Acts 19:23-41

The Artemis Riot

When I was 17 (in 1967) my friend Robert and I were accidentally caught up in a race riot in Nashville. It was quite an experience to say the least. We had been on a double date and had just taken the second girl home. We were driving back from Bordeaux to East Nashville and had no idea there was anything going on. We found ourselves in the wrong part of town. Suffice it to say that God saved our lives. My car was virtually demolished but...it was truly a miracle we made it out alive. Riots can be scary things.

There was a lot of racial unrest in the late 1960’s in this country. In retrospect I would have to say that there was certainly cause. In spite of the fact that Robert and I were almost killed for some reason that did not cause either of us to develop a hard heart. That was just God’s grace at work in our lives. Somehow we knew it wasn’t personal. It was just the frustration of decades of injustice and oppression boiling over.

In this passage we read about the Artemis riot at Ephesus. Strangely, I suspect that this riot was more dangerous than the one Robert and I experienced. Why? Because this riot was motivated by money and religion. Racial oppression and social injustice are powerful motivators; however, I suspect that money is even more powerful, and I know that religion is the most powerful motivator of all.

Last week in Norway there was something akin to a one man riot. Anders Behring Breivik set off a powerful bomb in Oslo, Norway killing at least seven. He then visited a youth camp on a tiny island and gunned down 86 in cold blood. He claims to be a Christian and declared that he did this as part of his mission to “save Europe from what he sees as the threats of Islam, immigration and multi-culturalism.” He is obviously insane, but he did not act alone.

For almost four decades now the Western church has become more and more politicized. It probably started on the Left with church leaders taking an active role in various social movements; some quite valid but some equally questionable. Then the Right reacted with the Moral Majority and things have continued to escalate ever since. Political parties saw the chance to make hay and brought gasoline for the fire. Media outlets saw the chance to make big money by catering to shock and fear reporting. And far too much of the church has just bought it.

Can we stop the madness? The city clerk of Ephesus is unnamed but what a beautiful man he must have been to keep his head when all around him were losing theirs. He said to his fellow citizens, “As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today’s events.” I fear that we, who are supposed to be believers, are in danger of being charged with much worse.

Our God did not fall out of the sky. He created the sky and the earth and all of the universe. He is in no danger. He controls all nations and the destiny of every living being is in His hands. He does not need us to riot, or kill, or curse. He has commanded us to bless and to pray, and we have been grievously disobedient. If we will just turn off the TV and radio and turn down the rhetoric and turn up the prayers things will change for the better. If we are unwilling to do these things then I can promise you that they will get continually worse for all concerned.

Come Lord Jesus.