Acts 19:32-41. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 11, 2024.
Last week, we stopped in the middle of a riotous mob in Ephesus. Unable to find Paul, they had seized his associates, Gaius and Aristarchus. These were taken by force to the local theater with great commotion. It is unclear what they planned to do, but it is not hard to imagine being grabbed by an irate mob that quickly becomes thousands of people. Nothing good happens in such a scenario.
We also saw last week that Paul wanted to address the crowd, but the believers of Ephesus begged him not to. Even certain officials of the province of Asia, who were stationed in the city, worked to convince Paul not to address the crowd.
Let’s pick up the story at that point.
In verse 32, we encounter the word “confused.” First Corinthians 14:33 tells us that “God is not the author of confusion but of peace…” We also see in James 3:16 that it says, “where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”
It can be easy to over look that last verse. We too often treat envy and self-seeking in a soft-handed way. We can warn people that selfishness will affect their ability to win friends and influence people. It will ruin their relationships too. Typically, people are encouraged not to be overly selfish, and instead, show some concern for others.
This is all true. However, there is also something deeper here, something darker. Confusion and “every evil thing” come into the life of an envious self-seeker. You become a source of darkness and evil. In light of that, we should care much less about influencing people and more about delivering our own soul. A delivered soul is fresh water to a person in chains. Winning friends and influencing people would merely be the gravy, the overflow, of God’s goodness to those who trust Him.
Another way of putting this is to say that the Spirit of the One True God is not behind this mob in Ephesus, nor any other mob for that matter.
This crowd is a pagan crowd. We would expect such things of them. However, have large groups of people, claiming to be on God’s side, ever done mob actions like seizing people outside of true justice? Take the crucifixion of Jesus for instance. There we have a collusion between the crowd, the religious leaders of Israel and the Roman government. This is just as Psalm 2 said it would be. “Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed…” I could go on, but you get the picture.
This Ephesian mob is not from God. It is from the spirit of this world. Yet, even things done by the spirit of this world can be worked to the good by our loving Father in Heaven.
Luke gives the description of the crowd that many people were crying out many different things. There is no cohesive, or coherent, message. In our own time, we see groups organizing protests with a series of chants that emphasize the message that the organizers of the crowd want to be emphasized. Yet, even an organized protest with a coherent message can disintegrate into a confused mob. Of course, this mob in Ephesus was never an organized thing. It was confusion from the very beginning.
Thus, we are told that many people in the crowd didn’t even know what they were all gathered for. It is never good to join a crowd for which you do not know the purpose. Although protests will sometimes hide their true purpose behind a noble sounding cause, scheming men led by a scheming devil love to use a cloak of morality to hide a sea of evil purpose. There are many that would love to paint Christians as evil, bigots who are hateful and deserve to be removed from society, one way or another.
Let us remember that Christ never called us to create mobs that force change. However, as the Church of Christ grows, it is going to tick off the devil and bring him forth in rage. Of course, we need not fear this. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in this world.
At some point, a Jew named Alexander is put forth by the Jews to address the crowd. Why would they do that? We should remember that there was friction between Paul and some in the synagogue, earlier in this chapter. Paul and the Christians were no longer meeting with the synagogue. It is possible that they want him to make sure that the crowd knows they are not connected with Paul, or that Paul, who is a Jew, does not represent them. This would be to hedge against the guilt by association that is common among mobs. However, it may also contain a fear that they will be blamed for the riot in some way. We saw earlier in the book of Acts that Aquila and Priscilla had left Rome because Caesar had banned all Jews from the city, due to riots that were blamed on them.
Yet, when the crowd figures out that Alexander is a Jew, they will not let him speak. This begins a two hour crowd chant of “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
Now, no matter how much you love the Seahawks and want to shout and pound on a drum for hours to let people know that you really like them, eventually you will grow weary in the flesh. I would say that it is at the moment that the crowd’s fervor is starting to wane that the city clerk steps in.
A clerk in the Roman system would have been closer to what we think of as a mayor. He would be known to the people, and is also one of them. We do not know if word has reached the clerk from the officials of Asia that were friends of Paul, or if the clerk himself is friendly to Paul. Since it doesn’t say so, we shouldn’t read too much to his argument. He may simply be on orders from the provincial officials to get the city in order, or there will be consequences.
It is probably best to see this as an example of how God can make use of anyone for his purposes. Sometimes, God uses unbelievers to restrain the wickedness of other unbelievers.
