Let me invite you to turn there in the Pew Bible, the page numbers in the bulletin.
Continuing our series in the book of Acts this summer, looking at Acts 19.
Let me read this text for us.
And Paul 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.
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 Siva 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 the 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 50,000 pieces of silver.
So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
Let's pray together.
Lord,
we have just heard that your word is mighty and it prevails.
So God,
we ask that this word that we have read and the message that it contains by your Holy Spirit would prevail in our midst this morning.
And Lord,
that we would find what our hearts desire and who you are calling us to be more and more as we turn to you and your word this morning.
Amen.
So where does spiritual power come from?
The New Testament is clear that every believer is engaged in a conflict,
not just with sinfulness and brokenness outside of ourselves,
but also with sinfulness and brokenness inside.
Jesus himself said,
in this world,
you will have trial.
In other words,
you can expect there to be challenges,
temptations,
conflicts.
So where do we get the power to meet these challenges?
Now,
of course,
we live in a very pragmatic age,
don't we?
In other words,
if it works,
then we'll do it.
Then we'll trust it.
And this means,
I think,
that we're always looking for new techniques or new methods to sort of get us where we want to go.
And I think that's true in the spiritual realm as well.
I think most people on the street would agree that they need some sort of help spiritually.
But that help usually takes the form of something that we do.
Trying out the new yoga studio down the street,
a new meditation routine,
the latest self-help book,
whether it's 10 Steps to Overcoming Anxiety,
or Three Keys to Unlocking the Real You,
or whatever it is.
But is all that really the answer?
Well,
I think Luke has something to show us this morning about real spiritual power.
And where it comes from.
And even though the examples in our text this morning are perhaps a bit extreme,
they highlight some important points for all of us.
And as we walk through this text this morning,
we're going to see that as a culture,
we've actually been getting it all wrong.
And we're going to see where real,
lasting spiritual vitality and spiritual strength come from.
So let's look down through our passage.
We're just going to walk through it step by step this morning.
And I think the first thing that we see in this passage is that
lasting spiritual power resides in the Word of God.
Look again at verses 8 through 12.
Here we see Paul engaged in a tireless ministry of teaching and reasoning
and explaining the message about the Kingdom of God.
Luke tells us that for two whole years,
Paul uses the lecture hall of a man named Tyrannus in the city of Ephesus.
Now, it's interesting that the name Tyrannus actually means the tyrant.
One wonders whether his students gave them that name
or whether he sort of took it upon himself to sort of instill fear in the hearts of his students.
But there you go.
Paul sort of rents out his lecture hall midday to do some work.
And if you look at the footnote of your Bible, if you're looking at the ESV anyway,
some of the manuscripts add that Paul taught there daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
And a lot of New Testament scholars and historians of the first century think that's probably fairly accurate.
Because that was the typical time of the day when most people were taking an afternoon rest.
It was typical in the ancient world to work in the cool parts of the morning,
to rest during the heat of the day,
and then to return to work in the late afternoon and evening.
Some countries, this is still the practice.
If you go to Spain, there's a long afternoon siesta
where people take a break in the middle of the day.
In fact, one historian of the ancient world wrote that
in Rome during this period in the first century,
there were probably more people asleep at 1 p.m. in the afternoon
than in 1 a.m. at night.
But here we see Paul during this lull in the middle of the day,
after he had been laboring in the marketplace as a tent maker,
when no one else was using Tyrannus' lecture hall,
here's Paul busy at a different kind of work,
reasoning daily about the kingdom of God,
about the message of God's in-breaking reign,
and about God's King, Jesus Christ.
And I think this is instructive for us in at least two ways.
First, isn't it interesting that Paul found the time
in his cultural moment when people were free
to hear and to study and to learn,
and he took advantage of it.
I wonder, friends, do we do the same thing with our schedules?
When do you and I intentionally set aside time
to study and engage and wrestle with the word of God's kingdom?
Not just personally and privately,
although that's critical and necessary,
but also with others.
And you have to consider here that no doubt it was very costly for Paul.
