Disciple-making and world evangelization - Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19:8-22)

[Stephan Choe]

Dec. 2, 2023

Key verse 9:    "But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus."

The Bible is a book that not only changes thoughts, attitudes and perspectives. It cuts deep into the soul, exposes what is wrong and performs surgery. It is alive and powerful to completely change a person: his mind, soul and spirit. The Bible does not just give us beautiful words, but words with life and power, because it comes from God.

We can see out of this Bible passage the powerful work of the Word in the city of Ephesus.

With 250,000 inhabitants, Ephesus was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. It was a political, religious and commercial center in Asia Minor. Ephesus was strongly influenced by the worship of a fertility goddess, who was identified with the Greek goddess Artemis, the virgin huntress. The Romans identified Artemis with their goddess Diana. Ephesus was therefore one of the largest and most impressive cities in the ancient world.

When Paul arrived in Ephesus, he found some disciples who had heard about Jesus. When Paul asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you were baptized?", they replied, "No, we have never heard that the Holy Spirit exists."

Then he asked them, "In whose name were you baptized into?" They replied: "Into the baptism of John."

These people had not been baptized by the Spirit, so they were not yet saved.

Then Paul explained to them: "John baptized with the baptism of repentance and told the people that they should believe in the one who was to come after him, namely Jesus."

So they were baptized in the name of Jesus. When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues. There were about twelve men.

This teaches us that repentance alone is not enough to be saved and receive eternal life. Although repentance is necessary to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life, it alone is not sufficient for salvation.

After repentance, faith in Jesus Christ is needed to receive eternal life and the Holy Spirit.

We remember what John the Baptist said about Jesus.

John 1:33-34 gives us his testimony of Jesus:

"I did not know him (i.e. Jesus). But he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'On whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.‘ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

In order to be saved, we must first repent of our sin. Then we are to believe in Jesus Christ, who shed his precious blood on the cross for our sin and died, and then rose from the dead on the third day. Then God gives us the Holy Spirit and eternal life. This is a wonderful grace from God. All people hope for this, whether they are in Asia, Africa, Europe, or America. I hoped for it too.

When I was in the 12th grade of school, I prepared day and night for the university entrance exam in order to get a good grade in the entrance exam and thus get a scholarship to university. But sometimes, the thought would occur to me that my pursuit of studies might be useless because one day I would have to die anyway. This thought made me to lose the desire to study. But I suppressed these nihilistic thoughts and continued to study. I passed the university entrance exam with top marks and received the scholarship I wanted. I was then invited to a student church and was able to believe in the gospel and receive eternal life. So my sorrow for my eternal future was properly resolved. Thank God for that.

The work of God in Ephesus began with the work of the Holy Spirit through the gospel, because Paul explained the gospel of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ in the synagogue for three months.

What was the result of the three-month ministry in the synagogue? Was the synagogue transformed into a Christian community that all welcomed the gospel?

Verse 9 tells us the result of Paul's ministry as follows:

"But when some were hardened and did not believe, and spoke evil of the doctrine before the multitude, he separated himself from them, and separated the disciples also, speaking daily in the synagogue of Tyrannus."

While many became believers, there were those who were hardened and opposed. The atmosphere of the synagogue became unsuitable for preaching the gospel because of these opponents. So Paul made a wise decision: he separated himself from the synagogue, moved with the 12 disciples to the school of Tyrannus and taught the gospel there every day.

Gospel workers need such a wise decision. The proclamation of the gospel should not be unnecessarily disturbed by disruptive factors so that people can hear and receive the gospel undisturbed.

Paul separated 12 believing men from the synagogue and continued to raise them as disciples of Jesus. That was a wise decision. He withdrew with those who believed the gospel in order to separate himself from the unruly people and bring the believing disciples into a good environment of faith.

A Greek manuscript adds a note that Paul taught in this hall from 11 am to 4 pm. The reason for this was that it was customary in those ancient cities for work to stop around 11 o'clock - because of the heat. People went home, ate and slept until about 4:00 - then they returned to work and worked until 9 or 10 in the evening. This shows that Paul was willing to sacrifice ease and comfort in order to save people from sin through the gospel and give them eternal life.

