There are a lot of people who come through our front door, who never visit a second time.
Many of them are from out of town and don’t have the opportunity to return,
and would be faithful members for the rest of their lives, if they lived here.
And yet at the same time they would all have the same basic reason:
They didn’t find what they were expecting or looking for.
Some were expecting more suits, more jewelry and more fancy cars in the parking lot.
Some were looking for Southern California, but all they found was Northern Idaho.
And some were looking for Southern Georgia or Southern Mississippi.
Some were expecting to hear about Awanas clubs, exercise classes, AA meetings, swimming parties, bowling parties and dances.
Some were expecting a worship band with electric guitars and two sets of drums, four long-haired men and one short-haired woman.
Some had never seen a song book and didn’t know what to do with it.
Some actually paid attention but heard doctrines that they didn’t expect or appreciate.
Some were expecting a ten minute sermon designed to make them feel good about themselves, but they came away feeling more unhappy with themselves than when they came in.
I don’t believe that we have either the time or the scriptural authority to practice them under the banner of a church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we find the Apostle Paul or the Lord Jesus participating in such things,
but until that time, I think that we should try to focus on what we actually do find in the Bible.
Sure, every community was a little different – compare Athens to Corinth for example,
and tried to show to the people there that the Messiah had come.
And when the rest finally got their fill of the gospel,
and either moved on to the next community or on to minister to their non-Jewish neighbors.
This morning our scripture affords us another look at Paul’s ministry in the synagogue,
and once again we see the typical reaction.
I’m going to divide this message into two sections: Paul’s ministry and the Jewish reaction.
And if you notice any repetition of the earlier messages that we have had in this study of the Book of Acts,
and not to any indolence that there might be in me.
(There is your vocabulary word for the day – “redundancy.” – Unnecessary and unprofitable repetition.)
First, Paul “reasoned” with the people in the synagogue.
Have you ever had an argument with yourself over something?
And you began to reason with yourself about how good a little piece of chocolate would taste.
but then it moves on to talking to someone else, ARGUING and even DISPUTING with that person.
Fortunately, he never knew about the earlier candy-bar.
Verse 17 – “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore DISPUTED he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.”
Acts 18:19 – “And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and REASONED with the Jews.”
Acts 19:8 – “And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, DISPUTING and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.”
Perhaps Acts 24:25 might help us to understand this word:
he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
And as he REASONED of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled.”
Paul was in no position to ARGUE with the Roman governor of Judah, and he certainly didn’t.
The word “dialegomai” isn’t talking about a quarrel or a contention, but about an open discussion.
As ambassadors for Christ, we need to be as concise with our evangelism as possible,
but at the same time we need to do our best not to raise the hackles of the people we’re trying to help.
The gospel and man’s native hatred of Christ will stir the emotions of people sufficiently without our help.
We need to reasonably reason with people – and we need to do it out of the scriptures.
But as our second word indicates, our purpose should not be just to inform people,
but to “persuade” them of the truth.
“And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and PERSUADED the Jews and the Greeks”
This word “persuade” talks about moving someone to a new position by convincing him of its importance or its truth.
Twenty-two times in the New Testament this Greek word is translated “persuade,”
Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not OBEY the truth?
This PERSUASION cometh not of him that calleth you.”
The words “obey” and “persuasion” are basically the same in these verses.
“For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody;
to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves:
who was slain; and all, as many as OBEYED him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing,
and drew away much people after him:
he also perished; and all, even as many as OBEYED him, were dispersed.”
Paul’s ministry, as ours should be, was to REASON with people about Christ Jesus
and to strive to PERSUADE them enough to trust Christ and obey the gospel.
Beloved, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
The third word that Luke uses to describe Paul’s ministry in Corinth is translated “testify.”
“And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks . . . . . and TESTIFIED to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.”
Our first thought is that this is talking about a person on the witness stand, testifying to something which he knew to be true.
But if we picture a timid little old lady, obviously in fear for her life, shyly whispering that she saw the accused man go into the store with a gun in his hand, we’d miss the point.
Three times this word is translated “charge.”
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
When the rich man of Luke 16 was talking with Abraham,
“I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
For I have five brethren; that he may TESTIFY unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.”
Remember when you were being tempted to buy that candy bar at the grocery store check-out line?
Remember the argument that you had with yourself about buying that pair of shoes?
You knew that you didn’t need more shoes, and you certainly didn’t need that chocolate.
Maybe the candy was only a dollar and the shoes were only $10, but that was money that should have been spent on other things.
You opposed yourself; you resisted your own better logic and you gave-in to the temptation.
When Luke says that the Jews OPPOSED themselves, it suggests a couple of things.
First, it raises the image of ORGANIZED RESISTANCE.
First, one rabbi attempted to shred Paul’s interpretation of the scriptures.
Then another rabbi attacked his logic.
A third leader of the synagogue began to ridicule the notion that Jesus was the Christ.
Then another and another got up trying to drive Paul out of the meeting.
There was an attempt at an organized opposition to the gospel.
Like a little child with whooping cough; he doesn’t enjoy constantly coughing.
He doesn’t realize how deadly his disease and his cough really are.
By opposing the truth, and opposing his mother, he is actually opposing himself and putting himself into grave danger.
It’s ironic that the Jews considered blasphemy to be a most heinous sin.
To blaspheme is to speak evil of someone or something.
But the fact of the matter was that when Paul was preaching Christ unto them, he was presenting to them the person of Jehovah.
And when they reviled Jesus, they were blaspheming their own God.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
It didn’t matter how well the scriptures were being taught;
it didn’t matter how logical the logic.
“And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean.”
A few months ago I pointed out how Paul sometimes kicked the dust of his shoes off, symbolically telling people that he was through with a them.
Pilate symbolically did the same thing when he washed his hands before the mob which wanted the death of the Lord Jesus.
In this case Paul used another action to do the same thing:
“The filth of your sin and your blasphemy, I throw back in your faces. You are on your own.
I have done all that I can to convince you of the truth, but you insist on destroying your own souls.”
There were hundreds of poor and famished people, complaining against their rich neighbors.
Nehemiah was appalled and severely chastised them:
Nehemiah 5:6 – “And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied.”
They exactly what Paul was saying when he shook his garments in front of them.
He was telling them that both he and the Lord were rejecting them – just as they had rejected the gospel.
Paul was saying that he was not responsible for any of them being cast into Hell.
And neither will this church be guilty, if any of you die without Christ and spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
No one person can make another believe on Christ.
No pastor can become a Christian in place of another person.
And certainly no one can be baptized for another person to wash away his sins.
There is no salvation in baptism, anyway.
He gave up his life on Calvary as a vicarious – a substitutionary – sacrifice for sin.
Trust what He has done; rest upon the perfect work of Christ; trust in Him.
Love the Lord through Christ Jesus.
And repent of your sin.