The Acts of the Apostles 77

Subtitle: Farewell to the Ephesian Elders I

Acts 20:13-24.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 25, 2024.

Paul is on a ship traveling from Macedonia to Jerusalem by ship along the coast.  It is on this trip that Luke gives us several fore-warnings that Paul is to be taken prisoner at Jerusalem.  Of course, this should be expected at some point because of what the Lord tells Ananias about Paul in Acts 9:16.  “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Back in Acts 19:21, we were told that “Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, ‘After I have been there, I must also see Rome.’”  Added to this resolve that Paul has to go to Jerusalem, will be this farewell speech to the Ephesian elders.  Paul spells out that persecution and tribulations await him in Jerusalem.  Thus, he may never make it back to see them.

There is a time for farewells.  Even when they are for God’s purpose, they are never easy.  Realizing that you may not see loved ones again has a sobering effect, and leads people to focus on what is important to say and do.  We don’t always know when our last time with someone will be, and so wisdom teaches us to treat every interaction with others as extremely important.  We should be better at not leaving things unsaid until it is too late.  Farewells happen for a variety of reasons, but the Christian never needs to fear them.  God will never separate from us all.

Let’s look at our passage.

Paul travels from Troas to Miletus (v. 13-16)

These first four verses simply lay out Paul’s itinerary from Troas to a town called Miletus.  If you look at a map from the first century of the coastal area of Asia Minor, you will see that their ship travels along the coast and inside of the shelter of various islands.  Miletus was a town on the southwest coast of the province of Asia.

We are also told that Paul is hurrying to get to Jerusalem by the feast of Pentecost.  Previously he had left Philippi after the feasts of Passover and Unleavened bread.  There are 50 days between those spring feasts and Pentecost.  Paul had used 12 days getting to Troas and staying there for 7 days.  Thus, he only had 38 days left when he left Troas.  This leads to Paul calling for the Ephesian Elders to come to him at Miletus, so that he can say goodbye.

Paul exhorts the elders of Ephesus (v. 17-24)

When they had gathered, Paul addresses them by first reminding them of his past example before them, especially “what manner I always lived among you.”  Paul did not act in a variety of ways, as if he was not sure about the Lord Jesus Christ.  He did not have a compartmentalized life, nor was he manic in his devotion to Christ.  He was an example of faithfulness to the Lord Jesus in his manner of living.  He lived the way that Christ had commanded his disciples to do.  His manner always pointed back to Jesus. 

Now, it is one thing to be faithful.  Some people are faithfully selfish.  But, it is quite another thing to be faithful in the good thing of living out the commands of Jesus.

Paul had not come to Ephesus to increase his ministry, to make it global.  He was not trying to increase the number of churches sending money to him every month.  In fact, the Holy Spirit had forbade Paul to go into that area when he first tried to go there.  He went around the area and only came back when the Holy Spirit gave him leave to do so.  Paul wants these elders to remember that all that he did  was about doing the work of Christ, in the way that Christ desired.  He honored Jesus in everything.

In verse 19, he fleshes out what that example was exactly.  He had been among them as a servant of the Lord Jesus.  We are not called to serve our own interests, but to serve the interests of Jesus. When we serve others for the purpose of Christ, it makes us better husbands, wives, sons, daughters, church members, employers, employees, and every relationship.

Paul particularly served Christ with all humility.  This word emphasizes an attitude of mind that then impacts the way one lives among others.  He was lowly of mind.  This doesn’t mean that Paul saw himself as the worst worm in the room, but that he knew how badly he had messed up in his own flesh.  He knew how much he needed Jesus every hour and every day.  Jesus had saved him from the grotesque depths of sinfulness.  Jesus had then given him a job.  Paul did not see himself as the great apostles, but as a person who owed Christ everything.  He would faithfully complete the task that Jesus had given him because Jesus was worthy of Paul’s whole life.

Paul was not ministering for reputation or material gain.  He was seeking the approval of Christ.  To serve Jesus is to serve others.  Like Christ going to the cross, the apostle Paul suffered things so that others could receive a good hearing of the Gospel.  Yes, there will be a day of judgment for all people, but until then, our job is to serve people with the good news of Jesus.

Paul also served the Lord Jesus with many tears and trials.  These trials are various in nature.  There were trials of difficult travels and the dangers that went with that.  There was the trial of facing wicked people with ulterior motives.  There were arrests, imprisonments, beatings, public shame, and shipwrecks.  Each one of these tested Paul’s endurance.  “Will you keep going now?  Or, will you now quit.”

These difficulties not only tested Paul’s endurance, but they also brought tears to the apostle.  Yes, he knew they were tests, but that doesn’t make it any easier when someone you have ministered to begins to persecute you.  Imagine Jesus Christ looking over Jerusalem and weeping because he knew that they would ultimately reject him.  The question that is asked in these times is this.  Are  you going to remain faithful to the hard work that God has given you to do? 

That same question should be answered every day, even if you aren’t the apostle Paul.  Grandparents and parents have to answer that question.  Believers in a local church have to answer that question.  Christians who are to be the light of their culture and generation have to answer this question.  All of the difficulties that you face in following Christ are testing you.  Yet, your tears are precious to the Lord.  Just as he knows the number of hairs on your head, he knows the number of tears that you have shed.

