The Acts of the Apostles 75

Subtitle: A Mob Restrained

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.

The confusion of the Ephesian mob (32-34)

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 city clerk restrains the mob (35-41)

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!

Mob Restrained audio

The Acts of the Apostles 74

Subtitle: A Riotous Crowd in Ephesus

Acts 19:21-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 4, 2024.

It almost seems to be par for the course that a mob would be stirred up against the Apostle Paul.  He had ministered in the city for around two years.  Yet, the impact that he and the believers has been making begins to stir up the pagans, those who worship the false gods.

Let’s look at our passage.

The Spirit leads Paul (21-22)

Paul is not a man who is focused upon his flesh, or doing whatever he wanted.  This is in contrast to how the average American lives their life.  Even as Christians, we can tend to treat God’s stuff as a list of things that we have attached to our lives.  As long as God is in the boat, we can drive as we please.

Yet, Paul had become a believer in Jesus by seeing his inability to righteously lead his life.  He was a man who had learned to pray about the Lord’s will and had come to a place of faith regarding the will of Jesus by the help of the Holy Spirit.  In short, we need to learn to capture the vision of what God desires to do through us for the Kingdom of Christ.  When we gain insight into God’s plan, we can reach a place where our will merges with God’s.  At least, our will becomes as harmonious with God’s will as is possible in our mortal flesh.

The book of Acts demonstrates that the early Church was led, empowered and helped by the Holy Spirit.  We are intended to continue that pattern through reading the word, praying and seeking His will.  We then commit ourselves to doing that will by faith.

We are called to die to the self-led life and to come alive to the Spirit-led life.  We should spend time in prayer asking this question.  “Jesus, what is the best use of my life?”  Along these lines, we have good counsel given to us from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:17-20.  In general, we don’t seek to leave commitments when we become a Christian, but rather seek to redeem them.  If I married someone for ungodly reasons before I became a Christian, I shouldn’t seek to make it right by leaving them once I am a believer.  Rather, I stay in the relationship, but now I operate out of a desire to be used by Christ to minister to the other person.  I am the same person in the same situation, but now it is Christ living through me by the Spirit of God.  At least, this is the vision put in front of us.

No matter what great things we may be trying to accomplish, if they are not surrendered to God’s will, we are going after empty things, vanity.

In verse 21, Luke gives us insight to the road ahead.  Others looking at Paul’s choices and actions may believe that Paul makes some mistakes and gets himself killed in the end.  However, Luke shows us that Paul was being led by the Spirit of Christ, even when it led him to his death.

Paul’s plan would be to go back through Macedonia (northern Greece, e.g., Phillipi, Thessalonica), down to Achaia (southern Greece, e.g., Corinth), then to Jerusalem, and after that, “I must also see Rome.”

God sometimes has a necessity to certain things in our life.  In fact, we may not like some of them.  Think about Jesus on the night he was betrayed.  He wrestles with the Father in prayer over the coming cross.  In his flesh, it is something to be avoided, but his spirit is yielded to the will of the Father.

Yet, even when God has things that we must go through, not all of them are actively caused by Him.  God did not cause Judas to do what he did.  Judas did these things of his own volition and inability to guard his heart.  Yet, God worked the sin of Judas into His plan and purpose for Jesus.  God’s grace is always supplied for us to do his purpose and plan.

In verse 21, it literally says that Paul “purposed in the spirit.”   Some translations take this to mean within his own spirit, and thus, they sometimes translate it without the word spirit.  To them, this is a statement about internal dedication to a plan of action alone.  However, it doesn’t say in “his” spirit.  I believe it is far more natural to understand Luke’s phrase to be pointing to Paul’s determination having its source in The Spirit [of God].   When Paul is later warned by the other prophets that he will be taken prisoner if he goes to Jerusalem, it will be clear that Paul’s insistence to keep going was not a lightly made decision of his own flesh.  It was one made in the Spirit, with the help of the Holy Spirit.  The “must” concerning Rome is not a “must” of Paul’s flesh, but of God’s will in his life.  However, it has also become Paul’s desire and act of faith.

