Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so
You probably know the frustration of looking for something you cannot find. What is ironic is many times the thing you are looking for and cannot find is really close. Have you ever looked for your reading glasses and they are on your nose? Or you look for your pen and it is on your ear? Or you look for your keys and they are in your hand? Many times, what we seek seems so far away, yet it is right here.
The Apostle Paul was consumed with giving the gospel, the truth about Jesus Christ, to people of all backgrounds. He preached to Jewish people and Greek people, to men and women, in synagogues and at the Areopagus. He preached in a variety of places to a variety of people. One thing you see as you look at these stories of Paul giving the gospel is that those who seek successfully will find. Jesus said, “Seek, and ye shall find.”
Sometimes we have the idea that if we are looking, then that is all that matters. It doesn’t matter if I find anything, the journey is the reward. When I was in high school, I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon for the first time, and at Phantom Ranch I bought a shirt that says, “The journey is the reward.” I love hiking, but as a philosophy for life that is not true. Am I fulfilled simply because I am curious or because I’m searching? No, those who seek successfully are people who find. So, what does successful seeking require?
There are two things you find here. First, seeking successfully in my life requires a sense of need. When I am seeking for an answer to a problem, peace in turmoil, or strength in weakness, what I am really seeking for is not a thing but a Person. I need to sense my need. In verses 1, 10, and 16 Paul goes to people where they are. In one case he goes to the synagogues of various cities, and in another case, he went to a place where philosophers, stoics, and others gathered. These people listened to Paul for different reasons. Verse 21 says, “(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or hear some new thing.)” They were curious, and to them the journey was the reward.
The bottom line is that you are either going to have a sense of pride or a sense of willingness, a sense of need or a sense of satisfaction that you are okay. The older you are, the more powerful you are, the richer you are, the higher your status, the less likely you are to see your need and to find the answer to that need in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, those who seek successfully for what they need will find it. They will find the Lord Jesus and that requires a sense of their need.
Second, successful seeking requires a sense of source. It requires a sense of the Scripture and authority. Verse 11 famously says about those in Berea, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” There are numerous words that indicate their attitude. They received, had a ready mind, and were searching the Scriptures. They received, searched, and did this every day.
Someone says, “Knowledge is power.” Well, most of us are drowning in knowledge in this information age. There is more information than we know what to do with. We have all kinds of knowledge, facts, and education, yet many people have no sense of direction. Knowledge does no good unless you know what to do with it, unless you have wisdom to employ the knowledge you have.
I think most of us need more Scripture and less noise. We are living in a noisy day. We are so busy and surrounded by noise and distraction that many times we know much but are able to do little. The Bible says, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of truth.” I don’t want to be the kind of person where knowledge is power but I don’t even know how to come in out of the rain because I don’t know what to do with what I know. Most of us need to receive God’s Word on a regular basis to verify whether the things we see, hear, or say are so.
These people in Acts sought the Word. Seeking the Word of God with a sense of source and seeking God are related. The Bible says that “they should seek the LORD, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.” All of us need the same thing. Three times at least in this passage Paul makes reference to all men. God commands “all men every where to repent.” Paul continues, “Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” God is not far from every one of us, Jew, Gentile, men, women, rich, poor. It requires, regardless of your status, a sense of that need and then a sense of where to find an answer to that need. The answer to that need is God, and we find Him in the Scripture.
I want to enjoy life and be curious, but I don’t want to just be curious and enjoy every day. I want to find answers. If I’m hungry in a town far from home and looking for a steak dinner, don’t tell me as I drive in circles that the journey is the reward. No, the steak is the reward and the steak comes from searching and searching in the right place. Those who seek successfully are people who find. Successful seeking requires a sense of my need and a sense of the source that has the answer to that need. That source is God, found in His own Word and given by His Son.