Thus, we see Jesus asking his disciples in John 6:67, “Do you also want to go away?”  Yet, Peter answers that this world had nothing for them.  The world was empty, but Jesus was full of life.  They would carry the burden of the heavy things, the burden of sorrowful things, in order to remain with the one who was life itself. 

Thus, our tests and trials bond us to the Lord Jesus.  He too shed tears.  When you feel like quitting, let the fact that the Lord didn’t quit on you give you strength to continue on.  Turn to him in prayer and ask for strength to crucify your fleshly desire to avoid suffering, and then strength to carry out God’s will.

The response of our flesh, whether tears or fears, is generally not a chosen thing.  Like a gag-reflex, it comes rushing to the surface in the moment.  Yet, we can then take those emotions and those fears and put them at the feet of Jesus, on the altar.  “Lord, I am going to keep serving you even though this difficulty is in my way.”

All of us need to get to the broken place where it is tough to follow Jesus, and yet, we know that this world has nothing for us.  Each test is a way for us to say to the Lord, “Even this, I will go through for your sake, in order to remain faithful to the work that you have given me to do!”

Paul also mentions that he had proclaimed to them everything that would be helpful, or beneficial, to them.  They were not in need of something better from some charlatan that would come along later.  There were many itinerant teachers looking for itching ears in those days.  We can become weary of doing the good thing that God gives us to do.  Then, we become susceptible to the misdirection of the enemy of our souls, the devil.  He will seek to pull you off the course that Christ has given you to walk.

Paul had given the Ephesian Christians everything they needed for life and godliness, to live a life that was faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.  In verse 21, Paul explains the greatest good thing that he had given them.  The most beneficial thing we can gain from the Scriptures is the call to have repentance towards God and to have faith towards Jesus.  Many of the Jews had given up on waiting for Messiah.  Repentance called them to turn back to Yahweh with a whole heart and believe upon Jesus whom He had sent.

Of course, not everything we say or do is beneficial to one another.  May we become quick to change course, quick to repent, quick to forgive one another, so that the Lord will be pleased with this assembly.  If you think you are missing something, the truth is that you are only missing it because you haven’t opened up your Bible and taken it seriously.

In verses 22 to 24, Paul speaks to them about his present example to them.  He is a man who is “bound in the Spirit.”  Through prayer and communion with Christ, through the help of the Holy Spirit, Paul has committed himself, tied himself, to a difficult work that Christ wanted him to do.  We too often give up on difficult works that Christ has for us to do because we don’t spend the time in prayer to gain his vision for it, and then commit ourselves to it in faith.

God will not force you to do anything.  He wants you to catch His vision and volunteer for it, to say Yes to it.  Prayer is that place where His burden switches to ours, where His vision becomes ours.  Part of you may be saying that you can’t do it.  Yes, in your flesh, you can’t do it.  However, in Christ, you can do all things because Christ will strengthen you (Philippians 4:13).

Paul doesn’t know exactly what awaits him, but he does know that it will be difficult.   Verses 22 and 23 tell us that the Spirit of God testified in every city where Paul was going that trials and tribulations awaited him.  Notice first that it is the Spirit who was testifying.  This happened in Paul’s personal times of prayer, but it also happened through others such as prophets within the church gatherings.  We will see an example of this in Acts 21.

This raises the question.  If God warns us about persecutions ahead, does it mean that He wants us to avoid them?  Perhaps, there are times when this is so.  However, Paul knew he needed to march into those trials, at least this time.  Such a resolve can only be determined in prayer before God, seeking His will.

Luke has not described these warnings “in every city.”  However, this helps us to understand why Paul would preach past midnight and into the rise of morning.  He knew that he would most likely not be coming back.

What would you do if you were continually told by the Spirit, and by other people, that the path ahead was full of tribulations?  In general, Jesus has told us exactly this.  In 2 Timothy 3:12, we are told that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”  Are we blessed in these United States of America, or are we spoiled?

Sometimes God warns us of pain ahead because He wants to know if we are ready to be like Jesus.  He is preparing us and testing us to see if we will keep going out of love and devotion to Him.

In verse 24, Paul states that this revelation of the Spirit doesn’t move him.  He doesn’t mean emotionally.  He is talking about the path, or course, that he is on in going to Jerusalem to suffer.  Paul is doing something difficult for the lord, and it would be easy to stop, turn back, and to avoid it.  However, none of these things have changed Paul’s mind and his resolve to go to Jerusalem.

Do you realize that the devil often uses resistance and difficulty to get us discouraged from God’s path for us?  He is doing all he can to change your mind, as he did with Eve in the Garden.  He was successful to get her off of the course that God had given to her, at least for a little while.  You can choose to follow Jesus at a point in time, but you will need to keep choosing Jesus over the top of difficulties in order to actually do it.

In fact, Paul states that he doesn’t count his life as precious to himself.  It is not that our lives are not precious, but that they are precious to God and for His purposes.  If God asks me to suffer, even as a martyr, then it has great value to Him.  However, I will have to lay my life down to do it.  My life cannot mean more to me than glorifying the Savior who died for me.  This is one of the major sins of life.  We take our lives that are precious to God, and made for His purposes, and we ignore Him.  We take what was intended for holy purposes and use them for common purposes, and sometimes even for profane purposes.

