Be open minded, be eager, be discerning

Rick McNally / January 29, 2026

I’ve heard people say that Christians should be “close-minded” people.  This is wrong.  I want you to know that you should be more “open-minded” than you are now, and more teachable — like a sponge ready to soak up information.  Teachable, yet able to examine things for yourself.

In the passage above, we see some of the leaders of the early church sending out Paul and Silas “by night” to Berea.  There they were to go about the business of sharing the message of Jesus to the Jews in the synagogue there. 

Some of their message content can be found in the passage previous to this one. It says…

Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”  Acts 17:2-3 

Here we see that Paul, using the Old Testament scriptures, reasoned, explained, and proved that Jesus was the Christ foretold.  He talked to them, he laid open scripture to them, and he proved (a word that means to place alongside) that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Scriptures. 

When they arrived in Berea and began sharing the Good News of Jesus — how Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah (the Christ) — those people had some curious reactions that were not recorded about other people elsewhere.

• They were more noble.
• They received the word with all eagerness.
• They examined the Scriptures daily.

They were more noble

First, they were described as people of “more noble birth,” and this phrase did not mean that they were “better than others.” It meant that they were more teachable — less combative.  Louw Nida states that this word indicates “a willingness to learn and evaluate something fairly.”  Now that does sound like a good characteristic — not a negative one.

We need to have this attitude in life, especially as it comes to Scripture.  We get so wound up on our own pet theology, our own denominations, our own preconceived notions that we cannot evaluate fairly the Word of God for all the hedges we have built around it to “protect” it.

Lord, let us be open-minded and fair when it comes to learning about the Word.  Help us to see and respect other people’s thoughts and perspectives and not be too quick to condemn and slow to learn.

They received the word with all eagerness

The Berean Christians were eager to learn; they came with their notebooks, highlighters, and pens and sat on the edge of their seats ready to hear what Paul and Silas had to say.  The root word in Greek gives us the idea of positive passion. 

Lord, let us be people who are eager to learn.  Father, forgive us for being complacent in our studies — give us the desire to learn and grow in you, for you, by you.

They Examined the Scriptures Daily

These people were not just open-minded and eager; they balanced this openness with the ability to be critical.  The idea of “critical thinking” is the task of thinking through with our own minds what we hear.  They had a filter for theological garbage.

The word anakrinō according to Louw Nida means “to try to learn the nature or truth of something by the process of careful study, evaluation, and judgement.”  BDAG tells us that this word has the idea of “separating” or “discerning” through the careful consideration of questions.  If we don’t ask questions, we will never learn properly.   Their standard was the Scriptures that they knew and were raised on; if Jesus was true, the truth should conform to what they knew of Scriptures; the Old Testament.

I remember at Moody I took a second-year class in my first year.  I was asked in an assignment to critique something — and I felt like I didn’t have the knowledge to properly do so — and I wondered if I shouldn’t just take what I was asked to critique and believe it at face value.  I was learning painfully to question what I was hearing.

Remember, that these were missionary apostles going from town to town telling of the things of Jesus — and here in this text Luke is describing these Berean people and their eager desire to learn and their ability to be critical of the message.  He praised them for asking tough questions.  Christians, there is a ton of weird stuff going on in the church today, very questionable things, and you should have a critical mind — examine things for yourself.  Don’t be a passive learner but an active disciple.  Serve God alone.  Follow Jesus — not Paul, Barnabas, or Cephas.  Follow Jesus.  Know the Word.

Notice also the fact that these people of Berea did these things daily.  They wanted to know the Scriptures.  They wanted to know the truth.  They put time into it.

Putting this together

This is a three-legged stool.  You need all three of these legs to stand.

• To be open-minded to learn
• To be eager to learn
• To be able to critique what they were learning

If we don’t have an open mind — we will learn nothing (Matthew 13:13-17).  This goes far beyond just the initial acceptance of Jesus.  Christians who already know all the truth there is will not pry open their minds to learn something new.  We will never talk to others and learn from them.

If we are not eager to learn — we will learn nothing.  If you have no desire to do something, you just will not get off the couch.  We will never crack open the Bible.

If we are not able to critique what we are hearing — we will learn nothing good.  There is plenty of content out there to consume; much of it is garbage.   Discern what you are hearing by comparing it to Scripture alone — not your church doctrinal statement, the words of a pastor, nor your own thoughts on this matter or that.

DARK TIMES

The Bible doesn’t speak of a coming utopia, but rather that the further we get in time, the closer we get to Jesus’ return, things will become increasingly dark.   People will seek to have disciples after themselves; arrogant ones will deceive the masses, and “people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”   Dark times are coming. 

How do we survive in such times? 

Paul would tell us it is for the church to “equip” people for the works of “service” so that they attain unity in the faith in the knowledge of Jesus and grow up.  This, so we do not fall like gullible children being “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:14).   There are many terrible waves out there to tip over our boats if we are not growing and mature.

I read this quote in a book I was reading last year; it speaks about having a discerning mind in these dark times.

To be a moral actor in dark times, then, one doesn’t need superior intellect or superhuman strength; one simply needs to protect their capacity to think. This means resisting the seductive logic of ideology, being skeptical of a movement’s meaning-making stories, and above all rejecting the idea that the consensus of others should compel us to suspend our capacity to judge. (Mike Cosper, The Church in Dark Times).

So, be open-minded!!!

Be eager to learn!!!

Be discerning with Scripture alone as your standard.