All right, so our next series of messages are going to be focusing on Paul's two letters that he wrote to the church at Thessalonica. Anyone know where Thessalonica is at? Greece, there's a good starting point. Yeah, we'll be seeing a map in just a moment. But before we actually get into looking at those letters, Hey, I sent Tim on a wild goose chase, because I said, I don't have my Bible up here. I see it's over here on the piano. It got moved. Let me grab that. Never mind, Tim. I said, I think my Bible is sitting on a table out there. I don't know what happened to it. But anyway, I want to lay a bit of groundwork. regarding these letters that Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, give a little bit of history and the setting behind these letters. And so we start off with a little bit of the history. Paul first went to Thessalonica in his second missionary journey. And as we have the map here, so to help you out, so there's Greece, and then this is Turkey, or as it was known back then, Asia Minor. But Paul was in Asia Minor, and he was actually seeking to go further north and east in Asia Minor, and God shut the door to him going there. but then Paul had a vision and in this vision he saw a man of Macedonia and you see up here Macedon is that northern area of Greece and he saw a man of Macedonia in the vision saying come on over and help us he said oh I think God is calling me to go to Macedonia with the gospel. And so he crossed over and landed at Philippi. And at Philippi, he first preached Christ, and then he traveled over to Thessalonica, and the red arrow points to Thessalonica. over there, further west in Macedonia. Thessalonica still exists today. If you look on a map, it'll either be listed as Salonica or Thessaloniki. Those are the two ways that you'll see it on today's maps. But back in Paul's day, Thessalonica was the largest and most important city in that region of Macedonia. It was like the seat of government for that region. And in 146 BC, it had been given that distinction of being the seat of Roman provincial power, and it was a major trading city, because not only was it a seaport city that had access to the entire Mediterranean region from that, but one of the Roman roads that traversed from the far west side came across the mountains right through Thessalonica on the way, so it had land trade routes, it had sea routes, access right there at Thessalonica, and so it was a major center of everything. In 42 AD, it had been granted a measure of self-rule by Caesar, because there had been a kind of internal civil war between leaders of the Roman Empire and Macedonia and Thessalonica specifically sided with Octavian who ended up winning that power struggle and so in in a reward for their standing with Octavian during this power struggle, he said, you know what? You get to rule yourselves. You are a trustworthy people. And so the city of Macedonia or the city of Thessalonica and the region of Macedonia is like, wow, we've got freedom within the empire. We can have self-determination because we are trusted people by the empire. This is important. because they had magistrates in the city of Thessalonica specifically who are known as polytarchs and in the verses that we're going to be reading this morning from Acts 17 we find that very word polytarchs used but for centuries skeptics would read the Bible and they would read that passage in Acts chapter 17 that talks about the polytarchs of Thessalonica, and they would say, it's clear that the author of Acts knew nothing about the Roman Empire because the Roman Empire did not have polytarchs. That was not an office of the Roman government. And guess what? Archaeology said otherwise. they discovered in Thessalonica a stone from the gate of the city that was inscribed that said, given by the polytarchs, and then it named the polytarchs who were responsible for giving this gate to the city. And not only that, but some of the names that were included on that inscription, so Scipiter, Secundus, and Gaius are names that Paul mentions with Thessalonica. Wow. And then 16 other inscriptions were later found that also mentioned Polytarchs. in either Thessalonica or other parts of Macedonia. And so the scripture was authenticated by the archeology. The accuracy of the biblical record has been validated. And so we're gonna go to Acts chapter 17, and we're going to read verses one through nine, where Paul talks about his visit to Thessalonica. Macedonia, and specifically Thessalonica, or Luke is writing about Paul's travels there, and it says, now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures, 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. 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. 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. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities," there's the word, polytarchs, the city authorities, shouting, "'These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.' And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. So what happens here? As we said before, it's his second missionary journey. One of the things I didn't read about, but we find in the previous chapter, they came to Thessalonica after the ministry of Philippi, which resulted in Paul and Silas being jailed and beaten. because of preaching Christ, because of the jealousy of the Jews. And of course, at Philippi, that's where Paul said, Are you going to do this to Roman citizens? And when they heard that they are Roman citizens, the authorities were fearful, they let them loose said, Please don't report us to Caesar. Right, just let's let bygones be bygones. But after that, ill treatment at Philippi, they traveled to Thessalonica, and as we read here, for three Sabbath days, for three weeks in a row, he met in the synagogue, but then what happened? Riots, and they had to escape. We read the very next verse that then, verse 10, the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. Get out, they're gonna kill you, right? So we've got two ministries in a row here where what is the result of Paul's ministry? Persecution, riots, violence, threats, et cetera. However, even though his ministry here at Thessalonica only lasted for three weeks, What happened