When Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica, the Jews out of jealousy persecuted Paul and Silas and shortly after they left Thessalonica and went to Berea. Today’s passage tells us the results of Paul preaching the Gospel there. The Bereans “received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (11) Also many people were saved.
To listen to the Word of God eagerly and to examine the Scriptures every day is the base of our Christian life. It is the most important thing for having a blessed Christian life. With a little help of dictionaries, commentaries, etc. any one can understand the Bible. Through the Bible we will be blessed abundantly. Therefore, today let’s look at 3 aspects of examining the Bible.
I. From Thessalonica to Berea (vs.10)
After Paul and Silas were persecuted in Thessalonica, the Christians there secretly snuck Paul and Silas out of Thessalonica and sent them away to Berea. Berea was a prominent city at the foot of the mountains which would make it a good place to flee too. Berea was about 80 kilometers east of Thessalonica. It would have taken Paul and Silas 2 or 3 days to get there. As soon as they arrived in Berea they went to the Jewish synagogue. They didn’t even rest. More important to them than keeping themselves safe or taking a rest was to preach the Gospel. Therefore, they went directly to the synagogue. Paul went there to do as he did in Thessalonica, to dispute the Scriptures. There was a great possibility that by doing so they would again be arrested and sent out. Even though Paul had experienced this many times, he didn’t stop preaching the Gospel. The reason is given in 20:32.
Paul said these words when he met with the Ephesian elders at the port of Miletus and was preaching his farewell address to them. He is saying that he is committing the important Ephesians and all the people that were saved on his missionary trip “to God and the word of his grace”. This is because God and the word of God can build them up and give them an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Therefore, Paul did not stop preaching the Gospel.
In fact, after this in verse 15 Paul and Silas are persecuted here too and end up going to Antioch. The second missionary trip started from Philippi with Paul and Silas. At Lystra Timothy joined the group and at Troas Luke joined the group making it a 4 member group. However, in 17:1 Luke changes from “we” to “they” meaning that Luke stayed in Philippi and didn’t go to Thessalonica. Paul, Silas and Timothy were sent away to Berea. Paul was thrown out of Berea too. From there he went to Antioch by himself. In other words, Luke was in Philippi, Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea, and Paul only went on to Antioch. That means there was no one in Thessalonica. There must have been great concern about the new Christians there. However, Paul’s attitude was, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (20:32)
We never know when the pastors, evangelists, and teachers are going to be taken from us so we need to always study the Bible. We have to read the Word of God by ourselves. We don’t know when a persecution like that of Berea or Thessalonica will occur. It’s difficult to imagine that the pastors and evangelists will be thrown out of the church. However, there is a huge possibility of the opposite happening. In other words, laymen are pulled away from the church. An example of this is a person being pulled away from Sunday worship by their boss at work. We are sometimes not given a choice and sent away to another town by being transferred in our jobs. In such cases we keep our faith by the word of God. We need to read the Bible individually every day and find the will of God. If we fail in doing this, then we will fail in our Christian life.
Jesus said that he was the shepherd and we are the sheep in John 10:2-4. Our shepherd, Jesus, knows the names of his sheep, us. The sheep (us) need to know the voice of their shepherd, Jesus. If you don’t know the voice of your shepherd, you follow the wrong shepherd. Therefore, the sheep have to be able to distinguish their shepherd’s voice. Therefore, through the Bible we need to listen to our Shepherd’s voice and learn His will. The Holy Spirit will through the Bible give us the ability to hear our Shepherd’s voice.
ＩＩ． Eagerness for the Word of God (vs.11)
Verse 11 tells us how the Bereans examined the Word of God. This is a short statement, but one that leaves a strong impression in our hearts. This passage gives us 3 characteristics of the Bereans.
1. “The Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians.” (11) The original meaning of noble was “gentle, docile”. In other words their minds were free. They weren’t like the Jews who wouldn’t accept any other ways of thinking. They were open to the truth. To have such a soft, gentle heart is difficult especially for elders who have their experience to base things upon. We may think we are not like the Jews, but in reality we close our hearts to others that think differently than we do. Of course it is important to have confidence in what we believe in. We shouldn’t waiver from the basics. However, it is dangerous to insist that your ideas are the only ideas and not accept anything else on the perimeters. In the case of the Berean Jews, they had confidence that the creator of this world, and the one and only God who controls all things would send the Savior to this world. However, they didn’t know who this Savior was. When they heard about the Savior from Paul, they weren’t like the Thessalonians who said, “That can’t be!” Instead they questioned if that could be or not, and examined the Bible to see. Because they had an open heart they “were of more noble character than the Thessalonians.” (11)
2. “They received the message with great eagerness.” (11) “Great eagerness” means “take an interest in”. They didn’t just listen to the message, but they listened deeply with eagerness, and with interest. This resulted in the third characteristic.
3. They “examined the Scriptures every day.” (11) When we think of “examining the Scriptures”, we usually think of something that specialists like Pastors or seminary students do. However the Bereans heard Paul’s preaching and then once more “they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (11) In an age where people didn’t individually own a Bible, this was quite a feat. This shows their endurance and eagerness to know the truth.
It is important that each person in the church reads the Bible, examines it, and be built up by the Word of God. The Bible is called Spiritual milk. Just as babies grow by drinking milk, Christians grow by reading the Bible. As we grow, we need solids too. Therefore, we need to study the Bible more deeply so that we will be able to grow and share the Word with others. Those who eagerly accept and examine the Word of God are blessed. Next let’s look at the blessings they receive.
III. Many people entered the faith. (vs. 12-15)
Many of the Berean Jews who eagerly listened to the Word of God and “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true”, (11) entered the faith. Not only that, but “When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up.”, but the Berean Jewish Christians were able to immediately send Paul on to Antioch. Paul who was putting his life on the line to preach was taken care of by the Berean Jewish Christians who put their lives on the line to help him. It was probably very difficult for them, but they took care of Paul and thus shared in the work of God. Their faith was at work within them. By faith they became one and they prayed for each other and supported each other. That type of faith was born in their hearts because they were eager for the Word of God and “examined the Scriptures every day.” (11) They lived that much by the Word of God. The foundation of their faith was also laid by the leadership of Silas and Timothy who remained there. In Acts 20:4 the name Sopater appears. Sopater is thought to have become a leader in the Berean church. He went with Paul on his third missionary trip and helped support the work. That was because even after Paul left, he continued to accept the word of God and everyday examine it, and followed the Word of God. Therefore, no matter what persecutions came his way, no matter what troubles he was in, he was able to continue, he was able to stay rooted in the Word of God and could be built up firmly. It all came from the Bereans eagerness for the Word of God.
An abundant staff, plenty of money, lots of good plans will not bring church growth. Neither will a grand church building or having a pastor who is at the church all day create church growth. The key is each individual being tied to the Word of God and growing by it. It is by listening to the Word of God, and distinguishing the only true Shepherd’s voice and following the Shepherd, our Lord. Then the Lord will leave us to an abundant place to graze. This Shepherd was so faithful that he gave His life for the sheep. We will not be mistaken by following Him.
II Tim. 2:13
Therefore we need to read the Bible daily. The Word of God is called a sword, but a sword is no good unless we hold it up with our hands Therefore, we need to pick up the Bible, read it, use it and follow the real Shepherd, Jesus Christ’s voice, In this way we will continue to be on fire and have an zealous spirit.