Amir Tsarfati: Turn the World Upside Down

Well, good morning from the city of Thessalonica here in northern Greece.

Behind me is the famous white tower, a symbol of the fortification of a city that was founded right here in 315 BC by Cassander the King of Macedonia.

He actually named this city after his wife, who got her name from her father, King Philip.

Named her after the victory of the Thessalians, who are from the region of Thessalia, in the center of Greece of today, over the Phocians.

So, Thessalonica, the victory of the Thessalians.

“Nica” is victory.

Thessalians were the people from Thessalia.

And therefore, we got the name Thessalonica, and he named a new city right here after his wife.

The city itself was standing here ever since.

And in the first century BC, a fortification was built above the city, in about 55 BC, built by the Romans.

And the city existed right here at the time of the Book of Acts, chapter 17.

So we’re talking about an interesting time.

When Paul just started his second missionary journey.

He started all the way up from Jerusalem, where there was the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15.

He goes up to Syria into Asia Minor, which is Turkey of today.

Continues all the way to Northern Greece of today, Macedonia and the first major city that he hits in this region.

According to Acts chapter 17 is the city of Thessalonica.

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures.

Remember, Paul being in foreign cities would always make a habit to go first to the Jewish people into their synagogues and tell them about the Messiah.

Not their Messiah, but his Messiah as well.

He never hid the fact that he’s a Jew.

He was proud of it.

And he actually wanted to share it with his countrymen, with his people, that the Messiah indeed had come, and he knows who he is.

You know, it’s the biggest question.

Who is the Messiah of those days? So, he goes there and explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead.

Now, he’s saying that not from New Testament, there was no New Testament.

I always say, Paul never preached from New Testament even once. Jesus never quoted the New Testament even once.

Peter never talked from New Testament even once.

Every time the Bible says that they used Scriptures, it was by default the Old Testament.

Therefore, explaining and demonstrating that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again was by definition from the books of the Old Testament.

Just as Jesus said, by the way. Luke, chapter 24. Jesus says to them:

These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.

That was the 44th verse of the 24 chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

Jesus himself said, everything, that is written in the Tanakh, in the Scriptures, in the Old Testament, has to be fulfilled.

And, of course, when Paul is standing before the people of Thessalonica, that is exactly what he’s telling them.

This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Messiah.

By the way, that is what we say when we’re back in Israel, as Jews who believes that Jesus is the Messiah. That’s all we tell people.

Jesus, this Jesus. Yeshua in Hebrew.

“Hu Hamashia”. He is the Messiah.

Yeshua Hamashia.

That’s what we say.

And it’s interesting, because the Bible says that some of them were persuaded.

Isn´t that interesting?

When you preach the word and tell someone about the Messiah, you’ll never know who listens, who accept, who don´t.

Your job is not to know in advance who will say yes, your job is not to count the views.

Your job is not to count the numbers.

Your job is to open your mouth and talk.

God job is to harvest the rest.

You know, we are the workers in the harvest field that namely, we need to speak out.

But the rest is for God to do.

That’s it.

And it’s interesting because, some of them were persuaded, and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

Wow.

So you can imagine a quiet Jewish community is now divided.

Now you have to understand that Judaism in those days was what we call a permitted religion in the Roman Empire.

And the reason why the Romans never had a problem with Judaism is because Jewish people never, ever, proselytize.

They never, ever, went out to somebody else and says: You should become a Jew.

Therefore, they never posed any threat to the Roman paganism.

Yet, what is Christianity all about? If not, go and make disciples, tell the world, preach the Word.

It’s all about making disciples from all over. So, you can imagine, there is no Christianity yet.

There is no religion yet.

There is a couple of people that are walking or sailing, they´re definitely not flying.

And they are just walking all the way from Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, to the four corners of the world.

It’s amazing because when you think about it: Thessalonica,

Athens, Rome, these are cities that are situated on major crossroads of very important Roman trade routes.

You can imagine. This is the internet of 2000 years ago.

This is how a message goes out faster than any other way.

So here we are.

We’re talking about, a community that is now divided.

But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace.

And we’re gonna show you the marketplace. The “Agora”, which is not far away from here.

We still have it. It’s still there.

It was the center of the city.

If you wanted to find someone, whether a nice person or a thug go to the marketplace.