Paul is reiterating what Jesus was talking about in Luke 14:26-27.  “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” 

Why do people not pick up crosses to follow Jesus?  Sometimes it is because we are afraid of losing relationships with the people and things around us.  We can refuse to carry a cross in trying to keep from hurting our family, but the best thing you can do for your family is to carry the cross that God gives you.  You will do the most damage to them by refusing to pick it up.

It is not that He wants us to hate anyone, even ourselves.  Rather, when it comes to choosing between Jesus, his work, and my selfish desires, we would choose him every time!  If my life is to end early in Jerusalem or Rome, then so be it.  Jesus is worthy of such a sacrifice of love!

Paul refers to the path ahead as a “race” in the NKJV.  It is probably better thought of as a course, a particular path that he must travel full of hardships and obstacles.  A person is not given all the details of their personal course, but we can walk forward in faith by His daily help.  He leads, corrects, comforts, encourages, and does many other things to help us along our course.

Paul knew that he had a duty to walk out this course before him.  Yet, all duties can be done as a mere hardship that a person resents, but does anyways.  Duty can be a drudgery, and all parents know this.  There is something powerful in learning that there are duties that we should do in this Christian walk.  Duties that are for Christ and towards other people.  Yet, it is even better to find the joy that God has for you in doing them.  Paul doesn’t just want to finish his chores.  He wants to do them with joy!  Why did Jesus go to the cross?  Not just because he had a duty to do it.  He did so for the joy that was awaiting him on the other side, relationship with the Father and those who would believe upon Jesus for eternity!

Wrestling in prayer, the Holy Spirit will help you to find the joy of fighting the devil and being used of God to impact the lives of others eternally.  To be in the presence of God is peace eternally, but we can tap into that peace even today.  In the midst of the trial, the joy of the Lord can fill your heart and strengthen you far more than the knowledge of any duty can.  May the Lord help us to serve Him with all our hearts!

Farewell I audio

The Acts of the Apostles 76

Subtitle: Resurrection at Troas

Acts 20:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 18, 2024.

Following the riotous mob in Ephesus, lead by Demetrius the silversmith, Paul then journeys to Macedonia (northern Greece). 

If it takes a mob to do what you want to do, then it is probably not the right thing, and it is definitely not the right way to go about it. 

Yet, Paul had already purposed in the Spirit to leave Ephesus, travel to Greece and then travel to Jerusalem.  Everything from this point on has the sense that Paul may not see these people again.  It isn’t known for sure by him, but it is his working premise.  What he knows for sure is that persecutions and tribulations await him in Jerusalem.

Let’s look at our passage.

Paul ministers in Greece (v. 1-6)

As Luke has already told us in the previous chapter, Paul follows Timothy and Erastus, whom he had sent ahead in Acts 19:22.  This previous preparation, along with verse one of this chapter, shows us that Paul was not fleeing Ephesus.  Rather, he takes the time to gather with the disciples there and say goodbye.

Nothing is said of Paul’s journey through Asia and the ship ride from Troas to Philippi in Macedonia, but this would have happened.  Similarly, we are not told how Paul reconnects with Timothy and Erastus, or who left with him from Ephesus.

Verse two mentions that he goes to Greece after “he had gone over that region.”  Of course, we tend to think of Macedonia as Greece, but this is due to the conquering of Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great.  We should not see this as a mistake, but as the language of someone who knows how the people of southern Greece viewed themselves in relation to the area of Macedonia.

By the way, some believe that this is probably the best time for Paul to have preached in Illyricum, which is only mentioned in Romans 15:19.  This is what we would call Albania today.

So, Paul connects with churches in that area and then travels south into Achaia.  Luke does not mention any particular city, but the mention of sailing to Syria from there was most likely a reference to Corinth.  We also know that Paul had written 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, which said that he was working to come to them.  Paul ends up staying for three months.

As Paul plans to sail to Syria (most likely Antioch), a plot against him is discovered.  It is believed that the plan may have involved attacking Paul while on the ship because it would be impossible for him to get away. 

Of course, this doesn’t happen, but the root of these disturbances are not the people involved.  The root is found in those evil spirits in league with the devil.  Synagogue leaders and silversmiths are not Paul’s enemies.  They are simply captive to the devil’s schemes and manipulated by him.  We need to understand this about our own land.  You can look at politicians, political parties and individuals, and see that they are leading against the ways of Jesus Christ.  This does make them an enemy to the Gospel.  Yet, Christ doesn’t tell us to fight against these people.  We are to fight against the spiritual enemies (Ephesians 6) that are in the heavenlies.  They are the ones that manipulate these people to operate against Christ.  We are called to interpose ourselves between the manipulated person and the enemy of their soul. We work for the purposes of Christ, which is to set them free from the devil’s lies.

Having discovered the plot, Paul changes his plan.  He does not sail from their to Syria, but rather, he goes back through Macedonia, believing that he will run into less resistance there.

Luke lists seven companions of Paul on this part of the journey.  Sopater of Berea (some manuscripts add that he is the son of Pyrrhus), Aristarchus and Secundus (this is a common slave name) of Thessalonica, Gaius of Derbe, Timothy (whom we know to be from Lystra, which is near Derbe), and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.  These last two could  be from Ephesus, but they also may be from one of the seven churches of Revelation.  I would also point out that the pronoun “we” crops up again in verse 5.  Luke also has joined the group, although he does not name himself.  This gives eight guys, nine counting Paul who traveled together.  Paul then sends most of the men ahead to wait for them at Troas.

