SUNDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER
6.00pm
Acts 19:1-20
The passage set
before us this evening from Acts chapter 19 tells of the time Paul spent in
Ephesus. We're presented with four different events or periods of that stay.
· First of all of the baptism of some
believers
· Secondly of the time Paul spent in the
synagogue, speaking and trying to persuade the people about the Kingdom of God
and the further discussions he had over a long period
·
Then the miracles that were wrought through Paul
·
And finally, the work of some sorcerers, or occult
practices
First of all, let's note that in verse 10, Paul obviously
spends a period of some two years or so in Ephesus. He had a great love for the
Christians in Ephesus as is obvious from what we read in chapter 20 of Acts and
also in his letter to the Ephesian church. We have, in this apostle, a man
who not just a great evangelist, not just a great worker of miracles, but
also a true pastor of souls. He would spend time with people. He spent time in
Ephesus. He spent a long period in Corinth too, and we can assume he spent a
long time in Rome. Paul was no 'fly-by-night' evangelist. And it reminds us that
Jesus' command at the end of Matthew's gospel to believers is not just to
evangelise, not just to get people to make hasty decisions, but it is to make
disciples.
The church is failing in its task if it does not just
enable people to belief, but also takes care to disciple them.. That is an
important role of the church and one which we neglect at our peril, and not just
our peril but that of new converts. I personally am a 'Lee Abbey convert'. I
became a Christian during a holiday at Lee Abbey in North Devon Not to
decry the work and ministry of Lee Abbey and similar Christian holiday centres.
But that depends very much on the sort of church you return to. I returned to St
Mary's church and received very little encouragement, no real discipleship. That
I had made a Christian commitment at Lee Abbey was looked upon askance. I was in
danger of going OTT into evangelical Christianity. What a tragedy it is when
that sort of thing happens. I was almost what you might call a stillborn
Christian for a quarter of a century after that
Clearly Paul came across
an incident of either ill-taught or ill-disciple new Christians in what we read
of in the opening verses of chapter 19. These disciples had never been baptised
into the Name of Jesus. When Paul asked them what baptism they had received and
whether they had received the Holy Spirit, they reply that they hadn't even
heard of the Holy Spirit. They had received John's baptism. It looks as though
they had received no follow-up, probably no proper Christian initiation.
Paul immediately takes care of this situation. He saw to it that they
were baptised into the Name of the Lord Jesus and when he placed his hands upon
them, then- as is always God's initiative, the Holy Spirit came upon them. They
spoke in tongues and they prophesied.
Now all this is something of a
hot potato in the church- more so, probably, a quarter of a century ago. When
the charismatic renewal was in full flood then great emphasis was placed on the
need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues. This became almost
a pre-requisite of being a Christian. Now that is across betrayal of the fact.
It makes some people to feel themselves as second-class Christians. As I used to
say when giving one of the talks on the Holy Spirit in our Alpha courses, there
is no such thing. All Christian are first-class- in God's eyes
certainly.
But there can be that extra dimension to Christian life. It
doesn't make you a better Christian or a better disciple. To be filled with the
holy Spirit is to be fully empowered by God and to be that much more effective.
In Acts 1:8 Jesus says to his disciples
When
you receive power from on high, you will be my witnesses
It's not a
decision, it's not a 'must'; it follows naturally, or should I say,
supernaturally. So it's certainly something which we should perhaps desire and
seek. It's not. let me repeat, a hallmark of being a Christian.
We go on
to read, in verse 8 onward of Paul speaking in the synagogue, speaking boldly,
trying to persuade people about the Kingdom of God. Many, we're told became
obstinate and refused to believe. Many of them spoke ill of what at the time was
called 'the Way'. They spoke ill of the Christian faith and of disciples of
Jesus Christ.
So Paul leaves them to it and goes elsewhere, to the
hall of Tyrranus. And that, we're told went on for two years. There is an
important part to be played in persuading people, in telling people about our
faith, explaining it to them, explaining why it is important to be a Christian-
do we know that?, explaining what being a Christian involves.
But let
us not think that mere words will win people to Jesus Christ. it is the Holy
Spirit who does this. We can't win people to discipleship by intellectual
argument. I had occasion just last Sunday to speak to the 10 o'clock
congregation about discipleship, and I said then that discipleship is more than
just assent to a set of beliefs. It isn't just signing our names under a credal
confession. So we don't win people to Christ, we don't win them to Christian
belief, to new birth, we don't win them to discipleship just by mental
persuasion. There must be a work in the heart of a person that can only be done
by God's Holy Spirit.
We then read about the miracles which Paul
wrought. We read that in verses 11 and 12. It's important here to note what
verse 11 actually says. It says that God did extraordinary
miracles through Paul . We can't do anything miraculous! The miracles are
God's work. It's important to note and do two things here.
·
We recognise that the initiative is God's
· To have
faith that he can do these things.
Paul, you see, even had handkerchiefs he
touched. These would cure people of their sickness. Evil spirits could be driven
out. These weren't things Paul did: it was that God used these items that Paul
touched to awaken faith and work the miracles. So we should perhaps ask
ourselves: "Do we expect any miracles to happen today?". "Do we expect God to
work in this way?"
There seems to be a lack of the miraculous in
today's church. Not that we should go hunting after signs and wonders just for
their own sake, or to be spectacular. But miracles, signs and wonders, were, to
the first generation church, an essential part of Christian life and of
Christian witness. We must ask ourselves: "Why not for us?" Is it because we
don't expect it to happen?
Let's think of what Jesus told his
disciples as recorded in John chapter 14:
I
tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have
been
Doing; he will do even greater things than these, because I
am going
to the Father (v12)
I tell you the truth,
says Jesus. He's not just making this up. He's telling us what is true. Do we
believe that? Do we take Jesus Christ at his word? If we do, he will work
through us. That is an essential part of being a Christian.
Finally we
come to the incident of the sons of Sceva, the sorcerers, the occult practisers.
Occult practise is nothing new, it's as old as mankind. There have always been
those who have sought after occult powers. Using occult powers has terrible
results. We see it here. Verse 16 where the evil spirit jumped on them and
overpowered them all. There is a danger in working with evil spirits, even in
casting them out. Yes: We must believe that God in Jesus Christ can cast out
evil spirits. It's no use just going around using the Name of Jesus. If we use
his Name we must be aware of what we're doing
Then in verse 18 we read
many who believed now came and openly confessed their evil
deeds, and then read that those who had done these things brought their
scrolls and magic charms and burned them publicly. The value of the scrolls came
to 30,000 drachmas. A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day's wage. Put in
today's value, we're looking at about £2.5 million. It's a sign of how people
will try any means, go to any length to be cured of sickness, to be released of
troubles. People today will spend small fortunes on fringe medicine, on
so-called 'faith healers'. What a tragedy, what a waste of money! How people put
their eternal souls in danger!
The whole of this chapter as the whole of
the book of Acts shows the power of God through Jesus Christ. It shows the power
he can use through us, if we but believe.