Money Causes a Riot 1
Text: Acts 19:23-27
Introduction
1. Illustration: It might be just as offensive to be around a man who never changed his mind as one who never changed his clothes.
2. Our society is obsessed with being offended. They will go out of their way to not offend someone. So much so, some churches tried to present the Gospel in a way that was not offensive.
3. However, the reality is that the Gospel is offensive, and to try to present in a way that is unoffensive is to make it a false gospel.
4. The reason it is offensive is it requires us to change, and people don’t want to give up their sin.
5. An old saying says, “The only one that likes change is a wet baby!”
6. Read Acts 19:23-27
Transition: The truth is that…
I. The Gospel Rocks the Boat (23-24).
A. Serious Trouble Developed
1. When God does good things, two groups are going to do what they can to put a wrench in the works.
a. The first one is the devil. He will always try and put up a roadblock against the work of the Holy Spirit.
b. The second group to cause trouble for the preaching of the Gospel are those who make a substantial living off the works of evil.
c. People love their sin and don’t want to see it come to an end, especially if they are making money from it.
2. That’s what happened in Ephesus. In vv. 23-24, Luke tells us, “About that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the Way. 24 It began with Demetrius, a silversmith who had a large business manufacturing silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis. He kept many craftsmen busy.”
a. Luke says that “serious trouble” came upon the “Way,” which was a reference to the Church and the spreading of the Good News.
b. This trouble had to do with Artemis, who was the goddess of fertility.
c. She was represented by a carved female figure with many breasts, and there was a large statue of her in the temple in Ephesus.
d. This temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world, just as the Temple of the Lord had been in Solomon’s day.
e. It was supported by 127 pillars each six stories tall, and it was four times larger than the Parthenon in Athens.
f. Each year they held a festival that was famous for its many orgies and carousing.
g. This temple was the center of religious and financial life of the city which all centered on the worship of this goddess.
h. The reason for the trouble with the young church there is that they were a threat to the temple and those that made their living from it.
i. The biggest threat the church brought was to the craftsman who made silver and clay idols of Artemis, and they made a considerable amount of money on these idols.
j. The one who raised the biggest stink about the church was a man named Demetrius, who was the head of the influential craftsman’s guild, that was similar to our unions today.
k. As people were coming to faith in Jesus, they stopped buying these idols, and this caused a tremendous financial hit to those who were making money from producing them.
l. As a result, the church came under attack, and Demetrius was the main instigator.
3. This is true of our own culture. When the Gospel is preached and people come to faith in Christ, their lives, attitudes, and behaviors change.
a. Consequently, they no longer follow worldly and ungodly things.
b. This has a tremendous impact financially on those who make money from these things, and they start opposing the church for interfering with their way of living.
c. We see this today with things like abortion clinics, pornography, and other sinful lifestyles that people move away from when they come to faith in Christ.
d. The church is seen as an opposition to their sin and their money.
B. Money is the Root of All Evil
1. Money magazine declared money was the number one obsession of Americans. Newsweek reports there is a new plane of consciousness called "transcendental acquisition." Its cover story of 8/27/01 tells of a woman saddled with debt who charged a diving trip to French East Indies. Instead of trying to break free, it's as if she's given up. She said, "I’ve spoiled myself and can’t change my habits."
2. Advertisers say if we buy more products, we’ll be happier, fulfilled, comfortable, popular, cooler. Yet they never warn of excess or hint that having things won’t make us happy. 34% of Americans in 2000 ranked shopping as their favorite activity! 70% visit malls at least once a week. That’s more than go to churches or synagogues! The average American shops 6 hours a week, but only plays with their children 40 minutes. By age 20, the average American has seen around one million commercials.
3. At the center of all that is evil is the worship of money and possessions.
a. “But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” (1 Tim. 6:9-10).
b. Let me be clear, money in and of itself is not evil. We need it to buy clothes, food, housing, utilities, and other essentials.
c. Paul does not say that money is evil, but he does say that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
d. When money becomes more important to us than God, then it becomes evil.
e. Especially it becomes evil when we get that money by selling and supporting sinful lifestyles.
f. If we love money so much that it doesn’t matter to us that what we are selling is causing others to sin, then we have a serious problem.
g. Jesus calls us to turn away from our sin and turn to him, and if you can’t do that because it is too profitable for you then you need to repent and turn to God.
h. Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.” (2 Cor. 6;17).
