A Kind Of Love Nobody Should Desire Series

A Kind of Love Nobody Should Desire

Acts 19:21-41

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Introduction:

1. Have you ever been a part of a mob scene, or seen one? It’s not a pretty sight.

2. The apostle Paul had been teaching the Bible and preaching the gospel in Ephesus for two years. There had been astounding spiritual victories, and Satan’s grip was loosening on this city. vs. 18-20

3. Paul was about to wrap up his ministry in Ephesus and move on, but before he could do that his ministry came to an abrupt end as a result of a mob scene.

4. What was the source of this riot? What was the root cause? 1 Timothy 6:10

5. When Paul’s ministry began to affect people’s pocketbooks and the local economy, a complete mob scene resulted. Nothing so mattered in the lives of those people as their money.

6. The Bible is replete with warnings concerning greed, covetousness, and materialism. Money itself is not evil, but when a love for money is born in a person’s heart, there is no limit to how low a man can plunge.

7. Because of this, every person must beware of the love of money. Why is this?

First, because the love of money is a form of idolatry – vs. 23-25

1. Did you notice what 1 Timothy 6:10 said? “…which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith…”

2. Did you know that you were not designed and created to love and worship material things or inanimate objects? They cannot love you back.

3. You were designed and created to love God and love people. Matthew 22:36-39

4. When we love things and worship and adore them more than God, this is called idolatry. In our text, what did Demetrius love and value? He loved his occupation, his silver shrines, and his wealth. He said he worshipped Diana, but money is what he really worshiped. Money was his god.

5. How about the Ten Commandments? #1 – No other gods before Me. #2 – Do not make any graven image to bow down to or serve. #10 – Thou shalt not covet.

6. When we love money, we break three of the Ten Commandments. As we covet money, we make it an idol and a god.

Second, because the love of money blinds you from the truth – vs. 26-27

1. Back to 1 Timothy 6:10. “…which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith…” The phrase “the faith” simply is speaking of the truth of God.

2. Their love of money causes them to err (stray away) from the truth of God. Demetrius’ love for money blinded him to the truth of God. He accused Paul of turning people away from Diana when, in reality, Paul was simply turning people to Jesus!

3. He talked about the great goddess Diana and her magnificence. Isn’t it interesting that nobody worships Diana today, and her magnificent temple has laid buried in the dust for centuries, while the gospel of Christ continues to be spread all over the earth?

4. Demetrius had one of the greatest apostles of the true God right there in his town. He had the opportunity to trust Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He could have been among some of the first Gentiles to ever trust Christ in the church age.

5. But he lost out on all of that and was blinded from the precious truth of God. Why? His love for money. Some of the primary tools that Satan uses to blind people from divine truth are a love for money, greed, and materialism. 2 Corinthians 4:4

6. This principle also applies in our personal lives. A love for money can blind married couples from the truth, blind children from the truth, and blind Christians in their daily walk.

Third, because the love of money brings confusion – vs. 28-32

1. Notice verses 29 and 32. Confusion reigned in Ephesus. But what brought the confusion? It certainly was not Paul. Paul had been there two years and had brought light, divine knowledge, and true wisdom from God to this city.

2. It was the town merchants’ love for money that brought this mob scene and the confusion. Here we are in 2013 and the same is true today. A love for money brings confusion to people’s individual lives, to any culture, or to any family. It brings:

• A confusion of priorities – Money became more important than their eternal souls.

• A confusion of proper reasoning – As we said earlier, a love for money blinds people from the truth and can twist people’s thinking to where they do things that make no sense

• A confusion in your belief system – Verse 32 states that some cried one thing, and some another. When a person becomes consumed with the accumulation of wealth, character, honesty, and integrity are tossed aside without shame in order to acquire more and more.