Anatomy of a Riot

SERMON: 2017-04-30--ac17170--anatomy-of-a-riot-part-1 SOURCE DURATION: 00:33:33.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: Candidate 16 provides a clear pastoral application/conclusion ('We're called to be peacemakers...'). Candidate 17 is blank audio and represents the transition away from the sermon content (likely silence before music or announcements), making candidate 16 the last spoken segment of the sermon. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: none ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: no ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: none Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- Most of us, I'm pretty sure, have never been caught up in a major riot or even participated, I suspect, in some public demonstration. That said, there are certain social dynamics that happen in a riot and a demonstration that we do all experience on a more or less limited scale in our interactions with other people. And so while there are many elements of the story before us that we may not be able to identify with, I think there are certain dynamics that surface repeatedly in our own lives. And in the time that we have available this week and probably, Lord willing, next week, let's begin to look at what those dynamics might be with a view to learning from this story the lessons that would be helpful in our own lives. Allow me then to draw your attention to a number of elements in the story and we'll go through the passage as you have printed it before you in some detail. If you've got a pencil, you might want to make some notations in places that I'm calling your attention to. Like a lot of things, we easily read over the dynamic elements that actually have very practical applications to our own lives. First thing I want us to notice in this particular story, Acts chapter 19 from verse 23 to verse 41, is that the riot is occasioned by the success of Paul's ministry in Ephesus. Verse 23, "About that time there arose a great disturbance about the way." Notice that expression, "A disturbance about the way." Five times in the book of Acts, the followers of Jesus are called followers of the way. And the reason for that is that in becoming followers of Jesus, they became followers of the way of life that he taught in opposition to the way of life that the unbelievers lived. And as you know, diagrammatically, I like to picture it this way. Two circles that represent two different ways of life. This represents God's way of life, the way of Jesus. This circle represents the world's way of life. But in the world's way of life, we're separated from God because of sin. We are under Satan's dominion. We have become selfish. We live in conflict and turmoil. And we live motivated by the impulses of our fallen human nature and our fallen human mind. And becoming a Christian is not just trying to learn to live a better life. It is to recognize that I'm stuck here. I cannot escape from Satan's dominion. God is angry with me on account of my sin, but has sent his son Jesus into the world to die for my sin and to rise from the dead so that I can be presented before God without any spot, wrinkle, or blemish. And to become a Christian is to put faith in Jesus, at which point I become part of God's forever family. He becomes my Father, and as I grow in Him, I become more and more like Jesus. And as I become more and more like Jesus, the difference between my new way of life and the old way of life becomes increasingly obvious. And many years later, when Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesian church, he put it this way, and notice how this tension between the two ways of life surfaces in what he has to say. Ephesians chapter 4, 17 to 24, he says, "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking." Remember, the Gentiles are living over here. They are darkened in their understanding, separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. They don't know God because they have hardened their hearts, and because they've hardened their hearts, they don't understand reality. That's why they worship idols rather than the true and the living God. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. We become self-centered and self-seeking, living by the feelings of our bodies and the thoughts of our fallen minds. Verse 20, "You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you have heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus." Remember, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." You were taught with regard to your former way of life, "Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude or in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Let's back up one, "In accordance with the truth that is in Jesus." Are we missing some verses there? I will find them here, "To be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Notice the contrast there between the old way of life and the new way of life. So you can understand that as the Christian faith took root in Ephesus and the Christian community grew and began bearing fruit, there was an increased level of tension between those who subscribed to the old way of life and the new community, and the tension of the gospel became very, very significant. Jesus himself, you will recall, talks about that when he says in Matthew chapter 10, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth, I did not come to bring peace but a sword, for I have come to turn a man against his father," that's a quotation from the Old Testament, "a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his own household." That is to say, wherever the gospel goes, wherever people start living God's way as opposed to the world's way, there will be tension between the two parties. Not because the Christians are trying to provoke tension, but because to the degree to which they embody the gospel to that degree as secular society says, "We don't want to be like you. We don't trust you." You can see this in your own life. If you have a bunch of friends who swear a lot and you don't participate in the swearing, they will look at you as the odd man out. Or if you have friends who, let's say, participate in some kind of sexual activity that is inappropriate and you refuse to laugh at their dirty jokes or you refuse to go along to the places or the things that they're going, then pretty soon they come after you because even if you never say anything, even if you're not a Christian who preaches at your friends, your friends will feel convicted because the very fact that you're not participating with them in their activities makes them feel ashamed and guilty. Isn't that true? And so as these Christians refuse to worship Artemis and they refuse to participate in sorcery, in fact they burned all their very expensive sorcery scrolls, then you can imagine that all their neighbors and their friends were saying, "My land, they must think we're better. They must think they're better than we are. What's wrong with who we are?" I love the way Peter describes it. In one place he says, "They think it's strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation and they heap abuse on you." Very important to understand this because we live in a day and age where society wants to keep our Christianity private. You've