Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Come back in time with me to the year 50ad. We’re on an exciting journey together, traveling with the famous apostle Paul and his ministry partner Silas, one of the leaders of the Jerusalem church, who has joined Paul on Paul’s second missionary journey.
They set out several months ago from Syrian Antioch, as Paul had done with Barnabas on Paul’s first missionary journey. But this time Paul and Silas traveled north and west from Antioch, revisiting some of the towns where Paul and Barnabas had introduced the Gospel of Jesus about two years before.
In the city of Lystra, which was the town where Paul was nearly killed by stoning on his first journey with Barnabas, Paul was urged by the Christians there to consider taking one of their finest young men Timothy along with him on his journey. After some remarkable events in Lystra, (Acts 16) which we’ve already witnessed, Paul, Silas and Timothy attempted to head further west but were restrained by the Holy Spirit.
Finally, through a vision Paul felt clear instructions from God to head west, across the Aegean Sea into Macedonia. Dr. Luke the physician, evidently encountered Paul in Troas and joined the traveling group as they boarded ship and headed toward Macedonia. Luke is the one who wrote the book of Acts which is informing us about these amazing adventurous travels.
Last week we spent several days with Paul and his group in the great Macedonian city of Philippi where a businesswoman Lydia became the first believer in Jesus Christ and offered her large home to Paul and Silas both as a place of lodging for the duration of their stay in Philippi, but also a place where the Christians could meet with Paul to be taught the truths about Jesus and His Gospel.
Let’s remember please, only two books of the New Testament would have likely been written by this time… James, written by the apostle James, the 1/2 brother of Jesus; and Galatians, written by Paul. We don’t know if any of Paul’s traveling companions had read either letter, but clearly, they were experiencing history being made as they traveled with Paul.
Remarkable things had taken place in Philippi, but now the time had come for this traveling team to move on, so let’s join them today as they leave Philippi in Macedonia. As they bid farewell to their Philippian friends and head down the road, they have so many memories to discuss as they walk along together. Do you remember? Their time here included the expulsion of a demon out of a slave girl which resulted in Paul and Silas receiving a beating, then imprisonment, an earthquake, and being escorted out of the prison by the apologetic ‘magistrates’ of Philippi.
But most significant of all, several people in Philippi have entrusted their lives to Jesus Christ, including Lydia, the prison jailer and their households! The Gospel is certainly taking root in Macedonia, beginning in Philippi!
In Acts 17 Dr. Luke records what happened next: “When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,’ Paul said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.” (Acts 17:1-4)
The journey from Philippi to the next very significant city, Thessalonica, named after one of Alexander the Great’s sisters, would have been about 100 miles. This great city still exists today, did you know that? It’s known as Thessaloniki and is the second largest city in Greece with over 1 million inhabitants in our day! Paul and those with him would have followed one of the great Roman roads called the Via Egnatia.
Along the way they passed through two significant towns, Amphipolis and Apollonia which were almost equidistant from each other, about 32 miles, which was considered the distance of one long day of travel. Luke gives no reason for us to believe Paul and the group lingered in either of the two towns for more than an overnight or a few days at most. Evidently nothing noteworthy occurred in either town, so Luke draws our attention to Thessalonica.
You’ll recall Synagogues were vital to Judaism, especially the further away from the great Temple in Jerusalem that you lived. The requirement for a Synagogue to be constructed and a Rabbi to live and serve in any city was at least 10 adult Jewish males and their families permanent residents of that city. Paul’s pattern was always seeking to find the Synagogue first and start his proclamation of the Gospel there, among the Jews, with whom he felt most comfortable because of his extensive training as a Pharisee. Unlike Philippi, Thessalonica evidently had a fairly large Synagogue and Paul immediately engaged his strategy with some rapid success.
Within three weeks there were already a large number of Jews and Greeks very interested to spend time with Paul and Silas learning about Jesus. Did you notice Luke writes: “As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead.“ We have no record of exactly what Paul said in those times of teaching, but it must have been very powerful, and the Holy Spirit clearly opened the minds and hearts of these people in Thessalonica enabling them to understand God’s truth.
May I ask, has that happened in your city? Are there many men and women in your city who have a deep desire to understand God and His truth and are there also those who have a very deep understanding of God’s Word who are explaining God’s truth with such Holy Spirit anointing and convicting eloquence that many people are believing in Jesus and growing rapidly in their spiritual growth and maturity?
Are you part of that movement in your city my friends? Are you one of those with an almost insatiable hunger for spiritual growth? Are you having the great privilege of sharing God’s truth with others and teaching them what you have learned? Are you growing rapidly in your relationship with Jesus and are you helping others nurture their relationship with Jesus?
Tomorrow we’ll see the harsh reality that suddenly everything changed in Thessalonica, and I wonder if that has happened in your city? We understand the dark kingdom cannot stand by idle, doing nothing, when a movement of God is taking place in a person, a family, a neighborhood, a community, or a region. That’s why Paul, when writing to the Ephesians, challenged them to be aware of the devil’s schemes and to stand firm as the darkness approaches, fully armed with the armor of God! (Eph. 6:10-18)
As we pause today, watching the wonderful initial response in Thessalonica to Paul and his team and the Gospel they are proclaiming, rather than my providing you a wonderful worship song, I invite you to look around your city and evaluate what you see is the current impact and response to the Gospel where you live. And why? What is your analysis of the status of true Christianity in your city? What are the schemes of the devil as he and his dark kingdom seek to oppose God, God’s truth and God’s people in your city? And I’ll see you right back here in Thessalonica tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture is Acts 17:1-4.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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