The Acts of the Apostles 76

Subtitle: Resurrection at Troas

Acts 20:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 18, 2024.

Following the riotous mob in Ephesus, lead by Demetrius the silversmith, Paul then journeys to Macedonia (northern Greece). 

If it takes a mob to do what you want to do, then it is probably not the right thing, and it is definitely not the right way to go about it. 

Yet, Paul had already purposed in the Spirit to leave Ephesus, travel to Greece and then travel to Jerusalem.  Everything from this point on has the sense that Paul may not see these people again.  It isn’t known for sure by him, but it is his working premise.  What he knows for sure is that persecutions and tribulations await him in Jerusalem.

Let’s look at our passage.

Paul ministers in Greece (v. 1-6)

As Luke has already told us in the previous chapter, Paul follows Timothy and Erastus, whom he had sent ahead in Acts 19:22.  This previous preparation, along with verse one of this chapter, shows us that Paul was not fleeing Ephesus.  Rather, he takes the time to gather with the disciples there and say goodbye.

Nothing is said of Paul’s journey through Asia and the ship ride from Troas to Philippi in Macedonia, but this would have happened.  Similarly, we are not told how Paul reconnects with Timothy and Erastus, or who left with him from Ephesus.

Verse two mentions that he goes to Greece after “he had gone over that region.”  Of course, we tend to think of Macedonia as Greece, but this is due to the conquering of Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great.  We should not see this as a mistake, but as the language of someone who knows how the people of southern Greece viewed themselves in relation to the area of Macedonia.

By the way, some believe that this is probably the best time for Paul to have preached in Illyricum, which is only mentioned in Romans 15:19.  This is what we would call Albania today.

So, Paul connects with churches in that area and then travels south into Achaia.  Luke does not mention any particular city, but the mention of sailing to Syria from there was most likely a reference to Corinth.  We also know that Paul had written 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, which said that he was working to come to them.  Paul ends up staying for three months.

As Paul plans to sail to Syria (most likely Antioch), a plot against him is discovered.  It is believed that the plan may have involved attacking Paul while on the ship because it would be impossible for him to get away. 

Of course, this doesn’t happen, but the root of these disturbances are not the people involved.  The root is found in those evil spirits in league with the devil.  Synagogue leaders and silversmiths are not Paul’s enemies.  They are simply captive to the devil’s schemes and manipulated by him.  We need to understand this about our own land.  You can look at politicians, political parties and individuals, and see that they are leading against the ways of Jesus Christ.  This does make them an enemy to the Gospel.  Yet, Christ doesn’t tell us to fight against these people.  We are to fight against the spiritual enemies (Ephesians 6) that are in the heavenlies.  They are the ones that manipulate these people to operate against Christ.  We are called to interpose ourselves between the manipulated person and the enemy of their soul. We work for the purposes of Christ, which is to set them free from the devil’s lies.

Having discovered the plot, Paul changes his plan.  He does not sail from their to Syria, but rather, he goes back through Macedonia, believing that he will run into less resistance there.

Luke lists seven companions of Paul on this part of the journey.  Sopater of Berea (some manuscripts add that he is the son of Pyrrhus), Aristarchus and Secundus (this is a common slave name) of Thessalonica, Gaius of Derbe, Timothy (whom we know to be from Lystra, which is near Derbe), and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.  These last two could  be from Ephesus, but they also may be from one of the seven churches of Revelation.  I would also point out that the pronoun “we” crops up again in verse 5.  Luke also has joined the group, although he does not name himself.  This gives eight guys, nine counting Paul who traveled together.  Paul then sends most of the men ahead to wait for them at Troas.

This large group of men may have been traveling with Paul due to funds he was carrying for Jerusalem.  In his letters, Paul asked the churches to have money ready for him to pick up when he came through in order to bless the hurting churches of Judea.  Their numbers would dissuade any highwaymen from trying to assail them.  We should also notice the variety of places they are from.  They also would serve as witnesses that the money was not pilfered, but indeed, made it to Jerusalem.

Regardless, Paul’s plans are changed.  It can sometimes feel like someone or something has messed up our plans, or even our lives.  I really do believe that God uses these situations to direct us.  Those who are seeking the leading of God’s Spirit do not need to fear these type of events.  It may change your plans, but God helps us and will be with us. 

Of course, sometimes God Himself changes our plans.  He may speak to us in prayer, or through another Godly person.  In this case, we have wicked people intent on doing evil.  Of course, God isn’t inspiring them to do this.  Yet, the Christian is never at the mercy of other people, or even the spiritual powers of wickedness.  What they intend for evil, God works to the good for us.  Like the story of Joseph, his brothers were brought to a place of repentance.  They had intended evil, but God worked it to the good of Joseph, and of them.  He brought them to a place of repentance over their evil deeds.  You can trust God!

