a subversive mission

R W GLENN
DATE: 5.20.2012 SCRIPTURE: acts 17: 1-15 SERIES: acts series #21

IntroductIon
Ideas can be dangerous. In 1543, Copernicus had the audacity to argue for the idea of a solar system that the sun doesnt revolve around the earth, but that the earth revolves around the sun. The struggle over that idea lasted almost 150 years. Around the same time, the Protestant Reformers argued that all Christians had the right to interpret the Bible for themselves. This idea blew a fissure so wide in the western church that it has never been closed. And in the mid-nineteenth century a man named Charles Darwin had an idea that not only has forever altered the landscape of the study of biology, but also of the study of the sociology, psychology, and economics. That idea has consequences and is inciting controversy even to this day. All that is to say ideas can be dangerous. Ideas lead to revolution not less than political revolution (think of the United States and France), but more to revolution that touches every sphere of life, depending on the nature of the idea. What I am arguing about this morning is that the message of Christianity is one of those ideas. It is THE idea. Properly understood, it has the capacity to overthrow EVERYTHING about you AND the city where you live. Christianity is Gods dangerous idea, and the dangerousness of that idea comes into sharp focus in this mornings text. Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 17:1-15 and read with me. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them 2

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. And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 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. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed. We are going to look at this passage under three main headings: (1) Christianity is rational; that is, the Christian faith appeals to your mind; (2) Christianity is revolutionary, which means that its dangerous. It has the capacity to overthrow the sum total of your life; and (3) which is really a combination of 1 and 2, is that your participation in the revolution of Christianity can only be sustained by its reasonableness. Or we could say it this way the revolution is sustained by reason. So Christianity is rational. Its revolutionary, and its reasonableness makes it

revolutionary.

chrIstIAnIty Is rAtIonAl
When I say that Christianity is rational, I want to make a distinction between what is rational and what is rationalistic. (-istic makes any word a bad word. Simple is good; simplistic is bad. Personal piety is good; being pietistic is bad). Well, the same is true with the word rational. Rational is good; rationalistic is bad. If I were to say that Christianity is rationalistic, I would be saying that the Christian faith is held captive by reason. Rather than being something God reveals, I reason my way up to it. And if I cant fit it in my understanding of what is reasonable, therefore it must not be true. That would be rationalistic. Instead, what theologians have been saying for centuries, is that reason is the handmaid of theology. Christianity doesnt serve reason. Reason serves Christianity. Christianity is rational, not rationalistic. By failing to make that distinction between what is rational on the one hand and what is rationalistic on the other many people have thrown Christianity out as something irrational. The most common way you see this manifest itself in our culture is when people say that science disproves the Christian faith; that science proves that events like the virgin birth, the incarnation, Jesus miracles, and the resurrection of the dead simply dont happen. Tim Keller in his exceptional book, The Reason for God, addresses this question directly in Chapter 6. He says that embedded in the statement that science disproves miracles is a leap of faith: It is one thing to say that science is only equipped to test for natural causes and cannot speak to any others. It is quite another to insist that science proves that no other causes could possibly exist. [The scientist] is quite right to assert that, when studying a

phenomenon, [he] must always assume there is a natural cause. [Thats] because natural causes are the only kind [science] can address. Its another thing to insist that science has proven there cant be any other kind. There would be no experimental model for testing [it]. It is therefore a philosophical presupposition and not a scientific finding. [The scientists] argument is ultimately circular. He says that science, by its nature, cant discern or test for supernatural causes, and therefore, those causes cant exist. 1 See, its assumed that if its not scientific, you cant reason your way into it. You cant prove the supernatural quality through science because science does not deal with the super-nature. Science deals with nature. So who is rational now? In point of fact, there is nothing rational about the supernatural. It doesnt defy logic. But it is only when you become rationalistic that Christianity can appear to be irrational. So when I talk about Christianity being rational, I mean that it makes its appeal fundamentally to your mind. It invites you to think critically, to assess, to measure, to examine, to use your head. Christianity never says, Check your brain at the door. Instead it says, Think deeply. And that note is struck loud and clear in this passage with five words: Verse 2: Reasoned: What this means is that Paul wasnt engaging in a monologue, but a dialogue, an interchange, a conversation, a discussion, a debate. Verse 3: Explaining: Luke used this word at the end of Volume One of Luke-Acts in Luke 24:32 when he talked about Jesus explaining to the disciples the true significance of the Bible that it all pointed to him. So the idea is that Paul walked his audience through specific texts of Scriptures to show how every biblical road led to Jesus. He is not asking them to have a feeling. He is saying, Look at this text. Examine this.
1

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (Dutton, 2008), 85.

