Are You Turning Your World Right-Side Up?
Tom Shrader walks through Acts 17, covering Paul's reasoned preaching in Thessalonica, the opposition stirred by jealous Jews, and the noble-minded Bereans who tested Paul's teaching against Scripture daily. He draws out Paul's evangelistic method — combining a changed life with clear proclamation, engaging people in dialogue rather than coercion or entertainment — and applies it directly to how believers today share their faith. The sermon closes with the challenge that Christ alone turns a world upside down right-side up, and that Christians are called to be instruments of that transformation in their families, workplaces, and communities.
“Adam turned the world upside down. Now Christ and his disciples come, and when they turn the world, they turn it right-side up.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Acts
Recorded: 2000 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr 14 min
Themes: evangelism, sharing your faith, scripture, boldness, transformation, opposition, witness, dialogue, wanting to share faith but unsure how, facing opposition at work, new believer, young adult, coworker, parent wanting to reach family, feeling ineffective as a witness, seeker questioning christianity
Scripture: Acts 17, Acts 16:40, 2 Thessalonians 3:7-8, 1 Corinthians 15:3, John 5:46
Theological Themes: missiology, apologetics, biblical reasoning, proclamation, soteriology, gospel witness, hermeneutics, church planting
Full Transcript
Setting the Scene: From Philippi to Thessalonica
Acts chapter 17 is where we are today. Paul and Silas and Timothy have left Philippi. Luke has dropped out of the team and out of sight for a while — he will be gone for some time, and we will pick him up again later. In Philippi, they were arrested, unfairly tried, and beaten. When the Romans discover what they have done, they begin to panic because they understand this is a serious violation of Roman law. Paul says, "You beat me publicly — I would like a public apology," and they respond by asking him to simply go away. He agrees to leave.
Verse 40 of chapter 16 tells us: "They went out of the prison and they entered the house of Lydia, and there they saw the brethren and they encouraged them." Encouragement is a constant part of Paul's life, and it should be a constant part of our lives as well. What is clear as Paul moves from city to city is his love and passion — not just for people hearing the gospel, but for people responding to the gospel and being placed in the local church. He is continually planting churches, and here at the house church at Lydia's, he stops to encourage them before moving on.
From Philippi, they take what we believe is a three-day journey. They travel from Philippi to Amphipolis, roughly 33 miles, then another 30 miles to Apollonia, and then approximately 37 more miles to Thessalonica. They travel along the Ignatian Highway, a road built by Rome. Part of the Pax Romana was to provide peace, tranquility, and the practical benefit of free travel along roads like this one — and if you go to Thessalonica today, you can still see the remains of this road.
Traveling more than 30 miles a day seems like a great deal for men who had just been beaten. That is why some commentators, though not all, believe they were traveling by horseback at this time — perhaps on horses given to them by the church at Philippi. We do not know for certain, but we do know they arrived in Thessalonica.
The Strategy of Stopping at Strategic Cities
Thessalonica was the capital of Macedonia — a large city for that day and age, with over 200,000 people, a commercial hub, and an important center of Greek culture. It is significant that Paul went there. Paul consistently stopped at major cities, trusting that from those centers the people would carry the gospel out into the surrounding areas. Not always and not exclusively, but this was frequently the strategy he used.
When he arrives, verse 2 tells us that according to his custom, he went to the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews there for three Sabbaths. He reasons from Scripture, explains, and gives evidence that Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead. Then he declares: "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ." On the days other than the Sabbath, Paul was living and working among the people of the city. Second Thessalonians chapter 3, verses 7 and 8, written later when Paul writes back to them, records his reminder: "You remember how we worked. We did not take advantage. We did not ask you for anything. We labored day and night." But on the Sabbath, Paul got to do what he was so deeply called by the Lord to do — go, reason from the Scriptures, explain, and preach.