noticed that, have you, Noah? You can believe what you want to believe, just don't let it inform your public life. And so we always talk about separation of church and state as if Christians have to live underground and they cannot voice their Christian values because who do you think you are forcing your Christian values down my throat? How often haven't you heard this in the course of life? The funny thing is the rest of the world doesn't live that way. Their personal convictions shape public policy all the time. I was reminded of that just this past week when I read up on an interview that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave with reference to his family's experience with marijuana. Now we all know that the liberal government has promised legislation to legalize marijuana in the country and by next year, July 1st, they expect to have that legislation in place. And you wonder, given the dangers of that and the history of that, why is that being pushed? Well, you know, it was an election promise and one of the very few that he's trying to keep, so the commentators tell us. But in a recent interview he made a very interesting observation that to me shed some light on how personal experiences make their way into public policy. He was talking about the death of his younger brother some years ago, avalanche I think was it not, in British Columbia, and how his brother had been arrested for the possession of marijuana. And his father had to step in using his political clout to try to make those charges go away. Which sounded a little bit to me like, you know, power ring up, but let that rest for the moment. But here's what Justin observed. He said it puts so much stress on the family, and I can understand that, public people, you know, you don't want to hang out your dirty laundry for the whole world. But so much stress on his family that he decided he never wanted to see other people go through the same stress. Isn't that interesting? Now I'm not arguing whether, you know, marijuana ought to or ought not to be legalized. I have my opinions on that, as I'm sure you do, but the point is, in this secular world, people's personal views make their way into public policy all the time. And so why is it that Christians are expected to put their heads in the ground as if their religious faith ought not to be demonstrated in their way of life or in their public policy? It is a fallacy, and we must resist it at all costs because Jesus said we are the salt of the earth and we are the light of the world. And if every Christian in this country stood up and let their voice be heard, maybe public policy would change because we are smitten with silence. And that is a tragedy, that is a tragedy. And I'm not suggesting we be nasty and rebellious and stupid, but we are also citizens of this nation. And in the democratic process, your voice and my voice ought to count. And we need to find some way in which Christians can step forward and say, in light of the injustices of our day and age, thus saith the Lord, go no further. That's what Paul did. He took on the whole religious establishment in Ephesus. But when he did, it caused a riot. And Jesus said, don't be surprised if people hate you because that's what the gospel is supposed to do. It is counter-culture. You with me? Yes. So, the riot is occasioned by the success of Paul's ministry. And the next thing I want us to notice in this particular story then is that the riot has a primary instigator. His name is Demetrius. Vanderlein referred to it. Notice this whole passage. Let's read it together for a moment. If you can't read it, if the print is too small, just follow along on your sheets. I'm going to read it with you and then I'm going to make some observations about what the passage goes on to say. "A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. He called them together, along with the workmen, in related trades and said, 'Men, you know 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." Good to God they said that about you and me, the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods 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. When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting, 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.'" Want you to note with me two elements of Demetrius' argument. The first element is this Christian movement is going to hurt our business. "Men, you know 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. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all and he goes on to say, "Our trade will lose its good name." His concerns were legitimate. If the silversmiths derive their money from people buying these miniature temples inscribed with charms and they give up faith in Artemis, then business is going to hurt. And that is the story of the gospel throughout the world. When the gospel has an effect on countries and revival happens, there are certain businesses that go out of business. I recall years ago when Charles Finney was used of the Lord to lead revival in New York State, there were communities where the business bottomed out because all of the bars shut down and nobody kept on going there. So Demetrius' concern is a very legitimate concern, but he has a second argument and that is this. 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 was worshipped throughout the province of Asia and the world will be robbed of her divine majesty. That second part of his argument was brilliant, and I'll tell you why it was brilliant. As long as it's only the craftsmen and the tradesmen who are losing their economic advantage, the effect of the gospel is limited. Yes, it will hurt economically and all the, you know, the feeder trades will all be affected by this, but the bulk of the population will continue going on because who cares? But when it's about Artemis, who governs not only the business life of the community, but who is responsible for the whole religious life of the community, now everybody is affected because now it gets to a heart issue. Do you see the difference? And so it moves from just a small number of people who are going to be affected by this to the whole city that is going to caught up in this because remember they are the protector of Artemis worship. It is the center of their economic and their religious life and now they're all up in arms and they begin shouting great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Very important principle here and that is this. Social unrest typically starts with a place of fear in people's lives. It doesn't matter whether that fear is real or if it's perceived. If our basic needs and values are being threatened, then anxiety kicks in. And once anxiety kicks in, all it takes is a troublemaker to come along who plays on that anxiety and who stirs up the masses so that they begin to act in ways they would not have ordinarily acted. A lot of us here are old enough to think back to 1995, the Quebec referendum you remember? The yes vote almost carried the day, would have destroyed the dominion of Canada the way that we know it today. What brought it so close to the edge? It was when Lucien Bouchard got involved after the sympathy that he had garnered because of the flesh-eating disease that took a portion of his leg off. And he was able to play on the