How to Live like a Berean

Joshua Bontrager is a friend and fellow blogger who desires to glorify Jesus Christ and point others toward Him. His guest post today challenges us to live counter-cultural lives that renounce Biblical illiteracy. Are we, like the early Bereans, committed to Scripture? Enjoy the post, and don’t forget to check out Joshua’s other writing over at JoshuaBontrager.com!

Over fifteen years ago, a preacher presented this one simple yet thought-provoking question to my father: “If you were on a desert island with only God and the Bible, how would you live your life?” This “Desert Island Challenge” revolutionized my Dad’s life and our entire family, causing him to make some difficult decisions that shaped our futures forever.

The Bereans

Roughly two-thousand years before, a radically saved terrorist-turned-proclaimer of God’s Word stepped to the podium at a small assembly in the Macedonian town of Berea. This man, who we know as the Apostle Paul, had come to present to these Jews Christ as the fulfillment of prophecy.

Regarding this episode, Acts 17:11 records, “These [the Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

Today, we can live like the noble Bereans by making three simple commitments.

Know God’s Word

The Bereans were able to discern the truth of Paul’s teaching because they knew the truth of God’s Word.

In contrast to the Bereans, many American Christians today are Biblically illiterate. Only 20% of Americans regularly read the Bible.

As helpful as Christian sermons and books are, they are no substitute for the Word of God. Amy Carmichael warned, “Never let good books take the place of the Bible, drink from the well, not from the streams that flow from the well.”

How can we search the scriptures if we do not know the scriptures?

Hold to the Final Authority of Scripture

Paul looms as a giant in early church history. He was inspired, he was caught up to the third heaven, he performed miracles, and he saw the glorified Christ! Despite all that, the Bereans refused to take his words at face value. They must first “search the scriptures.” If the Bereans filtered Paul’s teaching through God’s Word, should we not much rather hold up every sermon, idea, and cultural trend to the light of God’s Word?

2 Timothy 3:16-17 reminds us that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect [complete] thoroughly furnished to every good work.”

Truly, God’s Word is the final authority for all of life. The Bible timelessly speaks to education, entertainment, finances, church, family, government, and popular culture.

If we are to emulate the Bereans, we must never ask, “Is it popular?” Rather we should ask, “Is it Biblical?”

Stand for Truth

Almost fifteen hundred years after Paul took the stage in Berea, the church seemed to have forgotten the example of the Bereans. One man, however, refused to remain silent. Martin Luther became convinced that God’s Word was true and the church was in error.

Called before Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to defend his position, Luther replied, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.”

His example reminds us that we must hold to God’s Word above all no matter how unpopular our convictions may be. We must willingly face opposition, knowing that “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Conclusion

Do you know God’s Word as the Bereans did? Is God’s Word the final authority for your life? Are you willing to stand for truth regardless of the opposition?

The Berean life is not for the faint of heart, but it is the most rewarding life you will find. If you build your life on the bedrock of God’s Word, rather than on the shifting sands of emotion and popular opinion, you will certainly leave a lasting impact on the world. No matter how hardened the opposition may be, you will discover, as did John Knox, that “a man with God is always in the majority.”

Joshua Bontrager, B.A., is the blogger at joshuabontrager.com, where he authors weekly articles on intentional Christian living. Joshua sings, speaks, and plays with his family’s traveling band, the Bontrager Family Singers, and farms in rural Iowa. He loves creating memories with his dear wife, Cassidy, and their dashing little son, Wallace Bradford.