This large group of men may have been traveling with Paul due to funds he was carrying for Jerusalem.  In his letters, Paul asked the churches to have money ready for him to pick up when he came through in order to bless the hurting churches of Judea.  Their numbers would dissuade any highwaymen from trying to assail them.  We should also notice the variety of places they are from.  They also would serve as witnesses that the money was not pilfered, but indeed, made it to Jerusalem.

Regardless, Paul’s plans are changed.  It can sometimes feel like someone or something has messed up our plans, or even our lives.  I really do believe that God uses these situations to direct us.  Those who are seeking the leading of God’s Spirit do not need to fear these type of events.  It may change your plans, but God helps us and will be with us. 

Of course, sometimes God Himself changes our plans.  He may speak to us in prayer, or through another Godly person.  In this case, we have wicked people intent on doing evil.  Of course, God isn’t inspiring them to do this.  Yet, the Christian is never at the mercy of other people, or even the spiritual powers of wickedness.  What they intend for evil, God works to the good for us.  Like the story of Joseph, his brothers were brought to a place of repentance.  They had intended evil, but God worked it to the good of Joseph, and of them.  He brought them to a place of repentance over their evil deeds.  You can trust God!

It is here that Luke explains that they leave Philippi after the feast of Unleavened Bread (immediately follows Passover).  This means it is spring and would place the previous three months in Corinth during the winter months.  Sailors avoided traveling in winter months.  Paul decides to remain at Troas for 7 days.

Paul ministers in Troas (v. 7-12)

Having reunited with their group in Troas, they fellowship with the church there.  Verse 7 explains that the day before Paul left was the “first day of the week.”  This is the first clear mention that Christians gathered on the first day of the week, Sunday.  “To break bread” was a reference to eating a fellowship meal together, and was often connected to also celebrating communion, or the Lord’s Supper.  They gathered to eat together and then Paul preached to them.

There are several other places in the New Testament that allude to Christians gathering on the first day of the week, Sunday.  In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul tells them this. “On the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.”  It is clear that they are giving the offering when the group is gathered.  Though it is not said that they do anything else, it is implicit that they typically gathered on that day.

There are some who try to make a big deal about what day you worship on, similar to what foods you eat.  Colossians 2:16-17 tells us, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”  It appears that Christians are free to worship on any day, even many days.  The day of rest (the sabbath was sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) is a shadow or lesser image of Jesus Christ).  We now dwell in the realities of what these things pointed to.

We are told that Paul preaches to midnight.  This is another one of those clues that gives us the sense that Paul knows he may not be coming back.  In fact, he isn’t stopping at midnight.  We typically take our church gatherings for granted.  However, when it may be your last one with these people, such a meeting would take on great significance.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow.  Thus, we should not take our gatherings lightly.  God teach us to love one another with all of our hearts.

Verses 7-8 set up a classic situation.  The description of a young man would place him between 20 and 40 years old.  I would lean to the younger side of this range.  Luke gives us several factors in a row that lead up to the young man falling out of a window.  First, Paul has preached up to midnight and does not seem to be stopping.  Second, there were “many lamps” in the upper room where they were gathered.  I would assume that these are oil lamps.  It would make the room warmer and mixed with exhaust.  They are on the third floor with a sleepy, young man sitting in a window.  It is at this point that Eutychus falls out the third-story window to the ground below.  Paul’s words may seem to contradict the next statement, but we should not ignore Luke’s  statement, “he was taken up [picked up] dead.”

This interrupts the service.  Of course, in any gathering of God’s people, there may be an series of things that we want to do together, such as: eating, worshipping and hearing the Word of God preached.  However, our ultimate purpose is to glorify Jesus and encourage one anther in the faith.

We are told that Paul rushes down and falls upon the young man.  I don’t believe this means he tripped and fell upon the lad.  This is reminiscent of 1 Kings 17, where Elijah lays on the dead boy, praying for God to bring him back to life.

Paul’s statement that the boy is not dead, i.e., “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him,” can be seen a contradiction to the earlier statement of death.  However,  it is even more likely that it is Paul’s statement after he knew that God had heard him and touched the young man.  Regardless, faith and the will of God are both involved here.  Paul has been preaching about the resurrection of Jesus, no doubt.  Here is fresh proof of God’s power over life.  This would powerfully impact the group.  Essentially Paul is saying that everything will be alright.  In fact, Paul goes back to preaching.

They return to the upper room, where Paul preaches until morning.  It then mentions that the young man was brought in alive.  This makes the most sense if the young man was still unconscious and being looked over since Paul’s prayers.  To say his life is in him does not mean that he was dancing in the street.  In fact, he may have still been unconscious.  By morning, however, he is well enough to come join the group.  What a demonstration of God’s miraculous grace to this young man.  This is a true resurrection.

When we think about the resurrection, we can think of it as only a future promise that seems disconnected from our present.  However, the message of the resurrection speaks to our present.  It shows us that we don’t have to fear threats in the present, whether they physically threaten our life or metaphorically threaten it. 

