LIFE SCRIPTS

1 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. 5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
Acts 17:1‭-‬9 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/111/act.17.1-9.NIV.

It would nearly seem that Paul was a trouble maker moving from town to town to raise mayhem. Here in Thessaloniki, a Greek city, Paul went to the center of religious excellence, the synagogue to ‘reason’ with the people there for three days. It’s said that he was accustomed to this whenever he went to a new place. Paul had been educated as a scribe and was quite versed in the law. God used his prior knowledge of the law to His glory. His past experiences were not wasted but were used by God to His glory. Much in the same way, He uses our past experiences to His glory. Perhaps there are skills we acquired before coming to Christ and wonder whether they’ll add up to anything. If we commit them to God, He’ll take them and use them to His glory. The scripture talks about a number of Greek people who received the message as opposed to Jews who were hostile to it. Sometimes opposition and acceptance to the gospel may come from very unfamiliar territory. Jews who were expected to embrace the message of Christ (because of their prior knowledge of the law) rejected it yet Greeks who were oblivious of the law were open to it. The gospel ministers to those who feel depraved and far from God…those who hunger and thirst for God. And we see this same pattern in the life of Christ. The people who embraced His message were often the ‘rejects’ of society…the prostitutes, tax collectors, unclean people, the lame, the leprous. How true is it even in our days. Opposition to the gospel may come from people who have been nurtured in Christ. On the other hand, sinful people are the ones who embrace it wholesome. So the troublesome Jews raised trouble for Jason. He ended up being arrested and being forced to post bail for that matter. A man who had done nothing else but host Paul and Silas. It’s no wonder that this story doesn’t surprise because today, wrong is thought of as right and vice versa. Suffering for doing good is no longer frowned upon. Instead, what’s sensational is getting away after doing wrong. It’s OK for good people going about their business to be harrased…a symbol of a culture that has rejected the truth of the gospel.