“STIRRING THE SPIRIT”
Those in the city of Berea were more open to the facts of the gospel than those in the city of Thessalonica (Acts 17:11). When the Jews of Thessalonica heard that the gospel was being preached in Berea they made it their business to come and “stir” up the people against Christ (verse 13). Paul had to leave but he left Silas and Timothy behind as he went on to Athens. The doctrine of Christ continued to anger Jews who resented Him and what He was to the world. It consumed their time and energy as they made every effort to destroy this way that Paul preached.
Paul, before his conversion, was just as zealous as the Jews of Thessalonica. He related to Agrippa that before his conversion to the Christ that he also persecuted Christians from city to city (Acts 26:10,11). Paul could point to the zeal of some Jews and say that the only problem was that it was not tempered by knowledge (Romans 10:2). There was a difference between the zeal of Paul, before his conversion and the zeal of the Jews from Thessalonica. When Paul was driven by his zeal he sought to do it through the existing law. He obtained authority from the chief priest to carry out his mission of destroying Christians (Acts 26:10). The Jews from Thessalonica sought no such authority.
When the Jews from Thessalonica came, they stirred up the people. They were not seeking to debate with Paul over the issue of Jesus being the Christ. The meaning here is they came to agitate or to cause to waiver. Had sincerity been in their hearts, they would have used the existing Scripture to prove Paul was wrong. Problem with that was that the Scriptures showed what Paul was teaching was right before God. Early in Jerusalem the Jews stirred up the people against Stephen; that is they moved together to get the crowd against Stephen (Acts 6:12).
Paul operated within the law of Moses. He was wrong and fanatical to be sure but he operated within the law. When individuals are interested in stirring up people, facts are thrown out the “window”. All they were interested in was destroying the faith of Jesus Christ that was being preached all over the Roman Empire (Colossians 1:23). Such bitterness and anger will not lead men to think clearly nor be able to debate what is really the problem. All the Jews had to do was prove that Jesus was not God. They however, had to admit that miracles were taking place as in Acts 3 (Acts 4:16). God used the miracles, wonders and signs to approve Jesus before them all (Acts 2:22).
While Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy to come from Berea, his spirit was “stirred” within him. What stirred the spirit of Paul? It was the fact that the city was wholly given to idolatry (Acts 17:16). At other times Paul argued in the synagogues with Jews that Jesus was Christ (Acts 17:2,3; Acts 18:4). The case here in Athens however, was a different problem. He saw a city that worshipped anything and they had made idols to represent the different gods they served. Because his spirit was so stirred, he could not keep quite but wanted to challenge these “thinkers” to find the real God (Acts 17:27).
Brethren, what stirs our spirits today? We know that all men can be saved if they come in obedience to the Son of God (Acts 4:12). Is there a burden on our hearts when we see, work around or encounter a world lost in sin? The ugliness of sin should always bother our hearts as it did Lot in the long ago (II Peter 2:7,8). The burden of which I speak however, is in seeing what sin is doing to the hearts of men and know that we have the remedy for that sin through the Christ whom we serve. We may see the affects of sin but until our hearts are stirred we will choose a route of silence. The gospel is God’s power and means to save lost man (Romans 1:16). Our hearts must be stirred to find ways to teach others of the Savior. Our job remains the same. We plant and we water and leave the increase up to God (I Corinthians 3:6).
We should continue always because of our love for the Lord to lift up prayers for the brotherhood, worldwide (I Peter 2:17). Those prayers can push us into action on a local level as we do all in our power to spread the gospel locally and abroad. Our spirits stirred will be reflected by the efforts we make to get others to come to know Jesus. When individuals look at our hearts through our actions, what do they see that we get stirred about?