Men Who Turned the World Upside Down, Part 1
Acts 17:1-3, 10-11
As we approach the 17th chapter, the Apostle Paul, along with his friend and co-missionary, Silas, have just been released from jail in Philippi. Actually, God did the releasing. Shattered the jail by an earthquake. The church in Philippi has been established in the namely the name of Lydia and her household and the jailer and his house. There's a little congregation of believers there.
The pressure was on. The local gendarmes, along with the rulers of Philippi, didn't want Paul and Silas or Timothy around. Or for that matter, they probably didn't want Luke around, though he remained
As we come to Chapter 17, Paul and Silas and Timothy have left Philippi after a harrowing experience. Paul and Silas having been beaten with rods and just bruised and bloodied, had been thrown in a dark inner dungeon. They had gone through all kinds of pain in the stocks that stretched their limbs and cramped their muscles. Through it all, Jesus Christ had been glorified and consequently they had rejoiced.
And now, they have left Philippi. It might be a time when you would assume that maybe they would go about thinking about whether or not it was worth it and contemplating whether this whole idea of missions couldn't be done some other simpler way with less pain. That is not the case.
As they left Philippi, they went immediately, Verse 1 of 17 says, "To Thessalonica." And here we see, again, this tremendous undaunted spirit that characterized Paul. David Livingston said one time, "I am prepared to go anywhere as long as it is forward." And he really echoed he sentiments of Paul.
The idea of going backwards of say, "This is rough. Let's go back and retrace our steps and get back with some people we know and get a little comfort before we blast into territory," that kind of concept never entered his mind.
Now, Paul and Silas were characterized by the people at Thessalonica with the most interesting characterization it's Verse 6 of Chapter 17. I want to use it as a jumping off point. At the end of the verse, the people in determining the characterization of Paul and Silas shows some interesting words.
They said this, "These, that have turned the world upside down have come here also." Now, that's a very interesting definition of two people. "These that have turned the world upside down."
Now, let me say that that's amazing. It's amazing, just the statement itself, that any man or any men could be men who so affected the world that the people said, "They're turning it upside down." That's tremendous. I mean, there are people who live their whole life and the world doesn't even know they're alive. There are Christians who have absolutely no effect on anything. Here were two people of whom the world said, "They've turned us upside down.
But if you think that's amazing, get this. They've only been to one town, Philippi in Europe, and already through the events of one few days in one town; the world is convinced these men are turning it upside down. And the rumor has drifted all the way to Thessalonica, which is over a hundred miles away. When you turn the world upside down in your lifetime, that's gonzo. When the world says, "You're turning it upside down," and you've been around a few weeks, that's really gonzo.
As we look at these two individuals, Paul and Silas, the amazing consequence of their ministry in Europe can really be based on some very, very key factors. There were reasons that they did what they did and there were reasons that they had the effect that they had. Somebody said one time, "There are people who watch things happen and there are people who make things happen. Then there are people who don't know what's happening." These were people who made things happen. Every time they took a step, the world shook. They had an effect. They mattered.
One writer said, "There are only two people that count in the modern world, a committed communist and a committed Christian. Everybody else is along for the ride." Some people count. Some people are just sort of - I used to call them kind of "eternal ding-a-lings." They just never amount to anything. They just go along. They float. They're in limbo. Then there are people who count. There are people who make waves in this world. There are people who upset the system. There are Christians who disturb the comfort of sinners. Paul and Silas were those kind of people.
You know, God's always had those kind of people. God's always had people who made waves. God's always had people who upset Satan's apple cart, who took a placid, sinful situation and threw it into chaos.
There was one that I particular like and I'll just share a few illustrations real quick. Elijah, poor Elijah made waves already the place. He was always hassling Ahab. Ahab would have made a black mark on a piece of coal. He was bad and he had a woman that was just as bad by the name of Jezebel. But it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said on him, "Are you he who troubles Israel? You're the guy messing up the system." Well, I love Elijah's answer. He says, "No, I haven't troubled Israel, you have. You and your father's house and that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed Belem." Elijah made waves.
There was another guy and he did it in a different way, this fellow. He was kind of more of a soulful, kind of sensitive person. His name was Jeremiah. Jeremiah created havoc because of the kind of man that he was.
In Jeremiah 38, let me just read you a couple of verses here, Verses 2 through 4, listen. Here's Jeremiah's message, he tells Israel this; get this, "Thus says the Lord, 'He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. Jerusalem is in for it. But he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live for he shall have his life for a prize and shall live." He's talking about the Chaldeans are gonna come down, wipe out the city and take some people captive. "Thus saith the Lord, 'This city shall surely be given into the hands of the king of Babylon's army, which shall taketh.'" He says, "Babylon's gonna knock off Jerusalem. Now, that is what God says."
