"Why Are We Here?"

Acts 19:23–41 ESV

About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. 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.” 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. 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. 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!” 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.

           We’re back in Ephesus today on Paul’s third missionary journey, and we’re going to hear of “a great disturbance about the Way;” there was a great disturbance about Christianity. As we come to this passage, there’s a historical piece we can’t neglect. As much as I like geography and learning about the ancient world, there’s so much more to still learn. Maybe most of you already know this fact, but I didn’t. We’re going to hear in verse 27 about “the temple of the great goddess Artemis.” In different parts of Scripture, we read about idols and high places and temples to other gods and so maybe we lump it in with them, but this temple was kind of a big deal.

It was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. It was a stunning work of architecture and culture and religion that people knew about. It went through some destruction and rebuilding. One of the first designs is believed to have been 425 feet, or about 142 yards, long, by 225 feet, or 75 yards, wide. If you think about the whole surface of turf or grass at a football field, including sidelines and beyond the endzones, you’re getting close. It had 127 columns believed to have been 60 feet high and 4 feet in diameter—6 stories tall. By Paul’s day, it was a little bit smaller. It’s believed to have been 344 by 180 feet, but the columns still stood at 58 feet tall. You see the model on the screen, which really doesn’t seem to do it justice. A lot of what you see is the pillars, they surrounded the interior altar and sacred religious spaces.

           This is really important to keep in mind—yes, its’ another religion, which we recognize as false, and hopeless, worthless idolatry—but we can begin to grasp the gravity of what this meant to many of the people back then. Money and work and more than a century had been poured into this temple; strength and artistic detail shaped it. This was what they thought their goddess deserved. So, when the Christian gospel started to permeate the people and beliefs of this area, and start to take away from that culture, these non-believing citizens and businessmen were not happy.

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, “The assembly was in confusion. Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.” Once again, there’s a lot in this passage that is familiar to us if you’ve been following along in this series. This wasn’t the first time Christians faced opposition for their missionary endeavors. This wasn’t the first time that private businesses had been negatively impacted by the spread of the gospel. Back in chapter 16, Paul and Silas ended up in the Philippian jail after exorcising an evil spirit from a girl. They were jailed because the men, who enslaved her to profit off her ability to tell fortunes, had lost their income. This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve come across angry crowds. If I asked you to put this account in your own words, with our vocabulary today, I’m guessing I’d hear terms like a mob, rioters, agitators—words that have a lot of baggage in the present. While Luke tells us that there was confusion, that the majority didn’t even know why they were there—at least the core that had started this knew they wanted to get rid of Paul and his associates at all costs.

           I wonder what it might have been like if a news reporter had been around back then—someone who’d stick a microphone in peoples’ faces trying to interview them. “What brought you out today? Why are you here?” Rather than having a clear and concise answer, most people would be trying their hardest to avoid the reported, or they’d stammer something, or you’d get one answer from one person but the person next to them had a completely different reason. Assumedly what brought people out is they didn’t want to miss out on whatever this was.

Maybe as you listened to the passage, your mind has drifted to the recent protests that originated with the death of George Floyd while in police custody on May 25. Theoretically, anyone and everyone who’s been involved in any type of protesting could be united in the cause, “We’re here to protest what we believe was unjust treatment by a police officer or officers. We’re protesting what Officer Chauvin did as contributing to or causing his death.” Many people would add race played a role in that. If you’ve followed the growth and spread of protests across our country and around the world—not just after George Floyd, but similar protests in recent years, many who join in and carry on with protests have twisted what the initial cause is.

           There are those who peacefully protest until appropriate or satisfactory criminal charges are handed down and steps towards justice are seen. But there are also those who are violent towards law enforcement, those who loot and destroy stores, who break property and set ablaze structures and cause mayhem across miles. To ask those people why they’ve done what they have results in many different responses, some of which truthfully had nothing to do with George Floyd’s death. That’s not just true in Minneapolis, but it’s true in Portland which has had protests for coming up on 90 straight days. It’s true in Chicago, where protests or riots sporadically break out even when unjust things haven’t been done. Maybe people give an answer that they come out to events like these, organized or unorganized, peaceful or destructive, because of issues regarding racism or abusive law enforcement or discrimination—but there ends up being a lot of confusion.

           I’m making this connection because I can’t help but think Ephesus wasn’t too different from some of our cities on this day. What apparently united many of them, though, was religion. They could agree, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” If you could be on board with that, then you had a reason to be in that crowd, a reason to stick around even if you had no idea that this all started with Demetrius and his fellow tradesmen, even if you had no idea about this Paul character or Jesus or the Way. Maybe some thought this was a worship parade, a new holiday for Artemis. Yet by the end, some sense and order were brought into this chaos. The city clerk reminded the people that there were proper procedures according to their law to deal with things. If they continued to break those procedures, they’d be in trouble themselves.

           Here’s my point: as we consider this passage and the call for believers of any point in time, but especially now in a time of division and tension and the ability for anyone to broadcast their ideas and people picking up those ideas, it is important that those professing the name of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior use good discernment and clarity. When it comes to our speech, our writing, our actions in public, our comments that can be shared or heard or viewed by more than just those we intend, we have to be careful. When we look at protests, when we see movements, whether our tendency is to criticize, mock, dismiss them quickly or to jump right in with passion, it’s vital that we exercise godly wisdom. It’s vital that we know what we believe, what Scripture says about things, and be able to express why we’re a part of certain things. Some of us might find ourselves on opposite sides of different issues, sometimes that’s okay—but we should be knowledgeable of that which we stand for and speak or act on out of our faith.

