Thursday, April 30th

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Thursday, April 30

Acts 19:21-41

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." And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. 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. 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." When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" 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. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. 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. 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. 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!" 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? Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. 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. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. 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." And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

I’ve never been in a real riot, but I have led an overnight retreat for Junior High students, which is pretty much the same thing. I once planned just such an overnight event and expected around 25-30 students to attend. I was both surprised and terrified when 103 kids showed up! We all survived the night, which was probably at least a low-level miracle!

In this story the Holy Spirit takes Paul on an adventure that includes a real and very dangerous riot.

We are told that due to Paul’s preaching in Ephesus people have begun to turn away from the worship of pagan idols and to put their faith in Jesus. One of the results is that people are no longer buying silver images of the goddess Artemis. Therefore those who make and sell those silver images are losing income and they don’t like it one bit.

A guy named Demetrius says, "Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. 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. 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." When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" 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.

The people are enraged for two reasons. First, because the gospel claims that there is only one God, who came in the person of Jesus Christ as the final sacrifice for the sins of the world and that, therefore, Artemis is not to be worshipped as a “goddess.” More importantly, the gospel is not only changing what people believe, but is also changing the economic system of the city.

While this seems like a very unusual story, it’s really not all that different from what we see throughout history and even in our world today. Think about whole industries built on what could be called sin and idolatry.

The most obvious examples might be the slave trade of previous centuries; or the sex-trafficking industry today. The gospel confronts any industry built on the degradation of human beings who are created in the image of God and, as a result, the gospel confronts the ultimate idol of our world, which is money.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said,

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
 
Jesus taught that there is room for only one God in the human heart. When Paul preached the gospel in Ephesus he preached that Jesus was the God who became flesh and then died and rose again that our sins may be forgiven. He preached not only that there is no other God besides Jesus, but that faith in Jesus is the only way to salvation.

In other words, when Jesus comes into our hearts by faith, all other gods must be dismissed. And this is why the Ephesians rioted and threatened to kill Paul and his companions. No one likes to have his or her idols challenged!

Are there any idols in your heart that Jesus would like to confront or remove?

Pastor Brian Coffey