September 1931
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Vs. 10, 11. Did the persecution in Thes salonica lead to the giving of the gospel elsewhere? Where? Arriving there, where did Paul preach? What kind of listeners did he find? What did they do? 1 Thess. 2:7-12. What two figures of speech does Paul use to describe his treat ment of the Thessalonian Christians? How was, his love for them shown? What example did he set for them? What was his great object in all his dealings with them? Should this be the aim of every Christian worker? Golden T ex t Illustration In one of his helpful little volumes, Dr. J. R. Miller tells of a young lady who purchased a book but who, after reading a few pages, failed to become interested in it. Some months afterward, she met the author, and a tender friendship sprang up, ripening into love and be trothal. Then the book was no longer dull. Every sentence had a charm for her heart, because love was the interpreter. Seeing beauty in God’s Word is much the same. The Bible has infinite value in itself; but to reveal its richest treasures, it needs love as an interpreter. To those who do not know Christ, the Book may seem uninteresting; but to those who know and love Him, its every page be comes like a casket of jewels glowing with beauty and light. How W e O ugh t to H ear A cts 17:1, 2, 5-14 Memory Verse: “Teach me thy way, O Lord” (Psa. 27:11). Approach: After Paul and Silas and Timothy had left Philippi, they went through Macedonia, visiting other cities in that country. As they entered each This time they gathered together a great crowd of people, and they went to the rulers and said, “These men, Paul and Silas and Timothy, have turned the world upside down. They say there is another king, one Jesus.” That is just what the Jews told Pilate when they wanted him to crucify the Lord Jesus. This frightened the rulers, so Paul and Silas had to leave. They went to a city called Berea. There the people wanted to hear the gospel. They listened every day, and they read their Bibles to find out if what Paul and Silas were telling them was true. But when the Jews of Thessalonica heard that Paul was preaching to the people in Berea, they hurried to that city to :make more trouble, and once more Paul and his helpers moved on. So we see that, as they went on through the cities preaching to the people, they met two kinds of peo ple. One kind listened and believed, and the other kind wouldn’t listen but went about stirring up trouble. Today there are two kinds of listeners, too. I wonder which kind you are going to be. Ü H i city, they went at once to the syna gogue and preached the gospel there. L e s s o n Story: When Paul preached in the city of Thes salonica, many be lieved, both men and women. But, as us ual, the Jews who did not believe be gan to make trouble.
BLACKBOARD LESSON
II. T he E ncouragement in H is W ork (Acts 17:10, 11). After the uproar at Thessalonica, the ministers of the Word made their way to Berea. If the treatment accorded Paul and Silas should be given to many a preacher today, he would doubtless be tempted to return to his home, disgusted and disappointed. But Paul and his com panions had counted the cost. They had gone out to preach the gospel, knowing full well that that message was unpopu lar, and that it would call forth just the treatment that they received. Until Jesus comes, the world will never be ready to receive, without objection, the gospel of the grace of God, because it convicts the world of sin. But the Christian witness need not be discouraged. Paul and Silas were not. When they were driven from Thessalonica, they went at once to the next town, Berea, and there again Paul sought out the synagogue of the Jews and proclaimed the truth concerning Jesus of Nazareth. The nobility of character possessed by the Bereans was at once recognized. They did not accept, without investigation, that which the apostle preached. They were willing to listen to the Word, and they did not turn from it as though it were unim portant, but they received it with readi ness of mind, and then searched the Scriptures for themselves to verify the preacher’s statements. This must, have been a great encouragement to Paul who knew, as we do, that the entrance of God’s word gives light (Psa. 119:130). If the mind is filled with the Word of God, it will not be long until it will affect the conscience, awaken conviction of sin, and lead to true conversion. When peo ple will honestly search the Scriptures, they will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all the Scriptures speak. Apart from Him, the. Bible would never have been written. It was because He was coming to the world that the Old Testa ment was written; and it was because He came that the New Testament was writ ten. Both the Testaments have as their subject the person and work of the. Lord of Glory. Therefore, true nobility is de pendent upon one’s attitude toward the Word which reveals the Lord. The Be reans were “more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily” (v. 11). III. T he C haracter of H is W ork (1 T hess . 2:7-12). This passage is taken from the section of First Thessalonians in which the apos tle speaks of the character of several phases of his work, two of which form the subject of this portion of our lesson. 1. He had dealt with the Thessalonians as a nurse (7-9). i The picture is of one who is a trained nurse, who knows how to care for chil dren, and yet who is also the mother of the babes that she nurses (cf. v. 7, R. V.). Therefore, Paul implies that in his treat ment of the believers in Thessalonica, the ability, wisdom, and experience of a trained and proficient nurse were ex pended upon the babes in Christ; and with this was coupled the understanding and gentleness and love of a mother’s heart. It is also a picture of the care that the Holy Spirit gives to the new-born
child of God. The apostle was so given up to the work of doing good to the Thes salonian Christians that to him nothing seemed too great a sacrifice, if only his children in the gospel were helped there by. He was “willing to have imparted” his own soul unto them if that would have brought them into fuller realization of what they were and had in Christ. It is when we Sunday-school teachers show, in some measure, this same interest in our scholars that they will come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Sav iour and will grow in grace, as we desire to see them do. 2. He had dealt with the Thessalonians as a father (10-12). He had walked before them as a father before his children, and so had taught them by his example. He called them to witness that he had walked holily, that is, in relation to God; justly, that is, in re gard to man; and unblameably, that is, in the sight of both God and man. Of lit tle use is teaching if the teacher’s walk belies his exhortations. He had exhorted them, or, more liter ally, encouraged them by the Word. For their encouragement, he had opened the Word to them when the temptation had come to grow discouraged because of the apparent indifference of the world to the gospel message, or when the messengers had met with persecution. He had com forted them and supported them by the Word. Finally, he charged them, that is, he solemnly pressed home upon their hearts and consciences the truths of God’s Word. All this he did as a father with his children. It is one thing to be a nurse, caring for babes; it is another thing to be a father, dealing with growing children. Like Paul, we must not only care for the babes in Christ, but we must see to it that they grow and make pro gress in their Christian experience. This latter task requires the wisdom of a father—wisdom that is begotten and that is balanced by interest in them. Paul shys that his obj ect in so dealing with the Thessalonian Christians was that they might “walk worthy of God,” who had called them unto His kingdom and glory. To walk worthy of God means to walk as though in His presence, doing all things to His glory. The Christian is called unto the “kingdom and glory,” but, until the Lord comes, he finds himself in the “kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1 :9). Tribulation is the present portion; glory will be the eternal possession. Lesson Questions Acts 17:5-9. In whose home was Paul a guest? What did the angry mob of Jews do to this man? In what terms did they speak of the work of Paul and Silas? Was this really a veiled compli ment?
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