Revival Faces Resistance

· INTRO: Good morning GPC! Would you turn in your Bibles with me toEsther 4:13-14? Today, we’ll be looking at Acts 19:21-20:1, but I want to start by considering another place in scripture that is relatively similar; the story of Esther. Esther is in the OT, between Ezra and Job. As you are turning there, I just want to highlight a few announcements. (Membership class, CSC- the bulletin is nicer than me. Don’t spare a morning, intentionally make it a point to serve alongside CSC at a work day or two if you are in town! VBS! VBS! VBS! VBS!) Now, would you stand with me for the reading of God’s word? (READ, PRAY, DRINK)

· So, what does Esther have to do with the book of Acts? I mean, after all, Esther was a Persian queen hundreds of years before any of these events even happened!

Well, to answer that question, let’s back up and EXTREMELY BRIEFLY talk about the story of Esther. In Esther 1, we see the Queen, Queen Vashti deposed. Then, in Esther 2, we see Esther made queen. Esther was a Jewish woman who was raised by her uncle Mordecai. Mordecai worked in the capital city doing various tasks for the government. By the way, Mordecai does appear in Persian records. This is very real.

In Esther 3, a man named Haman creates a plot to kill the Jewish people. Haman is an Amalekite, translated here as an Agagite. That people group came in conflict with Israel in 1 Samuel 15, which was a turning point for King Saul. Saul was to wipe out the Amelakites and he did not. That’s really a totally different sermon.

In Esther 4, Mordecai learns that a decree has been given to wipe out the Jewish people. He goes to Esther and pleads with her, asking her to help him.

That’s what we read. She agrees somewhat reluctantly, because she seems to have potentially fallen out of favor with Xerxes, the Persian King.

In Esther 5, Esther prepares a banquet for Haman and the King, before asking them to come to another banquet. At the second banquet, Esther pleads with the king to save her and he does.

Now, that’s a very quick summary, but have you noticed something I DID NOT MENTION? I did not mention the name of God! Why? BECAUSE THE NAME OF GOD DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE BOOK OF ESTHER!

Yet, we still see God’s power throughout. Last week we talked about how the Greek word “Dunameis” is translated as “an action of power,” or as , “a miracle.”

Today in Acts 19, just as in Esther, that word does not appear. In fact, in Acts 19:21-20:1, it can seem like God is missing! But, God is VERY MUCH AT WORK! How else can Mordecai conveniently overhear the entire plot? How else does this unknown woman from an unknown family become queen?

It doesn’t just happen! God is very much working! I want to remind you of that important truth today. Even though we will likely not face, nor have we faced the physical danger that the Ephesian believers face, we will face discouragement. In those moments, in moments where it’s easy to wonder where God is, I hope you think of a passage like Acts 19:21-20:1.

Our main point today is:

MAIN POINT: Jesus is with us always, no matter what we feel.

· BODY: This passage is very different from the last few, but it is also very important just as the rest of the Ephesus narrative. In some ways, this passage mirrors what often has happened to Paul and it should remind us of something that we will face.

o See, when the gospel goes forward and there is revival, there is also opposition. It may not be physical. It may be division, or fear of division. It may be laziness, or busyness, but there will always be opposition from satan when there is biblical revival!

· Looking at verse 21, we see Luke start writing this account. He says, “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.”- Acts 19:21-22

o Remember, the events of Acts 19:11-20 were powerful! Many were saved, people were not just turning from sin, they were literally RUNNING FROM IT, burning up their books of magic!

o The Ephesians seem ready to lead their own church and to continue on in fulfilling the Great Commission! Paul prays and the Lord tells him to go to Macedonia and Achaia, that is to Greece and Southern Greece, before he returns to Jerusalem.

§ Paul also feels God calling him to go to Rome itself after he returns to Jerusalem.

o In preparation for this, Paul sends Timothy and Erastus ahead of him while he remains in Ephesus longer.

§ To be clear, Paul loves the Ephesians! He really does! So he takes some time to say his goodbyes and to, “end well.”

o Paul’s conclusion in Ephesus seems to be a “mountain-top” experience! That term comes from the prophet Elijah, in 1 Kings 18 and 19. Basically, God moves VERY POWERFULLY in Israel and then comes the next thing; which for Elijah is severe persecution and an attempt to murder him!