 Verse 3: Proving: In other words, Paul demonstrated the truthfulness of his claims with arguments. Christianity never says, JUST believelike youre in Disney world. It NEVER says that. It is always, Let me PROVE this to you. Let me DEMONSTRATE this for you. Look here! Think about this. Put your mind to this. Verse 4: Persuaded: Luke describes a positive response to Pauls teaching with a word that means to be convinced. They are convinced by arguments. They found Pauls arguments persuasive, convincing to their minds. And then, fifth, if you jump down to verse 11, youll see the Bereans approach to Paul: Verse 11: Examining: This term means to engage in careful study of a question. And apparently, as they carefully studied Pauls arguments from Scripture, they believed verse 12 (Many of them therefore believed). Clearly, they didnt have blind faith, but faith based on a careful consideration of the evidence. They were examining these things. It is actually language from the law court its a crossexamination term. So five words reasoned, explaining, proving, persuaded, and examining all of which lead to one conclusion. Christianity makes its appeal to your mind. It is not a check your brain at the door kind of faith. This is what I mean by saying Christianity is reasonable. It assumes that youre an intelligent person who can discern the truth if the case is put before you in good, logical fashion, which is exactly how Paul does it in this passage. 2 Verse 3 actually has all the constituent parts of parts of what in logic is called a syllogism. Read verse 3 with me. [He was] 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.
2

Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Eerdmans, 1998), 506

Here is the major premise: The Christ must suffer and rise again. He shows from the Hebrew Bible passages that talk about the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. He shows how the Christ would bear the sins of many (from Isaiah The Lord will not allow the Holy One to undergo decay). Paul showed them these things from the Bible and says, The Christ, the Messiah, is someone who would suffer and rise again. The minor premise (assumed): Jesus of Nazareth suffered and rose again. That is why it says in the middle of verse three This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you. So here is the major premise: The Christ must suffer and rise again. Now, let me tell you, there is a guy from Nazareth named Jesus who suffered (just like this says) and who rose again (just like this says). Then, here is the conclusion: Therefore, Jesus is the Christ. The Christ must suffer and rise again. That is what the Bible says. Jesus fits that bill. Therefore, Jesus must be the Messiah. Do you see how reasonable that is? The logic is tight. This is whats called a valid syllogism. Assuming the premises are true (assuming that its true the Christ must suffer and rise again, assuming that its true Jesus suffered and rose again), the conclusion is inevitable (Jesus is the Christ). Now you might object to the idea that the Christ must suffer on the cross and rise from the dead. And you might object to the idea that Jesus died and rose again. But what you could never say is that the conclusion is irrational. It is rational. The only question is whether or not its true. I will give you another reasonable syllogism: all dogs can fly. Fido is a dog. Therefore, Fido can fly. Did you know that conclusion is not irrational at all? That is a completely, totally, utterly reasonable argument. The problem with it is that the major premise is false. All dogs cant fly. The logic is airtight. But is the premise true? The same applies to Christianity. Christ must suffer and rise again. Is that true? Jesus suffered and rose again. Is that true? Well if those things are true, then the conclusion invariably follows and therefore it is completely rational.