I mean, consider he was doing manual labor all morning,
sweating in the marketplace on those hot Asia Minor mornings,
and about to go back to it in the afternoon,
and yet he shows up at the lecture hall,
excited and ready to go.
And just as it was costly and challenging for Paul,
it's going to be costly and challenging for us,
there's no doubt, to rise early enough
to engage with the word.
Just set apart an evening in the midst of a busy week.
It's going to be challenging,
and there will be tiring days.
But friends, don't you see here that Paul's experience of the word,
as it took root and as it grew,
was worth it.
Look at the power that the word had in verse 10.
It has this regional effect.
Luke says that all the residents of Asia,
that is Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey,
heard the word of the Lord.
As people came to this regional hub of Ephesus,
this great financial and political and spiritual center of the region,
this city where power was on everybody's minds,
and particularly as it was a city somewhat in decline,
financially and politically,
spiritual power was on everyone's minds.
And people would come to this regional hub,
and they would hear Paul reasoning in the hall of Tyrannus,
and they themselves would become followers of Jesus,
and then they would take the word with them to their hometowns.
And in fact, that's probably how some of the churches
that we learn about in other parts of the New Testament got started.
Paul writes a letter to the church at Colossae,
and that was a church he didn't found.
That was a church that was probably founded by someone who came,
heard Paul in Ephesus,
and then took the message with him.
We learn in the book of Revelation
that there are many churches in this part of Asia Minor,
and one wonders whether it was through Paul's engagement
with the power of the word here,
in this time, in this space of two to three years,
that actually those churches took root.
But it's not just the time that Paul invests
that's instructive for us.
Look at Paul's method.
Luke again points out that Paul was reasoning,
reasoning daily.
And that word is something like maybe what we would say dialoguing,
engaging with questions,
interacting with his listeners.
You see, Paul in evangelism,
in this sort of public forum,
was always constantly listening and responding with others,
even others who would have disagreed,
even others who would have had profoundly different answers
to the questions that he was positing.
You know, we often think that the way
to really go deep spiritually,
man, how do I actually get deep down rooted
in the life of God?
We often think that the way we should really do that
is to become a hermit, right?
And move far out into the woods
where we can never be disturbed
by those pesky people asking their questions
and those pesky kids who always want to eat.
Why do my children always want food?
I have better things to do with my time.
I want to go think.
Where we can be away from distraction
and the busyness of life.
We think that, oh, if I could just get that,
then I could really grow.
Then I could really go deep.
Now, solitude's good every once in a while.
We see that in Jesus's own ministry, don't we?
But you know, the thought that permanently
getting away from people
as the key to real spiritual depth and growth and power,
that if we could only get away,
then we'd be able to grow,
friends, I posit that that's an idea
we get more from Henry David Thoreau
than from Jesus.
You see, the way to really grow,
to find spiritual vitality,
isn't to find a lonely cabin
on Walden Pond away from society.
No, the example of Jesus and Paul
is that of rich engagement.
This week, a friend recently pointed out to me
that after Paul's two to three-year stay in Ephesus,
he would soon thereafter write
one of the most profound books of the New Testament
and probably one of the most influential documents
ever written in human history,
the Letter to the Romans.
And if you're familiar with that book,
can't you hear in Romans those conversations,
those dialogues that Paul must have had
in the hall of Tyrannus?
Look through that letter again
and look at all the questions
that he's responding to
as he works his way through.
What shall we say then?
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
By no means.
What then?
Are we to sin because we're not under law,
but under grace?
Questions Paul must have heard
and engaged with day after day in Ephesus.
And what's the lesson?
The lesson is that the best theology
and the best spirituality
is forged on the anvil of rich engagements
in the Word with others.
And friends, even especially with those
who don't yet believe.
Now, we've said that the first thing
we see in this passage
is that spiritual power resides in the Word of God.
And in verses 11 and 12,
we see God giving confirmation
of Paul and his message
through what Luke calls
extraordinary miracles.
Extraordinary miracles.
Now, here's the thing we need to see.
That when Luke says extraordinary here,
you know, when you and I use the word extraordinary,
what do we mean?