§ It seems like he is on a high and then that he hits a brick wall of opposition at full force. The same is true here many times in the book of Acts and is true today! Oftentimes, when it feels like God is moving so powerfully, we seem to hit a brick wall.

· And that’s what we see in verse 23. We read, “About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.”- Acts 19:23

o Remember that Luke often calls Christianity, “The Way,” because that’s what it is! It’s the WAY TO BE SAVED AND TO BE RECONCILED WITH GOD!

· Now what is this disturbance? Let’s see. “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.”- Acts 19:24-27

o Demetrius tries to rip the church apart. But to be more specific, Demetrius, who is a silversmith stands to lose lots of money if people convert to THE WAY instead of following Artemis.

o So, Demetrius gathers together the other craftsmen who profit from this false religion, essentially a guild or a union, and he begins to argue that the people can never be allowed to follow Jesus!

§ His logic is that Paul has not only turned people from following the gods, but more importantly, he argues that they are losing money and that, “their trade may come into disrepute.” Understand, there were 33 temples to Artemis in this region! This is a major business!

§ Not only that, he appeals to the craftsmen who serve the temple of Artemis by arguing that if Paul is allowed to continue on, Artemis will not be served enough and that she will be deposed from her magnificence.

· The exact phrase is that, “It may pull down her GRANDEUR or her IMPRESSIVENESS.”

o Now, it feels like that statement alone should be convicting for him! Clearly Artemis isn’t real if she has to rely on X amount of people worshipping her to be majestic!

§ This word for majesty, grandeur, or impressiveness, is the same root word, “μεγα” used to describe and prophesy about the birth of Jesus in Luke 1.

· There’s something I find fascinating though. When this word is used in Luke 1, it is unqualified! There is no limit to it. Here, this word is qualified. There are limits to it. What are the limits? Well, grammatically speaking, the limit is clear. Artemis’ grandeur is reliant on the number of followers that she has!

o That’s a far cry from the JESUS THAT PAUL PROCLAIMS AND THAT WE PROCLAIM!

§ Demetrius acts out of fear and jealousy.

· In many ways, it reminds me of what we see in Acts 3 and 4 from the Jewish rulers and authorities.

· Remember, in Acts 3, Peter and John go to the temple and heal a man! In Acts 4, the ruling authorities arrest them, put on a sham of a trial, OUT OF FEAR and then beat them up!

o The Jewish ruling authorities continue to threaten and even kill believers, attempting to scare those that follow God!

§ Yet, it does not work!

§ It’s honestly very similar to this! It is motivated not out of faith in God, but out of financial gain! Pride and jealousy leads people to CRAZY ACTIONS!

· Let’s keep going to see what crazy actions this leads to. Verse 28 shows us. “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.”- Acts 19:28-29

o THE CROWD IS ENRAGED! THESE WORKERS ARE LIVID! The exact translation is, “FULL OF RAGE!” They are not just angry, they are consumed by it and so, they start a riot!

o They cry out, “GREAT IS ARTEMIS OF THE EPHESIANS!”

§ They praise their idol and they cause confusion in the entire city! They whip up a crowd and a mob and they drag two believers; Gaius and Aristarchus into the theater!

· Gaius and Aristarchus are two of Paul’s traveling companions. Here, they are two targets. They can’t find Paul easily, but they can find people that KNOW PAUL!

· In verse 30, the scene shifts a little to Paul. “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.”- Acts 19:30-33

o Paul wants to go into the theater to defend his dear brothers, but the Asiarchs; that is people from Ephesus would not let him!

§ The brothers who are Ephesian want to handle it! Paul respects it and does, although it does require “URGING.”

o Now, in the theater, an ampitheater of course, there is screaming and shouting and mass confusion.

§ No one knows what is going on! So, the crowd puts Alexander who is Jewish forward. No one is quite sure who Alexander is. He could be Alexander the coppersmith that Paul rejects in 1 Timothy as a blasphemer who has walked away from his faith, although it could be another Alexander.

· Either way, Alexander is under suspicion for being a believer. He is put on trial. He is accused of being a Christian and of causing outrage against Artemis!

o In other words, he is accused of disturbing the peace, which as we’ve seen is a major offense in Rome!

· In verse 34, we read, “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.”- Acts 19:34

o The crowd realizes that Alexander isn’t going to proclaim Artemis as his god and they begin to shout over him!

§ For 2 hours they cry out over and over proclaiming the name of Artemis.

§ That’s what idol worship was and honestly, it’s what we see today!

· Today, the idol is not Artemis, but there are other idols! MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! POWER, POWER, POWER! EQUALITY, EQUALITY, EQUALITY! There are idols all around us and people are doing the same thing!

o It shouldn’t surprise us that this is happening! It’s what Paul wrote in Romans 1 and it’s what happens in scripture WHENEVER people put something above God!

§ We need to be prepared that when we preach the name of Jesus; when we preach of the goodness of salvation through faith and faith alone, that we will meet obstacles and will not be agreed with!

That’s just a fact! What we do in those situations is what matters! Do we cling to Jesus, or do we wither away, choosing not to proclaim the gospel because of fear? We have to see that there is power in the gospel! There is power in the name of Jesus! JESUS SAVES! OUR WORLD NEEDS SALVATION! I love how Tony Merida says it, “Keep exalting Christ in cities filled with idols.” He continues on to say, “We are made to worship, but not to worship idols.”

OUR JOB IS TO EXALT CHRIST AND MAKE HIM KNOWN! LET’S BE FAITHFUL TO DO THAT!

· Listen to what happens next! We might expect some miraculous conversion, or the fire of God coming down upon the crowd, but instead, we read, “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.”- Acts 19:35-41

o The town clerk arrives and steps in. Basically, in the midst of everything going on, he calms the crowd and reminds them that no one is stopping the worship of Artemis; it is a choice and that these Christians aren’t breaking the law.

§ He then urges the crowd to go through the judicial system instead of rioting, not because he disagrees, but because he wants to protect himself!

· I can’t say tis is an example of a HUGE WIN for the believers, but at least they don’t die!

o It isn’t a “God’s not Dead” style showdown with evil where the evil person converts and apologizes. I know we love that, but that’s not real life. Real life is us FAITHFULLY REACHING A COMMUNITY OVER TIME!

o PATIENCE IS A HUGE PART OF EVANGELISM AND OF OUR FAITH!

o I also want to be clear; God is sovereign and is at work in this. It’s somewhat like what God does in Esther as we talked about at the beginning of our time together!

§ This crowd in Acts 19 could absolutely kill the believers, just as Esther could have been killed alongside the Jewish people. But, in both situations, GOD WAS GOOD AND SAVED THEM FROM THEIR DESTRUCTION!

· To apply that to us, even in the times where we feel alone and like God is nowhere to be found, we have to understand that GOD IS AT WORK! LET’S TRUST GOD AT ALL TIMES!

· In Acts 20:1, we read the conclusion to this scene. Honeestly, it’s a littler underwhelming. There still isn’t any of the punishment we may want if we were persecuted like this! Instead, we read, “After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.”- Acts 20:1

o Instead of punishment, we see peacefulness from the believers. They move forward in their lives, FORGIVING THOSE WHO WRONGED THEM! WE NEED TO DO THE SAME!

o Paul calls the disciples together and encourages them and leaves.

§ I know it may sound like he’s running from a dangerous situation, but that’s not true! Think about what we just saw!

· Paul has seen the Asiarchs and other Ephesians rise up and protect themselves! They have defended their faith and each other; they have shown care for one another!

o They have grown and they don’t NEED HIM ANYMORE!

§ Instead, Paul can continue on his way.

o As Paul prepares to leave, he calls for the disciples and he EXHORTS THEM TO CONTINUE ON! What would he have said? He would have reminded them of the gospel they were taught!

§ Why do I say this? BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT PAUL DID! He preached the gospel, he appointed elders as led by the Lord, the elders and Paul strove together, alongside one another, to build discipleship in the body of believers, they encouraged perseverance TOGETHER and then as Paul left, he reminded believers of the basics of the gospel.

· Where else do we see this? IN TITUS and in 1 and 2 Timothy! Don’t forget, Timothy, when 1 and 2 Timothy were written was in Ephesus! The Ephesians are in many ways a model of a church! They are a church that has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

o Just think about the start of Acts 19! THE ENTIRE REGION HEARS THE GOSPEL IN 2 YEARS! But then, think about the church in Revelation. The same church is rebuked for a LACK OF LOVE OF THE LORD!

§ They’ve seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Unfortunately, it seems like the lows have worn them out and instead of keeping their eyes on the Lord, they have turned inward and lost sight of the Great Commission!

