Dr. George Sweeting tells of an incident in the early 1920s when Communist leader Nikolai Bukharin was sent from Moscow to Kiev to address an anti-God rally. For an hour he abused and ridiculed the Christian faith until it seemed as if the whole structure of belief was in ruins. Then questions were invited. An Orthodox church priest rose and asked to speak. He turned, faced the people, and gave the Easter greeting, “He is risen!” Instantly the assembly rose to its feet and the reply came back loud and clear, “He is risen indeed!”

We have a similar situation in this morning’s text. Paul and Silas entered a hostile environment to proclaim the Easter message “He is risen!” They give a straight-forward presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but are met with mixed results. Let’s see what happens!

A Straight-forward Presentation of the Gospel (1-3)

After Paul and Silas left Philippi, they traveled southwest on the ancient Roman road called the Egnation Way passing through the cities of Amphipolis and Appollonia until they reached Thessalonica, the capital and most prominent city in Macedonia. According to Paul’s usual pattern of ministry, on the first Saturday he was there he entered the local synagogue and told the people about Jesus. The synagogue was primarily comprised of Jews, but there was also a fair number of Greeks, including some prominent Greek women.

There are four main verbs that Luke uses to describe how Paul presented the gospel. He “reasoned” with them from the Scriptures, “explained”, “proved”, and “proclaimed” the message of the gospel. These four verbs show us that Paul worked hard to clearly communicate the story of Jesus. He used the Scriptures and his own story of how this resurrected Jesus changed his life. His presentation was straight-forward; he did not cover up the fact that he wanted to persuade them to put their faith in Jesus. He did not try to coerce or manipulate them into following Jesus; he simply entered into an honest discussion and shared his message with them.

The content of the message was very simple: Jesus is the Messiah who had to suffer and rise from the dead. Implicit in this statement is that Jesus is the promised Messiah who had been foretold by the Old Testament prophets. He had to die to provide forgiveness for sin and he had to be resurrected to prove his power over death. His resurrection proves that he is the only way to eternal life. Indeed, Paul’s presentation of the gospel is about as straightforward as it can get.

Since today is Easter Sunday, the day that we set aside to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I want to do exactly what Paul and Silas did in Thessalonica: Give a straight-forward presentation of the gospel! It goes like this: God created the heavens and the earth and everything in the earth, and called it all good. He also created the first man and woman and told them to rule over and enjoy the creation. He only gave them one prohibition: not to eat from the tree in the center of the garden. But they disobeyed and caused sin to enter the world.

This sinful nature has been passed down to every human being. We have all sinned against God. Since God is eternally holy and just, he has to judge sin with eternal damnation. That is right; it only takes one sin for us to deserve eternal punishment in hell. This is the bad news!

The good news is that in addition to God being holy and just, he is also gracious, compassionate, and merciful. So, he developed a plan for his own Son to become a human and live on the earth. And though he was perfect and sinless, he was crucified on a wooden cross to atone for the sins of the world. He laid in a cold tomb for three days. Then early in the morning on the first day of the week he was resurrected and walked right out of the tomb. He conquered sin and death and offers salvation to anyone who would dare to put their faith in him and become his follower. He is the Messiah who fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament and died and rose again.

This is the gospel that Paul and Silas proclaimed to the Thessalonians! This is the same gospel that I proclaim to you today! The only difference between them and us is that they had never heard this message before. Most of us have heard it over and over again. So many people come to church on Easter every year and respond by saying, “Yeah, it is the same old story that I heard last year.” We all should be saying, “This is the most incredible story I have ever heard. I can be saved from death and hell! I can experience perfect peace and joy when I die because of what Jesus has done for me.”

This is what we should say, but what will we say? This is as simple and straight-forward as I know how to be. How will you respond today?

