"Faith is Not Blind" Sermon: Acts 17:1-9

“Faith is Not Blind”
[Acts 17:1-9]
August 8, 2010 Second Reformed Church

Archie Bunker, on the TV show “All in the Family,” said, “Faith is believing in something no one in their right mind would believe in.” “Faith is believing in something no one in their right mind would believe in.” And it would seem that many people – even people within the Church – believe that or something like it.

Now, that is not to say that there isn’t mystery – that there are things that we cannot fully understand – because there are. No one in their right mind would say that he fully understands the Doctrine of the Trinity – our minds are too small for that. No one understand exactly how God will resurrect our bodies and what exactly will happen to us as God glorifies our bodies to be like Jesus’. But that is not what we’re talking about here.

There is an epidemic of anti-intellectualism in the Church – there is the perception that Christians need to turn off their brains to be Christians. And some Christians believe that it is not right or profitable to try to understand what God has said or to be able to explain what God has said to us clearly. There is no denying that there are mysterious parts and difficult parts of the Bible, but most of it is straightforward, and, if we take a little time, we can understand it. There is something insidiously wrong with the statement, “I don’t read the Bible, I just have faith.”

Paul and Silas were asked to leave Philippi by the magistrates, and they did. They continued their journey and went west about a hundred miles through Amphipolis and Apolonia, coming to Thessalonica on the border of Macedonia and southern Greece. And though Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, since the Gospel is to the Jew first and also to the Greeks (cf. Romans 1:16), Paul went to the synagogue first, and there – for three successive Sabbaths – “he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’”

We may remember when Paul spoke to the Gentiles – the non-Jews – he reasoned with them from nature – and we’ll see this again – Paul looked at the world and reasoned with them from what they knew in the world to the need of the Savior and then he explained that the Savior is Jesus.

The Jews, however, as Paul writes, “to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenant, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:4-5, ESV).

In other words, the Jews have had a special relationship with God for millennia. God has worked with them and through them – God has spoken to them and given them His Word with the promises – including those of the Savior Who was to come. So, when Paul addressed the Jews, he turned them to their Scripture and showed them that everything that happened to Jesus proves that He is the Promised Savior. This is exactly what Jesus did after the Resurrection when he met Cleopas and his friend on the road who were mourning the death of Jesus and despaired that He was not the Promised Savior. “And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-26, ESV).

Paul, after the example of Jesus, took the Jews to their own Scriptures, to the promises of God and proved to them that Jesus is the Savior, because He fulfills everything that the prophets prophesied, including that He would suffer and rise from the dead.

Where did he get that proof? We’re not told what Scripture Paul used, but Jesus said that all of the Scripture concerns Him – Jesus is to be found everywhere. So, if one takes the time to look at it an think it through, one will understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Promised Savior.

We, Christians, like biblical Jews, believe that the Bible is the Word of God, written by humans, inspired by the Holy Spirit, without error, and conveying everything God wants us to know for faith and life and, especially, His Plan of Salvation.

Let us wake up for a moment and turn on our brains. Let us listen to a passage from Isaiah – written about seven hundred years before Jesus lived – and see if this prophecy sounds like anyone:

“Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you – his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind – so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what they heard from us? And to who has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despise and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

“Surely he has bourne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him as stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb lead to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

“Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet be bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 52:13-53:12, ESV).

Now, I know you just heard me read that – and we have no reason to believe that that was the specific text Paul looked at with the Jews – though it could have been. But, even as I read it, did it remind you of anyone? “He reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’”

Paul had spent enough time in the Scripture to know it well enough that he could point to sections and say, “Look at this, doesn’t it make sense that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Promised Savior? Look at the promise – look at Jesus – didn’t Jesus accomplish everything that God promised?” Paul used his mind at the Scripture to show that Jesus is Who God – through the prophets – promised He would be.

And some of the Jews, who believed the Scripture, were convinced by Paul’s argument. Tellingly, there were also Gentiles in the synagogue, and Luke tells us that a great many of them were convinced and believed, as did a good number of the leading number of the women of Thessalonica.

What Paul did is what we call “apologetics.” He offered a reasoned argument for why Jesus is the Savior. Now, we should remember that no one can believe unless God causes them to believe. So, someone could offer the absolute, perfect argument for Jesus being the Promised Savior, and yet those who God has not chosen to believe will still not believe. However, that should not discourage us from offering arguments for the truth of the Scripture and for Jesus being the Savior, because God wants us to use our minds. Remember the greatest law: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27a, ESV).

So let us understand that God has called us to love Him with our minds. That means we are to use our minds in such a way that shows God to be our greatest love. We are to love God with our intellect – with our ability to reason and argue and prove and think and understand.

