So, why doesn’t everyone think the gospel is good news? Today, many people reject the claims of Christ because they don’t want to change their behaviors. Others maintain their trust in sex or drugs or money or politics to give them happiness, so they refuse to turn from these idols and surrender to Christ as Lord.

As we see in today’s passage, the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica didn’t object so much to the content of the gospel. Instead, they turned against Paul because they were jealous. They wanted to keep the blessings of God for themselves – and they certainly didn’t want to believe that the Gentiles could receive God’s welcome.

But if the reasons that unbelievers reject the gospel vary across space and time, their tactics are remarkably similar. Unbelievers still resort to mob violence to suppress the truth about Christ, whether it be Muslim extremists bombing churches or college students shouting down pro-life speakers on campus. Because they cannot refute the claims of Christ through reason, they simply resort to force instead.

They also tend to appeal to the state. For notice in verse 7 that the unbelievers did not make any sort of religious argument before the civil authorities. Instead, they insisted that Christians couldn’t be loyal to any human authority while still swearing allegiance to Jesus as King.

And modern opponents of the gospel follow their example for the same reason. Because they themselves place their faith in the state, they use all sorts of legal roadblocks to hamper the spread of the gospel. From zoning laws that prohibit congregations from meeting in residential areas, to prohibiting Christian communities from allowing prayer in their local schools, to banning restrictions on abortion, to requiring states to recognize same-sex marriages, those who are opposed to Christ continue to use the force of the state to bludgeon Christians into submission. They have no king but Caesar, and thus they can’t tolerate the fact that Christians submit to a higher authority.

But the book of Acts indicates that, in spite of all sorts of opposition, the gospel continued to spread throughout the Roman Empire. Just so, even though we may face jealous hatred, or mob violence or the opposition of the state and its worshippers, we modern Christians must keep on loving Christ as Savior, bowing the knee to Him as Lord, and obeying His commands to spread the good news, speaking the truth in love, and responding to hate with grace. There’s just no other way to follow Christ, in any time or place.

Acts 17:1-9 (NAS)

Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2 And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3 explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”
4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a great multitude of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women.
5 But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and coming upon the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people.
6 And when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also;
7 and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
8 And they stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things.
9 And when they had received a pledge from Jason and the others, they released them.