Acts - Lesson 32

Last week we talked about the way in which God identified a spiritual problem in Ephesus and worked to purify the Church in that city. God sent revival and after the years Paul put in teaching there he saw the local Church well grounded in Christ.

Paul was constantly in submission to the Holy Spirit and that actually made it easier for him to be redirected contrary to his expectations. His first objective was to preach a message of the effects of sin, the need for personal repentance, and the sufficiency of Christ for our forgiveness for sin. His second objective was to mature local body of Christ so that they would reach out to the area surrounding them. His third objective was to plant another body of Christ in another city. The first two objectives were met in Ephesus and at this point Paul was thinking of moving on. The book of Ephesians was likely written about 5 years after this point in Acts. The strength of the body there caused Paul to pray great things for them that we can also pray for ourselves and others.

Ephesians 1:16-23 … I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

So we pray to 1) have wisdom and knowledge of Him, 2) know our hope and heritage, and 3) know His omnipotence. It is a really good prayer like many other prayers found in Scripture. However, don’t miss the principal that you really need these things in your life. Wisdom and knowledge of Him are not just handy to have they are your life and breath. You need your hope in Him and confidence in His power to rightly live each day. Paul was confident enough with the Ephesians position that he planned to move on.

Acts 19:21-22 … Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

Paul was planning to head back up to Macedonia to check on the Church in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea (at least) and then come south again to Achaia where he established the Church at Corinth. Then he planned on going to Jerusalem. God would rearrange things a little but that was his plan. He used an “advance team” and sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia to prepare for his visit while he continued his ministry in Ephesus.

Acts 19:23-27 … About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there 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.”

Artemis is the Greek name and Diana is the Roman name of this false goddess. Money, politics, and religion mixed in Ephesus produced a volatile situation. In stark contrast to the demonstration of God’s power in the events preceding this meeting of silversmiths, we now see silversmiths attempting to defend their goddess because the false goddess can’t defend itself.

What good is a God who needs humans to defend it? This reminded me of our brother called Boniface who was from Wessex England but was trying to evangelize the Germans in the early 700s AD. He wasn’t getting far evangelizing the Germans because they already had a god named Thor and they even had a special sacred tree that was Thor’s special oak tree. So Boniface found an ax and told them that their god (Thor or Jupiter in a Latinized version) should strike him dead if he is able while he cuts down the tree they believed was Thor’s favorite oak tree. It is said by an early biographer that Boniface started to cut it and a great wind blew the tree over. At that point the people converted to Christianity and Boniface built a church from the wood. There is still a church there and a statue of Boniface standing on a tree stump. Boniface is part of “the riches of His (Christ’s) glorious inheritance in the saints.” The reason there is a brass Boniface standing on a stump in Germany is because Boniface was meek toward God and submitted to the Holy Spirit. It looked bold to the Germans but really Boniface had a fear of God that made his fear of man wither and die. The reason we know who Boniface was more than 1000 years later is because God raised him up to be a very visible part of Christ’s glorious inheritance in the saints.

In Ephesus they were not open to the One True God. The silversmiths were right to be afraid for their false goddess who had no power. Here is the text of an early Christian dedication of a Cross to replace the image of Artemis, “Destroying the delusive image of the demon Artemis, Demeas has erected this symbol of Truth, the God that drives away idols, and the Cross of priests, deathless and victorious sign of Christ." The cult of Artemis or Diana was very strong in Ephesus and the temple was considered one of the wonders of the world. God was picking a fight over the place of this cult in the religious life of Ephesus. The Ephesians’ silversmith guild never considered the larger issues that result from worshiping a manufactured statue they needed to make and defend. 

Acts 19:28-34 … When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Here we go with another riot. Remember that Ephesus is in Turkey and so Gaius and Aristarchus were from Southern Europe (Macedonian). Being foreigners, and associated with Paul, they got swept up into the mob. Paul had to be restrained and kept out of the crowd. Even Paul’s friends in power (Asiarchs) told him to stay out of the action because things were so chaotic. Many didn’t even knowing why they were there. When a Jew named Alexander tried to speak he was shouted down because he was a Jew. Poor Alexander didn’t even get a chance to disown Paul and the other Christians. Notice that this went on for hours like a pep rally for a goddess who couldn’t even lift a finger.

Acts 19:35-36 … And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, 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? Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

Here is a civil servant earning his keep. However, he isn’t fully informed. The false goddess Artemis is under attack and they are also worshipping as sacred a meteor of some sort. This false goddess is in fact, at this point, being dethroned by Almighty God. The silversmiths were essentially correct in some of their charges. His argument that “everyone knows who we are and what we’ve got” works to settle down the crowd but it is a hollow statement for a false god. To paraphrase Paul as he spoke in Athens, God didn’t destroy you for your sins in the past but today God commands you to repent.

Acts 19:37-41 … For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

This town clerk was bright enough to know that under the Roman law (of the day) no crime had been committed. The historian Josephus tells us that crimes of this sort were often charged against Jews and Christians. This clerk points them to the courts and reminds them how upset the Romans get about violence that they didn’t instigate. If the Ephesians were charged with rioting then the beatings would once again continue until moral improved.

We can look at these events in Ephesus through the lens of the Fifth Commandment. In the Fifth Commandment God tells us to, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12). We tend to think that command only applies to us when we are home or before the death of our parents. Why would God place a commandment that doesn’t apply to you in the top 10 for all mankind?

We must look back and honor our parents in the faith. All Christians are adopted (Ephesians 1:5). If my natural dad was wrong about something then I must obey my Father in heaven. To know and honor all those believers who are our family is part of our honoring the 5^th Commandment. In addition, we must be as accurate and precise as we are able in handling the Scriptures that our Father in heaven spoke into being to obey the 5^th Commandment. The error we see in the Ephesians was the elevation of ungodly human traditions in the face of godly revelation. This went on both inside and outside the Church.

We find the 5^th Commandment to be double edged because tradition is always judged by truth. In the process of seeking to shape our minds to the truth of Scripture we can stumble on what are called “love lines” or “lines of loyalty”. It may be our cultural heritage, religious tradition, or family life that we must finally bring under Christ as Lord of our lives. They are really prejudices that we bring with us into Christianity. The Roman Empire produced a climate that resulted in salvations of folks with bad cultural heritage, bad religious traditions, and bad family lives. However, as adopted children of God, the early Christians honored their earthly parents while at the same time honoring God the Father and those called into the Church before them.

Each of us is commanded to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).” Paul encourages us to do this by paying attention to the traditions of the Church (1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15 & 3:6) while at the same time leaving worldly (Colossians 2:8) and religious (Galatians 1:14) traditions that are ungodly. We have 2000 years of spiritual parents in the faith. They preached the Gospel and demonstrated discipleship for us. Thankfully and joyfully, obeying the 5^th Commandment is much more than honoring our earthly parents.