An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 19:11-20, with the title “Motives,” for Sunday, October 27, 2024. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  Last week we suggested to open the lesson by asking your group for the most sinful/worldliest place they’d even been. This week you could ask your class what is the biggest city you’ve ever visited? 

(Some might say New York, or Chicago, or London — I’ve been on mission trips to New York, Istanbul, and Delhi, India — HUGE cities: Delhi has almost 30 million population!)

This week we see how the Apostle Paul went to one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, the city of Ephesus, on his 3rd Mission Trip.

CONTEXT

Last week we saw that Paul finished his Second Missionary Journey by evangelizing the worldly port city of Corinth, and stopped by in the city of Ephesus on the way back.

Now, in our focus passage in Acts 19, Paul has begun his 3rd missionary journey, and begins a 3-year ministry in Ephesus. You might give some background information on Ephesus here.

Alan Bandy shares in his helpful book An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul, that: 

“Ephesus was centrally located to all the areas of Paul’s ministry, roughly equal distance from Thessalonica (288 miles), Corinth (240 miles), Philippi (267 miles), and Pisidian Antioch (198 miles). Population estimates for first-century Ephesus are generally around 200,000 to 250,000 people, making it the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire … Ephesus was most famous for the Temple of Aretmis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and the largest Greek temple in antiquity … it was four times larger than the Parthenon in Athens”!

You get something of an idea just how large the Temple of Artemis was from an image like this:

So Ephesus was a HUGE, centrally/strategically located city, one of the largest in the Roman Empire. The Parthenon in Athens is world famous today — but the Temple of Artemis was FOUR TIMES larger!  THIS is where Paul went to minister, and where our lesson for today will unfold. 

At the end of Acts 18 (last week’s lesson) Paul begins his 3rd  Missionary Journey, traveling overland through Galatia & Phrygia. Use a MAP like this one to show the 3rd mission, and where Ephesus is along the route.

Acts 18 tells how Apollos was discipled at Ephesus by Priscilla and Aquila, and went to Corinth. So Chapter 19 opens, saying that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul met some believers (who had apparently heard Apollos “pre-discipleship” messages) and who needed some further instruction by him. So Paul disciples these people, and begins his ministry in Ephesus. Our focus passage today deals with Paul’s longest ministry on his missionary journeys, three years in the city of Ephesus. 

OUTLINE

I.   Signs of God’s Genuine Work (:11-12)

II.  Pretenders to God’s Genuine Work (:13-16)

III. Fruit of God’s Genuine Work (:17-20)

TEXT:

I. Signs of God’s Genuine Work (:11-12)

As I mentioned, in the first verses of Acts 19, Paul begins his ministry in Ephesus, first instructing those whom perhaps Apollos had incompletely taught. Then in :8 he begins preaching in the synagogue first, as he always did, although they rejected it (as they almost always did!) and so he moved the the school of Tyrannus, where he taught for two years. And significantly, :10 says EVERYBODY in Asia heard the word of the Lord in this time.

(Now understand that when it says “Asia,” it is NOT talking about what WE think of as the continent of “Asia” today, but of the Roman PROVINCE of “Asia,” which was a part of what we would call Western Turkey. (You can see this Asia on the Bible map of the 3rd Journey.) This is what’s so significant about the strategic location of Ephesus: it became the center of Paul’s evangelization of the whole area!

So our “focus passage” opens up describing some of what happened during Paul’s ministry in Ephesus: 

11 “God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.”

What was going on here? God was putting His “seal of approval” on the apostolic ministry of Paul, by giving these “extraordinary miracles.” Paul had just come out of the synagogue, where the Jews were slandering the gospel Paul was preaching. They believed that THEY had the right way. As we’ve seen there was also a great Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, which was renowned in the ancient world for being the way to God. Adding to this, according to Alan Bandy, in his Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul, “Asia Minor was known for its worship of Asclepius, the god of healing, whose temples were more like hospitals that drew people from all over seeking wellness.” (p. 124) And here was Paul teaching this Gospel of Jesus. How were people to know which was the true way? 

