“1 Then they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As usual, Paul went to the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead: ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.’ 4 Then some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a great number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.

5 But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some scoundrels from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. 6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, ‘These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, 7 and Jason has received them as guests! They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king — Jesus!’ 8 The Jews stirred up the crowd and the city officials who heard these things. 9 So taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.”

Acts 17:1-9

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“But the Jews became jealous…” They weren’t really concerned for Caesar, his reputation or his rule. They weren’t concerned about ‘order’ in society or about maintaining the cultural status quo. They were plainly and simply jealous. They wanted the attention, they wanted to be the ones who were ‘morally right’ and they didn’t like contesting that position with anyone. Not too long before, weeks & days, they had been the representatives of God to that city. They likely did not do outreach, but stood apart, allowing those who gained an interest to join them. But now, passionate men & women were growing in numbers and they were not only speaking about God, but about His Messiah. And if anyone should have known about the Messiah, well, it should have been t hem.

And so they quickly found themselves less significant, maybe even a little irrelevant, and they didn’t know what to do about that but to fight back. 

When we turn from our previous ways of life and begin to follow Jesus, we are going to find we have people who were our friends who are now fighting against us, who don’t accept the changes taking place in us, and so they struggle for relevance, and even within themselves. That frustration is usually taken out on the person who introduced the change, in this case, Paul and company. We need to be sensitive to their frustrations and try to use those conversations as opportunities to explain, to show from Scripture why we’ve made these decisions, why we’ve chosen Jesus. It doesn’t mean they’ll come to the same understanding the way we did, but it will give them a relevant point to begin from and to at least consider Christ, if they are willing.

As Christians, we should expect hardship and opposition from those who stand outside Christ. That shouldn’t be a surprise to us. But as we GoLove others in His Name, we should definitely speak from those points of conflict or difference and present the reason for the hope that we have in an intelligent and reasonable way. We do not fight like the world fights, we answer conflict with love.