Turning The World Upside Down Series

In partnership with George Barna, Arizona Christian University just released its annual American Worldview Inventory. The results were disappointing, discouraging, and disheartening. Out of 176 million Americans who identify as Christians, just six percent hold a recognizably Christian worldview.

Barna calls those who subscribe to a Christian worldview “Integrated Disciples.” Here’s some good news about the beliefs of Integrated Disciples…

• 99% believe the Bible is the accurate Word of God.

• 99% believe God is the all-knowing, all-powerful, and just Creator of the universe who still rules today.

• 88% believe God has a reason for everything.

Now, here’s the bad news about the beliefs of this most committed group of Christians…

• 25% say there is no absolute moral truth.

• 33% subscribe to karma.

• 52% believe people are basically good.

• 39% contend the Holy Spirit is not a real, living being but is merely a symbol of God’s power, presence, or purity.

In a recent Breakpoint podcast, John Stonestreet calls this last finding the most troubling part of the survey. I agree because the Bible is clear the Holy Spirit is a “Who,” not a “What.” He is a “He,” not an “it” or a “force.” The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity. He convicts of sin, and is our promised helper, teacher, sanctifier, comforter, and counselor.

There’s no way to understand the Book of Acts without recognizing the work of the Holy Spirit. Some commentators prefer the title, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” since there are 55 references to the Holy Spirit in Acts alone. Because we have the Holy Spirit, you and I can now fulfill the mission mandate found in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

I’d like to draw our attention to a statement made by the enemies of the gospel about the missionary team recorded in Acts 17:6: “These men who have turned the world upside down.” That’s quite a statement, isn’t it? This small team is credited with turning the entire world upside down!

I’m afraid instead of turning our world upside down for Christ, many American Christians have allowed the world to turn them upside down. This no doubt explains our limited impact in our culture today.

Vance Havner once said, “We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.”

Last weekend we celebrated how God uses many methods to get His message out from Acts 16. We focused on how God reached a religious woman, a rejected teenager, and a regular guy. Today, we’re in the first part of Acts 17, where we will be challenged with this truth: To turn the world upside down, the Word must first turn us inside out.

Brothers and sisters, we have two primary roles if we hope to turn the world upside down with the gospel.

• Explain the Word.

• Examine the Word.

Please turn to Acts 17:1 to discover where the team landed after leaving Philippi: “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.” Traveling on the Via Ignatia, which was a Roman highway, they passed through two towns to get to Thessalonica.

Let’s look at our first role.

1. Explain the Word. Let’s ponder Acts 17:2-3: “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.’”

Paul’s strategy involved finding key cities, locating a synagogue, and preaching the gospel. His approach in Thessalonica involved four key elements:

• Reasoned. Notice how he reasoned “from the Scriptures.” Paul spoke back and forth, likely using the Socratic method, which involved the use of questions to engage the listeners.

• Explained. To explain means, “to open what was closed; to unroll.” Paul took the time to make sure his listeners understood what he was saying. He was following the model of Jesus when He opened the Scriptures to the disciples on the road to Emmaus as stated in Luke 24:32: “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?”

• Proved. The word “prove” refers to “setting forth arguments by laying evidence before someone.” Paul presented compelling evidence how Jesus fulfilled hundreds of prophecies found in the Old Testament. My guess is he went to Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 to establish how it was necessary for Jesus to both “suffer and to rise from the dead.” Jesus was clear about this in Mark 8:31: “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Notably, all of Peter and Paul’s sermons in Acts are built around the resurrection. As John Stott says, “Christianity is a resurrection religion.”