Some things in life just have a bigger impact on us.
I've been a keen follower of the cricket for many years,
and let me tell you, it has impacted many parts of my life.
Not just watching or going to games, but financial decisions.
Will I buy merchandise?
I teach my kids the love of the game.
And then there's the emotional rollercoaster of the highs of the wins and the joy,
and then the depressing lows of the losses.
Some decisions just have bigger impacts on our life.
Decisions to get married, decisions to have kids, decisions where we live,
who will be our friends, what career, what should I study?
These things impact what we love, what we do with our time, and what we do with our money.
But none of these compare to the impact on our lives of following Jesus.
At least, nothing compares to what the impact of following Jesus should have on our lives.
Following Jesus should impact the things that I love.
It should shape what I spend my money on.
It should wake me up to think about how I think about the world.
It should impact my ethics.
Following Jesus should impact all of my life.
But I wonder if we can resist or fight God's influence.
Today, we are continuing in the series, For All People.
Throughout this series, in the book of Acts, the second half of the book of Acts,
we've seen how God is for all people.
He is for the slave and the free, the male and the female.
He's for the Jew and the Gentile.
God is for people all across the world, for all different types of people.
And today, we see not just that God is for all people,
but God is for all of their life.
God wants to impact all of our lives.
And the challenge for us today will be to see how God needs to continue to impact our lives.
How God will continue to shape our lives so that we are more like him every day.
Let me pray as we look at Acts 19.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love for us, us who are far from you.
And we ask that as we look at your word today, that you would help shape all of our lives.
We ask this in your Son's name. Amen.
Today, we're in Acts 19.
Please have your Bibles open.
You can be using the St. Paul's app with the three points in there today.
The three points today that we will...
Firstly, we're going to see that the Gospel impacts our belief.
Before, we see that the Gospel impacts our control.
And then finally, that the Gospel impacts our worship.
Have the app open.
Take some notes.
Write them down.
Have your Bibles open.
And so we meet Paul in Ephesus.
And Paul meets some disciples.
But on closer inspection, it's not clear whose disciples they are.
They had been baptised in the baptism of John, but they haven't heard of the Holy Spirit.
They haven't heard of Jesus.
I think it's likely that these are people who have been discipled by Apollos.
John had been baptising people in the expectation of Jesus' coming.
But for some reason, these men haven't heard about him.
They only have a partial faith.
They've only gotten part of the story.
They've heard and loved the first part of the story from John,
that there would be someone that would come, who would save them, who would deal with their sin.
But they didn't have the sequel.
They didn't yet have the better part of the story.
They hadn't heard about Jesus yet.
And so Paul clarifies this good news.
Have a look with me.
Acts chapter 19, verse 4.
John's baptism was a baptism of repentance.
He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.
On hearing this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus.
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Paul carefully and lovingly corrected these disciples.
He taught them about Jesus.
The Holy Spirit has come upon them, and God has used Paul to correct their belief about God,
so that they would know him better.
So that they would know Jesus, who reveals God.
And God works through their lives.
For all Christians, he gives the Holy Spirit, and we see the outworking of the Holy Spirit in their life.
This is a wonderful promise.
A promise that, for Christians, God is with us.
If you're not a Christian, if you're still unsure, this is a wonderful promise.
That God will give you his Holy Spirit.
That he promises to be with you every single day.
For Christians today, we have the whole story.
We're not like these disciples.
We know the whole story.
We know of Jesus.
But I wonder if we can also be like these disciples,
where we need to continue to learn and get to know our God better.
Imagine thinking that we could fully understand God now.
What a puny, tiny God he'd have to be for me to get my head around him.
God is massive.
He is way too amazing.
His love is beyond us.
His justice is always right.
But he is a God who continues to reveal who he is.
We get to know him better as we continue to follow him.
So just like these disciples had an opportunity to hear the gospel
and got to know God fully,
we continue to get to know God as we follow him and read his word.
For me personally, I've gotten to know God more and more
as I've gone through life and as I've read his word.
As I've been sinned against and worked hard not to hold a grudge,
I've learned how hard it is to forgive other people
and how amazing my God is that he would forgive me.
