Acts 19:21

After these things were ended, Paul purposed in his spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome... For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen... Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands. (Acts 19:21–26)

When one man simply preached the gospel in Ephesus, an entire pagan industry began to collapse—and that is still how the kingdom advances.

Back in the Book of Acts

On June 6, 2010, I told you we were going to take a short detour out of Acts to study through 1 Corinthians. It has been nineteen months. Not exactly a short detour—but we are back. For the last several years we've been studying Acts alongside the New Testament epistles in their chronological context. Since November of 2008 we've worked through James, Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 Corinthians, and now we return to Acts.

We'll only be here a few weeks before moving into 2 Corinthians, probably by the end of this month or early February. We want to understand the context. Second Corinthians was written about six months after 1 Corinthians, and 1 Corinthians was written around A.D. 57 from Ephesus—exactly where we find Paul here in Acts 19, on his third missionary journey, ministering in this grand city.

From Persecutor to Evangelist

Paul has spent the better part of his Christian experience on the mission field. He was saved in Acts 9 while on a mission from the Pharisees in Jerusalem to destroy the church. He didn't believe in Jesus as Messiah; he saw the faith as a threat to Judaism, and he carried letters from the chief priests to Damascus to bring back bound anyone "of the way."

But God had different plans. A light brighter than the sun knocked Saul of Tarsus to the ground, and he heard a voice: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" When he asked who it was, the Lord answered, "I am Jesus, whom you persecute." His conversion was miraculous, and God took this former terrorist of the church and made him one of the greatest evangelists and church planters the world has known. Through his three journeys, churches were planted in Lystra, Derbe, Iconium, Philippi, Corinth, Thessalonica, Berea, and beyond.

Riot or Revival—Usually Both

In most cities Paul stayed only a short time; many of his churches were planted in under four months. As his custom was, he would go to the Jewish synagogue, seek an opportunity to preach, and take them through the Old Testament showing how Christ would come and suffer. Then he would drive it home: Jesus of Nazareth, crucified in Jerusalem and risen from the dead, is the Messiah. About then they'd say, "Get out of here!"

Wherever Paul went there was either a riot or a revival—and usually both. In Lystra they took him outside the city and stoned him, nearly killing him, but God raised him up. In Philippi, after he cast a demon out of a fortune-telling slave girl, those who profited from her had Paul and Silas beaten with rods and imprisoned. He was politely requested to leave or be killed in city after city. But God kept moving.

A Great Door and Many Adversaries

When Paul came to Ephesus on his third journey, he found what he called "a great and effective door." In 1 Corinthians 16:9 he wrote that he would stay in Ephesus because a great opportunity for the gospel was before him. And when I look at our own community—Escondido, San Marcos, Valley Center, Rancho Bernardo, Bonsall, Fallbrook—I'm convinced we have a great and effective door open to us as well. So many people don't know the gospel. They may know the name Jesus, may have attended church, but they don't know the gospel.

But Paul added something: "and there are many adversaries." We tend to think a great opportunity means easy sailing, and that opposition means a closed door. Not so. Just as God opens great doors, you can be certain the enemy will stand in the way of what God is doing. We are in a spiritual battle.

The Reality of Spiritual War

Paul knew this. He wrote to the Ephesians:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

At this very moment there is a spiritual war in this place, in this community, a battle for souls. The Bible calls our enemy the accuser of the brethren, the serpent, Lucifer, Satan, the devil. Every physical battle and tension in our society is a manifestation of a spiritual battle behind the scenes.

That's why Scripture exhorts us to be vigilant, to put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, praying always. One of the greatest tricks the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist. As 2 Corinthians will remind us, our weapons are not carnal—not guns and bombs—but mighty in God for the tearing down of strongholds.

The Silversmiths' Guild

And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. (Acts 19:23)

"The way" is how the gospel was sometimes described, because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. A "no small stir" means a big stir—something was happening because of the gospel. Demetrius, a silversmith who made little idols of Diana (Artemis), gathered the craftsmen—essentially the idol-makers' guild, "Local 205." They were getting wealthy because the great temple of Diana stood about a mile and a half outside Ephesus, drawing worshippers from all over the known world for centuries, going back to the fifth century B.C.

These entrepreneurs crafted little images so visitors could carry a piece of the temple home—to Rome, Egypt, wherever—and worship Artemis in their corner. And the worship of Diana was deeply sensual. You could sum it up in one word: pornography. If you are taken by pornography today, you are worshipping the idol Artemis; you are involved in idolatry.

