Opposition to the gospel

Robert Guilliams

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

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Last week we talked about the seven sons of Sceva and what happened to them when they tried to use the name of Jesus against an evil spirit without having a relationship and faith in the person of Jesus. Before we continue reading this morning I want to go back and talk just a little bit about what happened after this incident with these sons of Sceva. We read these verses last week but didn’t really get a chance to talk about them. So let’s look back at verses 17-20. This picks up right after the demon possessed man has turned on the seven sons and beaten them and they run away naked and wounded.

Acts 19:17–20 CSB

17 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. 18 And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, 19 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. 20 In this way the word of the Lord flourished and prevailed.

So the Bible says that this incident brought fear on everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Gentiles. From this point forward people thought twice before using the name of Jesus inappropriately. And I mean, can you blame them? Seven men used the name of Jesus inappropriately and they got beaten for it. Then it says that many of the people who had been practicing magic, so other people like these seven sons of Sceva, brought their spell books and burned them. And because Luke loves to put little details like this in there he tells you that the cost of the books that were burned was 50,000 pieces of silver. Now that sounds like a whole lot to us, but in our modern culture we have kind of lost the concept of just how much he’s talking about here. We have a hard time grasping just how much money this is. So let me break it down for you a little. During biblical times a typical salary for a laborer would have been about 1 piece of silver like what Luck is talking about here. So if the collected value of the books and scrolls that were burned was 50,000 pieces of silver, it would have taken a single laborer, working every day of the year, with no days off, 137 years to make enough money to pay for them.

Or let’s translate it into modern value. The average American worker makes somewhere around $24.50 per hour, which for an 8 hour work day translates to $196 per day. Now remember, this is the average, I’m not saying everyone makes this amount. Some will make much less and some will make much more, but that’s the average of all of them put together. But that’s what we’re looking at with the 1 piece of silver per day wage in the Bible, so it works out. If we take that $196 per day and multiply that by 50,000 days it comes out to $9,800,000. So almost $10 million dollars worth of books. That’s a LOT of books.

Now there are two things that I want us to see from this passage. First, magic had been a part of life for these people before they became believers in Christ. Most people in Ephesus dabbled in various kinds of magic and sorcery. Until the incident with Sceva’s sons, new Christians didn’t necessarily consider this behavior to be evil But now, seeing how they should treat the name of Jesus they gladly rid themselves of the past. They confess and they destroy their magic paraphernalia.

Second, they separated themselves from sin, but this act of separation was not enforced by the church. These believers decided on their own, prompted by the way they understood God’s will for their lives. For Christians, separation from sin ought to be an obvious norm of behavior. We should want to be separated from sin when we come to faith in Christ. Sin cannot be in the presence of God and our desire to be closer to Him should overwhelm our desire to sin. Our desire to be in God’s presence should drive us to want to separate ourselves from our old lives and from any practice that would keep us separated from God.

Apparently, this separation from their old ways, from the magic that they used to practice was good, because Luke tells us in verse 20, “In this way the word of the Lord flourished and prevailed.” And really, why would we expect it to be otherwise? When the Spirit of truth clashes with the spirit of evil, there is no contest—God always wins. Here in Ephesus we see what can happen when people truly turn themselves over to the Lord. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, the gospel spread to the point that every person living in the region of Asia had access to it. They all had the opportunity to hear. And then in this section that we’ve just read we see the gospel flourishing even in the face of demonic activity.

Now let’s continue reading with the next couple of verses in chapter 19.

Now let’s continue reading

Acts 19:21–22 CSB

These 2 verses seem a little confusing. Paul has begun this third missionary journey and things seem to be going very well here in Ephesus. We’ve seen the spread of the gospel and the power of the name of Jesus. But here, Paul suddenly says, “I’m heading back to Jerusalem and then I need to go to Rome.” It seems like he’s about to cut this journey short, but in order to get back to Jerusalem it says that he resolved to pass through Macedonia and Achaia. Now from Ephesus, Jerusalem was to the southeast, but Macedonia and Achaia were west. That’s the first confusing part. He’s going to head west to get to a city that is to his southeast. But, maybe he wanted to go visit some of the places he had already been on his previous journey, so we can overlook that for now. But the really confusing part, at least to me, is that after announcing that he is going to go to Macedonia and Achaia, and then on to Jerusalem and eventually to Rome Paul then sends Timothy and Erastus on to Macedonia ahead of him and Luke says that Paul himself stayed in Asia for a while. Wait, what? You announce that you’re cutting things short and heading home, but then you decide to go the wrong direction, and then you stay where you are and send someone else ahead of you? Like I said, confusing.