It is here that Luke explains that they leave Philippi after the feast of Unleavened Bread (immediately follows Passover).  This means it is spring and would place the previous three months in Corinth during the winter months.  Sailors avoided traveling in winter months.  Paul decides to remain at Troas for 7 days.

Paul ministers in Troas (v. 7-12)

Having reunited with their group in Troas, they fellowship with the church there.  Verse 7 explains that the day before Paul left was the “first day of the week.”  This is the first clear mention that Christians gathered on the first day of the week, Sunday.  “To break bread” was a reference to eating a fellowship meal together, and was often connected to also celebrating communion, or the Lord’s Supper.  They gathered to eat together and then Paul preached to them.

There are several other places in the New Testament that allude to Christians gathering on the first day of the week, Sunday.  In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul tells them this. “On the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.”  It is clear that they are giving the offering when the group is gathered.  Though it is not said that they do anything else, it is implicit that they typically gathered on that day.

There are some who try to make a big deal about what day you worship on, similar to what foods you eat.  Colossians 2:16-17 tells us, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”  It appears that Christians are free to worship on any day, even many days.  The day of rest (the sabbath was sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) is a shadow or lesser image of Jesus Christ).  We now dwell in the realities of what these things pointed to.

We are told that Paul preaches to midnight.  This is another one of those clues that gives us the sense that Paul knows he may not be coming back.  In fact, he isn’t stopping at midnight.  We typically take our church gatherings for granted.  However, when it may be your last one with these people, such a meeting would take on great significance.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow.  Thus, we should not take our gatherings lightly.  God teach us to love one another with all of our hearts.

Verses 7-8 set up a classic situation.  The description of a young man would place him between 20 and 40 years old.  I would lean to the younger side of this range.  Luke gives us several factors in a row that lead up to the young man falling out of a window.  First, Paul has preached up to midnight and does not seem to be stopping.  Second, there were “many lamps” in the upper room where they were gathered.  I would assume that these are oil lamps.  It would make the room warmer and mixed with exhaust.  They are on the third floor with a sleepy, young man sitting in a window.  It is at this point that Eutychus falls out the third-story window to the ground below.  Paul’s words may seem to contradict the next statement, but we should not ignore Luke’s  statement, “he was taken up [picked up] dead.”

This interrupts the service.  Of course, in any gathering of God’s people, there may be an series of things that we want to do together, such as: eating, worshipping and hearing the Word of God preached.  However, our ultimate purpose is to glorify Jesus and encourage one anther in the faith.

We are told that Paul rushes down and falls upon the young man.  I don’t believe this means he tripped and fell upon the lad.  This is reminiscent of 1 Kings 17, where Elijah lays on the dead boy, praying for God to bring him back to life.

Paul’s statement that the boy is not dead, i.e., “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him,” can be seen a contradiction to the earlier statement of death.  However,  it is even more likely that it is Paul’s statement after he knew that God had heard him and touched the young man.  Regardless, faith and the will of God are both involved here.  Paul has been preaching about the resurrection of Jesus, no doubt.  Here is fresh proof of God’s power over life.  This would powerfully impact the group.  Essentially Paul is saying that everything will be alright.  In fact, Paul goes back to preaching.

They return to the upper room, where Paul preaches until morning.  It then mentions that the young man was brought in alive.  This makes the most sense if the young man was still unconscious and being looked over since Paul’s prayers.  To say his life is in him does not mean that he was dancing in the street.  In fact, he may have still been unconscious.  By morning, however, he is well enough to come join the group.  What a demonstration of God’s miraculous grace to this young man.  This is a true resurrection.

When we think about the resurrection, we can think of it as only a future promise that seems disconnected from our present.  However, the message of the resurrection speaks to our present.  It shows us that we don’t have to fear threats in the present, whether they physically threaten our life or metaphorically threaten it. 

In 1 Corinthians 15:32, Paul talked about fighting with wild beast in Ephesus.  I don’t think he is talking about literal beasts.  The mob and Demetrius were as offspring of the beast empire that Rome represented.  Of course, Paul did not fight with them in the natural.  Rather, he fought the intimidating spiritual powers through the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.

We don’t have to fear these spiritual power, or the natural powers.  Everything about the cross and death says that we have lost; it didn’t work; God doesn’t love you or care about you; He is not keeping His promise.  It says all those things that the devil tempts us to believe, at least that is what our flesh hears.  Yet, three days later, when Jesus is resurrected, we see that we shouldn’t listen to the enemy in our hearts and mind.  We must not look at the things of this world and extrapolate from what we see a conclusion about God’s care for us.