A Mixed Response to the Gospel (4-9)

1.) Acceptance of the Gospel (4)
The first response to the gospel we see in this text is acceptance. We don’t know exactly how many, but it appears that a fair number of Jews and Gentiles reacted positively to Paul’s message, were convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, and responded by accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. There was also a fairly high number of prominent and influential women who accepted the gospel and became Christians. Macedonian women had a well-earned reputation for an independent and enterprising spirit. This shows that the gospel was accepted by people from diverse ethnic, social, and gender backgrounds. By all accounts many people believed that Jesus died and rose again and became followers.

2.) Rejection of the Gospel (5-9)
Even as some accepted the gospel, there were others who rejected it. The Jews, a term used to describe the majority of Jews in the city, did not believe Paul’s message about Jesus and they were angry and jealous that so many people believed his message and converted to Christianity. Their jealousy was so intense that it drove them to round up a mob from the marketplace. This group of evil lowlifes stirred up a whole crowd to oppose Paul and Silas and their message.

The mob went to Jason’s house, the place where the missionaries had been staying, to drag them before the magistrates and falsely accuse them of disturbing the peace, but by the time they got there, the missionaries had escaped. When they couldn’t find the missionaries, they took out their anger on the next best person. They took Jason and some of the other new Christians to the city officials and charge them with hosting these missionaries who “have caused trouble all over the world”. The mob not only claimed that the missionaries aroused seditious and revolutionary activity but that they also claimed allegiance to a king other than Caesar, which was illegal in the Roman Empire.

The charge was only partly correct. They were proclaiming another King, but Jesus was a different kind of King who ruled a different kind of kingdom. This was a spiritual kingdom that was not limited to geographical boundaries. This did not literally break the law, but any mention of another king would raise serious suspicion. It did not help that this Jesus, whom they called King, had been executed for sedition by the sentence of a Roman judge.

On hearing these charges, the city officials were thrown into turmoil and they made Jason and the others post bond before they let them go. This forced Jason and the others to be responsible for seeing that there was no more trouble, and this meant that the missionaries would have to leave the city and not return. So, later on that night the Thessalonian believers helped the missionaries safely escape to Berea. All of this because a group of people rejected Paul’s message about Jesus Christ.

Throughout Jesus’ own life, he received a mixed response. He was accepted by some and rejected by others. When he preached in the villages of Galilee and in Jerusalem, many people put their faith in him and became his followers, but many others said his teachings were too hard and they rejected him. Eleven of the men he chose to be his disciples accepted him, but one rejected and betrayed him. When Jesus was hanging on the cross between two thieves, one accepted him and found an immediate home in heaven; the other flat out rejected and cursed him. One of the soldiers who nailed him to the cross accepted him when he uttered, “Truly, this was the Son of God,” while the others rejected him with their silence.

Over the past two-thousand years of history, Jesus has been accepted by some and rejected by others. As we read about Paul’s missionary journeys in the book of Acts, we notice that in every city he preaches his message is always received with mixed results. As the gospel spread through the Roman Empire, some people accepted it while others rejected it. This can be said of virtually era of history since Jesus rose from the dead.

Just like the citizens of Thessalonica in this text and millions of people throughout history, when we are confronted with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are forced to make a decision. We have to decide: Is he the Messiah? Did he really live a sinless life? Were his miracles genuine? Are his teachings true? We have to decide: Did he really rise from the dead? Is he really the only way to heaven, as he claims? And most of all, am I going to put my faith in him and become his follower? Do I accept him or reject him?

Here we are, Easter Sunday 2009! I have explained this biblical text and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in the clearest most straight-forward way I know. It is no secret that my desire is for everyone to put their faith in Jesus and follow him. I want everyone to experience the same forgiveness, redemption, hope, and joy that I and so many others have found in Jesus. If you would like to know more about Jesus or want someone to help you make that step of faith, I want you to know that I am always available to get together with you. It would be an honor and privilege to do that with you! If you haven’t already, it is my sincere hope that Easter Sunday 2009 will be the day that you respond to the gospel by making a commitment to the risen Christ.

And as I have already mentioned, when we are confronted with the gospel, we are forced to make a decision. Will I accept him or reject him? The choice is yours! How will you respond?