"We Have Identified the Problem—His Name Is Paul"

Demetrius stands up at the union meeting and says, "Sirs, you know that by this craft we have our wealth." For five hundred years business had been good, but now revenue is down. So a committee researched the cause. Is silver in short supply? No. Trouble getting tools? No.

Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands. (Acts 19:26)

They identified the problem: his name is Paul. This is phenomenal. For five centuries idol-making meant great wealth. Now a lone Jewish rabbi, teaching in a little school in the cheap part of Ephesus—the school of Tyrannus—for two years, has nearly tanked an entire industry throughout Asia. Would to God that would happen in Escondido.

...so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. (Acts 19:27)

One man preaching the gospel was seeing the undoing of the entire pagan system throughout Asia. No small stir indeed.

The Power of the Gospel

Would to God this could be said of the churches in our community—that we are effectively causing a stir. That is what we want in 2012 and beyond: to enjoy God's grace, having received the gospel, and to extend His glory into this world.

The gospel is powerful in the spiritual realm, bringing conquest over sin and death, and powerful in the physical realm as well. Paul told the Romans, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all those that believe" (Romans 1:16).

When the gospel's power was unleashed upon Wales in the Welsh Revival at the beginning of the twentieth century, the pubs closed, theaters emptied, national sports were deserted, crime dropped, drunkenness dropped, and the brothels and gambling dens went vacant. Did this happen because Christians picketed and signed petitions? No. The gospel transformed lives, and those places no longer had patrons. The world doesn't need a newer definition of the gospel; it needs a clearer demonstration of it.

A Community Transformed

Our whole area—San Diego County, Southern California, the United States—needs a demonstration of the gospel. We gather here not to seal ourselves off from a crazy world, but to be reminded that the gospel transforms everything, so we can take it wherever we go.

Paul's ministry in Ephesus was largely under the radar. After being kicked out of the synagogue, he set up shop next door in the school of Tyrannus and taught the gospel daily. He trained disciples—Timothy, Gaius, Aristarchus, Titus—to be church planters. People came from Smyrna, Laodicea, Philadelphia; their lives changed, and they went home and preached, until idol worshippers across Asia said, "I don't need this anymore."

How wonderful if we saw the same effects—if the adult bookstore on F Street closed not because we picketed it but because it had no patrons, all of them in church; if the police lowered the vice-squad budget because prostitution rings collapsed; if DUI checkpoints became unnecessary. During the Welsh Revival, Cardiff saw a sixty percent drop in public drunkenness in a single month. That is the power of God.

Retaliation and Persecution

And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. (Acts 19:28)

Obviously Diana wasn't so great—she was having a hard time with one little man preaching the gospel. When the gospel is demonstrated through God's people, there will be retaliation. David said, "The wicked plot against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth" (Psalm 37:12). Paul told Timothy, "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).

But that's not a bad thing. Jesus said, "Blessed are you when men shall revile and persecute you... Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven." We shouldn't go out and force persecution by being obnoxious, but neither should we think it strange when it comes. Peter said, "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial." In fact, you might think it strange if you're not persecuted, because persecution rises at the same rate the preaching of the gospel rises.

When the Church Loses the Gospel

To say America has not experienced Christian persecution may also be to say the church in America has largely left the power of the gospel. In recent Christian history, the church decided to deal with society's woes politically—signing petitions, boycotting, picketing, letting our voice be heard about what we're against—while not simply preaching the gospel that changes lives and communities.

We wonder why our culture is shifting in a direction we don't want. It's because we, the church, have not preached the gospel. The body of Christ has lost trust that the gospel is the power of God, or we've become ashamed of it, and we see the direct results in our culture.

Confusion in the Theater

And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre. (Acts 19:29)

The riled-up mob couldn't find Paul, so they seized two of his traveling companions and dragged them into the theater—which held well over a thousand people. Mob mentality took over, and crowds followed without knowing why. When Paul heard, he wanted to go in, but the disciples wouldn't let him.

"The whole city was filled with confusion"—is that not a perfect statement for twenty-first-century Western culture? Hundreds of ideas, philosophies, and worldviews, mass confusion. Yet the gospel brings clarity. When that clarity enters the confusion, the confusion thinks it's wrong, because the gospel turns an upside-down world right side up.

The Fighting Spirit of Paul

I love this about Paul. Here you see his fighting spirit—these men won't suffer on my account without me there. "Let me at them!" In my mind I see them physically restraining him. The descriptions of Paul depict a short man with a big nose, big brow, and bowed legs—honestly, every time I think of him, I picture my dad.

And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre. (Acts 19:31)

Notice this: certain rulers of Asia were his friends. It doesn't say they were believers, but they were his friends. This clues us into our mission as the church. We are ambassadors of Christ. An ambassador lives in a nation not his own to make friends with its leaders and influence them on behalf of his home country. Though we are citizens of this nation, we are ultimately citizens of heaven, here to make friends and influence them on behalf of our King.