· CONCLUSION: And honestly, that point about Ephesus losing sight of the Great Commission is where I think we should find our conclusion and application from. In Acts 18-19, we have seen God’s faithfulness to the church in Ephesus. We’ve also seen persecution and attempts by satan to stop God.

o Yet, it has always failed! GOD IS FAR GREATER! If you are here today, hear me on this; GOD WINS! THERE’S NO MYSTERY. Satan cannot stop God. GOD WILL WIN!

o So why don’t we remember that? What does forgetting that cost us? Well, let’s take a second to flesh that out.

§ Truthfully, I think our forgetting starts innocently enough. It starts because we go through a difficult time and we think, “Why isn’t God protecting me?”

· It seems innocent! But, then we begin to extrapolate that out. It goes from, “Lord, I don’t see you,” to “God doesn’t care” which then becomes, “I have to make God care” which we try to do through our own perfection.

o BUT WHEN THAT HAPPENS, WE LOSE THE GOSEPL!

§ The gospel is simple! The gospel is that WE CAN’T DO IT! WE ABSOLUTELY CANNOT SAVE OURSELVES OR THE WORLD!

§ What we are called to do is to proclaim the gospel to everyone and that really is not about us; it is all about God!

o So let’s make a simple challenge from what we’ve seen in Acts 18-19. Let’s commit to keeping our eyes on God! Let’s commit to gathering together to serve the Lord!

§ What we see in Ephesus is a church of imperfect people that gather together to support one another as they serve the Lord together!

· They are not perfect; they fall short, just as everyone has fallen short! But, they work together, reminding one another of the goodness of the gospel and they are faithful to LIVE OUT what God has called them to do.

· Now, what is that? THAT’S THE GREAT COMMISSION! Yes, we’ve talked about this the last few weeks, but I can’t stress enough how important this is!

o What does it say? Remember, Jesus tells the disciples to go into all the world, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”- Matthew 28:19-20

§ In Ephesus, we have seen a progression! They hear the gospel, they go and make disciples, proclaiming Jesus to everyone they meet!

§ Then, last week, we saw how they stood by one another, helping new believers; TEACHING THE NEW BELIEVERS ALL THAT JESUS COMMANDED THEM!

· Then, this week, we see that even in the most difficult of times, they have confidence in Jesus! They truly believe that promise from Matthew 28:20 that, “JESUS IS WITH YOU ALWAYS, TO THE END OF THE AGE.”

o The believers are confident in it! Are you? (FIFTH GEAR!) Do you live your life sold out for God, taking your faith with you?

§ Do you live knowing that no matter what someone does to you here, you can have confidence in Jesus?

o A man who believed this was Hudson Taylor. If you can’t tell by now, I have an unashamed “bromance” with Hudson Taylor. I think he was awesome! In 1868, Hudson Taylor found himself in Yangzhou, China, establishing a new work. While in Yangzhou, there was a legitimate riot, very similar to Acts 19:21-41.

§ The mission that he had established was literally burned to the ground. It was no more. Seemingly, the gospel had been defeated. The English government even debated ordering the missionaries to leave. In fact, there was almost a war over this! Even in England, Hudson Taylor was seen as a villain!

§ God had other plans though. Hudson Taylor left for a time, to return soon after. When he returned many received the gospel! He called them to repent from their idolatry and to EXALT JESUS! THAT’S THE CENTRAL MISSION OF OUR LIVES! WE ARE TO GIVE PRAISE TO GOD AND TO HAVE FAITH! WE MUST PROCLAIM JESUS TO THE WORLD!

· God used what looked like failure and something that could have easily scared Hudson off, to instead make him double down!

o Hudson Taylor, like the Ephesians, was confident that Jesus was with him and he was faithful to proclaim the gospel even when it wasn’t popular!

§ ARE YOU CONFIDENT IN JESUS? ARE YOU READY TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL NO MATTER THE COST?

· As we wrap up, I can’t help but challenge us. Jesus has given us a mission and Jesus has given us a promise. We MUST remind one another of the fact that Jesus is with us! On the hardest of days, CLING TO JESUS DEAR CHRISTIAN! CLING TO JESUS AND PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL!

o Even in your pain and your discomfort, let your faith be clear through how you respond to trial!

o Be like Paul and the Ephesian believers! Be resilient, be quick to share your faith and lean on that final phrase of the Great Commission; dear brothers and sisters, KNOW THAT JESUS IS WITH YOU! GO IN THAT KNOWLEDGE!

§ Let’s pray.