Introduction
Last week we spent our time on verses 8 to 20 of Acts 19. And it was a marvellous passage about Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. Do you remember? When some of the Jews in the synagogue became obstinate and would not listen to him, he moved to the hall of Tyrannus, where he reasoned with the people who gathered there every day for two years. And because of his ministry, all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the Roman province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. That’s how last week’s passage began and it ended with the statement that the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
So, Paul was conducting his ministry in the hall of Tyrannus. That’s where he was. That’s where he was based. That’s where he preached. But the word of the Lord which he preached wasn’t confined to the hall of Tyrannus, because it spread widely throughout the region and it had a powerful effect on the people.
I mentioned before I video I saw of a tiger being released back into the wild. When the video began all you could see was this cage on the back of a lorry. And then someone opened the door of the cage and stood well back, because a moment later this tiger leapt from the cage and charged into the jungle. And that’s what Paul’s preaching was like. He was preaching in the hall of Tyrannus, but it was as if someone opened a door and the message of Jesus Christ bounded out and ran rapidly from place to place. And it had this powerful effect on the people, changing their lives for the better.
And in the centuries which followed, the word of the Lord turned the Roman world upside down as more and more people heard the good news and believed. And I mentioned last week the Reformation of Europe and this past Friday was the anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation. And the whole of Europe was transformed by men like Luther and Calvin who preached God’s word about Jesus Christ and they reformed not only the church but the whole of society according to God’s word. Luther used to say about the things that were happened throughout Europe that he did nothing. He did nothing and the word of God did everything.
And when we think of the ways that life in the western world has deteriorated so much in recent years, because people have turned away from the Lord, it’s clear that we need the Lord to do for us what he did in Ephesus and in the Roman world and in Europe at the time of the Reformation. We need him to change our lives and the lives of the people all around us. We need him to change us for the better. And the chief way he does that it through the preaching of his word about Jesus Christ. And we must therefore pray for it.
That was last week. Today we come to the verses we read a moment ago which can be divided into three parts. It begins with Paul’s decision to leave Ephesus. And then Luke records for us how there arose a great disturbance about the Way. When Luke refers to ‘the Way’, he’s speaking about Christianity. And so, there arose a great disturbance about Christianity. And Luke tells us about this great disturbance and what happened and how it ended. And the third and final part of the passage is about Paul’s departure from Ephesus. So, the passage begins with his decision to leave. But before he leaves, there’s this disturbance. And then, once the disturbance is over, he leaves.
19:21+22
Let’s turn to verses 21 and 22 of chapter 19 where we have Paul’s decision to leave. Luke tells us that after all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem. After what had happened? After all that we were thinking about last week: so Paul preaching in the hall of Tyrannus every day for two years and how the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. And ‘all that happened’ includes the time when the seven sons of Sceva tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to cast out an evil spirit, but the evil spirit turned on them and beat them up. And ‘all that happened’ includes the time when the believers came and openly confessed their evil deeds. And do you remember how those who practised sorcery brought their scrolls full of magic spells and they burned them? This was the effect that Paul’s preaching was having on the people of that city. They were giving up their evil ways and they were turning to the Lord.
And so, after all these things happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem. That’s not the best translation of what Luke wrote, because what Luke actually wrote is that Paul decided in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. It’s possible that Luke means that Paul decided ‘in his own spirit’ to go. That is to say, he made up his mind to go. But it’s perhaps more likely that what Luke means is that the Holy Spirit was guiding Paul, just as he guided Paul back in chapter 13 when Paul and his companions were chosen to leave Antioch and to preach the gospel elsewhere. And then there was the time in Acts 16 when Paul received a vision from the Lord to cross over into Europe. And then, there was the time in Acts 18 when he received a vision from the Lord telling him not to give up, but to keep preaching when he was in Corinth. Since Paul was an apostle, he received these extra-ordinary visions and messages from the Lord. And perhaps that’s what happened here in Ephesus: after staying in Ephesus for over two years, the Holy Spirit made clear to Paul that it was time for him to leave Ephesus and to head for Jerusalem.
And you can see from verse 21 that he would pass through Macedonia and Achaia on the way to Jerusalem. The plan was presumably to visit some of the places where he had been before and where he had planted churches. So, places like Philippi and Thessalonica and Berea and Athens and Corinth. And after visiting those places and Jerusalem, he hoped to get to Rome. In fact, he says at the end of verse 21 that he must visit Rome. And when he says that he must visit Rome, he perhaps means that the Lord has commanded him to go there. He must go there, because this is God’s will for him.
And you can see from verse 22 that before he departed, he sent Timothy and Erastus, two of his helpers, to Macedonia. Luke doesn’t explain why he did this.
And so, that’s the first part of today’s passage and it sets us up for what happens next. Paul is making travel plans, but before he can get going, this great disturbance arose in Ephesus.
