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 (17:5). 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 people’s reasons for rejecting 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 power of the state. For notice in 7:7 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 ruler while still swearing allegiance to Jesus as King.

And modern opponents of the gospel follow their example for the same reason. Because many of them 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 bakers and florists to participate in same-sex wedding ceremonies, 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 in spite of all sorts of opposition, Paul and Silas continued to proclaim the gospel. 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 16:35-17:9 (ESV)

35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”
36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.”
38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.
39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.
40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.
9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.