The Path to Christian Nobility
Series: Acts
Chuck Sligh
June 4, 2017
TEXT: Acts 17:10-12 - “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.”
INTRODUCTION
Illus. - Americans don’t cotton too well to the idea of nobility. When we declared independence from England in 1776, we embraced a whole new idea---the idea that “all men are created equal.” This idea is deeply etched in the American psyche and we reject the idea of privilege based on heredity, the basis for the ancient concept of nobility.
But did you know that there is a path to Christian nobility? In verse 11 of our text, Luke described the believers of Berea as “noble.” - “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica…”
I looked up the Greek word this is translated from eugenes (Strong’s #2104), and it means, “well born, i.e. (literally) high in rank.” In this verse, he’s saying that compared to the Thessalonian thugs in verses 1-9 who caused a riot and assaulted Jason’s house, these Bereans were noble by comparison. They were more noble acting, or noble-minded, which in both Greek and English is the second meaning of “noble”---the idea of acing in a fair way without malice or suspicion.
What was it that these Bereans did that caused Paul to describe them this way? How can you and I be considered noble in God’s eyes?---By responding to God’s Word the way they did.
Our text tells us three ways to respond to the preaching of God’s Word. If you’ll do these three things whenever you hear God’s Word preached---like the Bereans, you too can earn the distinction of Christian nobility Let’s look at three noble ways to respond to the preaching of the Bible---and become a Berean:
I. FIRST, LISTEN WITH AN OPEN MIND - Verses 11 - “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind…”
The Greek word translated readiness here means “eagerness, willingness, readiness.” They did not come to hear what Paul had to say with presuppositions that would be barriers to the receiving truth. They were willing to hear what he had to say with an open mind.
Many people we talk to begin with prejudices and biases that make them more like the Thessalonian thugs than the Bible-believing Bereans. They’re closed-minded. They won’t even listen to you because their mind is already made up. They don’t WANT to accept anything the Bible has to say.
For instance, some people summarily reject Christianity out-of-hand because they refuse to entertain even the remotest possibility that this universe and all life did not evolve into existence by chance. In his newsletter, Just Thinking, Ravi Zacharias, a PhD who regularly lectures in defense of Christianity at such places as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale universities, tells about how in the last 2-3 decades there has been an steady stream of articles, papers and books written that has dealt distressing blows to the theory of evolution---and let’s not forget that it IS only a theory.
Many of these who are questioning evolution are not themselves Christians, just open-minded scientists who have just come to the conclusion that the theory of unguided evolution has major problems. Listen to what Dr. Zacharias says:
…Reason magazine in its July 1997 issue pointed out that there is a sophisticated lineup of thinkers now questioning Darwinism.
Take, for example, professor Michael Behe’s book Darwin’s Black Box. Behe is Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania...Behe’s book basically challenges the naturalist into recognizing that biochemical evolution is impossible. In just one of the many outstanding chapters he illustrates his point by describing the chemical changes that are set in motion to generate sight. From the moment a photon hits the retina to the end result of an imbalance of charge that causes a current to be transmitted down the optic nerve to the brain, resulting in sight, a series of chemical reactions have taken place that in evolution’s mechanism would have been impossible. His bottom-line argument is this: The irreducible complexity of human cells meets Darwin’s test of what it would take to prove Darwinism false.
How does the scientific community react to this? One scientist sitting next to me at a meeting said, “Give us time; we will find an answer.” If that was not a betrayal of bigotry in its determination to find materialistic answers at all costs, I do not know what is. If the theist [a theist is someone who believes in God] uttered such hopes were theism to face such an impossible explanation, he or she would be mocked with the same venom that Darrow spewed upon William Jennings Bryan in the infamous Scopes trial.…
Later in the article, Zacharias shows how, when many scientists are faced with these insurmountable evidences against evolution, rather than seriously give consideration to the Bible’s account of creation, they’ll believe things that are simply incredible, considering that we’re talking about noted scientists with more degrees after their names than a thermometer.
G.K. Chesterton once said, “When men cease to believe the Bible, the danger is not that they will believe nothing, but that they will believe anything.”
