SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/20/2018
10:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Cause of the Riot”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
19:23-27
Message of the
verses: “23 About that time there
occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. 24 For a man named Demetrius,
a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little
business to the craftsmen; 25 these he gathered together with the workmen of
similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon
this business. 26 "You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in
almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable
number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. 27 “Not
only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that
the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she
whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her
magnificence."”
We ended our SD from yesterday by looking at the end of
verse 26 talking about the phrase “a considerable number of people.” Now as we go on looking at the main character
in this section of Acts 19, that is Demetrius who was a silversmith, heading up
what we would call today a union, as he gathers others under him to talk about how
Paul was causing their business to go down because when a person become a
believer then they do not worship idols made with hands. What we see here is that Demetrius was a
great opponent of the Christian faith.
Even though he was an opponent of the Christian faith he came to the
point where he had to admit that many were turning to Christ for
salvation.
John MacArthur states two reasons why the gospel in
Ephesus was successful. The first reason
was because of the Apostle Paul who worked very hard to tell many about Christ,
and then he would disciple those who came to know the Lord who would then go
out and tell others about Jesus Christ, disciple them as they would then go out
and do the same.
The second reason for the success of the gospel in Ephesus
is because the churched was purged from their idols as found in Acts 19:18-19 “18
Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing
their practices. 19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books
together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up
the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.”
John MacArthur goes on to write about a third
reason: “The third reason for the
success of the gospel was the church’s use of proper spiritual means. The Ephesian believers did not lobby the city
authorities, picket the silversmith’s shops, or organize demonstrations against
Artemis worship. They did not try to be
popular. They preached and lived out the
message and let the power of their changed lives confront and push out the old
ways.”
Demetrius began his speech to those who were in this
guild or as we stated like a union by bringing out fear of losing money. Judas loved money more than God and that is
what Demetrius is doing to those he is speaking to, telling them that they are
going to lose much money because of the gospel.
Next he talks about their own religious system, which we
know was false, but they thought it was real and so he moves to telling them
that it could be ruined because of Christanity.
MacArthur concludes talking about a third ploy that
Demetrius was using:
“Finally, Demetrius appealed
directly to the issue of income. If ‘she
whom all of Asia and the world’ worshiped were to ‘be dethroned whom all Asia
and the world’ worshiped were to ‘be dethroned from her magnificence,’ Ephesus
would suffer. The temple of Artemis was
famous throughout the Roman world, and it had been built with gifts from many
rulers. Anything that tarnished Artemis’s
reputation would lower Ephesus’s status, hinder civic pride, and disastrously
cripple the city’s economy. Loyalty to
Ephesus demanded that the craftsmen oppose the new religion that threatened to
undermine the city’s claim to fame and source of revenue.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The Bible has
more to say about money than love, and money and in 1Timothy 6:10 we read: “For
the love of money is a
root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and
pierced themselves with many griefs.”
According to the Word of God all believers are stewards of what He has
entrusted us with and we are to be wise in what he has entrusted us with.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Seek the wisdom of God before buying anything,
especially something large.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Fourteen.”
Today’s Bible
question: “How did God change the bitter
water of Marah into good water?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/20/2018 11:23 AM
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