God Can Use Our Enemies to Encourage Us
5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
It’s fun to infer some things from this whole event. I’m sure Luke put the details in because he and Paul and the rest had all talked about it.
Do you ever wonder how you’re doing? Progress can be slow sometimes. Sure, your boss might give you an annual review or kids get grades in school, but it’s hard to get feedback most of the time.
The people that loved the Law of Moses and tradition were mad at Paul and his crew. This happened in every city because “Jesus saved you from everything that the law of Moses couldn’t save you from,” was what Paul was preaching. At this stop on the journey, the Jewish leaders “formed a mob” against Paul. Talk about publicity!
But the accusation is the best. “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” Can’t you just see them pointing at Jason, making that claim, and then Jason smiling and saying “Well, thank you.” If they weren’t sure if anyone was hearing the Gospel, this exaggeration would have been pretty encouraging — especially if it were true!
I was in some ministry training once and the questions were weird. They were digging into my character, but they weren’t integrity type questions. They asked my wife the same questions and we were good sports and answered and discussed as transparently as we could.
At the end, the interviewer said, “We’re just trying to get inside your head and make sure you aren’t driven by results. This is going to be hard work. We want to make sure you can keep at this without ever having any sign of visible progress.”
Talk about a statement that hits you like a brick.
God shows us mercy in our work. Every once in a while, somebody slips and a bit of the truth comes out. “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,” was a gift from God to encourage Paul and Silas.
When they were sitting in prison years later, they could look back on those ruffians in Thessalonica and imitate them and laugh.
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