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

Well, our last time together, we found Paul in the synagogue in the city of Thessalonica, and we’re about to see what happened. But before we do that, I just want to say to you, anything you hear during this time or in the coming messages, remember that this is to build for you a clear scenario so you can appreciate what really provoked the writing of Thessalonians.

Well, let’s go into the synagogue. And you have the ritual. It’s a boring thing, by the way. It’s given in a language no one understands. And then it’s repeated in Greek, which many people don’t understand. The audience: I think it’s important that we understand who’s in the audience. You’ve got the devout Jews. Then there are some other people there who, and maybe even some undevout Jews if they’re like Baptists, you’ve got some people that are called God-fearers.

Now, we don’t fully understand what that word means, but according to all that we know today, these are people who are interested in the Jewish religion, but have never become genuine proselytes, have never been immersed in water, had a lot of questions asked them, and then dunked, thereby symbolizing that they’re going into the Hebrew faith. I want to tell you who three of those people are because we know three names. One of them is named Jason. And all I can tell you about Jason is that he owns a home in Thessalonica. And then there’s a gentleman named Secundus. The only thing I can tell you about him is that he’s a middle child or a second child. And then there’s Aristarchus, who will be with us throughout all the rest of the story of the first century church. An incredible young man. Keep your eye on him. I think one of the few things that we can know about the first century not found in the scripture is a very strong tradition that Aristarchus was killed in, I think, the year 62 A.D., during the persecution of Nero in Rome. In fact, this young man only has about 15 or 20 years to live before he dies for the faith. But right now, he’s not even a believer.

Nobody knows what’s going on. Paul has just been asked to speak. He begins speaking. He has taken on his garb as a Pharisee. And he does a brilliant job of disclosing to the people that someone has come, even the Messiah in Jerusalem, in Israel, and has been received. They are astounded. They are excited. They didn’t know this. News out of Jerusalem is slow. So, he points to Silas and says, I didn’t see this firsthand, but Silas did. Silas stands up and says, Yes, I saw the Messiah. I knew him personally.

And then Paul goes on. Everybody is really thrilled at what they’re hearing. And Paul declares that he has been killed. And there is astonishment, sorrow, and terror in the hearts of everyone. The God-fearers think, ‘We’ve got a Messiah, and now he’s gone.’ Then Paul explains to them that there’s something that we never understood about the Messiah, and that is that he would die, and he’d die for Israel. He’d die for the sins of the Hebrew people, but he would also rise from the dead. And he was alive. He had risen from the dead.

People could not comprehend what was going on within the synagogue. Everyone’s eyes were aglow. The old Hebrews who waited so long throughout their life, knowing that their forefathers had waited even for centuries for this day, were absolutely thrilled. Silas has a few more words, and the meeting ends. Everybody gathers around Paul and Silas and says to them, ‘Come back next week; we want to hear more.’ So, this is Saturday; Paul and Silas decide, yes, absolutely, we will be back, and they will, and they’re going to explain more about the Messiah and what happened. And Paul said he would reveal even more from the scriptures about how those prophecies became real.

Well, they leave. Paul’s excited. This is the first time in his entire life, ever, that he has been invited back to a synagogue two times. He can hardly believe it. Well, there’s something else now we need to understand. And that is Paul, Silas, and Timothy are still broke. They are running out of money fast. Paul and Silas are still very ill from the beating. And they cannot let the Jewish people know this is true. Because if you’re sick, and you’re Hebrew, it means God’s punishing you. If you’ve been mistreated, it means God may not be loving you like you perhaps should be, because there’s something in your life. They go back. Paul is still, and as they go to the end, they still don’t know for sure if they should be in this town. And this problem will haunt Paul for the next few weeks. You know he’s already passed up two towns larger than Thessalonica, beautiful places, where he did not preach the gospel, did not raise up the church. One was Apollonia, and the other one I can’t pronounce.

Alright, this is the situation as we’re returning in the second week. Now, it may be that we can’t really tell, but it may be that the synagogue people were a little bit more cautious this time. Everything that happened in that last meeting was a moment of enthusiasm.

Anyway, Paul is brilliant. He opens the Scripture from one end to the other, telling about the Messiah, the death, the resurrection, and how Christ should suffer; he probably spoke a great deal out of the book of Isaiah. And once more, there are so many people whose hearts are thrilled. They go to leave, they’ll receive another invitation not quite as warm, a lot of questions in the minds of the people who are listening but they have been invited back the next week and that’s just sizzled and granted now Paul, Silas and Timothy return to the inn they spend the week there they are healing still Paul is struggling is this where God wants me to be. He doesn’t know.

He needs some evidence. And the money is trickling out, what little they’ve got left. They are fasting on certain days. They’re eating one meal on other days. Paul and Silas probably go down the marketplace looking around and see if there’s some way they could make a living for the next few days. We’ll have time to get into the economics of Thessalonica and that generation, but they do have a problem in trying to move into a town as perfect strangers and make a living.

But I think I should tell you what the marketplace looks like. It’s about 200 yards long. It’s one-sided. And as you walk up the marketplace from one end to the other, there is everything on earth for sale, and everybody has a little booth that’s about six by eight or eight by ten. Here you can buy some rattan. There you buy wine. There is a place where you would buy jars and vases. The next one is filled with a certain grain. The next one, the sower might be selling mixed grain. The next one would have fruit. The next one would have dry fruit. The next one might be a carpenter working at his trade. The next one might very well be a man who can read and write. He sits there all day waiting for people who cannot read and write to help them with their documents.