Acts 19:21-41

Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 19.

So I want to take a little bit of credit for the bear song,

!

I want to take a little bit of credit for the bear song and dedication to that night or that morning.

But I only think the only person that was actually still here that was there was Daniel Swanson.

I don't remember looking for him.

But he was there.

But I promise, he'll tell you that he did, but he slept through the whole incident.

So I was like, you probably would be eaten if we didn't wake you up.

But the bear stole my backpack and ran up a hill.

And me and Daniel Gentry and another guy chased it up the hill and threw things at it.

And it eventually left.

So there's a nice little hole, like claw hole, in the back of my military backpack downstairs.

That bear's like trying to dig around.

I forgot that I left a little candy bar or something on the bottom of that because it was covered up.

So don't do that when you go camping.

But take some credit for that song.

We're going to be in Acts 19, kind of finishing up our time in Ephesus together.

So before we do, though, just join me in a word of prayer.

Lord, we still ourselves before you this morning.

coming from busy weeks where stress and the approval of others and the seeking after the world.

We have come this morning with your people hoping to have our spirits refreshed and renewed.

And that is something that we cannot do naturally.

And it's something that only you, through your word and by the power of the Spirit, can do.

So we ask you to work in our hearts and our minds, Lord, to renew our faith.

To strengthen us, Lord, to leave here later and to go into weeks for.

To live for your glory and wherever we go, Father.

So give us eyes to see and ears to hear this morning.

And use this as you see fit.

In Christ's name, amen.

Amen.

So, if you recall, we started in chapter 19.

And this is when Paul first came into Ephesus.

And Ephesus, just a tad review and then plus a little more.

But the biggest city in Asia Minor is on the east side of the Aegean Sea.

And it was the capital of the Roman province of Asia.

Fifth largest city in the entire empire.

And so a big, big place for the gospel to go to be exported into Asia.

Kind of the launch pad into Asia.

And so there is a lot in Ephesus that is really still there today that you can go and see.

But most of all, I would say there was the Temple of Artemis.

Which is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

And a lot of it still remains today.

I tried to find some cool pictures to get into.

So, for whatever those.

That's what it looked like during the time of Paul.

And it was built definitely several centuries before, like B.C.

But it was a huge structure that was the boast of the ancient world.

And it was bigger than all the temples and stuff in Athens and Rome.

It was really a huge deal.

And so all this was dedicated to Artemis.

So you can flip to the next slide.

And that's what remains of it today.

So there's the glory of Artemis kind of destroyed over the centuries, right?

But I have a friend, one of my best friends over in Ireland, Mark, who actually was there.

And he was telling me he was just getting his mind in the narrative while he was walking around all that.

Just thinking about how the gospel changed that culture and changed that city.

And so I think it would be helpful, not just for the sake of blather, but to actually know who Artemis mythically was because it had an impact on the ancient world.

And so Artemis was the Greek name of the goddess.

Diana was the Roman name.

She was the mythical daughter of Zeus.

And her name kind of comes from a combination of meaning safe and sound.

So she was the goddess who brought help and brought aid to people.

And she was depicted carrying a bow.

She was a huntress.

She had a hunting dog with her.

And she was really known for protection, but particularly for women and for women in childbirth and protector of the virginity of young girls.

And she had a lot of masculine type characteristics about her.

And so even today, she's kind of seen as like a goddess of feminism in a lot of ways.

And she's also known as like the goddess of wild animals and nature.

Like, you know, just that wild, rugged, you know, woman that we all see depicted in movies today that really isn't real, but it's on TV anyway.

So that's kind of where a lot of that comes from.

And so that was Artemis.

And that's who these people cling to, who they worshiped.

And it was a cult that lasted for thousands of years.

And so that's where the controversy is over, like a lot of this.

But it also spills into the amphitheater that's also in Ephesus, which is another picture.

It's still there today.

A huge amphitheater.

It could hold around 20,000 people, which is pretty remarkable in that time.

It had an emperor's box when the emperor actually came and visited.

