Bold in the Marketplace

People have been saved for years who can't take their Bible and lead a person to Christ.

There's no excuse for that. Dr. Tony Evans says there's an epidemic of biblical illiteracy in the Church. We will say what we believe, and we will really believe it, but we can't prove it. This is the Alternative Broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Today Dr. Evans continues his look at the earliest days of the Church, chronicled in the book of Acts. It's one amazing story after another, driving home again and again how much can be accomplished when we unleash the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let's join him. Well, we're now in chapter 17 of the book of Acts, and Paul now makes the 100-mile trip to Thessalonica, which is the capital of Macedonia, a strategic city for the spreading of the gospel, both East and West. As was Paul's custom in verse 2, he goes to the synagogue first, because the Jews had a foundation of the Old Testament that he could build upon for the presentation of the gospel, which was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and he was trying to help them to see that. And as he has his ministry there, giving evidence of Christ, verse 3, that he had to suffer and rise again from the dead, this Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. So that was his point, he reasons to them from the Scripture, using the Word of God to show Jesus is the fulfillment. So all of this is the preparation for Jesus, and now Paul is saying Jesus is that fulfillment.

And so Paul was successful in that some were persuaded, verse 4, and a large number of God-fearing Greeks and a number of leading women expressed faith. But he's being more successful among the Gentiles than he is among the Jews, as you'll see in verse 5, because the Jewish leaders now become jealous, it says, taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, and they form a mob and set the city in an uproar. They wanted to get Rome involved in attacking Christianity. Rome would not get involved if it was a religious issue, because Rome allowed for different religions.

But to claim there is another king when Caesar is the only king is to politicize the issue in order to get pushback from the Roman government. They stir up the crowd in verse 8, and the city authorities who heard these things, and when they received the pledge from Jason and the others, they released them, meaning get rid of Paul and Silas, get rid of them because they're causing too much chaos in the community preaching this Jesus. And so to avoid any more confusion, verse 10, Paul and Silas go away by night to Berea. And so now we're introduced to the Berean Christians who really become a model for Christian maturity and Bible study.

Verse 11, now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, the Bereans. For they received the word with great eagerness, examined the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. How you receive the word will affect what the word does for you.

Some people are irritated by the word, frustrated by the word, mad at the word. They do not receive. The idea of receiving is welcoming.

I want to know the truth. Anyone who wants to know the truth, God's not going to hide the truth from them. So they welcome the truth with eagerness, and when they did so, they looked for themselves on a daily basis to see whether these things were so, because they wanted to know the truth. And so this hunger for the word of God was emblematic of the Berean believers. In verse 12, so many of them got saved because they're listening and open to the scriptures, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.

So some of the community leaders also came to faith. But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul and Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea in Silas, and Timothy remained there. And so the confusion is following Paul wherever he goes because of his tenacity for the proclamation of the truth of the gospel. Now Paul was waiting for them in Athens, so he's now in Athens, Greece, and his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing a city full of idols. So he's in Athens and he sees all these idols, and so he did what he always did. Verse 17, he's reasoning with them from the scriptures.

This is every day, all day, going from one place to another, proclaiming Jesus. And some of the Epicureans and Stoics, philosophers, were conversing with Paul. Some were saying, what would this idol babbler wish to say? Others, he seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. Well, both of these groups, they denied the resurrection.

So the Epicureans, basically you live for now, you know, you want to live as nice a life as you can, free from as much pain as you can, do the best you can, because this is all the life that there is. The Stoics were more, God is kind of in everything, everything is God, sort of a pantheistic kind of thing, but in either case, there was no resurrection. So they said, Paul is a babbler, you know, he's picking up something from here and picking up something from there and picking up something from there, and we don't know where he's coming from with this Jesus stuff, especially since he's proclaiming this resurrection. Paul stands in the midst, and men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects, because they're having this conversation about God, about religion at least.

So this is an evangelistic strategy. Paul starts where they are, for while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I was just looking around as I came into this area, I also found an altar to this inscription, to an unknown God. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

He switched on him, a bad boy. He said, y'all religious, y'all talk about God, that's a great thing, y'all church people, so to speak. You talk about religious, oh, you got an altar to the God that you are not sure who He is.

He says, let me tell you about Him, I want to proclaim Him to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, so He establishes God as Creator, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by human hands. So now He says, not only is God Creator, He's transcendent because He is not humanly crafted like the altar you built to the unknown God, okay, nor is He served by human hands as though He needs anything. So now He establishes the doctrine of the independence of God. Just in case you didn't know it, He needs nothing. God is self-sufficient.

