Handkerchief healings, demon beat downs, a book burning and a riot – Acts 19 has it all. As we examine the responses of the Ephesians, we will discover that repentance is really our only choice in response to Jesus’ unrelenting love. We must repent, surrender, submit, and commit to Jesus.
It was the late 90s. I was a youth minister at a little church. We had just a few students, but like BPF we wanted to be intentional about building relationships with our neighbors and the next generation. We wanted to reach the city, so we launched a weekly outreach ministry. After our first night, a student said he could get some friends to come if I’d allow him to bring a little skate ramp to use in the parking lot during the free time. I agreed. The next week, our group had doubled in size, and they all heard about Jesus in our worship time. I recognized God’s hand in this and decided that we needed to join Him, so I enlisted some men, collected some money for supplies, and we built some bigger ramps. Within a few months our little group of 20 students had grown to 120. But, these new students weren’t quite like our original group. They weren’t church kids. They were rough. We had to hire in a police officer. Our safe little group, was reaching new students, but it was pretty messy.
Here’s the thing though: When we presented the gospel, the good news about Jesus, there were only two responses:
Humble repentance
Prideful rebellion
There was a kid named Simon who seemed to be at the center of the problems most of the time. One night, he bowed up to me, screaming and cussing me out. He was confused when I didn’t scream back or respond physically. In spite of how I actually felt, I tried to show grace. We had another kid who was so angry about what we were saying about Jesus that he decided to collect signatures in a Bible that he was planning to burn. (I signed it, explaining that people have burned Bibles for centuries, but the Word of God can’t be stopped)
On the other hand, there were also two sisters, Sonya and Trishia who responded with humble repentance. They were just trying to survive the dysfunction in their home. They showed up the first time because of the skating but came to know Jesus. They repented of their old ways of living and began following Him. Eventually they were involved in everything we did. Bible studies, retreats – they even went on mission trips with us. As adults, they are both active in their churches. Sonya served Jesus on a Mercy Ship in Africa and is now raising her kids to follow Jesus. Trishia ended up adopting her niece and raising her to know the love of Jesus.
By the way, about 10 years later, Simon, the one who screamed at me, tracked me down on facebook to tell me about how he had come to know the Lord too. He actually gave me permission to tell his story. God continued working on him into his adult life.
Anyway, here’s the point:
There are only two ways to respond to Jesus:
Prideful Rebellion
or Humble Repentance
Prideful rebellion can look like small selfish decisions or bigger things like burning Bibles and cussing people out.
Humble repentance, on the other hand, leads to new life like we see in the lives of Sonya and Trishia
We are going to witness both of these responses in our passage today.
We are going to be in Acts 19 today and you’re going to see that one group humbly repents and another pridefully rebels. Paul is the guy God chose to travel from city to city planting churches and he has been in the city of Ephesus for over 2 years. He’s been working diligently, speaking boldly, and sharing about Jesus every day. Vs 10 says, “All the people in the area had heard the word of the Lord.” God is doing incredible work through Paul.
But, let me tell you about Ephesus. It’s a crazy place! In the culture of their day, it was like San Francisco. They prided themselves on being an open thriving cultural center where they worshipped a god named Artemis. The temple of Artemis was one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world.
People made pilgrimages to see it and to worship Artemis. She was a fertility god and the worship of Artemis involved lots of sexual sin with temple prostitutes. It also created big business for the city.
So this is where Paul is. It’s a tough spot but God is moving. Read along with me beginning in verse 11. Acts 19:11
11God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
The bible calls these “extraordinary” miracles because God was acting in ways they had never seen before.
13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed.
What?!?! This chapter is gonna be a crazy chapter! We’ve got handkerchief healing and now demons?
So, evidently, casting out demons was kind of a common practice – and especially in Ephesus where people were so spiritually open. There were specific rituals and prayers that were believed to have the power to cast out demons. These guys probably made a living doing it. Jesus Himself cast demons out of people – but He didn’t need any special rituals or prayers, and just three chapters before this, in Acts 16, in the name of Jesus, Paul cast a demon out of a slave girl. On this particular day, it seems like these guys were struggling. Their process, their rituals weren’t working and they knew that Paul had used the name of Jesus
so. . . (the rest of verse 13)
They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”
Not the Jesus that they knew. They didn’t know Him at all. They were just desperately trying to whatever they could.
14Seven sons of Sceva, (Sounds like a rock band)a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?”
This is not a good sign. When a demon gets sassy and backtalks you, it’s probably not going to end well.
16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
I guess the rock band got broken up. They tried to cast the demons out, but the demons cast them out . . . of their clothes. When you try to cast out demons with secondhand faith, you get first-class embarrassment.
