The Unstoppable Gospel of the Upside-Down Kingdom – Acts Ch17v1–15

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… for having me with you today. It’s a great joy to be here. As David said, I’m a ministry trainee at St. Silas Church in the West End.

It’d be a great help if you could keep your Bibles open at Acts chapter 17. It’s page 1113 in the church Bibles. And let me pray and ask for God’s help as we begin.

Almighty Father, we thank you for how you speak to us through your word. We pray now that you would be with us at this time. Please guide my words in truth and faithfulness and we ask that you would speak through them today.

We pray all of this in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

My question is this, what kind of news turns the world upside down? What kind of news turns the world upside down? Well, as already mentioned, we did have some dramatic news on Thursday at 10 p.m. Parliament flipped on its head.

Rishi’s gone. Keir is in. Red, not blue, is the government’s colour now.

It’s all going to change. That’s the new government’s tagline. Some of you are hopeful at this.

Some of you are in despair. But whoever you are, you live in a different Britain today to the one you did last week. Change is coming.

But even with 412 seats, the change that Starmer will bring is hardly going to turn the nation upside down. What is the news that would turn the world on its head? The 3rd of September 1939, while that was life-changing news for all in the UK, the start of World War II was no minor thing. But even that news was eventually replaced by other news that the war ended in 1945.

But there is news, however, that will never be replaced. The gospel of Jesus and his kingdom is news that has been turning the world upside down for two millennia and it isn’t going to stop any time soon. And that’s what we see in our passage this morning.

It’s a wonderful passage of gospel growth. Now, I am, of course, also excited because as a member of St. Silas Church, I’m thrilled to see that Silas, the man himself, is a key player here. Though he isn’t the main player.

For the key player here, like the rest of the book, is the living God. The Acts of the Apostles is a glorious book full of, well, action. We’ve got Romans and religious leaders, riots and resurrections.

There’s adventures across the Mediterranean, shipwrecks and even a prison break or two. These first chapters of the church are a remarkable story. The gospel begins its journey across the world.

It conquers many trials as it advances across the Roman world. We wouldn’t be sitting here today if it weren’t for the actions of the men in this book. The story of the church in Scotland begins with the events recorded for us here.

But let’s pause for a second on the name of the book, Acts. Here’s two questions. Who are the actors in Acts and what is the goal, the outcome of these Acts? The Acts of the Apostles is the name that has been used for this book since at least Irenaeus in the second century.

And indeed the apostles, in particular Peter and Paul, are key players in this book. Much of the action is centred on them, where they are, what they say and what they do. But as I’ve already said, the key player in Acts is the same as the rest of the book.

It’s the living God. You see, Acts is Luke’s second volume. The first was Luke’s gospel, which according to its first chapter was written so that the reader might have certainty in what they’ve been taught about the Lord Jesus.

Luke wants his readers to be absolutely confident about the truth of the incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Acts follows on from this. If we turn back to its opening verses on page 1092, Luke reminds us in chapter 1, verse 1, that his gospel was an account of all that Jesus began to do and to teach until his ascension.

The implication being that this volume, Acts, is what the risen and ascended Lord Jesus is continuing to do. And that’s what we see throughout. We see great many people do great things, but it’s clear overall that it is Jesus through the Holy Spirit who is building his church as the gospel is taken to the ends of the earth.

And that is the goal of these Acts. The goal is the gospel advancing. See what Jesus says in his final words in verse 8. This is his final words to his disciples.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That’s this book. It’s a book of Jesus through the Spirit at work in his people, building his church, spreading the unstoppable gospel, testifying to the truth about himself, that his crucifixion has opened the floodgates into his kingdom and this will advance across the face of the earth.

The Jewish Messiah hasn’t just come for the Jews, he’s come for everyone. For anyone who will take up their cross and follow him from any nation, he invites into his church with open arms. But as the chapters have gone on, we find that this unstoppable gospel advance also comes alongside increasing opposition.

