Early Church | Mike's Place on the Web

Posts Tagged 'Early Church'

The Miraculous Ministry of the Church

Published September 17, 2008 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Acts, Early Church, Miracles, New Testament

Acts 3:1-6; 5:12-16; 9:36-43

Miracles are associated with power. In 1 Corinthians 12:10, Paul lists “the working of miracles” as just one of the spiritual gifts given by the ascended to Church through the Holy Spirit. There are a total of nine spiritual gifts, and two of them seem similar, yet are different; the gift of healing and the gift of working of miracles. A lot of people equate the two but they are given as two separate and distinct gifts for the benefit of the Body of Christ. The English “miracles” is a translation of the Greek dunamis, meaning “power.” This refers to “extraordinary manifestations” that sometimes may include divine healing but generally refers to a wide range of supernatural manifestations, which could be covered under the general title: “signs and wonders.”

Miracles are always associated with power; a power beyond the normal range of human capabilities. Theologians write that the workings of miracles are literally an invasion of God into the kingdom of Satan and a sign that the sovereignty of God overrules any principality and power. In reading the New Testament, the manifestation of this gift includes things like:

resisting demons and the casting out of demons (Matt. 12:28)
the ability to afflict an unbeliever with physical symptoms (Acts 13:4-12)
bringing the dead back to life (Acts 9:36-42; 20:9-12)

These are just some examples of what this particular gift looks like. We will examine three instances of where this gift was exercised in the book of Acts, Luke’s second book of the history of Jesus Christ and the Church He founded.

1. Acts 3:1-16, A Lame Man Walks

In the first two chapters of Acts, Luke had described the life of the Early Church in a very general way. With chapter three, he introduces one particular event that serves to illustrate the points he previously made.

It was the habit of members of the Early Church to continue the custom of participating in the Temple prayers, and this is what we find Peter and John doing. It was sometime in the middle of the afternoon when they encountered a beggar, lame from birth, being carried to the place of prayer. Albert Winn suggests this poor man was filthy, clothed in rags and covered in flies.

Peter and John had no money to give the man, but they knew he needed something far more important than mere money, and it was within their power to give this to the man. At this moment, the healing power given to the Church by Christ, her risen Lord, burst forth and the lame man is healed.

This healing is described as instantaneous. The lame man did not “recover” or “get better,” but was set right in a moment of time. The effect on the man was, to say the least, traumatic! The people who witnessed this astonishing event were “filled with wonder and amazement.” Richard Longnecker makes the excellent observation that was had taken place was a token, for those who had eyes to see, of the presence of the Messianic Age. It was also a harbinger of things to come. The prophet Isaiah wrote so long ago of a time when the lame would leap like a dear (Isaiah 35:6).

Throughout the long history of the Church, the miraculous power of God has always been demonstrated. Read the stories of Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and Smith Wigglesworth and miracles stand out. In particular, miracles of healing. However, Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 12:9, 28 that not all believers had the gifts of healing. On his missionary journeys, Paul performed some miracles, but seemed unable to heal himself of his thorn, Epaphrus, a fellow pastor who seemed sick most of the time, and Timothy, who Paul advised to drink some wine to feel better. In short, in Paul we see how at least one spiritual gift operated. He was not able to use his spiritual gift of healing whenever, however, and on whomever, he chose.

James tells those who are sick that it is their responsibility to ask the elders of their church to pray for them. The elders are, James teaches, to come and anoint the sick person with oil and pray for them and the “prayer offered in faith will heal the sick person” (James 5:14, 15). Of course, experience tells us that sometimes the person does not get better. At times like that, God obviously has another plan in mind for that person, or He wants to strengthen our faith for His glory. The Bible teaches plainly that God answers at His time and in His own way. But no matter what the result of a prayer may be, we must always remember what He said to Paul:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

2. Acts 5:12-16, Miraculous signs and wonders

Again, Luke gives a general summary and description of the state of the Church. Scholars call this a “Lukan Summary.” This summary serves to demonstrate in dramatic fashion the signs and wonders accompanying the apostles. In fact, it appears there was such a demonstration of the supernatural swirling around the apostles at this time, that some in Jerusalem regarded them with an almost superstitious awe. They actually hoped that Peter’s shadow would heal the sick if but touched them. Even though their motives for believing were questionable, God honored the people’s earnest desire and healed them all. F.F. Bruce writes,

Peter’s shadow was as efficacious a medium a healing power as the hem of his Master’s robe had been.