Zacharias gives one example of this:
…Such are the vagaries of the human mind in its bent to reject the rational and settle for the indubitably irrational. Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick in 1973 proposed that life on earth may have begun when aliens from another planet sent a rocket ship containing spores to seed the earth. Just in case we think he was being funny, don’t laugh. He reiterated this belief in a 1992 interview with Scientific American.
If one begins with hardened pre-made assumption (known as an a priori presupposition) that there is no God no matter what evidence to the contrary, then one is left with only two conclusion about how all life on earth came to be---evolution or aliens. Folks, that’s closed-mindedness. That’s blind faith in chance; it’s certainly not science and in this case, this blind faith borders on the preposterous
Now the Bereans weren’t like this. They listened patiently to Paul with an open mind.
Now, we can condemn---maybe even piously chuckle at---lost scientists who are so closed-minded they can’t see what even an elementary school student can see---that if there’s a painting, there must be a paintER; if there’s a building, there must be a buildER; and if there’s a creation, there must be a creator.
But many believers in Jesus Christ can be just as closed-minded to what God says.
Illus. - I remember talking to a guy I’ll call Robert who had come to our church in Wiesbaden from a church where they sprinkle for baptism rather that completely immerse like we believe and practice here. He wanted to join our church, but refused to be baptized scripturally.
As we discussed the issue, Robert wasn’t even willing to examine the issue to see what the Bible said. “Pastor Sligh,” he said, “don’t even try to show me the verses. I’m not going to be baptized again if that’s what I have to do to join the church.”
I can understand disagreeing after examining all the biblical data, but to simply say, “Don’t even show me the verses?”---that doesn’t sound like a Berean.
Illus. - How very different from a lady named Marie who also had been saved in a church which differed from us on baptism, but who was so open-minded. She said, “Well, Pastor, if you can show me what you’re saying is in the Bible, that’s all I need to know. If the Bible says it, I’ll do it.” Well, I showed her and she did it…the very next Sunday.
Why?--- Because she was a Berean. She was more noble than Robert, not because Robert disagreed with what we teach, but because he was at least open-minded enough to consider something different if the Bible taught it.
Are you open minded about Bible-based preaching and teaching? I’m not saying that when I get up to preach, you have to accept everything I say hook, line, and sinker. No, in fact, just the opposite, as we’ll see in a moment. God does want you to listen with discerning ears, but you should be open-minded when the preacher shows you something in God’s Word. If what he says is from God’s Word---obey it on the authority of God because it’s what GOD says---not because it’s what the preacher says!
Don’t close your mind to the preaching of God’s Word! Be open-minded to the truth of God’s Word, like the Bereans were---which leads me to the second thing you should do when you hear God’s Word preached:
II. EVALUATE WITH AN OPEN BIBLE - Verse 11 goes on to say that the Bereans “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
They didn’t just automatically accept what they heard from Paul. They were open-minded, but not WIDE-open-minded.
They used a standard by which to judge Paul’s preaching. They evaluated what Paul was preaching by what the BIBLE said because what PAUL said really wasn’t important; it’s what GOD said through Paul that what was vital! Paul’s authority only extended as far as what he taught agreed with the Word of God.
The Bereans saw the Bible as the ultimate guide to all questions of faith and practice. If something a preacher said agreed with the Bible as they understood it, the Bereans accepted it after much study in the Word, because it says they “searched the scriptures DAILY whether those things were so.” If it had not agreed with the Bible, they would have rejected it.
Illus. - The story is told of a woman named Mary whom the great English reformer John Knox, was sharing the Gospel with: At that time, Roman Catholicism still held sway in many hearts in England. But Mary had listened intently to Knox’s bold proclamation of salvation by faith alone and his rejection of the works-system Roman Catholicism teaches. She said to John Knox, “You interpret the Scriptures in one way, and the Pope and the Cardinals in another way. Whom shall I believe, and who shall be the judge?” How wise was Knox’s reply: “You shall believe God, who speaketh plainly in His Word; and further than the Word teacheth you, you shall believe neither the one nor the other---neither the Pope nor the reformers, neither the [Catholics] nor the Protestants. The Word of God is plain in itself.”
