Gospel impact on all people

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.

Acts 19:4

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.