Back in chapter 17, we’re in Paul’s second missionary journey and we’ve made it to modern Greece. The gospel is now already cross continents, it’s already in Europe, but throughout all the towns where we’ve been in all the previous chapters, we see opposition. And so I want you to imagine if you’re one of Luke’s first readers, you might have some questions.

Why can’t the church grow painlessly? Is this how it’s meant to be? If so, what do we do? Well, this brings us to our first point, the unstoppable gospel of the suffering Saviour. Paul and Silas and co. arrive in Thessalonica and as he always seeks to do, Paul goes into the synagogue to tell the Jews the good news that their Messiah, the Messiah, has come.

We’re in the synagogue and the scriptures are open. That’s the Torah, the books of Moses, as well as the Psalms and the prophets. Have a look at verse 3 with me of chapter 17.

What Paul does is he explains and proves that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. How might he have done that? Well, he might have looked to Leviticus 16, where the day of atonement shows the great deal of blood that is needed to be shed in order to cleanse God’s people. Paul may have pointed out that the priestly system was insufficient as it needed to happen again and again.

He might have gone to Psalm 22, written by David, God’s anointed king, whose whole life points to the Messiah Christ. In Psalm 22, this anointed king sings of being stricken by God, being mocked and insulted. The psalm speaks of garments divided and pierced hands and feet.

And with many such examples, Paul might explain and prove that the Messiah has to suffer. But the psalm doesn’t end there. The king writes that all the ends of the earth will turn to the Lord and bow down before the anointed one, declaring he has done it.

And so we see that the scriptures are clear in the vindication and resurrection of the Messiah. If I were a betting man, I’d place a large amount that Paul went to Isaiah 53, the suffering servant who is afflicted and punished by God, pierced for our transgressions. And yet this servant too is promised that after he has suffered that he will see the light of life and be satisfied.

Yes, the Messiah must suffer and then he must rise. The great conquering king conquers by dying. The Christian gospel is upside down.

And we see this throughout the life of Jesus. The son of God incarnate is not born in a palace, but a feeding trough, surrounded by mere shepherds. Power nor wealth impress him.

Instead, Jesus continually attracts the outcasts and forgotten of society. He preaches that the first must be last and that he came to be the servant of all. The king of kings dies a shameful death of a criminal, naked, abandoned and in agony.

The whole thing is upside down. And yet Paul preaches that this is the gospel. He says in verse 3 that this Jesus is the Messiah.

Now the first century believer would have great comfort in learning that Paul here is preaching the exact same gospel that Peter has already preached at the start of Acts. In chapter 3, verse 18, Peter preaches God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. The unstoppable gospel has always been of a suffering saviour.

And that’s what Jesus himself preached. At the end of his gospel, Luke records the newly risen Jesus walking with two unnamed disciples, explaining to them an identical message. Jesus opens the scriptures and demonstrates that the Messiah had to suffer these things and then enter his glory.

Have no doubt friends, the Messiah had to suffer and the Messiah is Jesus. And in verse 4, we see the fruit of this opening of the scriptures. Just as in previous chapters in Antioch and Lystra and Philippi, when the truth about Jesus is shared, many come to faith.

See verse 4. Some Jews are persuaded to join Paul and Silas, as are a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. We’ve got Jew and Gentile men and women, rich and poor. Christ suffered for all kinds of people.

But as expected, like every other town, the response is not all positive. Our second point, the unstoppable gospel subverts society. The Jewish people, verse 5, are jealous.

They’re on the losing side and don’t want to admit they’re wrong. And so they’re jealous of Paul and Silas, who have sworn in and now receive all this attention and followers. Of course, we know that it’s not Paul receiving the followers, but the Jesus that he proclaims.

But from this Jewish perspective, Paul’s a problem. They had their thing going and it was nice and fine. Why ruin what’s perfectly, what’s working perfectly well? And so out of their genuine and heartfelt complaint, they do the only sensible thing and round up a bunch of local thugs, or as the old King James Version put it, lewd fellows of a baser sort.

