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Let’s face it, the Gospel of the Kingdom, because it makes total demands and calls people to a totally new way life is going to trouble certain folks. Take Demetrius, the Ephesian silversmith. Now here’s a decent fellow, we might suppose. He has a little craft that allows him to honor his preferred deity and to make a fair living for himself and his family. He belongs to an association of craftsmen which, in those days, was more like a religious club than a union or guild. They met together as friends over their work and their religion, enjoyed one another’s company, gave the secret handshake and passwords, and delighted in their prosperity and their rituals, even if these were little more than cultural diversions, with no real spiritual significance.
At any rate, Demetrius and his friends were comfortable in their cultural setting. And it troubled them to think that all their comfort was about to be disturbed.
For Demetrius and his friends had heard about this Apostle Paul and the message he’d been teaching in Ephesus for two years. Many of their friends, no doubt, had begun to show up in Paul’s classes, and were talking eagerly about the Good News they were hearing, the news about a new King, a powerful new Kingdom, and the call to a transformed life.
On one occasion many of those who had formerly held to the religious leanings of Demetrius and his pals had gathered up all their religious wares, relics, and books, and burned them in the town square as a testimony to their total break with that old way of life. The implication of that was not lost on Demetrius: his comfort zone was in jeopardy; his security was threatened; and, well, yes, his deity was being trashed – that, too, of course.
So was it Paul’s fault, or the fault of the Ephesian Christians, that Demetrius and his friends stirred up a riot and threatened violence against the followers of Christ? Of course not. The Gospel clearly challenged the established culture of the city of Ephesus, but not because Jesus is nasty or His followers are intolerant. Rather, because the ways of the Ephesians were captive to the Lie of unbelief – false worship, superficial prosperity, empty ritual, shallow friendships, and violence as the ultimate way of getting or preserving what you want in life.
In any community where people are secure and happy in their culture – their diversions, indulgences, and settled ways of doing things – the Gospel, clearly and plainly declared, will challenge that settled way of life, and, when it does, people are going to get upset. Indeed, we should consider that there might be something wrong with our presentation of the Gospel to the extent that it does not challenge our neighbor’s way of life by pointing to a new and better Way.
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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
VP Truth That Troubles
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