We mean, oh, it was wonderful.
It was breathtaking.
It was super duper.
It was extraordinary.
But Luke actually literally means
out of the ordinary.
As in, this sort of thing
didn't actually happen all the time.
It's not as if when Luke rocked up to a new city,
he started sweating in his handkerchiefs
and handing them out.
This wasn't his sort of typical mode of operation.
In fact, in all of Luke's writing,
this sort of sort of massive demonstration
of miraculous healing
seems to be something that only happens
with Jesus and with Peter
in this particular kind of way.
Here in Ephesus, it seems that people
were literally taking the sweat rags
that Paul would have worn around his head or waist
while working at his tent making.
That's what those words in verse 12 actually mean.
His sort of work clothes.
That they were taking those,
I don't know how they got them,
and they were bringing them to people
who were sick or demon possessed
and the people would get better.
You know, and it's funny,
it's not even clear that Paul
even approved of the practice.
Luke just says it was happening.
What are we to make of all this?
Well, friends, isn't it stunning
to see that God in his mercy
and in his condescension
would choose at this time
and at this place in history
to act in this way?
That God's willing to stoop
to use a somewhat strange
and we might even call superstitious practice
in order to make his grace and power known.
And the real effect of such miracles
was to prove as a giant confirmation
of the message that Paul proclaimed.
God was doing stuff like this
in that massively confused
and spiritually mixed up city of Ephesus
so that people would stop
and listen to what Paul had to say.
So that people would stop
and listen to the message about Jesus.
The one who had come
not merely to take away
their sicknesses and afflictions,
but to take away the much deeper,
more serious spiritual problem,
our alienation from the kingdom of God
because of our sin.
So in verses 8 through 12,
Luke's showing us
that spiritual power resides in the word
and he shows us how God
is confirming that message
through these extraordinary miracles
through Paul.
And that means the more we read,
the more we study,
the more we memorize,
the more we discuss
God's word together,
the more we let the gospel dwell
in us richly,
as Paul will say,
in another place,
the more we find
the vitality and power
that we need to face
the challenges we face,
whether they're personal
or whether they're missional
or whether they're ecclesiological,
whatever they happen to be.
But Luke actually has more
to show us here than just that.
Because you see,
if we just stopped there,
it would be so easy to think
that studying the Bible
was merely about getting
lots of ideas in our heads.
And that the point
was just to sort of
get all these facts
and ideas in our head
that we could then employ
or use or implement
or whatever,
that the Bible would just be
like a big toolbox
that we could pull out
at various times
and in various places
depending on which job
we needed to get done.
Now don't get me wrong,
there's nothing wrong,
obviously,
with immersing yourself
in the truth claims
of the Bible.
In fact,
we ought to be doing that
more and more.
But you see,
it can't stop there.
And if our engagement
with the Word
becomes just that,
hasn't the Bible
just become
one more self-help book?
One more technique
that we have to master
and one more pragmatic solution
to put beside all the rest?
But you see,
the message of the Bible,
friends,
isn't ultimately
about a set of tools
and tips
that we master.
No,
it's a message
about a person
who has come
to master us.
That's what Luke
shows us
in verses 13 through 17,
this episode
about the seven sons
of Siva.
And what's happening here
is that these
itinerant Jewish exorcists
are trying to harness
the power of Jesus
apart from a real relationship
with Jesus.
Now,
before we dive
into that thought,
let me just add
as a sidebar
that I know
the idea
of evil spirits
can sound a bit
implausible
to many people
in our culture.
Maybe that's
an understatement.
Many people believe
that belief
in such things
is irrational
and probably
more than a bit
primitive,
right?
I mean,
come on,
in this day and age,
belief in the devil
and evil spirits,
how could one
believe in such things?
But if you're wrestling
with that idea,
let me just suggest
a couple of quick things
and then we'll move on.
First,
the idea is actually
not that irrational
if you think about it.
After all,
if you believe
in a supernatural
personal good,
God,
and there are lots
of really good reasons
for believing in God,
then it's not necessarily
irrational or illogical
to believe in supernatural
personal evil,
is it?