And like most amphitheaters in the Roman world, they were used for musical concerts, for plays, for gladiatorial combat, and dramas, whatever.

But also, it was a place where religious, political, and philosophical things could be discussed.

And that's a lot of what we see in our text today.

But this is where the riot kind of happened.

This is all where it kind of went down.

And so I'm not like really big on doing this, but I actually thought about showing a video clip from a movie

where it actually shows like mob hysteria and how scary it actually can be.

It's a terrifying thing to encounter.

And in our text today, that's kind of what we're coming up with was this riot that was in Ephesus.

But it was time for, in God's providence, for the evangelism of Asia to begin.

And it started here in Ephesus.

It was, again, the launching pad for the gospel.

It's also where Paul wrote 1 Corinthians.

So that's a big deal.

And I don't know if a lot of you know this, but the Colossian church wasn't really planted by Paul.

It was planted by people who came to know Christ in Ephesus, and they took it to Colossae, which is pretty cool.

And so that's why Paul's like, wow, this church was planted, and I've heard about them.

So he writes to them.

And so a lot of unique things about his time in Ephesus.

He spent a little over two years there probably, and then came back, I think, another time.

But thus far in chapter 19, we see that Paul came in, and he encounters some disciples of John the Baptist.

That's in verses 1 through 7.

And he basically tells them Jesus was the one that John was pointing to.

And they were like, great, let's follow Jesus.

So the quick summary of that.

Then afterwards, he went into the synagogue, 8 through 10, and he taught about Christ in the synagogue and in the hall of Tyrannus.

And then finally, well, not finally, but 11 through 12, God used Paul to heal many people and do miraculous acts to give testimony to the gospel.

And then kind of a scary but also comical story of following that of some Jewish exorcists who really were willing to kind of lash on to, they saw Paul casting out demons in the name of Jesus.

And they thought, we should try that.

So they tried to invoke the name of Jesus without really knowing Jesus.

And the demon beat the tar out of them and humiliated them.

So that's what's kind of happened.

But connecting to last week is the last segment that we went through.

And this is where we see in 17 through 20, I think, after that, that many people renounced their sorcery and their magic and burned their spell books because of the miraculous acts that were happening in the name of Christ.

That's, let's see.

Sorry, I'm just picking this up right here.

Let's just start reading in verse 17 today and we'll read through the rest of the chapter and we'll just start walking through it together.

So it says,

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.

And 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 that it came to 50,000 pieces of silver.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

That is a lot of money in the ancient world.

And so that's kind of what launched this next part.

So people were coming to know Christ and now there's going to be a backlash to the believers becoming too salty for some of the people in Ephesus.

So it goes into the next section, verse 21.

Now after these events, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem saying,

After I have been there, I must also see Rome.

And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Eratos, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

So this is kind of an outline of the rest of the book of Acts, sort of, where he wants to go.

Rome eventually ends up in Rome.

About that time, there arose no little disturbance concerning the way.

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.

There he gathered together with the workmen and similar trades and said,

Men, you know that this business, we have our wealth.

And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but also, but in almost all of Asia,

this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that the gods made with hands are not gods.

And there is danger, not only in that this trade of ours may come into disrepute,

but also the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing,

and that she may even be disposed from her magnificence, she whom all of Asia and the world worship.

When they heard this, they were enraged and were crying out,

Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.

So the city was filled with confusion,

and they rushed together into the theater,

dragging with them Gaius and Atreus,

Macedonians who were with Paul's companions and travel.

But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd,

the disciples would not let him.

And even some of the Erastic,

Erastic, I can't remember this word right, sorry,

who were his friends,

said to him and urging him not to venture into the theater.

Now some cried one thing,

some another,

for the assembly was in confusion,

and most of them did not know why they had come together.

That sounds like a typical riot,

like why are we here?

I'm just yelling again.

So 33,

some of the crowd prompted Alexander,

whom the Jews had put forward,

and Alexander, motioning with his hand,

wanted to make a defense to the crowd.