This is another perfect illustration of God accommodating Himself to the limitations of man who so often need material symbols of spiritual realities.

These signs and wonders served to cause the infant Church to grow at an amazing rate. Luke began Acts with concrete figures, but by now he’s lost count, remarking simply that “more and more believers in the Lord…were being added to their number.” In fact, this church growth was so stunning that the phrase “were…added” is written in the imperfect tense, which denotes a continuous and repeated action. Of note here is the fact that Luke mentions women, a departure from the norm in literature of the day where women are never mentioned. As uncommon as it was for other writers, it was fairly common for Luke to stress the role of women in his church history.

It has been said that “faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible” and in this group of verses, we see that demonstrated. We see the relationship between miracles and the work of the Lord. What should be clear here is that the work of the Lord was not the healing of people’s bodies, but the salvation of their souls. The miracles only served to draw people to Christ.

3. Acts 9:36-43, The dead raised

The ninth chapter of Acts concerns itself, for the most part, with the conversion of Saul and subsequent career, for perhaps a dozen years. With verse 32, the story returns to Peter, the leading figure in the books of Acts, from chapters 1 to 12.

Along the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea was the ancient seaport for Jerusalem, Joppa. Joppa is a somewhat famous town in Biblical literature. Joppa served Solomon when timber was shipped by rafts from Lebanon. It was from Joppa that a prophet named Jonah boarded a ship on his mission. The Gospel was taken to Joppa by Philip, and among the many converts was a woman named Tabitha, whose friend affectionately referred to her as Dorcas. She was a disciple of Christ and commended for her acts of charity.

Verse 37 is a brief summary of life: About that time she became sick and died. This is the reality of life that not even the choicest of saints can escape. In the midst of a life of devotion to Christ and commitment to ministry, sickness visited this fine woman, followed by death. Why would the Lord cut short such a useful life? The reality of death must ever be the somber evidence of the reality and presence of sin.

Peter was about ten miles from Joppa and so the disciples there had no problem sending for him. Did they expect Peter to raise Dorcas from the dead? Perhaps, although it seems more reasonable that they just wanted some comfort and some words of wisdom as to why this happened.

When Peter arrived, nobody asked him to raise Dorcas or to perform any miracles. Previously, Jesus had, in fact, given him power to raise the dead:

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:5-9)

Still, Peter sought the Lord, first sending the mourners out of the room for privacy. We don’t know what Peter prayed for, but we do know that what follows is patterned very closely after what Jesus did when He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Mark 5). This suggests that Peter was asking God to raise Dorcas, so that she might continue to work for the Lord among the poor.

Having been assured of what to do, Peter confidently turned to the corpse of Dorcas, spoke directly to it, commanding it to rise. What Peter said in Acts 9:40, “Tabitha cumi” differs by one letter in the Greek from what Jesus said in Mark 5:41, “Talitha cumi.” Dorcas looked at Peter, and sat up, not only raised from the dead, but healed of the sickness that claimed her in the first place.

Kistemaker succinctly observed that the church of Jesus Christ was born in a single day, the Day of Pentecost, when, as the result of one sermon and a display of God’s power, 3,000 souls were added to the initial group of Christians. The book of Acts is really a record of the working of Christ, as the Holy Spirit, through the leaders of the church. Namely, Simon Peter and Paul are the two main players in the drama that is Acts. Simon Peter was the minister to his own people, the Jews, but was open to the possibility of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles. Paul was the missionary who took the Gospel to the Gentiles, even though he himself was a Jew. Luke records that each man raised a person from the dead. It is possible that they raised more, though we don’t have a record of that. Without a doubt, these men performed many miracles and healed many sick people and exercised what is known as the “sign gifts.” In the early church, these were the proof or evidences of an apostle. Some theologians refer to these gifts, healing and miracles, as “apostolic gifts.”