The resistance and difficulty that we experience in this world, even from our own flesh, says nothing about God’s love for us.  God is greater than everything that we may face.  We don’t deny the reality of those difficulties, but instead, we recognize the greater reality of God’s power over them.  May God help us to walk in faith, our eyes upon Him and not upon what we see down here!

Resurrection at Troas

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 73

Subtitle: The Power of God through Paul

Acts 19:11-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 28, 2024.

The spread of the Gospel was accompanied by healings, exorcisms and works of power.  Today, we will look at some more examples of some of the things that God was doing in Ephesus through the Apostle Paul.

The ministry of the apostles was a clash of the Kingdom of Christ with the kingdom of antichrist, the spirit of this world.  Yet, this cosmic battle is worked out in the lives of individuals.

Let’s look at our passage.

Unusual miracles occurred (11-12)

The idea of an unusual miracle is probably itself unusual.  The Greek literally says “no common works of power [miracles].”  So what does that mean?

It can be seen in relation to other believers, even other Christian ministers.  The things that God was doing through Paul were more astonishing than was normally happening among Christians.  There may be some truth to this.  However, we have already seen in Acts 5:15 that unusual miracles (healings) were happening through the Apostle Peter.  Of course, Jesus also had unusual works of power: a woman is healed by touching the hem of his garment, he walks on water, resurrections, and calming the storm in Galilee.  So maybe something different is meant here.

In the context of the passage, there is a contrast between what God was doing through Paul and the ineffective work of the itinerant Jewish exorcists (note that this could describe Paul, with the difference being Jesus in his life).  These Jewish exorcists had some level of success in what they did, but it was nothing compared to how God worked through Paul.  Like Moses being resisted by Jannes and Jambres in Egypt, they were trying to “compete” with Paul, but weren’t even close.

I think that Luke intends a mixture of both these concepts.  Definitely, he has shown that the power of God through the Church (especially the apostles) eclipsed many who were practicing sorcery in the areas they went (see Simon of Samaria in Acts 8:9 and Bar-Jesus of Cyprus in Acts 13:7).  The Jews here are not presented as practicing sorcery, by the way.  Yet, the apostles clearly displayed greater works of power than the average Christian of their day.

The Bible doesn’t teach us, “If Peter can do a miracle, then you can too.”  Rather, it emphasizes that God has giftings that He distributes in His wisdom.  Yes, theoretically, there is no limitation in what God can do through a believer in Christ because He can choose to do anything.  However, God has a specific calling for each of our lives with a distribution of His Spirit to assist in it. 

We should not let ourselves worry about the level of power God is displaying in our lives.  Instead, we should focus on being faithful to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  As we do that, we may even see God work through us in an increasingly powerful way.

Just like the tests that kids take in high school to determine their aptitude for certain professions, we can try to reduce the spiritual gifts of God to such a test.  I think that we should be very careful with such spiritual gifting tests.  No test can tell you what God is planning to do through you down the road.  Life has a way of taking you on a journey.  God’s gifts grow in our lives.  It is a relationship in which we are following Jesus and learning from him.  He may even bring forth new gifts in our lives at later times.

God does tend to use certain people in certain ways.  Yet, there are also scopes of the same giftings.  A person may have a gift of teaching within a local assembly, and another person may have a teaching ministry that has a world-wide scope. 

I don’t think we should think of these as lesser and greater scopes.  Our egos can’t handle such language, and it falls short of the truth.  It may be better to think of it as a wider or narrower scope (sphere of influence).  For those who lust for “greater” things, it is easy to miss the point that the greatest things we do is in those micro-spheres.  Our relationships with a spouse, children, family, local church family, co-workers, etc., are the biggest impacts that we can affect.  Don’t despise the day of small things for the Kingdom of God is built upon such things.  Small things are not small when God is doing it through us.  All ministries of wider scope can be traced back to relationships in the narrower scope.  The question is not how great I am, but how great God is.

This is where we should recognize that spiritual work for the Lord is impossible to be reduced to numbers, or metrics.  In the end, only God can show us in eternity all that was accomplished through us.

Let’s get back to our passage.  Luke gives us an example of an unusual miracle.  Articles of clothing from Paul were used to heal people and drive out demons from others.

The “handkerchief” is a word that covers everything from something you use to blow your nose to a sweat band you would tie around your head.  The “apron” is no doubt connected to Paul’s tent-making trade.  It would protect your clothes from the grime and wear-and-tear of such labor.

