Early Congregations #2 - Bible Based.
We're looking at growing qualities in the Early Church. Today we look at how the Berean church didn't just take Paul at his word, but went back to the Source: The Word of God.| As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. (Acts17:10-12) |
There is a beautiful old hymn often sung across our transnational UPCSA, entitled "Trust and Obey." It begins with the lyrics:
"When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word, such a glory He sheds on our way.
While we do His good will, He abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey."
The irony of this hymn is that it often feeds into this belief system that one should never question, argue or wrestle with anything when it comes to God, God's Word and the teachings (or preachings) that we receive from our respective ministers, pastors or lay preachers.
Our reading taken from Acts 17:10-12 gives us a completely different perspective. In the passage leading up to Acts 17:10-12, we are given more information about the struggle that Paul the Apostle, Silas and Timothy were having with the Thessalonians. There were a group of Jews that simply closed their ears to the Gospel that Paul was bringing to them, and they would often get what we would call "the mob" of their society involved to try and stop Paul, Silas and Timothy.
The torment and bullying became so bad that those who did believe in the Gospel in Thessalonica actually hid Paul and his friends away in a safe home until they could make their way to a neighbouring town called Berea. In Berea, Paul and Silas began to teach the Gospel again and they were, not only, met with excitement and curiosity, but so too, were they met with zeal and an eager desire to learn. As a result, the Berean Jews would take what they had been taught and examine the Scriptures every day to test and see if what they had learnt was true.
Essentially, the Bereans not only received the teachings well, but they also had a curiosity to know and understand more. From this, it becomes quite clear that there was and remains a necessity to wrestle with and question what we are taught about God, God's Word and the Gospel, just as the Bereans did. For it is only when we wrestle, question and rationalise that we are able to understand and discern God's word, His will, and we are able to learn a bit more about God. In those moments, when we allow ourselves to be observant, do the words "trust and obey" become an invitation, rather than a command, to recognise how God is enough and that there remains a living hope in our world.
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Rev Amber-Leigh Gordon, daughter of Rev John Gordon and Mrs Rita Gordon. Avid learner and lover of Reformed and Black Liberation Theology. Serving at St. Columba's Presbyterian Church, Hatfield.