I am that I am. In other words, I am all I ever need to be by me, all right? So God never has to go outside of Himself to get anything for Himself, for He is sufficient in Himself, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things. So He gives life. Well, now, if He gives life, that means that the Creator is a living being. He's not some energy force. He gives life to all things. And He made from one man, okay, that takes us all the way back to Adam, takes us back to the creation of the human race, want to know how man got here?

No, one man, okay? Every nation of mankind who live on the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, He's created the nations and the national boundaries that they would seek God. In other words, God created men so that they would become dependent and search for Him. If perhaps they might grope for Him, because they don't really know who He is, but they want to know if He's there and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. So He's established that God is transcendent, but now He jumps and says God is imminent. Imminent means close by. So He's way out there, and He's real close up here. He's the holy other, outside of time and space and creation, and He's closer to you than your breath.

So He's both, transcendent and imminent. And He says, for in Him we live and move and exist, and even some of your poets have said, for we are also His children. So He quotes a poet, He quotes outside information, as people use quotes to support His point. Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by an art and thought of man.

God despises anything created in His creation that's supposed to be a replica of Him, because anything you make, one, He made it so you could make it, and number two, it will be a poor rendition. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, we shall hear you again concerning this. So Paul went out of their midst, but some of the men joined him and believed a woman and others with him. So there were some converts there from Paul's message. There were some people who were interested, we want to hear more about this.

Then there were people who were joking, they sneered, because he was talking about resurrection from the dead. So again, Paul is now demonstrating his commitment to preach the gospel everywhere he could. Well the next stop on Paul's journey is the pagan city of Corinth, and Dr. Evans will tell us what happened there when he continues our message in just a moment. It's all part of his powerful teaching series taking us through the book of Acts, a profound exploration of the early church and its powerful lessons for our lives today. We'd like to offer you all 14 full-length messages in this two-volume audio collection available on CD or digital download, along with our thanks when you make a generous contribution to help keep Tony's teaching on this station. In addition to the complete Acts audio series, we are excited to include an added bonus, his powerful book, Kingdom Purpose, designed to help you discover your one-of-a-kind calling from God and learn how to live it out with passion and clarity. To take advantage of this special limited-time offer, visit us today at tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Again that's online at tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222.

Right now, here's Dr. Evans once again with more of today's message. In chapter 18, Paul now goes to Corinth, a very strategically wicked city. It had the aco-Corinthus, which was a temple with a thousand prostitutes. On one side of the temple was a big restaurant. On the other side of the temple was a brothel.

So he had to address all of that. But there he finds a Jew named Aquila and his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome because of all the controversy and disturbances taking place. He told the Jews to leave the capital area of Rome, and he finds them because they were of the same trade, verse 3.

In other words, they were tent makers. And he was reading in the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to persuade the Jews and the Greeks. So Paul's back at it again, solemnly testifying, verse 5, and when they resisted in blaspheme, he shook out his garment and said to them, Your blood be on your heads, I am clean.

From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. Okay, let me tell you about the phrase shaking the dust off your feet because you see that a number of times in the New Testament. When a Jew passed through a Gentile area and then came back to a Jewish area or to his Jewish home, he would shake the dust that is the dirt off the feet because he walked through a Gentile region. And because the Gentiles were viewed as unclean by the Jews, they didn't want to bring that uncleanness back to their home. And so symbolically, they would shake the dust off their feet, meaning I'm shaking off the uncleanness of the Gentiles as I enter into my Jewish home.

So that's the background of the phrase, shake the dust off my feet. So he left there and he goes to the house of tedious justice, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all of his household, and many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and were baptized. So Paul is still having success in the ministry, but Paul is very human, verse 9. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent.

Okay. You get this Superman image of Paul because he's going anywhere, saying anything, everywhere. But inside, he was struggling emotionally because he says, do not be afraid any longer. So on the inside, he's struggling, but on the outside, he's proclaiming. So God sometimes has to deal with our emotions. He has to calm us down when we're doing the right thing, but the right thing is causing internal struggle. Verse 11, so he settles there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. But while Galio was pro-counsel, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul. He's constantly having a battle with the Jews. And brought him before the judgment seat.

Okay. The bema. If you go to Corinth right now, you will see the bema. The bema was a raised platform where the judges set to make judicial judgments. That's why it's called the judgment seat. So you made political judgments, you made criminal judgments. It was a place of judgment.

Okay. So believers stand before the judgment seat of Christ to get our reward. It's a place to judge our work while on earth as Christians. And the Bible says all will stand at the judgment seat of Christ.

What kind of Christian were you? So it has nothing to do with going to heaven or not going to heaven. Only believers, those who are going to heaven, go to the judgment seat of Christ.