As a father, I learned the hard way about my own lack of patience
and how amazing God's patience is for us, his little children.
My own anger at lockdown rule breakers has reminded me of God's love for us,
his enemies.
The joy of relationship with God is that we get to know him more and more each day
as we continue to hear from him and talk to him
and journey through life following him.
So let me encourage you.
Keep letting the gospel impact your belief about God
because we never arrive fully knowing him
until we arrive with him.
That's our first point this morning, fairly short point to start us off.
God impacts our belief in God.
We continue to get to know him.
But it also impacts our desire to have control.
That's our second point today.
The gospel impacts our control.
Paul stayed in Ephesus.
He was there preaching for two years
and he moved from the synagogue to a lecture hall.
And Luke expresses the impact of Paul's preaching by saying in verse 10
that all of the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia
had heard the word of the Lord.
God worked through Paul to show that God is the one who is in control.
Everybody is hearing about it
and God does wonderful miracles through Paul to prove it.
Verse 11.
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul
so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him
were taken to the sick
and their illnesses were cured
and the evil spirits left them.
This is a wonderful picture of both the gospel going out through Paul's preaching
but also God's power working to show that God is really in control.
And Luke sets up a contrast.
You've got Paul on the one hand
who is preaching, who knows God, who's doing these amazing miracles
and another group of people who are trying to imitate him.
Luke tells us a story of the seven sons of Sceva
who were exorcists.
They were ghostbusters.
In first century Asia, exorcism could be a lucrative business.
And the Jews in the ancient world were pretty famous
for being able to cast out demons.
And there were seven sons of a Jewish priest named Sceva
and they were in the business of exorcism.
And they wanted to get in on this new technique
of healing and doing miracles that Paul had.
You know, it's like they've just been to a conference
and they've heard everybody saying that a new way to do business
was to use the name of Jesus.
And so, verse 13, they try out this new technique they've heard.
They would say,
in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches,
I command you to come out.
It's almost like knowing a friend of a friend
and saying you actually know them.
Except this grasping for power and control leaves them in trouble.
I love, I don't love too much about the evil spirits,
but I really appreciate the response from this evil spirit
to these men who are trying to have control.
Have a look at verse 15.
Jesus I know.
And Paul I know about.
But who are you?
And then the man with the evil spirit beats them.
And the seven sons of Sceva run out naked.
Their actions show how foolish it is
to try and name check Jesus for money and power and control.
Instead of submitting their lives to him,
following him.
Many of us can do the same thing.
Instead of following Jesus,
instead of submitting to him,
maybe we just name check him.
You know, on the census the other week,
we just ticked Christian.
And instead of actually submitting to Jesus
as the Lord over our lives,
we try and hold on to power and control.
These men are ultimately shamed in front of everybody else.
Stripped naked and humiliated.
Let's not be shamed before God on the final day
if we just give him lip service.
If we just say we know him
without actually ever getting to know Jesus.
This situation with the seven sons of Sceva
enhances the reputation of Jesus.
When the people in Ephesus hear about it,
they are afraid of Jesus and hold him in high honour.
They realise, wow,
there is something special about Jesus
that we haven't seen from anyone else.
And these people realise
they can't hedge their bets.
They can't try and hold on to power and control
and follow Jesus.
They can't have it both ways.
And so we get this wonderful picture
of radical discipleship in verse 19.
Have a look.
Verse 19.
A number who had practised sorcery
brought their scrolls together
and burned them publicly.
When they calculated the value of the scrolls,
the total came to 50,000 drachmas.
The result of the story of Jesus' power and control
is that people leave their backup plans behind.
50,000 drachmas is a lot of money.
That's 50,000 days labour.
This is an incredible amount of money.
Many people at this time
would have had magic scrolls.
It was a way to practice magic
and sorcery and witchcraft.
This was how you could have power and control
in the first century.
This was how you could have
some power and control
over death, disease and the devil.
And at this point in the church
it's full of syncretism.
Mixing of religions.
Mixing Christianity and witchcraft.
They hadn't yet fully converted to Christianity.
They're not wholly trusting in Jesus.
They're still holding on to their scrolls,
to their magic spells,
to their control.