Acts 19:21–41 CSB

21 After these events, Paul resolved by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “It is necessary for me to see Rome as well.” 22 After sending to Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. 23 About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way. 24 For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen. 25 When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said: “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business. 26 You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods. 27 Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world worship.” 28 When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions. 30 Although Paul wanted to go in before the people, the disciples did not let him. 31 Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent word to him, pleading with him not to venture into the amphitheater. 32 Some were shouting one thing and some another, because the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Some Jews in the crowd gave instructions to Alexander after they pushed him to the front. Motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 35 When the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “People of Ephesus! What person is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash. 37 For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess. 38 So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, the courts are in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you seek anything further, it must be decided in a legal assembly. 40 In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting for what happened today, since there is no justification that we can give as a reason for this disturbance.” 41 After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

Acts 19:

Now this next section that I’m going to read is long but it’s all one story so it’s best to read the whole thing together. So after Paul has announced he’s going to leave, go the wrong way, and then ends up staying put we read this beginning in verse 23.

Acts 19:23–41 CSB

23 About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way. 24 For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen. 25 When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said: “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business. 26 You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods. 27 Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world worship.” 28 When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions. 30 Although Paul wanted to go in before the people, the disciples did not let him. 31 Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent word to him, pleading with him not to venture into the amphitheater. 32 Some were shouting one thing and some another, because the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Some Jews in the crowd gave instructions to Alexander after they pushed him to the front. Motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 35 When the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “People of Ephesus! What person is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash. 37 For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess. 38 So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, the courts are in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you seek anything further, it must be decided in a legal assembly. 40 In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting for what happened today, since there is no justification that we can give as a reason for this disturbance.” 41 After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

So like I said, a long section of scripture, but what do we see here? What’s going on? It’s really the same old story that we’ve seen time and time again, in Jerusalem, in Philippi, in Thessalonica, in Corinth, and now in Ephesus. The gospel starts interfering with the schemes that unscrupulous men have devised to separate people from their money and they don’t like it. In Jerusalem it was the priests who were getting kickbacks from the sale of animals for the sacrifice and from the money changers who ran the exchange tables. Remember the temple had it’s own currency that was the only way people could pay the temple tax and buy the sacrificial animals. The priests were the only ones that could certify that an animal was acceptable for the sacrifice so they made sure that everyone coming bought one of the pre-certified animals in the stalls there at the temple. It was the same in many other places as Paul traveled. In Philippi Paul drove out a demon from a slave woman that allowed her to predict the future. You know if you think about it, this demon must not have been all that good at predicting the future or it would have predicted what Paul was going to do and kept the woman away from him. But putting that aside, Paul drove out the demon which caused the woman’s owners to lose money. Here in Ephesus the gospel has gained such a foothold that the guys who make the little knick-knacks that they sell in the gift shop at the Temple of Artemis are starting to lose money because folks aren’t buying them as much anymore. So of course, they get mad and try to shut things down. But just like we saw previously in Corinth the city officials don’t want to get involved in what is essentially a religious dispute so the city clerk kicks them all out.

Now we have to ask the question, what does all this mean to us? How does this incident with the silversmiths in the city of Ephesus apply to us in the church in America today? Well you have to remember, this isn’t an isolated incident. This is a pattern that we’ve seen repeated over and over again as we’ve gone through the book of Acts. And that pattern has something to say to us. When we begin to see the gospel being shared effectively in an area of our world, the next thing we can expect to see is opposition to the gospel. Think about it. Everywhere we’ve seen Paul go on these three missionary journeys he has shared the gospel and when it starts to take root in an area opposition arises. Whether it’s from the local religious leaders, or the political leaders, or the business leaders, opposition always arises. But what else have we seen throughout this series as Paul has traveled around the Middle East and Asia? Opposition arises, but the gospel continues to thrive and spread doesn’t it? That’s something we need to keep in mind when we are confronted by people who are opposed to the gospel. Because remember, there will ALWAYS be opposition.

I’ve told you before that I’m a huge scifi and fantasy fan. I love Star Trek, and Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings, and comic books, both Marvel and DC. And I know it’s all fiction and sometimes even seems opposed to what we believe as Christians. But every once in a while there will be a nugget from these genres that is just pure gold. One of those nuggets that I love comes from one of my all time favorite superheroes, Captain America. In the movie version of Captain America: Civil War the directors had someone else say this, but in the original comic book it was Cap himself who said this:

Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — "No, you move."

Now that quote is about this country but there is some great stuff in there that applies to us as Christians. It doesn’t matter what the media or the politicians or the public says we should believe. We need to stand up for what the Bible says. We need to stand up for truth. When we’re faced with opposition, when we’re faced with a mob mentality telling us that what we believe is wrong and we need to move on we need to do just what Cap says here in the last sentence. “When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — “No, you move.”

We know the Truth, big T. We know the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that Way, and that Truth and that Life will always prevail no matter the opposition.