The apostle Paul teaches that the Church is built on the foundation of the apostles. This has led many scholars to conclude that, just as there are no apostles today, since the Church has been built on what they did, there is no longer a need for the “sign gifts” or “apostolic gifts.” What is needed today, they say, is not signs and wonders, but the teaching of doctrine. The apostle John, who wrote is epistles at the very close of the apostolic age, gives instructions on how to identify false teachers:

Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. (2 John 9-10)

On the importance of doctrine, Paul wrote that if a man does not have correct doctrine–even if he is an angel from heave–he should be avoided:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! (Galatians 1:8)

The record shows that near the end of his career and life, Paul did not exercise the gift of healing. For example, in 2 Timothy 4:20 we read where Paul actually left Trophimus, sick, without healing him. In the early days of his ministry, whenever Paul entered a new territory with the Gospel, evidence of his calling was the “sign gifts.” But as time wore on, and the New Testament was being written and collected, the “signs and wonders” began to disappear from the work of the ministry and the emphasis shifted to the teaching of sound doctrine.

The question for believers today is whether or not the so-called “apostolic gifts” are still available. Since the gifts of God are without repentance, it is difficult to say that God will not work signs and wonders. We know, for example, that during the last days there will be signs and wonders in the heavens. However, in the day-to-day work of church, one must conclude that our emphasis must be on the Word of God and on the teaching of sound Biblical doctrine and not a reliance on signs, wonders and miracles. It is the Word of God that changes lives, not a miracle. God can do whatever He wants in His sovereignty. God heals today, but those healings rarely add anything to the church, and so they are rare in the church. I believe they are common in our personal lives, however, as they serve to comfort us and bring us closer to God.

The real miracle is not the healing of a body, but the restoration of a soul, and that is one “sign and wonder” we should desire to see continually.

Witnesses For Christ

Published August 4, 2008 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Acts, Early Church, Godpleaser, New Testament

WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MAN

24 When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this report, they were bewildered. They wondered what would happen next.
25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the temple courtyard. They are teaching the people.” 26 So the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles back. But they didn’t use force. They were afraid the people would kill them by throwing stones at them.
27 They brought the apostles to be judged by the Sanhedrin. The high priest questioned them. 28 “We gave you clear orders not to teach in Jesus’ name,” he said. “But you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching. You want to make us guilty of this man’s death.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God instead of people! 30 You had Jesus killed by nailing him to a cross. But the God of our people raised Jesus from the dead. 31 Now Jesus is Prince and Savior. God has proved this by giving him a place of honor at his own right hand. He did it so that he could turn Israel away from their sins and forgive them. 32 We are witnesses of these things. And so is the Holy Spirit. God has given the Spirit to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:24-32; New International Readers Version)

Scottish Reformer John Knox coined the phrase:

With God man is always in the minority.

We don’t know exactly the context of those words, but certainly the life of Peter shows us that he lived according to them. In this snapshot of Peter’s life and ministry, we learn that Peter courageously faced 71 members of Israel’s supreme court. Peter, no lawyer, merely a fisherman, ingeniously answered all the charges leveled against him. In faith, he stared down the Sanhedrin, and empowered by the Holy Spirit gave responses to their questions.

Let’s take a look at this event that has inspired believers throughout history to stand for Christ because the gospel of Jesus Christ places them under a higher authority than any man.