19:23–41
What kind of disturbance was this? Luke introduces us to a silversmith named Demetrius. And he tells us that Demetrius brought in no little business for the craftsmen. Presumably there were a number of other silversmiths who either worked for Demetrius or who had some kind of business arrangement with him. In any case, he got work for them. The commentators explain that they probably made miniature copies of the temple of Artemis which was in Ephesus. Artemis was a Greek god. She was supposed the daughter of Zeus and the Romans knew her as Diana. And the temple of Artemis in Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, which is why these silversmiths made copies of it. You see, lots of people visited Ephesus to see the temple and to worship there. And just as people going to Paris today might come home with a model of the Eiffel Tower or just as people going to London today might come home with a model of Buckingham Palace or of Tower Bridge, so in those days, people who visited Ephesus might go home with a copy of the temple. And it seems from what Luke says in verse 24 that business was good for Demetrius and his colleagues.
Demetrius called together his colleagues in the silversmith business and in related businesses and he began to raise his concerns with them. And in his speech, he drew their attention to how well off they are and how they received a good income from their business. Making miniature copies of the temple was profitable work.
But then he goes on to point out to his colleagues what Paul had been doing. What had Paul been doing? According to Demetrius, ‘this fellow Paul’ had convinced and led astray large numbers of people in Ephesus and elsewhere in the Roman province of Asia by saying that man-made gods are no gods at all. Now, we would say that Paul was teaching the people the truth about gods like Artemis, because such gods are not gods, but only idols. But for people like Demetrius, who worshipped these false gods, it seemed that Paul was leading the people astray. And I mentioned at the midweek recently that the Romans regarded Christians as atheists, because they did not believe in the Roman gods. Demetrius may have said the same thing about Paul: he’s an atheist who doesn’t worship Artemis and he’s teaching other people not to worship her.
And before we move on to the next thing he said, notice that he said that Paul had led astray large numbers of people. That makes clear to us the impact of Paul’s ministry. There he was, preaching in the hall of Tyrannus, but the word was running rapidly from place to place and it was changing large numbers of people so that they turned away from their idols to worship the one, true and living God through Jesus Christ his Son.
And Demetrius then warned his colleagues about the dangerous impact Paul’s ministry will have on them. He says that their trade will lose its good name; and the temple of Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself will be robbed of her divine majesty. What he means is that if more and more people are persuaded that Artemis is only an idol and not a god, then no one will want to worship her. And so, no one will come to her temple. And no one will buy their miniature copies of the temple.
And Luke tells us that when they heard this, they were furious. They were furious about the impact Paul’s ministry might have on Artemis’s reputation and on the temple and on their source of income. And they began to shout: ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’
And their shouting seems to have stirred up everyone else in the city so that the whole city was in an uproar. And some people seized these two Christians — Gaius and Aristarchus — and rushed with them into the theatre. Luke tells us that Paul wanted to go before the crowd, but his fellow Christians wouldn’t let him, which tells us just how angry the people must have been and how dangerous it had become. And according to verse 31, some of the officials of the province, who were friends of Paul, sent him a message telling him not to go into the theatre, because they too could see how dangerous it would be for him.
And Luke tells us in verse 32 that the assembly was in confusion. In other words, there was chaos. Some people were shouting one thing; others were shouting something else; and most of the people who were there did not know why they were there. We can imagine all these people, seeing a crowd heading for the theatre, and they decide to follow along to see what’s going on. But no one really knows what’s going on.
And in all the confusion, the Jews pushed to the front another Jew called Alexander. And some people shouted instructions to him. Perhaps he didn’t really know what was going on and what to say to the crowd, but it seems he wanted to make some kind of defence to the people. Presumably the Jews wanted to make clear to their Roman neighbours that they are not on Paul’s side. So, don’t mix us up with Paul, because he’s not one of us and we don’t believe what he believes. But in any case, the people in the crowd weren’t prepared to listen to Alexander and instead they shouted over and over and over again for two hours that ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ Not so long ago I heard some people talking about how, at the Cannes film festival, it’s normal now for a standing ovation at the end of a movie to go on for ten or more minutes. And these people were saying how awkward it feels to stand and applaud something for such a long time. But ten minutes is nothing compared to what these Ephesians were doing, as they stood and shouted the same thing over and over and over again for two whole hours. It’s crazy.
And finally the city clerk managed to quieten the crowd. And this is a man with a sensible head on his shoulders, because he warned the people of the trouble they will get into if they keep this up. But before he gets to his warning, he says to them that everyone knows that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven. The commentators think that the statue of Artemis was made from something like a meteor which fell to earth from the sky. And perhaps the clerk is suggesting that Artemis is not made by human hands, because the gods clearly sent her image from the sky. Everyone knows this, he says to them.
And then he speaks in defence of the Christians. He says they haven’t robbed temples and they haven’t blasphemed their goddess. Although Paul had been teaching the people that man-made gods are no gods at all, the city clerk was satisfied that Paul hadn’t blasphemed Artemis herself. And so, he’s telling the crowd that Paul and his companions are not lawbreakers. They haven’t broken the law. But if Demetrius and his colleagues have a grievance against anybody, then they can take them to court. But they mustn’t keep this riot up, because if they do, the Roman authorities are likely to take action against the whole city and they might lose some of their privileges and rights. And so, calm down and go home.
And the people listened to him and he was able to dimiss them.
