Acts 20:1-6 (NIV)
When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia. He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, where he stayed three months. Because the Jews made a plot against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. But we sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
Paul knew that, even though he was an emissary of the kingdom of God, he was living and moving in hostile territory. Therefore, he moved deliberately, but always with his eyes and ears open.
The group passed through Macedonia, collecting the promised funds for the Church in Jerusalem, and then went south into Greece, staying for three months in Corinth as promised. But, as they were preparing to sail for Syria, someone heard about a plot to assassinate Paul on the ship. So, Paul sent much of his party ahead on the boat, while he and seven others took the land route around to the north, and into Troas on the extreme northwest corner of the province of Asia. There the party met up again and made arrangements to depart a week after their boat arrived.
Paul understood that his message of peace with God through faith in Jesus was extremely threatening to the status quo. Even though it promised freedom and true spiritual life, it stood in direct opposition to the Greek philosophers who preached self-discipline and self-improvement, while the gospel promised genuine transformation. It stood in opposition to the Jews, who preached salvation through strict obedience to the law, while the gospel promised a changed heart that would spur obedience from the inside out. And it stood opposed to the pagans, who tried to please their many gods through offerings and rituals, while the gospel taught that Jesus had already paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind through His suffering and death, and had made real life and real relationship with the true God possible through His resurrection and ascension.
The threat came because, even though anybody could immediately come into the kingdom of heaven through faith in Jesus, it meant leaving behind their old ways of doing things, their old belief systems and, in some cases, their old livelihoods in serving the pagan gods, or even serving the true God in old ways that had been supplanted by Jesus’ sacrifice. And, sadly, far too many were unwilling to give up what they had held onto for so long.
Father, it is the same today. Those who stand in opposition to the gospel have erected a protective wall around their own belief systems and their old livelihoods, so that they can only see what they must let go of, instead of seeing what they will gain by letting go of what is false and taking hold of Jesus. Help me, Lord, to live such a powerful and holy life today that it takes down every argument against the gospel in the hearts of those who see me, and melts them all away in Your truth. Amen.
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