perceived injuries that the French population had experienced in its historic relationships with English Canada. And by touching that sore spot stirred up the population to the point where the yes vote almost happened. It's when our basic fundamental security is threatened that we become anxious and we become subject to somebody who can stir us up and who can lead us into places where we don't want to go. Why do you think Premier Kathleen Wynne is so low in the polls in the province of Ontario? Many reasons, but one reason was the whole business with the hydro bills. People may not understand what spending billions and billions of dollars on a project means because the figures are so big nobody can get their head around it, but when they see their electricity bills going up they know it's impacting their bottom line. So why do you think the Liberal budget this past week has so many giveaways to so many segments of society, not to be unduly cynical, but it's to try to up the ante for the Liberal provincial party so that hopefully they can do better in the next election because they're all fearing for their seats. Anxiety at whatever level, wherever we feel threatened, and this applies to Christians as well as non-Christians, those are the places, those are the places where we're vulnerable and all it takes is for somebody to come along and play us there and we jump into situations and get agitated in ways that we would have never thought possible, isn't that true? How well do you know yourself? How many times haven't you been hitched to somebody's wagon when it wasn't your wagon to be hitched to? Okay, quickly one more point before we take a break this morning. Number three, the next thing to note in this particular passage is that the riot now escalates. Notice how the story continues. When they heard this, that is, Paul is preaching that Artemis is no real God and that he's a figment of our imagination, they were furious and began shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians." Soon, the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples wouldn't let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, that I find interesting that he is friends in high places, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. The assembly was in confusion. Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people didn't even know why they were there. The Jews pushed Alexander to the front. Some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people, but when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians." Two things I want us to note here. First is a mob mentality develops. Notice how the passage puts it. They were furious, began shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians." Soon, the whole city, the whole city was in an uproar. And I love verse 32, the assembly was in confusion. Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people didn't even know why they were there. I've known a few congregational meetings like that over the years. What you have happening here, and I'll talk more about that in a moment, is a mob mentality. One person's emotion fuels another person's emotion. Truth doesn't matter. Pretty soon we're all agitated because there is a spirit that takes over. Talk more about that in a moment. Second thing I want us to notice here is that the Jews wanted to distance themselves from the Christians. The Jews pushed Alexander to the front and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians." We don't know very much about Alexander or who he was. Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 14 makes reference to Alexander who was a coppersmith and a great opponent of the gospel. Was he the same man? It is possible because that certainly would show an affinity with the silversmiths in Ephesus. What's significant is that the Jewish community is trying to push Alexander to the forefront because they don't want to be brushed, they don't want to be painted with the same brush as the Christians. Because you have to remember that in those days the Christian community was viewed as an offshoot of the Jews. And the Jews didn't want to get blamed for this riot and so they're trying to get Alexander up there but he doesn't get anywhere because the mob is just going crazy. Instead they shouted for two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians." And what I think we learn from this is that a crowd can take on a life of its own. It's what I call mob psychology. Once a sense of injustice prevails and you have the necessary agitators to stir it, there is a spirit, literally a spirit that takes hold of a crowd. And people who normally are very rational and very law-abiding and good citizens, all of a sudden go bananas. They break the law, they break store windows, they turn vehicles upside down, they loot stores, they'll even kill and murder people all because they're caught up in the moment. And then afterwards they say to themselves, "I don't know what came over me. I can't understand that I said what I did or that I said what I did or that I did what I did." And it's mob psychology. And mob psychology is extremely dangerous because it's like the devil takes over people and it moves them into places where they don't want to be. And I just want to say that none of us is immune to that. And just to summarize before we wind up this morning, what we're learning from this story is this much. When our security is threatened, whatever that looks like, and whatever we find our security in, we become anxious. The more anxious we become, the more open we are to agitators who will take advantage of our anxiety to pursue their own particular agenda. Usually it's well hidden, but they play us. And once we get into that place, they'll feed us information that may or may not be true, but that enables them and us to justify ungodly behavior. And while most of us, as I said earlier, will have never been part of a big riot, never participated in a big demonstration, none of us is immune in terms of life and community, whether in the church or in the broader community, to be hitched to somebody's wagon and to end up violating biblical principles in order to accomplish worldly goals and agenda. Can you understand what I'm trying to say? I've been in church life for a lot of years, and I can tell you that church life is not much different from life in Ephesus. Very good, noble, and upright people, when they get agitated or disturbed or troubled by something, open themselves up to the spirit of the age, truth doesn't matter, everything goes, and before you know it, you have a mob mentality that is destructive and devastating. Don't ever let that happen to you because the spirit of the Lord, the fruit of the spirit is self-control. The whole business with the U.S. election south of the border has created a culture that gravitates towards people's concerns and people's needs, and truth be damned, and the result is a polarization of society that nobody knows how anybody's going to fix. Isn't that true? We're called to be peacemakers, we must love and speak the truth in love. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:33:27.240; remove through 00:33:33.000] [ [CUT]BLANK_AUDIO] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:33:33.000; resume after this marked segment]