These thugs are convinced to form a mob and start a riot, an action that clearly displays they’re in the right. Well, not quite, does it? Hypocritical to say the least. The mob can’t find Paul and Silas, who’ve presumably been hidden by the church, but it seems well known that Jason has been accommodating the apostles.

And so Jason and other believers are rounded up and dragged to the town centre. It’s an ugly sight. I don’t know what you’re picturing, but I’m picturing a more recent, if anachronistic version, where they’re brought into a square and a row of nooses or guillotines in the corner that loom over the whole thing.

It’s a bleak sight. So what do we know about this Jason? Well, not much. He’s just Jason.

He’s an ordinary believer. It’s clear in verse 7 that he has said Jesus is King. That’s all.

Normal Christian stuff. Yet here he is on trial for the gospel. And I think Luke is reminding us something simple.

Everyone on Team Jesus faces persecution for siding with him. It’s not just the apostles, Paul and Silas, who face the mob. Here we have an ordinary believer in front of the governing authorities.

The pattern this passage lays down for gospel ministry is a subverting one. We all have a part to play, maybe hospitality like Jason, maybe to explain like Paul. But notice that Paul, Silas and Jason have all suffered and they’ve all done word ministry.

They’ve all said there is a King called Jesus. Just saying Jesus is the Messiah has meant severe suffering of countless believers over the last 2,000 years, not just the big-name leaders. Currently, it’s fine to be a Christian in this country.

Maybe it will get better, but maybe in 30, maybe even in just 10 years, it will be a lot harder. And don’t just expect Colin, Fiona, Zach to be in the firing line. Even today, it’s entirely possible that your employer hears that you’re a member of an evangelical church, does a bit of digging online, clicks from one link to another, and it doesn’t take long before they deem you hateful because you believe God when he says that everyone is a sinner, that you believe in the final judgment of all people on the last day.

Normal, ordinary believers can face persecution. And see the accusations against just Jason and his friends in verse 6. These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees saying there is another King, one called Jesus.

False accusations. Paul and Silas were reasoning and explaining and proving, not troublemaking and defying Caesar. Their message isn’t trying to supplant the emperor.

It’s unnecessary. Now, do you recall a few weeks ago when Swift mania was hitting our streets? Thousands and thousands of fans went to the Murrayfield Stadium to see the global mega star Taylor Swift perform. Now compare that to some local musician, just a normal guy playing for a few friends down the pub.

On the one hand, we have Swiftie, a big deal. She’s performing in front of tens of thousands night after night. The tour is massive.

How does that compare for a man playing down the pub for 20? Well, it doesn’t, does it? And they don’t threaten each other. Our man isn’t losing out to her because they’re on a different league. And that’s the case with comparing Caesar to Jesus.

The emperor of the Roman empire measures diddly squat compared to the rule of the Messiah. Jesus’ kingdom is so vast that he has no need to depose Caesar. The believer’s aim isn’t to defy Caesar.

He’s so much bigger. And yet here they are on trial. In fact, it’s a reminder of Jesus’ own unjust trial.

He too was in a crowd who had been riled up by religious leaders. He too was accused of being rebellious and trying to usurp Caesar. Look, recorded women as witnesses there too, something not normal in this day.

There are echoes everywhere. And so it’s no surprise that the believers end up accused. We follow Jesus, therefore being treated like him shouldn’t be a shock to us.

Let me say that again. We follow Jesus, therefore being treated like him shouldn’t be a shock to us. In fact, it’s exactly what the church should expect.

We follow him through his trial all the way to the cross. And yet there is actually a hint of truth in these accusations. The phrase that is here translated as causing trouble at Jesus’ own trial is translated subverting.

In other translations, verse six says, these men who have turned the world upside down. And Jesus does turn the world upside down. Therefore the normal church member, just Jason, is preaching an upside down world.

And this does subversively undermine Caesar in some ways. Our friend playing at the Murrayfield pub isn’t directly threatened by Taylor Swift’s concert, even though it’s just down the road. But incidentally, from quick research online, it appears that not many pubs in that area had live music on the 8th and 9th of June.