But when they recognized that he was a Jew,

for about two hours,

but when they recognized that he was a Jew,

for about two hours,

they all cried out in one voice,

Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.

And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd,

he said,

he said,

Men of Ephesus,

who is there who does not know

that the city of the Ephesians

is temple keeper of the great Artemis,

and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?

Seeing then that these things cannot be denied,

you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

For you have brought these men here,

who neither are sacrilegious nor blasphemous of our goddess.

If, therefore, Demetrius and the craftsmen with him

have a complaint against anyone,

the courts are open,

and there are proconsuls.

Let them bring charges against one another.

But if you seek anything further,

it shall be settled in a regular assembly,

for we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today,

since there is no cause that we can give

to justify this commotion.

And when he has said these things,

he dismissed the assembly.

All right?

So that's kind of the background.

That's the story.

So we're just going to walk through this

just through a series of questions

and then draw out some application.

Question number one,

real simple,

but what caused the riot?

Let's kind of break the narrative down.

Like, what caused the riot?

Can you see this really clearly

in verses 23 through 27?

And a man named Demetrius,

who built these,

he was a silversmith,

and built these little tiny goddess idols of Artemis

that could be placed in the homes of people,

so they could kind of worship an image of Artemis

in their own homes

and ask for protection inside their homes.

He's furious because he's basically

seeing what Paul's preaching

as a threat to his welfare

and the welfare of the other tradesmen in Ephesus.

And so he thought,

this has got to stop.

I'm hearing my pocketbook is,

you know,

is getting really bad right now,

and I have to cause a commotion.

So that's what this is about.

It's about the gospel is bringing down idolatry.

Right?

He's angry

because even a lot of these other people

have been converted,

renouncing their idolatry,

burning their spell books,

and the gospel is taking over.

And so just note that

when real change happens in the culture,

there can be a lot of backlash from people

because it's going to seem as a threat

to how many of them are making their living.

And so that's the most simple one we have.

What caused it?

Well, that was the threat to his money making,

at least the great civic pride

and religious pride

that the city had as a whole of Artemis

was being threatened.

So this is sort of what caused the riot.

We're going to spend most of the time

in the next two questions, though.

What are,

question number two,

what are the characteristics of the riot?

Verse 28 through 34.

Kind of see this.

So what are some things you can kind of draw out?

What characterizes this mob hysteria?

All right, well,

you see very clearly in verse 28,

they were,

the mob was enraged.

Okay?

So this word means like anger boiling up

and soon overflowing.

You can kind of picture like anger building up

and then coming out of a,

like a pot on the stove.

A picture of that,

but also the rage that a drunkard feels

that eventually leads him to destroy himself.

So it's almost like blind.

They've lost all sense.

They're being controlled by the rage they feel.

Mindless fury characterizes riots.

And they're indiscriminate about violence.

That's why a lot of innocent bystanders

are always either hurt or killed in riots.

They're just,

they're just sort of in the wake of it all.

But just understand that,

learning this myself,

the anger blinds us from reason.

We can't think.

We can't stop and say,

let me step back and assess a situation

and then solve it.

It's allowing sin to overcome us

or we can't actually reason with one another.

So we become unreasonable.

Scripture says in Proverbs 29, 10,

bloodthirsty men hate one who is blameless

and seek the life of the upright.

And so this is a great example of that.

Mob hysteria that is characterized by anger.

So secondly, under this,

another characteristic is confusion.

Verse 29 is very clear.

Immense confusion.

So if you can just kind of picture,

you know, in the ancient world,

there's no social media.

No one can kind of actually explain what's going on.

And people are rushing to the theater in anger

and they grab their buddies and say,

hey, this is happening.

Come join us.

And he's like, all right,

let's go yell and let's go,

you know, get crazy.

But they don't really know

why they're even there.

That's what it kind of says.

Like a lot of them are like,

what are we doing here again?

And they're just yelling,

yelling and yelling.

And so confusion.

And they even dragged two of Paul's friends violently

into there without any kind of trial

or asking them what they were about.

