times as much, or $2 billion 142 million!"

This is the power of multiplication. It’s good to tell many people a little bit about Jesus. It’s better to tell a few people the whole truth about Jesus, to make disciples of them, and then to unleash them to do the same.

That’s what Jesus told the apostles to do. "Go, make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19)." That’s also the strategy Paul followed. He went to the synagogue and reasoned with them from the Scriptures. To do God-honoring evangelism, use the Scriptures.

3. Put the spotlight on Christ. Like Paul did. Verses 2-3 again, "… he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,’ he said."

We can talk about spiritual things with lost people, yet fail to do evangelism. If I tell an unsaved couple that God’s Word has answers for their marriage problems, I’m telling them the truth. But I haven’t done evangelism until I’ve talked to them about Christ. It’s good to talk with people about your church, about family values, and so on, but that’s not enough. To be saved people need to hear about Christ. And we must use the Scriptures to shine the spotlight on Christ.

"What about Christ?" you ask. That’s a good question, for many unsaved people know some things about Christ. But what they don’t know, yet must know if they’re to be saved brings us to lesson #4.

4. Emphasize Christ’s work of atonement. Paul used the Scriptures to show, as the KJV puts it in verse 3, "that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead." It’s not enough merely for people to know that Jesus died and rose again. Those facts don’t save a sinner. The sinner must know why Jesus died and rose again. Why did the Christ have to suffer and rise from the dead? The answer is because we needed an atonement.

"What’s that?" you say. Simply put, it’s a substitute. Sinners need a substitute. Why? Because of our sins. You see, a person cannot enter the presence of a holy God with sin staining his life. So if you want to spend eternity with God you must have a spotless heart and life. You say, "But I don’t have that." No, you don’t. No one does. But God in His grace will accept a substitute for you.

That’s why in the Old Testament God instructed the Jews to bring blood sacrifices, because He said He would accept the sinner if a substitute died in his place. And so thousands of bulls and lambs were slain as substitutes, to make an atonement for sinners.

Why then don’t we still offer sacrificial lambs to God? It’s because The Lamb has been slain. When John the Baptist saw Jesus he declared, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" To be saved you must accept the substitute God provided for you. That’s why Jesus came, died and rose again, to make atonement for sinners.

What are you trusting in to get to heaven? If it’s your own good works, I’ll tell you now, you are in trouble. There is only one way to heaven. God gives heaven to those who accept His substitute. Oh, my friend, accept Jesus and His atoning sacrifice today!

And Christian, as you seek to help lost people, emphasize Christ’s atonement.

5. Appeal first to the mind and then the will, not the emotions. Notice again the action words in the text. Verse 2 says that Paul "reasoned" with them from the Scriptures. The Greek word dialegomai is the root for our English word "dialogue." The term suggests that Paul interacted with his audience. It was not a formal sermon, but a discussion-filled presentation of the Scriptures. There were questions and answers. The apostle put an Old Testament text on the table for consideration, showed how it pointed to Christ, and then welcomed audience feedback, including objections.

Can you do that? Do you know the Bible well enough to be able to answer the questions unsaved people might ask you about salvation?

Verse 3 also indicates that Paul "reasoned" with them by engaging in the activities of "explaining" and "proving." The Greek word for "explaining" literally means "opening." Elsewhere Luke uses this term to describe the opening of the womb (Luke 2:23). People cannot believe what isn’t clear to them, so we must make the truth clear by explaining.

Furthermore, Paul reasoned by "proving," a word that means "to place beside" or "to set before." He used the Scripture to prove his point that Jesus is the Messiah (we see an example of this in Acts 13:16ff.). A text like Isaiah 53 makes it clear that the Messiah had to die. Psalm 16 proves that he had to die and then be raised to new life. It does little good to share our opinions. Opinions lack power, but the Word of God doesn’t. The gospel is the "power of God unto salvation" (Rom 1:16).

This lesson is key. To do biblical evangelism, we must appeal first to the mind of the lost person—give him Scriptural truth to think about. Then we must appeal to his will, for this truth demands a response (that’s what the word "persuaded" indicates in verse 4). What must not be the basis of our presentation, and yet so often is today, are the emotions. Paul didn’t tell tear-jerking stories that would produce shallow decisions, nor should we.

6. Give the Spirit time to work. Paul ministered the word to unsaved people on three successive Sabbaths in the synagogue. Though he was gripped by the urgency of his message, he was never in a hurry.

People need time to process the truth we give them. So we must give them time, time for them to think, and time for the Holy Spirit to do His sovereign work in their hearts. And if we do, that’s exactly what will happen.

