SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2018
8:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Conflict
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 17:5-9,
13-15
Message of the
verses: “5 But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking
along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in
an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them
out to the people. 6 When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and
some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have
upset the world have come here also; 7 and Jason has welcomed them, and they
all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus."
8 They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. 9
And when they had received a pledge from Jason and the others, they released
them….13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had
been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and
stirring up the crowds. 14 Then immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as
far as the sea; and Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Now those who escorted
Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and
Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.”
This is the fourth sub-point that we have been looking at
in this section of the 17th chapter of Acts. We have been combining these two stories into
one because they are very similar, in fact a lot of this last part of Acts has
similar stories as Paul and his team go into a town to proclaim the gospel,
going to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles because the Jews really want
nothing to do with the gospel. After a
while persecution will break out on Paul and his team and so they have to leave
town. In many cases Paul will write to
the churches that the Lord has begun through Paul and that is where we get many
of the letters in the book of Acts, with the exception of Romans, and
Colossians as Paul had not visited those two cities when he wrote to them. At any rate as we look at our fourth
sub-point in this section of Acts we will see that this last point is the
result of the first three. Those who
seriously proclaim the right message and then win converts will face
conflict. I saw a little of this a
little over ten years ago when I had led man people in one family to the Lord,
and yet the men in the family wanted nothing to do with the gospel and so they
caused a bit of trouble.
We see that the unbelieving Jews at Thessalonica were
actually enraged by the success of the gospel as they “loved the darkness
rather than the light; for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). As the Jews were jealous of the success of
the Gospel they came upon the house of Jason because the thought Paul and Silas
were there but in fact they were not there and so they had a chance to flee to
Berea.
John MacArthur writes “Paul, Silas, and Timothy were not
there, and the mob had to content itself with dragging Jason and some brethren before
the city authorities. Luke’s description
is accurate; he uses the term politachs
for the officials—the exact term that occurs for the local magistrates in inscriptions
uncovered in Macedonia. Nothing is known
of Jason, except that he was probably Jewish, since Jason was a name often
taken by Diaspora Jews.”
As we look at the two charges against the believers, one
being that these men who have upset the world has come here and Jason has
welcomed them. The other is a charge
similar to what happened at the trial of Jesus when the Jews told Pilate “we
have no king but Caesar.” These men were
say that the missionaries were saying that there is another King, Jesus instead
of Caesar. Well we know that there is
only one King and that King is Jesus and this will be shown to the world in the
1000 year kingdom after the return of Christ from heaven as seen in Revelation
19.
We see that in the end Jason and the others gave the
authorities a pledge and then they released them. This probably was kind of like a bond and if
any more trouble came from the missionaries then the bond would be
forfeited. Because of this Paul and his
team left the city. MacArthur writes “The
anguish that expulsion caused Paul is reflected in his comments in 1
Thessalonians 2:17-18.” “17 But we,
brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while-in person, not in
spirit-were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. 18 For we
wanted to come to you I, Paul, more than once-and yet Satan hindered us.”
Now
as we look at the remaining verses for this SD we see that after Paul and his
team go onto Berea that eventually the Jews from Thessalonica come and cause
trouble there in Berea for them and then Paul is forced to leave and go to
Athens where we will be looking at Paul’s short ministry there in our next
several Spiritual Diaries. This is
something that I am looking forward to as the sermon that is recorded from
Athens is very powerful and I have seen many excerpts from it in different
studies that I have done, or from messages that I have heard.
I will finish with a quote from John MacArthur who then
will quote G. Campbell Morgan.
“Christians who would shake the world as did Paul and his
companions must be courageous. They must
proclaim the right message and recognize the importance of enlisting the aid of
others. They must also be prepared to
weather the storm of persecution that will surely follow. In the words of G. Campbell Morgan,
‘the measure of our triumph
in work for God is always the measure of our travail. No propagative (to cause to multiply) work is
done save at cost; and every genuine triumph of the Cross brings after it the
travail of some new affliction, and some new sorrow. So we share the travail that makes the
Kingdom come.’”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: (1) Oft times the day
seems long, our trials hard to bear,
We're tempted to complain, to murmur and
despair;
But Christ will soon appear to catch His
Bride away,
All tears forever over in God's eternal
day.
Refrain
It will be worth it all when we see
Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we
see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow
will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see
Christ.
(2) Sometimes the sky looks dark with
not a ray of light,
We're tossed and driven on , no human
help in sight;
But there is one in heav'n who knows our
deepest care,
Let Jesus solve your problem - just go
to Him in pray'r.
Refrain
It will be worth it all when we see
Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we
see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow
will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see
Christ.
(3) Life's day will soon be o'er, all
storms forever past,
We'll cross the great divide, to glory,
safe at last;
We'll share the joys of heav'n - a harp,
a home, a crown,
The tempter will be banished, we'll lay
our burden down.
Refrain
It will be worth it all when we see
Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we
see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow
will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust the Lord to give me some triumphs
in my life each day.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Five” (Luke 9:13-14).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said, ‘Render therefore
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s’?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/11/2018 9:54 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment