Seven Sons of Sceva

Introduction

Do you remember when Harry Potter was labeled Satanic by a bunch of churches? You had a bunch of pastors and churches saying it was the work of the devil because it was all about magic.

When I was in middle school I was at a Barnes & Noble I was going through the Young Adult titles when a man decided to start lecturing me on why I was going to hell for reading such books. because:

Deuteronomy 18:10 ESV

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer

So many people out of fear of God have taken a step back from fantasy novels and anything to do with witchcraft or magic.

But what if I told you there were more magic users in churches than in Hogwarts?

Acts 19 is a story of Miracles vs. Magic, but not the kind of magic we have in mind.

Acts 19:11–20 ESV

11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 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.

Paul’s miracles begin to inspire some copy-cats among the Jews. They try their hand at exorcism - which was under the broad umbrella of magical practices - and end up running away naked and afraid. This then inspires many more to come confess their magic arts and burn their books.

Miracles, Magic, and Exorcisms

Understanding Magic

Our conception of magic and exorcisms is very different from the magic practiced in the ancient world. It wasn’t shouting made-up words and waving sticks around to shoot fireballs, nor was it carving a lovely assistant in half and putting her back together.

Controlling Spiritual Beings

Magic was primarily concerned with controlling the spiritual world around them. And I want to emphasize the controlling aspect that was behind magic. Magic did not ask spirits, gods, or any other spiritual being to pretty please help me out here. It was a way of making the divine being submit to your control because you had power over it.

For example, there was a magical spell found written in Greek that called on beings ranging from assistants of the great god to chief demons, to “do the matter which I demand.”

Of all the ancient magical literature studied there are absolutely zero examples of people trying to do the will of a god, only to control it. Magic was selfish thing.

True Names

The way you got power over a divine being was to know it’s name. Not just like my name is Morgan, but some transcendent name that is woven into my being. By knowing that name you know how to control someone.

The Jews were actually reputed to have much more powerful magic than any other culture. So many ancient magicians, with no faith in the God of Israel, would invoke his name with any possible combination of vowels in between the YHWH.

YoHWoH

YihWaH

Understanding Magic in Acts 19

This is exactly what the seven sons of Sceva are doing with Jesus.

Acts 19:13 ESV

13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”

Paul and his miracles were impressive, and were done through “the name of Jesus!” So here come some Jewish exorcists trying to use the name of Jesus, to control Jesus, to tell Jesus what to do.

They likely know about Jesus to some degree. They might even believe that he has some sort of divinity behind him.

But he’s not their lord

He’s not their God

He’s their tool

Connect It: Modern Magicians

It sounds silly, but magic is alive and well today. Plenty of people treat God as a servant, not a Lord. You’ll find a lot of them in a church building.

Now, stay with me here, and remember what the idea behind magic is. It is the hope that a person will control a god, force a god, to do whatever the person wants instead of submitting to the god.

Have you seen that in God’s people?

Control Through Good Behavior

We might want to try and control God with our good behavior. It follows a logic that:

God is good

It’s good to reward good people

If I am good then God will reward me

This is exactly how Job’s friends think when they come to comfort him in all of his suffering. His friend Eliphaz says

Job 4:8 ESV

8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

You see Job, you’re reaping bad things because you’ve sown them. And they believe the inverse is true as well. If you sow good things, good things will have to spring up in your life!

At best this is a pretty naive world view. But it’s also an insult to God. It doesn’t treat him as the ultimate reward, the Lord of all creation - it treats him as a stepping stool to our materialistic desires.

Some people embrace this world view and they demand their blessings for their good behavior. And if that’s not how life shakes out they get mad and just abandon God for something else that can give them blessings.

Through this mindset faith is not an act of submission to God, but a power used to compel him to respond.

Control Through Worship

We might also try to control God through our worship.

I want you to look at Jeremiah 7, and the lies that people are telling about God.

Jeremiah 7:4 ESV

4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

Jeremiah 7:8–10 ESV

8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?

Here’s the attitude of your average Israelite in Jeremiah’s day.

I can steal if I want to

I can even murder and sleep with another man’s wife

I can worship other gods like Baal, or Molech, or the stars in the heavens

And more importantly, I can get away with it too!

Why would they think they can get away with it? Because after all is said in done they can just go into the temple and have it all taken away by God! I can just go worship him and he’ll have to forgive me.

