The Mission: Passionately Serve Our Great God - Part 2 (Acts 19)

Jonathan Douglass

Acts: The Mission of the Church • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Get out your barbecue sauce and steak knives because God’s Word has another giant-sized steak for us this morning!

I don’t have a fancy introduction this morning. Instead, I want to read...

Acts 19:8–10 (ESV) 8 And he (Paul) entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Acts 19 preserves six strange events which, together, reveal the great spiritual war which is still taking place all around us.

The first event we considered was The Missing Spirit from Acts 19:1-7) - about twelve men were deceived. They thought that because they did certain religious things, they were saved, but indeed they were not. They were missing the Holy Spirit, proof of God’s salvation and the ticket, the seal, for eternal life. Next, we learned about how God used...

The second event contained in Acts 19:11-12, was that whenever handkerchiefs and aprons touched Paul’s skin and then another person’s skin, evil spirits were cast out and all sorts of diseases were cured. From that, we learned that many, many, many evil spirits had been engaged in spiritual warfare. We also learned that Ephesus was a leading city in the world and the second grandest city in the Roman Empire. Spiritual warfare is not a third world problem, it is a whole world problem.

The third event took place in verses 13-20. There we read about Seven Magicians who thought they could cast out demons, but they were not saved. They were not empowered and protected by the Holy Spirit so, a single man, possessed by an evil spirit overpowered all seven of them causing them to flee the house naked and wounded, but their lives had been spared. We learned from this that unsaved people are not equipped for spiritual warfare. Only those whom the Holy Spirit indwells (being all God’s children) can succeed against the spiritual forces of darkness.

(pause)

This morning, we are going to consider the final three weird events in Acts 19 as spiritual warfare raged on. When God’s people are possessed by the Spirit, and daily rely on the Spirit’s power, God will win many victories against the evil one and his forces.

Spiritual battle number 4 resulted in....

An Expensive Bonfire (19:18-20)

It seems that the city of Ephesus had been controlled by evil Spirits, but the Holy Spirit was changing that. Let’s pick our Bibles and begin reading from...

Acts 19:17–20 (ESV) 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Verse 17 uses the word “this.” It is referring to the incident which immediately preceded this one. All Ephesus, 300,000-500,000 people very quickly learned how the sons of Sceva were soundly defeated by one evil spirit. All Ephesus learned that people who possessed God’s Spirit were protected from evil spirits, and they learned God is the only true God.

We need to know that...

God is far more powerful than Satan’s forces.

We continue to learn that the occult, or magic, or witchcraft was deeply ingrained in the Ephesian culture. In fact, magic benefitted Ephesus’ economy because verse 19 recorded that all those magic books cost 50,000 pieces of silver.

In that day, one piece of silver was equal to one day’s wage. It we do the math, all the magic books together equaled 137 years of wages for one person!

Let’s convert that number into today’s wages. Let’s say an annual salary for one person is $15/hour. That works out to about $32,000 per year. If we multiply that income across 137 years, the cost of those magic books would total $4,384,000! That is serious money!

That would have been a huge pile of books! That would have been a massive bonfire! How exciting! How great is our God!

We need to know something else. We need to know that...

New Christians, (empowered by a new Spirit) immediately repented of their sinful ways. (Mt 18:7-10; Gen 19; Eph 4:30)

People publicly confessed their evil ways and turned away from it. Hearing and doing immediately happens when the Spirit controls our lives.

I am reminded of Lot and his wife who were told to flee Sodom in genesis 19. God told them to leave the city and not look back as they fled. Lot repented… he fled and didn’t look back. His wife did not repent… as she fled she looked back and immediately became a pillar of salt.

When we are empowered by the Spirit, we will burn up whatever is tempting us. Jesus taught this principle in...

Matthew 18:7–9 (ESV) (3 slides)7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

It is far better to burn up something incredibly costly such as 137 years of wealth.

We must sacrifice whatever holds us back from serving God now or we risk quenching the Spirit’s power every moment of every day for the rest of our lives.

Ephesians 4:30 ESV

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Repent means burn up and turn away from the sin that so easily entangles us.