1. Background

The events just prior to the verses under consideration constitute the second persecution of the apostles, 5:17-26. The first prosecution is recorded in chapter 4. The new Christian movement was popular and growing rapidly in Jerusalem, and naturally the Jewish leaders were alarmed. In fact, it was more than just alarm; verse 17 indicates that the religious leaders of the day were “jealous” of the apostles. The apostles were rounded up and tossed into the common prison. Miraculously, they were let out of jail by the angel of the Lord and told:

Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life. (5:20)

The next day when the Sanhedrin convened, they discovered that the apostles were not in prison, but teaching the gospel in the temple courts, the very thing that caused them to be thrown into prison the previous day! So these religious leaders again imprisoned the apostles, without violence because they feared what the people would think. We see that the early church enjoyed “the favor of all the people,” Acts 2:42-47.

2. Accusation, verses 27-28

What a sight this must have been; the members of the Sanhedrin sitting in a semicircle while the apostles stood in the center facing them. Of course, for Peter and John this was an encore performance, but for the rest of the apostles it must have been an intimidating situation. It is curious that the high priest has no interest in know how these men were released from prison. All he and the rest of the Sanhedrin seem to want to focus on is why Peter and John ignored their previous edict.

The depth of hatred these religious leaders had for Jesus is evident in the contemptuous way they said:

We gave you strict order not to continue teaching in his name. (verse 28a)

They never even mentioned the name of Jesus! The high priest was no fool, though. He knew he couldn’t really punish these men, that his threats had been devoid of power, because of public opinion. In his frustration, he leveled two accusations:

“You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” Of course, he is very wrong about this. Time and again Peter and John stressed that they were teaching the words of Jesus, under His authority, not their own. The priests completely missed this, or they ignored it.

“[You] intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” By his own words he admits to murdering an innocent man. From earth’s point of view, it wasn’t the Romans who crucified Christ, it was the Jewish religious leaders of the day. Right here the Sanhedrin has taken responsibility for shedding the innocent blood of Jesus.

3. Response, verses 29-32

The apostle Peter, whatever else he might have been, is seen as a mighty mouthpiece for the early church throughout its infancy. The man spoke with a holy boldness never seen before. He addressed the faithful in the upper room (1:15-22), the crowd at Pentecost (2:14-39), the crowd at Solomon’s Colonnade (3:12-26), and the Sanhedrin (4:8-12). Now he addresses the whole assembly.

First, Peter addresses the apostle’s disobedience to the command of the Sanhedrin to stop teaching the gospel. His powerful response was:

We must obey God rather than man. (verse 29)

This is a restatement of what he said earlier to this same august body:

Judge whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. (4:19)

Peter is assuming the role of the prosecuting attorney here. The Sanhedrin, the religious rulers of Peter’s day, would have to say that obedience to God is more important than obeying man. God is the absolute ruler in heaven and on earth.

By stating that they must obey God rather than man, he effectively removed the high priest’s objection to the apostle’s seeming disobedience. Hebrew history is replete with godly men and women disobeying the ruling authorities in favor of God’s will. The Hebrew midwives, for example in Exodus 1:17, and Hezekiah listening to God and not to the king of Assyria, 2 Kings 19:14-37). The religious leaders knew, as all believers need to remember, that God blesses obedience and detests disobedience. Therefore, the apostles must obey God and not the orders of the high priest.

Next, Peter responded to what the priest said concerning the death of Jesus. Skillfully, Peter choose his words carefully to link the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to Jesus. This Jesus, whom the God of Israel sent as His Messiah, the members of the Sanhedrin slew by hanging Him on a tree. The Greek word used here literally means “wood.” This is a clear reference to Deuteronomy 21:23–

Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree.

Christ became cursed for us, even for those religious leaders, when he bore our sins on the Cross.

The subject of verses 30 and 31 is God, meaning what God did is what Peter wants the high priest to take note of. In no uncertain terms, Peter the prosecutor has turned the tables on the Sanhedrin and accused them of murder. But, the situation with Jesus was different. He didn’t stay dead, He was exalted to God’s right hand “as a Prince and Savior.” Both Greek terms are used in the Greek Old Testament to designate those whom God raised up to deliver errant Israel from her enemies. We call them “judges,” and this is highly suggestive of Jesus’ role as Messiah; He will be, when He returns, the Prince of Israel, the righteous and mighty Judge.

