Walking Through Acts

How many of you have ever felt at one time or another, your walk with Jesus is

just the strongest it’s ever been, but the next moment, you start to experience

spiritual warfare like you’ve never faced before. Maybe you step into a role of

service in the Church, and next thing you know, you face an unforeseen hardship

at home or at work. Or you begin to honor God with your money instead of being

frivolous, and you’re being good stewards of what God has entrusted you with,

yet something else in your life starts going awry. Maybe you decided to start living

your life in a way that honors God, yet, for some reason the difficulty level of life

in that moment just skyrockets.

And, in all of these examples that I just gave, the timing at which this all happens

is so specific and so peculiar that you begin to see more clearly that this is more

than just mere coincidence. There is something going on in the unseen realm

where the spiritual forces of darkness is waging war against your soul.

This is exactly what is going on here in the city of Ephesus where we pick up

where we left off.

It's been about a month since we’ve last been in the book of Acts. We started this

sermon series all the way back last year, the Sunday directly following Easter. And

so we have followed Luke’s account of the birth of the Church, of Peter’s journey

and now Paul’s journey which brings us to today. Paul is currently in the city of

Ephesus and it is a city slowly turning away from their pagan religions and turning

towards God. Last time we were in the book of Acts, we observed the mass

turning away from magic and the burning of these magical spell books of which

used to have a firm grip on the hearts of the citizens of Ephesus. But the tide

began to turn. Peoples’ hearts were turning away from the occult and turning

towards God. What a victory this was for Paul and those who were with him.

If this were a fairy tale, the story would end right there and everyone would live

happily ever after. However, this is real life and time marches forward and, as wewill soon see, opposition to Paul will rear its ugly head. Luke begins the account

like this.

Acts 19:21-22

21 Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia

and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see

Rome.” 22 And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and

Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

Paul wanted to go to Rome. Why would he want to go to Rome? As we’ve noted in

previous sermons, Paul loves the Church. Not just any one church but the Church

globally. And when you love something (the church in this instance) or someone,

you make it your aim to spend time with them, to connect with them, to make

sure they’re doing alright and lend any assistance that might be needed at any

given time. This is how Paul felt about the Church. He deeply cared for it and

wanted to see it grow and be healthy and flourish. And some of the people that

were with him on previous missionary journeys had begun building and expanding

the Church in Rome. And so Paul’s desire is to go there and support and

encourage all the work that God has been doing there. I’m sure Paul was well

aware of the instructions Jesus gave in Acts 1:8 before he ascended into heaven.

Acts 1:8

you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the

end of the earth.”

And going to Rome, for Paul would make this a reality.

In this next section we will begin to see conflict start to arise there in Ephesus.

Acts 19:23-26

23 About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. 24 For a

man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought

no little business to the craftsmen. 25 These he gathered together, with the

workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business wehave our wealth. 26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost

all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying

that gods made with hands are not gods.

I had covered a little bit of this a while ago, but I’d like to remind us of the culture

of first century Ephesus. It was a highly religious city. The god that was the most

prominent was the goddess Artemis. Remember the Temple of Artemis? It looked

very similar to the Parthenon and was more than double its size. And buildings

that big are not built unless it carried a great level of importance. It was one of the

seven wonders of the Ancient world among the likes of the Colossus of Rhodes,

the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. In Greek

mythology, she was the daughter of Zeus. She was the goddess of fertility and

sexuality. Now there are pictures of Artemis that portray a woman with multiple

breasts. And as graphic and obscene as an image that is, that’s what the culture

worshiped.

It is said that there were 33 different shrines or places of worship dedicated to

Artemis. And what that tells us is that this particular worship was not some fringe

cult that only a minority of people worshiped. This was a first century world

religion that had major influence in the ancient world. And the city of Ephesus

was the place to go for Artemis worship. And so people from all around the world

would go there. And it makes complete sense why the silversmiths gained so

much business from selling little souvenir shrines that people could take back

home with them. I’ve said this many times before and it is very true for what we

find here.

“The money trail will always reveal what’s important.”

If we pay a mortgage payment or rent, we believe shelter is important. If we pay

for food and water, that indicates that those things are important. If we spend

money on video games or vacations or music lessons or college education, we

cannot separate the level of importance from the amount of financial investment

one puts towards it.

And so, as we walk the streets of Ephesus and we hear the clanging hammers on

hot pieces of metal that would be purposed for Artemis worship, and capturing a

glimpse of the grand Temple of Artemis in the distance, and the swarming crowdsof those on pilgrimage to worship their prized deity, we can say with certainty that

the peoples’ hearts were for a time enraptured by this false religion.

And before we begin placing ourselves on our high moral horses and begin to

think that our culture is any better, I would confidently be able to tell you that we

are not so far off. The worship of Artemis was a worship of fertility and sexuality.

At the temple, there would be various forms of worship of which one was the

presence of Temple priestesses who would prostitute themselves in honor of

Artemis. And another heinous act of worship that has been documented is that of

human sacrifice. Have any of you ever heard of another culture obsessed with

sexuality and promiscuity and human sacrifice (aka abortion?) We’re living in it.

We are living in Ephesus 2.0.