That is the question you have to occupy yourself with. Is the Christian faith true? I hope youre not a Christian because you have a feeling. That is not going to sustain you over the long haul. That is THE question. Is Christianity true? Because if its not, do not waste your time with it! Abandon it, because it is going to cost you something to believe it. The point here is that Christianity makes its appeal to the mind. True gospel communication NEVER asks you to suspend your thinking. It always appeals to the mind. One New Testament scholar explains it this way: One of the significances of this sort of presentation of Pauls approach is that it suggests thatthe gospel could be substantiated and be shown to be reasonableat the same time it was assumed that the gospel should be responded to freely on the basis of the appeal to the mind.Proclaiming the gospel was not to be seen as an attempt to dupe an unsuspecting public and suck them in by mere rhetoric without rational substance. 3 And the reason for this is that Christianity is TRUE. Christianity IS true. This is what makes it so compelling. Examine it. Test it. Apply your greatest intellectual power to it. It will be able to stand up to anything you throw at it. Not too long ago, my oldest son was getting really into the late Christopher Hitchens, the author of God Is Not Great. This is probably because of my influence as Ive always called him my favorite atheist. And he was saying things like, I want to make sure that Christianity is mine and not just something I believe because you guys do. And so he was asking a lot of questions, theological and philosophical questions about Christianity. And as Gayle and I were talking about it, Gayle was feeling a little nervous for Noah. So I reminded her of this truth. Christianity is TRUE. It can withstand anything he brings to it. It answers the questions about ultimate reality better than any other philosophy or religion on EARTH. If Noah jettisons the faith, it wont be for intellectual reasons; it will be for moral reasons.

Ibid., 506, fn. 159.

You see, in the end, if a person says they have well-formed intellectual objections to Christianity, sometimes what they are objecting to is not Christianity, but a straw-man of Christianity. They dont really understand what the Christian faith is. Lets put that to one side right now. In the end, a person DOES NOT reject Christianity because it lacks rational substance. You reject Christianity because deep down within the recesses of your soul you are viscerally opposed to the idea that there would be a God who has ownership rights for your existence, who demands your submission to his rule, and who gave you his son in order to save you because you were too weak, feeble, and powerless to do it yourself. There is a part of you that is SO fundamentally resistant to the gospel that no amount of intellectual argument can get you there. Our passage is a case in point. There are some Thessalonians who dont believe the gospel. Is their unbelief rooted in well-formed, intellectual objections to the truth of the gospel, or is it rooted in something else? Read verse 5. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. Luke is setting up a deliberate contrast here between the believers rational and reflective approach and the unbelievers jealous and emotional response to the message of the gospel. It is the difference between responding and reacting. Its like medicine: if you are responding, thats a good thing. If you are having a reaction, thats a bad thing. Here are the believers they are responding in a very reflective, rational way. Here are the unbelievers why are they not embracing the Christian faith? Because they are jealous and they are emotional. 4 This is why I say that your jettisoning of the faith would never be for intellectual reasons, but for moral ones. You read the evidence through eyeglasses that have been distorted by your rebellion against God. And until God takes them off, you will flee to whatever will make you feel justified in
4

David G Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles (Eerdmans, 2009), 484.

continuing your rebellion in this case, your intellect. So then, Christianity is reasonable. It appeals to the mind. Its not a checkyour-brain-at-the-door kind of faith. Any approach to truth that asks you to suspend your thinking should be held in suspicion. True Christianity doesnt have to resort to anti-intellectualism to reach the world. The gospel can handle it. The truth always says, Shine a light on me. Examine me. I dont have any flaws.

chrIstIAnIty Is reVolutIonAry
The second thing you need to see in this text is that Christianity is revolutionary. You see this very clearly in the trumped up charge that is brought before the authorities in verse 6-7. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. They are accused of being revolutionaries. Now whats interesting about this charge is that its SO plausible. And five things made it plausible: Jesus himself is on the books for having been executed for sedition. So the leader of the Christian movement is a criminal who had been officially condemned for asserting his kingship over and against Caesars. Now, this isnt true. But that is what happened: it is on the books, so it would make sense that his followers would adopt the same adversarial posture to Rome. The apostles proclaimed the kingdom of God, the rule of God as over and against Caesar. Acts 14:22: It is through many tribulations that

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we must enter the kingdom of God. They are proclaiming the rule of another king rather than Caesar. There was a decree of Caesar that made predicting any kind of regime change a crime. Well, the apostles talked about the coming kingdom, the coming regime of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Paul mentions that he taught this in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 4-5 and 2 Thessalonians 1-2. The apostles proclaimed Jesus as Lord, which was a term reserved for the emperor. Acts 16:31: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved. They take a title belonging exclusively to Caesar and put it on Jesus. There was already a lot of Jewish political unrest throughout Palestine. And to outsiders Jewish unrest would be indistinguishable from Christian unrest. From Romes perspective, Christianity was just another sect of Judaism. This amounts to a perfect storm for the apostles. They are accused of turning the world upside down, of being revolutionaries, treasonous disturbers of the peace, political agitators stirring up unrest, of being socially and politically dangerous. And it seemed that their preaching only functioned to substantiate these claims, as they preached (verse 7) ANOTHER king; namely, JESUS! Now, of course, it should almost go without saying that Christians were not political agitators. Thats not our mission. Our mission is to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all nations. In fact, if you read Pauls epistles, his letters to the churches, youll see explicit commands to be compliant citizens: Romans 13:1: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. 1 Timothy 2:1-2: Pray for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life.

