The Thessalonian Story Part 2 – The Birth of the Thessalonian Church

Go to the next one again. It might be some tradesman of some sort working there. The next one might be someone who makes or sells copper or brass, or bronze. You can go down that little yard stretch and come across almost anything that you people that day needed. And Paul is looking around because he is a tentmaker, and he’s thinking to himself, ‘Can I make a living in this town? Can I make any small change?’ There’s no moonlighting in this economy at this particular time.

Now, the third week dawns. And probably they know by now this is the last meeting they’re going to have in the synagogue. So let’s look at it. There are more people here now than there have ever been. In fact, the synagogue is packed. Rumors have gone out all over the town. Very little ever happens anyway, so any rumor can get a lot of people attracted. The place is packed. They go through the ritual. Once more, Paul is invited to speak, but this time the synagogue manager says, ‘It may be that we have made an error in having you speak, so we’re going to ask you some questions.’ And they begin asking him questions, and they’re very cutting questions. And Paul is brilliant. Finally, one of the men turns to the audience and says, ‘We have discovered that these men caused a great deal of trouble and problems in the city of Philippi, and in fact, it may be that there is no synagogue there at all today because of them. They could be ruffians. We think they’re gangsters. We don’t think you should be listening to these people.’

Paul continues to stand. He refutes what they have to say. The man has never been more brilliant than in this moment. Finally, the synagogue leader says, ‘We don’t want you anymore. Get out of this building. Don’t any of you people listen to this man. He is a liar and he is dishonest in every way. He does not tell the truth.’

Well, Paul walks out. Silas walks out. Timothy walks out. And this is a moment of discouragement. That back hasn’t completely healed. He’s gone through a lot of years of rejection. What Paul has failed to realize is that there’s a God. What Paul doesn’t know is what has happened in the lives of some of those people who have heard. Jason and his wife, for instance, and I have to stop here and tell you, anything I tell you for the next few minutes, don’t expect to find it in the scripture, but it’s important that you understand the atmosphere. Jason and his wife unwittingly have already received Christ as their Lord. They were Greeks, they were not Jews, and they knew that this Messiah must be theirs, and something happened within their being when they believed.

Aristarchus comes out. He’s as excited as he can be. And he says, Will you be back next week? Paul says, I can’t be back next week. And he says, “Well, let’s go somewhere else and talk. Can we go home with you?” We live in an inn, there’s no place to talk. Isn’t there something we can do? Other people have now gathered around. We want to hear some more. Well, I don’t know what to do about that. I don’t know what to say. Don’t you people understand that I have just been accused of being a liar and a gangster? ‘Nah, that doesn’t matter, we believe you. We like what you said, not what they said.’ A little Jewish lady comes up, an elderly lady, and looks up into their faces and says, I have been waiting for the Messiah all my life, and what you have said is true, and I believe. Tell me more about my Lord.

Then Jason says to Paul, “I will open my home to you. We can speak in my home. Meet there.” Paul hears a murmur, and then he says, Alright, when shall we do this? Jason said, I don’t know. Any night this week is fine with me. It’ll have to be in the evenings. And Aristarchus says, “Why wait? Why wait? Let’s do it tonight.” And Jason said, ‘Alright, fine.’ And everybody around says, “Where do you live, Jason? And he says, Well, I live up that hill. And then they say, Forget it. We’ll follow you home right now. And then Jason stands up on a pillar, there on the side of the street, and he hollers out to everybody some directions, and he says, ‘I’ll have a torch lit at my home, and you can tell which house is mine by the torch in front of it.’ Everybody is excited.

Paul cannot believe this. He has never witnessed this; he is trying to stay reserved. Silas is very excited. And then Jason says, “Come with us now, have dinner with us.” And they look at one another. They know they’re hungry, and they say, “Yes, we’ll come have dinner with you.” So that afternoon, at the home of Jason and his wife, in a house that is destined to make history in that town, Paul, Silas, and Timothy have dinner.

Paul’s still not sure, he’s still not sure; he goes up on the roof to take a short sleep, get some rest, and as he wakes up, he hears a Hebrew tune. And he realizes that someone downstairs is teaching somebody a Hebrew chant, a Hebrew song from one of the Psalms. And he listens to that. He also hears some people outside, and they’ve just come in the door, and he’s getting curious. So he calls down to Silas. Silas comes up to the roof, and he says, ‘Where’s Timothy?’ And he said, “You hear that singing down there?” Yes. He said, “Well, that’s Timothy.” Paul said, Timothy? Well, he’s a Gentile. How does he know these Hebrew songs? Don’t forget that his mother, of course, was a Hebrew.

So Paul listens. And he says, How many people are down there? And Silas says, I don’t know. I haven’t looked yet. So, Paul picks up a scroll out of his satchel, puts it under his arm, and, very trepidatiously, goes down and peeks into the living room. And what greets his eyes absolutely astounds him. The room is comfortably filled with 30, 40, maybe 50 people, and they are all having a great time, just a wonderful time, learning something they’ve never heard of, Psalms you can sing to, probably brought in from the Jerusalem church in Judea. Paul comes in, sits down, leans his head back against the wall, and realizes this is unbelievable.

So after about an hour of everybody chattering and talking and singing, and remember, these people have never been to a Baptist church, and they don’t know they’re supposed to be formal, and they’re just having a wonderful time. And those of you who are Baptist, please forgive me for picking on you, but I have a license to pick on Baptist. I don’t have one for Methodists and Catholics, but I’m actually licensed to pick on Baptists.

Paul stands to speak. And there is something that happens to this man while he’s speaking. He has a revival in his spirit. The Paul of Damascus, the Paul of Antioch, the Paul of Galatia, begins to come back into being. And while he speaks, his spirit is released. And he brings a powerful, powerful message on the Lordship and the centrality of Jesus Christ. When he finishes, there are lots of questions; he gives answers, the meeting goes on late into the night, and then they ask the question, “When can we meet again?” and once more, Paul is absolutely astounded. “You want to meet again?” “Well, of course, we want to meet again,” and so Paul says, ‘Alright, we’ll meet two nights from now,” and somebody says, “No, let’s meet tomorrow night. Paul says, “No, two nights from now.” And they all discuss the situation. They’re going to come back two nights from now, and so two nights from then, Paul of Tarsus once more speaks to these people.

But I want to remind you, this brother is not at all sure, not one bit, and this is his prayer, because he doesn’t know if he’s wasting his time or if he’s doing what he should be doing; nonetheless, he decides, alright, let’s get serious. The next time they meet, Paul of Tarsus uncorks a message on the kingdom of God. Aristarchus sits there and says, This man is going to be thrown in jail for this message. And then he thinks to himself, he’s already been thrown in jail for this message. Paul preaches a message that would leave you to think that he is saying give up your allegiance to the Roman Empire, give up your allegiance to everything on this earth, and give your allegiance to a kingdom, to a nation, to a civilization, that cannot be seen, but nonetheless is a civilization on this earth, and has a King, and you give your allegiance to Him and to Him alone. And the people incredibly receive his message very enthusiastically.