Berean Jews

I have this app on my iPad called a scripture shaker. It gives me a random scripture to read, then I shake it and another pops up. It's really neat. This morning I forgot my bible here at work, so I decided to use this app. I came across a verse in Act 17, that just struck me the right way.

Acts 17 talks about Paul during one of his missionary trips around the Roman Empire. In verse 11 the author makes a statement that I think we can and should learn something. It goes like this:

--Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.--

I love the phrase "more noble". It really says a lot about these Jews.

Let me ask you something, yesterday when the minister in your church got up to do his thing, what was your reaction. Were you excited? Bored? Indifferent? I remember one time sitting in the second service at my church, during the summer, and when the Pastor got up to speak, the women in front of me whispered,"Ugh! here we go!"

I could not believe it!!! I felt like tapping that lady on the shoulder and saying, look if you don't want to be here to hear this you can leave.

Do we have the same reaction to hearing the Word of God as the Berean Jews? Here was a guy they had never meet before, Paul, bringing a message and they were glad to hear it. Or do we react like that typical church goer, Ugh! here we go? Take note that she knew that Pastor quite well. How come the Berean Jews were so more excited about a guy they had never met and we receive our Pastor's message with contempt.

Now don't get me wrong I am not saying that all believers react like that typical church goer, but do we have the reaction of the Berean Jews, excited and eager to hear the word? You know, we all have extremely busy lives, I don't need to expound on that. I don't have the time I would like to sit and study God's Word, I do my best with the time that I carve out for me and God but I never feel like it's enough. But the Pastor, it is his job to study the scriptures and study them to the point that he or she can give a message on Sunday morning. So I appreciate the message that the Pastor brings, but I pray that God would give me the spirit of the Berean Jews to receive that message with eagerness and excitement.

Also, take note at the last part of the verse, what did the Jews do? They examined the Scriptures and found what Paul was saying was true. Now I don't want to sound like I'm coming down on the church, I don't want the Daily Feast to turn into my ranting about how I feel about the church or whatever.

But I think this is something that is common. So many times I will be with friends talking about the scriptures or what we've been learning about in church and they repeat something the pastor said and it doesn't sit well with me. It doesn't match with what I've read in the Scripture.

Pastors are human too, they make mistakes, say the wrong thing, put something out of context. It's our job to take what they have said and examine it. Not only for our benefit, to make sure that it is Scripturly sound but for their benefit as well. The Bible says that iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. To go to a pastor and ask about something he or she said to get clarification, is not being a bad church goer. It actually makes you an excellent church goer.

The point is you can't just sit back and take whatever the pastor says as final word. Look at it for yourself. Be like the Berean Jews examine the scriptures and make sure the message was true and in line with the Scriptures.

I remember listening to the radio a while ago and the host of this show made a facebook page for Paul the apostle. It was a joke that he was doing as a fun thing for the fans of the show. He would make the status' things that Paul wrote in his letters but he wouldn't reference them. He made one of the status' a verse Paul wrote in Galatians about the law. I don't remember exactly what it was but it came right from scripture, I know because the host read the scripture on the air when a fan called in and said, he couldn't just make a statement like the one he did on Paul's page.

This guy, who claimed he was a believer since childhood, said the statement the host made, THAT CAME RIGHT FROM THE BIBLE, was false. The guy, who if I didn't mention it, claimed to be a believer, didn't even know what the scripture says. How sad is that?

We claim to love Jesus, to be followers and we don't even know what his word to us says.

I have been reading Crazy love lately and I love the statement the author makes. I want you to think about this for your life. We serve a God who pursues us with RELENTLESS LOVE, and what is your reaction, as a follower, to Him?