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Titus 3:1: Be subject to rulers and to authorities.

So as a Christian, you are not called to be political revolutionaries. In fact, who are the people causing an uproar in this passage? Not the Christians. Verse 5: The Jews were jealous, and taking some of the wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason. It wasnt the apostles who were doing that. So you arent called to be a political revolutionary. HOWEVER, and this is a big however, the reality is that the gospel IS aimed at overthrow just in a counter-intuitive way. Instead of the apostles calling down fire from heaven to rain brimstone on the enemies of the gospel, they preach the gospel boldly and love their enemies. This is why I called todays message A Subversive Mission. The Lord brings revolution not by marshaling his troops and calling us to arms to take over the world; the Lord brings revolution through the proclamation of the gospelbecause when you start repenting and believing the gospel your life and your communities are turned upside down: Accepting the lordship of Christ would mean new priorities and loyalties for those who became disciples. It would lead to the transformation of personal relationships, business and personal ethics, social structures and ambitions, new attitudes toward other religions, and changed ways of relating to Caesar and his representatives. 5 When the gospel gets a hold of your heart, everything changes. Everything is transformed. This is what happens! You become a Christian and Jesus enters your life on a mission of OVERTHROW! And through you to overthrow the world! Jesus tells you to pray, Our Father, Thy kingdom come. Do you realize what youre praying when you pray Thy kingdom come in the Lords Prayer? Youre praying for revolution. Youre praying for overthrow. Youre praying that Jesus would turn your world upside down.
5

Ibid., 482

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You are praying the lyrics of the song before the sermon: O Great God of highest heaven OCCUPY my lowly heart OWN IT ALL and REIGN SUPREME CONQUER every REBEL POWER Let no vice or sin remain that RESISTS your HOLY WAR. Thats military language. We dont sing it like that, though. But that is what we are praying. That is the language of overthrow. Youre saying, Occupy, own it, reign, conquer. You are saying that youre too weak to defend yourself, too powerless to fight for yourself. Youre saying that youre directionless that you need a leader. Youre saying that you cant run your own life and that you need someone else to run it for you. You say, I need a king. Im terrible at running my own life. Youre praying for REGIME CHANGE. You are praying that the Benign Dictator would have mercy on you, would give you grace by a regime change in the center of your heart. This is such a revolutionary message! Its one of the things that make Christianity unique. Christianity begins with SURRENDER with admitting that you dont have the resources to be acceptable to God. And yet, from head to toe, you want to think that you can be good enough for God. You want to believe that by being a good person you can enter the kingdom of God. But the kingdom of God is so far above you, so holy and righteous and good, so beyond your reach, that the only way you can get over the moat into the castle is for the king to come down from the tower, pick you up and bring you in himself which is exactly what he has done with Jesus Christ. In Christ, the king has come. Hes come to rescue you by ruling you. Submit to his rule and you will be saved. Wave the white flag and say, Come into my country and rule me. Reign over me. What a revolutionary message!

