Who Are You?
Acts of the Apostles
Acts 19:1-20
Pastor Brian Hough
Preached at Manhattan Presbyterian Church
115 Courthouse Plaza, Manhattan, Kansas
9am April 17th 2016
INTRO
Welcome.
So we’re in Acts 19 today.
Paul has returned to the city of Ephesus.
This is the fourth largest city in the empire, with about 300,000 citizens.
It was a center of commerce and had many buildings, including a theatre that sat 25,000
people and still stands today.
There was a huge temple to the goddess Artemis in the city and we’ll learn more about that
next week.
Before we read I want to remind you that you have a ministry.
We’ve so professionalized ministry that I think many who are not vocationally in ministry have
failed to realize that you also have a ministry.
You don't need a logo or a 501(3)(c) status to have a ministry.
You need to know Jesus yourself and thus love God, and you need to know others and thus
love neighbor.
So, do you know Jesus as your savior?
And do you know someone other than yourself?
Wonderful, so you have a ministry and so there is much you can learn in our passage today.
We’re gonna look at the text in three sections beginning with the first seven verses.
Follow along.
Acts 19:1-7
“And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country
and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive
the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is
a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s
baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to
believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy
Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were
about twelve men in all.
Brothers and Sisters…
Isaiah 40:8
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
Let us pray.
OPENING PRAYER
Lord, we know that all Scripture has been breathed out by you and so we know that is true of
this text before us today. Make us humble to receive your word today. May we find restoration
at this moment from tired minds and anxious hearts. Lord, would you stir in us an interest to
learn what your Word says today simply because it is indeed your Word. In Jesus name we
pray, amen.
SERMON CONTINUED
I. Some ah… “Disciples” (v 1-7)
So now, Paul has returned to Ephesus where he will stay for 3 years.
This was city that was hugely significant for its place along both sea and land trade routes,
but by the time Paul was living there it had begun to decline a bit economically.
It was also the destination for many pilgrims traveling to the temple of artemis for idol worship.
So early on Paul runs into about 12 men who are called disciples.
He learns they’ve never heard of the Holy Spirit.
Now, some site this passage in support of an idea that there are two stages in Christianity.
The first where someone comes to have faith in Jesus and later a second stage where they
receive the Holy Spirit.
That’s not what this passage teaches and that’s not true of Christianity at all.
These men were not Christians at all.
Remember last week, we saw Apollos had received only the baptism of John, but he had also
been instructed in the way of the Lord.
These men know only what John the Baptist taught which was a preparation for the gospel.
Their knowledge thus far was directed towards a general repentance and looked forward to
Jesus’ death and resurrection.
They may have known the Spirit would come since John the Baptist prophesied of that future
event in Luke 3:16 but they are not aware that it has already happened.
These men lack the sign of genuine faith which is the presence of the Holy Spirit in them.
So these men were certainly seeking for the truth and when they hear it, they receive the Holy
Spirit.
Previously they were disciple of John the Baptist now they are disciples of Jesus Christ.
This event is like an echo of Pentecost, remember that’s the first time the Holy Spirit is sent
and resides in believers
They do prophesy and speak in tongues and that’s because it's a unique era in church history.
We don't know the details of the tongues here.
In Jerusalem it was speaking different languages, here it would be unnecessary to speak in
different language.
Having come this far into the book of Acts we have seen this is not a normal pattern of
conversion since most conversions we've seen mention nothing of tongues.
In fact, Paul's own story on the road to Damascus never mentions tongues.
Again, these men are first generation Christians, first of their household coming into the
covenant community, they have not been raised in the covenant community and so they
receive the sacrament of baptism following their professing faith.
People from time to time ask about getting re-baptized.
Because they were baptized as an infant in a church that has some funky theology.
or they were baptized as an adult and then didn’t take their faith serious for a period of time
later.
Typically the advice given is you shouldn’t get re-baptized provided the baptism you received
was a Christian baptism.
Meaning in the name of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
That’s because baptism is not symbolic of what we do, it's symbolic of what Jesus has done
for us.
Just as we receive faith, we also receive baptism.
The reason these men were re-baptized is because the first baptism was not a Christian
baptism, it was not in the name of the father, son and holy spirit.
Let’s look at the next three verses, 8 through 10.
II. I’ll be here for the next 104 weeks… (v 8-10)
“And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading
them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief,
speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the
disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so
that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Three months, he was in the synagogue.
That’s like the entirety of 2016 so far.
It says Paul, ”spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them”
What’s it mean to speak boldly?
Sometimes it helps to start with the opposite of boldness which is timidity.
You ever pick a snail up and look at the details of the slimy thing?
Those weird eyes on the end of that thin alien finger like thing.
You ever try and touch the eye?
What's it do?
It pulls the eye back in its head and it's gone the second you make contact.
That's timidity.
The gospel we believe, the gospel we proclaim does not need to be timidly shared like a
snail’s eye, because it's strong and powerful and can withstand the poking finger of those who
will analyze it.
So when we think of how we minister to other boldly does not mean we tell everything we
know on first contact with someone.
Boldness is not rudeness.
It also isn't just pointing out what is true, but rather boldness is willing to point out what is
false.
Think about it, what do you say when Bobby tells you, “you know God is so loving that he just
forgives everyone on the planet no matter what.”
Boldness ask the question mentally, “how do I correct this untruth in a way that is gracious?”
Boldness actually says something in response.
But boldness seeks to lead Bobby to the truth.
You know, “Bobby, why do you think everyone on the planet is forgiven of their sin no matter
what?”
We are in an era of the church where boldness as been replaced with silence.
It’s ok to draw a line on an issue even when you know you may be looked down on for holding
a Biblical view.
To agree with culture on a moral issue is not courage.
To agree with God in his word on a moral issue when the culture disagrees is courage.
What we’ve got to learn is how to stand with Scripture while being humble and gracious still.
Which is why we see in this text that Paul is reasoning and persuading others.
See, reasoning means we insist on actual reasons.
As much as we can find the question of “why?” annoying, it's a good question.
When reasoning in dialogue with someone we want to move people down the stairs of the
building until they can see the foundation of their beliefs and find either it is the rock solid
foundation of God’s Word or that the building has been built with something less solid or
nothing at all.
Shifting sand is not a foundation, it is the lack of foundation.
Somewhere along the way we began accepting as reason statements that begin with "Well, I
just think that..."
We all do this.
I find myself doing the same thing.
I don't know when, but at some point we accepted as an valid argument the line of reasoning
that says, “if we think it would great if it was true then must actually be true.”
Something like, “I just believe that God, created lots of eternities and in my eternity everything
is cute and there is no Starbucks cause it’s a corporation and in your eternity the Cubs
actually win the World Series.”
Why is it, when we hear that sort of "argument" our first objection is, “but I kinda like like
Starbucks” instead of, “What in the world are you talking about?”
So again, when we are reasoning, we want to give reasons.
I believe that the central focus of eternity will be the glory of God. Why? Because in
Revelation 21:23 it reads..."And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the
glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb."
So reasoning is when we help others understand why they believe what they believe and
personally it is giving a reason why we believe what we believe. Which means we should
always go back to God’s Word for all questions of life and faith.
After all that well known text in 1 Peter 3:15, calls us to not just profess that we have hope in
Christ, but to be prepared to give a reason for that hope.
Let me read it,
"but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to
anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and
respect"
So how does this reasoning and persuading go for Paul?
Some were not persuaded and even spoke evil of “The Way” which if you remember was an
early name for Christianity.
But some were persuaded, they go with him when he stops going to the synagogue and sets
up in the hall of Tyrannus. Which is just a place to meet at.
Two years he did this.
Paul faced defeat in the synagogue, he doesn't crumble in depression, he moves on renting a
public place to continue to minister boldly.
So let me encourage you in how you engage in evangelism.
We tend to think of evangelism as us just talking about Jesus and seeing how someone
responds.
And it is that, but listen, don’t underestimate the value of questions.
What I mean is ask that will give you genuine interest in other people. And then just start
asking questions.
So did your family go to church growing up?
Why did you stop?
Do you believe in God?
Do you think the Bible is really God's word?