We need to know one more thing...

137 years of wealth is worth pennies when Jesus is our priceless treasure! (Mt 19:24)

As a young child, I thought pennies were very valuable and I remember the first time I watched person toss a penny into a mall water fountain. I raced to the edge of the fountain only to stare incredulously at the wealth of pennies at the bottom. I was about to dive into the water fountain! I would gladly take what other people didn’t want! But my parents didn’t allow me to dive in.

The cost didn’t matter to these new believers. Yes, they counted the value of the books, yes, Luke even recorded the value for us to read later. They didn’t count the cost because they regretted what they were about to do. They counted the cost as a testimony of God’s incredible, redeeming power! (PAUSE) Do you remember the very rich man which Matthew wrote about? He wouldn’t follow Christ because the cost would be too great. Jesus said, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

Yes, a camel can go through the eye of the needle, but only by God’s great and enabling power! Ephesian believers threw book after book into the fire as if they were throwing pennies into a water fountain. This happened, according to verse 19, “in the sight of all” to teach their neighbors an important truth: $4,384,000 is insignificant when compared to God’s great treasure!

(Pause) That brings us to the next spiritual battle in the account of...

The Money-Crazed Silversmith (19:23-29)

I love how God contrasts Christians who burned earthly wealth then followed up by giving us this example of a money-crazed silversmith by the name of Demetrius. Before we read the text, I want to explain something about the culture of Ephesus that will better help us understand the tension here. Ephesus was the center of worship for the false god named...

Artemis

Artemis was the Greek goddess that represented fertility. People used her image to promoted prostitution and promiscuity.

You might hear some people use the names “Artemis” and “Diana” interchangeably, but they were two different gods, with many similarities.

The temple of Artemis was a highly profitable tourist attraction. Demetrius and the other craftsmen we will encounter in a moment significantly profited by selling shrines, images of Artemis, and other religious goods. The known world loved Artemis and the lifestyle she represented which brought much wealth to the city and the craftsmen who promoted her worship.

The Temple of Artemis was one of the 7 Ancient Wonders!

According to Pliny, a Roman Commander and writer who lived during this exact time period, the temple had taken 220 years to build and it was huge!

(Slide: Google Map overlay - Temple of Artemis)

I placed Pliny’s measurements of the Temple over a map of our church property.

The Temple platform is represented by the red rectangle on the slide and was 418 feet long by 239 feet wide

The temple itself, represented by the purple overlay, was 377 feet long by 180 feet wide.

Assuming I did this correctly, the temple of Artemis was about the size our whole church property and was 3-4 times larger than the Parthenon in Athens.

(Slide: Standing column from Temple of Artemis)

Today, only a single column remains standing, but originally the temple was supported by 127 spectacular, white marble columns. Each column was 6 feet in diameter, 60 feet high, and supported a cedar roof which would have been about as high as a 6 story building. I am not great at estimating heights, but the top of our church steeple might be about that high, so you can now imagine

this… (Slide: Temple image) sitting on our church property. This is actually a reconstruction based on historians an on other surviving temples of that period.

The temple was a huge, and magnificent structure built by people rebelling against God. If you glance at verse 35, we learn that the temple also contained a “sacred stone that fell from the sky.”

Meteorites have often been found in temples as objects of worship, and many religions describe stones that fell from the sky. For example:

Muslims worship what is called the Kaaba stone. the Kaaba stone is believed to be a meteorite, though it has not been examined to confirm it’s composition.

A carved meteorite has been confirmed to have held the place of honor at Apollos’ temple in Delphi. Perhaps the sacred stone that fell from heaven into Ephesus had been crafted into an image of Artemis.

Other religious artifacts have been commonly crafted from meteorites and we have examples of these in museums across the world.

The temple was also decorated with all kinds of beautiful things. It was also built as a treasury which contained the wealth of Ephesus. Priests and priestesses, musicians, prostitutes, dancers, and acrobats, tradesmen, and all kinds of business surrounded the temple promoting and prospering from its perversions.

Antipater of Sidon, was the man who compiled the list of the 7 ancient wonders. He wrote that the Temple of Artemis was “more marvelous than any of the other wonders” and also described the temple using the following words:

“I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught (anything) so grand”.

Paul saw this wonder of the ancient world with his own eyes and this is the culture and setting into which he ministered in Acts 19. Demetrius was blinded by his greed for wealth. Please follow along as we read Acts 19:23-29.

Acts 19:23–29 (ESV) 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.

Christianity was impacting the evil businesses in Ephesus. Christians stopped buying religious trinkets, magical books, meat to offer as sacrifices, and so on. Demetrius was scared! He believed his wealth would dry up, so he provoked the other tradesmen to take action.

I loved what Demetrius said in these verses. Even though he intended evil, he accurately told the tradesmen that the “gods are not gods.” In verse 27 he again accurately described the Gospel, God is greater than all gods and that God might make the Temple of Artemis count as nothing.

We need to know that God is jealous. (Ex 20:5; Deut 4:24-28)

Demetrius said in verse 27, that “Asia and the whole world worship Artemis!!!” No god or goddess should ever be worshipped. God was not worshipped as He should have been...

Exodus 20:4–5 (ESV) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

God was jealous for His name! Humor me for a moment, and please look at verse 10 of Acts 19. (PAUSE) God recorded that, “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” God was becoming as famous as Artemis! Artemis was being dethroned! God was casting out hoards of evil spirits all over Ephesus. He was curing incurable diseases. Treasure stored up in heaven was becoming far more important than treasure stored up in Artemis’ temple.

Our jealous God was casting false gods from their thrones. That is what God does. He warned the Israelites of this in Deuteronomy 4:24–28. This is an important passage!

Deuteronomy 4:24–28 (5 slides) For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 25 “When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

Demetrius and the tradesmen didn’t care if their goddess couldn’t seer, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. Instead, they incited a riot to protect their wealth. Ironically, in verse 40, their actions almost brought the wrath of the Roman Empire down on their heads which would have caused their wealth to be seized! Ironically, God utterly destroyed Ephesus’ wealth years later.

We have the proof.... God is jealous. We have the proof… God alone is worthy of our praise.

That brings us to the final spiritual battle of Acts 19 and the...

The Two Hour Chant (19:28-41)

Acts 19:28–29 (ESV) “28 When (the tradesmen) 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.”

(Slide: Amphitheater 1) God has preserved this theater for us so we can imagine several thousands of confused and crazed people running through this very street and pouring in to this amphitheater.

Some of you have been to a Bills game. You have walked streets crowded with crazy people! The Bills Stadium can hold 75,000 seated people and the Ephesus theater could hold 25,000 seated people.

You can’t passionately cheer from a seated position. The crowd was probably not sitting down patiently, nor do they seem to have been watching and listening. This was an emotionally charged crowd who passionately cheered the same chant for two hours because they wanted their false goddess to defeat our God. Starting in verse 29, Our text says...

Acts 19:29–34 (ESV)

29 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!”

At first the crowd had no idea why they were there, then the chant that the tradesmen started caught on. They started to understand why they were there. So it is not hard to imagine that the theater was for standing room only increasing its capacity to 50,000 people or more.

We need to know that...

Spiritually blinded people are often as passionate about their “faith” (or maybe even more passionate about their faith) than God’s own people! (Acts 19:34, 1 Jn 5:4)

This crowd was so crazy about Artemis!

(Slide: Amphitheater 2)

Their confusion turned into passion: for two hours they chanted their devotion to the false goddess. Evil spirits blinded Ephesus to God’s truth. Their chants overcame Alexander who was going to make a defense for Christ and he couldn’t speak: his voice was drowned out by maybe as many as 25,000, or 50,000 or 300,000 people who were all running to hell that day!

Spiritual warfare was intense! The unsaved are often as passionate about their “faith” and sadly, they can be even more passionate than God’s own people. Wow! How discouraging, how overwhelming.... until we remember and cling to...

1 John 5:4 (ESV) 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

We need to also know that, surrounded by thousands of crazed people...

