Because the good news is just so good
34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35 And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? 36 Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.
37 “For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38 If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.
40 “For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” 41 And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.
The silversmiths, aka idol makers, have started a riot. What I love the most about this whole scene is this subtle compliment from the town clerk.
I went to some training one time about doing mission work in hostile cultures. Not hostile as in everybody is dangerous but hostile as in if you do Christianity in a way that they don’t like, you’ll have to leave.
The teacher said, “Make sure you are essential to the people as soon as possible. Within 3 years or faster. That way if controversy comes up, they won’t kick you out because they love the effects of what you are doing so much.”
This doesn’t mean we work to make dependencies, but we work to benefit the culture we are in. We work to be such a benefit, that even if they object to Christianity, they won’t be able to object to the presence of Christian people.
When the whole city of Ephesus was in a riotous uproar over the teaching of Paul, the city clerk could say of him, “For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.” While “all of Asia” had heard the Gospel from Ephesus, this clerk had never heard Paul preach against Artemis. I don’t think the guy was clueless, because everyone agreed with him and the mob dissipated. They agreed or at least enough of them believed the clerk.
What if we talked so kindly about Jesus, made Him and His life in us so attractive, that people would turn from their wickedness on their own just to draw near to Jesus? Isn’t His goodness and faithfulness enough that we don’t have to throw mud on evil things?
Paul had spent years preaching publicly in Ephesus, and these silversmiths were shown to be fools when they opposed him. May our teaching and influence in the name of Jesus be so sweet.
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