But when they realise how empty
and meaningless these words on parchment are,
they don't even sell them,
they burn them.
It's a picture of true radical discipleship.
People getting rid of their backup plan.
Their attempts at control over death,
disease and the devil
and instead trusting fully in Jesus.
In verse 20,
in this way,
the word of the Lord spread widely
and grew in power.
People chose radical discipleship.
They gave up their backup plans,
their control
and trusted in Jesus.
And it spread the gospel.
This week,
I was reading
about some Chinese war history.
And in the later years
of the Qing dynasty,
there was a general called
Xiang Yu.
He was second in command
to a leader called Song Yi.
And they and their armies
had been repeatedly defeated
by the Qing armies
and been forced to retreat.
And so they retreated
to try and wait out their enemy.
And eventually,
their army was tired
and lethargic,
waiting for the enemy
to be weakened.
But Xiang Yu,
the second in command,
realized
waiting wasn't going to work.
They had to do something radical.
They were going to run out of food.
The men were going to be weak.
So Xiang Yu,
the second in command,
took charge.
He killed
his commander, Song Yi.
He took control of the armies
and marched across
the Yellow River
to fight the enemy troops.
What is most amazing
is that he ordered
his troops
to sink their ships,
to break their cooking pots,
and to only take
three days worth of food with them.
His message was really clear.
We will win
or we will die trying.
There is no going back.
Although his troops
were outnumbered 10 to 1,
Xiang Yu's army
crushed
the Qing troops.
Xiang Yu gained
much fame
for his efforts
and there is a phrase
in Chinese
that came from it.
The phrase is
Polful Chen Zhou,
which literally means
break your pots,
sink your ships.
There is no turning back.
Polful Chen Zhou.
That's what the seven sons
of Sceva
didn't have.
They didn't have
total commitment
to Jesus.
Jesus was just
a magic word
to them.
And this is what
the people
in the Ephesus church
realise.
There can be no
backup plan
to Jesus.
Jesus is
the only plan.
Yet I wonder,
is it still possible
that we hold on
to our backup plans?
Our control,
particularly over death,
disease,
and the devil.
In this season of COVID,
are you holding on
to other backup plans
and not trusting God
fully?
Now,
some of us
might mix
Christianity
with superstition.
Mixing Christianity
with
superstitious practices
and modern-day
witchcraft,
like Ouija boards,
tarot cards,
astrology,
horoscopes,
fortune tellers,
most of these
are fake.
But when we trust
in them
to give us
some control,
to give us
some idea
of where we are
to go in the future,
we are making
an idol to worship
and we are not
trusting in God
fully.
Now,
it might not be,
for most of us,
magic scrolls
and sorcery
or even modern-day
witchcraft.
But we have
many other issues,
many other ways
of trying to hold
on to control
in the world
around us.
It might be
trying to have
a certain amount
of money,
a certain amount
of money in my life
and then I'll be
okay,
then I'll be safe.
If I've got
a certain amount
of money,
it doesn't matter
if I get sick,
I'll be able
to live on that.
The Ephesian church
tried to mix
their Christianity
with other things
and they ended up
burning them
because they realized
that those other things
didn't compare
at all to Jesus.
Following God
without a backup plan
is what true
discipleship looks like.
Without another option.
It's that phrase,
powerful change
to burn the other
options
to fully
follow Jesus.
That is what
the gospel
calls us to do.
It impacts
all of our life
and not just
the church
we tune into
on Sunday,
not just what we
tick on the census.
Has God been
speaking to you
about a certain
aspect of your life?
Where is he
putting his finger
on you and saying
don't trust this?
Don't trust in your money.
Give your control
over to me.
Don't trust
in your selfishness.
Don't trust in
that everything
will be in fine.
Don't trust
that you've got this.
Don't trust
in your pride.
Trust in me.
We've seen today
that the gospel
is not just something
we tick on a census
but it impacts
all of our lives.
from what we believe
about God
to what we try
and control.
Finally,
today,
our third point,
we'll see God's
impact on our worship
and specifically
money.
The gospel
has spread so much
through Ephesus
that Luke notes
in verse 23
that there was
a disturbance
about the way.
