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Acts 17:5-10  TROUBLE AT THESSALONICA

Introduction:

	In our previous text Paul and Silas had great success at Thessalonica.  In 
just three weeks time through their visits to the Jewish synagogue they had won 
many people to Jesus.  They had not only won some of the Jews of the synagogue 
to the Lord, but they had won a large number of people  the Greek bloodline who 
were proselyte members of the synagogue.  This included a goodly number of 
prominent women of the city of Thessalonica.  
	Not only were these many people won to the Lord for salvation, but they 
were organized into a New Testament church.  They were charter members of a new 
church.  Just three weeks earlier when Paul and Silas came into the city there 
was no in the city.  But now there was not only a church, it was a large church.  
It seems almost too good to be true.  
	But in our text today we see trouble come.  Just as progress had come 
quickly, even so trouble came quickly.  This is trouble for the missionaries, 
Paul and Silas, and also trouble for the new church.  

I.  The trouble makers 

	The trouble makers were Jews of the Jewish synagogue who had heard Paul 
and Silas preach the gospel, but who had refused to believe their message.  They 
simply refused to believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead and they 
refused to believe that Jesus is the Christ.  
	V. 5, “But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy...”   The Greek 
word, which here is translated “envy” is the word from which we get our words 
“zeal” and “zealous.”  This verse means that the unbelieving Jews were stirred 
to zealous action against Paul and Silas.  It means that they were moved to 
almost fanatical action against them.  They became obsessed with a determination 
to stop Paul and Silas from preaching that Jesus is the Christ.    
	The gospel almost never receives 100% acceptance and so it is not 
surprising that  many in the synagogue who heard the testimony of Paul and Silas 
about Jesus did not believe their message.  But these Jews were not merely 
unbelievers.  They became bitter enemies of the gospel message and of anyone who 
would proclaim the gospel.  These  Jews were surely not the only ones of the 
synagogue who did not believe the gospel.  There must have been many of the 
Greek blood who also did not believe.  But the unbelieving Jews were the ones 
who led the opposition.  They were the trouble makers.   .  
	(V. 5), “...took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort...”  
These Jews,   who apparently considered themselves to be decent upright men, 
deliberately sought the aid of men of the baser sort whom ordinarily they would 
have avoided.  They sought out men who were known to be of bad character.  They 
sought out men whom they knew to be trouble makers.  They wanted these trouble 
makers to help them to cause trouble for Paul and Silas.  
	Listen, in almost every society in every generation there are trouble 
makers.  There are trouble makers in our world today.  There are trouble makers 
in every city and in every village.  We, ourselves should never seek to be 
trouble makers.  We should seek to be peace makers, not trouble makers.  Never-
the-less, when we preach the gospel of peace and when we teach the truths of 
God, it will bring trouble because somebody will refuse to believe the truth and 
they will seek to make trouble for us.  
	With the aid of those known trouble makers the Jewish leaders of the 
synagogue  stirred up such opposition to Paul and Silas that the whole city was 
in an uproar.  (V. 5)  “...and gathered a company, and set all the city on an 
uproar...”  The whole city was in an uproar and virtually the whole city was 
against Paul and Silas.  The unbelieving Jews, along with the trouble makers 
whose aid they had enlisted, gathered a large crowd of people for the purpose of 
stopping Paul and Silas from preaching the gospel in their city.  
	(V. 5), “...and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out 
to the people.”  The mob, led by the unbelieving Jews, came to the house of one 
of a Christian by the name of Jason.  Jason had apparently opened his home to 
both Paul and Silas and had given them a place to stay while they were in the 
city.  It is possible that this is the same Jason who is mentioned by Paul in 
Romans 16:21 as being his kinsman.  Whether or not he was Paul’s kinsman, he is 
to be commended for opening his home to the two missionaries and aiding them in 
their effort to preach the gospel to this city.  So that whole big mob converged 
upon the house of Jason seeking Paul and Silas fully intending to do them bodily 
harm.  In all probability, they intended to kill them.  

