Sermon Tone Analysis

A CLASH OF WORLDVIEWS       ACTS 19:21-41

 

            Today there is a lot of talk about worldviews.

Maybe you have heard of the term.

The Christian thinker James W. Sire defines a worldview as "a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true, or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic construction of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being."

In other words, a worldview is a system of beliefs from which you make your decisions in life.

This past weekend Crysta and I went to a conference that spoke about worldviews.

And one of the speakers shared some startling statistics.

He stated that only 51% of today’s Protestant pastors had a biblical worldview and only 8% of Christians claim to have a biblical worldview.

The definition of a biblical worldview was based on questions about God, Jesus, heaven, hell, and sin.

No wonder the church has no influence on the culture because those who claim to be Christian don’t even agree with what is in the Bible.

Well, in our passage, this morning, there is a clash of worldviews.

And the world took notice of those who became believers.

So in this text, I want to show you the world’s logic reported, the world’s folly revealed, and the world’s fury restrained.

THE WORLD’S LOGIC REPORTED – 23-27

      In Ephesus the worship of the goddess centered on the Artemision, a week in the spring dedicated to the goddess.

The highlight of the festivities was a solemn processional in which the image of the goddess was carried through the streets between the theater and the temple.

Throughout the week there were numerous events, including ritual plays and dances.

In former times the primary attendants of the goddess were self-emasculated priests, but there is some question whether the Romans allowed such practices in the cult of Paul’s day.

Artemis worship was not confined to Ephesus.

There was a sanctuary in Rome also and a similar festival there every April.

All told there were at least thirty-three shrines to the mother goddess throughout the Roman Empire, and it was perhaps the most popular cult of all.

Ephesus was considered to be /the/ center of the cult, and pilgrims flocked from all over the empire to worship at its famous temple, especially during the spring Artemision.

Economics and religion were closely bound.

The temple received lavish votive offerings from the devotees of the mother goddess.

In fact, so wealthy was it that it became the principal financial institution of Asia, receiving deposits and making loans.

Well the preaching of the gospel led many away from practicing this false faith.

In fact, Luke said there was a huge uproar concerning the Way.

Remember, the Way is another designation for Christians or people who followed Jesus Christ.

Folks, Christianity ought to be a way of life for believers so this is why they are called the Way.

So here, in these verses, you have another clash between Christians and non-Christians.

T. W. Manson once said something like, “These early disciples were completely fearless, outrageously happy, and constantly in trouble.”

And Luke reports another incident of trouble for these early believers.

In verse 24, Demetrius, a local silversmith, led the charge against the Christians.

This is only the second incident where Gentiles opposed the early church.

Most of the time it was the established religion of Judaism that opposed the early believers.

But here it was a Gentile by the name of Demetrius, who led his trade guild to oppose the church.

Now I want you to notice his logic against the church.

He cloaked his argument for his trade under the guise of piety.

In fact, oftentimes religious piety becomes a thin cloak for personal economic interests.

The temple of Artemis served as a bank as well as a temple and people from all over the world deposited funds there.

Roughly a decade after Paul left it got so bad that the proconsul had to step in because of financial irregularities.

Some of the temple monies were being funneled to private individuals.

So Demetrius a possible temple warden saw people turning away from buying the statues that he and some of the other silversmiths were making.

He led a campaign against Paul and the church of Jesus Christ.

Why?

He had a business that was being greatly affected by people turning to Christ.

There were many worshipers of this false goddess.

And the worshipers were both poor and rich.

The poor would purchase terra cottas of the shrine to Artemis, while the rich purchased silver shrines.

These small models of the temple with the statue of Artemis inside would be set up in the houses or even worn as amulets.

So you can imagine that during this time of great festivities around April or May that they would do their most business.

And Paul was cutting into their profits by turning people away from the false gods and on to the one true and living God.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century in England, an ostensibly Christian nation, the Salvation Army underwent terrible persecution because their Christianity touched the pocketbooks of society.