And we have to ask ourselves, why does faithful living and preaching of the gospel

result so often in conflict? R.C. Sproul, whom I disagree with some of his doctrinal

positions, I believe is correct in this. He says, “Conflict results from faithful

preaching, because the gospel is true, and truth has no company with falsehood.”

There is a human tendency to desire lies over the truth. One prime example is that

of which occurred in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve desired the lie over the

truth.

Romans 1:18-23

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For

what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to

them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,

have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things

that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew

God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile

in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise,

they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images

resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.Romans 1:28-32

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a

debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all

manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy,

murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of

God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31

foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree

that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give

approval to those who practice them.

There’s a thought out there that seems to think that humans have progressed

since ancient times, and we have in many ways (technology, medicine), but

morally I believe with all my heart that we’ve either stayed the same or have

regressed deeper into moral debasement. And perhaps technology and medical

innovations have in some way attributed to that.

In the current cultural climate in which we live, our idols are not made of wood or

of stone, but of ideas. We live in a culture that says men can be women and

women can be men, marriage is just a piece of paper, everything is permissible as

long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, love is love, just be kind, just be docile, don’t raise

a big fuss if you perceive something as immoral, just go with the flow and get

along with everybody.

Dear Christian, this is not the life we are called to. You know what this is? This is a

recipe for tyranny. And it is not a tyranny of the physical plane, but on the

ideological, and the latter is far worse than the former. I believe that the Church

ought to not only be a beacon of hope in our communities, but also a lighthouse

of truth in an ever darkening world. I believe Christ’s bride should also be the

moral conscience of society and her strength on that front is waning day by day as

other ideologies continue to gain strength. And if we fail to do these things, we

have robbed the Church of its influence and power.

Unfortunately, we see churches compromising fundamental truths of the faith.

And it’s no wonder. It’s just simply easier. We don’t want to be the bad guys. And

what ends up happening is that we head into our little proverbial workshops and

start molding our own little gods that reflect our own perceptions of what Heshould and shouldn’t be. We begin making our own modifications and spec’ing

out our own version God that reflects our own desires. A very popular idol held by

many today is a god of love and compassion void of any hint of holiness and

righteousness. And that’s just simply no god at all. Truth has not company with

falsehood.

And these two things have made a clash in the old town of Ephesus. A silversmith

named Demetrius, probably equivalent to that of a union leader is concerned

about the rising popularity of Christianity. And this makes sense. It’s a simple math

problem. The more Christians there are, the less business their workshops are

going to get. He’s letting all the tradesmen know that, hey, this Paul guy is a

problem. And what a compliment that is to Paul. It’s a testament to his

effectiveness in his ministry. It’s like being a high school basketball team in 2003

and you were going to play against St. Vincent-St. Mary of whom their star player

was going to pose some pretty big problems for you. These kinds of comments are

not given to people who are not effective in what they do. Demetrius regarded

Paul as a huge liability. He continues in his speech to his fellow tradesmen.

Acts 19:27

27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute

but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing,

and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and

the world worship.”

Not only is Paul going to leave us homeless and starving, but he is directly

attacking our goddess. And you can just imagine the emotions rising in that place,

and the anger being palpable. This is not only an attack on their jobs, but also on

their goddess as well as an indirect attack on their families. And they weren’t

about to just lay down and concede to the effects of Paul’s ministry. Truth has no

company with falsehood, and falsehood will always fight for survival.

Acts 19:28-34

28 When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is

Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with the confusion, and they

rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus,Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel. 30 But when Paul wished to

go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. 31 And even some of the

Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture

into the theater. 32 Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the

assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come

together. 33 Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put

forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to

the crowd. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours

they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

What we have on here on display is pandemonium. This is an example of mob

mentality right here in our Bibles. Some of Paul’s fellow missionaries were drug

into the theater. And Paul, hearing of this, wanted to go in there and rescue his

friends and perhaps to calm down the riot. But some of the other Christians there

and the Asiarchs, who were not Christians themselves but highly respected Paul,

urged him not to go in there. It’s a madhouse. And what could be heard

throughout the city of Ephesus for nearly two hours was the unified cry of “Great

is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Acts 19:35-41

35 And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus,

who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of

the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? 36 Seeing then

that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37

For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor

blasphemers of our goddess. 38 If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with

him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are

proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you seek

anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. 40 For we really are in

danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can

give to justify this commotion.” 41 And when he had said these things, he

dismissed the assembly.

First of all, who was this town clerk guy and why is he important? The town clerk

is simply the scribe of the Ephesians. He was the communicator between the

Ephesians and the Roman officials, and one thing he wanted to avoid most, wasupsetting the Romans in any way. He knew that the consequences for starting a

riot would be severe. There was a Roman law that stated, “He who raises a mob,

let him be punished by death.” So he took it upon himself to talk everyone down.

He indicates that anyone who has a claim against these men, go through the

proper channels of authority. Don’t try to take matters into your hands. We have a

system here in place for such things. Follow it. Then the town clerk went further

and found nothing to charge Paul and his friends with and the assembly was

dismissed.

Piano to play here.

And it is here that we see the hand of God continuing to guide and protect Paul as

he continues on his missionary journey. Next week we will pick up in the next

chapter.

Let me leave you with this encouragement as you strive to live out your lives

boldly for Christ. You will face many hardships and challenges because of what we

believe. Stay strong. Take courage for the Lord will be with you wherever you go.