We should remember Acts 9:15-16.  At Saul’s (Paul’s) salvation, Ananias gave him the message of God, that he would be a “chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.”  Most of us will not testify before anyone of such great stature.  But, which is more important, witnessing to kings or a peasant?  Both are extremely important to that individual and can change an eternity of experience.  The Lord also told Ananias that, “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”  I believe Paul’s prayer life had experienced such revelations from the Lord.  He knew what was ahead and the suffering involved.

It is not that God’s purpose is to make us suffer, per se.  Yet, nothing for God can be done in this fallen world without encountering it.  We encounter personal suffering when we deny our sinful flesh and follow the Spirit of God.  We also encounter suffering from people intent on serving self and from spiritual forces.  To live for God is a battle with self, the world, and the devil.  Yet, we should not fear this suffering.  We suffer for the Lord who suffered first for us.  This is our honor, but also bonds us deeper with the Lord as we grow to understood the love that compelled him to the cross.

With this plan to go to Macedonia in mind, Paul sends Timothy and Erastus ahead for several reasons.  They most likely carry correspondence from Paul to various churches, and would be able to see for themselves the response to such in each church.  Also, they would be giving the churches a heads up and enabling them to prepare for his coming.  We are told that he stayed in Asia “for a time,” after sending them.  I would gage this as a matter of months in light of the two years mentioned earlier.

A commotion occurs (23-31)

We saw earlier that friction in the synagogue had led to Paul and the believers in Jesus separating.  They met in the Hall of Tyrannus.  Whenever a mob occurs, there is a trigger event, whether it justifies a mob or not.  We have seen uprising against Paul before, and they pretty much led to his leaving town every time.  In Thessalonica, it was a mob instigated by Jews who would not believe in Jesus as Messiah.  However, it will be by Gentile pagans here in Ephesus.  Paul’s ministry and the growth of the church was noticeably impacting the religious economy of Ephesus.

Ephesus was famous for its temple to Artemis (the Latin form is Diana), but more on that later.

We are told that the commotion is “about The Way.”  Luke uses this term for the early Church again.  He will use it a total of eight times in the book, of which this is the fourth.  Saul of Tarsus had been a man arresting people of “The Way” in Acts 9:2.  In this case, Paul is part of The Way [of the Lord] and others are seeking to arrest him.

This commotion is stirred up by a silversmith in Ephesus named Demetrius.  It says that he was a maker of “shrines.”  These silver images were typically of a particular Greek god, but sometimes depicted a scene from their mythology.  They could be used within public shrines, but rich people would also buy them for personal shrines.  The fame of Ephesus for its Temple to Artemis would also make a shrine created in Ephesus more valuable and costly.  Demetrius makes his living crafting these shrine objects for rich people.

When we make our money out of something, even when it is a religious thing, we are easily led into sin.  Even Christians can do God’s things in a way that reflects anything but the image of God, and the Lord who bought them with his blood.  This would only be compounded in a person who serves a false god.

Demetrius gathers the silversmiths of the city and makes a speech.  Even if he didn’t intend to create a mob, the mob quickly takes over, and Demetrius is no longer in control.  He was the “releasing of water.”  He only began the strife, but the building up of pressure would grow to become greater than the initial action.  What is his message?

First, he reminds the group that they make their money through the trade of these images.  Second, he points to the fact that Paul has been persuading people to turn from these shrines.  This leads to the conclusion.  If Paul continues, our trade (aka financial interests) will be in danger, AND, the great temple of Artemis will be despised and its magnificence destroyed.

Notice how Demetrius shrewdly connects their personal, financial interests to the great glory of Ephesus and the temple of Artemis.  Essentially, he depicts the glory of Ephesus as being in danger, so any true Ephesian would refuse to allow this.  Ephesus had been famous for its temple to Artemis for over 500 years at this point.  Who wants to be the generation that jeopardizes that?

