Paul in Ephesus: Have you ever felt stuck? With something needing to change hanging over your head? We say it all the time: Jesus changes everything. But what can we do when change is slow in coming? The whole region was changed after the Apostle Paul spent a few years in Ephesus. We learn three essential elements from his time there for real and lasting change. Recorded on Jun 11, 2023, on Acts 19:1-20 by Pastor David Parks.
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The Life of Paul is a new sermon series (mostly) from the book of Acts in the Bible. The Apostle Paul has a fantastic story. Born Saul of Tarsus, Paul was a brilliant young man who was a violent persecutor of Christians. But then he met Jesus, which changed everything. Eventually, Paul would become not only the preeminent Apostle to the Roman world but one of the most influential people who ever lived. Paul’s story offers a great case study of what it looks like to learn the way of Jesus.
Sermon Transcript
So all year, we’ve been focused on Learning the way of Jesus. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series on the life of the Apostle Paul as a case study for learning the way of Jesus. Now one of the things about the way of Jesus, and we’ve tried to make this clear throughout the last year, is that his way is a totally different way compared to the ways of the world or even the way of our lives if we chose our own way. And when you follow this different way of Jesus, all kinds of stuff changes in your life. But honestly, have you ever felt stuck? Have you ever felt like there was this thing hanging over your head that just never seemed like it would go away? I have. As a Christian, even as a pastor, I’ve had issues/struggles/doubts that took years to work through before I saw real change. Sometimes I felt embarrassed along the way, sometimes defeated. But then, in God’s timing and by his grace, I was able to see change and experience more of the fruit of the Spirit, more freedom in Christ, and more joy as a child of God. But what’s up with that? On the one hand, following the way of Jesus seems to change some things right away. But on the other hand, other things seem to take forever. I’ve talked with many people over the years who share this same perplexing experience. Do you know what I’m talking about? Have you ever felt stuck in an area of your life? We say it all the time: Jesus changes everything. But today, we’ll see how. If you have a Bible/app, please take it and open it to Acts 19:1. We’ll put the Scripture up on the screens for you as well. But as we join the Apostle Paul in the city of Ephesus, we’ll unpack this in three parts, revealing three essentials for experiencing real life change: 1. The Gospel 2. Discipleship 3. Spiritual Power. So first, the need for the truth of the gospel…
Acts 19:1-7 (NIV), “19 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. 4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.” Let’s pause here. So as we’ve said, the Apostle Paul was born Saul of Tarsus, a brilliant young Jewish man who was a violent persecutor of Christians, that is, until he met Jesus and became a Christian, which changed everything. By his early 40s, he was a leader of the influential church in Antioch. But then God called him out. So the church sent him out as a missionary to bring the gospel to other people/places around the Roman Empire. For the past few weeks, we’ve seen a few examples of his ministry (Philippi/Athens). If you missed either of those, you can watch online or listen to the audio podcast. Today, we’re considering one last city of his missionary journeys, arguably the most successful/fruitful place of his career, that is, the great city of Ephesus. Ephesus is located in modern Turkey and was a huge city in Paul’s day. It was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, with around 250,000 people. Ephesus was wealthy and influential and had a theater that could hold up to 25,000 people. Just as the goddess, Athena, was closely linked with the city of Athens in Greece, in the same way, the goddess, Artemis, was closely linked with Ephesus. In fact, the Great Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, “the largest building in the Greek world” [Ephesus, New Bible Dictionary, p. 328], was so impressive it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. So in that day, Ephesus represented the power and influence of Greek culture and the Roman Empire — Artemis was their goddess, and Caesar was their lord. Luke writes that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. So we skipped over quite a bit of Paul’s life between Athens last week and Ephesus today. But Paul had spent about a year and a half in the city of Corinth, where he met a Jewish couple named Priscilla and Aquila, who were tentmakers, just like Paul. They became Christians and eventually sailed with Paul to Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquila stayed there while Paul went on to Jerusalem and then back north through Antioch and west through Galatia before traveling through the interior of Turkey to the western city of Ephesus. In the meantime, there was a man named Apollos, who was a powerful speaker and a bold man of faith, but who didn’t know the full story of the gospel. He only had a partial understanding of the truth from John the Baptist’s ministry. Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and instructed him in the fullness of the person and work of Jesus. Apollos received their teaching but then decided to travel to Corinth. So after Apollos left for Corinth, Paul made it back to Ephesus. Luke writes that Paul encounters twelve disciples who also had only a partial understanding of the gospel, including the news of Pentecost, that the Spirit of God had been given and a new age had started at the resurrection of Jesus. The fact that there were twelve disciples is intended to remind us of Jesus’ own ministry of calling people to follow him and then teaching them and modeling for them this new way of life. Luke says, in Ephesus, Paul was simply doing what Jesus did: teaching people who needed more information about who God is, what he had done (through his Son and Spirit), and how they might respond to him in obedient faith. The result was an echo of the Day of Pentecost, a physical manifestation of God’s presence and power in the Spirit. So in the story of Apollos, or the account of the twelve, and of course, in Paul’s own story, we see that in order to fully experience the life of God, in order to fully participate in the mission of God, people need the gospel. They need the full story of the person and work of Jesus. It’s a good start to want to repent/turn from your sins, which is what the baptism of John was all about. But John was only preparing the way for Jesus. People need to know what God has done in Christ, to forgive the sins of the world, and live by the Spirit. It’s good to have a sense of spiritual need, but in Christ, God fulfills that need. Only by faithful teaching/instruction will people hear the fullness of the good news of God. And this teaching might be in public, similar to what Paul was doing in the marketplace in Athens (or what I’m doing right now), or in a private setting like what Pricilla and Aquila did with Apollos. A modern example might be explaining in greater detail who Jesus is over coffee with a friend or in a community group at church. Either way, the first essential element that people need to experience real and lasting life change is the gospel. The second is discipleship. Let’s continue with v. 8.
