Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Do you feel that Christianity is becoming less and less tolerable in the broad American culture today?

What about in East Texas?

Is the Christian way of life celebrated, tolerated, or denigrated in our schools, on our jobs, in our stores, at our community events?

I guess it depends… doesn’t it?

It depends on which classroom we’re talking about, who’s in the office or at the job-site, which store, or what event.

I think it also depends on what sort of Christianity we’re talking about.

I mean, it seems to me that an undefined Christianity (one that doesn’t specify any doctrine) and a Christianity without any moral obligations (one that doesn’t care if you are sexually immoral or dishonest or lazy or prideful)… I think this sort of Christianity is celebrated in East Texas.

But a doctrinally rich and theologically specific and historically grounded and morally demanding Christianity is not even tolerated among those who claim to be Christians!

In our passage today, we are going to be reminded that the Christian way of life is at odds with this present world.

We are going to see what happens when a bunch of people in a pagan town start repenting of sin and following Jesus.

And we’re also going to see how normal it seems to be for Christians to experience opposition and even hostility from their non-Christian neighbors.

May God help us to be edified, corrected, and comforted by His word today.

Scripture Reading

Acts 19:21–20:1 (ESV)

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.

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 we have 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.

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.”

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!”

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.

1 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.

Main Idea:

The Christian way of life is at odds with this present world, so we pray for peace, and we strive for faithfulness.

Sermon

1. Resolved to Suffer (v21-22)

A. Travel plans

The first verse of our passage today begins with a basic itinerary.

Luke says that Paul is going to travel to “Macedonia” (that’s Philippi and Thessalonica), to “Achaia” (that’s Corinth), then to “Jerusalem,” and finally to “Rome” (v21).

But this is not insignificant, nor is it coincidental.

First of all, the episode we’re about to consider (the “disturbance” in Ephesus) is nearly exactly the same as what happened later on in Jerusalem (Acts 21:27-22:29).

The Jews in Jerusalem get just as upset as the Greeks in Ephesus about Christianity as a threat to their way of life.

By telling us that Paul is headed for “Jerusalem” (v21), Luke is telling us that Ephesus and Jerusalem are connected.

So, we need to pay attention and find out how. “How are Ephesus and Jerusalem connected?”

Second, with this sort of resolution language, Luke is giving us a signal that here is a major turning point in the narrative or storyline of Acts.

Let me explain…

B. A turning point in the narrative

In v21, Luke says that Paul “resolved” or “purposed” (KJV) or “decided” (NIV) to “pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem…” and after that, Paul “must also see Rome” (v21).

The rest of the book of Acts follows Paul on this very journey, and the book ends with Paul living in Rome as a prisoner, basically awaiting his sentence, which was likely execution by beheading.

However, Paul’s imprisonment in Rome was not a failure of Christ’s evangelistic program; indeed, it was the fulfillment of it!

In Acts 1:8, Luke recorded Jesus’s commissioning statement to His disciples, and this commission forms the outline of the entire Acts storyline.

Just before He ascended to the throne of heaven, Jesus said, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

And Luke follows that geographical and ethnic expansion throughout his narrative.

The Holy Spirit came in Acts 2, and Peter and the Apostles witnessed in Jerusalem (Acts 2-6).

Persecution spread gospel-witnesses throughout Judea(Acts 8:1), and Philip, Peter, and John witnessed in Samaria (Acts 8:4-17).

The risen Lord Jesus Christ converted Paul, and Paul became the Apostle to the Gentiles – or those at “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8; Acts 9:1-16).

And, the rest of Acts largely focuses on the gospel expansion among the Gentiles, which culminates in Rome, where Paul was “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” even while he was a prisoner of the Roman government (Acts 28:31)!

As Paul wrote to Timothy during those days, “I am suffering [and] bound with chains as a criminal… But the word of God is not bound!”

(2 Tim.

2:9).

In addition, Paul’s resolve to “go to Jerusalem” (v21) and then to Rome here is very similar to Christ’s own resolve to “go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).

In Luke’s Gospel, there is a similar turning point at the end of chapter 9, where Luke said that Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).

The rest of Luke’s Gospel is about Jesus’s resolve to finish His earthly ministry by dying in the place of sinners and Jesus’s call for sinners to repent and believe.

It seems to me, then, that Paul is (in a sense) following in the footsteps of his Master.

Like Jesus, Paul has resolved to travel the road of suffering in order to fulfill his mission.

Jesus’s mission was unique, He is the only sacrifice for sinners.

But we do have at least a little something in common with Paul here… He was to be a faithful witness of Christ, even through the midst of suffering.

C. The common call to suffer

Brothers and sisters, it isn’t a fun thought, but it is true that the Bible repeatedly calls all Christians to a life of suffering in this world.

In Acts 5, Christian witnesses “rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” of Christ (Acts 5:41).

When Jesus commissioned Paul to be His witness to the Gentiles, Jesus said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:16).

When Paul wrote to the church in Rome, he said that Christians are “heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom.

8:17).

The Scriptures on this are many!

Christians “share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings” (2 Cor.

1:5).

It “has been granted” to Christians “that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Phil.

1:29).

Christians are urged, “do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord… but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (2 Tim.

1:8).

Indeed, Christians “have been called” to suffer in this life, “because Christ also suffered for [us], leaving [us] an example, so that [we] might follow in his steps” (1 Pet.

2:21).

In this life, Christians will suffer (physically, emotionally, politically, economically, socially), but our task is to be faithful… even through suffering.

Now, in one sense, Paul’s life and commission is not ours.

His suffering as a witness for Christ was greater than any of us will ever experience, and we do not have his apostolic ministry.

And yet, in another sense, all Christians of every age are called to be witnesses for Christ and to suffer for it.

A person might suffer for all sorts of reasons so let me be clear… I’m talking about the kind of suffering Christians experience for believing and teaching and living according to the truths of Scripture.

The Christian way of life will clash with the non-Christian way of life, regardless of whether the non-Christian is religious or secular, conservative or liberal, educated or ignorant, rich or poor, famous or obscure.

Put a group of genuine Christians among any society in the world, and it won’t take long at all for the Christians to start looking really strange.

2. There Arose a Disturbance (v23)

In so many ways, v23 is a sort of summary verse, not only for our passage, but also for the entire book of Acts… It might even describe the general Christian experience with the established structures of this world.

After telling us, in v22, that Paul sent “Timothy and Erastus” on ahead into “Macedonia,” Luke says, in v23, “About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.”

I want to briefly note a couple of observations that will help set the scene for us as we make our way through the rest of this story: (A) Christianity as “the Way” and (B) the inevitability that Christian living will cause “disturbance.”

A. The “way” of Christ

It is a basic and fundamental truth that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a way of life or a message about what sinners must do.

The gospel is the story of what God has already done in the person and work of Christ to save sinners.

In Jesus, the God of the universe has showed Himself gracious beyond measure by living a perfectly obedient life under the legal demands of His own law and by dying as the guiltiest sinner ever to suffer under the justice of His own standard of righteousness and holiness.

In Jesus, God earned a righteousness to give away and God satisfied justice in order to set sinners free.

In response to this fantastic news – that God has paid the price for sin and offers sinners perfect righteousness in the name of Christ – God demands that we simply repent and believe.

We must – here and now – let go of our sin and trust ourselves entirely to the mercy of Christ!

Friend, if you want to know more about what that means, then let’s talk after the service today.