I have a question for you today. How hungry are you? If you regularly read these Reflections, you will quickly surmise that my question isn't really about the state of your stomach, it's about the state of your soul. How hungry are you for the things of God?

Allow me to direct your attention to the first 12 verses of Acts, Chapter 17. This passage of God's word recounts events that took place during the second of the Apostle Paul's three missionary journeys and is well-suited to our purposes today.

When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.

But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: "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 that there is another king, one called Jesus." When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.

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.

You'll notice in these verses a stark contrast between two groups of people. On the one hand we see that the majority of the Jews in Thessalonica rejected the message Paul preached; specifically, that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead and that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. The concept of a suffering Messiah did not fit the categories of these Thessalonians, even though it had been clearly predicted in the Old Testament (Isaiah 53, as one example). On the other hand, the Jews in Berea received Paul's ministry gladly.

What was the difference between the two groups of people? According to v. 11, it was that the Bereans were more noble than their counterparts in Thessalonica. The word noble here conveys the idea of being open-minded, fair, or thoughtful.

The fact that the Bereans were noble (i.e. open) led to three very important things and I would like to address them in today's column. First of all...

1. They received the message with great eagerness - v. 11a. The Message states that the Bereans received Paul's message with enthusiasm.

   Not long ago, a new mother stopped by our church with her beautiful baby boy, who was just a few days old. That adorable infant was unhappy and made his displeasure known in no uncertain terms. He was hungry and he wanted to eat - the sooner the better! A bottle was quickly prepared for him and when he got it, he received it with enthusiasm! You should have seen him gulp down that liquid nourishment.

   What is your attitude when you have opportunity to receive the teaching of God's word? Are you open? Interested? Eager to learn? Excited? Enthusiastic about taking it in?

   May God give us a holy desire to receive the truths of his word!

2. A second thing which resulted from the fact that the Bereans were "noble" or open is that they examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true - v. 11b.

   I really like this about the Bereans. On the one hand they were eager to learn - and very teachable - but on the other hand they didn't accept just anything that was told to them. They weren't gullible. They had enough sense to know that any teaching which didn't line up with the scripture was not to be accepted. So, day by day, as Paul ministered to them, they checked out what he was saying to make sure that what he was teaching was in the book.

   These folks were healthy spiritually. They were open and yet, they were grounded. We would do well to develop both qualities. Consider what Paul wrote to Timothy his son in the faith...

   Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.  But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. - II Timothy 3:12-17

   While we need to be open to receive teaching, we also must be grounded enough to avoid deception. It's wise for us to check out what we are taught by the standard of God's word.

3. There's one more thing that resulted from the fact that the Bereans were noble and that is that they believed - v. 12. That is, they accepted and acted upon the message shared with them and that message was that Jesus was the Christ and that they needed to receive him as Savior.

   Can you see the progression here? Because they were open, they gladly received teaching - they searched the scriptures to confirm the validity of what they were being told and then - they believed.

There was a connection that was made and good things took place. And so it will be with us. When our eagerness to receive God's truth is connected to what we see in the scripture, we will take steps of faith to receive what God has promised - and he is the giver of every good and perfect gift. (James 1:17)

How hungry are you?

Mark is the Pastor of the Evangel Assembly of God located at 1633 Portage Road, Wooster, Ohio, and he would like to extend a cordial invitation for you to join them in worship. If you do not live locally but will be visiting some of the popular attractions in nearby Holmes County, please consider making Evangel one of your stops.

"Reflections" is updated each week with sermons and discourses that reflect the spiritual life of the local community and encourage us to dedicate time and effort to renewing our faith. As we endeavor to represent all faiths, we heartily encourage religious leaders of every denomination and creed to submit copy to be considered for this column.

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