Summary
Relentless
When Paul, Silas, and Timothy were driven out of Thessalonica under cover of night, they did not retreat from their mission—they simply carried it sixty miles down the road to Berea. There they did what they always did: they walked into the Jewish synagogue and began to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. The pattern of their ministry, traced through Acts, is unmistakable: enter a town, preach Christ from the Scriptures, gather believers, suffer opposition, and move on while the Word stays planted. The gospel advances not because circumstances are favorable, but because God Himself is Relentless.
Luke describes the Bereans as "more receptive" or "noble-minded" than the Thessalonians Acts 17:11. They welcomed the message eagerly, and then they went home and examined the Scriptures every day to test whether what Paul taught was true. The verb Luke uses means to scrutinize, to investigate. The Bereans did not judge Paul's preaching by political or cultural fashion; they measured it against God's Word—and they did so without bias, willing to let the chips fall where they may. The chips, of course, always fall on Christ. The whole Old Testament points to Him as the Messiah.
This is a word for the church in every age. Lutherans confess that Scripture interprets Scripture, and that the Old and New Testaments are one unified witness. As Luther put it, "We must go back to the Old Testament and learn to prove the New Testament from the Old." Jesus Himself said, "You search the Scriptures…it is they that bear witness about me" John 5:39. The Bereans model what faithful hearing looks like: eager reception of preaching, joined to daily, personal searching of the Word.
The opposition was relentless too. When Jews from Thessalonica heard that the Word was being proclaimed in Berea, they traveled to stir up crowds there as well. Paul was sent on to Athens for safety while Silas and Timothy stayed behind to strengthen the new believers. This was not unusual; it was the rhythm of apostolic ministry. The romantic notion that the early missionaries had it easy collapses under Paul's own testimony in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27—lashes, beatings, stoning, shipwrecks, hunger, danger from every side. Persecution follows the gospel because darkness has always pursued the Light. It pursued Christ Himself to the cross.
And yet the darkness cannot win. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" John 1:5. We are called to be relentless witnesses, but only because God has first been relentless toward us. Christ was relentless in love as He carried the cross up the hill; relentless in mercy as His arms were stretched and nailed; relentless as the Father poured out wrath on the Son in our place; relentless when He cried "It is finished," and relentless still when He rose from the grave and showed Himself alive. As 2 Peter 3:9 reminds us, the Lord is patient, "not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."
Our own darkness is no obstacle to this Light. We can find it within ourselves easily enough, and we are tempted to think it is too much to be forgiven. It is not. Christ has already overcome it. The Light who is Jesus Christ has been given to you, and through you He is brought into a dark world. Thomas Edison's bulb was a fine gift; the Light entrusted to the church is incomparably greater. Take hold of Him, and shine—relentlessly—bearing witness to the grace, mercy, and truth that are in Jesus Christ.
Video citations
- "Relentless" — We're all familiar with Thomas Edison. We know who that is, a famous inventor, famous, possibly most famous for inventing the light bulb. Right? We enjoy the fruits of his invention in our modern…