In 1 Corinthians 15:32, Paul talked about fighting with wild beast in Ephesus.  I don’t think he is talking about literal beasts.  The mob and Demetrius were as offspring of the beast empire that Rome represented.  Of course, Paul did not fight with them in the natural.  Rather, he fought the intimidating spiritual powers through the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.

We don’t have to fear these spiritual power, or the natural powers.  Everything about the cross and death says that we have lost; it didn’t work; God doesn’t love you or care about you; He is not keeping His promise.  It says all those things that the devil tempts us to believe, at least that is what our flesh hears.  Yet, three days later, when Jesus is resurrected, we see that we shouldn’t listen to the enemy in our hearts and mind.  We must not look at the things of this world and extrapolate from what we see a conclusion about God’s care for us.

The resistance and difficulty that we experience in this world, even from our own flesh, says nothing about God’s love for us.  God is greater than everything that we may face.  We don’t deny the reality of those difficulties, but instead, we recognize the greater reality of God’s power over them.  May God help us to walk in faith, our eyes upon Him and not upon what we see down here!

Resurrection at Troas

The Acts of the Apostles 75

Subtitle: A Mob Restrained

Acts 19:32-41.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 11, 2024.

Last week, we stopped in the middle of a riotous mob in Ephesus.  Unable to find Paul, they had seized his associates, Gaius and Aristarchus.  These were taken by force to the local theater with great commotion.  It is unclear what they planned to do, but it is not hard to imagine being grabbed by an irate mob that quickly becomes thousands of people.  Nothing good happens in such a scenario.

We also saw last week that Paul wanted to address the crowd, but the believers of Ephesus begged him not to.  Even certain officials of the province of Asia, who were stationed in the city, worked to convince Paul not to address the crowd.

Let’s pick up the story at that point.

The confusion of the Ephesian mob (32-34)

In verse 32, we encounter the word “confused.”  First Corinthians 14:33 tells us that “God is not the author of confusion but of peace…”  We also see in James 3:16 that it says, “where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”

It can be easy to over look that last verse.  We too often treat envy and self-seeking in a soft-handed way.  We can warn people that selfishness will affect their ability to win friends and influence people.  It will ruin their relationships too.  Typically, people are encouraged not to be overly selfish, and instead, show some concern for others.

This is all true.  However, there is also something deeper here, something darker.  Confusion and “every evil thing” come into the life of an envious self-seeker.  You become a source of darkness and evil.  In light of that, we should care much less about influencing people and more about delivering our own soul.  A delivered soul is fresh water to a person in chains.  Winning friends and influencing people would merely be the gravy, the overflow, of God’s goodness to those who trust Him.

Another way of putting this is to say that the Spirit of the One True God is not behind this mob in Ephesus, nor any other mob for that matter. 

This crowd is a pagan crowd.  We would expect such things of them.  However, have large groups of people, claiming to be on God’s side, ever done mob actions like seizing people outside of true justice?  Take the crucifixion of Jesus for instance.  There we have a collusion between the crowd, the religious leaders of Israel and the Roman government.  This is just as Psalm 2 said it would be.  “Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed…”  I could go on, but you get the picture.

This Ephesian mob is not from God.  It is from the spirit of this world.  Yet, even things done by the spirit of this world can be worked to the good by our loving Father in Heaven.

Luke gives the description of the crowd that many people were crying out many different things.  There is no cohesive, or coherent, message.  In our own time, we see groups organizing protests with a series of chants that emphasize the message that the organizers of the crowd want to be emphasized.  Yet, even an organized protest with a coherent message can disintegrate into a confused mob.  Of course, this mob in Ephesus was never an organized thing.  It was confusion from the very beginning.

Thus, we are told that many people in the crowd didn’t even know what they were all gathered for.  It is never good to join a crowd for which you do not know the purpose.  Although protests will sometimes hide their true purpose behind a noble sounding cause, scheming men led by a scheming devil love to use a cloak of morality to hide a sea of evil purpose.  There are many that would love to paint Christians as evil, bigots who are hateful and deserve to be removed from society, one way or another.

Let us remember that Christ never called us to create mobs that force change.  However, as the Church of Christ grows, it is going to tick off the devil and bring him forth in rage.  Of course, we need not fear this.  Greater is He that is in us than he that is in this world.

At some point, a Jew named Alexander is put forth by the Jews to address the crowd.  Why would they do that?  We should remember that there was friction between Paul and some in the synagogue, earlier in this chapter.  Paul and the Christians were no longer meeting with the synagogue.  It is possible that they want him to make sure that the crowd knows they are not connected with Paul, or that Paul, who is a Jew, does not represent them.  This would be to hedge against the guilt by association that is common among mobs.  However, it may also contain a fear that they will be blamed for the riot in some way.  We saw earlier in the book of Acts that Aquila and Priscilla had left Rome because Caesar had banned all Jews from the city, due to riots that were blamed on them.

Yet, when the crowd figures out that Alexander is a Jew, they will not let him speak.  This begins a two hour crowd chant of “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 

Now, no matter how much you love the Seahawks and want to shout and pound on a drum for hours to let people know that you really like them, eventually you will grow weary in the flesh.  I would say that  it is at the moment that the crowd’s fervor is starting to wane that the city clerk steps in.