We should recognize that this same persuasive argument can be made by politicians.  We can have our financial interests conflated with the glory of the United States of America.  We can be told that our sons need to go over seas and die on a foreign field or America will diminish.  In truth, it generally is about the lower motive of profit, and not for the average citizen.

At this point, we have some descriptions of the crowd by Luke.  In verse 28, he uses the phrases, “full of wrath” and “cried out.”  In verse 29, he uses the phrases, “rushed into the theater” and “having seized” Paul’s companions.

This mob action is very different from a peaceful protest.  There is no sense of control and order.  However, even a peaceful protest can be easily pushed into a mob by actors of ill-intent who know how to manipulate crowds.  Our Republic was founded upon the idea that people need to be able to lodge protest against improper governance.  Typically, this is done through the courts, but not always.  Large groups of people can get the attention of governors far quicker than a single lawsuit.  This feedback mechanisms, if done appropriately, can serve to help redress grievances.  Yet, Christians should be wise in such plans and participation.  We need to be led by the Holy Spirit and not by a worldly person (Christian or otherwise) who uses persuasive arguments to bring about our joining them.  There are many manipulators who love to see a crowd because they are already set up to twist the narrative in a direction that works for them.

Paul finds out what is going on, and he wants to address the raging mob.  However, the believers in the city and some of the officials of the province of Asia talked him out of it.  Ephesus was the seat of the provincial rule of Asia.

Was this a lack of faith on the part of these believers?  Can’t God protect and use the Apostle Paul speaking to a mob in Ephesus and calming it?  Yes, God can do anything.  However, I believe that Paul would have done so if he really felt the Holy Spirit was urging him to do it.  Between the counsel of these two groups, and Paul’s  understanding that God wasn’t necessarily telling him to do it, the decision that Paul will not address the crowd.  Even though Paul is a man led by the Spirit, that doesn’t mean every thought that pops into his head is from the Holy Spirit.   Paul sees the greater wisdom of restraint.

If you enter such situations with the thinking that you need to prove that God is with you, then you may make foolish choices hoping He will back you up.  It is a better policy to pray about every endeavor and do that which God clearly leads you to do.

The Lord Jesus had been raising up a church in Ephesus over the last several  years, but we see here that the spiritual enemies of Jesus didn’t like it.  Whether it is the spirit of Artemis or not, Demetrius is also a man being stirred up by spirits that don’t like what Paul is doing.  Demetrius is not the main problem.  Perhaps, Paul could see himself, before he was saved, in these raging men.  We can be too easily offended by what people do, and lose sight that the real problem is the devil and his angels who are able to use people as tools. 

Yes, the devil uses people.  However, God is also looking for some people who will trust Him and fight the greater battle against the spiritual forces that hold our enemies captives.  May God help us to find and help to deliver those who can be saved from the kingdom of darkness.

Riotous Crowd audio

The Acts of the Apostles 67

Subtitle: The Unknown God

Acts 17:16-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on June 2, 2024.

Today, our problem is not that God is unknown, but that we have not taken time to know the God who is now known.  However, in first-century Athens, the One True God was all but known to them.

Athens was full of idolatry, temples and shrines.  We are not sure who made the first idols, but we do know that false gods were part of the Tower of Babel.  The people of the earth were rebelling against the instructions of God to Noah and his sons.  They built a city and a tower called Babel, which means “gate of god” or “a god gate.”  Since they are in rebellion to the One True God’s instructions, we know they are attempting to connect with fallen “gods,” which are not really gods.

They end up being judged by Yahweh and scattered through the confusing of their languages.  He also casts them off and gives them over to those spiritual beings that they were seeking.  He then turns to Abram and proceeds to make a new nation for Himself.

Being cast off is a theme within the Old Testament.  Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden eastward.  Cain was later cast out even further east.  This is most likely the reason for the orientation of the Temple of God.  It has him seated in the temple looking to the East awaiting the return of His wayward children.  Of course, the Holy Spirit is out there working on the hearts and minds of the lost to bring them back.