Alexander had stirred the crowd up, but this man was able to silence them. He then reasons with them. Remember, in a place of confusion, there is not a lot of reasoning occurring. It is mostly knee-jerk reactions, emotions, feelings and following the crowd. Essentially, the clerk argues for the crowd to disperse and go home. So, let’s look at his persuasive rationale.
He gives a statement of fact and then a conclusion based upon this. The first statement is that everyone knows that the city of Ephesus is dedicated to Artemis. No one is questioning them on this. So, why are they acting so rash and unreasonable by gathering at the theater and shouting loudly?
People can be whipped up into a moral frenzy in which they feel pressured to show their adherence to something. We see this in social media online. We can get in situations where we are afraid that others will accuse us of not being on the right side of an issue. This kind of pressure is not of God. We should do the right thing because it is the right thing, not because someone has manipulated us into it. Make sure it is the Spirit of the LORD that is leading you to such actions and not a person, a group, or guilt. A disorderly mob, of course, is never the right thing to be involved in.
Again, the clerk points out that there has not been any crime committed against the temple of Artemis or her personally. They did not catch people trying to robe the temple, or publicly defaming Artemis. Of course, Artemis is not a god. However, Paul’s emphasis was on promoting Jesus, and calling people away from worshipping idols, which are made by the hands of people.
There is something lesser than this happening. Thus, the clerk calls Demetrius out publicly. If Demetrius thinks he has been injured in some way by Paul, then he must bring the matter to the courts in a proper way. The matter can then be properly judged by first determining the facts of the matter and then making a judgment.
Mobs are extremely bad at getting justice. They generally do things in a confused order. They judge someone guilty and get others to jump on the bandwagon. They then execute judgment. Later, the hone a narrative to back up their actions, no matter how stretched it is. A proper judgment will not be in a rush, and it will involve a true seeking of the facts before meting out punishment.
He finishes with the clincher in the argument. He tells them that they are in danger of being considered an unlawful, disorderly gathering. All cities, colonies, and protectorates answered to Caesar. If wind of disturbances made it back to Rome, then some official’s head would be on the chopping block. Rome expected its magistrates to keep order and peace. Caesar could even punish cities. In fact, Ephesus had not always been the capital of the province of Asia. It was originally the city of Pergamum. However, Rome had made Ephesus the capital of Asia when it put its provincial headquarters there. Thus, the trade and economy of the city could be greatly harmed if they fell out of favor with Rome.
We are then told that the clerk dismisses the assembly. This is the word that is typically translated church, but clearly not in this case. This is no church gathered to worship the Lord. This is a mob that has gathered for confusion and disorder.
Our cities today are full of confusion in the home, in neighborhoods, cities, governance and business. Paul reminded the church in Ephesus that their battle was not with the Demetrius’ of the world. Ephesians 6:10-13 says, “Finally be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of [not Demetrius, but] the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [aka Alexander and the unbelieving Jews], but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”
God has called us for this time in this society. If we truly live for Christ, then we will tick off the enemy every bit as much as Paul and the Ephesian Christians did in their day. The real problem is not those other people. The scheme of the devil, and people working with him, is to pit us against one another. He gets a wedge between us and baits us into attacking one another. Gentiles and Jews, men and women, rich and poor, black and white, the list of ways to be divided is unending. These spirits are even now contemplating new ways to split us up further. God help us because our enemies are the spiritual powers that want us offended and playing the victim. They want us pointing to everyone else and saying that they are the problem. They want you doing anything but repenting of your own sin. In fact, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells us that we have a moral duty to deal with our own sin first, so that we can then properly help our brother or sister.
The people are not your enemy. In truth, they are POWs. It is free men who lay their life on the line who go and free POWs. Is it worth it to lose three people in saving one POW? Let’s look at it another way. How can three free guys enjoy their freedom when they know that there is even one POW in chains? They would rather die trying to save the POW, then enter into the slavery of pretending that POW doesn’t exist.
For Christians, to die is gain, so we should never let the threat of death hold us back from the Lord’s work. Christ has broken the threat of death forever for us.
When a person takes you to court, or publicly defames you before others, it hurts, but it is also a challenge from Jesus. Will you love this person for me? Will you attempt to set them free? Yes, they may chew it up and spit it back in your face, but that is the honor we have. We get to share in the honor of being persecuted for Christ. Sometimes the honor of delivering a POW happens. Some dare to believe in Jesus as Christ and are set free. May God help us to keep our eyes on the real battle!