God showed that Paul had the true gospel by demonstrating His power in an unusual way through him. Verse 12 says that handkerchiefs and aprons were carried from him to the sick, and they were healed, and demons were cast out.

Now is this a “pattern” for us today: should this be happening through our pastors and churches? I don’t believe so.

Paul wrote in I Corinthians 12:12 “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.” Paul was an apostle, bearing witness to the resurrection of Jesus whom he had seen personally; he was laying the foundation of the church of Christ, writing scripture, and bringing the gospel for the first time to the world. So God gave some extraordinary signs through him to confirm His message through him. The word “extraordinary” here means “not common; not every day.” These were not “common or ordinary” — even for miracles! They were unusual. These kinds of things do not happen all the time. So we shouldn’t feel badly if something that is “not common or ordinary” does not happen here; they are not supposed to happen commonly or ordinarily; that is what that word means!  But God gave those miracles at that particular time to put His “seal of approval” on Paul as His genuine messenger, and that His gospel was true.  I think it is somewhat similar to what He did in the resurrection of Jesus: Romans 1:4 says He was “declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.” God showed that of all the so-called “gods” and “Christs,” THIS One was His, by raising Him from the dead. The extraordinary miracle of the Resurrection of was God’s “seal of approval” on Jesus.” In the same way, these extraordinary miracles in Acts 19 were God’s “seal of approval” on the ministry of the Apostle Paul. 

Even if we understand that the miracles that Paul performed are not “everyday norms” for us today, I think there is still some application for us. God did things through Paul that the gods Artemis and Asclepius could not do. Do we as Christians have fruit today that demonstrates that we have the truth, as opposed to the ways of the world? I believe so. 

??? What are some things that people could see in our lives today, that might show them that we have God’s genuine ways???

(When they see us give our families unusual priority time and love; when they see us spending our money differently than the world; when they see us have an otherworldly peace in difficult situations; when they see us face death without fear, etc.)

When people see these kinds of things in us, they show the world around us today, Jesus’ power, and it shows them the difference He makes in our lives.

In Thom Rainer’s book, The Unexpected Journey, he shares the testimony of N.S.R.K. Ravi, who grew up in India, stricken by polio, confined to a wheelchair, and rejected by his family, who because of their Hindu beliefs considered that he had “earned” this punishment because of sins in past lives. But when he ran away from home, Ravi heard about Jesus, and was saved. He went back to his family, and his mother could tell the difference Jesus had made in his life. She said: “I can see the God you worship is different from our gods. He has changed your life. He has helped you so much in life. Our gods do not help us.” And Ravi’s mother and father asked Jesus to save them that day! And when his father died, Ravi said “If you want to see the fruits of Hinduism, go to a Hindu funeral. When there is death, everyone cries as if there is no hope. But my daddy told me that he didn’t want anyone crying at his funeral. He just wanted a celebration.  And you have never seen such a celebration as that funeral. We fed the entire village, and there was celebration and dancing for hours. The Hindus in the village saw what a Christian funeral was like; they saw the joy.” (pp. 55-56)

A point for thoughtful application for us today is: “Are people seeing anything in ME/my family, that shows them the difference Jesus makes in our lives?” 

II. Pretenders to God’s Genuine Work (:13-16)

13 “But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” 16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

Here is an important truth: whenever God does something, the world and the devil try to imitate/counterfeit it. You can count on it:

— In Exodus, the Egyptian magicians tried to imitate the signs God wrought through Moses

— The Old Testament prophets always had to counter the false prophets of Baal and others

— We see it here in Acts 19 as well.

So we should expect that God’s truth today will have its opponents, those who try to falsely produce/imitate what God is doing. 