And as far as the belief
in evil spirits
being primitive
or backward,
I think it's helpful
on that note
to consider
that the writers
of the New Testament
actually don't think
that absolutely everything
is caused
by a spirit
or a demon.
they're not thinking
that under every bush
and shade
there's a little sprite
that's going to pop out
and cause mischief.
And actually,
if you look at verse 12
in our text this morning,
you actually see Luke
very carefully distinguishing
between physical sickness
and spiritual affliction.
And you see this
over and over
and over and over again
in the New Testament.
In fact,
the New Testament
actually has an incredibly
robust picture of reality.
a picture of reality
where there are physical,
emotional,
social,
psychological,
and yes,
spiritual forces at work.
Now, friends,
you're welcome to call
that a primitive picture
of reality,
but I don't know,
in my estimation,
that seems quite sophisticated
and quite robust.
And actually,
sort of not entrapped
by the limitations
that we sort of arbitrarily
place on reality.
Well, anyway,
if you want to hear more
about that,
come talk to me afterwards.
I'd be happy to
bat ideas around.
Come back to our text.
You know,
one wonders in reading
this sort of story
about the seven sons of Siva
if Luke is indulging
in a bit of dark comedy here.
Right?
I'm glad that some of you
laughed when we read this story.
Maybe it was uncomfortable laugh
because we were talking
about demons,
but you know,
I think it's meant to be
a little bit funny.
These seven brothers
hear about Jesus
and they decide
they're going to try it out.
Why not?
Let's put it into our repertoire.
And no doubt,
these guys have been
making a name for themselves,
trying to gain influence
and wealth
through practicing magic
and performing exorcisms.
And you know,
if their father, Siva,
was actually a part
of the high priestly family,
then you've got a picture
of these guys
who are far from home,
dabbling in pagan magic
and trying to make themselves
out to be a power
to be reckoned with.
But in this encounter,
this power encounter,
the evil spirit says,
Jesus, I know,
and Paul, I recognize,
but who in the world are you?
And these seven sons
get beat up and bruised
and sent running naked
and wounded.
And do you see
what Luke wants us to see?
that the sons of Siva
are trying to harness
the vitality and power of Jesus
apart from a real relationship with him.
Now, of course,
this is an extreme example, right?
But you have to see
that this is a danger
that we all face.
Jonathan Edwards,
in the midst of the Great Awakening
in the 18th century,
when all sorts of spiritual renewals
and revivals were going on,
spent a lot of time
considering this question.
What's the difference
between a person
who's merely religious
and a really,
truly spiritual person?
Between someone
who has an exterior belief
and acknowledgement in God
and between someone
who actually knows God.
And his conclusion was this,
that the religious person
finds God useful,
but the truly spiritual person
finds God beautiful.
In other words,
the religious person
uses God to get things,
whether it's comfort
or status or control
or power or prestige.
But the spiritual person
adores God for who he is.
Perfectly good,
wise,
powerful,
holy,
glorious.
The satisfier of the soul.
The religious person
sees God as a means
to something else,
and the spiritual person
sees God not as a means,
but as an end.
And in fact,
as the end,
the great goal
of everything else.
And do you see
how the sons of Siva
were trying merely
to use God
as a means here
for their own ends,
for power,
for prestige,
maybe even
for a bit
of monetary gain?
And friends,
do you see
how we can fall
into the same exact trap?
Of course,
it looks different
on the outside,
doesn't it?
But you know,
whenever we say,
God,
I'll follow you
or I'll submit to you
if,
if you take away
this problem
I'm having at work,
if you help me
find someone to marry
so I won't have
to be alone,
if you make my life
just generally comfortable,
you know,
not rich or anything,
no money,
no problems,
I just want to be comfortable,
just give me a life
that's not that hard,
God.
If you can do that,
well then I'll submit
to you and obey you.
But you know,
that's a bit obvious,
isn't it?
We sort of all see that.
But there can even be
more subtler forms of it.
