These new converts, that had been raised up worshipping the goddess Diana with all the magic formulas and superstitions, had truly been converted. They revealed this by the fact that they turned from all this false worship and burned the items that had anything to do with it, in a public place making a public profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus. It is good to see new converts make such a public stand for the Lord when they first get saved. Generally when new converts make a weak stand when first saved, they follow through with the same weakness. And when they make a strong stand they remain strong.
Illus: It is somewhat like a man running a race. His performance at the start of the race is critical. Every runner knows that, and they do all they can to try to get the jump on their competition. When new converts start off like the Christians in Ephesus did, they certainly have the edge on their opposition, Satan.
God sent a tremendous revival to the people of Ephesus, and verse 20, states, “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” It is great to see the Word of God growing and prevailing.
Illus: Recently on a Christian radio station, a Christian lawyer was stating that he felt Christians were making a mistake in our effort to witness to lost people because we use scripture in our argument instead of logic. He said, for example, that some Christians attack homosexuality with the scriptures, but in his opinion we would be much wiser to state that homosexuals should not engage in such activity because of the spread of AIDS.
Anytime I hear a fellow playing the Scriptures down like this, preacher or lawyer, it sends a red flag up to watch out for such a fellow. One of the needs of this hour is for the Word of God to mightily grow. Why? Notice what happened when the Word of God grew in Ephesus; the scripture says, “...the word of God... prevailed.” Shortly after this happened, Satan began to fight.
I. THE CLIMAX (VERSES 21-23)
A. PLANS ARRANGED
Verses 21-22 “After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.” Notice in verse 21, Paul purposed in the spirit...” to go to Macedonia, Achaia, Jerusalem and then to Rome. He planned to revisit the churches in these areas.
Illus: Wilmington says this about Paul. "The personal motivational drive and dynamic of this man is almost incomprehensible to the modem reader. Having already extended himself throughout Asia Minor and the peninsula of Greece, he now reveals his plan to move westward into Italy, and ultimately to Spain, which was the western extremity of the Roman Empire of that day. The extensive nature of his travels has rarely been repeated by missionaries, even in this modem era.”
This was his intention. In fact, in verse 22, we read that he sent Timothy and Erastus before him. Paul's life was somewhat like ours, in that we also make plans and sometimes we cannot carry out those plans as we would like to carry them out.
Illus: Jonathan Edwards had many great resolutions that he lived his life by. One of them was, “I resolve never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.”
It seems to be a common trait among great men and women of God to live their lives in this fashion. They lived as if each day was the last. Paul had made plans to visit all these cities, but the reason he made these plans was because he wanted to advance the work of the Lord. We today so selfishly make our plans, and when those plans are interrupted we become upset with whoever or whatever interrupted them. Why do we get upset? Because they are selfish plans that do not include God. We do not read anywhere in the Scriptures that Paul was highly upset because he had made these plans, and now they were interrupted. They were made with God's will in mind, and so if God wanted to interrupt them, that was fine with him.
B. PLANS ALTERED
Verse 23, “And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.”
Notice the words “... no small stir.…” Paul's preaching had stirred up a beehive.
Illus: Have you ever stirred up a beehive? You can walk past a beehive all day long, and as long as you stay at a distance and leave the bees alone, they will leave you alone. But if you decide to invade their territory, watch out! Recently a preacher had some wasps build a nest on the cornice of his church. He got some wasp spray and sprayed that nest. On the can it said that you could spray from a distance of 20 feet, and it would kill the wasps on contact. He shook the can and sprayed, and the stream that came from the can only reached about 8 feet. He adjusted his distance, took aim, and pressed the button again. To his surprise, and dismay, the directions were not only wrong about the distance, they were wrong about the killing on contact too. Hundreds of angry wasps came out, and the only reason those wasps died, was because they had to fly so fast to try to catch that preacher.
Paul's preaching had stirred some to salvation, and others to anger.
II. THE CONDITION (VERSES 24-26)
A. THE COMMOTION
Verse 24, " For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;”
Notice the Bible states this commotion was caused by “...a certain man….” He has gone down in the history of the sacred pages as one who bitterly and selfishly opposed the Lord. We never would have known he existed, had it not been for the evil he committed.
Since he lived on this earth, and caused the commotion he caused, there have been thousands of others who have come after him, and the only thing their whole lives have represented has been evil.
Illus: A photographer advertised in New York, that for $500.00 dollars he would follow anyone who hired him, for two days, filming their everyday life at home, work, and play. He then would condense the film into a 20 minute, color documentary movie, for his client's entertainment.
What a lot of folks do not realize, is that God is keeping a record of every thing we do every day we live. What a surprise we will have one day as we stand before the Lord. On the Judgment day, God will reveal all the sin and commotion people like Demetrius caused in their lives.
B. THE CREW
Verse 25, “Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.”
Demetrius knew he could not put the fire out that God had started through the ministry of Paul by himself. He called all the others who were being affected financially, and said to them, “...Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.” Some of the wealthiest people on this earth are people who have made their money in the wrong way, and when you start messing with their wealth, they will get stirred up fast.
Look at verse 26. Demetrius said this about Paul's
preaching, “…this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people,…” The apostle Paul was preaching the Word of God, and the Word of God was getting results.
