The Name of the Lord Jesus Was Extolled

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Acts 19:20

Acts 19:8–41 – The Story of the Church: Living Into This Drama in the 21st Century
Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost – October 24, 2021 (am)

It’s widely held in our day that we’ve never seen such evil, crime, confusion, social and political unrest, such moral decline, as we’re seeing today on the streets of America’s cities, and in our state houses, big businesses, and even schools. And in keeping with typical American exceptionalism, we believe this evil and unrest and decline is unprecedented in all of human history! But this morning we’re visiting a city from the first century that I believe might even exceed what we’re seeing here and now in our day!

We’re talking about Ephesus, the capitol of the Roman Province of Asia located on the banks of the Aegean Sea and the Cayster River. Ephesus was the site of the Temple of Artemis (Greek; Roman: [Diana]), one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And this cult plays a central role in today’s passage. Artemis was associated with the moon and the night in Roman mythology, so she held a torch. She was also a hunter, so she carried a bow and arrow like Apollo. She was the goddess of fertility, but from an Asian (not Greek) origin, linked to the Amazons. The frantic and fanatical worship practices associated with Artemis were interwoven with those of the Canaanite goddess, Asherah. These practices aren’t only disturbingly immoral sexually, but at times grotesquely brutal and bloody and even murderous (Unger Gods, False, Artemis-Asherah).

Life in Ephesus could seem to us like it was incomprehensibly irrational. But at the same time, we see clear indicators that all this drama was happening in and around otherwise normal life in a big city where governing authorities and the rule of law were honored (35-41). In many ways it wasn’t all that different from life in Corinth (18:1-17, with its Temple of Aphrodite), or even Chicago! Each city has its own unique irrationalities! Let’s review this story then assess its impact for us today.

The Remarkable Story of the Gospel Coming to Ephesus

We’ve read it. Let’s identify five things that were going wrong.

Various Misbeliefs (1-7) We looked at this last week. These twelve men (7) described by Luke as disciples (1) received not only the Holy Spirit and Christian baptism for the first time, but quite possibly received Christ as Savior when they thought they were already believers! The Sons of Sceva (13-14) tried to act like believers. Later even the Ephesian elders would have some unbelievers among them (20:29-30). Misbeliefs can really jam the doorway to true belief! That’s why we saw Priscilla and Aquila address Apollos last week (18:24-26). How often have you seen a professing Christian, outspoken, talk about our faith in ways that make you wish they’d just keep quiet? How often have you met someone who’s resistant to the gospel only to find out that they knew someone way back who claimed Christ? Now that person still represents what this one never wants to become?

Ethnic Pride (8-10) As usual, Paul began his work among the Jews in the synagogue (8). This time it was three months (8) before the stubborn unbelief of some overflowed (9). So, he took those who listened, disciples (9), and enrolled them in a daily Bible school (9) at the Tyrannus lecture hall. This went on for two years and seems to’ve included an outreach plan (PCM?) since all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (10)—all due to [Jewish] opposition! Again, we still see things like this today. Often Roman Catholics, but even Main Line Denominations reject the clear gospel because they believe they have a better version of it in the social gospel or humanitarian compassion. That’s [in-group] pride.

Spiritual Warfare (11-20) Here’s where things get interesting. Luke writes: God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul (11). Do you wondered what has to happen for a miracle to qualify as extraordinary? Aren’t they all extraordinary?  

Well, God worked extraordinary miracles through Paul (11), and Luke gives us an example of one category: 12 … handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Now that’s extraordinary!

Another example is seen with those who tried varying ways of wielding the Spirit’s power without confessing Jesus as Lord. Listen to this, and be introduced to a vocation you don’t hear about every day: itinerate Jewish exorcists! (13) 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Not good! 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva (mind reader [Strong]) were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. The power to overcome evil is not in merely knowing Jesus’ name, but in knowing Jesus!

But there’s more to it than that. A display of miracles this striking reveals a high level of spiritual warfare. If there’s any sense in which miracles occur when God is doing what’s needed to confirm His authority and the power of His gospel, to display His glory above all rivals, then look what it took to achieve this in Ephesus!

The intensity of the warfare was confirmed further by the response of the people: 18 … many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver (the daily wage of 50,000 workmen or the combined annual wages of 160!).

Quick Aside (20-22) Here Luke paused to summarize: 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. And Paul decided it was time to move on from Ephesus and go to Jerusalem (21). He (likely) wanted to visit Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth once more first, then after to get to Rome (21). But he needed to go to Jerusalem first—significant. At this point, though, he sent Timothy and Erastus to make arrangements in Macedonia while he stayed a bit longer in Ephesus (22).

Cultural Hostility (17-41) Maybe Paul should’ve left with Timothy and Erastus! All his activity in Ephesus to this point aroused so much attention that Demetrius, a silversmith, along with some other craftsmen (24) who made shrines of Artemis, were concerned about losing their profits! (25) Not only that, they were concerned about their gold standard—they were concerned about their religion being discredited! 27 … [T]here 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.”

Another quick aside: if the power of your god can be nullified by a financial reversal, you’ve not yet found a worthy God! The same is true if your god needs your help to survive! You need God. He shouldn’t need you!

This group so stirred up the people that an angry, riotous mob began chanting: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! (28) And a couple of Paul’s helpers, Gaius and Aristarchus, were seized as the crowd rushed together into the theatre (29), an area that could accommodate about 25,000 people (Bruce 1980 376). Paul wanted to address the crowd, but it was just too dangerous (30-31)—both his students (30) and some political leaders (31) said so. The whole city was in chaos (32). The Jews tried to gain control of the situation through one named Alexander, but that too was unsuccessful (33-34). The riot went on for two hours (34) before calmer heads prevailed. The city clerk reassured the people, recounting some rather remarkable but commonly accepted qualities of Artemis and her image: 35 … 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? 36 Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. The city clerk served as liaison between the civic government and the Roman provincial administration (Polhill 1992 412-13); he’d have been held responsible for this [riot]. As to the sacred stone [falling] from the sky, that’s literally what they believed—likely a meteor but, for them, confirmation (not uncommon in the ancient world, [Bruce 1980 378]). Still, think of this: Paul had taught for an extended time but the city clerk could say publicly that he’d [not blasphemed] Artemis… (37). Further, he reminded them that if they had charges against Paul and the others, they should work through the courts and due process (37-41). Otherwise, they themselves would end up in trouble. The people listened and the uproar ceased (41; 20:1).

Inexperienced Leadership (20:17-38) This was another challenge faced in the [Ephesian] church that we’ll consider as it comes up in the next couple weeks. But here, suffice it to say that the elders (20:17) were not yet fully equipped to handle this sort of environment even after Paul’s three years of ministry among them night and day (20:31).

The Remarkable Impact This Should Have on Us Today

Let’s identify three practical take-aways that can help us today.

A desire to follow Christ, however sincere, does not equal salvation (4, 13-16). Those men who were called disciples (1) didn’t yet know the Lord. The same was surely true of the sons of Sceva (14-16). All the sincerity in the world doesn’t equal salvation. And it’s way too easy to get this one wrong. C. S. Lewis did! In The Last Battle, he proposed that serving Tash with sincerity as equivalent to serving Aslan! No, we need to trust Christ as Savior, not just know that He is Savior. Repent and believe.

A riot in opposition to the truth does not make the truth false (20:1). Notice that Paul did not even consider the possibility that the angry mob was right. And although we’d be tempted to say, of coarse he didn’t, I wonder how we’d handle a rioting mob? Think of pro-abortion demonstrations, Black Lives Matter protests, and Pride parades. Think of fluid gender discussions in which even our supposed experts actually seem to believe that human gender is not binary! Think of how many different ways people try to discredit an exclusive gospel, denying that reconciliation with God comes in Christ alone. Have you ever been tempted to wonder if abortion really isn’t murder just because of all the otherwise rational people who favor the right to choose? Have you ever been tempted to think that maybe it is impossible to be delivered from homosexuality, or wrong even to try, just because of so many who say they were born that way? Or maybe that marriage doesn’t really need to be a heterosexual institution? Have you ever been tempted to think that God may favor love over justice on Judgment Day just because you know an unbeliever who really does seem to be a nice person? Truth is truth even when this world opposes it. And irrationally is surely still alive and well today, and no less so than it was back in first-century Ephesus!

A gift plus an opportunity does not equal a calling (18:20). We can see that Ephesus was in need of the gospel. And we know from their response here in vv.10, 17-18, and 20 that they were hungry for it. But Paul had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go to Asia any earlier (16:6). Then in c.18 he’s there, but for some unexplained reason he couldn’t stay. The only conclusion we can reach is that it simply wasn’t God’s time. So, an inescapable entailment of that conclusion is: a gift plus an opportunity does not equal a calling. To be clearer, just because Paul was there earlier, and Ephesus was surely in need of the gospel, God didn’t put the two together ’til now! For us, just because we have a gift and know some place where there’s a need, we can’t immediately assume that we’re God’s answer to that need. Think of calling a pastor. Recognizing God’s anointed from among a field of qualified candidates requires God’s leading. Often, though, the hardest part is recognizing when God’s appointed isn’t within that field. We need to remember this lesson in our life and Christian service. Yes, we should all be involved in the work of the ministry, using our gifts. But we don’t do so indiscriminately. Even when our gifts match a need, we still need to wait for God’s calling to become clear.

How does that work? Just a quick word: pray and wait! Our God doesn’t hide His will and purpose. He delights to make it known! So, Jean’s and my practice is to ask Him to make His calling so clear that to do otherwise would feel like disobedience. And He faithfully answers!

Conclusion

These are take-away lessons from Ephesus. There could be many more, but these get us started. And they set us up well to hear much of the rest of the input to this church in our NT. It became challenging for them to discern between believers and unbelievers (see 1Jo.). Standing firm with confidence in the gospel was a challenge for Timothy there (see 2Ti.). And surely in Paul’s letter to Ephesus is where we learn much about spiritual warfare. Also, Paul instructed Timothy on how to recognize those who were called to be elders and deacons from among all the men in the body (see 1Ti.). This place gives us all that—that wisdom and instruction was tethered to this city, this church!

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Resources

Beale, G. K. and D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Acts, by I. Howard Marshall, 513-606. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Beveridge, Henry, ed. Commentary upon the Acts of the apostles, vol. 1, by John Calvin. Translated by Christopher Featherstone.

Bruce, F. F., ed. 1988. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The book of Acts, revised, by F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Carson, D. A., R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Acts, by Conrad Gempf, 1066-1114. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Dockery, David S, ed. 1992. New American Commentary. Vol. 26, Acts, by John B. Polhill. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on Acts, 2073-2156, by John B. Polhill. Wheaton: Crossway.

Harrison, R. K., ed. 1988. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, by Merrill F. Unger. Chicago: Moody.

Longman III, Tremper and David E. Garland, eds. 2007. Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Acts, by Richard N. Longenecker, 665-1102. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Morris, Leon, ed. 1980. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 5 Acts, by I. Howard Marshall. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Stott, John, ed. 1990. The Bible Speaks Today. The Message of Acts, by John Stott. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

NEXT WEEK: Acts 20:1–16, Kipp Soncek