II.  False charges brought against Paul and Silas

	V. 6-7, “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...”  It was surely 
by the providence of God that neither Paul nor Silas were in the home of Jason 
when the mob arrived.  So when they did not find Paul and Silas, they seized 
Jason and the Christians who were with him  hauled them off to the city 
officials.  The charge which they placed against Jason and the other Christians 
was that they had aided and abetted Paul and Silas, whom they assumed to be 
criminals.  They said that Paul and Silas had turned the world upside down and 
had now come to Thessalonica to turn it upside down.  
	These Jewish leaders at Thessalonica had apparently gotten some false 
information from Philippi saying that Paul and Silas had bee trouble makers 
there.  It is true that Paul and Silas had been arrested, beaten and jailed in 
Philippi, but they had not been guilty of causing any kind of trouble.  What 
they did do was to save the life of their jailor and win him and his family to 
the Lord.  Then when they were brought before the city magistrates at Philippi, 
Paul informed them that he was Roman citizen and that he had been beaten and 
jailed without any charge being made against him.  This information scared the 
city magistrates because they were afraid that their actions could get them in 
trouble with Roman officials.  But Paul and Silas had never caused any trouble 
and they were never accused by anyone in Philippi of causing any trouble.    
	But upon the false information which they had received from Philippi, the 
Jewish leaders of Thessalonica made charges against Paul and Silas before the 
city magistrates.  They said that Paul and Silas were guilty of the crime of 
treason.  (V. 7), “...and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying 
that there is another king, [one] Jesus.”  The charge of treason was the most 
severe charge that could be brought against anyone in the land.  If they should 
be found guilty of such a crime, they would most certainly receive the most 
severe penalty which Roman law allowed.  The penalty would surely be death.  
	But Paul and Silas were not guilty of treason.  Even Jesus, Himself, who 
had acknowledged before Pilate that He is the king of the Jews, did not claim to 
be an earthly ruler of an earthly kingdom.  Jesus made it clear that He is the 
king of a spiritual kingdom and not the king of an earthly kingdom.  Neither had 
Paul nor Silas ever claimed that Jesus is king of an earthly kingdom.  They 
proclaimed Jesus to be the King only of a spiritual kingdom.  They did not 
preach that men ought to crown Jesus to be their earthly king.  They preached 
that men ought to receive Jesus as their Savior.     

III.  The action taken by the city magistrates

	V. 8, “...And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when 
they heard these things.”  These charges against Paul and Silas and against 
Jason and the men with him, greatly troubled the city officials at Thessalonica 
and all of the citizens of the city. They were not so much concerned with 
whether or not the charges against Paul and Silas were true or false.  What they 
were afraid of was that the Roman officials might hear that someone in their 
city was plotting to overthrow Roman rule and that Rome would punish the city 
officials and all of the city for allowing such a thing to happen in their city.  
They were terrified that Romans soldiers might be brought against their city.  
They knew that there would be no way to protect themselves against such a 
powerful force if that should happen.  
	Yet the city officials could do nothing against Paul and Silas, because 
they did not have Paul and Silas in custody and their whereabouts were not known 
to the magistrates. So at this time, they could do nothing to hurt Paul and 
Silas.  The only ones whom they had in custody were Jason and of the few 
Christians who had been found with him in his home.  Yet the charges of treason 
had not been brought against Jason and his brethren.  The charges by the Jews 
had only been brought against Paul and Silas.  Therefore, the only question 
before the magistrates was:  What do we do with Jason and his comrades?  
	Luke tells us that they did.   V. 9, “And when they had taken security of 
Jason, and of the other, they let them go.”  Luke does not give any details 
about what security was taken of Jason and his friends.  It is commonly supposed 
to have consisted of two things.  First, Jason and his friends would be required 
to pledge their loyalty to Caesar.  This is something that they would surely not 
hesitate to do.  Their new found Christian faith would not forbid them to be 
loyal to the ruler of their land.  
	The security would also involve pledging something of monetary value.  It 
might be a house or land money or something else of value.  If they should ever 
be found guilty of speaking or working against the Caesar in any way they would 
forfeit whatever they had pledged.  So after they had put something up as 
security, they were set free.  In today’s terminology they were set free on 
bail.  

