Sermon Tone Analysis

This is another great story about Paul and the effect that Christ is having on the society around it.

And if you read between the lines here you will notice that Opposition comes with success, especially when it comes to spiritual matters.

Acts

If there is something good that is happening in the world of Christianity you can bet that there is going to be some measure of opposition.

That is just the way it works.

Opposition comes with success.

The Christians who Paul had witnessed to in Ephesus where not just calling themselves Christians but they were living like Christians and that changed the world around them.

It really made a difference.

Just the minimal background here.

Ephesus was a major town, around half a million people lived there.

It was on the coast and was a harbor town that made trade a no brainer.

You will notice that most of the towns that Paul goes to are large metropolitan, important cities.

And that is probably intentional since he is trying to spread the word of Jesus to as many people as he can and going to the large, populated cities would accomplish that for him.

Ephesus was one of these cities.

Now the god of Ephesus was this god named Artemus, or the Roman name would be Diana and was known as a fertility god.

Apparently a meteor fell from the sky near the area and someone took it and carved an image of this goddess and they worshiped it as if it came from heaven.

There was a huge temple made to Artemis where this rock lived, which is actually considered one of the 7wonders of the ancient world.

Picture of Reconstruct This is what the temple would have looked like

Picture of Ruins This is what it looks like today.

This shrine was so important to that world that there was an economy because of it.

There were actually businesses that would make little replicas of Artemis’ temple which they would sell to travelers and pilgrims to the area.

Shrine making was big business everywhere.

For Ephesus it could have been one of the pillars of it’s economy.

Shrine making was big business everywhere.

For Ephesus it could be the basis of it’s economy.

So you can imagine how the shrine making community would react to Paul and the Christians who claim that “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not live in temples made by man.

The story is in effect a statement that Christians do not constitute a danger to the state and a plea that they be treated with toleration in a pluralistic society; only when properly defined criminal charges can be preferred against them should they be summoned before the courts

They were essentially saying.

This little trinket is not God, does not represent God.

If you really want to know who the real God is, know that it’s not in these little silver boxes.

So then we meet Demetrius: He is a craftsman, and he is actually an organizer.

He is angry about this Paul and the effect Pauls message is having on his livelihood.

He makes little temple replicas, remember.

This is his job and his bottom line is affected.

Oh yeah, Paul is also disrespecting his god!

Interesting that Paul, a human, could have created such a problem for this “god”.

But there is a lot to lose for Demetrius, Ephesus being an important trade city.

Lots of travel coming to and from.

Lots of people would take a souvenir home/shrine to the Goddess.

It affected their economy, their income 26-27

Losing their living, They fear and they form a mob.

It affected their judgement.

v22

They dragged Gaius and Aristarchus who were guys that knew Paul.

They were his traveling companions.

They are trying to find any way to express themselves regarding this potential problem.

It affected their understanding of God.

27

34 They were in the theater for 2 hours screaming “great is the Artemis of the Ephesians” This is a mob and the mob can be a dangerous thing.

So dangerous that there were laws put into place against it.

34 They were in the theater for 2 hours screaming “great is the Artemis of the Ephesians” This is a mob and the mob can be a dangerous thing.

So dangerous that there were laws put into place against it.

The way is being persecuted—its being opposed—because of the power it possesses to change the hearts of people, which affect the world around them. and that is what it is.

True power.

True life changing power over sin, power over temptation.

Power over eternity for those who submit to it.

The people who heard the message of Paul and the message of other Christian preachers are surrendering their lives to Christ, they are doing what Jesus said; they are taking up their crosses and they are following Him and the world around them sees it and feels it.

The message for them is that Jesus Christ is the only way to the one true God and that he isn’t a God that could be made with human hands.

He is beyond that, he is different than that.

Interesting that Paul, a human, could have created such a problem for this “god”.

But there is a lot to lose for Demetrius, Ephesus being an important trade city.

Lots of travel coming to and from.

Lots of people would take a souvenir home/shrine to the Goddess.

It affected their economy, their income 26-27

Losing their living, They fear and they form a mob.

It affected their judgement.

v22

They dragged Gaius and Aristarchus who were guys that knew Paul.

They were his traveling companions.

They are trying to find any way to express themselves regarding this potential problem.

It affected their understanding of God.

27

In Ephesus, They aren’t buying those little trinkets anymore and the town isn’t getting all the money that they were getting.

And they can see it, they can feel it.

They believed in Artemis (Diana in the Greek) Rock fell from the sky.

So they basically freak out and panic.

They start a riot and are just going crazy.

Until the town clerk shows up.

He is the magistrate.

He has a lot to lose if things get out of hand.

Remember that Ephesus is a Roman territory and Rome is kind of hands off as long as everybody gets along.

We don’t know his name but he comes in to try and talk some sense into everybody.

34 They were in the theater for 2 hours screaming “great is the Artemis of the Ephesians” This is a mob and the mob can be a dangerous thing.

So dangerous that there were laws put into place against it.

Town Clerk (wise and pays attention)

Calms the Crowd Not a Christian, not a follower, not even interested in anything other than making sure that this riot stops.

This is when we meet the town clerk.

Don’t know his name but we know that he has the mind to calm everybody down.

He doesn’t see a reason to feed into this crowd and he does his best to quiet them down.

He says, look, we all know how great the god Artemis is, we all know that she is great.

Don’t do anything rash.

We don’t need to.

We don’t want to be charged with the crime of starting a riot.

Let’s just move on.

And he says something very interesting that is very easy to miss.

What he says about the followers of the way, is very telling.

Verse 37 here says that the guys they brought charges against haven’t actually done anything wrong according to their gods, their religion etc.

Acts 19:37-

What the town clerk notices about the Christians is not necessarily what they are doing but he notices what they aren’t doing.

He notices what they are not doing.

They aren’t rallying They aren’t being disrespectful They aren’t rioting.

They aren’t being sac-religious to Artemis.