B. In evangelism, here is what we can anticipate (4). "Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women." God is a saving God. In eternity past, He decreed a plan to save sinners. We have His Word. If we do evangelism, we can anticipate two things.

1. Some will believe. Just like they did in Thessalonica. Some Jews were persuaded. So were some Greeks, in fact, many Greeks. And quite a few of the "chief women" [KJV] in the city.

Later Paul wrote two letters to these Christians in Thessalonica, to encourage them. In the first he reminds them of what happened when they were saved (1 Thessalonians 1:4-6): "For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit."

Know this. If we do what God asks us to do in evangelism, some will believe, and…

2. Those who do will give evidence of it. The text says they "joined" Paul and Silas. That’s a key word. The KJV says, "consorted with." Please realize that if you accept Jesus you are making a decision that will link you with others who have accepted Jesus. The church is not optional add-on. When these folks got saved, they attached themselves to the fellowship. They joined Paul and Silas.

That flies in the face of modern thinking. There are people today who say they believe in Jesus, but don’t join the church. And there are others who join, but don’t really join. To join the church is more than merely signing up on a roster saying you’ll come an hour a week (when it’s convenient). To join the church is to take a new identity, to devote yourself to live for Christ in the context of His body, in constant association with others who love Him, too.

It breaks my heart to see people who name the name of Christ, but ignore the church, His body. They’re robbing themselves—and Him—of so much. Oh, they have their reasons. One pastor wrote the following:

"Football in the fall. Basketball in the winter. Baseball in the spring and summer. This pastor has been an avid sports fan all his life. But I've had it! I quit this sports business once and for all. You can't get me near one of those places again. Want to know why...

Every time I went, they asked me for money.
The people with whom I had to sit didn't seem very friendly.
The seats were too hard and not at all comfortable.
I went to many games, but the coach never came to call on me.
The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.
I suspected that I was sitting with some hypocrites -- they came
to see their friends and what others were wearing rather than to see the game.
Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.
The band played some numbers that I had never heard before.
It seems that the games are scheduled when I want to do other things.
I was taken to too many games by my parents when I was growing up.
I don't want to take my children to any games, because I want
them to choose for themselves what sport they like best."

Friends, there is no such thing as a perfect church. We are not a perfect church. But the Lord loves His church, warts and all! And He calls us to love His church. Indeed, devotion to the church where God placed you is one key evidence that He has saved you. Again, how can we claim to love Christ and not love His body?

If we do evangelism in a pagan society, there will be a harvest. That’s not all.

When God acts, Satan reacts. Satan hates it when we proclaim Christ and rescue people from his deadly clutch. When he sees people believe in Christ, when he sees churches being established, he goes ballistic.

If you choose to get serious about evangelism, you need to know this. Just because you give people the truth of God’s Word from a heart of love doesn’t mean they’ll love you for it. Yes, there will be a harvest, but there will also be hostility.

Verse 5 says, "But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city." We learn two things about hostility to the gospel.

A. It starts with sins of the heart (5a). "But the Jews were jealous." They were "moved with envy," the KJV says. They heard Paul’s message, yes, but they rejected it because of a heart condition. Jealousy. This highlights a couple of reasons why people refuse to get saved.

1. People resist Christ because they love their sin. You may be here today, convinced that you need Christ, convinced that He could save you, but still you resist Him. Why? You love your sin. You love it more than you love God, and so you resist.

2. People resist Christ because they don’t want to change. The Jews were jealous. They didn’t want to lose what they had, their power, their control, and so they rejected Christ. Perhaps for you it’s a habit, or a person, or a lifestyle. God isn’t saying you must change your life to be saved, for you cannot do that. He is saying you must be willing to be changed, to be the person He wants you to be.

Hostility to the gospel starts with sins of the heart. It doesn’t stop there.

B. It leads to sins of action (5b-9). In fact, opponents of the gospel will engage in two kinds of sinful action, both illustrated in our text.

1. They will attack the messengers. Verse 5 again, "But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd."

If you can’t win fairly, win unfairly, some would say. Use smear tactics. That’s what certain Jews did in Thessalonica. They rounded up "some bad characters." The KJV refers to these mercenaries as, "lewd fellows of the baser sort." A. T. Robertson’s rendering is vivid. He calls them "bums."

At their instigation a mob started. They went to Jason’s house to find Paul and Silas. Jason, who was Paul’s host, apparently was a Jew who believed the message he heard Paul preach (the Greek name Jason was taken by many Jews whose Jewish name was Joshua).

So there’s one course of action gospel opponents will take, to attack the messengers.