It is in this environment that the nations develop false religions that involve idols and sacrifices to spiritual beings that are actually demons, and or, fallen spiritual beings.  Most likely, these are the result of the “doctrine of demons” talked about in Scripture.  False religion and idolatry is not truly religion.  It is actually a permission system that allows spiritual beings to manipulate and control the individual.  If enough people follow these systems, then they can manipulate whole cities, nations, even a whole world.  Remember this.  When Jesus came, it wasn’t just the Gentiles who were completely manipulated by these fallen spiritual beings.  Even Israel had been corrupted and harnessed to do the work of these beings.  Yet, these spiritual beings are merely creations of God who are in rebellion to Him.

Let’s look at our passage.

The Gospel comes to Athens (v. 16-21)

Paul had left Silas and Timothy in Berea and sailed 300 miles south to Athens.  It appears that he planned to wait for them.

Athens was home to the Acropolis, a raised area within Athens that had the Parthenon, a large temple to the false goddess Athena (for which the city is named).  To the northwest was a smaller, rocky hill that was called the Areopagus (Greek for Mar’s Hill).  The Areopagus was an open-air forum for the philosophers of Athens.  They would gather there to present new idea and to debate.

While Paul is waiting for Silas and Timothy, he notices the heavy idolatry and false religion that it has.  Of course, this is no surprise for a city named after a false goddess.  Yet, let’s recognize that Paul preferred to minister with other people, rather than doing so alone.  We could imagine the help of the gifts of the Holy Spirit through others.  We could also imagine the encouragement in ministry when one labors with other believers.  Still, Paul’s default is to minister in groups, as opposed to going solo.

We are told that the city was “given over to idols.”  The words give the picture of being covered in idols, or inundated with idols.  They were everywhere he looked.  There were not only temples to the various gods that were recognized by the Greeks, but there were also shrines to these gods throughout the city to enable convenience in worshiping these false gods.

We are told that Paul was “provoked” by this heavy idolatry.  He is not provoked to anger.  Perhaps, if he saw such in Jerusalem, there would be cause for righteous anger.  This is a provocation to action that would be similar to waiting for the EMTs to arrive while noticing that the wounded person is bleeding out in front of you.  You would be provoked to action.

Such spiritual provocation is an evidence of the Holy Spirit within us.  These people have been lost for centuries, even millennia.  They are in dire straits and desperately need the good news about Jesus the Christ.

Have we become so anesthetized to the sin of the world around us that it no longer provokes us to action?  Is it not a big deal to the Church anymore?  We should desire and pray for the Holy Spirit to provoke within us a heart for those who are lost.  We need to have enough of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit within us that we cannot help but be provoked to evangelism.

Thus, Paul begins preaching Jesus.  It wasn’t the ideal situation, but something had to be done.  He was alone as a human being, but the Lord Jesus was with him through the Holy Spirit.  Paul first goes to the synagogue and reasons with the Jews and the Gentile God-fearers that were there.  However, he was also going into the marketplace each day and reasoning with the people there.

I love the phrase in verse 17, “those who happened to be there.”  Have you ever just happened to be somewhere, whether for good or for bad?  Perhaps, it was just the normal day that they went to the market, or perhaps, something had happened to change the day, delay the time, etc.  Regardless, some people “just happened” to meet a man named Paul in the marketplace, and he struck up a conversation with them.  Such coincidental meetings are not by accident.  The intersection of a Spirit-filled believer’s life with the lost is never by chance.  God works through such “chance” meetings.  We need to be quick at recognizing this.

At this point, several philosophers run into Paul.  Philosophers love to talk, to hear themselves talk, and to hear new ideas.  Luke mentions two different philosophical schools that he interacted with: the Epicureans and the Stoics. 

The Epicureans were materialists who saw happiness as the highest goal in life.  Though this meant they were into the pleasures of the flesh, they also recognized that such pursuits in excess always led to diminished happiness.  Thus, they promoted a moderated pursuit of pleasures that involved self-restraint.