They didn't actually sit down and ask.

It was just, again, confusion.

And then another thing you can note

is they were also pretty close-minded.

See that in 33 and 34.

Alexander, who was a Jew,

he came out to kind of,

he motioned his hand.

They kind of wanted to get the attention of the crowd.

But they recognized he was a Jew

and just sort of pushed him aside

and didn't want to even hear what he had to say.

So it's very unclear what Alexander's motive was.

Maybe he wanted to be like,

look, we're not, you know,

we're monotheistic,

but we're not Christians.

So don't put us in the same boat as these guys,

like we really quite don't know yet.

But this is really interesting.

Some of the word I have a hard time pronouncing.

Azerarchs?

Yeah, I think that's the right way to say it.

That's pretty bad for a history major.

I'm pretty embarrassed by that.

I need to go look that up.

But they were the keepers and promoters

of the imperial cult throughout the empire.

They were very wealthy.

They were very prestigious.

If they spoke, people listened.

And isn't that interesting

that they actually came and protected Paul?

It kind of is mind-boggling.

But even in my own life,

as I know personally,

some of you that I've had conversations with,

you've won this kind of favor

through your life

with unbelievers

that they would almost come to your defense

if you were attacked.

And it's kind of like

the president of an atheist group

who you befriended

and gained their trust

and had conversations with

kind of rushing to your aid

and protecting you

from like an atheist group

who's trying to mob you.

And be like, look,

we may disagree with this guy,

but let me tell you,

he's a good guy.

Like, stay away from him.

Chill out.

And that's kind of what

these men were doing.

They were protecting Paul

from this riot.

And even knowing

that he was a Roman citizen,

like we can't have

this kind of reflect on us

as a city either.

So, very close-minded.

They're just sort of blinded again

by sin and by pride.

Then, finally,

question number three,

what is the outcome

of the riot?

35 through 41.

Of all people,

right?

Isn't it interesting

that the people

you least expect

can stand up

and actually change the situation,

but was the town clerk.

He was the chief administrative

officer of the city.

He was kind of like

the liaison

between the Roman officials

and the city officials.

They were there.

And he was really worried.

Like,

if we make a ruckus,

if we are accused of rioting,

this could get back

to Claudius.

Claudius could get angry.

That could come back on us.

Let's stop.

You know,

calm down.

Take a deep breath, guys.

He's like,

we all know Artemis is real.

We all know she's the stuff.

Okay?

Like,

and then we got the meteor

to even prove

that she's the stuff.

It was like a sacred meteor

that had kind of fallen there.

So,

I mean,

if we believe that's not to be true,

then why are we scared?

Just calm down.

Like,

we're all together here,

but it's not okay for us

to be rash.

Like,

let's be reasonable.

And he kind of gets everybody

to kind of just

chill out and listen.

And then he says,

look,

the courts are open.

If Demetrius and his homies

really have a problem,

they can go to the court

and take Paul

and whoever else

and they can go deal with this

in a peaceful manner.

There's pro-consuls there

who are basically

sort of like the judges

and they'll hear the complaint.

But if there's a problem,

like,

we're going to deal with this

like lawful Roman citizens

and y'all are going to stop

rioting

and they just go,

all right.

And everything sort of subsides.

But it's very interesting,

though,

that Luke gives a long account here

to show how there's like

careful reasoning

on the part of the court

to show that the Christian gospel

wasn't contrary to Roman law.

Like,

look,

they can go make a defense.

They haven't,

they even says

they haven't done anything

blasphemous.

Right?

Go and deal with them

in the right way.

So,

that was the outcome.

It subsided.

It subsided.

So,

in closing,

not really in closing,

but,

now like,

to really draw out

some application

because you're reading this

and a lot of commentators

are like,

just like,

yep,

there was a riot.

Great.

So,

how are we supposed to apply this

unless we actually encounter a riot?

So,

which I have one time

in my life

and I wasn't the,

I wasn't the one being attacked.