           With that in mind, I want to turn Luke’s observation in verse 32 to us. Again, that verse says, “Most of the people did not even know why they were there,” I want each of us to consider, “Why are you here?” I don’t just mean why did you come to this place of worship, Baldwin Christian Reformed Church, and gather with these people today, or why did those of you tuning in online decide to do that, to listen to this sermon, to participate in this service. I’m asking this question to be about our faith, our hope, what drives us, what comforts us, challenges us, influences how we vote and advocate? What expectations do we hold for ourselves and others?

           In our passage what drove Demetrius, the silversmith, was in part his business, his trade—he enjoyed making money by making shrines. But that wasn’t all. Verse 27, “There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited.” He was worried about the structure and the institution of his religion and all that entailed for believers. He went on, “and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.” He didn’t want his goddess to be opposed, to be belittled, to be tossed aside, to be robbed—whether his fear was what he felt she deserved or what he believed she might do in anger if not enough people held her in high esteem. That was why Demetrius did what he did. That is why he was there that day.

           What can be said about us, though. about you and I? If we play by Demetrius’ rules, by the world’s game, then the way we’ll talk about our faith is that we just want to see our building or congregation’s name continue so that we might feel successful, to continue on would mean that we were rightly part of something meaningful and lasting. If we follow the same thinking as Demetrius, we’ll keep showing up because that’s what we’re supposed to do. We’ll say God deserves x number of worship services attended or a certain frequency to my participation in religious events. If this is why we show up on Sunday or why we tell others we’re a Christian, then we’ve made it all about ourselves, all about our works, what we’re doing to try and make God happy. Maybe we say we’re here to try and impress him, but really we’re doing things to try and make ourselves feel good enough. Demetrius had standards he was trying to uphold; sometimes we land on that track, too.

           None of that is the gospel. That’s not what Jesus commissioned his disciples to shepherd people toward. Much of that essentially fits with what the Old Testament Israelites tried to do—to convince themselves they had done enough to deserve God’s covenant love, having the mindset that he should stick around with them, that he shouldn’t punish them for their wicked ways, because after all, every so often they did the right thing.

The Old Testament records multiple times when God expressed his displeasure for what had become meaningless offerings from Israel. In Isaiah 1:14 and 15, God says, “Your New Moon Festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you.” What did God desire? Verses 16 and 17, “…Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” In Psalm 51, David testifies how he could bring all sorts of things to the Lord to try and satisfy him, to make up for what he had done with Uriah and Bathsheba, to pay for his own sin. Yet he recognized and confessed his need was for God’s purification and renewal from sin. Verse 17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

It is so easy for the pursuit of professing Christians to pious and godly living to detour away from the focus of gratitude to God and instead to be about serving self-interest or what we’d want. Why any of us “here” so to speak, professing Christ, living in and with faith is because we need repentance from sin and God’s forgiveness in our lives. We need these things, which by his election of us, he invites and accepts us in.

If someone asks us why we are a Christian, part of our response ought to be that our identity from the moment of conception is that of a sinner. Sinners must be drawn to repent of their sin before the God who is real, the God who made us, the God who cares about us, and the God who has the right to judge how we live in respect to him and everything else. Why are we Christians? Because we need the forgiveness and hope of renewal and eternal life that God alone provides though Jesus. We want those things, not only because they’ll make us feel better, we get something out of them, but because this is God’s desire for all who he has chosen for salvation. God is doing something, and he wants us, those called to faith, to be part of it, because his work pleases him.

Why are we here, why are we seeking to live in faith and grow in faith—it’s not just a thing that we’re supposed to do. It’s not just what “good people” do or what “real Americans” do. How can we know whether or not we should take communion? How can any individual know if he or she should consider themselves part of the church, part of those who genuinely celebrate and take great comfort in the sacrifice of Jesus is if they are drawn to experience God’s grace? Our church’s mission statement sums it up well, we desire to be rooted in God’s word, growing in the faith, and to lead a godly and fruitful life in the world. Scripture calls us to shine the light of Jesus in a world of darkness. We commit ourselves to worship him, to read and study and obey his word because it draws us closer to him. Truthfully and genuinely, with this in place, we want to praise him and show him to others. All of this can only happen if God is at work in us.

Our faith is not simply to be summarized in attendance numbers or staying below a certain number of sins. If you or I are asked not just do you believe, but why do you do what you do, the answer is that God has drawn us closer to himself and has created in us a desire to do what we do. Every part of our lives deserves to submit to God, to be guided by our faith, not in our ideas of religion, but guided by our faith in him. We ought to care greatly about Christian matters and the glory of God as much as, if not more, then Demetrius cared about Artemis. The most important things, though, are not what we create, but it’s the things which God has instructed us in and promised us of. The message of salvation and of loving God by obedience to him and loving our neighbors as ourselves—God’s truth should be alive in us as we do those things. We ought to be passionate for what God is passionate about, which he presents us with in his word.

So again, we are called to practice wisdom and discernment, which leads us to know our beliefs and the truths of God for the times we live in. We must be careful not to fall into the pit of works and serving ourselves but saying we’re serving God. Finally, to recognize genuine faith in ourselves, we will see God at work before and through and forever with us. Amen.