They just wanted lots of post-concert fans. Big things affect everything. Everything in Edinburgh was slightly different that weekend.

I’m reliably informed that trains from Glasgow to Edinburgh on the Friday would make you think we had a national uniform with the number of people dressed up for the gig. And so yes, if Jesus the king comes bringing his upside down kingdom, then the world is not the same place. The missionaries have much loftier goals than subverting society.

But that is what happens nonetheless. It has to. The gospel of grace changes everything.

But just as the world hated Jesus, the life giver, so as we live cross-shaped lives and share the gospel of grace, we too can be hated by the world. For Jason and his fellow new believers, how do you think they feel as the apostles flee the town? They send them away in verse 10, but I doubt they’re confident. Here have come these men with not just life-changing, but world-changing news.

You’ve realized it’s true, and so you commit to follow. And then almost instantly, you’ve got the authorities breathing down your neck. Where do they go now? Do you think they’ve got enough to persevere for life? If you here tonight are someone that’s sitting tonight, this morning, are someone that’s sitting on the fence about Jesus, then what do you make of this? Some of you might have only decided to put your faith in Jesus this year.

How do you feel about the decision to follow his way, seeing what it might cost? Sure, Jason is released on bail here, but that won’t always be the case. The church subverts society, and society doesn’t like it. Expect persecution.

And as Paul and Silas escape to Berea, we move to our third point. The unstoppable gospel stands up to scrutiny. From verse 10, we see that Paul and Silas are undeterred by having to escape Thessalonica in the night, and they continue as before preaching the news of Christ crucified anyway.

So they go to the synagogue as usual, and again explain that the Messiah had to suffer and rise, and that the Messiah is Jesus. The response here is amazing. Have a look at verse 11.

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed. The Bereans are described as noble.

Now when Luke says nobility here, he doesn’t have in mind royalty or titles in your bloodline. What Luke says makes a man or woman noble is their character, specifically how they respond to the gospel. In Thessalonica, the bad characters formed a mob and resisted the gospel being spread.

Notice the contrast here. Here we have reception of the message with great eagerness. Is that what you value most in your friends? It’s great to have friends who support you and build you up.

People who make you laugh are important, but the finest and highest quality a member of the human race can have is the nobility to eagerly receive the message of Christ crucified. And in this eagerness, they don’t just blindly accept what Paul and Silas teach, no, they investigate. Examining the scriptures means reading them closely.

Or actually, given the literacy rates at the time were so low, it probably means quizzing Paul on his claims. He might have taught on the passages I mentioned earlier, or maybe they’ve asked questions about how the Sabbath fits in with Jesus, or maybe they had questions about the Passover. We don’t know the specifics, but we do know that as they questioned Paul on the gospel, they believe his claims.

They believe that God always justified by faith, that he was always planning on sending his son as the sacrifice needed to redeem us. The gospel stands up to scrutiny. Christians shouldn’t have a reputation that our heads are in the clouds seeking to escape reality.

We have a faith built on the solid foundation, not on the word of some ancient nutters, but built on the very word of God. Martin, our minister at St. Silas, likes to ask at guest events, have you ever read the Bible for yourself as an adult? I think that’s a great question, because most people reject Jesus without ever reading what he said in the gospels, never mind the other 62 books of the Bible that are all about him. Your friends, like the Bereans, can examine the word of God and find that it’s consistent, it’s reliable, and it is the greatest story ever told.

It’s so great that I think you’re on shaky ground if you think anyone other than the creator and ruler of the entire universe could have written it. So, if you here this morning have never examined the scriptures for yourself as an adult, why not do that? I sincerely believe you’ll be surprised. And that goes for those of you who already follow Jesus too.

Why not, in your eager response to the gospel, examine the scriptures every day? You too might be surprised. Don’t be ashamed of the Bible, get your friends to read it, tricky bits and all, we can have these reasoned debates like Paul, anyone can teach from the word. And see, the result of this scrutiny in verse 12, many people believe.