A city clerk restrains the mob (35-41)

A clerk in the Roman system would have been closer to what we think of as a mayor. He would be known to the people, and is also one of them.  We do not know if word has reached the clerk from the officials of Asia that were friends of Paul, or if the clerk himself is friendly to Paul.  Since it doesn’t say so, we shouldn’t read too much to his argument.  He may simply be on orders from the provincial officials to get the city in order, or there will be consequences.

It is probably best to see this as an example of how God can make use of anyone for his purposes.  Sometimes, God uses unbelievers to restrain the wickedness of other unbelievers.

Alexander had stirred the crowd up, but this man was able to silence them.  He then reasons with them.  Remember, in a place of confusion, there is not a lot of reasoning occurring.  It is mostly knee-jerk reactions, emotions, feelings and following the crowd.  Essentially, the clerk argues for the crowd to disperse and go home.  So, let’s look at his persuasive rationale.

He gives a statement of fact and then a conclusion based upon this.  The first statement is that everyone knows that the city of Ephesus is dedicated to Artemis.  No one is questioning them on this.  So, why are they acting so rash and unreasonable by gathering at the theater and shouting loudly?

People can be whipped up into a moral frenzy in which they feel pressured to show their adherence to something.  We see this in social media online.  We can get in situations where we are afraid that others will accuse us of not being on the right side of an issue.  This kind of pressure is not of God.  We should do the right thing because it is the right thing, not because someone has manipulated us into it.  Make sure it is the Spirit of the LORD that is leading you to such actions and not a person, a group, or guilt.  A disorderly mob, of course, is never the right thing to be involved in.

Again, the clerk points out that there has not been any crime committed against the temple of Artemis or her personally.  They did not catch people trying to robe the temple, or publicly defaming Artemis.  Of course, Artemis is not a god.  However, Paul’s emphasis was on promoting Jesus, and calling people away from worshipping idols, which are made by the hands of people.

There is something lesser than this happening.  Thus, the clerk calls Demetrius out publicly.  If Demetrius thinks he has been injured in some way by Paul, then he must bring the matter to the courts in a proper way.  The matter can then be properly judged by first determining the facts of the matter and then making a judgment.

Mobs are extremely bad at getting justice.  They generally do things in a confused order.  They judge someone guilty and get others to jump on the bandwagon.  They then execute judgment.  Later, the hone a narrative to back up their actions, no matter how stretched it is.  A proper judgment will not be in a rush, and it will involve a true seeking of the facts before meting out punishment.

He finishes with the clincher in the argument.  He tells them that they are in danger of being considered an unlawful, disorderly gathering.  All cities, colonies, and protectorates answered to Caesar.  If wind of disturbances made it back to Rome, then some official’s head would be on the chopping block.  Rome expected its magistrates to keep order and peace.  Caesar could even punish cities.  In fact, Ephesus had not always been the capital of the province of Asia.  It was originally the city of Pergamum.  However, Rome had made Ephesus the capital of Asia when it put its provincial headquarters there.  Thus, the trade and economy of the city could be greatly harmed if they fell out of favor with Rome.

We are then told that the clerk dismisses the assembly.  This is the word that is typically translated church, but clearly not in this case.  This is no church gathered to worship the Lord.  This is a mob that has gathered for confusion and disorder.

Our cities today are full of confusion in the home, in neighborhoods, cities, governance and business.  Paul reminded the church in Ephesus that their battle was not with the Demetrius’ of the world.  Ephesians 6:10-13 says, “Finally be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of [not Demetrius, but] the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [aka Alexander and the unbelieving Jews], but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

God has called us for this time in this society.  If we truly live for Christ, then we will tick off the enemy every bit as much as Paul and the Ephesian Christians did in their day.  The real problem is not those other people.  The scheme of the devil, and people working with him, is to pit us against one another.  He gets a wedge between us and baits us into attacking one another.  Gentiles and Jews, men and women, rich and poor, black and white, the list of ways to be divided is unending.  These spirits are even now contemplating new ways to split us up further.  God help us because our enemies are the spiritual powers that want us offended and playing the victim.  They want us pointing to everyone else and saying that they are the problem.  They want you doing anything but repenting of your own sin.  In fact, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells us that we have a moral duty to deal with our own sin first, so that we can then properly help our brother or sister. 

The people are not your enemy.  In truth, they are POWs.  It is free men who lay their life on the line who go and free POWs.  Is it worth it to lose three people in saving one POW?  Let’s look at it another way.  How can three free guys enjoy their freedom when they know that there is even one POW in chains?  They would rather die trying to save the POW, then enter into the slavery of pretending that POW doesn’t exist.

For Christians, to die is gain, so we should never let the threat of death hold us back from the Lord’s work.  Christ has broken the threat of death forever for us.

When a person takes you to court, or publicly defames you before others, it hurts, but it is also a challenge from Jesus.  Will you love this person for me?  Will you attempt to set them free?  Yes, they may chew it up and spit it back in your face, but that is the honor we have.  We get to share in the honor of being persecuted for Christ.  Sometimes the honor of delivering a POW happens.  Some dare to believe in Jesus as Christ and are set free.  May God help us to keep our eyes on the real battle!