It was in Belfast

and it was when Protestants

and Catholics were,

like,

seriously beating the snot

out of each other

and we had three girls

stuck in a car

in the middle of it

trying to go home.

So,

being the brave men we are,

me and my friend Mark

went up there

and got them out of the car

and we ran.

So,

but yeah,

mob violence.

Very scary

to be a part of.

So,

I have some application

and I was lost.

I was like,

Lord,

what do I do here?

And finally,

I think,

through the words of Alistair Begg

and some others,

I began to kind of form,

this is what we can learn about this

as a church,

as believers

and as citizens of America.

All right?

But,

think about how the church in America,

I should say the West,

but especially America,

has tried

politically

to change our culture.

It's failing.

Right?

Right?

Right?

There is a huge failure

of conservative,

religious,

right

in a lot of ways.

So,

I'm going to suggest to you,

kind of as a premise here,

that Christians in America today

seek to change culture

more like

the rioting Ephesians

than the gospel,

peace-loving,

truthful,

but wise,

shrewd,

humility,

preachers of the gospel

nephesis.

And it's true.

It's just true.

We're more like

the rioting Ephesians

than the humble gospel servants.

And we've failed

as a church

probably over the last

two generations

to really bring about

real change

in our culture.

And so many

in the U.S.

who identify as

evangelical Christians,

they really,

if you really look close

and watch their life,

watch how they think,

watch their worldview,

you'll see that

they're more

trying to follow

traditional

American culture

rather than

what God's Word

says

a lot of the time.

And they identify

themselves more

with

the red,

white,

and blue

than

the cross.

And they're more

concerned with,

and this isn't a pun

on any candidate,

okay?

I just stole his slogan

because that's what

we're trying to do.

But

more Christians

seem to be more

concerned about

making America

great again

than making

Christ great

again in America.

And that isn't

a pun on Trump.

If you've ever

Trump,

no problem.

That's not what

I'm trying to say.

But like,

that cannot be

our focus

as the church.

You are not

citizens of this

world.

You are citizens

of the kingdom

of God.

people.

And a

professor at

Southern Seminary

named Russell Moore,

he kind of

wrote this

about some

evangelical

movements

in America.

And he said,

politically,

it was about

getting back

to the real

America.

the times

before the

sexual

revolution.

The order

they had in

mind,

at least for

America,

wasn't the

sort of new

order envisioned

by the Sermon on

the Mount,

or in the

Revelation of

Patmos,

it was about

getting back

to the

vaguely

Protestant

civil religion

of our

Judeo-Christian

values.

Alright?

So he's saying

that this

really isn't

about following

the gospel.

It's really

not about

the word

of God

or living

out as

the church,

the Sermon

on the Mount.

It's more

about we've

got to get

back to

America.

Right?

And as a

Southerner,

and as a

guy who grew

up in the

South,

and a

guy who

was very

patriotic,

like that's

me,

I was that

guy,

I've learned

in a lot

of ways

just how

flawed a

lot of my

thinking was.

Like this

is the

filter,

right?

Not what we

see in here,

out here.

And the

conservative

religious right

activism really

reveals that it's

not a theological

or gospel

movement,

it's the

political one,

one that really

even includes

people who

don't believe

what we

believe at

all,

like

Orthodox

Jews,

and Roman

Catholics,

and Latter-day

Saints,

they're all

part of that

conservative

movement,

and we

don't serve

the same

savior.

So it's just

good to show

you that it's

not a

theological,

led by God's

word kind

of movement.

It's not about

the kingdom

of God.

It's just a

conservative

movement.

movement,

and it's

about getting

back to

traditional

American

religious life

rather than

transformed

lives by

the gospel.

Another

cultural

commentator

wrote this

about the

conservative

religious

groups in

America

saying that

they're basically

failing to

change culture.

This is kind

of like what

he says.

he says,

their inability

to use their

political power

to lower the

abortion rates,

install a

sense of

obedience and

respect for

authority among

teenagers,

and urge the

courts and

legislatures to

give special

recognition to

Christianity's

power role in

America creates

among them a

perpetual outrage

machine.