The Stoics are best known for their great control under pressure.  Someone could be screaming and spitting in their face, and yet, they would remain calm, cool and collected.  They valued self-control, wisdom, justice, and courage.

Luke mentions two different responses to Paul by these philosophers.  Some said, “What is this babbler trying to say?”  This is a negative response.  “Babbler” was a term that referred to a small bird that would flit around the marketplace grabbing seed and food from whatever happened to fall on the ground.  When used of a person like Paul, it pictured him as a guy who traveled around and had gathered a large amount of curious ideas from other places.  He is not an original thinker, or the adept of a particular philosophical school.  He is just like that little bird picking up whatever has happened to fall in front of him.  They are clearly dismissively putting him down.

The second response is just on the positive side of zero.  They believed him to be proclaiming some foreign gods.  Thus, they wanted to hear more of what Paul was talking about.  A marketplace is not conducive to learning about new things, so they invite Paul to the place in town where such ideas could be heard and debated, the Areopagus.

However, notice that verse 18 ends with this, “because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.”  Paul did not change his message because he was in Athens.  He doesn’t water-down the message to make it more appealing to them.  He was telling them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

We must never lose sight that all people need to hear about Jesus.  We can debate with people on the demerits of idolatry and false religions, but more than this, they need to hear about Jesus and what he has done for them.  No matter what culture the person you address comes from, the Gospel of Jesus has a way of cutting through to the heart of them all.  The life, death and resurrection of Jesus hits home on the great questions of life that all cultures can understand, even though the noise of that culture can make it hard to hear the truth.

Paul preaches at the Areopagus (v. 19-23)

We won’t get into the meat of Paul’s sermon today.  I will leave that for next week.  However, let’s recognize that God gives Paul the opportunity to address some of the most important thinkers of Athenian society, and Paul doesn’t hold back.

If you are worried about what gives you the authority to stand up within foreign cultures and call them to believe on Jesus, then understand this.  We are authorized by Jesus who has been given all authority over the heavens and the earth.  We don’t force people as individuals, nor do we seek to use the power of government to force the masses to conversion.  No amount of force upon the flesh can change the heart of a person.  Christians are not to operate in the power of the flesh, but rather, to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul first points out their high degree of religiosity.  Cities like Athens would have temples for each of the main gods of their pantheon, along with multiple shrines throughout the city for convenience.  This would be multiplied greatly in the cities that had a long history of rich commerce, and military stability.  Paul is not really complimenting them, but they most likely took it that way, at least at first.

Instead, Paul is trying to connect with their mindset.  He had been doing some reconnaissance while waiting for Silas and Timothy.  He noticed that they were so religious that they even had an altar with the inscription, “To the Unknown God.”  Apparently, six to seven hundred years earlier, a plague had come upon the city.  The elders were perplexed at what to do.  A man named Epimenides counseled them to release a flock of sheep.  Wherever the sheep would stop, they would then be sacrificed at the nearest temple or shrine.  Of course, some of these sheep did not stop within town and went into the country.  These were then sacrificed to “the unknown god,” in the hopes that it would be accepted as a humble entreaty.  The plague came to an end, and sacrificing to “the unknown god” became a part of Athenian culture.

Paul uses this to gain a better hearing from them.  They clearly do not know about Yahweh.  Yahweh is not just the God of Israel.  He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and everything that is within them.  He tells them that he plans to reveal who this God is that they have been ignorantly trying to worship.  Sometimes, it is better to find a place of common ground that can serve as a vehicle for gaining a hearing and delivering the truth.  We should not “find common ground” in order to dilute the Gospel.  This is not what Paul is doing.

In the end, no one can come to faith in Jesus, but by the help of the Holy Spirit.  Thus, a brute-force attack on people and their ideas is generally not effective.  It just riles up their flesh, which is already hostile to the things of the Spirit of God.  Paul is led by his love for Jesus, and the love that Jesus has for these Greeks.