The next phrase, “he could turn Israel away from their sins and forgive them,” is a deep thought that deserves a moment’s consideration. The KJV renders the phrase like this: Christ “would give repentance to Israel.” Repentance is man’s work, not God’s, and nobody can give it to somebody else. Ralph Earle, credits Alexander with this explanation:

To give repentance is not merely to give time for it…or place for it…but to give the grace of repentance, ie. power and disposition to repent.

In this masterful sentence, Peter states that both repentance and the forgiveness of sins are gifts from God. Specifically, in the courtroom setting of the Sanhedrin, Peter indicates that repentance and remission of sins are God’s gifts to Israel proper, although just a few years later the Gentiles would receive the same gifts. And so, God’s gracious gifts are available even to the members of the Sanhedrin so that they may be forgiven for murdering the Savior.

Finally, in verse 32 Peter declares that they, the apostles, were “witness of these things,” just as Jesus said they would be (Luke 24:48, John 15:27). Interestingly, the Holy Spirit was also a “witness of these things” (John 15:26). There is a two-fold witness; the historical witness based on facts, and the internal witness of the Holy Spirit in bringing into man’s hearts the essential meaning of those facts.

What does it mean to “obey God rather than men?” In the context of the passage before us, it meant that the apostles had to be obedient to the unction of the God. They had been told, as late as the previous night, to go and preach. For us today, this divine injunction still applies. The Holy Spirit is only given to those who obey God, He is the Spirit of Truth, after all. Obedience–the complete surrender of the will–is the one adequate and invariable price one must pay to be filled with the Spirit.

The consequences of the apostle’s obedience were two-fold. First, the “intended” consequence was that the gospel of Jesus Christ spread faster and faster and that resulted in more and more conversions. But, as is often the case in these matters, the “unintended” consequence is more dramatic. Consider Acts 6:7–

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Some of those “priests” no doubt, came from the ranks of the Sanhedrin. Had Peter and John not steadfastly obeyed the Word of the Lord to them, how many souls would have remained lost? Obedience to God is vitally important, not only to our own spiritual well-being, but also to that of others.

Extraordinary Miracles

Published June 25, 2008 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Acts, Early Church, Healing, Miracles, New Testament

An Examination of Acts 19:11-20

What is a miracle? What is the purpose of miracles? What do you think the greatest miracle is? Are there still miracles today? If not, why not? Have you personally seen a miracle? These are all interesting questions as we approach this section of Acts, which deals with some admittedly strange things.

1. Setting the scene, 19:11-12

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

These two verses belie the fact that Paul had great difficulties while staying in Ephesus. We know from his Corinthian correspondence that conditions in Corinth weighed very heavily upon his heart. We also know that he faced some pretty stiff Jewish opposition there, as well as “the Demetrius incident” (verse4s 23-41). But Luke doesn’t mention those things in any detail, choosing rather to state the positive aspect of Paul’s ministry. Luke sums up Paul’s Ephesian ministry by speaking of “extraordinary miracles.” The Greek literally means “miracles not of the ordinary kind,” which is a strange way to describe a miracle. Of course, we are talking about men who were routinely used by God to work wonders. It is evident from the life of Christ and the ministry of the early Church that God was concerned in both the bodies and the souls of men. It is also evident that the miraculous was not uncommon in the early years of the Church.

Luke describes two types of miracles, which he deems as “extraordinary.”

First, what we would call “direct healings” through the laying on of Paul’s hands. While the NIV fails to indicate that this happened, other versions acknowledge the Greek dia ton cheiron Paulou (through the hands of Paul). And second, “indirect healings” through people coming in contact with Paul’s clothing.

