"Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." Acts 17:11
Listen and test. The Bereans were on to something, they listen eagerly to the message, and then test it with scripture just to make sure it is right. There are plenty of opportunities to simply listen and receive all knids of messages these days. There are churches offering all kinds of things in exchange for little life change or lots of cash. To simply receive the exciting new message and not examine its truth leads many to make bad decissions and feel false securty. I think the Bereans realized that an exciting new message is nice, but there needed to be something solid backing it up. They understood that if it sounds too good to be true, it just might be.
I think the modern church has spent a lot of time listening to their pastor(s) and simply making what he or she says their new theology. They stand up for what their pastor has told them, witout ever having tested it themselves. Then there are those who refuse to listen to what their pastor speaks, because they grew up believing something else (like those jealous Thessalonian jews). The Bereans have much to teach us here. We are to listen to those who proclaim a message from God's word, and we are to look to God's word for ourselves to make sure what our pastor is teaching us (or what we grew up believing) is right.
The Bereans were simply willing to read their scriptures! Too bad more Christians aren't.
One of the things has struck me several times since we started Acts is that how often jealousy and self importance are factors in the opposition to the gospel message.
ReplyDelete17:5 But the Jews became jealous,and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar.
Several times before we read where the Jews saw the crowds and were filled with jealousy and then take steps to get the apostles arrested.(Acts 5:17, 13:45) They were jealous of the increasing number of followers the apostles were gathering and were afraid of their own loss of power. They didn't want to lose their positions of power and prominence and reacted by getting the disciples arrested or run out of town. Their jealousy made them deaf to the gospel message.
So for me, I feel like the sin to avoid is thinking of myself and being self-absorbed. Its easier to avoid jealousy when my focus is on God, and not on me.