Because we

failed.

And what do we

do?

We get angry.

We turn to

the mob at

Ephesus.

That's what

happens.

And that's why

there's a lot

of negative

thinking towards

the church

today.

Some of it

is right.

We're being

persecuted for

Christ's sake

in some cases,

right?

The way it

should be.

But some of

it is just

because we

refuse to

identify or

talk to anybody

who doesn't

share our

political view.

Right?

So forget

all that.

Stop.

Stop.

We need to

look to the

example of our

brothers and

sisters and

Paul and

even our

Lord, like

how he

handled this

stuff in

Ephesus.

So what we

don't see,

let's kind of

replay the

tape.

What we

don't see in

Ephesus is

Paul gathering

a mob crowd

to go and

boycott and

picket the

temple of

Artemis.

Right?

doesn't do

that.

He allows the

gospel to

bring down the

idolatry, the

sin of Ephesus

as well as

anywhere.

So you don't

hear him saying

so, forget

preaching the

gospel.

That takes too

long.

It's too

difficult.

We don't have

any power to

make it work.

Let's forget

that and let's

get a group of

people to go and

picket the

temple and we'll

shout and

chant and let

them know we're

opposed to what

we stand for and

we'll shout them

down.

We'll show

them just how

stupid it is to

worship an image

made of marble

or stone.

Paul for

mayor.

You know,

like, that's

not how they're

dealing with

this.

Right?

They, it

sounds more

like, we

sound more like

the sinful

idolaters and

how we handle

this stuff.

So, not by

political rallies

or boycotts or

denunciations,

carrying signs,

living in a

very self-righteous

manner like the

Pharisees would

be.

We don't

attack people.

Rather, we

see Paul and

other Christians

speaking the

truth in love

and persuading

others by the

power of God.

That's like what

we see.

That's what

caused all this

to happen.

Right?

So, one

place to turn,

look at 1

Peter 3 and

3.15.

Very familiar,

but here's the

question I want

you to ask.

do I do this

in my life?

And does the

church do this?

1 Peter 3.15.

But in your

hearts, honor

Christ the

Lord as

holy,

always being

prepared to make

a defense to

anyone who

asks you for

the reason for

the hope that

is in you.

Amen.

We're all ready

to do that.

We're all ready

to fight,

right?

Yet, do this

with gentleness

and respect,

having a good

conscience,

so that when

you are slandered,

those who

revile you,

your good

behavior in

Christ may be

put to shame,

for it is

better to suffer

for doing good

if that should

be God's will

than for doing

evil.

And that's

what was

happening.

They spoke

the truth.

They didn't

back down from

the truth,

but they

spoke it in

a way that

won their

hearers.

They were

persuasive in

how they

spoke,

right?

And I

could read,

I'll read

Philippians 2.13

through 15 to

you,

very similar.

Do all

things without

grumbling or

disputing,

that you may be

blameless and

innocent,

all right?

Children of

God without

blemish in the

midst of a

crooked and

twisted generation

among whom

you shine as

lights,

in the world.

So please

hear me say,

I'm not saying

this isn't a

sermon about

this,

okay?

This isn't a

sermon about

should Christians

be involved in

politics.

That's not what

the sermon's

about.

I'm just saying

that like if

you want to

see a culture

and a nation

and a world

change,

it comes by

the power of

the gospel.

It's not

going to come

by a lot

of the stuff

that's associated

with contemporary

evangelicalism.

And so you

look and you

see that these

believers here

in Ephesus,

they were

blameless.

In verse 37,

look what he

says,

for you have

brought these

men here who

are neither

sacrilegious nor

blasphemous about

our God.

So they were

able to talk

about Christ in

a way that

wasn't personally

insulting to

them.

Now did they

preach against

idolatry?

Yes they did.

But they did it

in a manner that

was respectful,

right?

so they

could walk

away with a

clear conscience.

So they

could not

really accuse

them of the

crimes committed.