Mob Restrained audio

The Acts of the Apostles 74

Subtitle: A Riotous Crowd in Ephesus

Acts 19:21-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 4, 2024.

It almost seems to be par for the course that a mob would be stirred up against the Apostle Paul.  He had ministered in the city for around two years.  Yet, the impact that he and the believers has been making begins to stir up the pagans, those who worship the false gods.

Let’s look at our passage.

The Spirit leads Paul (21-22)

Paul is not a man who is focused upon his flesh, or doing whatever he wanted.  This is in contrast to how the average American lives their life.  Even as Christians, we can tend to treat God’s stuff as a list of things that we have attached to our lives.  As long as God is in the boat, we can drive as we please.

Yet, Paul had become a believer in Jesus by seeing his inability to righteously lead his life.  He was a man who had learned to pray about the Lord’s will and had come to a place of faith regarding the will of Jesus by the help of the Holy Spirit.  In short, we need to learn to capture the vision of what God desires to do through us for the Kingdom of Christ.  When we gain insight into God’s plan, we can reach a place where our will merges with God’s.  At least, our will becomes as harmonious with God’s will as is possible in our mortal flesh.

The book of Acts demonstrates that the early Church was led, empowered and helped by the Holy Spirit.  We are intended to continue that pattern through reading the word, praying and seeking His will.  We then commit ourselves to doing that will by faith.

We are called to die to the self-led life and to come alive to the Spirit-led life.  We should spend time in prayer asking this question.  “Jesus, what is the best use of my life?”  Along these lines, we have good counsel given to us from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:17-20.  In general, we don’t seek to leave commitments when we become a Christian, but rather seek to redeem them.  If I married someone for ungodly reasons before I became a Christian, I shouldn’t seek to make it right by leaving them once I am a believer.  Rather, I stay in the relationship, but now I operate out of a desire to be used by Christ to minister to the other person.  I am the same person in the same situation, but now it is Christ living through me by the Spirit of God.  At least, this is the vision put in front of us.

No matter what great things we may be trying to accomplish, if they are not surrendered to God’s will, we are going after empty things, vanity.

In verse 21, Luke gives us insight to the road ahead.  Others looking at Paul’s choices and actions may believe that Paul makes some mistakes and gets himself killed in the end.  However, Luke shows us that Paul was being led by the Spirit of Christ, even when it led him to his death.

Paul’s plan would be to go back through Macedonia (northern Greece, e.g., Phillipi, Thessalonica), down to Achaia (southern Greece, e.g., Corinth), then to Jerusalem, and after that, “I must also see Rome.”

God sometimes has a necessity to certain things in our life.  In fact, we may not like some of them.  Think about Jesus on the night he was betrayed.  He wrestles with the Father in prayer over the coming cross.  In his flesh, it is something to be avoided, but his spirit is yielded to the will of the Father.

Yet, even when God has things that we must go through, not all of them are actively caused by Him.  God did not cause Judas to do what he did.  Judas did these things of his own volition and inability to guard his heart.  Yet, God worked the sin of Judas into His plan and purpose for Jesus.  God’s grace is always supplied for us to do his purpose and plan.

In verse 21, it literally says that Paul “purposed in the spirit.”   Some translations take this to mean within his own spirit, and thus, they sometimes translate it without the word spirit.  To them, this is a statement about internal dedication to a plan of action alone.  However, it doesn’t say in “his” spirit.  I believe it is far more natural to understand Luke’s phrase to be pointing to Paul’s determination having its source in The Spirit [of God].   When Paul is later warned by the other prophets that he will be taken prisoner if he goes to Jerusalem, it will be clear that Paul’s insistence to keep going was not a lightly made decision of his own flesh.  It was one made in the Spirit, with the help of the Holy Spirit.  The “must” concerning Rome is not a “must” of Paul’s flesh, but of God’s will in his life.  However, it has also become Paul’s desire and act of faith.

We should remember Acts 9:15-16.  At Saul’s (Paul’s) salvation, Ananias gave him the message of God, that he would be a “chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.”  Most of us will not testify before anyone of such great stature.  But, which is more important, witnessing to kings or a peasant?  Both are extremely important to that individual and can change an eternity of experience.  The Lord also told Ananias that, “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”  I believe Paul’s prayer life had experienced such revelations from the Lord.  He knew what was ahead and the suffering involved.

It is not that God’s purpose is to make us suffer, per se.  Yet, nothing for God can be done in this fallen world without encountering it.  We encounter personal suffering when we deny our sinful flesh and follow the Spirit of God.  We also encounter suffering from people intent on serving self and from spiritual forces.  To live for God is a battle with self, the world, and the devil.  Yet, we should not fear this suffering.  We suffer for the Lord who suffered first for us.  This is our honor, but also bonds us deeper with the Lord as we grow to understood the love that compelled him to the cross.

With this plan to go to Macedonia in mind, Paul sends Timothy and Erastus ahead for several reasons.  They most likely carry correspondence from Paul to various churches, and would be able to see for themselves the response to such in each church.  Also, they would be giving the churches a heads up and enabling them to prepare for his coming.  We are told that he stayed in Asia “for a time,” after sending them.  I would gage this as a matter of months in light of the two years mentioned earlier.