Here’s the point: God is not our tool. We are His. We don’t get to use Him for our own purposes. That’s what they were trying to do, right?!?! Instead, we look for what God is doing. Then we surrender and submit. We place ourselves in His hand. We are His tools, and in that way, we get to experience His power working through us. Paul joined God and was God’s tool. He was surrendered and submitted to God and committed to do whatever he was called to do. These other guys wanted to use God as their tool – their instrument for more power and prestige. Yes, they were trying to help someone. It was a good thing they were trying to do, but they found out that Motivation matters. God knows our hearts. We can’t fool Him.
Are we going to join God or use God? Are you surrendered, submitted, and committed to God like Paul? Do you want God, or just what He can give you? Are you in it for Him or for His blessings? Do you want to know God and grow a relationship with Him, or are you here today just ‘cause you need Him to get you out of some issue you’re having? If that’s you, hear me out. God is not your tool. You can’t use Him. Turn your heart to Jesus. Surrender to Him. Develop a relationship with Him. Decide to let Him use you. Decide to be His tool. Cause I’d guess that these naked Seven sons of Sceva guys would tell you the same thing. They’d tell you that you need to know Jesus yourself. I bet they learned their lesson. I mean. . . think about it. Coming home to your wife at the end of that day without any pants is probably not a lesson you’re going to easily forget.
17When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, (You know this had to be a pretty viral story right? Can you imagine the memes?) they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. (Equivilent to $15 million today – Hamrick)20In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
I love this! Verse 17 says they held the name of Jesus in “high honor.” When it became so clear to the people that Jesus was the real deal and that you had to know Him personally, the people responded. They humbly repented. They renounced anything that hindered or distracted them from Jesus. (And it was the equivalence of 15 million dollars worth of stuff.) Once they were convinced, they were all in. They renounced it all.
By the way, this is not a book burning like the kid in my group who wanted to make a point by burning a Bible. No one is trying to make a point, and no one is trying to censor anyone here either. This is self-imposed. It’s based on their own conscience. Like these people, we should Set boundaries and make our relationship with Jesus a priority. I think this is a good practice for all of us. We should stop every now and then, regularly questioning the things we have in our homes, in our hearts, and the things on our schedules. You probably don’t have occult items like these guys, but we all have other stuff. Little things we put before God . . . little idols. We’ve got to Humbly repent, surrender, submit our idols to Jesus, and commit to Him. This is the first, and best way we can respond to Jesus. This is what Sonya and Trishia did all those years ago. They recognized their sinful ways, repented, surrendered, submitted, and committed to Jesus. Of course, they haven’t stopped either.
this is an ongoing thing for all of us too.
What about you?
Are there apps on your phone that keep you from Him? Or hobbies you’re involved in? A relationship? An addiction? What kinds of things get in the way of your relationship with Jesus? Today. . . what was it that you wanted to do today that almost kept you from coming to church? Whatever it is. . . repent, surrender, submit, and commit to Jesus.
23About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.(That’s an early term for the followers of Jesus.)24A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there.
25He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 27There 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; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”
Let me just say, If Paul, a foreigner, can into town, talk to some people, and “rob her of her divine majesty,” maybe this so-called god isn’t so divine. . . just saying.’
Also, do you think Demetrius is really concerned about the god, Artemis? No!! He couches his selfish financial concern about his business in a religious way. He is literally using this so-called god’s image to make money, and he is evidently doing pretty well for himself. He is rightfully concerned about his future profits, but he is also acting like his devotion is motivating this concern about Paul. He doesn’t care near as much about Artemis as he does his bottom line, but it sure sounds better this way right – less selfish. He can market this approach, get more people involved, and grow something and get some traction. Right? By making it sound like he’s concerned about Artemis, he can create a movement. Do you see it?
Also notice how the gospel, the good news of Jesus, changes the economy. The gospel should change the economy.
A relationship with Jesus should change the way we spend our money. We saw people burning 15million dollars worth of distractions earlier in this chapter and now Demetrius is concerned about his business. Don’t you think there were other industries that might have their market crash around them? What markets would crash around us, if we, and our world, truly chose Jesus’ way? Drugs, porn, and trafficking would certainly be impacted, but what about the less obvious things? Would our social media or tv consumption decrease? Which shows would lose their appeal? Would we still buy extravagant luxury items? On the other hand, which industries would flourish under a new reality with Jesus? Would Bible study resources trend up? Charities and ministries would grow. Would Brazos Pointe be able to get a counseling center and a building to house it like we’ve been dreaming? How many new ministries could we start to reach our neighbors, the nations, and the next generation?
When Jesus changes hearts, He also changes economies.
28When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. 30Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.
Paul’s friends had his back. We need community. We need other Christ followers. This is why we need small groups – so we have people to warn us, and protect us, and care for us, and look out for us, and see the things we don’t see. Christians without community are like the animal that leaves the herd. They are easy prey. They’re like a car with no brakes. They’ll crash soon enough. Paul would have crashed that day had it not been for his friends.
32The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. (It’s just a crazy riot at this point.)33The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. 34But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
Two hours is a long time to just yell “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” Can you imagine?
Wait. . . What am I thinking? Of course you can. You live in a “cancel culture” world. Our world is not that far from this. “Cancel culture” isn’t new. It was alive and well in Ephesus in the first century. One preacher (Gary Hamrick) describes cancel culture with these characteristics:
Cancel Culture Characteristics:
Mob mentality – high emotion, conformity without understanding (vs 32 – didn’t know why they were there.)
Often resort to violence (vs 31 – Paul’s friends were concerned about his safety)
Silence opposing views by consistently yelling and overpowering – Pushing their agenda (vs 34 – Two hours of yelling and refusal to listen to opposing view.)
Money trails lead to what they worship (vs 25-27 – Demetrius concern for his business.)
Often idolize sexuality (Artemis/fertility god)
Here’s the thing though: Cancel culture like this is just prideful rebellion in mob form. And we don’t like to think of ourselves as a part of this sort of thing, but whether we want to admit it or not, we’re all guilty. We’re all like the kid in my group who wanted to burn the Bible. For us, it’s probably not this extreme. It’s just a bad habit. It’s just a short distraction. We tell ourselves, “I won’t let this happen again. It’s just this once.” Whatever it is. We’re still like that kid.
He just couldn’t bring himself to submit to Jesus. We can’t bring ourselves to submit this one thing either.
His lifestyle was threatened by the teachings of Jesus, and if we’re honest, we feel threatened by Jesus too.
And like him, we understand that Jesus’ call is costly. We won’t be able to continue living as we have been, so instead of humbly submitting, we look for validation or justification for our own selfish stance.
When that kid began trying to gather signatures in that Bible, he was trying to grow a little mob of his own. He was looking for validation too.
Like him, We don’t want to feel alone in our rebellion either so we gather friends and grow little mobs. We gather people who will agree with us. People who will validate our sin and ease the tension that the Holy Spirit intends for us to feel. We sometimes even gather people that we don’t really respect just to make ourselves feel better – more comfortable with our sin.
Sometimes we yell a bit, thinking maybe we can distract ourselves from it long enough to escape Jesus a while. We try to cancel Jesus’ message with these distractions, and our yelling, and whatever people we can assemble to agree with us.
But you know what??? It won’t work. It didn’t work for that kid, or this crowd in Ephesus. And it won’t work for us either. You see, Jesus’ message never changes. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever – eternally. Jesus can’t be cancelled. He is the author. He gets to make the decisions. Not us. Yes, the world can yell and scream for hours like the Ephesians did, heck, they can scream for weeks, or years, or decades, but it’s not gonna work. All of us, all of Creation is under the authority of the Creator. Our prideful rebellion will never outlast God, so ultimately, the only response we’ve got is humble repentance. This is what that kid who got in my face and cussed me out discovered. Simon found out that all his years of stubborn prideful rebellion was too much work. Jesus’ constant love never relented. Listen to that again. Jesus constant love will never relent. And Simon eventually realized that he had to surrender, repent, submit, and commit to Jesus.
In the face of the one who created the world, in light of the extravagant love of sending His son to die on our behalf, in response to who He is and what He’s done, the only response is to turn away from our old ways, to humbly repent, surrender, submit, and commit to Jesus. Your life will never be the same. Jesus will make you a new creation. You will find life, and purpose, and you’ll experience an underlying joy even within your struggles. Your trials can become sanctuaries.
If that’s something you want to do, or something you want to talk about, if you want to humbly repent and begin a relationship with Jesus, please let someone know. Tell someone who knows Jesus. This is a decision you will never regret. And like Sonya and Trishia, the sisters I told you about earlier, you will become a new creation. You’ll find rest, and peace, and purpose, and passion. In humble repentance to Jesus, you will find everything you are longing for.
Come talk to us. We’d love to talk to you and help you take your next step with Jesus.
Prayer:
Lord, Thank you for all the work You’ve done in Ephesus and help us see the ways that we are like the citizens of Ephesus. Let us see out idols and give us the courage to renounce the things that distracts us from our relationship with You. Let us choose humble repentance over all of our prideful rebellion. Lord, your love never relents and for that we are grateful. Strengthen us. Empower us to respond to Your great love with humility and repentance. We give our lives to You and ask You to change our economies. Today Lord, we repent. We surrender. We submit, and commit our lives to You. AMEN.