So they

allowed the

gospel to

bring down

the sinful

system.

Very similar,

very similar.

Why did

Jesus not come

as a political

activist to

end slavery

and to end

a lot of

other bad

things that

were happening

in the ancient

world?

Well he knew

that his

word,

his message

through the

gospel,

that if that

was unleashed

that would

transform culture

and slavery

would naturally

die.

So he treated

the problem

like the real

disease and

not just the

symptoms.

He knew that

if sin was

dealt with,

men would

treat each

other with

love and

respect and

kindness and

not with

hatred.

So he allowed

the gospel to

bring it down.

And we've

got to change

how we think.

We know that

homosexuality

could be another

example of

this.

Most people

who I know

and I've

encountered

who are

homosexual,

they have

very closed

views of

the church

because all

they've received

is the bad

news and not

the good

news.

You guys are

terrible,

you guys are

going to

hell,

your lifestyle

is terrible,

a very

self-righteous

condemning

approach,

more like the

Pharisees of

old.

And Paul

followed the

pattern of

Christ.

He spoke

the truth

with loving

tenderness

and a

sincere

invitation to

come and be

transformed by

the gospel.

Right?

Yesterday,

Kathleen and

I were on

the way up

to Blairsville

and we

picked a

woman up

on the

off-ramp

who was

running.

And she

had nothing

but one

shirt in

her hand.

And she

looked pretty

desperate,

so we

stopped.

and she

said she

didn't have

any signs

of drugs

or alcohol.

She said

she was

running from

a man who

was beating

her and

she wanted

to go home

to Bryson

City.

And so we

sat and

listened to

a very

sad,

dark story

and she

said she

wanted to

get home

to her

wife back

in Bryson

City.

And I

was kind

of weighing

sometimes

it's a

discredit for

me to

say I'm

a pastor.

Sometimes I

just rather

them not

know because

then they'll

begin to

carry a lot

of negative

thinking.

But at

least in

the situation

I judged

that she

might actually

respect that

so I'm

just going

to say

it.

So I

said that's

what I

did.

And she

goes,

oh really?

Well, I'm

dying to

know.

Like what

do you

think?

Like is

God okay

with

homosexuality?

And I'm

like,

here we

go.

And Kathleen

will tell

you that I

didn't back

down from

saying God

is not

okay with

it.

It's sin.

It's against

what he

says.

But I

also want

you to

know that

I'm just

as sinful

as you

are.

And that

anything I

do is

my sin

is no

cleaner or

better than

yours.

My

heterosexual

lust or

idolatry is

no better in

God's eyes

than your

homosexuality.

And she

said she

was going

to a church

that loved

her and

welcomed

her.

I don't

know what

that really

means.

If they're

like approving

or if

they're

saying come

and be

with us

anyway even

though we

don't agree

with you.

But she

said that

for the

most part

she and

her partner

have only

received

condemnation

from believers

and not

like you

need a

savior.

And I

told her

you need

Jesus.

Like you

need,

we need

the savior.

And it

was kind

of a

spence

she hadn't

heard before

obviously.

She just

hears

you're

okay in

your sin

or you're

condemned.

She doesn't

hear the

good news.

And it's

easier for

us to be

outraged and

try to change

a culture

through rioting

and picketing

and political

whatever.

but it's

harder to

sit down

and talk

through the

gospel of

somebody.

Something that

you have no

control over.

Something that

God has to

change a

sinner's

heart.

And if

we're not

careful we're

going to

produce a

generation of

angry men

and women

who try to

advance

man-made

cultural

Christianity

through

outrage,

picketing,

and rioting

rather than

the tenderness,

wisdom,

boldness,

and persuasive

words of

Jesus of

Nazareth.

Okay?

So we have to

stop and ask

ourselves,

what's going to

ultimately change

culture in the

world?

And it is

Christ and

the gospel.

So let's not

be like the

angry Ephesians.

Let's be

heralds of

the good news.

I think I'll

stop there

before I get

in more trouble.

Come and talk

later.

Let's pray

together.