IV.  Paul and Silas spared

	V. 10, “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night 
unto Berea:  who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.”  It was by 
the grace of God that Paul and Silas were spared.  They were not present at the 
home of Jason when the mob came to get them.  Neither were a lot of the other 
Christians present there. So none of them were seized by the mob and brought 
before the magistrates and charged.  But they all knew that it was really Paul 
and Silas whom the mob was after and they other brethren wasted no time in 
getting Paul and Silas out of town.  Somehow they got them out of the city at 
night time and sent them to the city of Berea.  I suspect that some of the 
brethren from Thessalonia accompanied them in in an effort to see that they 
reached Berea safely.  Paul and Silas were wise enought to go.  It would have 
been foolish to stay under those circumstances.  

V.  The troubles which Christians face today

	Just as Paul and Silas plus Jason and his Christian friends faced trouble 
in that day even so Christians face trouble in the world today.  For one thing, 
we live in a sinful world and that means that we live in a troubled world.  In 
Job 14:1 we read, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of 
trouble.”  That statement applies to Christians as well as to the unsaved.  
	There are things that bring trouble to the Christian over which no man has 
control.    There are droughts.   There are floods.  There are tornadoes.  There 
are ice storms.  There electrical storms.  There are all manner of diseases.  
Along with all others, Christians are caught up in these troubles.  
	Then there are things troubles which other people cause.  Sometimes they 
deliberately cause such troubles.  There are false accusations as was the case 
with Paul and Silas.  There is dishonesty, deception, and defrauding.  There are 
deliberate acts of cruelty which causes harm and pain to others.  There is the 
spreading of false rumors and deliberate defaming of the character of others by 
the telling of lies.  There are thefts and robberies.  There are deliberate acts 
of vandalism, destroying the property of others.  There are murders.  There are 
wars.  All people, including Christians are subject to being hurt by these 
things.  
	There are even troubles which we as Christians bring upon ourselves.  The 
Christian who is given to drinking alcohol will hurt himself, his family and his 
friends.  The person who uses dope will hurt himself and others.  The person who 
is guilty of adultry will hurt himself and others.  The person who uses tobacco 
will hurt himself and others.  The Christian who commits sin, and we all do, 
will bring the chastisement of God upon himself.  

VI.  God’s providential care of Christians

	Yet in spite of the troubles which come to Christians the Christian should 
be able to see God’s providential care in his life.  I am sure that the Apostle 
Paul and Silas were able to see that it was by God’s providential care that they 
were not in Jason’s home when the angry mob came to that home looking for them.  
I am sure that Jason and his Christian friends were able to see God’s 
providential care over them that they were set free by the city magistrates in 
spite of the fact that the Jews and the angry mob wanted to see them hurt.  
	I am sure that each of us who are saved in spite of some of the hardships 
which we have faced and in spite of the painful experiences we have had testify 
that God has watched over us and that God has been good to us and that God has 
blessed us and provided for us far beyond that which we deserve.  
	Let us learn to trust in God to help us and to care for us and to 
protected us as He can see fit do so.  Let us learn to trust Him no matter what 
comes.  Let us not be discouraged and fearful as the troubles of life pile in 
upon us, but rather let us be encouraged because we have the God of heaven 
watching over us to help us.  There is one every encouraging thing that should 
lift our hearts.  We know that when our troubles are over we will be with our 
Lord in glory where there will never ever be any more trouble.  
	This is in sharp contrast to what it would have been if we had never 
trusted Jesus Christ to save our souls.  If we had never trusted Jesus to be our 
Savior then, as the old saying goes, we would step out of the frying pan into 
the fire.  We would literally go into the fire there to suffer forever and ever.  
	
Conclusion:

	Let those of us who are saved trust the Lord with the same kind of faith 
that we had in the Lord when we called upon Him to save our souls.  
	Let those of us who are saved be faithful to carry the gospel to the 
unsaved and Paul and Silas did in their lifetime.  
	Let those of us who are unsaved turn to Christ and call upon Him for 
salvation while there is time.  If you think that you have faced pain and 
suffering in this life, I can assure you, my friend, you ain’t seen nothing yet.  
If you continue to delay in getting saved, you will learn what real suffering is 
all about.