There were good reasons why these Athenians didn’t know the One True God.  Their ancient fore-fathers had rebelled against Him at the Tower of Babel.  Even following their judgment, they refused to repent and wait for God’s salvation.  Rather, they cast off restraint and were led by demons into false religion and idolatry.  Later generations would be born into darkness without any true idea about how these religions had come about in the first place.  The truth of these false religions is that they are permission systems that enable spiritual beings to manipulate whole societies.

Notice verse 21.  “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”  We are not much different today.  Our culture is always seeking something new.  With the rise of the internet, we are able to drop into the modern equivalents of the Areopagus and hear all the latest and greatest trinkets from around the world.  In truth, we can become the babblers that the philosophers accused Paul of being.  We have become a people trapped in our sins and trapped within philosophies that do not give us the truth, but rather, give us a lie.

Instead of being a person trapped in bondage to sin and to philosophies, Jesus calls us to be a free person used by the Holy Spirit to set such slaves free.  May God strengthen our hearts to rise up courageously in this generation to share the Good News about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and what it means for our future!

Unknown God audio

The Flesh Profits Nothing

Mark 11:7-26.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 25, 2018.

Today we remember the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem the week before he was crucified.  In some ways it looks like a victorious thing we should be excited about, yet in other ways, it represents a clear defeat of mankind’s ability to follow God in truth.  Yes, many people publicly embraced Jesus as the Messiah that day.  But over the course of the following days they were unable to follow the Spirit of God because they were operating according to the desires of their flesh, rather than the desires of the Spirit of God.  Of course, God knew this was the case and therefore had worked it into His plan to use the fleshly desires of mankind (and even fallen cherubim) in accomplishing His plan.  This doesn’t make these things good or acceptable.  The crucifixion of Jesus still stands as the most reprehensible action of mankind and the devil and his angels.  There is no absolving ourselves by claiming it was the will of God because those who participated in the crucifixion of Jesus did so in answer to their flesh, not the Spirit of God.

Jesus made it clear that he was doing a spiritual work that was directed by the Spirit of God.  He said in John 6:63,

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”  

I want to highlight this concept.  Following the flesh will not benefit you in any way.  It is only in hearing and following the Spirit that we can benefit.  I do not say this to exclude physical things.  We can grow up, marry, raise children and work as a person who follows the Spirit of God, rather than one who follows the desires of their flesh.

On this amazing day, Jesus finally quits beating around the bush (from the perspective of the average person in Israel) and presents himself as God’s Anointed One, the King of Israel.  However, we must take note that Jesus does not present himself in a way that would satisfy the flesh of those who were celebrating that day.

The same is true today.  We declare that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords to the people of this nation and world.  However, we must follow the Spirit of God and not the desires of our flesh (i.e. be born again) if we are to enter the Kingdom of God.

He appears to do nothing.

We are picking up the story mid-stream.  Each day more and more people are swelling the population of Jerusalem, and the surrounding area, in preparation for the coming Feast of Passover.  On top of this is the growing anticipation of this man Jesus.  Will he show up?  Is this the year Messiah appears and delivers us from the Romans?  When Jesus comes down the Mt. of Olives, opposite the temple, riding on the back of a donkey, it was an unmistakable signal to the people that Jesus was presenting Himself as their king.  The prophecies of Zechariah spoke about the Messiah and His work.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.  I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off.  He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, and from The River to the ends of the earth.’ “  Zechariah 9:9-10.

Yes the stories of all that Jesus did around the country had stirred up an anticipation that he would step into the role of Israel’s messianic king.  He has avoided this up to this point.  But, now he clearly accepts the role that the prophets had declared and publicly offers himself to Israel.

Yet, what we will see in the following events, both that day and in the days to follow, is that there is an anticlimactic feel.  This is the high point, but everything continues to unravel over the next days and culminates with the crowds crying, “Crucify him,” and then the death of Jesus on the cross.  Mark seems to highlight this anticlimactic feel.  Everything builds up in the story.  Jesus enters Jerusalem and goes directly to the temple.  He then looks around at everything (with everyone watching him with bated breath).  Yet, Jesus simply leaves, “as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.”  Why the grand entrance into Jerusalem, fulfilling prophecy, only to look around and leave?  Why did he come so late in the day?

