ActsSample

Acts 19-21

What’s happening?

As we have followed the missionary activity of the apostle Paul, we come to his third and final missionary journey chronicled in the book of Acts.

This time, Paul will go to the economical giant of the Roman Empire: the city of Ephesus. Ephesus was known for their worship of the goddess Artemis, and the city held a large temple dedicated to her worship.

As Paul tells some Jewish disciples in Ephesus the fullness of the gospel, they believe and are baptized in the name of Jesus. Then, just as we saw in Acts 2, these disciples started speaking in tongues and prophesying. Once again, we see the power of God accompanying and validating the message of God.

As people come to believe in Jesus, they begin to turn away from their former ways of life, which included the worship of Artemis and the practice of magic. In other words, the light of the Gospel entered into the darkness of pagan worship and transformed lives. Luke gives a progress report in 19:20 stating that the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail, even in an unlikely place such as Ephesus.

Paul stays in Ephesus for two years preaching and teaching all things concerning the gospel. Eventually, the craftsmen who make idols for the temple of Artemis get worked up over this new belief in Jesus Christ because it threatens their work and profitability. Their worship wasn’t directed to Artemis so much as it was their wallets. These craftsmen stirred up a riot and the Roman authorities had to get involved to quiet it down.

After this commotion, Paul journeys through Macedonia and Greece to visit the churches he had planted there previously. On the way back to Jerusalem, he stops again in Ephesus to meet with the elders of the church. In Acts 20:24, we get one of the most concise summaries of Paul’s mission and the true value of his calling. He is willing to give up his life for the sake of the gospel, for he knew that Jesus had already done the same for him.

As Paul reaches Jerusalem, he knows suffering awaits, but also understands that God will use his sufferings and imprisonments to further communicate the gospel.

What do we learn?

In Acts 19-21, we see a clash between the power of God’s gospel and the power of cultural paganism. Anyone living at the time would have known that Ephesus belonged to Artemis. But as people began to believe in the gospel, the worship of Artemis was exchanged for the worship of the true God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God was winning over the Ephesians.

What should we do?

In our culture, we don’t see much paganism, but we do see a worship of many things that aren’t God. Think: money, power, success, fame, security, happiness, and comfort. Jesus calls us out of worshiping the things that cannot give us eternal life and into the worship of God who can. We have to ask ourselves, what am I worshiping with my time, energy, and devotion? Is it God, or is it something else?