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!

Judges 17 & 18, What happens when you neglect and reject God's word?

Today we are going back to the book of Judges to go back to where we left off. We left Judges after the story of Samson in order to study Ruth together. We saw in the book of Judges the moral and spiritual decays spiraling out of control. In the midst of chaotic time of Judges, we saw Naomi, Ruth and Boaz shining brightly with their godly character and their devotion to God. Now, we are returning back to Judges, specifically to chapter 17 and 18. These two chapters along with the chapter 19-21 form the double conclusions for the book of Judges.

Micah and his mother (Judges 17:1-6)

In Judges 17, we are introduced to a character named Micah. His name means, “Who is like God?” But, as we will see, his meaningful and godly name didn’t translate into godliness for him.

His mother was quite wealthy. Someone stole eleven hundred shekels of silver from her. A yearly wage of ten shekels would make eleven hundred shekels, worth 110 years of wages. That is a lot of money.

There was an article titled, “Children Who Steal”¹ by American

Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In this article, it says that children by the age of three to five years old are able to understand that taking something which belongs to another person is wrong. And, here were the recommendations to parents when their children are caught in stealing.

• tell the child that stealing is wrong

• help the youngster to pay for or return the stolen object

• make sure that the child does not benefit from the theft in any way

• avoid lecturing, predicting future bad behavior, or saying that they now consider the child to be a thief or a bad person

• make clear that this behavior is totally unacceptable within the family tradition and the community

I would add to this list why stealing is wrong from the biblical perspective as well. What did Micah’s mother do when her son stole from her?

Having lost the huge amount of her wealth, the mother cursed the thief, not knowing that it was her own son who stole from her. Matthew Henry comments, “Outward losses drive good people to their prayers, but bad people to their curses.” We don’t know the nature of Micah’s mother’s curse. But, it was severe enough to scare her son into confess how he stole from her.

Having confessed his sin of stealing, according to Leviticus 6:1-6, Micah was required to do the following. He was to present his guilt offering to the Lord at the tabernacle. Another word, he was to confess his sin before the Lord and offer a guilt offering through the priest to receive forgiveness of his sin. And, on the same day, he was to pay back a fifth of the value on the top of the principal to his mother whom he stole from. The only thing he did was to pay back the principal he stole from his mother. His mother didn’t say anything about what he didn’t do right, what he needed to do to make things right, how he could walk in God’s way.

Instead, when Micah brought the money back to her, she replied, “The LORD bless you, my son!” in verse 2. Perhaps, she was proud of him for having come out clean. She continued, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the LORD for my son…” This appears to be a great expression of worship, devotion to God; to dedicate all eleven hundred shekels of silver!

But, then she went on to say, “…to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you.” What appeared to be a solemn consecration and devotion to the LORD turned out to be nothing more than “deviation to self-serving idolatry and demon-worship” according to Matthew Henry. She hired a silversmith to make the image and the idol with two hundred shekels of silver; she pocketed the rest.

Verse 5 tells us that the carved image, the cast idol Micah’s mother made along with an ephod and other idols, household gods, were all placed in a shrine in Micah’s house. Micah then installed one of his sons as his priest.

Micah didn’t deal with his sin of stealing in God’s way; it is not surprising that he disregarded God who prohibited him from making any carved images or cast idols according to his second commandment (Exo. 20:4, 23; Lev. 19:4). He made an ephod just like Gideon did again against God’s laws; he also made idols, teraphims, which were used for inquiring the will of gods, not the God of Israel; he also installed someone other than a Levite as a priest, his own son (Exodus 29:9; Num 16:10). Not to mention his ethically and morally deprived action to steal from his mother. To have a personal shrine was against the law which permitted only one place for true worship according to Deuteronomy 12:5-7:

But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; ⁶ there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

All this took place in Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim, not too far from Shiloh, which was the legitimate place for worship where tabernacle was placed during the period of Judges.

What was going on with this family? Verse 6 tells the story, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.”

There was an appearance of doing what was right; confessing sin and returning the stolen money, consecrating the returned money to God… but for everything else they did as they saw fit, not according to God’s will.

Micah And the Levite (Judges 17:7-13)

The story of Micah and his mother is followed by the story of Micah and a Levite in the rest of chapter 17.

17:7 introduces to us a young Levite. He is said to be from Bethlehem, but left Bethlehem in search of some other place to stay. From 18:30, we learn that this young Levite was Jonathan, son of Gershom who was the son of Moses. Joshua 21 lists specifically designated 48 Levitical cities where Levites were to live. Bethlehem was not one of these 48 cities. The way God intended was for the Levites to live by what people offered to God. But, because the Israelites failed to obey God’s laws, the support system for the Levites failed as well. This explains why this young Levite was in search of some place to live.

This young Levite, Jonathan a grandson of Moses, came across Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim. And, Micah having learned Jonathan was a Levite offered him a yearly pay, clothes and food to become his spiritual father and priest. Verse 12 tells us that the Levite became Micah’s priest and lived in his house. And, verse 13 tells us how this made Micah feel, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.” It felt so right for Micah to have this Levite as his own priest at his own home for the worship of the carved images and the idols; he was convinced that the LORD was going to bless this arrangement.

His was going about against God’s will; yet he was so confident that God was now going to bless him so much! Isn’t this ironic?

The Levites and the Danites (Judges 18)

Chapter 18 begins with all too familiar saying, “In those days Israel had no king” in verse 1. Chapter 17 was an illustration of what happened at the individual level when Israel had no king. Now, chapter 18 addresses the broader impact at the tribal level when Israel had no king. Having no king meant that they didn’t live under God’s kingship.