Do you think Christians are judgmental?
What the most important thing in life?
How do you decide what’s right and wrong?
Are you afraid of dying?
Just ask questions cause questions open up a dialogue that rarely exists in culture today and
I think you’d be surprised to learn how willing people are to discuss their ideas with you when
you are bold but non-threatening in your questions.
Don’t be afraid to lead people into meaningful conversation that can lead to sharing the
gospel.
III. Seven sons for NOT my daughters (v 11-20)
Let’s look at this last section.
It’s 20 verses long.
This is a strange passage.
More than once during the past week I was kicking myself for not having Samuel or Ryan
preach on this text instead of me.
Cause I read it and the PRish part of me, who wants to make Christianity just seem normal to
secular minds wants to just skip this text all together.
But we can’t and we shouldn’t and really deep down I don’t really want to skip it because it is
God’s Word and it’s not his word that needs to change, it’s us.
I say it’s a strange text, because all of the book of Acts and really Scripture deals with the
Supernatural, but this passage is saturated with the supernatural which as modern Americans
we tend to have the biggest struggle with.
We understand invisible and material.
We know radiation cannot be detected by any human senses, but we have Geiger counters
that can measure radiation.
When I put hand sanitizer or as Berkley calls it Handsatizer it disappears and so do like 98%
of the germs on my hands. I can’t see that happen, but scientist have tools to actually figure
measure this.
When it comes to angels or demons existing and being in a room with us here we have no
device to detect it, to measure it, there is no app for that, so it sounds like fiction and myth.
When reading in Scripture about invisible creatures it’s kinda creepy.
You look around this room and wonder are they here now? (look around, reach out)
While you might struggle with the supernatural let me encourage you that the same Scripture
that reveals to us God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin
also tells us that the world we live in is indwelled by spiritual beings we cannot detect by our 5
senses.
One the reflection quotes in your bulletin puts this well saying, “The more you take Jesus
seriously, the more you have to take his view of reality seriously. And that includes what many
call the “spiritual realm.” We shouldn’t think there is a demon behind every rock, but we also
shouldn’t think that there is no such thing as demons.”
So, let’s read this text about a demon encounter.
Verse 11, follow along in our Bible.
“And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs
or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them
and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook
to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by
the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were
doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are
you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and
overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became
known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and
the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came,
confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts
brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value
of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued
to increase and prevail mightily.”
Keep in mind Paul was uniquely an apostle, called by Jesus himself to this role.
God was healing people to attest or to confirm the words of Paul as his representative.
This information was spread in the region and then we learn about the seven sons of a
Sceva.
These seven sons were basically traveling con artists.
This sort of business what not uncommon at the time.
People would come to them. Some with medical issues, some mental issues, some real
demon possession.
It sounds a little crazy to us, but we still have people like this today in the United States.
The self proclaimed medium on TV, John Edwards. Not be confused with with the puritan
Jonathan Edwards.
He’s become wealthy claiming to communicate with the dead.
Speaking to a room full of people and begins saying general things.
I’m seeing a cell phone, there was some communication.
And someone desperate for closure speaks up, that’s me!
I used to talk on the phone to my mom and I missed a phone call from her and she died.
Ahhh, yes, it’s your mom.
No, it’s not her mom, It’s made for TV con-artistry.
So these Jewish con-exorcists have heard the power of Jesus name and so they mimic it.
Spiritual Pragmatism
I hope we learn here that not everyone who comes in the name of Jesus really knows Jesus.
What these seven sons were doing was using the name of Jesus as a means to build their
own names and power.
They saw Christianity as a tool for worldly fame or wealth.
Only it backfires very quickly.
They invoke the name of Jesus to a man who is really demon possessed, the text literally
calls it an “evil spirit”
The evil spirit speaks though this man and says,
Jesus I know.
Paul I know.
But who are you?
He knows Jesus is the divine Son of God, powerful and mighty.
He knows Paul belongs to Jesus and is a servant of Jesus and protected by Jesus.
But he also knows these seven sons of the Jewish High priest are not Christians, they do not
belong to Jesus, they are not servants of Jesus or protected by Jesus so the evil Spirit
pounces like a cat.
