Sermons
A Message by the Rev. Harvey G. Throop
Palisades Presbyterian Church
San Diego, California
(13) The Apostle: Riot In Ephesus!
(Acts 19:23-41)
“About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way...” (Acts 19:23)
Whenever the Gospel of Christ collides with interests that contradict the kingdom of God, there is bound to be disturbance. That's what happened when Paul visited the city of Ephesus on his third missionary journey.
Ephesus was one of the great cities of the ancient world. It had a population of 250,000 people and was a center of commerce and culture. It was also the chief link for communications and commerce between Rome and the East. Merchants flocked to it.
Among many other things, Ephesus was known for its pagan worship. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was located there – the temple of the goddess Diana, who was also sometimes called Artemis. At some time in the past, a meteorite had fallen and landed in the area. This meteorite was seen as a sign from the goddess and was enshrined in the temple. Perhaps it had been carved into an image of the goddess. At any rate, Artemis was at the center of an ancient fertility cult that enjoyed great popularity throughout the ancient near East. The temple was an important tourist attraction and destination for pilgrims from all over the world. It was also served by hundreds of temple prostitutes.
Over the course of Paul's time in Ephesus, during his third missionary journey, God did amazing things through his ministry. The power of Paul's message produced literally hundreds of new Christians.
While he was in Ephesus, Paul also worked at his trade of tent-making. The handkerchiefs and aprons he used in his work -- his sweatband and tentmaker's apron -- were taken away to be placed on the sick. Amazingly, many people were healed of their illnesses (see Acts 19:11,12). But it was the name of Jesus that had power over the sickness – not the name of Paul. And we can be sure that Paul did not allow his name to be used as a new form of superstition.
One of the great scenes in the New Testament occurs in Ephesus -- in the scripture lesson we read a moment ago in Acts 19.
It took place when the silversmith, Demetrius, stirred up the craftsmen of the city and rallied the people against Paul and his preaching of the gospel. Luke writes, “About that time there arose a great commotion about the Way” (Acts 19:23 KJV).
“The Way,” of course, is a reference to the way of Jesus Christ. Jesus once said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). The use of the word “Way” here emphasizes that the gospel is not just a set of beliefs, but a way of living. And wherever the gospel of Christ is lived, it causes a commotion.
Paul had brought the gospel of Christ to Ephesus , and it was changing people's lives. The flow of money suddenly changed. The people weren't spending their money the same way as they had before. They were no longer buying the religious statues and souvenirs connected to the worship of Artemis. So the souvenir business had dropped off dramatically. Whenever you hit a person's bank account, that's when the yelling starts. A silversmith named Demetrius had started yelling.
The real issue at stake with Demetrius was not theological but economic. Demetrius made his money from the worship of Artemis. He knew he could not defeat Paul and the church on the argument of economic losses alone, so he brought in religion and civic pride. He referred to Paul as “robbing” the goddess, Artemis, of her deity.
Indeed, Paul's ministry had greatly impacted the silver shrine business. These shrines or images of Artemis were carefully crafted by the silversmiths and sold to the public at a great profit. However, as more Ephesians became followers of Jesus Christ, fewer shrines were sold.
Added to that, each year during the month of May, there was a great gathering of people from all over Asia Minor who came to Ephesus for a month-long religious celebration in honor of Artemis. It was probably during this time that the silversmiths began to realize the real threat the followers of the Way had become to their business. Sales had fallen, their profits had disappeared and, in the face of this economic downturn and with no government bailout plans in the offing, they began to organize to protest.
Demetrius, himself a silversmith, had stirred up the other silversmiths and incited them against Paul and his preaching of the Gospel. He was trying to create an uprising that would bring the entire city into a war with Christianity. He succeeded. His charges against Paul were inflammatory. He talked about the inevitable economic disaster they faced and the eventual ruin of the worship of Artemis .
Paul had flatly told the people of the worthlessness of the worship of Artemis and that had agitated her worshippers into becoming an angry mob.
So a “trial” was arranged against the Way in the great open-air theater of Ephesus, which was estimated to seat 25,000 people. Two of Paul associates, Gaius and Aristarchus, had been dragged before that assembly. Luke writes that “ Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him” and that “even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater” (Acts 19:30, 31). Why? They knew what he would say. They knew that if he went into the theater, he'd never come out of it alive.
Paul had unquestionably impacted the region with the power of the Gospel. Luke tells us that the passion of the angry silversmiths continued to grow. The shouting grew louder and louder. Luke writes, “ Some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together” (Acts 19:32).