Christians made a passionate stand for Christ! (19:29, 30,33; Eph 6:10-16)

What would you have done if you have been Gaius, or Aristarchus, or Alexander, or Paul? Would you have made a stand for Christ in front several thousands and thousands of crazed people? Or might you have withdrawn in fear?

(Slide: Amphitheater 3)

Check this out… this is very exciting.... the Gospel had not been in that region very long. This means Gaius, Aristarchus, and Alexander would have been brand new Christians and they were just as passionate about their faith as the veteran, Paul. If you look at verses 29,30, and 33 it is quite clear that the Ephesians clearly identified these men as Christians.

New believers had been passionately proclaiming our great God in the city of Ephesus right along with Paul. They were emboldened by God who is the overcomer. This is why in verse 33, Alexander, a new Ephesian believer, took a stand for Christ even though he was opposed by thousands and thousands of equally passionate unbelievers. That is faith in God, that is love for God, that is passion for our great God!

Alexander’s stand in the amphitheater is exactly the image drawn by Paul in Eph 6:10-16...

Ephesians 6:10–16 (ESV) 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

And as those darts reigned down on the Christians below them, God did not allow a single Christian to be harmed in that incident! The darts were extinguished, God won and he continued to win.

The last thing we need to know is this...

God did not allow the false god, Artemis, to be worshipped for much longer!

Artemis’ temple was ransacked by war and fire several times until it was eventually destroyed by Christians in 401, The nearby river, Kaystros gradually covered the area with silt and all that remains of Artemis’ throne is a single pillar and a few other scattered, carved rocks.

Our great God continues to reign just as He will for all eternity.

so,

What Does This Mean? (Application)

Again, I feel like I served an all you can eat, take home meal this morning! Please take time to chew your meat all week long so the nutrients don’t go to waste!

In closing, I want to make just one point to draw everything together. Ephesus was, at one time, home to the greatest wonder of the ancient world, but I wonder, if Antipater of Sidon was alive today, would he have named the church a wonder of the world?

Christ’s church is the most remarkable wonder of the world! (Eph 2:19-22, 2 Chron 2:5-6)

Ephesians 2:19–22 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Not only is the church a wonder of the world, but the rest of the book of Ephesians, I believe describes the church as the most beautiful thing to have ever existed. People are being made new in Christ. The old is being washed away and being replaced, through a miracle, by God’s new. Through God’s transforming love people are being changed! People are being made holier!

Yes, the temple of Artemis was huge, but Christ’s church encompasses the entire world and all generations of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue! Christ’s church is huge. All other religions have come and gone, but Christ’s church still endures and Christ’s church cannot be destroyed by fire. It cannot be torn apart by pickaxes, catapults, or bombs.

Jonathan Leeman says,

The church is the place where Heaven touches earth.

If he had read the book of Ephesians, Antipater would have realized it describes the most remarkable wonder of the world.

This morning, I showed you pictures of the great Ephesian theater and a remarkable reconstruction of the Temple of Artemis, but I don’t have an picture to put up on this screen that will even come close to representing the beauty, grandeur, and splendor of Christ’s church, and I don’t think I need to put a picture up.

Look around you. Look at the people sitting next to you, look at the people in front of you, behind you, and on the other side of the auditorium. We are the wonder, the mystery, representing a portion of the greatest wonder to have ever existed. Would Antipater have said of the church and of First Baptist Randolph...

but when I saw the house of (Christ), those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, Lo, the sun never looked on (anything) so grand”.

(pause)

Andy and Anna are coming up to help me lead us in a song. As they are on their way, could someone remind us of the chant that filled the amphitheater, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians?” An imaginary goddess is not great, but Great is our God! Great is our God, GREAT.... IS.... OUR... GOD!

Prayer Ideas:

You endure, and your name is great. You extinguish every flaming dart of the evil one, your name is great. You forgive sin, your name is great. You give hope when there is no cause to hope, your name is great. You give us an inheritance, your name is great. Cause us all week to sing, and shout, and chant, “How great is our God.”

In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.