This should be a clue to us that Jesus is doing something more than offering himself to Israel as the Messiah.  This timing issue ought to catch our attention.  Is it not true that God often seems to come “too late” for our tastes?  Are not we tempted to just give up and walk away because He appears to do nothing?  Yet, when we think God is doing nothing, we are wrong.  We have to learn to see with the eyes of the Spirit, rather than the eyes of our flesh.  We need the eyes of faith in God rather than faith in the flesh and what we see.  God is always working by His Spirit.  If He comes late in the day, it is because that is precisely the best time to come for the things of the Spirit, but not for the desires of our flesh.

Mark emphasizes that Jesus looked around at everything.  In light of the fact that he will come back the next day and “clean house,” we must see this as a kind of inspection.  Rather than doing nothing, Jesus is inspecting the temple that belongs to Him, the temple that he had commanded Israel to build along with the instructions of what to do there.  Were they focused on the purposes and plan of God in what they did there?  The irony of the situation is that as they are being inspected by The Lord of Glory, they presume to be “inspecting him.”  Be careful that you are not so critical of Jesus and the Christians who follow him that you miss the fact that you too are being inspected by God.  If He uses the same criteria of fleshly judgment against you that you use against him, will you survive? 

Jesus leaves exactly when you would expect something big to happen.  Our flesh does not like that sort of thing.  If we don’t get the “bang for our buck” then we feel like we are cheated.  God will never allow us to turn Him into our personal “God machine.”  You know; where you put in a certain amount of effort or money and get what you ordered by 3 PM the next day (or with Amazon Air within 30 minutes).  Not only does our flesh profit nothing, it cannot recognize a spiritual profit when it is staring it in the face.  We must recognize this critical point about ourselves as humans.  We have to learn to recognize that God often operates in a way that is a rebuke to our flesh, and simultaneously a call of the Spirit to follow Him.

He rejects the empty, religious practices of the day.

Now look at verses 12-19.  I ask you to put the verses about the fig tree on hold so that we can deal with them later.  However, after spending the night in a neighboring village called Bethany, Jesus and his disciples come back to Jerusalem and go to the temple the next day.  When Jesus gets there, he tosses the money changers out, and forces those selling sheep and doves to get everything out of the temple grounds.  Why does Jesus do this?  He is confronting the empty, religious practices of his day.

The temple had turned into a convenience store for religious people.  They could come from anywhere in the world, purchase a sacrifice in the temple, and not have to bother themselves with any of that nasty work of touching them (except for a ceremonial touch).  The problem was not that they purchased the sheep.  This was acceptable.  But that this was being done in a place that was not meant to be a commercial place that focused on the comfort of the “worshipper.”  This conflation of the sacred and the common (commerce is not evil, but neither does it have place in the sacred), has forever been a bane to humanity.  Today, we can be in jeopardy of turning churches into a means of making money off of those who are in our niche market, all by satisfying the desires of the religious people who gather, which are superficially spiritual desires, but at their depths are only fleshly desires dressed up as spiritual desires).  It becomes a type of “spiritual transaction” in which those in the pew pay in order to have their conscience assuaged.  This is a dangerous undermining of the true purpose of the place of worship.

The true purpose of the temple was to be a place where people could approach God in order to deal with their sin, but also, to fellowship with Him.  It was a place to celebrate His appointed feasts and to rejoice in His kingship over them.  The flesh turns religion into a marketplace of hyperactivity that loses sight of what the Spirit of God is trying to accomplish.  The flesh is hostile to the purposes of God and will always choose one of two paths: active rejection or passive repurposing.  Jesus is reminding them that the true purpose of the temple was to be a place of prayer (i.e. interaction between people and God) for all nations.

He does not confront the Romans.