There was a disturbance
for Christians.
There was a
silversmith
by the name
of Demetrius
and he was
greatly angered
at the progress
of Christianity
and the disruption
that Christians
brought to him.
He was a silversmith
and silver
was what fueled
the Gentile economy
and it was heavily
used in idol making.
Demetrius
made shrines
and idols
of Artemis
also known
as Aphrodite
the goddess
of love.
Artemis
had a temple
in Ephesus
and this was
one of the
seven wonders
of the ancient world.
This was the
biggest building
that existed
at the time.
So you can imagine
how this city
would have had
pride
in this
temple
and in this
God.
It's like when
people come to
Sydney,
back in those years
when people
could be tourists,
people come to
Sydney and it's like
have you visited
the Opera House?
Have you seen
the Harbour Bridge?
People going to
Ephesus,
they would be
asked,
have you seen
our great
temple to
Artemis?
The gospel
spreads in
this city.
The gospel
which says
idols
are nothing.
These gods
are not real.
This gospel
was critical
of the pagan
culture.
Demetrius
would have been
losing business,
losing silver
hand over fist
and he would
have felt
the loss
of prestige
for himself
and his city
and for the
God that he
worshipped.
The gospel
invades
every aspect
of life
and it's
impacting
business for
these tradies.
It's impacting
their economy.
It's changing
what people are
spending their
money on
and their
time on
and the gospel
confronts
both the
sinfulness
in our
hearts,
the gospel
also confronts
the sin
of the
city
and when
it does
it causes
friction.
Have a look
with me at
verse 25
of chapter 19
and see how
the gospel
is impacting
Demetrius.
Demetrius is
speaking here
and he read
you know my
friends
that we
receive a
good income
from this
business
and you
see and
hear how
this fellow
Paul has
convinced
and led
astray
large numbers
of people
here in
Ephesus
and in
practically
the whole
province
of Asia
what a
wonderful
report
about the
gospel
going
out.
He says
that gods
made by
human hands
are no
gods at
all.
There is
danger
not only
that our
trade will
lose its
good name
but also
that the
temple of
the great
goddess
Artemis
will be
discredited
and the
goddess
herself
who is
worshipped
throughout
the province
of Asia
and the
world
will be
robbed
of her
divine
majesty.
Demetrius
he's worried
about his
income
he's worried
about the
large amount
of people
becoming
Christians
he's worried
about society
changing around
him.
Much like for
Christians today
who see society
changing around
them and go
it's not like how
it was when I
grew up.
That's Demetrius.
He's seeing people
become Christians
and he's going
it's not how it
should be.
It's not like the
old days.
He's worried
about people in
his trade
are going to
continue to make
money to make
gods.
He's worried
about the
God he
worships.
Demetrius
hasn't seen
the Christians
come in and
said you
Christians are
fine you
stay over
there I'll
believe what
I believe you
believe what
you believe and
we can
coexist.
He hasn't
even just
said keep
it away from
me good for
you I don't
want to hear
it.
Demetrius
sees the
massive impact
of Christianity
in life.
He sees its
impact on
the economy.
It probably
would have
been easier
for him if
he could
transition his
work to
making new
gods to
making whoever
this new
God is but
the God
that we
worship can't
be made by
human hands.
Paul himself
he's not afraid
of this pagan
worldview.
Instead he
confronts them
and he has
seen the impact
of the gospel.
It's easy to
dismiss Demetrius'
concerns because
we don't live
like that.
I don't know
anybody who
makes their
living carving
out idols of
gods.
And yet for
us we often
worship more
intangible things.
Ideas,
ambition,
the amount of
zeros in our
bank account,
maybe physical
things like
house or beauty.
We take
something good
from God
that he has
created and
we worship it
as the
creator.
Or we can
run the risk
of syncretism
which is what
the Ephesian
church was
doing when
they were
mixing their
religion where
we worship
multiple gods.
For an hour
or so on a
Sunday morning
we'll worship
the God of
the Bible but
Monday to
Friday I'll
worship the
pride and
glory of
myself at
work or
at school.
I'll
worship the
pride of a
sporting
accomplishment.