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So when you pray this for yourself and for others (I pray this for our church, as the Lords Prayer is a corporate prayer), you are praying that your world would be turned upside down. That is a dangerous prayer. Theres going to be a revolution in your life. You can count on it. And second, youre also praying to be an instrument of the advance of the kingdom throughout the world. King Jesus is on the move as we speak. And hes using you as his instruments to bring the revolution of the gospel to every people, tribe, nation, and kingdom. And you are an instrument in his revolution as you wage war by loving your neighbor by loving them in word (preaching the gospel) and loving them in deed (by helping them with their needs). The goal, of course, is for the revolutionary change of heart that will bring them under the sway of King Jesus. But not only are you praying for an internal revolution and to be used as an instrument to bring revolution to your friends who arent yet Christians, youre also praying for the overthrow of every earthly regime. Come back, Jesus. Set up your kingdom. Usher in your rule in an utter and comprehensive way. Youre saying, Jesus depose Caesar. Youre saying, Jesus, depose The United States of America. Youre praying that representative democracy would be replaced with a MONARCHY! Does that feel weird? Probably feels weird on the Fourth of July! So in verse 6, when the Jewish leaders say that these men have turned the world upside down, there is a very real sense in which they have they ARE and they HAVE and they WILL. Christianity is revolutionary. It brings Jesus revolt to your heart, and through you to the world a revolution of mercy, grace, love, and justice. so then, Christianity is rational; it appeals to your mind. Christianity is also revolutionary; its a dangerous thing it threatens to unearth and overthrow the sum total of your life, to turn your world upside down.

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My third point is this. If you and I are going to be sustained over the long haul in this revolutionary mission, it needs to be rooted in and nourished by our reasonable faith. Or as I put it earlier: the revolution is sustained by reason.

the reVolutIon Is sustAIned by reAson

Revolution is revolution. It is messy and difficult. It is full of peril. Opposition to the mission throughout the book of Acts is a constant. Chapter 17 is no different. Look again at verses 5-7. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. Getting involved is going to cost you something. Jason and the brothers (the other unnamed Christians) who are mentioned here must have been really afraid. They are getting lumped in with the apostles for just giving them a place to stay. And they would have known, living in Thessalonica, that their city got a lot of money and protection from Rome. They would have known that their officials were highly incentivized to enforce loyalty to Caesar in order to maintain the peace and help the city stay in the good graces of the emperor. 6 Fortunately for them, they get off with a slap on the wrist verse 9. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Witherington, Acts, 504.

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Pay a fine and promise that Paul and Silas will leave the city. Still, it cost Jason something just to be associated with the apostles. And as Paul and Silas travel 45 miles away to Berea, the hostility toward them in Thessalonica follows them. Check out verse 13-14. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. This gospel revolution is a WAR. You will be opposed in it. You may have to flee your city to participate in it. You may be stoned for it. You may be beaten with rods. You may be mocked and ridiculed and ostracized. Join the Jesus revolution of grace and mercy and you wont get much of it from the hostiles you are persuading to join you. So whats going to get you through? Good feelings? A warm fuzzy? No! Whats going to get you through it is your confidence that Christianity is TRUE! You have studied it. You have examined it. You have asked the questions and been satisfied with the answers. Youve become convinced in your mind that Jesus Christ really did die on the cross for your sins and really did rise from the dead just as the Bible said he would! Youve become convinced that the king of kings and lord of lords really IS Jesus. And because of this, you are able to hang in there. If Christianity is a figment of our imagination, if it is nothing more than an elaborate hoax or a delusion of the frightened masses, or if youre suspicious that it might be, you wont be able to join Jesus on his mission to rule the world. It would be too hard. Neither will a purely emotional response get you over the hump. If your emotions arent rooted in FACTS, deep down youll know it. So when it comes time to pay the piper for your commitment to Jesus, youll run. If Christianity

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isnt real, if its just a nice, psychological cushion, then youll abandon it for an alternative cushion as soon as the heat gets turned up. But if you are convinced that Christianity is rational, you can be a revolutionary until King Jesus returns.

conclusIon
So where are you at this morning? Maybe youve thought that Christianity is not an intellectual faith. Maybe youve drawn the fatal conclusion that faith and reason are incompatible. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christianity is a faith that INVITES you to apply your mind to it. So do it. Apply your mind to it and I promise that it will stand up to under most rigorous cross-examination. Or maybe youre at the place where you still feel threatened by the idea of someone else running your life. Maybe youre nervous about that kind of submission. Let me encourage you! The person you are asking to rule you is the same person who loved you so much that he suffered on the cross in your place. He gave you Jesus. How will he not with Jesus freely give you all things? That is the king who loves you. He is also your Father, so you can pray confidently, They kingdom come. His rule is a GOOD rule. Its a loving rule. Its a merciful rule. You can trust him. And besides, you know what a terrible king you are! You need somebody else to run the show. You know that. You know you cant run your own life. You can trust King Jesus to do that. Jesus is ready to rule you with his love and mercy and grace. You can trust him!

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