Though it is not said, it is most likely that the demand for Paul’s ministry was so great that someone (Paul?} came up with the idea to send these things to be placed upon the person in Paul’s absence.  I would assume that some believers would then pray for the person.  These clothes served as a representative object.  The Bible does not present this as a necessary thing any more than it presents the spit-mud that Jesus used to heal a blind man as necessary.  In some ways, they are an aid to faith.  However, God can also have symbolic reasons why He uses strange things.  Jesus and the mud harkens our minds back to God forming man from the earth and giving it life.  Jesus was the creator of man’s eyes in the beginning, and the way he healed that particular man was symbolic of this.

Some people today have turned this into a gimmick to solicit offerings from desperate people.  No one was making money and soliciting donations in Acts 19.  The healing of the centurion’s servant in Matthew 8 didn’t require any aid of faith.  We should not make a laundry list of powerful actions or objects that we need to heal people and cast out demons.  Rather, God is showing his gracious accommodation of our weakness of faith.  He is also demonstrating His ingenuity in teaching us about His power.

Let me finish this part by emphasizing that God did these powerful works “by the hand of Paul.”  There are two emphases here.  First, God is both the source and the doer of these powerful works.  God used Paul, but the gifts were only resident within him so much as the Holy Spirit was resident within him.  The power was not inherent in Paul’s person, but it is inherent in the nature of God.  We can look up to Paul as a man yielded to the leading and work of God in his life.  But, we should never elevate a person beyond that honorable place, a good example.

The second emphasis is that the powerful works were done “by the hand” of Paul.  The preposition has the sense of “through.”  Paul is a means, a channel, a vehicle for the power of God.  His calling, along with his faith in Christ and his faithfulness to the mission, brought opportunity to others to believe and be delivered by Jesus. 

Believers should watch their lives so that they are not a clogged up channel, or a broken down vehicle.  God has all the power in the universe, but He wants to work through you and me.  We need to be in such a relationship with Jesus that His will and purpose is moving forward in my life.  None of us are perfect, but we can keep focused on Christ and submitted to him.  All of us have some level of clogging in our lives.  However, the important thing is to be responding in faith to the things the Spirit of God is speaking to us about.

Some tried to copy his exorcisms (13-16)

Verse 13 tells us that some people were trying to copy Paul’s exorcisms.  I can imagine that word of his success was heard by others who trafficked in such things.  Their natural curiosity would lead them to find out how Paul was having so much success casting our evil spirit.  They are thinking in terms of tradition, formulas, words, and techniques.  However, casting out spirits for Paul (and for us) is not a matter of technique.

Luke gives us a particular instance in which some itinerant, Jewish exorcists tried to copy how Paul cast out demons.  They had developed a whole tradition of prayers and actions one could do to drive out spirits.  These were not 100% effective, but they had some level of success.  Jesus alludes to this when he is called Beelzebub by the Pharisees in Matthew 12.  He responds, “If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?”  Regardless of their level of success, The power of Christ through Paul (and other Apostles) was in clear contrast to their success and the way they went about performing them.

We must be careful in the Church today that faith in Christ and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit is the emphasis rather than a technique or a formula.  We have developed our own set of traditions around exorcisms.  We have our own formulaic prayers and rituals that can subtly replace the presence of the Holy Spirit in someone sent by Christ.  These are power-encounters between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness that operate through our faith.  We have general authority over evil spirits, and yet, Jesus warns that some kinds of evil spirits cannot come out without prayer and fasting.

These seven Jewish exorcists are sons of a chief priest named Sceva.  The mimicking Paul by saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”  This already sounds a bit wimpy.  We cast you out by this guy someone else talks about?  Jesus had been declared a heretic and executed by the chief priests.  I’m sure these guys did not send a letter back to Papa Sceva asking if this was okay.  We could chalk it up to an experiment to see if it would work.  Regardless, this demonstrates the sad reality that no lineage of spiritual men can guarantee that we are anything more than a parody of our ancestors.  It is not enough to have a form of godliness.  We also need the power of God that comes from a relationship of faith in Jesus.

The men are going to fail badly.  This is not something to rejoice over, but to weep over.  These men persisted in not believing in Jesus, and yet, their pragmatism causes them to experiment with the name of Jesus.  There is much pragmatic experimenting going on in the Church today, precisely because we are not walking in faith with Christ.  We look for easier answers than changing ourselves.