Then it
gets to the
weekend Friday
afternoon and
I'm going to
worship pleasure.
And maybe if I
meet with others
socially distanced
down at the
park I'm going
to worship my
kids and my
family by telling
them how great I
am and how
great my kids
are.
Demetrius could
see where the
gospel was
impacting all of
life.
He did not
like it.
Is it
possible that
we can become
too content
and the
gospel isn't
radically changing
our lives
anymore?
Is it
possible that
we've gotten
inoculated
against the
gospel and
it's not
impacting us?
When I was
younger I
didn't eat a
whole lot of
spicy food but
now I really
love the stuff.
I really like
two in
particular.
one spicy
sauce is
called
laogama.
It's a
Chinese one.
And this
one,
sriracha,
I've been
putting a lot
of this on
food recently.
I really
like it.
And I've
gotten used
to it.
When we
have dinner
and it's
got a bit
of a spice,
Alyssa and
I, we're
totally fine,
don't even
notice it.
And then we
look over at
the kids and
they're sweating,
they're drinking
litres of water,
they're just,
I can't eat
this.
I've gotten
so used to
it, it
doesn't affect
me anymore.
I've gotten
comfortable with
it.
Until, of
course, I
accidentally put
too much
in.
I remember
one time I
was at a
movie and
it was all
dark and I
put a little
bit of
wasabi or
what I
thought was
a little
bit of
wasabi on
my sushi,
but it was
a huge
amount and
it cleared
out everything.
A spicy
sauce doesn't
impact me until
I accidentally
put too
much of it
in.
And then
I notice
it.
The gospel
is intrusive.
The gospel
is something
that should
impact all
of our
lives.
And yet
we can
get used
to it.
We can
get comfortable
with it
and complacent.
If you're
still not
sure about
who Jesus
is,
maybe you've
heard the
news about
Jesus dying
on the
cross,
rising to
life so
that you
too can
have
life.
Maybe
you've
heard this
message so
many times
you've
just gotten
used to
it.
Take a
moment and
consider how
amazing it
is that
the God
of the
universe
would die
for you
because he
loves you.
Pour a
bit extra
sauce onto
the reality
that God
himself would
die for
you so
that you
can be
impacted by
the gospel
today.
It might
be the
same for
those
following
Jesus.
The gospel
has impacted
so many
different parts
of my
life but
I've
gotten
used to
it just
like eating
spicy food.
We can't
keep doing
the same
things expecting
different
results.
Do you
want God
to impact
your life?
Do you
want to
have a
closer walk
with him?
Do you
need help
handing over
control to
God?
I want to
encourage you
to do
something
different.
Effectively
pour a bit
more chili
sauce on
it so
that you
see God's
impact in
your life.
I want to
challenge you.
I want to
challenge you
this week.
I want to
challenge everybody
watching.
I want to
challenge you
for the next
seven days
to spend
five minutes
reading the
Bible and
five minutes
praying.
Challenge for
the next
seven days
five minutes
reading the
Bible,
five minutes
praying.
Let me
encourage you
send me a
message.
If we're
friends on
Facebook you
can send
me a
message.
If we're
not yet
friends on
Facebook send
me an
email.
James.
Barnett
at
stpauls.org.au
Let me
know you're
doing this
challenge so
that we can
do this
together.
Let's
read the
Bible for
five minutes
and pray
for five
minutes each
day for the
next seven
days.
Let's do
something
different so
that we can
see God's
impact on
our life.
We are at
the start of
a season
celebrating what
God is doing
across the
world in our
mission month.
life.
But let's
first ask God
to change
our hearts
so that we
can know
him and
trust him
and worship
him more
and more.
Let me
pray.
Heavenly
Father we
thank you
for your
love for
us.
Thank you
that your
gospel has
gone out and
it has come
to us here
far from
Ephesus.
But Lord we
thank you for
how you are
impacting our
lives.
Father we
thank you
that Jesus
has died
and been
raised so
that we
can know
you,
that we
can have
relationship
with you
forever.
Heavenly
Father we
ask this
week over
the next
seven days
that you
would work
on our
hearts,
that we
would know
you,
that we
would trust
you and
we would
worship you
more and
more each
day.
Amen.