Bold Message, Bold Messenger
The approach we see Paul use here is one we see frequently throughout his ministry: it is not enough to have a bold message alone — you need a bold messenger, and both must come together. We have talked about this before. You and I have the privilege of making the invisible God visible, but we also need to speak the truth boldly. It is fine and good to say, "I am going to live in a way that creates curiosity in someone's life." But somewhere along the way, you have to be able to speak the truth. When someone says to you, "There is something different about you, something unique — I have watched you and there is a difference in your life," you have to look them in the eye and say, "It is Jesus."
Making the invisible God visible and speaking the truth boldly must go together. If I separate them, I become a hypocrite. If I go around saying, "Jesus has changed my life, Jesus has changed my life," but there is no visible change in my life, I am a hypocrite. Paul goes to these people with the right message and the right messenger combined.
Reasoning from Scripture
Paul begins to reason from Scripture, and he understood that Scripture is what is truly essential. About four or five months ago, a man started coming to one of the PL studies. Around the third or fourth week, he came up, introduced himself — all of this was new to him — and asked, "Do you mind if I make an observation?" When told to go ahead, he said, "You are really hung up on that Bible." The response was: "What do you mean?" He said, "You just go back to this Bible again and again and again." The answer was simple: "I have tried it the other way, and I am not that witty and I am certainly not that smart — what we have to talk about is the Scripture."
That is Paul's approach, and it is a good one for each of us. As you begin to share your faith, share from the Scriptures. When you are sitting down with someone who does not believe this is the Word of God and does not accept anything from it, the conversation really has nowhere to go. Not much can happen, because here is the commonality.
Reasoning from Scripture
It is the person of Christ, and it is the Scripture. He reasoned with them. That word in the Greek means, not as we are doing here in a formal setting, but much more in an informal setting. There was a time of question and answer. It was a dialogue, literally — the Greek word gives us the English word "dialogue."
So will you, as you share your faith. You have to be able to talk to people, to answer questions. You are going to have to do something, as you begin to share your faith, that we do not do very well. You are going to have to listen. So often we get so excited and we want to share what God is doing in our life, and we are just coming at this person relentlessly. Every once in a while we take a breath, so they jump in with a question, but we already have an answer to something we think they ought to ask. So we give them that answer. Consequently, we are answering questions nobody is asking, or we are taking them into depths that may not be appropriate for that moment.
It is important to deal with weighty theological issues, but in the process of witnessing? No — he reasoned with them. He explained the Scriptures. That is very important in this context.
What the Jews Had Selectively Studied
What the Jews had done is what we frequently like to do ourselves. They picked the Scriptures they liked, especially as they relate to the Messiah, and those are the ones they studied and talked about. They talked about the Messiah who would come as the conquering king, who would restore the nation and bring prosperity. That is the Messiah they wanted to discuss. What they ignored were the suffering prophecies as they related to the Messiah — so much so that in some circles, Jews developed the idea that there were two Messiahs: a conquering Messiah and a suffering Messiah.
Paul comes along and says, no. Let me explain this to you. Jesus Christ had to suffer. He had to die. He had to rise from the dead, because He is the fulfillment of these prophecies. They began to reason with them, and they began to preach. And what did Paul preach? Christ. It is the same message that you and I have, the same thing Paul wrote to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15:3: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." The people Paul was speaking to knew the Old Testament. He goes to the Old Testament, opens it up, and says: this points to the Messiah, and that Messiah I am speaking to you about is the person of Christ.
What Paul Did Not Do
James Montgomery Boice offers some helpful practical insight for us as we begin to live this life, teach these things, and talk to the people around us. Here is what Boice writes: "At this point it is helpful to think negatively about Paul's approach" — in other words, what did he not do?
He did not try to coerce them. He did not hit them over the head with the Bible. Sometimes we think that in order to witness effectively, we have to shout louder. I have been there, where you are dealing with somebody and the exchange keeps escalating — back and forth, higher and higher. I have never once had someone say afterward, "I cannot wait until we can get together again and talk about all of this." Ignorance on fire — that is what I was. He did not coerce them. He reasoned with them. The whole idea behind that word is a calm conversation.