In this case in Acts 19, it is these “seven sons of one Sceva,” whom it describes as “a Jewish chief priest.” (“archierous”, means “high priest,” but is also describes the many “chief priests” the Jews had.)  It says they were “itinerant Jews,”  NASB says “who went from place to place;” it is literally in Greek, “peri-erchomenon,” “peri” meaning “around” (like “perimeter” or “periscope”) and “erchomai” meaning “to come or go.” So these guys “went around” — traveling, itinerant. (We may get a clue as to why in this passage!)

What did these guys do? It says they “attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

??? What might have been their motivation for doing this??? They were not Christians; they were Jews. Why would they try to cast these demons out in Jesus’ name? 

(You/your group can probably think of several reasons:

— they saw what happened when Paul cast demons out, so they wanted “in on this.”

— perhaps their motivation was the attention and notoriety that Paul received. We see this in Simon in Acts 9:18-24; when he saw that Peter & John were able to facilitate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon new believers, he asked them in :19 “give this authority to ME as well, so that everyone on whom I lay MY hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” NOTICE the multiple use of the FIRST PERSON here: “me,” “I,” “my.” Simon wanted this attention for himself. It may well be the same with these 7 sons of Sceva. They saw the attention Paul received, and wanted it for themselves. What Paul was doing seemed to “work,” so they wanted “in on it” and decided to use it.)

There are several potential points of application from this passage:

— ONE: there is a HUGE difference in knowing “about” Jesus, and really “knowing Jesus”! Paul could cast these demons out in Jesus’ name, because Jesus was really in his life. I John 4:4 says “Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world.” Christians do not need to fear demons, and have power over them in Jesus’ name. But these seven sons of Sceva did NOT know Jesus. 

I shared one time before about how when I was a young student in the early 1970s, there were a lot of movies coming out about the satanic and the occult, and people in the car I was riding in were talking about them. An older lady from our church must have seen some look of anxiety on my face, because she turned to me and said, “Shawn, you don’t need to worry about that, because Jesus is in your life.” That assured me, and I have carried that confidence to this day.

But you might challenge your class at this point: DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE that you are protected from the demonic, because Jesus is in your life? You might share the gospel here, and encourage anyone who never has, to ask Jesus into their life today. It’s not enough to know “about” Jesus — James 2:19 says: “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” The demons know “about” Jesus; but they haven’t repented of their sin and trusted Jesus as their own Savior. Have you? Encourage your members to make sure of this today.

— TWO: there is a warning here about dabbling with the Satanic/the occult. Christians should not mess around with it the demonic. YES Jesus’ name is greater. “Greater is He who is in us” as we just saw. But never treat supernatural forces lightly. These guys thought, “We’ll just ‘say this mantra’ and demons will come out!” But they didn’t respect the power they were dealing with. Scripture repeatedly warns us against dabbling in the occult:

— Leviticus 19:31 ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.”

— Leviticus 20:6 “ ‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people.”

— Galatians 5:19-20 19 “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions”

So it’s not only Old Testament, but New Testament as well. Keep away from these things. 

??? What are some ways Christians might be tempted with the Satanic/occult today???

(Good timing for some kinds of Halloween activities at this time of year! Ouija boards; tarot cards; horoscopes, seances, witchcraft; you/your group can come up with many.)

The seven sons of Sceva paid the price for playing with demonic forces. Make sure that you and your family do not.

— THREE: beware of needing to be the center attention/wanting the glory in a situation. These sons of Sceva seemed to envy the attention Paul was getting. Being the center of attention and getting the glory is not our purpose as Christians. That IS the way of the world: “leave your mark; make a name for yourself,” etc. But as Jesus said “it is not so among you.” As His people We are to be content to be servants, and we don’t need credit or glory. Proverbs 16:18 says “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” If you give in to the temptations of pride, it will cost you, God’s word says. The sons of Sceva remind us of that lesson!  

