Changed by the word of God (Acts 19)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon November 9, 2008

There was a very famous lighthouse once stood in on the island of Pharos in Alexandria of Egypt built around 3rd century BC. It was called the lighthouse of Alexandria or the Pharos of Alexandria. It is estimated to be between 380 to 490 feet tall, among the tallest man-made structures on earth for long time and described as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Antipater of Sidon, a Greek poet in the 1st century BC.

Sostratus was the chief architect who poured twenty years of his life to complete the lighthouse. Would it be too much to ask his name be inscribed to this lighthouse? Well, the ruler, Ptolemy Philadelphos thought so for he wanted no one but his own name to be marked on the lighthouse. The generations after him must remember not the architect, the builder, but the ruler of the land. Sostratus followed the order and marked an inscription honoring Ptolemy the king as builder of the Pharos lighthouse. But, over the centuries the real builder, and the architect of this marvelous ingenuity was revealed. What Sostratus did was to leave the inscription honoring Ptolemy on the top layer of plaster. Underneath the plaster, he left the following inscription on the base’s walls of the lighthouse, “Sostratus, the son of Dexiphanes, the Cnidian, dedicated this to the Saviour gods, on behalf of those who sail the seas.” What endured through the centuries was what was inscribed on the base’s walls.

  Along with the Sostratus Pharos lighthouse, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus too was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is this city of Ephesus, where we see apostle Paul in Acts 19 carrying out his single-hearted passion to proclaim the word of the Lord, to preach Jesus Christ to all people over two years. The Sostratus’ lighthouse still remained submerged as ruins in the ocean. And, the Temple of Artemis remained only as rubble.

But, what we see through the study of the book of Acts is the indelible mark of the word of God; You cannot escape the reality of ever expanding power of the word of God in the history. So, we read in Acts 19:20, “In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.” It was said back in Acts 6:7, “So, the word of God spread,” upon choosing of the seven who were full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to carry out mercy ministry. And, Acts 12:24 reads, “But the word of God continued to increase and spread,” when God miraculously freed Peter from the prison and when God struck down Herod who was full of himself. No doubt there were tremendous oppositions, persecutions, cold responses, or non-responses to the word of God, yet what you see is the message of Jesus Christ being carried out by his faithful servants, followers, ambassadors and being embraced by the people of all nations, ethnicities and cultures. So, reads Acts 19:10, “… all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” And, till this day, the power of the word of God has never lost its momentum and continues to reverberate in the hearts of men and women, leaving indelible marks of transformation into the image of Christ.

• Changed by the Holy Spirit of truth (19:1-7)
  

In Ephesus, apostle Paul found twelve men described as disciples in verse 1. For whatever reasons, Paul sensed that something was missing in these men’s lives and he suspected that they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. What he sensed proved to be right for they answered him, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit?”

These twelve men held on to the teachings of John the Baptist. And, they received in the tradition of John the Baptist, the baptism of repentance. John the Baptist described himself in the book of John as “voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord,’” as one who “baptize with water…” but unworthy of even untying “the thongs of [Jesus’] sandals.” And, that his call to repent and be baptized was call to prepare the way for the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33). John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance that prepared people to believe… in Jesus (Acts 19:4). And, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, whom Jesus promised as Counselor, is to live with and be in us Christians (John 14:16-17). The Holy Spirit is to teach all things of Jesus Christ and remind everything he said to us (John 14:26), to be Jesus’ peace (John 14:27), to testify to us that we are God’s children… heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16).

These twelve men of Ephesus didn’t yet have relationship with the Holy Spirit. When they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus… the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied (Acts 19:5-6), so, was the baptism with the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Do you cherish relationship with the Holy Spirit? He is your Counselor who leads you to the truth of Jesus Christ. He teaches all things of Jesus and reminds you of everything he said. He fills you with peace in Jesus. He testifies to your soul you are God’s child. He reveals to you how your heavenly Father sees you through his Son Jesus Christ.

