A Marketer’s Worst Nightmare

March 23

Acts 19:21-41

“About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis…said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth…And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence.” (v.23-25,27)

What happens when people begin to wake up and stop buying “their” junk…the junk that the swindlers, bamboozlers, and marketers are selling? What about when we are no longer controlled by the ones who make the trinkets… the gadgets… the nicknacks? What if people begin to wake up and realize that they have no real power to provide for us what it is they actually pretend to sell? The new car stops bringing us excitement… we bought the Jeep (or Bronco, or Landcruiser, etc.) and our family is still not smiling with our dog on mountain top adventures! We buy the new clothes… but we still feel fat, or unloved, or the person we want to notice us still ignores us. We are told our lives will be better if we just had (fill in the blank). The little things we buy are really just part of a larger system of believing. Demetrius sold “silver shrines of Artemis”. (v.24) People bought those shrines because they thought it would link them into something bigger… that the power of Artemis would watch over them. It was never about the trinket… the little silver shrine… it was about what they believed… what they hoped for. People were waking up! They were realizing that this Artemis was not real. That Artemis had no real power. That it was a scam. Silver shrine sales were going down. Demetrius was ticked off… and was not going to let this slide. It made “no little disturbance” in the city. (v.23)

When Christ captures our hearts, he seeks to set us free from the trappings of the world. He begins to put into perspective what is true. We wake up and realize that the trinkets, the gadgets, the fashion, the “influencers”, the circus-act of “modern” life holds no real power to give us what we need apart from Christ. This is threatening to those who “gain their wealth” from gaming you… from keeping you enslaved and worshipping at their “shrines”. Make no mistake, they are trying to sell you a belief system… just like Demetrius and the tiny silver shrines. It is shocking how easily we are bought. It is surprising exactly what we are willing to worship. Look at verse 35 to see this truth played out: “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?” They were worshipping a rock! A “sacred stone that fell from the sky”. If an entire city can be spell-bound by a rock… imagine what can be done with the technology and tools of this day and age. No matter what it is, there are always those who will make great wealth from keeping you “worshiping” at their altar. (cf. v.25-27)

What is it that we are longing for? What is it that our souls want? We will inevitably “buy-in” to these belief systems. We will begin to worship at the altar of where we believe these things come from. So, what do we “worship”? What do YOU worship? Is it a small number on a screen next to a picture you post? Is it a scrap of fabric? Is it a person that we have never met before but we see them on a TV running around or pretending to be someone? Is it our car… or motorcycle… or bike? Is it a rock that has fallen from the sky? There is a battle for your heart! “Demetrius” and his friends caused an all out riot and disrupted an entire town to make sure you kept coming to them for the love, security, feelings of purpose and worth that they were pretending would come from their trinkets. As they lost control of people’s hearts (they were turning to Christ)… they got FRANTIC. It is God alone, through Christ and His Holy Spirit, that can give you what you long for. It is God who enables us to find joy in our things! (cf. Eccles. 2:26, 5:19 -Things are not bad, it is a question of who we link them to and what belief systems we associate them with.) Jesus is the source of those things… but more importantly he is the source of what we desperately hope comes from those things: joy, satisfaction, acceptance, love, meaning and purpose. In this way, Jesus is disrupting the order of things. Jesus does not “go with the flow” or seek to maintain things as they are. There will be entire crowds CHANTING… for hours on end… claiming their sacred stone has life. (cf. v.34 - “for about 2 hours they all cried ““Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”) The people of God must not be sucked back in. There is no life or power in it. Jesus is the one who fills the empty, cares for the broken, protects the needy, gives rest and joy. We cannot worship at the silver shrine and seek to worship Jesus at the same time! Our ways of living must be disrupted. We will sooner or later “wake up” to the ways that we have been lied to… manipulated… used for someone else’s wealth. Jesus already has everything. He does not seek us for his wealth! He seeks us out of his LOVE for us. He seeks us as his children. He seeks to provide what “Demetrius” and “Artemis” cannot. Just because the crowds chant it for hours doesn’t mean it is good or true! Are you ready to be set free? The people of God must be owned by no one other than CHRIST. Love you guys. - JDP