I mean,
when you think of what it means
to be a Christian,
wouldn't we all say
that what it means
to be a Christian
is to have Jesus
become your Lord
and your Savior?
And of course,
friends,
that is very true.
But the deeper question
to ask is,
is Christ your treasure?
Do you come to him
not just because of
something he offers,
because he offers you something,
but because he himself
is desirable?
Because you want him
for who he is
and not just for what he gives.
And that's where real spiritual power
and vitality come from.
When we stop using Jesus
and we start really knowing him.
Now, you might ask,
how do I get there?
How does Christ
become my treasure?
Well, above all,
you have to see
what he's done for you.
The seven sons of Siva
took the name of Jesus
on their lips
and went charging after evil,
and they got beat up
and ran away.
But friends,
Jesus Christ
didn't just take our name
on his lips,
but took our very nature
on himself.
And he went charging
headlong after evil.
Our evil,
our sin.
And he went forth
into our darkness.
And in that great combat,
friends,
in that great conflict,
Jesus could have conquered
with a single word.
He could have sent
the darkness flying
without a fight.
But instead,
he was voluntarily crushed
and bruised
and wounded
and stripped naked.
And in that great conflict,
when Satan seemed
to have the upper hand,
he didn't run,
but he stayed.
The innocent one
underwent the penalty of evil
so that sinful men
and women
could be given
the gift of innocence.
And not just innocence,
but wholeness
and healing
and life
and identity
and purpose
and freedom.
And when you see
that he did all that
for you,
when you can see that,
friends,
doesn't he start
to become
your treasure?
if Christ
would stride
into the darkness
of spiritual evil
for me
in my place
and take all
of its weight
so that I could
step into spiritual life.
Friends,
don't you want to love
someone like that?
And don't you find him
not just a means
to some other end.
Don't you find him
to be the great end,
the great goal
of your life?
So brothers and sisters,
you know him that way.
Do you want to know him
that way?
Hmm?
The beauty is
he's not out
to make it hard on you.
He's not playing hard
to get.
But by his Holy Spirit
is welcoming all
who will come
and receive him.
Friend,
even this morning
you can pray to him
and ask him
to not just become useful
but to become beautiful
to your heart.
If you want to talk
to someone
after this service,
do it.
Pray with someone
as you want to see
that reality
more and more
in your life.
That's where true
spiritual vitality
comes from.
Now there's one last thing
that Luke wants us to see.
He's shown us
the importance
of knowing Jesus
but in the last three verses
of our text
he's going to show us
what knowing Jesus
sort of looks like
in practice
on the ground.
In verses 18 through 20
we see that actually
knowing Christ
means
a lifestyle
of repentance.
A true relationship
with Christ
is characterized
by deep repentance.
That's what's going on
as the Ephesian Christians
burn their magic books
and divulge
their practices.
These were things
that they had clung to
who knows
for how many years
for power
and for security
and for protection
and for their identity.
In fact,
the city of Ephesus
was so wrapped up
in the occult
that in the ancient world
Ephesian writings
was like a nickname
for spell books.
This was part
of their city's heritage
to be involved
in this kind of thing.
And now,
having seen
how worthy
and awesome
and good Jesus is,
they can utterly
do away with those things
and make a clean break.
A couple things
to notice here.
Notice, friends,
that this is believers
doing this.
That they had become
believers
and as they grew
to see more and more
of who God is in Christ,
they actually turned away
more and more
from things
that stole their life.
This was an ongoing thing.
This was an event
that Luke describes here,
yes,
but you see,
the turning away
from false hopes
and from sinful practices,
this is something
we do more and more
and on and on
as we follow Jesus.
As you see God
as he is.
Notice, too,
how specific this is
in these last few verses.
The confession
and repentance here
wasn't sort of a general thing,
that they weren't content
to sort of get together
and sort of make
a general acknowledgement
that they were sinners
and needed grace.
That was true.
And yet here,
they actually took objects,
actual things in their lives
that needed to be done away with
and they brought them
out into the open
and they got rid of them.
And they actually got rid of them
in such a way
that no one else
could be caught up in them.