Just because a crowd gathers to protest doesn't mean they all know what's going on. I remember an incident in a graduate school dorm where I was staying in Chicago in the summer of 1966 when someone ran in one day and yelled, “Hey, we need more people for the march.” One of the residents shouted, “I'll go!” and as he ran out the dorm, I heard him yell, “What are we protesting?”
Luke tells us that it was something like that in Ephesus that day. Well, the protests of the silversmiths continued until a man named Alexander was pushed forward by the Jews.
Alexander was a Jew with a Greek name and was a coppersmith (see 2 Timothy 4:14). So the Jews sent this man into the crowd, apparently afraid that the anger toward the Christians would spill over into violence toward the Jews. They figured that a man with a Greek name who was also a craftsman could reason with the crowd. But the tactic didn't work. When Alexander was recognized as a Jew, the crowd would not listen to him. Instead, the silversmiths began chanting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” which they continued to chant for two hours.
It was during this chanting that the town clerk quieted the protest. He threatened the crowd with punishment from Rome if they continued this city-wide disturbance and then dismissed them to their homes.
So, the Gospel had captured the city of Ephesus. The worship of Artemis had been exposed as an inadequate source of confidence.
What took place in Ephesus is not far removed from the church today. As long as the Gospel remains within the walls of the church, the church can continue without persecution. However, when the teachings of the Gospel spill outside of the church walls -- as it is intended to do, conflict often arises.
Many of the teachings of our Christian faith are clearly in conflict with the values of the world and of our culture. The trouble is, however, that we Christians have accommodated our Christian values to the reigning gods of our culture – money, sex, power, materialism, success, fashion and fame. It's often hard to tell the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian by the way we live.
et me give you one example. We live in a society that says there is nothing more important than getting to the top and having power and riches. Our society seems to condone almost anything a person needs to do in order to get these, even if it means ignoring the needs of the people around you as well as the people who are the closest to you.
Christian faith opposes such thinking. It says, “If your dreams blind you to the needs of people, then it is wrong.” Jesus offers us an alternative way of living. He says, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
We live in an age where it is believed that success is everything and, therefore, anything that stands in the way can be sacrificed to achieve that goal. So widespread has this way of thinking become, that some people even interpret Christianity to be a part of it. I have heard people testify that their discipleship to Jesus has meant that they have received all kinds of wonderful material blessings. But Jesus didn't come to show us how to be materially successful. Jesus came to show us that there are some things that are more important than that.
Sports have always been important in American life. In previous generations, though, I think it was a little different. I don't want to be too nostalgic about this, but I think in previous generations, sports were used to teach character.
I can remember some of the coaches I've known who saw sports as a means of teaching young people what life was really about: hard work, perseverance, team work, sportsmanship, winning humbly and losing graciously … things like that.
Sports in American life today have become more influential than ever before. And sports are still teaching us lessons. But the three lessons it seems to teach most of all are these: the importance of winning, the importance of making money and the unimportance of everything else.
What are players in professional sports doing today? For too many of them – not all of them -- but for too many of them, their greed blinds them to those people who are still trapped in the prison of hopelessness and poverty -- young people who could be helped by successful people paying attention to them.
Not only do the seeming majority of successful athletes today not think of humbling themselves for the sake of other people, but they blatantly announce, as models for our society, that their only concern is for themselves. They seem to ask themselves, “Why should I play for this team for only this many million dollars when I can play for that team for this many million dollars?” What on earth do they need all that money for?
And society supports that. That is the model that is lifted up in our society, not just by athletes, but nearly universally the model is that to live a successful life, you can think only of yourself. We could talk about corporate America in the same light and the greed that has come to characterize it, but we would be here for a week!
The Christian Gospel proclaims standards to which the followers of Jesus are expected to follow. Christians are always called to choose the teachings of Christ over those of secular culture.
The Christian gospel – when it is truly believed and practiced -- changes the way people spend their money. How a person spends his or her money is a sure sign of where that person's allegiance lies. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
When people give their lives over to Jesus and to his Gospel, they will spend their money differently.
That was true in Ephesus and it should be true today. Where is your treasure? How do you spend your money? After you have paid for the basics, where does the rest go? Identify that and you will see where your heart is!
If you have truly given your heart to Jesus, then your treasure will be there also. The believers of Ephesus had given their hearts to Jesus Christ, and no longer spent their money the way they used to. That caused a commotion, and got the merchants upset. The gospel changes the way people spend money.
Christians in the ancient world were known for taking care of the poor and hungry, widows and orphans -- as the Bible told them to do. Are we Christians today known for the same?
The gospel of Jesus Christ causes a commotion. It changes the allegiance of people from false gods to the true God. It changes the way we live and how we use our money.
Whatever commotion is brought about by that change gives us an opportunity to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ.
