THE GODS THAT ARE AMONG US

THE GODS THAT ARE AMONG US

Jeremiah 10:1-16; Acts 19:23-41

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

July 22, 2007

I was so excited for the reason that I had been thinking of this for years. I finally had the opportunity of walking the streets of Edinburgh and visiting St. Giles Cathedral. A beautiful and impressive building, it is the place where the fiery preacher John Knox once gave his sermons. I was so happy to be able to see it.

Our world has been full of architectural wonders and a number of us here this morning have seen some of them. But this was one of the Seven Wonders of the (ancient) World. There in the city of Ephesus stood the great Temple of Artemis, a massive structure four times the size of the Greek Parthenon. It was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide and had 127 white marble columns, each one standing 62 feet high. It was so very impressive!

In the inner sanctuary of this imposing building was a strange figure which many today believe to have been a fallen meteor. It was formed and fashioned in such a way as to present a multi-breasted image representing the goddess Artemis. Artemis was somewhat similar to the Roman goddess Diana, the goddess of wild animals and of the hunt. But she was different, in that Artemis was also a goddess of fertility, and as such was served by many cultic prostitutes.

Ephesus was the very center of the worship of Artemis. Many people would make pilgrimages to the Temple and purchase silver shrines and images of the goddess, which in turn brought forth a great deal of money into the hands of the craftsmen who made them.

Demetrius was apparently one of the more important and influential leaders in the guild for the manufacture of these silver images. It’s therefore of no surprise to us that Demetrius became quite upset over the influence of the Gospel that Paul was preaching. We are told that Demetrius

called (the craftsmen) 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. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. There is a danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the Temple of the great Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.[i]

Well, that was enough, we are told, to provoke a serious riot, so that “the whole city was in an uproar.” It was eventually broken up only by the wise counsel and advice of the town clerk, who warned the people of the consequence of Roman military intrusion if they did not immediately disperse.

Demetrius had made his point, however. The silversmiths, workmen and merchants had derived much wealth and prosperity “from this business.” They were in danger of losing their livelihood, and it was a good livelihood at that!

But besides the loss of income and personal wealth, it seemed that there was a danger arising from the preaching of the Gospel in Artemis being “robbed of her divine majesty.” Other translations speak of the danger of her being “deposed from her magnificence” (ESV) or being “dethroned from her magnificence” (NAS). And of course, this danger was a very real one!

This was not the first place that Paul preached that “gods made with hands are not gods” (ESV). While in Athens, Paul spoke up in the Areopagus and addressed the philosophers in saying:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he gives all men life and breath and everything else … we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by man’s design and skill.[ii]

Yes, Demetrius had been right to be so concerned. As “the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power,” people were turning their backs on a lifeless idol and turning instead to the living God, made accessible through the grace of Jesus Christ. The Gospel was indeed making quite an impact on that society!

Obviously, we don’t see many gods and goddesses in temple shrines today, at least here in this country. It is safe to say that there are nevertheless idols enshrined in the hearts and lives of many people. We need only look to a few examples to be able to affirm the truth of this. An addiction to sex, fueled by pornography, is most certainly one. The purveyors of pornography defend themselves in simply calling it “natural expression,” while they become quite wealthy and the lives of their “customers” are virtually destroyed in time.

Money is yet another “god” enshrined in many hearts. Of course, money and affluence in and of themselves are not wrong – much good can be done in their proper use. But Paul’s admonition to Timothy should be duly considered:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.[iii]

It is the “love of money” and its constant pursuit for the sake of personal gain and advantage that is warned against, leading to the neglect of that which is eternally significant, as well as to the neglect of relationships that should ever and always be treasured and held dear.

Power is yet another god enshrined in the hearts of many, seeking to have control and dominance over others. The desire is to have the feeling of supremacy, of being “on top” and of being able to tell others what to do at their command. But a subtle change occurs - influence for the sake of the welfare of others becomes influence for the welfare of self … and the respect one perhaps once so earnestly sought becomes the last thing the person deserves.

There are many other “gods” we could mention and many that Christians must face in their own lives in response to the One who has lovingly and sacrificially made claim to their lives, our Lord Jesus Christ. But the general flow of our text for this morning tends to give us more of the principle of making a positive difference – like Paul in Ephesus – in our own particular area of influence. Yes, it may well upset those who refuse to see the light of Christ, but to others, it may be a sweet fragrance of life for which they have been waiting.