Now, he wanted to get the reaction. What an announcement, you see. The Israeli army at that point may say themselves, "Now, we got get armed up and get ready to go because Babylonian may come over here. We got to have this thing in hand." Therefore, the princes said to the king, "We beseech you. Let this man be put to death. Kill Jeremiah." "What do you want to kill him for?" "For thus he weaken at the hands of the men of war that remain in the city." "What do you mean?" "He's wrecking the morale of everybody. Here we're getting ready to fight Babylon and he's saying, 'No, God says you're all gonna get wiped out.' What do you think that's doing for the morale of the army? He's speaking such words and this man seeks not the welfare of the people, but the harm of the people."
So Zedechiah turns him over and says, "Okay. He's in your hands." You see, Jeremiah made waves and they want to get rid him because he disturbed the complacency of sin.
There was another man, simple man, he was kind of a farmer really, but he made some waves. His name was Amos. In Amos 7:10, Amaziah, the Priest of Bethel, said to Jeroboam, King of Israel, and this is what he said, "Amos has conspired against thee" - of course, it was a lie. Amos was speaking the truth and these guys are propagating error. "Amos has conspired against thee in the midst of house of Israel." Listen to this. "The land is not able to bear all his words. Get rid of that guy. We can't take him." And it wasn't that he was personally offensive. It was that what he said offended.
Our beloved God has always had people that made waves when they confronted the system and the sinners that make up the system, you see.
When you come to the Book of Acts, you've got another guy and it's Paul. Every time he put his foot down, something rattled inevitable. In Acts, he didn't go into a town and just gently leave an impression. He turned the towns into chaos whenever he ministered there.
Now, in Acts 21:28, he had been in Jerusalem just a little while and they were so upset they just stirred up all the people and had a riot. He created riots everywhere. They started yelling, "Men of Israel, help!" See. "You got this Paul. Help us! This is a man that teaches all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place. And further, he brought Greeks into the temple and polluted the holy place." It didn't say he did that all. It says they saw him to talking a guy named Tophemus, who happened to be from Ephesus, so they assumed he took him into the holy place. It's all trumped up.
Well, Verse 30 says, "The whole city was moved. The people ran together, took Paul, drew him out of the temple at once, the doors the were shut. And as they went about to kill him - we'll stop there. You that they didn't. But everywhere he went, he created a mess. He created chaos. Why? Because of what he said. Keep that in your mind - "Because of what he said." Now, if you create trouble because of what you are, you got personal problems. If you just make trouble and you say, "Well, I get out there and I try to witness and I get into all kinds of trouble," well, maybe it's because you're an offensive person. That's a personality problem. It wasn't Paul that offended. It was he said that offended.
All right. Chapter 22 gives us another illustration, Verse 22. "They listen to him until this word and then lifted up their voices and said" - listen to this - "Away with such fellow from the earth." Now, that's serious. It's not getting out of town. It's get him off the globe! It is not fit that he should live! Now, these people were upset. You know how I know they're upset? The next verse, "As they cried out, they threw their clothes off." They were upset. They started tearing their clothes off.
Now, if that wasn't bad enough, it said, "They threw dust in the air." It were like they'd gone bananas, tearing their clothes and throwing dirt, see. What does that express? It expresses a tremendous frustration. They're trying to release their hostility and they're just tearing their clothes and throwing dirt. They were really upset. All he'd done was preach Jesus. You see, he made waves.
And he did the same thing in Chapter 24, Verse 5. I love this. "We have found this man up a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world." Isn't that interesting? They thought this guy had - he had actually turned the world on its ear. "He's a ringleader of the sects of the Nazarenes! He goes about the purveying the temple," and so forth and so forth.
And they said the same thing about him in Chapter 28, Verse 22. "We desire to hear of thee what you think, for as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against." Do you know what he had done? He had made Christianity the issue everywhere he went. Now, what is that makes it maliga? What is it - makes a difference between a known name and a Jeremiah, between and Amos and a Paul, and a nobody? A Christian who just never amounts to anything. He's just there, but no one really cares. No one knows.
Why have we forgotten 10,000 times, 10,000 missionaries, and only vaguely remember names like Livingston and Cherry and Maritene and Ediron Jedson? Why? And why have forgotten hundreds of thousands of preachers and vaguely remember Savannah, Rolla, and Huss, and Wesley, and Luther, and Calvin, and Malengthin, and Edwards, and Hurgin, and Moody, and vaguely remember those names? But we don