Richard Collier, historian of the Salvation Army, says the attacks were led by publicans and brothel-keepers, and these antagonists organized the “Skeleton Army.”

When the Skeleton opened subscription lists, brewers and publicans weighed in generously . . .

one saloon keeper offered 1,000lbs.

They took their name from skull-and-crossbones banners they adopted, inscribed with strange legends – gorillas, rats, even Satan himself.

R.

Kent Hughes, in his commentary, wrote, “If the professing Christian church today were to undergo the repentance and new life experienced by the Ephesians’ church and faithfully live out the implications of such faith, the wrath of this world would soon fall upon it.

Why? True Christianity calls for a spirit of sacrifice, even financially, but our pleasure-seeking, hedonistic economy rests on a hoped-for profit margin, even if it is only a single percentage point.

Monetary gain is seen as the highest good, and when that is threatened by commitment to Christ . .

.

Imagine what would happen if because of repentance and the urging of the Holy Spirit Christians stop watching certain television programs.

The pollsters would detect a rating decline and convey the findings to the sponsor, and that would be the end of those programs.

Then would come the Demetrius like rage of prominent TV producers.

Or imagine what would happen if 10 or 20% fewer Christians attended R-rated movies.

Money is the bottom line!

Today the church is clothed with dead leaves of materialism and sensuality.

A majority of Christian believers have been desensitized to the lures and poisons of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Multitudes within the professing church are not only thoroughly infatuated with the charms of Mammon but are practicing sensualists who enjoy the most degrading entertainment, without any remorse whatsoever.

Today, many believers’ witness is anemic and corrupted.

Much of the church is clamoring to get on the world’s bandwagon.

Christianity sells – so give people a gospel Grammy, or add a gospel number to the concert to balance out the repertoire and appease Christian critics.

But it is impossible to be filled with the Spirit and set our minds on things below.

It is impossible to be filled with the Spirit and live for the dollar.

It is impossible to be filled with the Spirit and watch a drama that feeds the base appetites of the flesh.

So Paul and these early believers were filled with the Spirit and the love of God that it became contagious to those around them.

They weren’t set on shutting down an industry through political savvy, but were genuinely living out their faith without compromise before a world that is darkened to the truth of the gospel.

And this lifestyle brought them into trouble with the establishments of the world that brought profit to themselves because they sold goods that appealed to the flesh and body.

When their customers heard and saw a different approach to life, they changed sides.

So we see the world’s logic reported.

Next,

       

THE WORLD’S FOLLY REVEALED – 28-34

            In these verses, Luke shows the folly of the world.

In verse 28, a mob was gathered by Demetrius’ speech which stirred them to outrage against Paul and they began to cry out “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.”

Benjamin Franklin said that a mob was “a monster with heads enough, but no brains.”

In other words, they formed a mob and cried out continuously.

In their immoral style of worship, these worshipers would usually chant this phrase before committing an indecent act of immorality.

The crowd filled the city with great confusion over what they were opposing.

So they rushed in one accord down to the theater with this mob-like action.

The theatre (amphitheatre) at Ephesus can still be traced in the ruins (Wood, /Ephesus/) and shows that it was of enormous size capable of seating fifty-six thousand persons (some estimate it only 24,500).

It was the place for large public gatherings of any sort out of doors like our football and baseball parks.

In particular, gladiatorial shows were held in these theatres.

So a huge mob gathered in the theater with most of them not knowing why they gathered.

They were there because a crowd was there.

Luke said they gathered a couple of Paul’s companions, Gaius and Aristarchus.

After all, the mob needed a couple of gladiators for their show, so they might have grabbed these two men after not being able to secure Paul.

The crowd may have recognized these men who associated with Paul or they went down to where Paul was staying and they refused to turn Paul over.

Whatever the case, the mob had these two men in their custody.

Now Paul was fearless and desired to go down to the crowd but some friends and public officials Asiarchs would not let him.

Each province had assigned guys from the Roman government.