You and I have so much opportunity to take the light of Christ into our own area of influence. Today, in the first decade of the 21^st century, we simply can no longer expect people to come eagerly knocking at the door of our church, begging to come in, as it was in the 1950’s. Neither can we expect any longer the mission field to simply be “overseas.” The mission field is right outside the doors of our church, where there are many gods among us who need to be replaced by the living God with the light and truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lesslie Newbiggin made this discovery in a rather unique way. He was born into a Presbyterian and prosperous family in England in 1909. As the years progressed, he was confirmed into church membership, received a very good education, and was called into ordained ministry in the Church of Scotland.

Following seminary and ordination, Newbiggin and his wife were commissioned in 1936 to serve as missionaries in India. For many years, Newbiggin ministered in South India in a cultural environment far different than he had ever known. He was also involved in international relations toward the unity of churches in the worldwide ecumenical movement.

In 1974, upon his return to England, Newbiggin was faced with a stark contrast. He had spent so many years in an officially secular yet profoundly Hindu India, where the need of the Gospel was prominent everyday. Upon arriving home, he found an officially Christian Britain, but one that was in fact profoundly secular. From the last quarter of the century until his death in 1998, Newbiggin saw this to not only be the case for Britain and much of Europe, but increasingly so for North America as well.

There are certainly areas of our country where the culture is more “Christian” because of the preponderance of many deeply committed Christians, such as “the Bible Belt.” For example, a few years ago when Pat and I visited our son at Ft. Campbell on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee, we were amazed to find so many churches.

I was even more shocked when we went to a local Walmart. After we had purchased some food and some other things, the warm and smiling clerk looked up at us and said to us, “You folks have a blessed day” – and she really meant it! But in large part, the culture in our nation is changing and the mission field is not just “over there” anymore. It is here. The mission field is here.

This is why more and more churches are starting to be more intentional in sharing the light and the truth of Christ in their own communities and in our nation. They are calling themselves “missional churches.” A missional church has been described as one:

1) “that is grounded in the Scriptures and historic Christian orthodoxy and so committed to the primacy of the Great Commission.

2) That believes that the United States has become post-Christian and is now a mission field.

3) That believes that it has been planted by God in its own community to effectively reach those around them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

4) That is committed to reproducing a community of authentic disciples of Jesus Christ.

5) That is continually in the process of equipping its members to be missionaries sent by God to live and proclaim the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus in their own world and to the ends of the earth.

6) That is constantly re-examining itself as to whether it is merely doing maintenance of existing ministries and members, or whether or not it is effectively doing the mission of reaching its own community with the reign of God through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus.

7) That perceives that the essence of these fundamental attributes is the essence of its own existence.” [iv]

I hope you were able to follow these very important points. Even more so, I hope that we will take them to heart and to some degree, we already are, aren’t we! I believe we can see some of this in our outreach to the mission field of our community this week with Vacation Bible School; then again, in commissioning a team this morning that will spend a week on the mission field of New Orleans. Of course, we have also recently commissioned one of our own to take the Gospel to China and we will commission a team to go to Honduras in September.

But a missional church is a missional body of Christ, with all of its members engaged. And that means realizing, recognizing and responding to the truth that God is calling each of us as individuals and collectively as a body to bring His light, His love, and His life into the mission field that is literally at our feet.

When the Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl in 1992, Coach Joe Gibbs was quite a celebrated figure. But he knew who he was and Whose he was as a disciple of Jesus Christ. So, five days after the Super Bowl, he could be found speaking to 500 prison inmates at Lorton Prison, a District of Columbia prison found in the suburbs of Virginia.

To these inmates, this is what Joe Gibbs had to say:

A lot of people in the world would probably look at me and say, ‘Man, if I could just coach in the Super Bowl, I’d be happy and fulfilled …’ But I’m here to tell you, it takes something else in your life besides money, position, football, power, and fame. The vacuum in each of our lives can only be filled through a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Otherwise, I’m telling you, we’ll spend the rest of our lives in a meaningless existence. I’ve seen it in football players’ eyes, and I’ve seen it in men who are on their deathbed. There’s nothing else that will fill that vacuum.[v]

In his own area of influence, Joe Gibbs was exposing the false gods among us and calling for a faith-full response to an invitation to trust in the one true and living God, made known to us in Jesus Christ.

While we may not be Joe Gibbs, you and I can nevertheless let our light shine in the darkness as well, revealing to others the hope we have in Jesus Christ, by how we live and in what we say, doing so always with gentleness and respect.

May we live “missional” lives, dear friends, and may our church become more and more a missional church, in a community, nation and world of such great need.