In every way we use our mind, we should strive to use it in the best and most accurate way. We ought to study well in school and try to understand what we are being taught. We ought to use our minds at our jobs to do the best job and to make the job better for everyone involved. We ought to stretch our minds and try to understand as much as God allows us to understand – not merely for the sake of knowledge, but so that we will know God better and glorify Him for all that we understand.

We waste our minds when we “read” pornography – when we watch trash TV – things like “The Jerry Springer Show” – (at least I don’t know anything God honoring about that show). We waste our minds when we don’t think – when we accept what we are told without proof or reason. We waste our minds when we accept what the news tells us – our modern, television news is first and foremost entertainment – it is only secondarily to convey information and, perhaps, truth. Watch out. Guards your mind. Don’t waste your mind on trash.

Now, that is not to say that you have to spend every moment reading text books. I plan to bring a number of mystery novels with me to the beach. On TV, I enjoy the “Hetty Wainwright Mysteries” and “Keeping Up Appearances” and “Columbo” and “Stargate SG-1. It is largely obvious what is trash literature and what is good. And there is light literature and heavy literature, and it is fine to have a balance. We don’t have to be reading Einstein every day. But we do well to engage our minds in reading or watching something that stretches our minds – develops them, causes us to think.

Go to a museum. Read a good novel. Read a scientific book. Discuss current events with someone. Discuss art or philosophy or how to plant a garden with someone. Learn about architecture or business – even wine.

Do something more than sit in front of trashy TV or read trashy books.

We love God with our minds when we study His Word. When we read it and try to understand it on our own and in groups and with the use of good Christians books. We love God with our minds when we explain the Scriptures – and the Gospel, in particular – to others.

Paul and Silas spent three Sabbaths explaining the Scripture in Thessalonica and God was pleased to cause some Jews and many Gentiles and a good number of the leading women to come to faith in Jesus as their Savior. Their faith was not blind, it was based on understanding that Jesus fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament – the promises that God has made to Israel through the prophets.

And what happened?

Well, the Jews who did not believe were jealous of Paul and, since they knew that Paul was staying with Jason, they gathered up a mob of wicked men, set the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason – hoping to take Paul away. But he wasn’t there. So they grabbed Jason and brought him before the magistrates – this is getting to be a pattern – and they made two accusations against them: They were turning the world upside-down and, they were proclaiming that Jesus was king, not Caesar.

The magistrates were disturbed by this report because they wanted peace in their city and because they were afraid of the retaliation that Rome would bring if they tried to set up a king opposed to Caesar. Still, they accepted bail money and let Jason go.

But their accusations were actually true: Jesus does turn the world upside down. We know that – this world is not all there is – this world is fallen and broken and sinful, but Jesus will return and restore it and there will be a new heavens and a new earth and a new Jerusalem – Paradise like Adam and Eve enjoyed. Yes, if you believe that this world and this life is the be-all and end-all – no, you need to have your world turned upside-down. You need to understand that following after this world will guide you down the path to Hell. You must repent and turn to Jesus. He is the Promised Savior Who will deliver you from your sin and credit you with His Righteousness, so you can be forgiven and called holy – a son or daughter of God – who will be welcomed into His Kingdom at the end of the age. Enjoy the world – yes, God has given it to us to enjoy – but turn it upside down – and understand the Beauty and the Truth of Jesus.

And Jesus is King – Jesus is the King of King, the fairest of ten thousand, the Lord of a thousand hills. He is the Ruler and the Judge of all. He is our God and Savior and no mere human being can ever rule over Him.

So, how ought we live?

Let us use our minds. Let us think. Let us do something with the minds God has given us. Let us use them to learn, to enjoy, to know God and love Him.

Let us use our minds on worthwhile things. Let us learn to distinguish between those things that waste our minds and rot our minds and those things which grow our minds and make them more glorifying to God.

And let us use our minds to understand all that we can – both in the Scripture and in the world. God has given us His Word so we would know Him and love Him more. He has given us His Word so we would be able to see what He has done in sending Jesus to be our Savior and so we could explain it to others that they might believe in Jesus as God is willing to cause them to believe. And God has given us this whole world – all of Creation – that we would enjoy it and know it – understand it. God is glorified as we come to understand all the wonders of what He has created. Follow what interests you and know it better that you might praise and glorify God for His Work in Creation.

Let us love God with our minds.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You that You have given us the Creation and Your Word. We thank You that You have given us minds that can understand and reason and explain, and we ask that You would help us to use our minds to love You and bring You glory. Help us to understand Your Word and be able to explain it to others. Help us to take an interest in Your Creation and learn more about it. For You have given it to us to enjoy and to glorify You. May Jesus Christ be praised. Amen.