Here’s the same thought in more modern dress:

I prayed for a bike and didn’t get one. So I stole one and asked for forgiveness.

Because God has to forgive us, right?

We just have to confess our sins

Or just say that we accept Jesus as our personal savior

Or just show up to services on Sunday

And POOF! The sin just goes away! Like magic.

The Problem With Taking Control

It’s not that right worship or right behavior are just bad things that make God roll his eyes. We should be worshipping as best we know how. We should be full of good works.

But when we take those behaviors and say “God, you owe me for this!” We have a serious problem.

That’s how we try to take control of God, now let’s see how it all pans out.

How It All Pans Out

Acts 19:13–14 ESV

13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

These Seven Sons of Sceva come in and it’s monkey see monkey do. Miracles are often preceded by “In the name of Jesus...” and so these seven men use that same name to drive out this unclean spirit. They were using the name of Jesus as a tool to do their bidding.

The power hierarchy is:

The demon is stronger than the exorcists

But the exorcists can control Jesus

Jesus is stronger than the demon

But then...

Acts 19:15–16 ESV

15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Who are you?

Isn’t that the most deflating question you could ever hear? You see it happen with celebrities who think the whole world knows them. “You can’t arrest me, I’m (whoever)!”

The Seven Sons of Sceva are nobody. Remember how we mentioned that in their magical worldview you would gain power over a person if you knew their true name? Well this unclean spirit doesn’t know any of their names and is able to to master them, overpower them, and chase them from the house naked and bleeding.

Connect It: We Really Are Pathetic

If we really think that we can bully God into blessing us, or controlling him with our prayer or behavior, we’re in for a world of hurt.

The name of Jesus is meaningless unless we name him Lord as well.

We can wear the cross necklaces

We can sing the songs

We can call ourselves Christians

But none of that has any power unless we are fully submitting ourselves to Jesus as our Lord.

The text gives us two pictures of what that looks like.

The Proper Attitude

The first picture of submission is found at the beginning of our story.

God Working Through Us

Acts 19:11–12 NIV

11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

There’s the key difference between a miracle and a magic trick. The Jewish exorcists were trying to use God. Paul put himself in a position to be used by God.

Praise the Artist, not the Brush

You look at a great painting, the Mona Lisa, and nobody will say “Wow, the paintbrush did a great job.” Because the brush was just a tool in the hands of a master. You put that same paintbrush in the hands of most other people and nobody cares. The only reason anyone would care about that paintbrush is because da Vinci was the one using it.

We are nothing more than tools in the hands of our master.

This church grows because our master is building his church

Our good works are only good because they have been done in the name of Jesus

Our continued growth and maturity is directed by and empowered by our Lord

In all things we give credit to the master.

There’s the first picture of submission.

Fear and Extolling the Name of Jesus

The second picture of submission is found at the end of the story.

Acts 19:17–18 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.

Acts 19:19–20 ESV

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.

Claiming Jesus as our Lord is costly.

Ephesus was widely known for it’s magical scrolls, books, and charms. That cultural heritage apparently was still carried around by some of Paul’s converts.

The Perfect Tense

Greek grammar is boring, but the believers in verse 18 are described in the perfect tense as “those who had been believers” and I can point you to nine different Greek scholars who agree that the ones confessing in verse 18 are not people who were converted because of what they saw happen to the Sons of Sceva. They were already believers, but they were still closing the lid on their old superstitions. This event was the last nail in the coffin.

After seeing the power of God through Paul, and after seeing the embarrassment of their magic they all bring their books and burn them all. The total cost, we’re told, is 50,000 pieces of silver - that’s nearly 4.5 million today.

Magic, as understood and practiced in Paul’s world, was a selfish pursuit. I am going to make the god or spirit serve me. But full submission to God means I am going to serve him - even if it costs me.

Application

Have we been pursuing God at a cost?

Evangelism is going to cost us our reputation

Charity is going to cost us our time and money

Hospitality is going to cost us our “Me Time”

Or are we only interested in doing the things that don’t cost us?

We can’t hang on to things that used to make us safe

We can’t hang on to our invested time and money

It’s all a loss

Conclusion

God wants that full and complete devotion

That gives up our control

That says “Your will be done”

In a strange twist of events, God will serve those who serve him

Luke 12:37 ESV

37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.

God wants to serve us. But we don’t get that through selfish demands or power trips. By humbly submitting to God, following his will in everything, we find ourselves bowing before a God who will serve us - even by dying on the cross.