They Turned the World Upside Down

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts. Acts 17. We are going to read the first 15 verses. Let’s give the word of God the respect it deserves:

”Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.”

”But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.”

”And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still. And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.”

I’m going to start out this morning by confessing something to you: I hate going to walmart. Sorry Steve. Sorry Connie. But I do. Let me tell you why I hate going to Walmart - because every time I go there I see a snapshot of society. Grown people walking around in pajama pants and ripped up T-shirts at 5pm. You know - it bothers me.

Our world and our town is spiraling out of control and it seems like it is going down hill fast and what do people want to do? Buy more Pokemon cards - read another celebrity gossip mag. It bothers me.

I want to make a difference. I want to make the world a better place. I want to add value.

One of my favorite quotes I heard a preacher say in college is:

If you want to make a difference you have to be different, nothing is made better by adding more of the same.

I want to make a difference.

In our text this morning, in verse 6, there is an amazing statement. Enemies of Paul and his team said this about them:

”These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.”

At this point, Paul and Silas have been in Macedonia for only a short period of time. Maybe a couple of months. They have been in this city for a very short period of time. Yet this is the reputation they already had “They turned the world upside down.”

I wish people would say about the people of Bible Baptist “Those people - they are turning the world upside down.” They are making an impact. They are making a splash.

Can I be honest? Our church could cease to exist and very few people outside of our church family would even notice. Some missionaries might miss a support check. Some people may have to find another place to play basketball on Monday night. But beyond that??? We aren’t turning the world upside down.

But we ought to. Let me tell you something - our church could have a noticeable impact on our city. So much so that people would say “I’ve never been to that Bible Baptist place and I may never go, but I’m glad they are here.” Lives are changed at that church. That church is turning out good young people who are making a difference in our town and in our country. In our little world - they could say “those people are turning the world upside down.”

And do you know what - there ought to be some people who are a little mad about it. The drug dealers. The bar owners. I wish they were mad at us.

Do you realize that there have been times in history where God’s done a work in a town and all the bars shut down? Do you realize there have been moments in history where the entire course of a town and even of a country is changed by the gospel - by a church.

Listen to me church - what our country needs isn’t Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or any other politician - what our country needs is a revival. It needs Jesus Christ. It needs Christians who are going to turn the world upside down.

So, I think it would help us if we look at this text and ask “What exactly were Paul and his team doing that was turning the world upside down?” Is there a patter here? How could we do it?

Right, so, I’m going to give you five things I see Paul doing in this passage that turned the world upside down. Let’s pray and we’ll jump right in.

If you are going to turn the world upside down:

What are going to do? Let’s look at what Paul did here and find out. First,

1. You have to follow God’s script. (1-2) Notice what Paul does as he comes into this new city - Thessalonica. It says in verses 1-2 that there was a synagogue there, so Paul ”as his manner was” went in unto them and preached to them.

Now, we’ve been looking at Acts for awhile now, and over and over we’ve seen Paul do this. He goes to a new city. He finds the local synagogue and he preaches there. And Every. Single. Time. Every single time - the result has been the same: He’s caused some kind of a riot and people have tried to hurt him.

Every single time.

Yet, what does Paul do - he keeps doing it. He keeps going back to the synagogue. Even in this story - he goes to the Synagogue in Thessalonica - bam. Riot. He runs to the next city, Berea and where does he go? The synagogue.

Now, why is he doing this? Is he stupid? Is he dense? No. He’s doing it because that was God’s will for him.

In Romans 1:16 Paul said:

”For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

In Romans 2:9 Paul said:

”Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;”

Paul was following the plan of God for Him. God told Paul “I want you to be a witness - go to the jews first, and then go to the Gentiles.” So for Paul, it didn’t matter that he constantly ran into opposition - to do anything else was to disobey God.

So here is the first lesson in turning the world upside down - obey God’s will. You aren’t going to have any positive impact on the world unless you are following God’s script.

1 John 2:17 says:

”And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

If you want to make a real impact on the world - get in on God’s program because it’s the only thing that is going to last forever. It may not make sense to the world - in fact, you can write it down, it won’t - but God’s will and God’s will alone is what is going to stand for eternity.

The second thing we learn about how to turn the world upside down is:

2. You have to preach God’s message. (3-4) Look at verses 2-3. Notice what it says:

”and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.”

It wasn’t Paul’s magnetism that was turning the world upside down, it was his message and it wasn’t because Paul was just a good speaker and a good writer, it’s because His message came from God.