Judges 18:1 says, “the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.” Why were they not in procession of the allotted land from God? Judges 1:34 answers this question. It says, “The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.” They were not able to overcome the Amorites’ presence and their pressure against them. Joshua 19:40-46 records the actual cities and towns that God allotted to the Danites. But, Joshua 19:47 says that the Danites had difficult time taking the land that was allotted to them. Instead of persisting in their effort to appropriate their God given allotment, it says, “they went up and attacked Leshem, took it, put it to the sword and occupied it. They settled in Leshem and named it Dan after their forefather.” Judges 18 expands this account from the book of Joshua on the Danites’ failure to appropriate their inheritance and their possession of a city not allotted to them. This is a picture of God’s people not following God’s will because of the opposition and the difficulty.

Having met the resistance and the difficult of appropriating the land God has given them, the Danites sent out five warriors to spy out and to explore the land where they might settle. They gave up on the land God had given them; instead they wanted to explore other alternatives out there.

These five warriors came across the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim and spent a night there. When they came near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. Perhaps, his local accent gave it away. The spies asked the Levite why he was at Micah’s house. The Levite explained how Micah hired him to be a priest over the images and idols in Micah’s house for yearly wage, clothes, and food.

Anyone with even the minimal knowledge of God’s word would have seen this arrangement as downright sinful! What would these five Danites say to this renegade Levite doing as he saw fit instead of living by God’s word?

Verse 5, they said to the Levite, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.” No rebuke against the Levite for his unfaithfulness by these five Danites! All that they cared was someone to validate their waywardness.

Verse 6, the Levite replied, “Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD’s approval.” How could this Levite pronounce God’s response to the Danites so confidently when he himself wasn’t even walking with the Lord? He couldn’t have. The Levite walking wayward couldn’t see how wrong it was for the Danites to seek validation on their sinful adventure. God already revealed to Danites what they were to do; they were to go and take the land God had given them as their inheritance. God didn’t give them Laish or Leshm as their inheritance in Joshua 19:40-46. This Levite wasn’t speaking on behalf of God; he was speaking as he saw fit.

18:7, we learn their reasoning for wanting to take Laish. It was an easy target to them. The people of Laish were living in safety… unsuspecting and secure and living in isolation with no ties to other people. They were easy target! They reasoned with the rest of the Danites in verse 10, “When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.”

The only problem with their logic was that God didn’t give this land to the tribe of Dan. God didn’t put Laish into their hands.

They ushered six hundred men from the clan of the Danites, left Zorah and Eshtaol, and came to Micah’s house, verse 11-13.

There at Micah’s house, the five spies told them about the ephod, other household gods, a carved image and a cast idol belonging to Micah’s shrine. They went in and stole them. And, they got caught by the priest, the Levite. But, when the Danites presented to the Levite to the bigger and better ministry opportunity in the tribe of Dan, the Levite gladly left with them with all the paraphernalia for the idol worship.

Verse 22-25, Micah got his people to go after the Danites to retrieve the stolen idol paraphernalia and the priest. But, they were no match to the. So, he gave up the pursuit and returned empty handed.

The rest of the chapter 18 records how they were able to overtake Laish. They burned down the city killing the unsuspecting and peaceful people. The city of Laish was an easy target. The Danites met little to no resistance and easily overtook Laish. Rebuilding the city and setting there, they renamed it Dan. In this newly gained city of Dan, they set up the idols and had the Levite, Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, as their priest. And, they had the Levite and his sons oversee the idol worship.

Verse 31 is telling, “They continued to use the idols Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.” Another word, not too far from them was the real house of God where they were commanded to go to worship God. But, they didn’t.

Applications

The question of today’s sermon asks is, “What happens when you reject God’s word?”

1. When you reject God’s word, you cannot tell right from wrong. So, you end up asking God to bless you with things that God has no desire to bless you with. And, the greater tragedy is that you feel confident that you are asking the right thing, that you are seeking God’s will!

2. When you reject God’s word, you get deceived by the appearance of success! Micah succeeded in securing idols and a priest for idol worship although it was completely against the will of God. The appearance of success deceives you and you begin to think that you are succeeding because you sought after God’s will. The truth is that the appearance of success does not guarantee that you are in God’s will! The only way you can walk in God’s will confidently is when you allow God’s word to make claim upon your thinking, perspective, emotion, decision, and action.

3. When you reject God’s word, you cannot deal with the root of sin. The root of the sin is doing things as you see fit instead of how God see fit. When you reject God’s word, you reject him from being your King. When you reject God, your King, you do whatever would maximize your own agenda, your gain, your pleasure. When God is not your king, when God’s word doesn’t make claim upon you, you set out to make yourself a king!

The cost to reject God’s word, to reject God, our King, is too great! May the Lord help us to trust him as our King, to allow his word to make full claim upon us!

1 http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Children+Who+Steal&section=Facts+for+Families

Cold season?

Miki's been telling us for few days that her left ear's been hurting. Lyn took her to see her doctor and found out her ear is infected. She is just getting over her cold and now an ear infection... Well, this doesn't seem to slow her down at all. Audrey? She too has been under the weather; lots of post-nasal drips, runny nose, coughing, fever. This does slow her down quite of bit! She is getting used to her daddy and mommy racing to get to her nose before she gets to it first. Don't know what we will do without Puff Plus with the touch of moisturizers for our precious little noses. Well, the signs of winter approaching are hard to miss in our household.

Yesterday morning, looking out the window, I saw the tall trees around our house shedding their leaves; for a moment, they gave an illusion of winter snow flakes, just bigger with the colors of brown and pale green; a gentle reminder of God's creative touch. Although this season change brings colder days to come, I hope and pray that my heart will be ignited with deeper delight in God's way. "Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statues and not toward selfish gain... I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. I will speak of your statues before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them. I lift up my hands to your commands which I love, and I meditate on your decrees." (Psalm 119:35, 36, 45-48)