Acts
19:8-10 … And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly,
reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became
stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the
congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning
daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the
residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
This was typical of the other cities that he worked in as
well. Some people became stubborn and Paul moved the Church in Ephesus out of
the synagogue into the hall of Tyrannus. This place is lost in history but some
old manuscripts say Paul taught in the afternoon from 11 to 4 each day. I think
the main reason that seems like a longtime to be in study is because we are not
accustomed to thinking deeply about the Gospel or the errors that creep into
our thinking. As we read Paul’s epistles to the churches we find many of the
same errors that creep into the Church in our day. We are weak in discipleship
because of the individualism and relativism of the culture (nihilism too) that
we absorb from outside the Church. In requires effort to keep yourself from
falling into this sort of worldliness.
Acts
19:11-12 … And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
so that even 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.
Paul wasn’t apparently encouraging this because the
Ephesians had a pagan history and tended to look for superstitious and magical
solutions to their problems. However, God honored this for a time. These were
not little handkerchiefs and doilies that Paul laid out and prayed over. These
were his work bandanas and work aprons that were taken and put on those who
were sick or demon possessed. People
tend to be naturally syncretistic. What I mean by that is people tend to add
religious practices to their existing practices without real repentance. God
couldn’t let this continue indefinitely because true repentance and surrender
to the Lordship of Christ under the power of the Holy Spirit is required. So to
continue in this line of thought … Luke tells us about the Ephesians’
experience with the “Ghost Busters”.
Acts
19:13-16 … 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.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named
Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and
Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 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.
You can clearly see the syncretism here and an empirical
approach to spiritual matters. We are not allowed to take these views of our
Holy God. God was in sovereign control of all these events and was disciplining
the Ephesians away from their superstitions and magic. The sons of Sceva
decided to try the name of Jesus without any real knowledge of Jesus. This was
empiricism. The core of empiricism is the question, “Does it work?” and if it
does great and if it doesn’t then move on to the next thing. God was using
these events to distinguish what was true from what was false. He did a similar
thing with the Samaritans by removing Simon Magus from his position of
authority as the Church grew in Samaria. In Ephesus, God makes it clear that
being the son of a high priest did not give you authority but that true power
did reside in the name of Jesus and that even Paul’s name was recognized. So
the experiment blew up in their faces and it was a very high profile failure.
God was establishing what was true in opposition to what was false.
Acts
19:17-20 … 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. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and
divulging their practices. 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.
So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
This was exactly what
needed to happen. The high profile beating that the Sons of Sceva took worked
to further Church purity. The fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom,
was increased. The name of Jesus was praised and awe grew for the Gospel. The
believers were convicted of syncretism and repented openly. This entire process
moved through the odd use of Paul’s work towels and aprons, Sceva’s sons
experimentation with Jesus’ name, and the conviction of the evil in magic to
produce holiness in the Church in Ephesus. This was exactly what they needed
and this was God’s grace in action for the believers. God knows what the real
problem
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