Once again, a diverse group, now brothers and sisters. And yet, as before, as the gospel is preached, so those who preach it are persecuted. Our final point, the unstoppable gospel doesn’t stop.

See verse 13. But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. We’ve already seen how relentless the opposition is, as it sought out even ordinary believers, and how despite claiming moral superiority, the opposition was willing to bring alongside some local thugs.

And now we see their jealousy is so great that this mob come over a day’s travel, some 45 miles to continue their pursuit here. Throughout the centuries, there have been a wide variety of motives for this kind of persecution. We have religious and political leaders not liking the lessened grip they have on those who live the way of Jesus.

You’ve got those who feel judged on their sin when the Christians won’t join in with their behavior. As the gospel comes, it also shuts down injustice. We see that in the previous chapter with the freedom of the slave girl.

Her owners are outraged that they can’t continue exploiting her. But at heart, the reason people hate gospel ministry is because they hate the gospel. The world will hate you for following Jesus because it hates Jesus.

And in that sense, it’s simple. Jesus lived the cross-shaped life of his upside-down kingdom. Right from his incarnation, as he humbly took on human nature, Jesus did the unthinkable and came to live on this deeply broken and rebellious world.

And he went all the way to the cross, the king of kings dying to save those who would usurp him. Jesus isn’t usurping Caesar. It’s every one of us that’s been trying to usurp Jesus.

And yet he paid the price for us. Jesus suffered and now lives seated in heaven. And so we follow him.

We live a cross-shaped life. We live upside down, loving those who hate us and giving to those who won’t give back. Jesus’ people suffer.

The world hates them because it hates their king, but they follow him anyway. So don’t be surprised if one day the heat turns up on the church and you find yourself with a gun to your head at work. Don’t be surprised as you share a suffering savior that you suffer too.

I asked earlier how you newer Christians are feeling. You’ve just started to follow Jesus and you’re now hearing it’s all going to be a life of suffering and persecution. But those who live by truth as citizens of the upside-down kingdom are trampled on by those who live in this world of lies.

Why bother? How are these fledgling churches going to continue to grow if this is the rocky start they had? A small encouragement, then a big one. The end of the passage gives us the small one. We see in verse 14 that Paul is separated from Silas and Timothy.

They stay put, but Paul continues to Athens. The dream team is split up. The circumstances are far from ideal.

And yet the gospel hasn’t stopped. Both Paul and Silas continue. And the gospel continues to the ends of the earth.

Already in just a few decades, the news of Jesus has gone from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria and is now in Greece. It’s already crossed continents. The unstoppable gospel doesn’t stop.

Despite appearances, despite mounting pressure, team Jesus is the winning team. And furthermore, the big encouragement to keep going for the first century Christian and 21st century Christian alike is not only is that the gospel is winning here today, but that it ultimately triumphs. The most upside down thing of all is that Jesus’ death was not the end.

Death itself was subverted. Death died. And so as we follow Christ crucified, we have the hope that he bought for us.

We follow him through the grave and out the other side. Jesus Christ is the suffering Messiah. And so if we follow him, then we preach that good news.

All of us cause others to repent and believe. And we do that knowing in one way or another that we will suffer. Expect that.

Ordinary believers sharing Jesus in ordinary ways is what we do. But expect resistance. They crucified our King.

They’re not going to leave us unharmed. My friends, we don’t just follow the cross, but we live the cross. But remember that the Messiah, Jesus, he rose, he won.

So while we don’t just shake off the haters, we also don’t despair at the suffering. Instead, we fight the battle with hope, knowing the gospel will make it to the ends of the earth. Preach the cross, live the cross.

Preach the cross, live the cross. Let me pray to close. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the cross of Christ Jesus.

We thank you that the Messiah suffered for us. And so Lord, as we live following him, as we live cross-shaped lives, Lord give us encouragement in knowing the victory Jesus secured. Give us hope as the gospel spreads.

Lord, give us courage as we follow his way. Lord, as we trust what he has done for us, give us the strength to live for you. Lord, we pray that you would help us to live the cross and preach the cross.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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