Acts 17:10 As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.
13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds. 14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
What makes someone more “noble-minded” than someone else? In the context of the Scriptures above, it has to do with a few things;
They were receptive to the Message.
I can tell you after over 30 years of teaching ministry that I can tell almost immediately if someone is tracking with me. Furthermore, the difference between a receptive congregant and one who is rejecting the message I am trying to convey is like night and day. This might sound pretentious and I do not mean it to be, but I can “feel” when someone is “receiving” the message of the Scriptures with “faith.” I think of the experience Jesus had of the woman with the “issue of blood.” She came from behind, pushed her way through the crowd to “tunnel” to Jesus and grabbed the tassels of His prayer shawl. She had said; “if I only touch the hem of His garment, I will be made whole.” That is exactly what happened and Jesus said that he “perceived that power went out from Him.”
There have been many times on a Sunday morning when I feel my words falling flat, and I look out at the congregation and see people literally sleeping. But there have been other times that I am teaching, and I suddenly feel a surge of energy get “pulled through me”. I immediately begin to look around the congregation to see who is “pulling” on that teaching with their faith. I invariably see someone dabbing their eyes, wiping away their heartfelt tears, or hear someone say “amen” very sincerely. I might also see someone looking right at me, nodding in approval, or taking notes excitedly.
They were eager to learn
The Greek word for eagerness is “prothumos.” It means to be fiercely forward, to have a predisposition to actively learn, to be ready to receive before the teacher even begins to teach. It means “passion or zeal” as well, and it describes a student who is not passive, but is ready to learn. Generally speaking, unless someone is afflicted with the rare condition of narcolepsy, congregants who possess this noble character trait are not the ones falling asleep during my sermons.
They consistently examined the Scriptures to determine if what they were eagerly learning was truly from God
This is the one that is the most important in my opinion. I think of how much less blood would have been spilled by “Christians” throughout the last 2000 years, how many less people would “Christians” have enslaved, how many more women would have been treated with respect and shown self sacrificial love by “Christian” husbands if those same Christians had studied the Scriptures daily.
God knows.
I know all too often I have been part of the larger problem in the Body of Christ because of my lack of this kind of nobility. I have heard others pray “I want to be a Berean”, and I think that is a great prayer to offer to the Lord. We can't change the past, but we can ask God to help us going forward from today to walk in that kind of nobility.
When all is said and done, I would love to have been known as a person who was “noble minded” and not;
Easily fooled by false doctrines and too proud to admit it
Blinded by my own preconceived ideas and unwilling to be corrected by the Scriptures even if it is personally embarrassing
Tossed to and fro by the changing winds of the prevailing culture’s values
Instead, I want to be a humble, eager, consistent student of the Word, running every “revelation” and “doctrine” that is pushed in my direction through the filter of God’s Eternal Word.
PRN: God of all Truth, speak Your Truth always into our hearts. May Your Word be our daily bread and our living water. Keep us on the path of life and help us to shine with the nobility for which the Bereans were commended. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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