He also did not try to entertain them. We need to hear that today, especially since we live in an entertainment age and much of the evangelical church has been caught up in the entertainment business. He opened up the Scriptures.
The Power of Opening the Scriptures
That commitment is so ingrained in the leadership, the teachers, and the elders at this church. What happens in junior high and high school here is particularly striking to me. I have the privilege of being out during the week with other churches around the valley, and when I share what is happening in our student ministries, the response is remarkable. Leaders from other churches will say they are really struggling, and they describe everything they try — bowling nights, contests, all kinds of fun activities — explaining that teenagers can only take small doses of Bible teaching. And yet consider what is happening here.
Do you realize that this church has not held a social event for the high schoolers in well over a year? When people hear that, they ask, "What do you do?" Well, if you go up there, you will find worship music — a little different from ours — and then Tim opens up the book and teaches the Bible. About 150 students will be back on this campus at four o'clock for discipleship groups. Out of those groups, social things do naturally emerge. But the point is this: we do not need to entertain each other. We need to understand the Word and teach the Word.
Three Groups Who Respond
Because Paul begins to do this work, people respond — but it is not Paul, it is the Holy Spirit. He is moving on people's hearts. Verse 4 tells us that some of them were persuaded. Some of the Jews, some of the religious people, respond — and these are always the least in number. That is consistently true. We see it as people come into this church: people who were raised in the church, baptized and confirmed, who can talk about singing in a choir, coming forward, playing in a band, teaching Sunday school, or serving as deacons. But they have never been converted. They are a hard group to reach.
Some of them respond, along with a great multitude of God-fearing Greeks. These were Greeks who were fed up with the pagan system and were drawn toward the idea of a true God. They had embraced Judaism, minus circumcision.
Women Responding to the Gospel
Look at verse 12. You see a similar response in Berea. Unlike some cities, many respond there, along with prominent Greek women and men. Luke seems to record for us, for the third time, his focus on the idea of women responding — here in verse 4, again in verse 12. Luke seems to single this out. We saw the same thing with Lydia. The women were especially responsive to this gospel message.
Ray Stedman suggests this: the gospel had a particular appeal to women, especially women of the upper class. Notice that these were leading women, prominent women. They were the ones who had been educated and instructed in the philosophies of Greece, but they had found these Greek philosophies dead and empty, offering nothing for the heart, nothing for the spirit. Those philosophies instructed the mind but had nothing to do with the soul. Further, these philosophies incorporated degrading practices, which left these women devastated.
So they turned from philosophy to Judaism, but in Judaism they found a burden of difficult and cumbersome regulations, which left them empty again. Then the gospel came with the glad news that in Jesus Christ there is neither male nor female, free nor slave, nor any other distinction. The walls were broken down, and these women responded joyously. They found liberation, fulfillment, and satisfaction in the gospel.
The Lie of Finding Identity in the World
I find, as I talk to women today, that they have come a long way and that they are equal to men — equal, in terms of their frustration in the marketplace. A culture has come along and said to them, "What you need to do to truly be significant is to go out and compete in the business world." So they did it. That is what they were told to do in college. And now they are frustrated and empty. They are closing deals and things are happening, but a family has come along and everything is falling apart.
You need to hear the good news that you find your identity not in your title on a business card, but in a relationship with Christ. You need to be liberated from the lie that says you need to go out into the world and make it there before you are equal. There are right now seven million college-graduate women who have left the career field to go home and raise children. That is good news.
No matter how much you want to believe otherwise, you are never going to find daycare that will raise those children with the love you have for them. I am going to Los Angeles this Friday. I will land, rent a car, go speak, spend the night, and come back. Do you know what I am not going to do? I am not going to wash that rental car before I return it. Have you ever washed a rental car before returning it? You do not, because you do not own it. It is the same with a house you rent versus a home you own. You are mistaken if you think you are going to find childcare in the marketplace that is comparable to the care you would give your own children.