We need a good environment of faith to effectively preach the gospel and raise disciples.

In the summer of this year, two followers of Shincheonji visited our church's Tuesday program. The Shincheonji sect denies the gospel of Jesus Christ. The two followers asked us many questions to confuse our belief in the gospel. We then forbade them to visit us again.

We are to avoid disruptive people in order to maintain a believing environment for the gospel, as Paul did by changing his preaching venue from the synagogue to the Tyrannus School. And in this school he taught the gospel daily for 2 years. Paul thus made Ephesus a center for the Asian mission.

What was the result of the gospel ministry when he preached in the Tyrannus school for two years?

Verse 10 tells us that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (10).

This way of working of Paul was somewhat different from his previous way of working. Previously, he had worked in one city for a relatively short time and then moved on to another city to spread the gospel there too. But he stayed in Ephesus for two full years and preached the gospel. And the gospel was spread to other cities by the people who had heard it.

So Paul made Ephesus a world mission center

An evangelism center or world mission center is very effective for world mission. Many evangelists and missionaries can be sent out from this center.

There are many megachurches in Korea. Despite the negative effects, such as smaller churches not looking attractive compared to the megachurches, these megachurches have positive effects; for example, they function like a mission center and send out many evangelists and missionaries. That is why Korean churches have sent out the second most missionaries.

Verses 11-12 tell us that God performed miracles through the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried from his body to the sick, and the sickness left them and the evil spirits went out.

The handkerchiefs referred to here were actually the sweatbands that Paul wore around his forehead when he worked as a tentmaker.

The sons of a Jewish high priest wanted to act as Paul. -

They treated Paul's words like a magic spell to cast out evil spirits. But the evil-spirts treat them horrible.

What is God looking for? A broken and contrite heart....

A genuine change of heart leads to concrete action:

The effects of Paul's ministry drove out sorcery. Many of those who practiced sorcery brought their books together and began to burn them in front of everyone; and they counted the price of it and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

50,000 pieces of silver is 150 annual salaries for day laborers.

Today we have our own kind of sins that need to be burned. Materialism - celebrity worship.

Verse 20 reads, "So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed."

In order for God's word to grow, the ground must be prepared.

21After these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, having passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome." 22 And he sent to Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, and stayed in Asia himself for a time.

Introducing a Scottish revivalist preacher Robert Murray McCheyne. In the Welsh revival movement of 1901 under the clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne, the revival was so great that all the taverns and pubs in Wales went out of business.

How many anti-alcohol sermons did McCheyne preach? None.

How many rants against pubs? Zero.

People simply lost all interest in alcohol when they were touched by the Lord.

Robert was born in 1813 in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, into a family of lawyers.

Although he grew up in a Christian family, Robert did not yet find personal faith in Jesus in his childhood. He thought that Christianity was simply about living a good life. His brother David fell ill with tuberculosis as a young man. Robert, who loved his brother dearly, was deeply impressed by the peace and joy with which David died in 1831. God used this tragic experience to awaken Robert's heart so that he began to seek God. By this time, Robert was already attending a preacher's seminary.

In 1835, the young man became an assistant preacher and assisted Pastor John Bonar in Larbert and Dunipace. The following year he was called to Dundee to be the preacher and pastor of St. Peter's Church.

Robert had not been in Dundee long when his church began to grow. He was one of the most gifted preachers of his time and people came from far and wide to hear him. His preaching moved young people in particular, and many became true Christians under his ministry.

The 1840s were difficult years in Scottish church history, and Robert was heavily involved in efforts to prevent attempts by the state to interfere in the churches. The culmination of these efforts was the establishment of the Reformed congregations in Scotland. However, just a few weeks before this happened, Robert's soul was allowed to go home to His Lord after another illness. Although Robert Murray M'Cheyne had served as a preacher for less than seven years, he was one of the most influential preachers of the 19th century in Scotland.

We need the gospel to spread unhindered so that as many people as possible can be saved and give glory to God.