It's Easier to Lay Back in my Recliner

Acts 17:10-12The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

How do you determine if something is so? How do you tell if something is true or false, right or wrong? There are a multitude of ideas and teachings about God, man, Jesus, salvation, life and death. But how do you sift through the ideas to find out which are true? I recommend that you use the method of the Bereans. They were said to be more noble than the rest of the people at that time. Let's examine what their method of determining truth was.


First of all they listened, they received the word. In order to discern whether something is true or false, you must first know what the being proposed to you as true. If you don't understand, you will be unable to discern it's truthfulness. Next they received the word. Notice it does not say they received all of the words. Words are very important, but they are the clothing for ideas and thoughts. Words are the means by which we communicate thoughts and ideas. The Bereans listened to the word behind the words spoken. They not only listened attentively to the ideas being proposed to them, but they listened with all eagerness. It is the idea of forward leaning, not backward slouching. They were on the edge of their seat to what was being said.


The next step after listening and understanding what is being proposed, is that you have to have a source of truth to compare it to what you just learned. You have to have a standard of true and false, right and wrong in order to compare and contrast. Maybe your standard of truth is your own mind. Maybe it is a certain teacher. Maybe it is the law of non-contradiction. The Bereans standard of truth was the Bible. I am proposing to you that this is the one and only true standard. Jesus tells us in the Bible that he is the truth. Psalm 119, among many other places says that God's Word is truth. 


These Bereans examined the Scriptures to see if the ideas were true or false. To examine is to investigate, to ask questions, to made judgements, to search and to interrogate. They were vigilant to take what they just heard and see if the Scriptures affirmed or denied the truthfulness of what was being proposed to them. 


One last step remains in our looking to the Bereans for help on determining things as true or false. Many of them believed what was being said to them as true. After they listened attentively, and compared and contrasted with the Scriptures; they came to the point where they either would abstain from the teaching, because it was false, or they would cling to the teaching, because it was true. Well they clung to the teaching as true, and they believed. 


Being a Berean is hard work. I know this because I am not a naturally good discerner of things. It takes effort and at times frustration to get at the truthfulness of a thing. It is way easier to lay back and recline, but using the Bereans as my example, I must lean forward and press on.