I was listening to the radio the other day, and there was a woman who had determined she was pregnant and was going to raise her children in the modern way — put them in daycare and go back to work. So she did some investigative work, discovered the best daycare center in her city, and went and got a job there. She said she was there one week when she made the decision to stay home with her child.
Significance Cannot Be Found in Achievement
Whether it is in Greece or in Tempe or Gilbert, we fall into the lie of thinking we are going to find our identity out in the world. This applies to men just as much. Right now there are men playing golf in Augusta, Georgia for a green jacket. Is it important? Yes. Are you going to find true significance through it? No. Martina Navratilova said that after she won a major tournament at Wimbledon, she was on a high for two hours and then depressed for three days. Why? She did not know Christ.
Whether you are male or female, student or adult, you are buying into the lie of the world if you think you are going to find significance in it. There will always be another deal. People tell themselves, "If I can get this person to marry me, I will be happy" — and then it is the next person, and the next. The divorce rate among second marriages is higher than among first marriages, according to the Census Bureau. Third marriages fail more than second, fourth more than third, fifth more than fourth — and they quit counting there.
These prominent women in Berea were looking for significance and found it where they least expected it. The problem was not their economic status. It was not their intellect. Their problem was that they were sinners separated from God — and they responded.
Jewish Opposition in Thessalonica
Verse 5 tells us that the Jews became jealous. That is the motive behind their opposition. They took along wicked men from the marketplace — some translations say "loafers," men who were literally bums hanging around the marketplace. They took these men along, formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and came upon the house of Jason.
The Charges Against Paul and Silas
This is really all we know about Jason. The mob sought to bring Paul and Silas out, but they were not there. Verse 6 tells us they did not find them, so they began dragging Jason and some of the other brothers before the city authorities. Some translations say "city officials." The word Luke uses in the Greek is spelled P-O-L-I-T-A-R-C-H. It is the only time this word appears — it does not appear in any other writing, and it does not appear anywhere else in Greek literature.
For a long time, critics said this was simply another one of Luke's errors, another mistake that proves you cannot trust the Word of God. Until not long ago, archaeologists discovered this word used in inscriptions — found 16 times, and exclusively in the city of Thessalonica. That is one more piece of evidence that this is God's Word.
The mob takes Jason before the city authorities and levels three charges. First, Paul, Silas, and their companions are troublemakers who are always producing trouble, and now they have come here. Second, Jason has welcomed them, making him guilty of aiding and abetting the enemy. Third, they act contrary to the decrees of Caesar by saying that Jesus is king.
These are the same charges that were essentially leveled at our Lord Himself — that He told people not to pay taxes and that He set Himself up as a king. Paul and Silas, like Jesus, were not concerned with political arenas. They were speaking in spiritual matters. It is important to understand that distinction.
Verse 8 tells us these charges stirred up the whole crowd and the city authorities. The city authorities then received a pledge from Jason — a bond. What likely happened is that Jason put up something as collateral, a guarantee that Paul would leave and not return. This is probably why Paul writes, in both 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians, that he was hindered in coming to see them again. We know his desire was to return, and even on his third missionary journey he works his way around Thessalonica.
The Noble-Minded Bereans
Verse 10 tells us the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. It seems like every time Paul leaves a town, he does it at night. When they arrive, they go to the synagogue and encounter a refreshing change. Verse 11 says the people there were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica.
The phrase "noble-minded" speaks to character. The Bereans had a character that was different from the Jews at Thessalonica, and the difference showed in two ways: first, they received the word eagerly and were open, genuinely concerned about finding the truth; second, they studied the Scriptures daily — not just on the Sabbath — to determine whether these things were so.
