Simon Bowkett's Podcast

Acts 17:5-10 Ministering from the margins - A church born for battle

October 17, 2020 Simon Bowkett
Simon Bowkett's Podcast
Acts 17:5-10 Ministering from the margins - A church born for battle
Show Notes

Thirty seven minutes from https://twitter.com/WelshRev at https://www.facebook.com/TyrBugail for https://www.facebook.com/Grace.Wales.online and https://yGRWP.com on the  founding experience of the exemplary church Paul writes to at Thessalonica.
A church born in and for battle and going forward with God.
An inspiring example with clear lessons for our time.

Notes:

Last week we began a series of sermons looking at Paul’s very encouraging letter to the reasonably young church in Thessalonica by opening up the account of how that church came into being – it is necessary background to understand Paul’s subsequent letter to them. And the issue we’re looking at today in the origins of that church is what the response of their community was TO that new church, and how that was handled by them and by the Apostles whose preaching had brought that church into being. That’s relevant for us as we increasingly live in a world that doesn’t know what a Christian is or is about and marginalises those of us who hold to a Biblical pattern of faith and conduct. We are ourselves going back to what over the course of history has been the more normal experience of Christians, the experience and some might say the calling to minister from … not TO but FROM … the margins of society..

•In the Synagogue, vv. 1-4
•There WAS a synagogue

•The missionary strategy
Cultural apologetic

Biblical teaching

•Outcome

•Jews persuaded

•God-fearing Greeks persuaded

•Role of women

And they all JOINED the Apostles

•At the market place, v. 5
•Jealousy

•Alliance with bad characters

•Populism (mob)

•Violence
 v. 5c “They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.”

•Before the magistrates, vv. 6-9
•Hostility directed at the preachers

•Frustrated hostility fell on new converts who were WITH them

•Jews alleged defiance of Caesar

•Turmoil caused
 v. 8 “When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil.”

Conclusion, v. 10
“As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. 

On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.”

The believer and the local church are born for battle.
Christ’s death on the Cross sealed the victory of God’s Kingdom but these are days when that Kingdom must be established in a mopping up campaign against the enemy.

it is a battle that is won but there are still casualties and costs in the on-going campaign that presses the advantage and inaugurates the new era.

But trouble is NOT what we look for … the establishment of God’s Kingdom truly IS
Given the feeling that was generated against the Apostles and the legal bind-over applied to the new church’s leaders, there was nothing to be gained FOR THE GOSPEL by Paul and Silas carrying on slugging it out.

New believers and old can be entrusted to God
There’s a very spiritually realistic and humbling principle to be learned here: the promise of Matthew 10:17 following doesn’t simply apply to ‘super-saints’, it applies to all the followers of Jesus who trust in Him.
And it is those who persevere to the end that are saved.

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