A commotion occurs (23-31)

We saw earlier that friction in the synagogue had led to Paul and the believers in Jesus separating.  They met in the Hall of Tyrannus.  Whenever a mob occurs, there is a trigger event, whether it justifies a mob or not.  We have seen uprising against Paul before, and they pretty much led to his leaving town every time.  In Thessalonica, it was a mob instigated by Jews who would not believe in Jesus as Messiah.  However, it will be by Gentile pagans here in Ephesus.  Paul’s ministry and the growth of the church was noticeably impacting the religious economy of Ephesus.

Ephesus was famous for its temple to Artemis (the Latin form is Diana), but more on that later.

We are told that the commotion is “about The Way.”  Luke uses this term for the early Church again.  He will use it a total of eight times in the book, of which this is the fourth.  Saul of Tarsus had been a man arresting people of “The Way” in Acts 9:2.  In this case, Paul is part of The Way [of the Lord] and others are seeking to arrest him.

This commotion is stirred up by a silversmith in Ephesus named Demetrius.  It says that he was a maker of “shrines.”  These silver images were typically of a particular Greek god, but sometimes depicted a scene from their mythology.  They could be used within public shrines, but rich people would also buy them for personal shrines.  The fame of Ephesus for its Temple to Artemis would also make a shrine created in Ephesus more valuable and costly.  Demetrius makes his living crafting these shrine objects for rich people.

When we make our money out of something, even when it is a religious thing, we are easily led into sin.  Even Christians can do God’s things in a way that reflects anything but the image of God, and the Lord who bought them with his blood.  This would only be compounded in a person who serves a false god.

Demetrius gathers the silversmiths of the city and makes a speech.  Even if he didn’t intend to create a mob, the mob quickly takes over, and Demetrius is no longer in control.  He was the “releasing of water.”  He only began the strife, but the building up of pressure would grow to become greater than the initial action.  What is his message?

First, he reminds the group that they make their money through the trade of these images.  Second, he points to the fact that Paul has been persuading people to turn from these shrines.  This leads to the conclusion.  If Paul continues, our trade (aka financial interests) will be in danger, AND, the great temple of Artemis will be despised and its magnificence destroyed.

Notice how Demetrius shrewdly connects their personal, financial interests to the great glory of Ephesus and the temple of Artemis.  Essentially, he depicts the glory of Ephesus as being in danger, so any true Ephesian would refuse to allow this.  Ephesus had been famous for its temple to Artemis for over 500 years at this point.  Who wants to be the generation that jeopardizes that?

We should recognize that this same persuasive argument can be made by politicians.  We can have our financial interests conflated with the glory of the United States of America.  We can be told that our sons need to go over seas and die on a foreign field or America will diminish.  In truth, it generally is about the lower motive of profit, and not for the average citizen.

At this point, we have some descriptions of the crowd by Luke.  In verse 28, he uses the phrases, “full of wrath” and “cried out.”  In verse 29, he uses the phrases, “rushed into the theater” and “having seized” Paul’s companions.

This mob action is very different from a peaceful protest.  There is no sense of control and order.  However, even a peaceful protest can be easily pushed into a mob by actors of ill-intent who know how to manipulate crowds.  Our Republic was founded upon the idea that people need to be able to lodge protest against improper governance.  Typically, this is done through the courts, but not always.  Large groups of people can get the attention of governors far quicker than a single lawsuit.  This feedback mechanisms, if done appropriately, can serve to help redress grievances.  Yet, Christians should be wise in such plans and participation.  We need to be led by the Holy Spirit and not by a worldly person (Christian or otherwise) who uses persuasive arguments to bring about our joining them.  There are many manipulators who love to see a crowd because they are already set up to twist the narrative in a direction that works for them.

Paul finds out what is going on, and he wants to address the raging mob.  However, the believers in the city and some of the officials of the province of Asia talked him out of it.  Ephesus was the seat of the provincial rule of Asia.

Was this a lack of faith on the part of these believers?  Can’t God protect and use the Apostle Paul speaking to a mob in Ephesus and calming it?  Yes, God can do anything.  However, I believe that Paul would have done so if he really felt the Holy Spirit was urging him to do it.  Between the counsel of these two groups, and Paul’s  understanding that God wasn’t necessarily telling him to do it, the decision that Paul will not address the crowd.  Even though Paul is a man led by the Spirit, that doesn’t mean every thought that pops into his head is from the Holy Spirit.   Paul sees the greater wisdom of restraint.

If you enter such situations with the thinking that you need to prove that God is with you, then you may make foolish choices hoping He will back you up.  It is a better policy to pray about every endeavor and do that which God clearly leads you to do.

The Lord Jesus had been raising up a church in Ephesus over the last several  years, but we see here that the spiritual enemies of Jesus didn’t like it.  Whether it is the spirit of Artemis or not, Demetrius is also a man being stirred up by spirits that don’t like what Paul is doing.  Demetrius is not the main problem.  Perhaps, Paul could see himself, before he was saved, in these raging men.  We can be too easily offended by what people do, and lose sight that the real problem is the devil and his angels who are able to use people as tools. 

Yes, the devil uses people.  However, God is also looking for some people who will trust Him and fight the greater battle against the spiritual forces that hold our enemies captives.  May God help us to find and help to deliver those who can be saved from the kingdom of darkness.

Riotous Crowd audio