Ephesus

Ephesus was, as we said, a centre of power: magic power, political power, religious power. And Paul’s ministry demonstrated that the power of the name of the Lord Jesus was stronger than all of them.

N. T. Wright

I feel we lose sight of this all too often.

We can have programs, we can have outreach, we can have church, we can have fellowship, but unless we realize it is all through the power of the name Jesus Christ, we have nothing.

I pray that we never lose sight of this.

I pray everyday that the Holy Spirit will use my words and my actions to bring glory and honor to Christ and not David Richard.

Today, we will look at Paul’s ministry in Ephesus and there is a part that concerns me.

There is several denominations that read Acts 19:6 which we will discuss more here in a minute and say that you must have a second baptism in which you speak in tongues.

Notice, this loses sight of the power of the name Jesus Christ and puts an action that is required on the person...giving him the power and not the Holy Spirit.

The only requirement we have is to have faith and a humble, repentant heart.

I am reminded of Luke 18:13

Luke 18:13 CSB

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’

I continue to pray everyday, that we see ourselves no more than a sinner in need of grace and mercy and that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit, God in us, that we have everything.

Not somethings, but everything.

There once was a man pushing a car, trying to get it to start. He would push it and jump in to pop the clutch...nothing. He did this several times, and he was exhausted.

Finally, he decides to open the hood to see what was wrong, only to find the engine had be stolen.

Many Christians are exhausted, trying to serve God through sheer willpower—acting like a car with no engine. The Holy Spirit is the motor. Without Him, you can push all you want, but you aren't going anywhere fast.

Acts 19 addresses this and it is my prayer that this message gives you hope and a better understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Before I get into the message, I must give you a bit of background.

Acts 19 is considered a mini Pentecost. Now when we read it, it does not seem to be much time between Pentecost that happens in Acts 2 to what happens in chapter 19, but it is actually 20-25 years between the two.

Paul is in the midst of his third missionary journey and he spends a majority of his time here in Ephesus. He spends approximately 3 years here. He spent so long here because of the Evangelistic opportunities, but also because of the great opposition against the church in this area.

Also Ephesus was considered the middle major hub of the known world, so establishing a strong church in this city was extremely critical for the growth of the church around the world.

Ephesus was a major port city, and because of this there were many different cultures and religions coming together in one place.

We need to understand this point because of the cultural and historical significance that helps us understand the verses we are about to read.

Before we start, let’s pray.

I have the power!

Acts 19:1–7 CSB

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” “No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” “Into what then were you baptized?” he asked them. “Into John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy. Now there were about twelve men in all.

As most of you know, I was born in the 70’s, and grew up in the 80’s.

Growing up then, we had some of the best cartoons ever. Thundercats, Gijoe

One of those cartoons is being made into a movie, that I will go watch.

He-man and the masters of the universe.

How many of you remember this cartoon?

Prince Adam was a skinny nothing of a kid, until he raised up the sword of power and speak. By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!

Looking back, it is very cheesy and corny, but as a kid I loved it.

I bring this up, because it seems some who read this verse, think that the Holy Spirit is some kind of power that has to manifest itself in a second baptism.

Almost like holding up the sword of power and speaking some kind of mantra.

They read verse 6 without taking the complete context of the verses before.

What is actually going on here is not a second baptism, but a case of incomplete knowledge.

These 12 men had heard of Christ’s coming through John the Baptist and was baptized under repentance.

But these men did not hear of Christ’s death and resurrection nor knew of the Holy Spirit’s decent upon man.

Paul takes the time to explain to them about the difference between John’s Baptism and a believer’s baptism.

Then when Paul laid hands on them, they began to speak in tongues (other languages...remember that this was a port city with many different languages) and prophesied.

This was a confirmation of their inclusion into the church...confirmation, not practice.

We have discussed tongues here before, but what about prophecy.

Most of us think of prophecy as foretelling the future, but that is not all of what prophecy is.

Biblical prophecy is a message directly from God, delivered through a chosen person (a prophet) to communicate His will, warn against sin, or reveal future events. While often associated with predicting the future, it is primarily "forthtelling"—speaking God’s truth to the present situation to encourage repentance, comfort, and edification.

What is forthtelling?

Proclaiming God’s message for the current time, often involving calls to repentance, warnings of judgment, or comfort.

Some of you has described to me of a time speaking with someone who is either lost or hurting.

Some have said that they started to remember bible verses and was able to guide that person or give that person comfort from god’s word.

And you sit there afterwards and wonder where did that come from.

That is the Holy Spirit giving you forthtelling prophecy.

The Holy Spirit gave you the words to either bring about repentance or words of comfort and edification.

Prophecy does not have to be...the end times will start Tuesday so go sell your homes cause you will not be here next Wednesday.

Acts 19:1-7 is important to the modern church.

I gave that line of understanding between John the Baptist and his baptism of repentance and what we consider the believers baptism one of faith and humility.

These verses also emphases that receiving the Holy Spirit is essential to the Christian faith and this is evident with the fruit of the spirit in our lives.

There is one more things about those cartoons I spoke about earlier that I loved so much...it was how truth prevailed over darkness.

Truth Over Darkness

Acts 19:11–20 CSB

God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, so that even facecloths or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. Now some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem. And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. In this way the word of the Lord spread and prevailed.

This is such a great story. There are two phrases that stand out that we will look at.

The first is “God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands”. The way this is phrased is extremely important. It wasn’t Paul doing the miracles.

He wasn’t running around a stage with a towel like some TV Evangelist do. Hitting people with the towel and watching people fall out.

This was God doing the miracles healing the sick and removing the evil spirits.

The second phrase is when the seven sons of Sceva said “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!”

These Jewish exorcist would travel around to preform these exorcisms for money.

They would follow a ritual that was handed down for generations. They would use incense, blood applications and play music to do the rituals to remove evil spirits.

The major difference between the two is a relationship verses a ritual.

Jesus is not a magical tool to be manipulated for personal gain or power, but a savior with whom to have a relationship.

It is seeing authentic power over imitation.

True spiritual authority comes from God and aligns with the Gospel, contrasting with the superficial, formulaic attempts of the exorcists.

The issue today is that we rely on rituals and flagrant Imitation of Christianity, that we become scared of true relationship and authentic power of the Holy Spirit.

And guess what even the demons know who is a true believer and who isn’t.

The part of this story that is missed or just glanced over is how the demons beat them boys so bad that they sent them out completely naked.

This is important because in this time in history, for a man to run away naked was a source of profound shame and disgrace.

Nakedness often represents social ruin, captivity, and exposure before God's judgment, like during the Babylon capture

Isaiah 47:3 CSB

Your nakedness will be uncovered, and your disgrace will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

Their disgrace had such an impact on the area that the people took their magical items and burned them in public. $50k pieces of silver worth. In today’s value you are looking at 5 million dollars worth.

We read these verses and all we see is the speaking in tongues, the prophesying, the fact that Paul’s hankies were healing people, and that the demons beat up some goofballs.

But we lose sight on the major point of it all...it isn’t about our display of power but the glory and honor that the power of the Holy Spirit shows.

So much more would be done for the Kingdom of God if we worked harder on our relationship with Christ than trying to show the world the rituals we can do.

When we bow before authentic power rather than search for a good imitation.