III. Fruit of God’s Genuine Work (:17-20)

17 “This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. 18 Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. 19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”

A. It is significant to me that one of the fruits of a genuine work of God that we often see in scripture is “fear” — not like a “craven fear,” but a sense of awe and respect at the power and presence of God:

— We see this here, as when the demons pounced on these sons, “fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.” 

— Acts 2:43, in the first days of the church: “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe …”. There is a sense of awe and respect for God when He is working in a manifest way.

— In Acts 5, when the Lord struck down Ananias & Sapphira for their hypocrisy, verse 11 says, “And great fear came over the whole church, and all who heard of these things.”

— Acts 9:31 talks of how “The church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”

To me it is notable how many times in Acts the element of “fear” or “awe”/respect for God is mentioned in what is happening. One of the prominent fruits of a real work of God is that people reverence and respect Him for who He is.  And we would do well to look at our churches: is there evidence of this kind of work of God? Do we/do our people “fear God” in the best sense; do we truly respect Him, and adjust our attitudes and actions accordingly? Do we have an “awe” because of what He is doing among us? If we don’t we should ask God to manifest His Spirit and power in our lives and in our church in such a way that we would! 

B. Another fruit of God’s genuine work that we see here is found in :18: “Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.” This describes what we call “repentance.” As we’ve talked about before, the Bible word “repentance” (metanoeo) literally means “after/to think; a change of mind.” Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in one’s life. When God is really working, we don’t just “learn facts;” we repent and change our lives. 

This passage says this fruit of God’s genuine work was evident in Ephesus. People came and confessed sins. And they really repented of them too: verse 19 says “many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone.” So they got rid of this stuff that they admitted was wrong.

And what they burned was very costly: “they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.”

Now we know that the media likes to make fun of people who burn books and other things — I saw an article recently where the media compared Christians burning books today, to Hitler and the Nazis burning books in Germany in the 1930s!  The world does not understand this, but God’s word says there are things we should not deal with, nor allow into our homes, and if these things are present, we need to get rid of them:

— Psalm 97:10 “Hate evil, you who love the Lord”

— Psalm 101:2 “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me.” 

There are things that we need to hate, and keep out of our homes and away from our family.

??? What are some specific things we not have in our home??? and that perhaps we should remove/throw away?
(Like Acts 19 talks about: things that deal with witchcraft and the occult; also pornography; alcohol, drugs or other substances that prove too addicting to you. 

You/your group can discuss a lot of things which are pretty obvious that you shouldn’t have around — but you could also talk about how there might be something that in and of itself is not “bad,” but it’s just proven to be a particular temptation to YOU. It may be ok for others, but you know you don’t need to have it around because it has proven to make you stumble.  

For example: some time ago my wife Cheryl determined that she can no longer have Dr. Pepper in the house. We don’t think Dr. Pepper is “evil” in and of itself, but she says it’s just a particular stumbling block to her. She can’t just have one, she has to have 2-3-4. So she can’t have it in the house. Maybe there’s something like for you, or someone in your class: someone else may be able to have it, but you can’t! The better part of wisdom in these situations is to know yourself and your particular temptations, and get rid of things that would make you stumble.)

But the big point here is that repentance for specific things in our lives is a sign of God’s genuine work. When John the Baptist appeared in Luke 3, verses 8-14 tell us the people began to repent of very specific things: not helping the poor, not grumbling about their wages, etc. Whenever God is really at work, lives will be changed with specific acts of repentance.

Are there some specific things that YOU have given up/left behind, because Jesus has changed your life? You might even ask your group:

??? Does anyone want to share something in your life that God has convicted you to give up, since you became a Christian???

(If you have a personal testimony of something like this, you might share it — and invite others in your class to share their testimonies as well.)

And we should all consider: what is there in my life RIGHT NOW, that God might be calling me to repent of, because He is at work in my life today? If we’re serious about letting Him work in us, it’s going to mean more than just having a “good feeling about God.” It means we’re going to show the fruit of real, specific repentance, just like they did here in Acts 19. 

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— These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

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