And so they gathered some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

These who have turned the world upside down.

Have come over here too.

Ladies and gentlemen, you can imagine Paul and Silas are looking at each other.

We, turn the world upside down?

They’re not warriors.

They’re not politicians.

They’re not commanders.

They’re not wealthy.

They’re not, nothing.

Think about it.

These are two men carrying a message from Jerusalem to Asia Minor and now to Greece, and later on, even to other places such as Rome.

And they’re being given the title.

These who turn the world upside down.

I believe it’s prophetic. By the way, I believe that the term was used as a derogatory term.

But think about it.

Remember when the Romans crucified Jesus? What do they put above the cross?

Jesus of Nazareth, what? King of the Jews.

Do you really think the Romans meant that Jesus is the king of the Jews?

Of course not.

Even there it was a derogatory term.

Little did they know that it was so prophetic.

But my point is this, they’re being given a title which they never thought belongs to them.

And if anyone makes any uproar in the city, it wasn’t them actually

It was those Jews who did not agree with them. Who went to the city center, who gathered people in the “Agora” in the marketplace.

And they started an uproar in the city, and they dragged Jason. One of the people, the brethren who actually sheltered Paul and Silas in his home all the way. And the accusation is:

Romans, wake up.

This is your biggest danger.

These people who turned the world upside down have come here too.

Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.

Wow!

Think about it.

From a small cross, one of, by the way, thousands of crosses that the Romans erected in Judea, as they killed so many.

From one cross. The message of the king of Israel, the king of the Jews, made it all the way to Asia Minor and now to Greece.

They are basically saying, these people are a threat to Caesar, as they are offering a different king than the Caesar.

Jesus.

Wow! Again, it’s prophetic.

Jesus is far greater than Caesar.

It is prophetic.

Yet they don’t understand what they’re saying. They’re so blinded.

That’s the interesting thing.

And it’s interesting because: and they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.

Isn´t that interesting?

Look at Thessalonica.

They just smuggled them out.

I said, get out of here.

You’re in danger.

Wow.

He didn’t spend here too long.

Yet, did you know that the letters to the Thessalonians are known to be the first letters that Paul ever wrote?

We know that at least the first one, if not both, were written while he was in Corinth.

Remember? After he left Thessalonica, he goes down to Athens, and after Athens, he goes down to Corinth.

It is in Corinth where he stays a year in six months, a year and a half.

And this is where he wrote several of his epistles.

Later on, of course, serving two years in Rome, gave him much more time to write many more Epistles.

But the first ones were written to that little congregation he just started.

In Thessalonica right here.

Made of what? Made of predominantly devout Greeks. Not Jews, devout Greeks.

And that might explain to all of us, why the two letters that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, are of the only letters that he never quoted the Old Testament there.

We believe that, because it was meant to be written to those who were predominately gentiles.

And this is an interesting thing. Turning the world upside down.

What was the world in those days?

The Roman Empire, just so you understand, in those days controlled 33,000,000 people of which half were slaves.

So you can imagine 15,000,000, and another 15,000,000 slaves.

Of which, by the way, at the time of the writing of this epistle, there were not more than 4000 believers in Jerusalem and hundreds only in the different places around.

What I’m trying to say is, number wise, in 50 AD when Paul was here, number wise, you cannot tell me that the world turned Christian that day.

But think about it. The message of Jesus was such an offense to some people, that they thought it is turning the world up side down.

It’s amazing to me.

Who changed the world upside down?

Two people. You know, Jesus is saying: go out. They go out. And they’re walking.

They’re unarmed.

They’re not super educated with philosophy and the ways of the Gentiles.

But Jesus said, when they say false things against you for my sake.

Rejoice.

For great is your reward in heaven.

And excuse me. What power did they have?

With what power did they fight the fire or ran the race? Or did that job of turning this world upside down?

And when is it that they received that power?

Well, Acts chapter 1 verse 8 say, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And, look, only when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

You shall be witnesses to Me.

And then he specifies it, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Wow!

And literally, the journey of Paul and Silas started in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Counsel.

Acts 15, from Judea towards Samaria, up to the known world of those days.

Christianity thus begins not as a religion, but as a way, a way of life.

We were given a great commission in Matthew 28:19,

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The decree was clear and simple.

Yes, to the Jew first.

