Acts 17:2
“According to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures.”
Who should I listen to when it comes to the things of God? Only those individuals who reason with you from Scripture. As a preacher of the things of God, the Apostle Paul himself rarely proclaimed anything other than ideas that were based on, and found in the Bible. He didn’t offer his own opinions (only one time in Scripture do we find him do this and when he did he was sure to let the people know it was from him, not God (see 1 Corinthians 7:6, 25). Instead, Paul founded all his teachings about Jesus Christ on Scripture.
Scripture is the only fixed reference point for truth. Everything else is changing. Human logic, reason, emotions, opinions, desires, etc. are all in motion from one generation and culture to the next. But the Word of God never changes; it is the only fixed source of truth to which any Holy Spirit-taught-person with access to it can go to find the thoughts of God outside of man’s tamperings.
Psalm 119:89
Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in heaven.
Psalm 119:160
The sum of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.
The Bereans in Paul’s day knew this. They were a “noble-minded” people who excepted no ideas from man that could not be found in Scripture (Acts 17:11). They searched the Word of God to see if the things Paul claimed to be in Scripture were actually there. They weren’t interested in man’s opinions. Their only concern was the thoughts and ideas of God that could be found in the only fixed reference point for truth that they knew of – the Bible.
There are more opinions, books, movies, songs, and sermons claiming to teach the things of God in our times than at any other point in history. The Spirit-filled follower of Jesus Christ has a great responsibility in our post-modern, the-truth-is-relative culture. We must be more “nobled-minded” like the Bereans. We must not except man’s changing opinions when it comes to the things of God. We must filter out all the noise and flutter of human logic, emotion, and opinion allowing no teachings to enter our hearts and minds other than those that can be soundly proven from the very Word of God. As it has already be stated, this will be harder now than every before. Paul knew this and warned those of us who would live in the latter days:
2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Father in Heaven, help us in these latter days to sift through the overwhelming surplus of teachings about You and rely only on those teachings which can be substantiated in Scripture. Holy Spirit, help us to find churches and pastors and teachers and books and music and movies that uphold the Word of God, not man’s lofty opinions about God. Remind us constantly that the whole of Scripture is the only place we can go to discover Your very thoughts, opinions, likes, and dislikes when it comes to the things of God and life and Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:13-17). Give us the strength and courage to reject all the rest. In Your Holy Name, Amen.