That is sage advice. The Bereans didn’t consult the ancient Hebrew fathers to interpret the Word for them. They didn’t go to a priest or a rabbi to interpret the Word for them. They went directly to the Scriptures THEMSELVES and investigated THEMSELVES and came to a conclusion about the veracity of Paul’s preaching THEMSELVES---not through their own wisdom, but by comparing Paul’s teaching with the infinite wisdom of the Word of God.
And folks, the only way the Bereans could do this was to become students of God’s Word.
Christian---learn to be a Berean and know your Bible!
How many false doctrines are spread because people are not Bereans.
Illus. - It is shocking how many people I’ve met who were followers of false teachers like Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn and a host of other false teachers of the Word of Faith movement, and even the feel-good purveyers of the Health and Wealth Gospel like the late Robert Schuller and Joel Olteen. - When I speak with people who believe these, I conclude: they either don’t know what these guys really believe, or they’re really ignorant of God’s Word.
Listen to what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 - “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
The phrase “rightly dividing” means literally “to cut it straight.” We would say, “tell it like it is; don’t give me no bull.” It refers to rightly handling and rightly interpreting God’s Word.
How can you be a workman for God who is not ashamed?---By studying God’s Word. How can you rightly interpret God’s Word?---By studying it. How can you know the doctrine of some slick TV teacher isn’t “telling it like it is”?---By studying God’s Word.
I challenge you to do more than just read a Bible devotional every day---STUDY IT!
Illus. - A circuit-riding preacher entered one church building with his young son, and dropped a coin into the offering box in the back. Not many came that Sunday, and those who did seemed unexcited about the sermon. After the service, the preacher and son walked to the back, and he emptied the box where he had dropped the coin in when he had entered. Out fell the one coin he had put in. The young boy said, “Dad, if you’d have put more in, you’d have gotten more out!”
This is true of scripture as well: The more time you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it! I challenge you to take some time each week to STUDY the Bible. There are many studies you can do to increase your understanding of the Bible and increase your ability to discern truth and identify error like the Bereans. I would also recommend that you attend Sunday School and a homegroup or a Bible Study as well as the Sunday morning services. It’s in those settings that we really STUDY the Word of God. It’s there that we study it in its broader context and see what it’s all about, and we compare scripture with scripture and we learn how to apply it to our issues and problems and the questions of our day.
Be a Berean!---Know God’s Word; study it; use it as a sword to rightly divide truth from error in the conflicting teachings you hear.
III. THE THIRD THING SHOULD YOU WHEN YOU HEAR GOD’S WORD PREACHED IS TO BELIEVE IT WITH AN OPEN HEART. - Look at verse 12 - “Therefore many of them believed.”
Notice the first word of the verse: “Therefore.” Now in the Bible, whenever you see the word therefore, see what it’s there for.
There’s a clear sequence here: The truth was proclaimed by the preacher… The hearers came to the preaching with open minds… Then they searched the scriptures to verify the veracity and validity of the message they heard. THEREFORE, in the hearts of many of them there was a natural response---they believed!
Now let me ask you this: Have you had an open mind about the Bible and the Gospel? Have you seriously examined the Word of God to see if there is truth in it? And have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?
Let me be honest with you---your eternity hangs on the answer to that question. You, like all of humanity, will either go to live in heaven with God eternally, or be cast into hell. Which will it be? Today, right now, accept the truth of the Word of God. Have an open mind---Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION
Now, what are you going to do with this message today? Let me close by asking you to consider three penetrating questions:
1) Believer, is there a truth you need to obey, or sin you need to repent of and forsake, that you have closed your mind to that you should take care of today?
Open your mind and heart to what GOD wants for you. His will is ALWAYS best for your life! Turn from your sin; confess it; obey the Lord.
2) Second, how much time are you spending in the Word searching the Scriptures; studying it to show yourself approved unto God?
Maybe you need to get some helps to guide you a little deeper into God’s Word. Maybe you need to decide to be faithful to Sunday School or a homegroup of the church so that you can learn more of God’s Word. Decide today to become a true Berean by being a student of the Word.
3) Finally, have you believed?
Have you turned from sin and given your life to Jesus? Have you been een what the Bible calls “saved”? If, you need to put your life in the Lord’s hands today and trust Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.