But all the nations should hear the word and should be standing, I would say, accountable, after they heard it.

Now, what was the essence of the message?

Let’s face it. The essence of the message, the drew people closer.

What was the essence of that message? The essence was very clear.

There is hope.

There is hope.

Isn´t that interesting? When we read about, about the hope, we understand that, first of all, when the Gentiles did not know about Christ, the Bible says:

At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Of course, they had many false gods.

No hope.

And without God.

So we understand, even the whole speech that Paul gave to the people of Athens.

When he told them about how,

since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

He says, ok, game is over.

That’s it.

You have now hope, you have now a chance to be grafted in.

You have now the chance for eternal life.

You have now the truth revealing itself to you.

What are you going to do? What are you going to do? And it’s interesting.

We’re talking about the hope. Psalms 16 verse 9 says:

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices.

My flesh also will rest in hope.

Only when we have that hope, we can rest.

We can really, truly rest in that hope.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil.

Cling to what is good.

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

Rejoicing in hope.

We see that Paul and Silas are coming to a place called Thessalonica.

Coming to a synagogue full of Jewish people, and the Jewish people are holding on to tradition and religion.

And yet, the Greeks, as we just read, who had no hope, and no God at the time.

Being, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, found now hope.

The Bible says that, that hope is not something.

It’s someone.

1 Timothy 1:1 says: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, “our hope”.

He’s our hope.

Interesting.

And what is the hope?

1 Thessalonians chapter 2:19, For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?

So not just that He is our hope, but he’s coming to take us,

is our hope.

So not only He is our hope, but he’s coming to take us, is our hope.

And that is a hope. Hebrews, 10:23 says:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

So hey, he came to the world to give you hope.

The hope is that he will come back and take you.

And, hey, he who promised is faithful.

It’s a beautiful thing.

And by the way.

When did that hope started?

If you really think about it, the hope started in the heart of, let’s say Peter, for example.

Peter was a crushed person, remember? He just denied Jesus three times.

Remember? He was crushed.

He was depressed.

He couldn’t imagine.

I’ve been following this Messiah for three years.

And now at the crucial moment, when people ask me if I know him, I said I don’t know him.

I do not know the man.

He couldn’t imagine what he had done.

It is such a horrible thing.

And then Jesus is dead on the cross.

Now they’re taking him into the tomb.

And Peter says: not only that I betrayed him.

I may have contributed to his death.

Now he’s dead.

I have no hope.

Isn´t that interesting?

And when is it that the hope was restored in Peter’s heart?

I’ll tell you when. He writes it.

1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3 says: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again

to a living hope through, what?, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

That hope was rekindled in him when he experienced that Jesus is actually not dead.

He resurrected. The resurrection, by the way, change everything.

Peter, from a defeated Jew, became a conqueror.

He was not ashamed to stand before kings and rulers.

He was not ashamed to stand before the Sanhedrin.

He was not ashamed to testify.

He didn’t care if he’s thrown to the jail.

He knew, this is the truth.

I have not only the fellowship of the suffering, but I have the power of his resurrection.

Titus 2.

The famous portion: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

Looking, what?, for the “blessed hope”

and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people,

zealous for good works.

Amazing, Amazing.

Think about it.

Those without hope, are now having hope.

Those without Christ, now have Christ.

Those who are aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel.

According to Ephesians 2:12, are now part of the covenant of promise, having hope.

And now they have God in this world.

Isn’t that beautiful?

And Paul, everywhere he went, including in the city of Thessalonica, shared two things.

Christ is the Messiah.

There is eternal life.

And He is soon coming to take us.

So I have a challenge for you today.

Are you a person that can turn the world upside down?

Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you in a way that you live today for Heavenly Kingdom?

Are you a citizen of the heavenly here on earth?

And do you represent the Heavenly while you’re still here, in the way you conduct yourself?

You may not consider yourself as someone of stature.

You may not consider yourself as someone of great importance.

I don’t believe Paul and Silas considered themselves that as well.

But look what God did through them. Without weapon, without wealth, and sometimes even without health.

And I want to tell you something. Their life were not easy.

Their life were not without challenges, and without difficulties.

I always say, Christianity is not the absence of troubles.

But Christianity, is the presence of Christ.

And we must remember. He commissioned us to go and make disciples.

So go, and turn the world upside down.