Acts 19:8-12 (NIV), “8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. 11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 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.” Let’s pause here. So I’ve been thinking a lot about why Paul’s ministry in Ephesus seems like it was so much more successful/fruitful than in other places. It wasn’t like he was a different guy or really had a different message. As we saw last week, the content of the gospel doesn’t change, even though the context does. And, of course, God can do whatever he wants to do anywhere and at any time, but we have a few clues in the text as to why Paul had such an impact in Ephesus. First, there’s the time Paul spent there. He stayed in Ephesus for 2-3 years, which is more time (and, in many cases, a lot more time) than anywhere else during his missionary journeys. He started out, as we’ve seen everywhere, with the Jewish synagogue before taking his message to the Gentiles. However, Paul is able to use, or perhaps rent, a lecture hall in order to meet with his disciples every day. They met and had discussions and no doubt Paul showed them how Jesus had to die and rise again according to the Scriptures. Paul showed them the new way of Jesus that would shape their lives, identity, idols, relationships, sexuality, money, and everything. He had plenty of time to both teach them and model for them what this new way of life looked like. With all that time focusing on discipleship, Paul could have a lot more influence. And his disciples started doing the work of discipleship as well. Luke writes, “This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” And this is incredible. The message of the gospel and the way of Jesus started radiating out from Ephesus to impact the whole region! One example is a man named Epaphras, who Paul discipled who was sent out from Ephesus and who planted the church in Colossae. Later, Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians, even though he hadn’t been there himself. No doubt, many other stories like this happened during this time, and we just don’t know about them. After Paul left Ephesus, Timothy, one of Paul’s closest friends and disciples, stayed there. Later, according to church tradition, the Apostle John ministered in Ephesus at the end of his life. But for two years, as Luke says, everybody heard about Jesus, and the power of the Spirit was evident. And this was another echo of the ministry of Jesus with Paul. Miracles were happening. And just as in the ministry of Jesus, these miracles were signs which validated the message of the gospel. People need the truth of the gospel. And people needed men and women to disciple them, people to look to and learn from how to follow the way of Jesus. But real life change isn’t only about what you know or who you follow (although those two things are essential). Third, and finally, real change requires spiritual power.
Acts 19:13–20 (NIV), “13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. 17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.” Now, I just love the story of the Seven Sons of Sceva. The name of Jesus must never be used like a magic spell or incantation. If you try it, you try it at your own risk. But as a result, the name of Jesus was only held in higher glory or honor. And the result of that is that people saw that the magic texts and spells that they had used in pagan worship had no power compared to the spiritual power of Jesus and the works done in his name. So many of the new Christians in Ephesus confessed their sinful practices of sorcery and burned their scrolls. And this was no small gesture; these scrolls were worth millions of dollars. Eventually, so many people in the region turned from pagan worship to worshipping Jesus that it had an economic impact to the point that it caused a riot. But none of this would have been possible if Christianity was simply a philosophy of man or simply a way of life. Throughout this passage, we see evidence that God is at work, that the Spirit of God is saving/healing/freeing people from all kinds of things. The gospel is only good news because God is alive and is active in the world that he has made. We need the truth. And we need people to help us learn the way. But at the end of the day, we would be lost without the saving grace of God and his powerful presence in our lives. So he gets the glory, he gets the honor, he gets the praise, for it is his spiritual power that brings real and lasting change in our lives. And all this leads us to our big idea today, which is this:
Jesus changes everything. We say it all the time, but it really is true. The result of Paul’s time in Ephesus is the dramatic change of a whole region of people. After 2-3 years of gospel preaching, discipleship, and spiritual power, their city has been changed, their worship has been changed, their way of life has been changed, and even their economy has been changed. They experienced a total disruption in the best way imaginable. But how did they experience this change? This transformation? How did they get unstuck or overcome the issues and struggles in their lives? Through the truth of God’s word centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ, by engaging in regular discipleship and receiving the spiritual power of God according to his wisdom and his timing. This is how it has always worked. This is how we can see change and experience more of the fruit of the Spirit, more freedom in Christ, and more joy as children of God. Discipleship is the process of learning the way of Jesus and helping others do the same. And this process might seem slow (remember, Paul spent day after day over years of time with the disciples), but as the people of God grow in their knowledge of the truth, their faith in Jesus, and their obedience to his way, it eventually results in real spiritual power — power to heal, power to set people free from bondage, and power over every other power, including dark/demonic forces. And what are the results? Darkness is overcome by the light. Goodness wins over evil. And all this is to the glory of God, as people grow in the fear of the Lord and faith in the name of Jesus. Now today, I would guess that every one of us has changes we would like to see God produce in our lives. But also, we are surrounded by people who need this same transformative work of God in their lives. And that is why our vision as a church is that the gospel of Jesus Christ will transform the people of the city in every way. How do we do this? Well, just like Jesus, just like Paul, just like Priscilla and Aquila, and so many others over the generations since this time, we make our appeal to people by our love for them, our conduct around them, and our words to them (especially about Jesus). And the Lord uses this appeal to draw others to himself, and to change them over time by the working of his Spirit in their lives. But he also does this work simultaneously in our lives, drawing us to himself as we point others to him. God draws us to himself/grace/truth/holiness/unity/wisdom, and toward the men and the women that he intends us to be. This is a slow work, and not one of us has fully arrived yet, but don’t give up and don’t lose hope, because God has promised to finish what he has started within you. You will not remain the same if you follow the way of Jesus. Everything changes because Jesus changes everything. Let us pray.