is a church was started, just like it happened in Philippi. And by the way, the church at Thessalonica became a major stronghold of the faith for several centuries, even though he only was there for three weeks. And so we see God's faithfulness in this. But I want us to take kind of a deeper dive into this passage that we read regarding what did Paul do when he got to Thessalonica? How did he engage in ministry? What are the things that he did? Well, the very first thing that we read that he did is that he reasoned with them from the Scriptures. He went to the synagogue and reasoned with them. In the Greek word there is actually dialogue. He dialogued with the people. So tell me, what does that mean? Oh, back and forth a conversation, a give and take. Paul didn't go into the synagogue to lecture them. He read the scriptures. And he said, Hey, folks, did you know? And there's a no that can't be well, let's check it out. And back and forth. Right. And so by the way, this is, this was something that every single one of us can do. I don't care who you are. how much you have studied formally the Bible or how much informal study of the Bible you have had, you can dialogue with someone else about the scriptures. Does that mean you have all the answers? No. But you can engage in conversation about them. However, if we're going to have a dialogue about the scriptures, It might be helpful if we are familiar with the thing that we're talking about, right? It becomes very readily apparent when somebody is speaking out of ignorance, right? So if you're going to dialogue with someone else about the scriptures, maybe take some time to become familiar with it yourself. Does that require going to Bible college or seminary? No, that can be helpful. but you can study it on your own. In fact, I remember one of my professors in Bible college talking about his mom. His mom never went to college of any kind. He says, I can never beat my mom in Bible trivia. She beats me every time. This guy is seminary educated. And he can't beat his mom at Bible trivia. Why? She was living in that Word her whole life. He's like, wow, I wish I knew the Bible as well as my mom. Do you think she could dialogue with someone about the Scriptures? Because she was daily in the Word. meditating on it, devouring it, cherishing it. And it was deeply embedded in her heart and her mind. And so in the conversation, oh, this is the scripture. Oh, this is what it says. This is what she knew it inside and out. Every one of us can become that familiar with the scriptures, just by spending time in the word. And so We could reason with others. We could dialogue with others about the scriptures. But what specifically did Paul dialogue with these Jews about? Well, the necessity of Christ's suffering and resurrection. He said this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ. So there's the. the tie-in he said first of all the Old Testament scriptures the prophecies declared that the Messiah would suffer and that after suffering he would rise again he pointed him to the Old Testament and then he says oh and by the way Jesus is that Christ because he fulfilled all the things that the prophets had foretold see this whole thing of the suffering and death and resurrection of the Messiah. This was not a new teaching invented by the apostles. They went to the Old Testament scriptures. They said, look, here is where Isaiah spoke of this. Here is where the other prophets spoke of these things. We've just missed it. It's been there all along. It had been ignored or overlooked by the prevailing religious authorities. They were blinded by their own preconceived ideas. Don't we fall into the same trap? I know how the program works, and therefore when I read the Bible, I fit it into my program. Sometimes we need to be deprogrammed. before we can actually read it with understanding. And that's one of the things that Jesus, I mean, how many times do we find in the gospel accounts where Jesus in talking to the religious authorities, basically said, you don't know what you're talking about. Let me educate you. Let me enlighten you. This is what the word says. And then he tells them what the word says. Oh, that's not it. He says, this is what Moses said. This is what the prophet said. He just took them back to the Word. And that's what Paul did. He just went back to the Word in his dialogue with these Jewish leaders. Basically, he was telling them, you have been led astray by your preconceived notions. But here's what the Scripture says. Here's what God says in His Word. And so, Paul took the Jews to their own Scriptures rather than the commentaries of the rabbis. And by the way, we have the same danger to watch out for. If we're trusting the commentaries more than the scriptures, we're in danger. I'm not saying commentaries are never any good. I appreciate and use commentaries, but there are many times I will read a commentary and say, wait a minute, I look back at the scripture and I look back at the commentary. This doesn't seem to measure up. Now, sometimes what that ends up with is, as I study more deeply, I realize, oh, there's another layer here that I was not aware of that then makes the commentary right and applicable. So I've been educated. Other times, I try to follow where they're at and say, no, this just does not add up. They have put their meaning into this. Okay, both things are possible. And so we need to be, first and foremost, sensitive to the Word of God, guided by the Spirit of God, so that we are staying true to what God desires. So that's what Paul did here. He was challenging the teachings of the rabbis, the teachings of the fathers, using the Word of God. And he showed them what God had said, and then in that, pointed out how Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the Word of God, fulfilled the prophecies from the Old Testament. And so, as Paul did these things, what were the results? Well, we find that some believed, some were persuaded, along with the devout Greeks and some of the leading women. But then it says the majority of the Jews were jealous. And they formed a mob to attack. This is really instructive for us. Because first thing that I want to point out here, where is the majority