Friend,
I wonder if you have someone
that you can do this with.
What I mean is,
do you have someone
in your life
that you can make
open and honest
and concrete confession to?
Do you have someone
who can pray with you
and walk with you
as you turn your back
on the old things,
your old life
that used to be
your comfort
and power and pleasure?
Do you have someone
who can sort of sit with you
and hear that
and pray with you
and walk with you
as you step into more
and more the new life
that you have in Christ?
I would encourage
all of us, friends,
to find someone,
one of the pastors
or elders,
a small group leader,
a Sunday school teacher,
a trusted,
mature Christian friend,
find someone
that you can make
this open confession to
in a practical way.
because God uses
this kind of open,
specific confession
to break the power
of guilt
and ongoing sin
in our lives.
But the last thing
we see about the sort
of repentance
that characterizes
those who really know
Jesus here
is that it's costly.
That it's costly.
Luke says that the books
they burned
amounted to 50,000
silver pieces.
One silver piece
was one day's wage
for a common worker.
It's been a long time
since I've taken
a math class.
But if my math is right,
that's 137 years
of wages
that went up in smoke
in one day
in Ephesus.
137 years.
And of course,
for all of us,
repentance feels
so costly.
When we think
of giving up
this or that thing
that we've held
so close,
that we've invested
so much of our time
into,
that so much
of our identity
or our personality
is wrapped up in,
how on earth
could we give
that up?
Repentance is costly.
And we see that.
But friends,
don't forget
that as costly
as repentance is,
God
has so much
more
to give you
than what you will lose.
Whatever you give up,
he will more
than make up for.
You know,
the disciples
came to Jesus
one day
and said,
Lord,
we've left
everything for you.
We've left our homes
and our families
and our jobs.
We've left our identities
behind
to follow you.
You can hear them
calculating in their minds,
was any of this worth it?
And Jesus
turns to them
and says,
truly I say to you,
there is no one
who has left house
or wife
or brothers
or parents
or children
for me
or for the sake
of the kingdom of God
who will not receive
many times more
in this time
and in the age to come
eternal life.
Now,
how could Jesus
say such a thing?
How could he make
such a promise
to us,
his disciples?
Because Jesus
was about to go
lose his life
for us
so that no matter
what we lost
in following him,
it'd be nothing
compared to what
we'd gain.
That what he purchased
for us
was every
spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places
poured out
in him.
And friends,
that's what you
really want.
What you want
behind your friends,
what you want
behind your sex,
what you want
behind your job
is a spiritual blessing
that won't go away.
And Jesus
has won it for you.
Such that no matter
what you give up
in this life,
could never compare
to what he's given you.
And in fact,
when you give
those things up,
you begin to experience
more and more
of what he has
already given you.
And the cross
and the resurrection
of Jesus stand
as a great emblem
of that fact.
that God
has more to give you
than you will ever lose.
So friend,
as we close this morning,
what is he telling you
to turn from
this morning?
In other words,
where do you
and I
sense the Spirit's
finger on our hearts
telling us
to repent,
to turn,
and to step
into the greater
spiritual life
and vitality
that Jesus
has won for us?
What is it for you
this morning?
Let's ask God
for the power
and courage
to do just that.
Let's pray.
God,
we confess
that in our own
strength
we are weak.
Lord,
how often
are we like
the sons of Siva
charging into life,
bold and confident
with your name
on our lips
and yet finding
that we end up
bruised and battered.
Oh God,
would you meet us
this morning
and would you
beckon us
with your mercy
and your grace
and your strength
and would you
call us,
God,
to come unto you
and to turn away
from those things
that might have
at one point
been our very life
and yet need
be our life
no more
because of you,
Jesus.
Lord,
work in us
by your Spirit
these things
more and more
in us as a church
and us as a people.
Lord,
for the good
of our city
and for the glory
of your name.
Amen.
Well friends,
we have the privilege
this morning
as we respond
to God's word
of celebrating
baptism.
So if Wilson
and Grace
and Phil,
if you guys
want to come up.
Amen.