It says the evil spirit leaped on them.
Had you been standing in the house that day what you would have seen was one guy who
was demon possessed fight and utterly destroy seven men.
Like we might imagine in some action film. Neo in the Matrix or Jackie Chan in anything.
The run for their lives, their clothes are torn off, their bodies injured.
So you hear a story like this and you wonder.
Why don’t I see demon possessed people like this today, here in Manhattan?
I talked with Christine about this early last week.
One of things she said was, “I wonder if demons don't operate differently in different cultures
and generations. I think if someone was obviously possessed in the modern United States it
would make everyone take the spiritual realm a lot more seriously than they do.”
To Christine's point, one of the worst things an evil spirit could do in our culture is make itself
known because that would prove there is a supernatural world that we in a materialist culture
are overwhelmingly in denial of.
We learned in Genesis that the Devil is crafty.
Perhaps our passage today explains then why we don’t see demon possessions in our
culture.
When people saw this happen our text says ”the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled”
Extolled means enthusiastically praised.
So a demon possessing someone and showing it’s power did not lead the results an evil spirit
would desired.
That’s why C.S. Lewis once wrote, "Satan's greatest trick was in convincing man that [Satan]
does not exist."
So while the supernatural is real, evil spirits exist and angels exist, we do not live in fear if we
are in Christ Jesus because even so, our redemption is the most secure truth in the whole
world.
Another result of this was the willing confession of sin by many new believers.
Again, for us cultural baggage makes this a difficult passage.
We’ve seen fundamentalist in the past 100 years have book burnings and CD burnings that
were forced upon people and included books and CDs that were not evil.
Some of you may have partaken in these?
Did you burn your copy of Thriller or Debbie Gibson?
Those are stories of wrongly applying Scripture and so we must read this apart from American
Fundamentalist history.
What we see here is an outpouring of public confession.
It is a situation of true believers, willingly confessing their sinful practices. It is voluntary, no
one is convincing them to do this.
Often after people come to faith in Christ it takes awhile to realize that their old practices are
not compatible with their new life in Christ.
In Ephesus these new believers see that their engagement with demons and practicing
incantations is wrong and they come confessing.
Part of their cutting ties with their old way of life is to destroy the tools of that trade.
When you read the word books here, imagine scrolls, not a bound book like we think of it.
They were full of names and incantations or words that we’re believed to give them god like
control over the world around them.
This burning was done publicly since many of them had practiced publicly.
The books had value, but they burn rather than sell because they don’t want to pass this on to
someone else, this speaks to the inherent evil of the practice itself, it’s not just an abuse of a
good thing.
For instance, if you’ve got a drinking problem, you might give your wine collection away, but if
you’ve got a pornography problem, you don’t give your collection away, you destroy it.
That’s what’s happening here.
In this case repentance cost them a great deal financially.
Which begs the question, is the gospel of such value to you and I that we are willing to lose
something we treasure if comes between us and God?
Rosaria Butterfield beautifully puts it this way,
"If God is the creator of all things, and if the Bible has his seal of truth and power, then the
Bible has the right to interrogate my life and culture, and not the other way around.”
So finally we see what we’ve seen many times in the book of Acts in the last verse, ”the word
of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.”
The simple application of this text today is a renewed commitment to have and know the
reasons we believe what we believe and that means we have a greater commitment to learn
what God’s words reveals is truth.
May it shape not just our profession of faith, but how we practice our faith with a willingness to
remove from our lives that which is inherently evil no matter how highly we value it.
We can do that because in Christ and the gospel we have been given someone and
something of far greater value, both now for all of eternity.
Let’s pray,
CLOSING PRAYER
Heavenly Father, help us to grow. If there are those here today who know something of
Christianity in the form of facts and information, but have not been willing or able to receive
the gospel as their own hope, their down means of forgiveness, If they have not received
Jesus as their own savior, would you give faith, would you give the Holy Spirit, would you give
life eternal? For those of us who have walking in the faith for sometime and who may still
have practices in our lives that are not compatible with your Word Lord, would you give us
strength to remove it, not to earn your love, but because we have received your love. In Jesus
name we pray, amen.