Unity in Diversity

Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. (Acts 19:32)

Again, this is our culture—one nation with thousands of voices crying different things in utter confusion. In many ways it's no longer true to say we are "one nation under God, indivisible." We are a divided people.

But the church is to be diverse yet unified. Look around this room—there are people here you'd probably never interact with apart from Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote, "There is one body, and one Spirit... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:4–6). I'll never forget driving with Pastor Eric years ago in youth ministry when he looked at me and said, "You know, if it wasn't for Jesus, we'd never be friends." I think there's a compliment in there somewhere—but it's true.

Ambassadors in This Culture

We are diverse individually, yet a people focused on the Lord, working for His kingdom and not our own, loving Him, loving one another, and supernaturally loving those who don't yet know God. We're ambassadors for Christ in this place. He's called us to a beautiful place—eat the food, see the sights, smell the smells—because an ambassador to China walks the streets of Beijing and knows the culture in order to influence it for his nation.

We are in this culture but not of it, here to influence it for the King and His kingdom. How do we do that? Not with picket signs and petitions—we don't see that here.

And when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. (Acts 19:34)

The Jews were a cultural minority, looked down upon, keeping to themselves. So when Alexander stepped forward and the crowd quieted, the moment they recognized him as a Jew, they erupted for two hours: "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" Imagine a stadium "wave" lasting two hours, or a European soccer match's constant roar for ninety minutes.

The Town Clerk's Defense

And when the townclerk had appeased the people... (Acts 19:35)

Here's a good politician. Ephesus, like many ancient cities, governed itself autonomously under Rome—so long as it caused no trouble. The moment trouble arose, Rome sent soldiers. (That's why Judea always had Roman troops; they would never submit, fighting until the temple's destruction in A.D. 70 and the Bar Kokhba revolt, after which Rome stamped it out and renamed the land Palestine.)

The town clerk reminds them everyone knows Ephesus worships Diana and that no one can speak against it, so they should do nothing rashly. Then he says something crucial:

For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. (Acts 19:37)

Gaius and Aristarchus had done nothing wrong. If Demetrius has a legal matter, the courts are open. And, the clerk warns, if Rome hears of this uproar with no real cause, "we are in danger to be called in question." With that, he dismissed the assembly.

A Ministry of Subversion

Focus again on verse 37: these men were "neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess." Gaius, Aristarchus, Timothy, Erastus, and others were with Paul in Ephesus for two years. They never set up a committee to protest Diana's worship, never organized a boycott of the idol trade, never leafleted the city, never pushed to abolish the immoral practices at the temple. They just preached the gospel. With no organized mission to change the city, they changed the city.

This is what I call a ministry of subversion. We are ambassadors of Christ, in this world but not of it, here to make friends and influence the influential on behalf of our King. God placed you in your workplace, your construction site, your school, your basketball team, that Starbucks—to make friends and influence them for the King and His kingdom.

Subverting the Kingdom of Darkness

During wartime, ambassadors work subversively. We are in a spiritual battle, and we work in this world by a ministry of subversion. By "subversion" I don't mean undermining the United States—I mean undermining the kingdom of our adversary, the devil. As Paul said in Acts 26:18, the gospel exists "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins."

You can protest the adult bookstore and boycott what you disagree with if you'd like, but it's fairly ineffective. The best way to be subversive is to preach and live the gospel. The gospel snatches people out of darkness, turns them from the power of Satan to the power of God, deals with their sin by forgiveness and sanctification, and transforms them. That is subversion at its finest.

Don't Lose Confidence in the Gospel

I suggest that one reason our culture keeps rolling toward wickedness is that the evangelical church has lost the evangel—forgotten, or become ashamed, that the gospel is the power of God. Yes, we are narrow-minded. Yes, there is only one way. Yes, Jesus died on a cross for our sins and gives salvation. Have we lost confidence in the gospel? To lose confidence in the gospel is to lose faith in Christ.

God has placed us here and blessed us greatly to enjoy His grace and extend His glory—to be subversive, to preach the gospel. Let it never be said that the evangelical church in America in the early twenty-first century lost faith in the gospel.

Closing Prayer

Father, we do pray that You would strengthen our faith and strengthen our determination to carry the glorious good news of Your grace to those who are living a joyless life and a graceless existence. Lord, cause us to shine brightly in the darkness of this world. Let our light so shine that this world would see our good works and honor and glorify You, our Father in heaven. Work this out in us, Your church, we pray. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen.