Acts 17:1-15

 Acts 17:1-15

“But the Jews became jealous…” This is a too-often-repeated theme and occurrence in the history of the church. The word “jealous” is also translated as envy. More often than can be imagined, churches’ power players have driven out leaders who pose a threat to their power and control because they are envious. We often define this as a power play or a power struggle. Whatever we call it, the foundational issue remains the same; when a core group fears losing power, they attack the one who has emerged as a new leader. The pattern continues as we see the old guard dredging up protesters. The term translated “wicked men of the marketplace” is hard to translate from Greek to English. The best idea is to think of shiftless rabble that makes a living protesting for hire. 

The accusation brought against the Christians is that “these men who upset the world” could hardly ever be made of the American church. In many cases, the description of the church today would be “these men who have been compromised by and are just like the world.”.

In Berea we find a rare and striking occurrence: they were “examining the Scriptures daily.”. Two things should be noted: first, the Bereans did not take someone else’s word for their faith. The “apostles teaching” was put to the test of Scripture. How often will people listen to teachers without so much as cracking open a Bible? Silly, stupid, foolish, and even heretical things are said, and believers never use their Bible to verify or challenge what is said. There is a curse on all false teachers, but those who are unwilling to see for themselves are not excused or exempt from judgment. Second, they studied daily. It was not that they read a few verses daily and studied once a week. Reading a passage is not enough, but we need to meditate and delve into it, and this cannot happen with a cursory reading. Reading the Bible as a narrative story has value, but the Word of God is something that we need to study deeply.

“Lord, give me an attitude and hunger like the Bereans.  AMEN”