Title Thessalonians Evangelism/Acts 17:1-9
Contents
Thessalonians Evangelism/Acts 17:1-9
Today, we will continue to think about Paul's second missionary journey in Acts. Paul's missionary team suffered the hardships of being beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, but finally experienced the joy and thrill of bringing the victory of the gospel. They now leave Philippi and go through two cities to Thessalonica. Thessalonica is a city about 100 miles (160 km) from Philippi. It can be reached in an hour and a half by car as it is today, but back then it took at least three or four days. Paul stayed here for three weeks and preached the gospel.
What we should note here is that we passed by two cities, Amphipolis and Apollonia. In other words, it is the fact that Paul and his companions did not go to every town and every city to preach the gospel. In other words, there were cities and villages that just passed by. There were many souls in that city too to be saved. But to hear all the towns and all the cities, I would have collapsed from exhaustion. What does this teach us? When we do God's work, it tells us what to do selectively by setting our priority.
It is said that the devil has two tactics to bring us down. One way is to make it powerless to do nothing, and the other way is to make you fall from exhaustion by doing everything. The latter is a higher level tactic. Many servants of God and the saints run hard and fall from exhaustion.
The wisdom of the church and the saints is needed here. There was no synagogue in Philippi, but there was a synagogue here. Paul went to the Jewish synagogue and interpreted and interpreted the Bible, so he preached to Jews first. This was the application of the missionary principle of 'the Jews first'. In particular, the synagogue was used as a contact point. He evangelized using the Old Testament, which Jews were well aware of, and especially preached the gospel by testifying to Jesus Christ prophesied in the Old Testament.
In verse 2 of today's text, we see the expression 'Paul according to his own ordinances'. That's a very precious word. This word has the same meaning as 'according to his habit'. Sacred habits must be in us. It matters what people think. But our thoughts lead to actions, repetition of actions shapes habits, and habits determine our future and destiny.
But Paul had a very good holy habit. It was a holy habit of visiting the synagogue on the Sabbath to preach the word of God. More specifically, these were the four holy habits. Let's consider these one by one.
1) He had a habit of strictly keeping the Sabbath.
2) It was customary to visit the synagogue on the Sabbath.
3) Habit of entering the synagogue and teaching the 'Word of God'
4) It was a habit to testify of Jesus Christ.
In verse 4 of today's text, it says, "Some of them, a great crowd of devout Greeks, and not a few noble women, were persuaded to pursue Paul and Silas." Many rejected the gospel, but also some of them, a great crowd of devout Greeks and not a few noble women, came to believe in Jesus. Those souls who believed in Jesus and their fathers were a blessed soul and family.
If we look back on history, Rome became a Christian state by Constantine the Great, but in fact, this history happened behind it. Many Roman nobles were corrupted. At that time, Roman aristocrats had slaves, but because slaves were their property, they lived with them and they were sexually corrupt. So, when the Roman nobles married their sons, they wanted to marry the daughters of Jesus' families. Many of the daughters who believed in Jesus entered the noble families of the upper class in Rome, evangelized them, and began to raise their children in faith. This eventually turned Rome into Christianity. But when good things happen, bad things always follow.
In verse 5, it says, 'The Jews were jealous'.
Where the salvation of souls takes place, the work of Satan is also strongly displayed. Where the work of the gospel is strong, the work of the devil is reflected and strong as well. Isn't there a word for Hosadama? Thessalonica was no exception. Not all Jews were like that. Some did that. Even if one or two Koreans make a mistake, everyone is often reviled.
Also in today's text, jealous Jews mobilized thugs and gangsters in the market place to wield violence and make a commotion in the city. Just as the Pharisees and Sadducees united as one and Pilate and Herod united as one when Jesus was nailed to the cross, the Jews and the market thugs are united here as well. There is nothing as frightening as envy and jealousy. This makes people hate them and even kills them.
The root cause of envy is said to be inferiority consciousness. There is a saying, 'When your cousin buys land, your stomach hurts'. I should be rejoicing and celebrating, but does it make sense to have a stomach ache? But it makes sense Do you know what weapons the devil uses to topple and destroy humans? 'comparative consciousness'. This sense of comparison makes us jealous of others. And at the bottom of this sense of comparison and jealousy is a sense of inferiority.
A man named Maxwell Maltz says that 'at least 95% of modern people suffer from a disease called inferiority'. A person who shouts loudly, brags, brags, shows off, and promotes himself too much is a person with a higher sense of inferiority. However, everyone is different, but they all live as slaves to their inferiority complex. This is the existence of sinful human beings.
We must become mature Christians with a big heart to celebrate when other people are doing well and other churches to do well. In a broad sense, all are the church of God, brothers and sisters in Christ. We must be able to work together to build and expand the kingdom of God.