We won’t spend a lot of time on this.  But, it is worth noting that Jesus did not even lift a finger towards removing this occupying force.  He did not raise an army, or connect with the zealots of the day in order to raise up a rebellion.  There was no great battle of Messiah vs. the Romans that week.  This was an added consternation to those whose flesh badly wanted free of the Romans, but not necessarily their sins.

The lesson of The Withered Fig Tree

Verses 20-26 bring us back to the fig tree that was mentioned earlier.  It is important to recognize that these two interactions with this fig tree are like bookends to the actions of Jesus in the temple.  So what about this?

When Jesus and his disciples were traveling into Jerusalem, Jesus saw a fig tree in the distance that had leaves on it.  It was common for travelers to eat from food that was found along the road.  As long as it wasn’t in an enclosure, it was considered common fare.  The fig tree is different from some fruit trees in that it will fruit first and then grow leaves.  Thus the leaves on this tree give the appearance that there is fruit to be had.  It represents something that promises fruit from a distance.  It is clear that this interaction with the fig tree is intended to be a parable for something.  So we must dig deeper to discern the spiritual truth that Jesus is trying to teach his disciples and us.  As I said earlier, it is obvious that Mark understood the events of the fig tree to be connected to the cleansing of the temple.

The fig tree that promises fruit from afar has none upon closer inspection.  Jesus draws near, but finds no dates on the fig tree.  The inspection of the fig tree is parallel to the inspection of the temple that Jesus had done the night before.  The shouting crowds surrounding Jerusalem and the temple activity all gave the appearance of a people who were obedient to the Lord and were righteously awaiting his coming.  Like the fig tree, it would appear that Israel was faithfully serving the Lord and waiting for His deliverance, but it was superficial.  In truth, most of their hearts were following fleshly desires.  Only a remnant of the people would follow the Spirit of God over the course of the next 40 years.  And, only a remnant would escape the destruction that was coming upon this fig tree that God had planted in the land.

Now we can focus on the fact that it wasn’t prime fig season, yet.  However, this plant put forth the outward appearances that it was fruitful, when all the other fig trees were not.  This signifies all who are easily drawn into religion by their flesh.  We can fall into the trap of thinking that we are fruitful because we gather at a particular place, at a particular time, and do a particular set of rituals.  But the real thing that prepares us for God comes from listening to the Holy Spirit and following Him.  There were some who had fruit in those days, just as there are some who have fruit today.  But, God is not looking for an outward show that has lost the true inner purpose of His Spirit.  If you lack the fruit of the Spirit of God then humble yourself and cry out to Him for His presence and salvation in your life.  But under no circumstances should you pretend that you are okay with God, when you are not.  Those who do so have nothing to expect from God, but a curse and His judgment that they are unacceptable.  Jesus does not curse the fig tree because his flesh is angered that it won’t get food.  He does so to teach us a spiritual lesson that the outward show of religion that lacks the fruit of the Spirit of God is ripe for judgment from God.

It is easy to think that Jesus simply takes time to teach on prayer all of the sudden.  But, his comments about prayer are directly tied to the fig tree.  We need to understand the role of faith in our spiritual life as a follower of God.  That which is by faith will live, but that which is by the flesh will die and benefit us nothing.  The flesh tells us that the path of faith won’t work, but the Spirit faithfully calls us to pick up our cross and follow Jesus.  When we cling to our sins over the top of the call of the Holy Spirit, our flesh becomes blind and calloused to what the Spirit of God is saying.  The Pharisees could only see that Jesus was trespassing upon their authority.  Who did He think He was?  They were so offended in the flesh that they could not hear the Spirit saying, “Israel, behold your king!”  In truth it was the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were the true trespassers.  Their right to represent God before the people was only authoritative as long as they actually represented Him, and not the desires of their flesh.  We must learn to let go of what others have done to us, and follow the Spirit of God, rather than the spirit of fear and offense.  Only then can we escape becoming a fig tree that offers false hope to God and ends up withered and dead.

Flesh Profits Nothing audio