Which one are you?
Every place that the apostle Paul went, he would make it a point to go to the places of worship to reason with the community of Jews from the Scriptures. He would explain and prove that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
When Paul arrived in Thessalonica, he reasoned with the community of Jews from the Scriptures. As a result, some of them were convinced that Jesus was the Christ.
The hard-line Jews, however, became jealous and furious over the conversions. They rounded up a bunch of brawlers and soon a mob was terrorising the city. Paul’s companions had to quickly help him escape by night to Berea.
Three Groups of People. The first group were the Thessalonians. They not only rejected Paul’s message, they opposed it.
In Berea, Paul once again went to the Jewish community to teach the word. He was treated a lot better in Berea than in Thessalonica.
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. – Acts 17:11
Three Groups of People. The second group were the Bereans. They were more of better character than the Thessalonians.
The Bereans knew how to feed themselves.
- They received the word with eagerness and examined it daily
- They examined the Scripture for themselves
- Even though Paul was an authority in the word, the Berean believers checked to verify if what Paul said was correct
Three Groups of People. I want to propose a third group. They are those who never grow up. They are eager for the word but they let someone else spoon-feed them week after week.
God gave us his Word but the third group get their first (and sometimes only) source of input from their leaders or the internet or books. They listen but they don’t study for themselves.
Where is our primary source of word intake? Do we make time every day to study the word? Do we know how to study the Bible for ourselves? Do we have friends we are studying the word with together?
I plan to share tips on how to study the Bible for ourselves every now and again.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15
I used the ESV, The Living Translation, and The Message Bible to help me write today’s post. You can read the details of what happened in Thessalonica and Berea in Acts 17:1-15.