Illus: The fact that today's church is held in such high esteem by the liquor industry, and other evil institutions, is a sad commentary indeed! They know today the church has so compromised itself, that we are no longer a threat to their wealth whatsoever. In fact, they know today that many who profess to be Christians, not only do not oppose them, they support them with their finances by buying their products.
Illus: A preacher and a few of his members were opposing a certain store that sold beer and liquor. The store manager stated this in response to their argument. “Preacher, you want to put us out of business? The best way you can do that is to get about half of your congregation to quit buying their liguor and beer from us, and we will be forced to close this store down.”
C. THE CONCERN
Verse 26-27, “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: 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.”
They made their wealth making silver shrines for Diana for people to worship. Demetrius told this crew, “If we do not stop Paul and his crew, we are soon going to be drawing our unemployment.” Notice the cleverness of Demetrius when he was before this evil crew of men. He still wanted to look righteous. He did not want them to think that money was his main motivation. He wanted them to believe he was concerned about the temple of Diana. He said that if Paul was not stopped soon, the temple would be, "... be despised, and her magnificence … be destroyed.” When people talk, they often reveal to the public that they have many concerns, but generally it is always one thing that motivates them, and they cover it up with a lot of flowery oratory about concerns that make them look good.
Illus: We have the abortionists speaking out against Bible Believers. Why do they oppose the Lord's Church? Is it because they believe that women should have the freedom to do with their bodies as they please? They state that this is why they are for abortion. They say that a woman should have that right! The problem with that way of thinking is that God has never given anyone a right to do with his body as he pleases. The reason they oppose God's church is because this Bible that we teach and preach threatens their lifestyle, and they do not want anyone, not even God's Word, telling them how they should live.
Demetrius sounds like an ACLU lawyer that tries to convince people that he is thinking of what is best for everyone, as he states his concerns about the temple. What he was concerned about was his pocketbook.
D. THE CLEVERNESS
Read verses 28-34. Notice, these verses tell that God took one man, the apostle Paul, and used him to turn the city upside down with the gospel. The devil came along and took one man, Demetrius, and used him to turn the city into chaos. This huge amphitheater, which had a seating capacity of twenty-five thousand, (which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world), was packed with a hollering mob that shouted for two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” Paul wanted to appear before them, but was persuaded not to appear. Had he appeared as head of the Christian movement, it would probably have meant his death because the crowd was so emotionally stirred and confused.
Illus: Some people are like a wet, slimy, snail that leaves his tracks wherever he goes.
It is amazing the damage that can be done by one person. I have noticed:
• A good business can be destroyed by one evil person.
• A good family can be destroyed by one evil family member.
• A good community can be disgraced by one family.
• A good church can be destroyed by one church member that lives a careless and sinful life.
• And in our text we see in one city where God was doing great things, His work was being hindered by one evil man who got others to join his efforts.
III. THE CALMNESS
READ VERSES 30-41
We know very little about the town clerk mentioned in these verses, except that he seemed to be a fair man. We see he was a wise man as he calmed this crowd; notice he:
1. Told the confused crowd that they did not have to worry about city of Ephesus. It was not in danger of being destroyed.
2. Reminded them that the Christians in question had not robbed the temple of its treasures.
3. Publicly challenged the legitimacy of this procedure, since Demetrius had not gone through the proper channels.
The scripture says, “Blessed are the peacemakers...” While it seems unavoidable that we have men and women like Demetrius, we can all be thankful that we have men like this town clerk, to put things in proper perspective, and calm the crowd down.
Illus: A particular man, that was known for the trouble he caused everywhere he went, attended a certain church. He was always fussing and fuming about something. The folks in the church recognized he was that kind of a fellow, and many of them began to withdraw from him, and not fellowship with him for that reason. The church had some problems, and as you can imagine, he was in the midst of them, pouring all the fuel he could pour on them. A special business meeting was called to deal with one of the problems, and he was there to express his views. He did several times! Finally, an old man stood up and said, “Any time you have a problem in the church, you have two views . Also any time you have a problem you have two sides, those who are right, and those who are wrong.” He said, “I have been going to this church for many years, and I have noticed that there is one certain man who is always arguing and fussing about anything and everything. and I have always taken the position on any subject, that if I wanted to do the right thing to please my Lord, I would take the opposite stand from him.” He said, “Until we came here tonight, I did not know what stand to take about this problem, but that certain man has spoken and now I know where to make my stand.” When this wise old man said this, all the church members that were undecided on the issue, voted against the man that was always causing chaos. He got mad and left the church, and now the church is doing great without him.
Every church, family, and community, needs peacemakers. We seem to be abundantly plagued with enough troublemakers. IN SPITE OF ALL THE TROUBLE THAT PAUL ENCOUNTERED, GOD DID SOME GREAT THINGS THROUGH HIS MINISTRY.
Conclusion:
I. THE CLIMAX (VERSES 21-33)
A. PLANS ARRANGED
B. PLANS ALTERED
II. THE CONDITION (VERSES 24-26)
A. THE COMMOTION
B. THE CREW
C. THE CONCERN
III. CALMNESS (VERSES 30-41)
