Right Side Up (Acts 17:1-15)

When we are growing up, we learn how the world works. It all begins in preschool or kindergarten. I have heard Joseph telling me kids in his class claim that they are seven or eight years old. They are flat-out lying to make themselves the oldest. There is this competition and drive to be the greatest in the class by any means necessary. Does that ever change?

Teaching Thessalonian

Acts 17:1--9 (ESV) --- 1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Paul makes his way to the town of Thessalonica, where he finds a synagogue of the Jews. He spent three weeks working his way through evidence and proofs for them to understand how Jesus fulfilled the scriptures to bring us all of the promised blessings. He described how Jesus was raised from the dead, with many witnesses testifying. Some of them were persuaded when they heard this, but we also learn that many Greeks and devout women believed and obeyed the gospel. Where did they come from? The word was spreading throughout the community.

As a side note, women were not first-class citizens in Roman society. They were not allowed to lead in politics, but they were given independence from men after having four children or being widowed. They could own their own land or run their own business. These leading women likely had that going for them. This meant they had heavy influence over their husbands even though they weren't typically well educated. So it is fascinating that their hearts were being affected by the gospel. They likely understood the significant issues of pride, arrogance, and injustice better than most. I guess it made sense to them that men in that society would reject help and crucify their savior out of jealousy.

All the evil we see in the Jews who crucified Jesus pops up again with the Jews in Thessalonica. Jealousy is the main problem they have. They see these Greeks being forgiven without keeping the law and losing their minds. They want to destroy Paul and Silas for their teachings but can't find them. So they bring Jason before them, a man likely housing Paul and Silas. It is at this point that the Jews say something notable. They say, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also." Now, in what way have Paul and Silas turned the world upside down?

Upside Down?

Let's take a second and evaluate that statement. Have Paul and Silas turned the world upside down? No. They haven't said or done anything to create rebellion or restructure society. They are not trying to overthrow the government or disobey the authorities. They aren't even asking Jews to stop being Jews or Gentiles to stop being Gentiles. All that they want is for everyone to submit to Christ. It doesn't seem like that big of a change in the world. To hear them talk about these teachings, one would think they are trying to change absolute truths about gender, pronouns, or the value of 2+2. Promoting mental illness, as usual, is turning the world upside down. Trying to create social unrest by stealing from people who haven't done anything to deserve it in the name of social justice would be trying to turn the world upside down.

Right Side Up

Paul and Silas are trying to turn the world right side up. There are ideas in society that aren't correct. They are widely accepted and exalted, but they aren't correct. Paul and Silas are bringing these ideas into the spotlight, revealing their glaring errors. What ideas are they destroying? The first idea they are destroying is that those who appear to know everything must know everything. The religious leaders of the synagogue have painted a picture of the Messiah that is nothing like what the true Messiah is like. Paul's painting of Jesus is the apparent description of the Messiah, but it is nothing like what the religious leaders have described. They wanted a Messiah to rise up and save the Jews from Roman oppression. He would align perfectly with everything the Jewish elders have taught and promote their efforts.

The teachings of Paul and Silas point out that this Messiah promotes sinners who repent over righteous people who look down condescendingly on sinners. Jesus is not full of wrath and cleansing the world of sinners. Jesus is encouraging everyone to become like the sinners who have remorse over their actions. His first sermon didn't say, "Blessed are the strong in spirit, who really believe that they are right about everything." He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."

Instead of promoting those who say, "I have my life all put together," he blesses those who mourn over their failures. God wants to help those who know that they need help. It's not a bad thing to fail and mourn over your failures. That's how we grow and become what God wants us to be. Our mess becomes our message. Have you ever tried to help someone who thinks they don't need it? That's a dead-end road.

In our society, we reward those who push and promote themselves. Our whole political system is built on doing whatever you must to get the vote. But Jesus promotes the meek. He wants to lift those who refuse to lift themselves. That's right side up. That's the way the world ought to be. But that's not the way things are done in this society. We aren't patient enough to wait for others to exalt us. We need to exalt ourselves. That's upside down.

Maybe we look up to those who live the fullest life. They enjoy everything they do and engage in all kinds of activities that feel great. There is not a pleasure that they don't enjoy. They are well-loved by everyone and spend all their time on different passions. We look at them and think, "If I could only be like that! That's the life." But Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." He tells us the type of person that God wants to be around is the type of person who is prudent. They resist the temptations of this world and refuse to be captivated by their desires and passions. They abstain from the pleasures everyone around them expects them to enjoy. That's true greatness in God's sight.

On the other hand, we might look up to and respect those who appear to live the perfect life with perfect purity and righteousness. They don't commit adultery. They don't steal. They don't murder. They attend every church service and do kind acts for other people. We want to be like them because they seem so at peace with how much they have accomplished. But Jesus says, "Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness." He exalts those who look at themselves and think, "I'm not even close to what God wants me to be. How can I do more? I'm dying to cleanse myself of every sin and become just like God." That's who Jesus exalts.

Finally, consider the one enduring persecution at the hands of evil people because of their beliefs. Do we pity them and wish they would give up their crazy ultra-religious endeavors? Those are the sons of God. They aren't the sons of the world. The world hates them. But they are the sons of God.

Rebellion

These men are sharing the teachings of Jesus, and the Jews around them are losing their minds. Because everything Jesus teaches contradicts their beliefs. They are told to become like little children and learn how the world works all over again, but they can't or won't. They will not accept the fact that they are entirely wrong. They can't understand why God doesn't want to destroy the Gentiles. He wants to save them. So they are jealous. They won't let Jesus turn them right side up. They set up a revolt and attempt to capture Paul to punish him, but they only capture Jason, the man who housed Paul, and all they can do to him is take some of his money as an assurance that there won't be an uprising (Something the Christians would not do).

More Noble Minded

Acts 17:10--15 (ESV) --- 10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

‌Paul escapes to Berea, where we read about him teaching in another synagogue. But this teaching goes much better. I love the story of the Bereans. These Jews are more "noble-minded," meaning that they care about truth and treat people honorably if they disagree. This shows us that not all Jews were jealous and hypocritical. Some were willing to hear the truth. The text tells us that they were searching the scriptures to determine whether Paul's words were accurate. They didn't take his words for granted or flat-out reject them. They studied to see if this was the case.

Did Paul and Silas change their message? Did they ease up and make the message something easier to digest? I don't think so. The message showed them that their world was upside down and they needed to let Jesus turn it right side up. The only difference was their attitude. They believed and accepted it.

Once they understood for themselves, they were willing to let their world be turned upside down. Oh, for a group of people with the heart of Bereans. Wouldn't we love to have a rational conversation and help them understand the value of the simple New Testament Christianity we proclaim?

But the Jews from Thessalonica were so twisted and distorted that they traveled to Berea to find Paul and prevent him from teaching. So, he left there and traveled to Athens.

What Do We Learn?

If we were to think about this for a very long time, we might start to see that Satan has been working to turn our world upside down. It should be evident that we are all sinners in need of God's grace. The good news of Jesus should be helping us get back right side up, but Satan has distorted the truth so much that everyone loves themselves too much. If they love themselves in an upside-down world, they will hate themselves in the right side up world. They can't make the change because they would have to start over.

The pride and hatred of the Jews were not an overnight development. As a frog is heated up to a boil, he doesn't sense the danger and dies. But it has to be a slow process. After years of thinking that the world is right side up and aligning with it, these Thessalonian Jews can't imagine going back. But the Berean Jews do.

This Berean attitude is precisely what we need to have and is exactly what we are looking for in those we teach. Our society has become extremely lazy and unwilling to learn for itself. We want to open up youtube and let someone else do all the work to find out what the scriptures say. Then, they can tell us what the truth is. But if we can't read the Bible for ourselves, we will never know the truth. It will never become a part of us. In Ezekiel, the prophet is told to eat the scroll he was given because he needed that written word to become a part of who he is. We need to do the same thing. We need to make the word a part of who we are.

Application

Jesus' teachings have to have a transformative effect on our life. How do we handle completely transformative teaching? If someone says your judgment is off, how do you respond? If they tell you that you are harsh and judgmental toward people doing their best, will you be able to overcome your self-righteousness and show compassion to them?

What about transforming your hopes? Many of us hope for things in this world. We hope for honor and glory. We hope for success, pleasure, and comfort in life. Jesus says that those things are empty. He tells us to hope in Him and His promises. Will we let Him transform our hopes and dreams? Will we give up the pleasures in life to pursue this hope? It seems upside down to do that, but that's what He calls for us to do!

Will we transform our homes and our relationships? What feels normal and good to us has to be given up. We cannot act the way the world acts. We cannot be selfish or focused on this world all the time. We must show that our priority is to please God and help others do the same thing. Our conversations on a daily basis need to be all about what is spiritually relevant. We need to communicate our spiritual desires and spiritual goals with others. We need to talk about our struggles to obtain those goals and motivate or encourage one another in those goals. If our goal is for our children to trust in God and serve him, we have to make sure that we tell them that's our goal and how to do it.

Conclusion

If you are in the body of Christ, this is who you are. We see the world as upside down and the ways of God as right side up. We cannot go back to living an upside-down life again.

If you are not in the body of Christ, I want you to see how upside-down the world is. They crucified an innocent man who loved them and provided the ultimate sacrifice for them. They hate and want to defeat you, but Jesus wants to exalt you. They tell you you must promote yourself and be selfish, but Jesus shows us true greatness by serving us. He gave up himself to serve us so that we could be forgiven and see what is right side up.