opinion? The wrong opinion, right? Just because it's popular, doesn't mean it's right. Just because it's unpopular doesn't mean it's wrong. But don't we as people tend to follow the numbers? Right? The majority were jealous and formed a mob. Some believed. Some were persuaded. We've got to understand that in our own personal ministries. Some will believe. Some will be persuaded. But it very well might be that many will reject it. Was that true with Jesus' ministry? Did that mean that Jesus was wrong in His ministry? Does that mean that Jesus was a failure? How about Paul? No. I mean, this is the consistent message that we see throughout the Bible. is that in most cases, in fact, Jesus used this concept. Remember where Jesus talked about the two ways, the two gates, right? What was the broad way and people on it? Where did it go? To destruction. And many there be that find it, he said. But narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it, Jesus said. So that's one of the things that we need to be reminded of periodically. That just because we don't see the numbers that we hope for, that we expect, doesn't mean that we've failed. It's just that's the way they treated Jesus. That's the way they treated the apostles. That's the way they treated the prophets of the Old Testament. You know, the majority of people don't like being told the truth by God. Because what is the truth? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Don't you call me a sinner. Right? Isn't that what we do? I'm a good person. I don't deserve to go to hell. God has a different opinion. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I mean, think about even there's one case where as Jesus and the disciples were engaged in ministry, they they got word of a tragedy that occurred, and a tower fell on a number of people and killed them. And of course, the Jews in their kind of normal human response. See, those must have been horrible sinners and God's justice found them. And how did Jesus deal with that? Do you suppose those were any worse? No, I say that unless you repent, you will also likewise perish. They're no worse than anybody else. We all deserve death. We all deserve chastisement from God. We are all sinners in need of repentance. But we don't like hearing that message. We like to think the best about ourselves. That was one of the reasons why the majority here rose up in a riot. How dare you tell us that we're the chosen people of God? How dare you tell us we've rejected God's way and God's Messiah. We would never do such a thing. We're Abraham's children. You know, that's what they tried to tell Jesus. And he said, I tell you, God is able to from these stones rise up children to Abraham. So as we carry on in ministry for God, we've got to anticipate that it may be the few that listen and believe. And it may be many that even get angry with us and try to harm us. But that does not change our responsibility to speak the truth. Here we read that the mob attacked the house of Jason. That's probably where Paul and his friends had been staying. Or perhaps that's where they had been meeting together with those who had received the word at the synagogue. We don't know that specific detail, but when the mob came to Jason's house and they're looking for blood, they're looking for Paul. and they couldn't find Paul and Silas. And so they dragged Jason and some of the other believers before the polytarchs, the rulers of the city, and accused them of acting against Caesar, treason. Oh, that's a big charge. But here we have another lesson that we can draw from this passage and this example of Paul's ministry in Thessalonica. following Christ might lead to people lying about us, twisting our words and accusing us of things trying to harm us, trying to get us into trouble. Paul wasn't rallying for a new king to replace Caesar. Jason wasn't doing that, but that's what they were accused of. They were lied about. Their words were twisted. And so Jason and the others had to pay fines in order to be released. It cost them money to follow Jesus. What about Paul and Silas? Well, verse 10, they escaped by night. The believers said, get out while you can. Right? Now think about that. Paul's engaged in ministry, and the people that he's engaged in ministry with are telling him, go away, leave, because the people here are going to imprison you and maybe kill you. What do you think Paul's heart was? I want to stay. I just barely got started here. I mean, when we read through the accounts of Paul's missionary journeys. His typical pattern is that he would stay several months in one location in order to build a solid foundation with this group of new believers. Here, he's got a group of new believers in Thessalonica. They've only been with him for two or three weeks. And he's like, so much more that I need to say so much more that I want to do. I don't know if I can leave these people. And yet he was compelled. He was forced out of his ministry by the kindness of the people he was ministering to. Right. So they were sent away by night. And we read that they then went to Berea, a neighboring city, and carried on the very same kind of ministry there. I want to focus on a point that I made earlier, that I'm just talking about here. How long was Paul's ministry in Thessalonica? Three weeks. Three Sabbath days. What was the result of it? A church was built. See, we have a tendency to think, oh, the result was a riot. That wasn't the result. No, the real result was a church was started. And a church that we know had centuries of impact in the region. So, even though, there we go, even though his ministry only lasted three weeks, and we might focus on that, it was only three weeks when it could have been so much more, it did result in a church. which that was God's plan. The planting of a church in that town was God's design. So whether it took three weeks or three years was irrelevant. Paul preached, God blessed, and a church was started. Paul would have loved to stay longer at Thessalonica because he wanted to instruct them more in the way of God. However, God worked circumstances and said, nope, it's time for you to move on because there are other people that need to hear, right? Just as Paul