When they attempt to exorcise the demon, it answers them.  Now, let’s understand right up front that all demons are liars.  You cannot trust anything they say, even when there is a thread of truth in it.  We find that with this demon.  The response is this.  “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

Notice that the demon puts the emphasis on reputation.  Who are you?  Your reputation must be pretty small because it has not preceded you.  Essentially, I’ve never heard of you, and you have no authority here.  However, the key is not about the demon hearing about your ministry.  It is not your reputation, but your relationship with Jesus.  These men are not in relationship with Jesus.  In fact, we can say that they are as much an adversary to Jesus as the demon is.  They have no authority because they don’t know the one who does have authority, Jesus.

Paul, on the other hand, was walking in obedience to Christ and was directly empowered and authorized by him.  In fact, Paul is in this place because he repented when he was confronted with the Word of God, the Lord Jesus himself.  The truth of his rebellion against Yahweh caused him to fall on his face in humility and beg forgiveness.

Human technique can obtain a certain level of effects.  However, true spiritual power comes from spending time with Jesus and being led by Him.

Of course, they don’t know what to say to the demon’s response.  This leads to the possessed man overpowering all seven of them and beating them badly.  The stories of the supernatural power of demon-possessed people are legion (pun intended).  It is partially because humans do not like pain and will only push themselves so far.  When the demon is in control of a person, they do not care about the pain they feel.  Yet, they are supernatural beings and appear to be able to animate a body at a level of power above what seems natural.  Regardless of how that works, these men run out of the building with their clothes torn off and bleeding.

Evil spirits cannot stand before the follower of Jesus Christ who has a living connection with Him.  I wonder if any of these seven sons of Sceva became a Christian after this.  In God, even a beating from a demon-possessed man can be the mercy of God confronting us with the truth and calling us back to Him.  God often uses the worst of things to reach our hearts and change our minds.  Can you imagine that testimony?  “The best day of my life was the beating I received from a demon possessed man because it showed me that I needed Jesus!”

These things had an effect on Ephesus (17-20)

We are told that this failed exorcism became widely known and fear came upon the people.  Such things are unsettling to people.  It is out of the ordinary and begs the question of just what is going on.  They realized that there was something powerful behind Paul and these Christians.

Because of this fear, the Lord Jesus was magnified.  That doesn’t mean that they all were saved.  However, there was a greater appreciation for what Christ was doing through His people.  There was a higher estimation of these Christians and the Jesus they were talking about.  Sometimes, we can be so busy compromising that we don’t understand how much we are diminishing Jesus in the eyes of the world.  May Christ be magnified through our faith.

Verse 18 tells us that many who believed, confessing and telling their (sinful) deeds.  Of course, this describes repentance.  To confess is to speak the same thing as another.  They were agreeing with God’s word and the statements of His Apostles.  They needed to agree that they were living lives of sin, and then turn towards following him.  This is the transformed life.

God wants to bless and save all of us, but that can only be done by coming into agreement with Him about sin.  I’m a sinner, and I am lost.  If it wasn’t for Jesus, I would be stuck in my sins and hopeless.  Now, I have put my faith in his work and his commands.   The transformed life is one that is lived saying yes to the Word and Spirit of God.  Revival is never about an exciting service, but always about a living a different life, following Jesus.

An example of their repentance and trusting Jesus is given.  The Bible speaks of works that are worthy of repentance.  What does it mean for people who practice magic to repent?  Verse 19 tells us that “many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.”  It was very expensive to buy occult knowledge.  These people could have chosen to sell them to others.  Throwing them away seems such a waste to our flesh.  The key is that they are seeing that their magic is worthless and Jesus is priceless.  There really is a day to burn books.  However, this is self-censorship and not a government enforced practice.  We can love to tell others what they should be doing to prove that they are good people.  However, we need to let the Holy Spirit teach us the drastic actions we should do that would make for true repentance.  They burned all of those books that valued up to 50,000 pieces of silver.  The term is not specific enough to know which coin is in view, but it is generally taken for a silver coin that was the equivalent of a day’s wage for a laborer.

Books are resistant to burning because the pages are compressed and it is hard for oxygen to get to it.  You have to keep tending the fire, turning things over, so that the fire can consume it all and turn it into ash.  It is not enough to start down a path of repentance.  We must stick with the works of repentance until the former things are ashes.

Finally, we are told that the Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.  This word prevailed was used earlier of the demon-possessed man prevailing over the sons of Sceva.  The devil has his day when people do not stand with God and His Anointed One, the Lord Jesus Christ.  But, when we stand in Christ and do the works of faith that are led by the Holy Spirit, then the Word of the Lord will grow mightily and prevail in our homes, communities and Republic.

Power of God audio