Turning The World Upside Down

Acts 17:1-15

Any parents reading this might recognize this scene - you leave your children alone in a room for a few minutes, perhaps to step out into the yard for a moment, or into the kitchen to get dinner started, and you come back to your children, and the room is not the same as before.  The mother might say to her child that he has “turned the room upside down”.  It’s not in the same condition as it was before, everything is different, and you might not even recognize it.  With children, that’s not usually a good thing, as they have made a mess.  However, sometimes it is a good thing.  When one is redecorating or remodeling a house, for a while the place is “turned upside down”, but the end result is usually good.  In our Scripture reading today from this week’s Lectionary from the Book of Common Prayer, we read of some who were accused of turning the world upside down.  Those who said this didn’t feel it was good, but I’m sure the Lord was pleased, and would like more of us to be doing just that.

As our passage opens, Paul and his companions had left the city of Philippi, where they had started a church and ministry, and had also been beaten and imprisoned for preaching the gospel.  They journeyed on, now coming to the city of Thessalonica.  Thessalonica was the capital and principal city of the Roman province of Macedonia, in current, present-day northern Greece.  As was Paul’s custom during each of his missionary journeys, he looked for a local synagogue.  If he found one, he would go there on the Sabbath.  Most synagogues had the custom of inviting a guest to speak.  Paul would gladly accept, and using the Old Testament Scriptures, proceed to show how Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah, and preach salvation in His Name (vs. 1-3).  Over the next several weeks Paul returned, giving the same message, and some came to believe in the saving Name of Jesus, both Jews and Gentiles.

This, however, did not sit well with the Jewish leaders.  Many refused to accept that Jesus was the Messiah, someone who their own religious leaders had put to death, and who now was being claimed to have risen from the dead.  They were also furious that this new religious group willingly accepted Gentiles as believers. Jealous of the popularity of Paul and those who followed what he taught, they started a riot in the city (vs. 5).  When the city authorities came to halt the riot and find out what caused this uproar, the Jewish leaders stated that Paul and his companions had “turned the world upside down” (vs. 6).

Turning the world upside down, changing it, making it different and sometimes unrecognizable is the reputation that the early church had.  It had revolutionized lives, broken down social barriers of the day, and thrown open personal prison doors.  It caused people to care deeply about each other, which really didn’t happen in that day and age, and brought all people groups to genuine faith in the true God.  In whatever communities Christians came to be, they made a difference, a change.  Life was different.  People found hope where there was none before.  There was genuine love and caring between neighbors.  Things were not the way they used to be.  No other religious faith or philosophy had ever made a positive change like that among people and communities.

In the middle of this chaos we find an unsung hero - Jason (vs. 5-9).  He was a believer in Thessalonica, and was probably one of the leaders in the early church there.  It is possible the church met at his home.  The Jews attacked him, and in order for Paul and his companions to be let go, Jason paid a security for them.  He faithfully played his part to help spread the Gospel, and lives were changed because of his courage and faithfulness.

Paul and his group had to quickly flee for their lives, going about 50 miles southwest, to the village of Berea, where he founded another church.  The Bereans didn’t just take Paul’s word that the Old Testament prophecies were referring to Jesus.  They went home and studied it themselves, and then, seeing it was true, believed (vs. 11-12).  We need to do the same, and check through the Bible ourselves to see if a preacher really is preaching sound doctrine.  Always compare what you hear with what the Bible says.  A true preacher’s message will align fully with Scripture.

This is a wake-up call to us.  We can’t afford to believe everything we hear.  Beware of spiritual wolves in sheep’s clothing.  Jesus warns us of this in Matthew 7:15-23.  We should follow the example of the Bereans, who used Scripture to evaluate whatever was taught.  Then when we know the truth, we should go out like the early church did, and turn the world upside down in a good and godly way that will glorify the Name of Jesus.