had been directed by the vision to come to Macedonia in the first place with the gospel, he was now forced by these circumstances to move on to the next location with the gospel message. And Paul then had to entrust these new believers in Thessalonica to God's care. Did God know about them? Did God care about them? Was God able to meet their needs and help them to grow and continue on? Yes. Because they weren't Paul's babies. They were God's. God's going to care for them, whether through Paul or some other means. And so Paul, by this time in his ministry, had learned, I can entrust them to God's care. God cares about them even more than I do. And I can carry on with the work that God called me to do. But he didn't abandon the church at Thessalonica. That's where we get to these letters that he wrote. Well, he's, you know, because God was constantly telling him, go, go, go, go to the regions beyond. And that was one of the things that Paul wrote about of his, if you will, philosophy of ministry. He said, God has empowered me and called me to go to regions where the gospel has never been preached. That was his purpose from God. He was a pioneer with the gospel message. And then, as Paul pointed out, and then God brings other people along who, you know, I planted, Apollos watered, God gives the increase, right? That's the pattern that Paul spoke of to the Corinthians. But he said, whether by me or by somebody else, God is being glorified. God is doing his work. I'm just being faithful with what God called me to do, where God calls me to go, when God calls me to go there, right? That's the way Paul had to address this. So as we think of that, And starting next week, we're gonna be looking at 1 Thessalonians, and as we get through that, we'll look at 2 Thessalonians, these letters that Paul wrote to these specific believers that he only had three weeks with at his first ministry visit. But as we think about this today, the foundation of that ministry, the background of that ministry, how do we apply that to us? Is it possible that you and I may not always get to fulfill our plans of ministry? It's not going to go the way we thought it was going to go. Yeah, absolutely. But can we entrust the results to God? That if all I get is three weeks, God can use those three weeks. If all I get is one time of visiting, God can use that one time. If, you know, whatever it is, if the result is, oh, I'm thrown in prison, can God use that? Think about the Philippian jailer. Did, you know, here's this jailer who heard the message of the gospel because God's missionary was in prison to them. and his household was saved. Can God use even those horrible situations, terrible things? Absolutely. And that's what Paul entrusted himself to. God is at work. Even if it's not going according to my plan, it's according to God's plan. We can trust the results to God as we give ourselves fully to him. The question is, are we willing to give ourselves fully to God. When God calls us to go, are we ready to go? Or do we have to say, I'm still trying to finish this. God says, No, it's time to move on to that. Somebody else will pick up where you left off. You did everything I planned for you to do here. I'm sure in some respects, that was a difficult thing for Paul. I mean, he loved these people as his own children. He wanted to see them grow and succeed in the faith. And yet when God told him, nope, time to move on, he had to do it. And so as we think about all of these things, you know, God's faithfulness in calling, God's faithfulness in using us, his servants, God's faithfulness in the results of the message preached, God's faithfulness in the direction that he gives us and the follow through. It's God's message. It's God's people. It's God's church. And we are God's servants. And so we, what do we proclaim to others? Jesus is the Christ. And it was necessary for him to suffer and to die for your salvation. And for mine. That's our message. And what if people say, I hate what you're saying. Okay, it's still true. And God still loves you. even if you hate the message. We're not responsible for the results. We're responsible for our faithful obedience. We're responsible to do what God has called us to do and entrust all of the rest of the details to Him. And so as we go forward in these coming weeks with Okay, what are the other things that Paul wanted to teach these people that he couldn't teach them during those first three weeks? There's things for us to learn, things for us to be challenged with. But for now, it's this matter of, am I going to be like Paul, and like these believers at Thessalonica, who even in the face of persecution, even in the face of trouble, will stay firm, trusting God, obeying God and allowing God to take care of the things that I can't, because He's God and I'm not. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you truly are in control of all things. You give us life and you are the one that knows the day of our death. You give us abilities and desires, and you also call us to new realms of ministry and challenges that we've not even comprehended, that sometimes we think are beyond our abilities. And yet you tell us that you will enable us as we follow you. Father, we think of the challenges that Paul faced, that as he was faithfully obeying you and delivering your message, he was faced with opposition and persecution and imprisonment and beatings. Lord, help us to be willing that if that is what you call us to, that we would still obey, still be faithful. And that if you cut short our plans, in ministry that we would entrust you to carry on because your plan is far greater than ours. Help us to trust you in the big things as well as the little things. Help us to glorify you by life or by death with our words and our actions, with our attitudes. Help us to display your love and compassion to those who are opposed to you, because that is how you responded to us while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. Thank you for this example. And Father, help us to be faithful in carrying on the role of ministry that you have given to each one of us, that you would be glorified. And we thank you for the privilege of being your children, in Jesus' name, amen.