We have to assume Paul followed the same process here as elsewhere: he reasoned with them, gave them evidence, and shared the gospel with them. This is consistent with what Jesus Himself said to the Pharisees: "You search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life, but they simply bear witness of Me." In John 5:46, He says, "If you believe in Moses, you would believe in Me, for Moses wrote of Me." The contrast is sharp — the Bereans were open where others were not. They wanted to study the Word.
Are You Studying the Word?
The same thing must happen in your life. You need to examine the Word daily. Are you a student of the Word? Not long ago someone was complaining to me that they had not grown spiritually and did not know very much. They added that they were a new Christian. I asked how long they had been a Christian, and they said seven years. Seven years is not a new Christian. Seven days is a new Christian.
If you do not know much after seven years, that is your fault. There are stores all over this city that would love to sell you books to help you understand and study better. There are free tools on the Internet — concordances, lexicons, commentaries — that will allow you to study the Word.
Paul must have loved the Bereans. They did not simply hear what Paul said and assume it must be true because Paul said it. They listened, confirmed what he meant, and then went to see whether the Scriptures backed it up. It is so refreshing when someone comes to me and says they were studying and here is what they found, or they were listening to MacArthur, or they heard something from Taylor or Walter and want to dig deeper. You do not have to get all your information from one source, and you can teach yourself well — one of the best ways to understand Scripture is to begin teaching it to someone else.
My office is right behind the reception area, so I can sit there and look out toward the information center and the bookshelf. All through the week people come in to buy books. When I can, I like to get out there and ask what they are doing and, more importantly, what they are getting the book for — what is the purpose. This week, Gal told me she was meeting the next day with one of her clients and had an opportunity to share the gospel, and she wanted to get a small gift to leave behind for her client to read. There was a man buying Foundations of the Faith...
Turning the World Right-Side Up
Faith. I don't know much, but I'm starting to study at work with a couple other guys, and we're going through this book. That's how you learn. That ought to be the norm in your life. There ought to be in your life a steady stream of people that you are witnessing with, and sharing with, and teaching, and learning from. That's noble-minded, to be diligent, to be ready, to be prepared.
The result, verse 12, many of these people believed. Many became Christians, the prominent women and the men. But here's the constant companion — here's the enemy. When God works, it seems that most frequently, especially in this study in the book of Acts, Satan begins to work.
The Jews of Thessalonica found out. Here's what's interesting: even the Jews in Berea who didn't believe, we have no indication that they were the ones who led the charge against Paul. It's that group in Thessalonica. Think of how deep their hatred must have been. They're traveling 60 miles to get to Berea because they heard that Paul is there teaching, and they're going to agitate and stir up the crowd — and indeed they do.
Verse 14: then immediately the brethren sent Paul out as far as the sea. They get Paul out of there. Paul's moving. He's going to Athens, but Silas and Timothy stay. Why? Because it is so important that that church is established and that people are nurtured and encouraged and fed.
Verse 15: those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens. The believers who traveled with him from Berea took him as far as Athens. They're going to leave him there, but on the way out they receive a command: when Silas and Timothy are done, have them come here as soon as they can. And away they go.
Paul in Athens
Paul is in Athens, and there he sits, and he confronts — next week — not the Jews, but the unbelieving intellectuals. I want to go back, as we close, to the second part of verse 16. This is from the Living Bible. This is the accusation against Paul and Silas: "Paul and Silas have turned the rest of the world upside down, and now they're here to disturb our city." These are their enemies, and here's what they say: these guys have turned the world upside down, and now they're here, and they're going to disturb what happens here.
I want you to see this, because it's really important. Did Paul and Silas turn the world upside down? No. Adam turned the world upside down. Adam's the one who came along and said, "Everything will be different — you can find meaning in drugs, sex, rock and roll; you can find meaning in work; you can find meaning in this world apart from an intimate personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ." Adam turned the world upside down.
