Anatomy of a Riot

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
mark some 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 life
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 a 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 and in the world's
Way of life were 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 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 a 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
Ephesians he put it this way and notice
how
is this tension between the two ways of
life surfaces in what he has to say
Ephesians chapter 4 72 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 it 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've 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
ooh swear a lot and you don't
participate in the swearing they will
look at you as the awed or if you have
friends who let's say participate in in
in some kind of sexual activity that is
inappropriate and you refuse to laugh at
the 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 that 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 is in the trail
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 whoa whoa 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 not
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 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 about just this past
week when 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 is
promised legislation to legalize
marijuana in the country and by next
year what 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 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 rings 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 put so much
stress on his family that he decided he
never wanted to see other people go
through the same stress 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 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 a 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 in justices of our day and
age thus that 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
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 van der Lane 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 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 in
here how this fellow Paul has convinced
and led astray large numbers of people
here in Ephesus and in practically the
whole province of Asia would 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 wants 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 in
here how this fellow Paul has convinced
and led astray large numbers of people
here in Ephesus and impractically 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 to the Lord to lead
revival in New York State there were
communities where the business bottomed
out because all of the bars shut out
shut down and nobody kept on going there
so Demetrius is concerned 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 that goddess
herself who is worshipped throughout the
province of Asia in 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 the 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 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 one Lucien
Bouchard got involved after you know the
sympathy that he had garnered because of
the flesh-eating disease that took a
portion of his leg off and he was able
injuries of 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
road 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 in a project means
because the figures are so big nobody
can get our 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 leak 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 longer
of all 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
how well do you know yourself how many
times haven't you been hitched to
somebody's wagon what 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
their 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 travelling
companions from Macedonia and rushed as
one man into the theatre Paul wanted to
appear before the crowd that the
disciples wouldn't let him even some of
the officials of the province Friends of
Paul that I find interesting that he has
friends in high places sent him a
message begging him not to venture into
the theatre 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 crowds 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 foot said 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 I'll talk more about that in a
moment is a mob mentality one person's
emotion fuels and other 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 crowds 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
greatest Artemis of the Ephesians we
don't know very much about Alexander or
who he was Paul in second 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's possible because that
certainly would show an affinity with
the with the 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 know
where 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 learned 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 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 I or that I said yeah that I said
what I did or that I did what idea 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 because just to
summarize before we wind up this morning
what we're learning from this story is
this thing is this much when our
security is threatened whatever that
looks like
and whatever we find our security and 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 in community whether in
the church or in the broader community
to be 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 the 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 I'm not
sure we're called to be peacemakers we
you