Notice two things about Paul’s message:

He preached the savior. If you were going to preach a message to a jewish audience, what would they need to hear? They would need to hear that the messiah was going to have to suffer and rise again, and that Jesus was that Messiah.

The content of Paul’s message was a character - it was Jesus.

If we are going to preach a message that is going to turn the world upside down, it’s going to have to be the message of Jesus Christ.

Listen:

politics isn’t going to save people. philosophy isn’t going to save people. People don’t need to hear how to clean their life up. People don’t need a bunch of morality. People don’t need 7 steps to a new you. People NEED JESUS! They need to know that God sent His son who lived the perfect life they can’t live and took their punishment on the cross and that He rose again and that He’s coming again. They need to know that if they just “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” they can be saved and have a relationship with Him.

It’s all about Christ.

Notice a second thing about the message that turned the world upside down:

He preached scripture. Verse 2 says “He reasoned with them out of the scripture.” The world isn’t going to be moved by “thus saith Ryan Hayden” They don’t need to hear the New York Times or Reader’s Digest. They need to hear Thus Saith the Lord. They need the word of God.

My words have no authority. His words are the law. My words are at best speculation. His words are revelation. My words are temporary. His Word is forever. My words have little power. His words is the hammer that breaks the rock in pieces and the two-edged sword that can divide the joints and the marrow.

If we are going to turn the world upside down - let’s do it with scripture.

So they followed God’s script and they spoke God’s message.

A third thing we have to know if we are going to turn the world upside down is...

3. You have to expect Satan’s pushback. (5-9) In verses 5-9 some interesting things happen: Some people get saved. That’s great. But some people get jealous too. And the jealous people try to get Paul and his team, but they can’t find them, so they find the guy in town they are staying with - Jason - and they drag him before the a mob.

It’s bad. Like riot bad. It’s so bad, that the Christians in Thessalonica say to Paul and his team “you guys have to get out of here” and so Paul flees the city. Probably not so much for his own safety, but for the safety of the other Christians there.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this point - but you have to understand that if you are going to make a difference for God - you are going to have enemies.

Winston Churchill said:

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Elbert Hubbard said:

To escape criticism—do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.

So this is true in general. This is true for everything. You can’t make any kind of change without making enemies.

But for us it goes further - because we aren’t fighting flesh and blood we are in a battle against Satan and all his forces and if we are going to advance the will of God - you have to know the devil’s crew is going to push back.

So we should expect that and serve God anyway.

A fourth thing we learn from this story about turning the world upside down is:

4. You have to determine to keep going. (10-15) In verses 10-15, Paul and Silas have fled Thessalonica. So what do they do? They go right to the next city Berea, and where do they go? The synagogue.

They just kept on going. They’d leave Berea and go on to another place. Over and over again. Just plodding in the Lord’s will.

Some people quit at the first sign of adversity. They aren’t the people who turn the world upside down for God. You have to keep going. Proverbs says “A just man falleth seven times then riseth again.” You’ve got to get up and keep serving God.

One quick side note and then we’ll continue:

So Paul goes to Berea and it says that the people there are more noble because they don’t just take Paul’s word for it - they search the scripture.

Please, please - study the Bible for yourself. Don’t just take the things that I say at face value. I can’t tell you how often I hear people say things that are totally unbiblical but they think its gospel truth because some preacher said it somewhere. Study the Bible.

Listen, if the apostle Paul needed to be fact checked, I mean he was a guy writing parts of the Bible, then it’s a healthy practice for you too.

One more thing we can learn about being a person who turns the world upside down. Turn to the book of 1 Thessalonians. Remember, Paul is in Thessalonica in this story. This book is a book written to the people from this story. Look what Paul says in verse 9:

”For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;”

If we are going to turn the world upside down there is one last thing we have to have total faith in, and that is...

5. You have to realize God is working. (1 Thessalonians 1:9) You see, when Paul left Thessalonica. When he had to flee. The outlook didn’t look so hot. But do you know, that Thessalonica turned into one of his favorite churches. What happened there might have looked like a train wreck - like a tragedy - but God was working.

So here is the lesson for us this morning: find out what God wants you to do and just keep doing it. Keep sharing the gospel. Keep serving God. There will be blowback - count on it. There will be trials. But if you are faithful and just keep going and serving by God’s grace - you’ll see God do some amazing things and as much as anyone can you’ll turn the world upside down.

Let’s stand for invitation and prayer.