So this is the same concept here, but in a political environment. So they rise up and they want to bring in before Galio at the judgment seat saying, this man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law, okay, contrary to the law. But when Paul went about to open his mouth, Galio said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrong or a vicious crime, oh Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you to hear this case. But if there are questions about words and names and your own law, meaning your religious laws, the Jewish laws, look after it yourselves. I am unwilling to be a judge of these kinds of matters. I don't get into your religious stuff.

If you are dealing with a crime thing or you're dealing with a Roman legal thing, I get involved with that, but I don't get involved with what you're dealing with now. And he drove them away from the judgment seat. And they all took hold of Sostenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. So obviously, either this man is a believer or he at least was sympathetic to Paul. So they're mad at him for whatever sympathy or faith he exhibited. And they couldn't take it out on Paul because Galio, so they take it out on the person who was letting him do all his teaching and preaching in the synagogue. Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea. He comes to Ephesus and he left them there. He enters the synagogue and reasons with the Jews, so he's back at it again.

When they asked him to stay longer, he did not consent, but taking leave of them, saying, I will return to you, watch this, again if God wills, he set sail for Ephesus. You always put your plans in the hands of God. Never make final plans. So always give room for God to intervene in your plans. Give God the freedom to switch on you because he sees where you are going before you get there.

He knows things about your tomorrow you don't know. So he says, oh yeah, I'll come back if God wills. That's not just a statement, Lord willing, it's not supposed to be a statement, it's a philosophy. And that philosophy says, Lord, this is what I plan to do. The Bible says it's okay to plan.

This is what I want to do. This is what I think I should do, but not my will, your will be done. It is giving divine fluidity and flexibility while you still plan, okay? Give God that freedom to move. So he says, if the Lord wills, then he will return. So coming to the last few verses, there's a Jew there named Apollos. He sounds strong, Apollos.

He's Alexandrian by birth. He's a very eloquent man and he's mighty in the Scriptures. The man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John. So he had not gotten all the new information. He had gotten about the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, he was all straight on that, but not the coming of the Holy Spirit and all these new things that came with him. He hadn't gotten that information yet because it hadn't traveled that far yet. So he runs into Paul and he begins to speak out boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

In other words, they filled in the blanks that he was unaware of. Please notice it was Priscilla and Aquila. It was a husband and a wife. Please notice they were working together. Please notice that Priscilla's name is first.

That's not normal. It would normal be the man's name first. So for Priscilla's name to be first indicates she was more the dominant teacher, and that's one of the things you have to distinguish between gifts and office because a woman can have a gift that does not equal the office because when he talks about the home that they went to, it says he found a Jew in verse 2 named Aquila. So he starts with the man, but when he talks about the teaching, he starts with Priscilla.

So evidently, from a gifting standpoint, she was the stronger person. And so Priscilla and Aquila heard him. They took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately, but they did do it as a team, and they encouraged him. They took him aside. They said, look, there's some blanks that you're missing. They didn't take him out publicly and say, you missed some stuff. Let's talk.

Let's fill in the gaps. And the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him, and when they had arrived, he greatly helped those who had bleed through grace. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. This is where we often are not equipped, because far too many of us cannot argue from the Scriptures our belief.

We will say what we believe, and we will really believe it, but we can't prove it. You need the Scriptures for you, but you also need the Scriptures to defend from the Scriptures what you say you believe. People have been saved for years who can't take their Bible and lead a person to Christ.

There's no excuse for that, to be able to use your Bible to show a person how to become a Christian, or to use your Bible to help people walk through a certain area. Now, nobody's going to master the whole Bible. You take, you know, I've been studying the Bible for, and I've been preaching it for almost 50 years, and past me for 41 years, and I've just scratched the surface of the Bible. I mean, there's stuff I've never even touched in the Scriptures yet, and probably won't in this lifetime.

But there should be a growing knowledge of and use of the Scriptures to defend what you say you believe. Dr. Tony Evans, wrapping up today with a thought about the importance of having a thorough understanding of the Bible. Don't forget, today's lesson is part of Tony's captivating series on the book of Acts. And as I mentioned, you can get the full-length version of all 14 messages in this two-volume audio collection available on CD or digital download when you make a donation to support our mission of spreading biblical wisdom and renewal.

Plus, as a special bonus, you'll receive Dr. Evans' insightful book, Kingdom Purpose, which will guide you in discovering your divine calling. Time is running out on this special double offer, so call us today to make the arrangements at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center is open 24-7, so you can reach out any time of the day or night. That's 1-800-800-3222, or visit tonyevans.org. You'll find all the details right on the homepage. Again, tonyevans.org. Well, tomorrow, Dr. Evans will pick up his study of the book of Acts in chapter 19, where we'll see how the gospel spread to a whole new continent, and learn how the Church's God-given authority came into play, overcoming challenges and obstacles. Be sure to join us.