2. They will attack the message. According to verses 6-7, here’s how it happened in Thessalonica: "But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials [the term is actually "politarchs," and has been found in extra-biblical sources to refer to chief magistrates of several Macedonian towns], shouting [notice the slander and misrepresentation in the following words]: ‘These men who have caused trouble all over the world [that’s an overstatement] have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees [that makes it sound like Christians are uncivilized lawbreakers], saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.’"

That final accusation is a serious charge, one with enough truth in it to sway the emotional crowd. The Jews had trumped up a similar charge against Jesus in Luke 23:2, stating, "We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king."

Did Paul preach that there is another king? Yes, but not as these critics insinuated. Jesus is the king of kings, but His kingdom is spiritual in nature. A half truth is worse than a total lie.

Verses 8-9 "When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go."

What happened to Paul? Verse 10 "As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea."

This must have produced great pain in Paul’s heart. He probably felt like the missionary from the China Inland Mission who wrote the following as he fled the Communists’ burning of Shanghai:

That statement about Jason having to post bond might explain why Paul left town. Apparently, the city rulers put Jason and other believers under some kind of bond, a bond the believers would lose if Paul returned to Thessalonica. LaSor observes, "You can go back to preaching after a beating or stoning [which Paul did], but it’s a different matter if your friends and your host are made to suffer for your ‘boldness.’ So Paul had to leave Thessalonica."

That also may shed light on what Paul meant by his reference to satanic opposition in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-18, "But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan stopped us."

Paul saw the bond imposed on Jason as a devise of Satan to stop the spread of the gospel, but it didn’t work. His own testimony in 1 Thessalonians 1:6-8 explains what happened: "You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere."

Know this about the world’s hostility. It starts with sins of the heart. It leads to sins of action. But in the end…

C. It gives us a choice to make. You see, if we’re serious about doing evangelism in a pagan society, we too will have to deal with slander and misrepresentation.

I invite you to ponder the increasing hostility towards biblical Christianity these days. The rhetoric goes like this: "Evangelical Christians are bigoted. They have the audacity to think their way is the only way. They send their missionaries to other countries and disrupt the lives of good and happy people. Why, they even go to Muslim countries and force sincere individuals to go against their family and culture. They coerce good people to change their ways. They haven’t learned the lesson from the Crusades, choosing rather to do their work of proselyting, thus causing families to be torn apart. They claim to be doing God’s work, but those evangelicals are a dangerous threat to society."

Is that what we are doing, disrupting, forcing, and coercing people? No, but how do we respond to such volatile accusations? Actually, we can do one of two things.

1. We can retreat and hide. "Oh, no! The world hates us. We’d better lie low for awhile, or at least tone down our message so we don’t offend people." That’s not the option Paul chose. He knew what his marching orders were: You will be my witnesses, Jesus said, in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Retreat and hide? Never. What then? There’s a second option.

2. We can keep making the truth known, no matter what the cost. Paul chose option #2, and so must we.

Mission agencies like ABWE face the anti-Christian rhetoric I just described. On their website, Dr. Michael Loftis, president of ABWE, responds to the question, "Why do ABWE missionaries share the gospel with people of other faiths?" Listen to the balance of compassion and boldness in his response:

"…The Bible commands us to love the people of all nations and to explain the truth about God to every person regardless of his or her background. Because we love God and the people He created, we warmly invite everyone to accept God’s love and forgiveness available through Jesus Christ. Our missionaries are trained to share God’s love with humility and respect, through words and compassionate actions. We do not bribe, trick, or coerce people into insincere belief. Our missionaries can never "make converts." We believe that based on the dignity and worth given by God to every human being, each individual must make a free personal choice whether to accept God’s love and forgiveness. Our missionaries give people the opportunity to hear and either accept or reject the message of salvation which their culture, religion, or government may have denied them. We believe that no religious tradition or political power has the right to take away any person’s God-given freedom either to worship or to reject God. To deny people an opportunity to hear the gospel is to deny them the human right of freedom of religion."

Brothers and sisters, we must make Christ known no matter what the cost. It cost Paul to make Christ known. It cost Silas. It cost Jason and the others who believed in Thessalonica. And it will cost us. If we make Christ known in a pagan society, there will be both a harvest and hostility. Are you willing to get involved? If so…

1. Identify some lost people for whom you have a burden. I urge you to write their names down right now and begin to pray for them.

2. Remove any hindrances from your life. Is there anything in your life that would hinder you from doing evangelism, maybe a judgmental spirit or an unChristlike habit? Maybe the hindrance is your schedule—you’re too busy with trivial pursuits. Ask the Lord to help you remove the hindrances today.

3. Start asking people if they know the truth about Christ. Resolve to talk with people about Christ. Ask them, "Do you know the truth about Christ?" And then…

4. Get ready for action! There will be a harvest.

Acts  Sermon Series