If you are missing the witness of the Holy Spirit to your soul as God’s child, if you are missing the peace of Christ, if you are missing the preoccupation with all things of Jesus and everything he said, you either don’t have relationship with the Holy Spirit as it was the case with the twelve men of Ephesus, or you neglect fellowship with the Holy Spirit who lives in you.

Former requires believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord, latter requires on-going investing in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

1. Apostle Paul says in Galatians 6:8, “The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” The Spirit stands for truth. He stands for the way of life in Jesus. He stands for the rock solid identity of childhood of God. To please the Spirit is to cherish for which the Spirit stands. And, this you and I can do when we fill our minds with the word of God. The word of God is the doorway to pleasing the Spirit for it reveals the heart, the mind and the will of God.
   
2. Paul says in Ephesians 4:30 “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” We grieve him by sins of unwholesome talk, critical judgment, bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slandering, malice thoughts. Instead, Paul calls us to, “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiven each other.”
   
3. The Holy Spirit delights in when you and I expect him to do miracles in our lives. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, even just touching his handkerchiefs and aprons brought healing to the sickness and evil spirit left. We need to up our expectation of what the Holy Spirit can do to carry out God’s will in our lives.
   

• Changed by the persuasion of the word of the Lord (19:8-10)
  

Acts 19:8-10 describes Paul’s work in the religious setting of synagogues and the secular setting of the lecture hall of Tyrannus. There the key words I would like to highlight for us pertain to the manner of delivery. Verse 8 says Paul argued persuasively about the kingdom of God and in verse 9, he had discussions daily. And that he did this not just for a short period of time, but for two years.

We must ask, “Am I persuaded about the kingdom of God?” To be persuaded by something, it has to make sense to us. Persuasion speaks to one that stands out from all options as that makes most logical sense. The kingdom of God is basically where our kingship is displaced by God’s kingship over us. Instead of self ruling, what makes sense is to be ruled by God. Unless you and I are persuaded about the kingdom of God, unless you and I nod our heads in wholehearted agreement that it makes total sense to be ruled by God, it will do no good to persuade others.

• Changed by going for the kill with the wielding of the sword (19:11-20)
  

When God was doing some extraordinary things in Jesus’ name through Paul, these seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest thought they could invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over the demons and cast them as Paul did. Well, they were seriously mistaken. Jesus isn’t the Lord for no reason. They thought they could lord Jesus over, toy him around, boss him around as their personal Genie to grand their wishes.

But, what they didn’t realize was that evil spirits only submit to the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is those who take on the same mindset of Jesus who said in John 4:34, “My food… is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” who can summon the evil spirit to bow down to the King of the universe.

And, what characterizes the servants of Jesus Christ is the way they wield the sword of the word of God to go for the kill all the monsters of sins. When people understand the superiority of Jesus Christ, the Lordship of Jesus, they honor the name of the Lord Jesus in high regard. When people take Jesus seriously, they take the word of the double edged sword tightly in their hands and go for the kill. That is what you see in Acts 19:17-20. They didn’t just mass around with the sins. They went for the kill. The sorcery scrolls they burned when they took the word of God seriously and wielded the sword with tight grip to go for the kill mounted to 50,000 days worth of wages. That is the value of working non stop for 137 years, guys.

Do you treat the double edged sword like a flimsy no-good plastic disposable knife? It is just awfully, pathetically inadequate to deal with the sinful and unbelieving heart of flesh when you think you got a disposable plastic knife. If your Bible sits around like it has no inherent value, but only useful for dealing with cutting soft bread, only to be quickly discarded, disposed away from the sight, well you won’t be able to deal with sins.

But, you take seriously what Hebrew 4:12-13 says, “For the word of God is living and active. Shaper than any double-edged sword, it penetrated even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Then, you realize that you are not dealing with soft white bread, but the beasts, the monsters of sins that must be killed. You realize that you are a man, a woman on mission to slay the dragons. Without the double edged sword, you realize you have no chance of slaying those sins of yours. So, you keep the double-edged sword on you, ready at any moment to draw it quickly. So, it never leaves your sight, it always with you. You hold it with all your might to make sure when you wield it, you go for the kill!