Transition: Another reason that Gospel is offensive is…
II. The Gospel Changes Communities (25-27).
A. Handmade God’s Aren’t Really Gods
1. Since the church, and Paul especially, were causing these craftsmen trouble, Demetrius started a ruckus against the Christians in Ephesus.
2. In vv. 25-26, Luke tells us that Demetrius, “called them together, along with others employed in similar trades, and addressed them as follows: “Gentlemen, you know that our wealth comes from this business. 26 But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren’t really gods at all. And he’s done this not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province!”
a. During the two plus years that Paul had preached in Ephesus, Demetrius and the other craftsman did not have a problem with Paul’s teaching.
b. They only became concerned when his preaching threatened their pocketbooks.
c. Since most of their profession was making these silver statues of Artemis, they knew their livelihood would take a significant impact if people kept coming to Christ and stopped worshipping false idols.
d. They attacked Paul because he was telling people that these idols were not gods at all, and that the only true God was Jesus Christ.
e. When I came to Christ back in the late 70’s, a big thing for young people coming to Christ was they would take all of their secular rock-n-roll albums — for you younger folks, albums were really big black CD’s, and that was how we listened to music back in my day—and we would burn them.
f. The reason we did this was because the secular artist we listened to had a very negative influence on us, and our newfound faith in Christ caused us to reject the things these artists were singing about.
g. Let me tell you, a lot of money went up in smoke! Instead, we embraced the Christian artists whose music was drawing us closer to Jesus!
h. As Jesus said, “What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting. 8 So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” (Matt. 18:7-9).
3. Demetrius veiled his monetary concerns in v. 27 by saying, “Of course, I’m not just talking about the loss of public respect for our business. I’m also concerned that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will lose its influence and that Artemis—this magnificent goddess worshiped throughout the province of Asia and all around the world—will be robbed of her great prestige!”
a. Demetrius’ plan was not only appeal to their money, but also to use religion and patriotism to stir up a riot.
b. It would be difficult for the crowd to be overly concerned about a bunch of idol makers, so he tries to raise their anger behind a campaign to defend the reputation of the goddess and her temple.
c. It was a genius plan to defend their money by getting people upset about their goddess and seeing themselves as the defenders of Artemis.
d. Isn’t that what we see in the world today? Many of the wars and terrorist attacks are disguised as good and honorable acts of religion.
e. The attack of the Trade Towers on 9-11, the turmoil in the middle east between Hamas and Israel are about religious zealousness.
f. Christians are not immune from this, as during our Civil War, preachers both north and south used the Bible to defend their ideology.
g. Christian song writer Mark Heard said in his song, Everybody Loves a Holy War, “Everybody loves a holy war. Oh, draw the line and claim divine protection. Kill the ones who show the most objection. Everybody loves a holy war.”
B. Be Transformed
1. “I continue to dream and pray about a revival of holiness in our day that moves forth in mission and creates authentic community.” (John Wesley).
2. The Gospel is all about being transformed and becoming more like Christ.
a. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Rom. 12:2).
b. One of the reasons that people are offended by the Gospel, is that it calls them to give up their sinful lifestyles of our community and allow the Holy Spirit to change us.
c. The word transformed comes from the Greek word metamorphoo and it means to “be changed.”
d. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we could stay the same, but rather he died so that we could be changed.
e. “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor. 5:17).
f. In essence, the Gospel is about becoming a new person.
g. When people start changing, then families start changing, when families change neighborhoods start changing, and then communities start to change.
h. We need to be agents of change in our world!
Conclusion
1. Today we saw that…
a. The Gospel Rocks the Boat.
b. The Gospel Changes Communities.
2. What’s the point preacher? People will be offended by the Gospel because it calls them to change, but, like Paul, we need to be agents of change.