20:1
And in the final part of today’s passage, which is verse 1 of chapter 20, we read that Paul sent for his fellow Christians and after encouraging them in the faith, he said good-bye and headed for Macedonia.
Application 1
This passage is once again about the opposition there was to Christianity in those days. We’ve seen this before in smaller ways, because often when Paul preached in a city, a group of those who heard him did not believe and they opposed him. But this is perhaps the first time Paul faced opposition from so many people in one place. And the situation was so dangerous that the other Christians and even these friendly officials warned Paul not to go anywhere near the theatre where the mob had gathered.
And the opposition arose because of the impact that Paul’s ministry was having in that place. From what we read in the previous passage, lots of people who practiced sorcery were giving it up. From what we read in today’s passage, lots of people were listening to Paul and they were giving up their idols. Because of Paul’s preaching in the hall of Tyrannus, life in the city of Ephesus was changing for the better, because people were giving up their idolatry and their sorcery and their other sins and they were turning to God through faith in his Son.
And wherever God is at work, and where people are being rescued from the devil’s dominion, there you’ll also find the devil at work, stirring up people to oppose the preaching of the gospel and the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. And on this occasion, satan’s opposition to the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ came through Demetrius.
On Wednesday evenings, we pray for the persecuted church. And this past Wednesday, we were praying for believers in Algeria who are suffering for their faith in the Saviour. Algerian men, who convert from Islam to Christianity, might be beaten and threatened and forced from their homes. Algerian women who are converted might be placed under house arrest by their families or they might be made to marry Muslim men. Men face harassement at work and they might lose their job. Women face sexual harassment and death threats. And all Protestant churches have been closed.
And so, life for believers in Algeria is extremely difficult. And Algeria is only at position 19 in the World Watch List for persecution. And so, there are 18 other countries where it’s even harder to be a Christian. The devil is at work throughout the world to stir up opposition and persecution to Christianity. He sees the kingdom of Christ spreading throughout the world through the reading and preaching of God’s word and he does everything he can to oppose it and to stop it.
And so, we must pray and we must keep praying for our brothers and sisters in the Lord who are suffering so much for the Lord’s sake. We must pray that they will stand firm in the faith and not give in no matter what they suffer. And we must pray that Christ’s kingdom will continue to grow and that more and more men and women and children around the world will give up their false gods and turn to the one, true and living God through faith in his Son.
But then, I was listening this week to another preacher preach on this passage. And something he said about where opposition to the gospel comes from reminded me of a conversation I had with a minister around 30 years ago. This minister had been ordained for many years and he had once been the minister of a congregation I knew fairly well. And this minister was a godly man, who faithfully preached God’s word about Jesus Christ. He was a faithful and good man and a well-respected preacher. And what struck me as we talked about his work in this congregation which I knew fairly well was that he mentioned several members of the congregation — people I always regarded as being godly people — who opposed his ministry. They would write letters of complaint to him; and they would complain about him to other members of the congregation; and some of them would get together on Sunday evenings and criticise the things he had said in his sermons. And it’s not that these people were unbelievers. They were believers and members of the church and well-respected. And yet, they stood against this minister who was faithfully preaching God’s word about Jesus Christ.
And all those years ago, I was so shocked to hear this, because it didn’t make any sense. But since then, I’ve heard more and more stories from other ministers of the same thing happening in their congregations. Opposition to the preaching of the gospel from the least likely people.
And it appears that Paul was familiar with this as well, because in one of his New Testament letters to Timothy, he said to Timothy, who was a minister, that he must gently instruct those who opposed him. So, Paul knew that people were opposing Timothy. And he told Timothy to instruct them gently in the hope that God will rescue them from what? From the trap of the devil, because the devil had taken them captive to do his will. And the devil’s will is to oppose the preaching of God’s word about Jesus Christ using whomever he can.
And so, opposition will come to the preaching of the gospel. We can expect it. And we should pray against it. And we must watch ourselves that we do not fall victim to the devil’s wicked schemes.
Application 2
But then, this passage is not only about opposition to the gospel and to Christianity, but it’s also about the Lord who protects his people.
Do you remember when Paul was in Corinth and once again he was facing opposition? And the Lord appeared to him in a vision to encourage him to keep preaching and not to stop. And the Lord re-assured Paul that he was with him and that no one would harm him. And sure enough, when the unbelievers made another attack on Paul, God ensured that the Roman proconsul was there to defend Paul. And here in Ephesus, when this riot had started and a great mob had formed, and Paul’s life and the lives of his fellow believers were in danger, God made sure that this city clerk would be there to defend Paul and his fellow Christians. And God made sure that the angry mob would listen to the clerk. The city clerk was not a believer, but Almighty God was able to use him to protect Paul and the church.
And that’s the re-assurance we need as we meet here Sunday by Sunday to hear God’s word about Jesus Christ and as we live our lives day by day before people who don’t believe and who may be sceptical and who may even oppose the gospel. We need the re-assurance that God is with us and that he can use all kinds of people to defend us and to help us.
And he will help us, because he’s our God and he’s promised to keep us and to keep all his people for ever.
Sermons and Stuff 