Now Christ and His disciples come, and when they turn the world, they turn it right-side up. That's why your testimony, those of you who are Christians, is so similar. All of a sudden, you can see things as they really were. All of a sudden, you begin to understand what's really important. All of a sudden, for the very first time in your life, there was a sense of peace.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. You can never have peace apart from Christ. That's why winning a green jacket, or being in the top five in sales, or closing the biggest deal of your career, or staying at home with your kids — you will not find fulfillment in an ultimate sense in any of those things apart from Christ.
The Three Questions
Whenever we teach, we ask you to ask three questions. Number one: what did he say? What I'm saying is that, like Paul, we need to be people who are living and sharing this truth. Number two: is it true? Yes — the Scripture says it. Number three, the payoff pitch: so what?
Here's the question: are you turning your world right-side up? Would they say that in your office? Would they say, "Uh-oh, here comes Ted — he's turned all the cubicles right-side up and now he's headed for mine"? Have you turned your world right-side up? Are you about that?
It doesn't matter whether you're adults in the marketplace, students, or children. God has called you, if you're a Christian. He saved you. You're secure. Heaven is assured for the people who are already there. Now that your world is right-side up, are you being used by God to touch other lives?
The Lie the World Tells
There is a lie in this world, and it is customized for every one of you. The lie is that you can find love, joy, peace, patience — all the fruit of the Spirit — apart from Christ. Do you have times in your life when you're down? Yes, you do, because you're human. You know what happens in those times? You begin to focus on yourself, and your problems don't go away, do they? They don't get fixed. They get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger.
Some of you play golf. You know what the scariest shot in golf is? You can stand up there with water here, water there, a trap over there — you hit it, whatever. But the scariest shot in golf is about a three-foot putt. That's the choke point right there. You get up, and as you take that putter back, you can feel your hand shaking. I was playing last week — I could feel it. All I have to do is sink a three-footer, about as tall as I am. Why is that so hard?
I'll tell you why: because every person on the planet ought to make a three-footer. What are the other guys going to think if I miss this? We're not even afraid of missing it — we're afraid of what everybody else is going to say. "He can't even make a three-foot putt." Isn't that the way it is?
The Necessity of True Conversion
You cannot be used by God to turn other people's world right-side up if you aren't converted, if you don't know Christ. Stop for a moment and consider this quietly in your heart. Maybe you've been around this your whole life. Perhaps you're a child whose parents are Christians, and that has been a great blessing. But because of that, you've grown up in a Christian school, a Christian home, a Christian high school, and a Christian everything.
It is very easy in that environment to fool the people around you — and more importantly, to fool yourself into thinking you're a Christian when you aren't at all. How would you know the difference? Some of the ways you'd know are these: How do you handle problems when they come? How do you handle the Word of God? Do you have a desire to be with other young people who are Christians? When you're with kids who aren't Christians, are you sharing your faith?
The same question applies to those of you in college, and the same to you as adults. Are you being used by God to turn your world right-side up? Are you truly converted?
Now, what is the definitive way you would know if you're a Christian? You'd want to be here Easter Sunday morning at 5:45. I don't have a chapter or verse for that, but it seems plain enough, doesn't it? You can't earn your salvation — but if you could, showing up at 5:45 on Easter Sunday morning might be a start.
Looking Ahead: Paul in Athens
Paul now moves to Athens, and his approach changes. Why? Because his audience is different. Sharing Scripture with these Greeks isn't going to do him any good — they don't know it. So what does he do? The same thing we need to do. We'll look at that next week.
Closing Prayer
Father, help us see that. God, thank You for the men and women who are here. I pray truly that You use Your Word and that Your Spirit would apply the truth to our hearts. God, help us understand that when we start to think like the world, we start to see things that are important to the world system but not really important to You. We begin to judge our lives by the world's standards and become very self-focused.
God, let us be like Paul and Silas — willing to be bold and courageous. Let us be like the Bereans, who were noble-minded. What did they do? They accepted the Word, they studied it, and they said, "Yes, it is true." God, we pray Your Spirit would apply Your Word to the hearts and minds of Your people. We pray it to You in Jesus' name, amen.