A lot Bible commentators have difficulty with the account of sick people being cured by the touch of Paul’s aprons and sweat-cloths. In fact, there are reputable scholars who down play this by chocking the account up to a pious legend, suggesting these healing never really happened. However, a couple of observations. First, Luke gives no indication that these people worshiped Paul or that they idolized his articles of clothing. John Calvin pointed out that worthless things were chosen so that people might not fall into superstition and idolatry. (Calvin, Acts of the Apostles)

These pieces of cloth, which Paul used and wore at work, did not cause any of the healings. What are witnessing is an accommodation to man on God’s part. The weakness of man’s faith often demands something tangible. We know that the Ephesians were a very superstitious people and that Ephesus was home to all manner of magic and superstition. God was simply relating to them in a way that they found easy to understand.

The focus in Luke’s account is on God; for He is the one who heals people physically and through the preaching of the Gospel, restores them spiritually. That is the end-goal of the miraculous: God demonstrates His power so that people may turn to Him in faith and obtain salvation. As Kistemaker observes that miracles and faith are two sides of the same coin.

[H]ow shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:3-4)

As far as we know, Paul is the only person in the NT who had been granted this special “power.” Dr. McGee suggests that “it is almost blasphemous for anyone to send out a little handkerchief and claim there is special power in it,” and I am in agreement with that statement.

2. Religious Opportunists, verses 13-16

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. (O ne day) the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

Here we see opportunists jumping on the miracle bandwagon. Remember, Ephesus was big on magic and superstition, news of what Paul did spread and, as is always the case, there were people who thought they can “cash in” on good thing. These are the kind of people who believe the name of Jesus is simply a magical talisman. Luke identifies them as “the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest.” They were not Christians; they were not true believers, they were what was known as “Jewish exorcists.”

When these seven exorcists tried to use a more powerful name in their shtick, they found a dark spiritual reality far beyond their ability to cope. The demonic spirit actually spoke to Sceva’s sons, using the possessed man’s vocal cords, saying, Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you? Two different Greek words are used; the demons knew Jesus well, but were merely acquainted with Paul.

Richard Longnecker puts it this way:

The name of Jesus, like an unfamiliar weapon misused, exploded in their hands; and they were taught a lesson about the danger of using the name of Jesus in their dabbling in the supernatural.

The demon knew the power of Jesus would flow from Himself into Paul, overpowering the demon. But with these sons, of Sceva, they were easily overpowered, all seven of them, but one man, possessed. In fact, they received such a beating that they came within an inch of losing their lives!

3. Results of a miracle, verses 17-20

When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

Despite the violence that just occurred, God was in total control the situation. Far from a negative effect, the incident with the demon possessed man caused the name of Jesus to be spread through the whole pagan city of Ephesus. All who had either witnessed the attack on the seven sons of Sceva, or heard about it, were overcome by a reverential fear and came to honor and respect Jesus. Indeed, even more than that, the name of Jesus became the topic of conversation all around town.

Here is an obvious parallel with the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira. At that time, we read this in Acts 5:11, great fear came upon the whole church and all who heard these things. Ralph Earle makes an astute observation, Fear often produces conviction and creates honesty.

On the negative side, this event taught people not to misuse the name of Jesus or treat it lightly, because it’s powerful. Positively, many Christians renounced their secret acts of magic, and apparently, some sorcerers or magicians fell under conviction and were converted. As a sign of their new commitment to Christ, they burned their scrolls. How serious was this? The estimated cost of those scrolls, in today’s American dollars, tops $20,000.

No wonder the church in Ephesus experienced phenomenal growth during Paul’s three year tenure there in that city. His preaching of the Word (20:31) was followed by signs and wonders and people’s lives changed.

4. Lessons for today

In this group of verses, we can learn some very valuable lessons about how God works and why He does the things He does.

(a) Miracles happened for a reason. We see two miracles in these verses. First, the “extraordinary miracles” God performed through Paul; miracles of healing, restoration and cleansing. Second, we see how the debacle with the sons of Sceva worked for God, when it could have worked against Him.

(b) The name of Jesus is not a magic talisman and sticking His name on end of prayer is a guarantee of nothing. Just because someone prays in the name of Jesus does not mean they are right with God or praying in God’s will. There are religious opportunists all around today, men and women who seek to take advantage of the goodwill of Christians who want to trust everybody. The bible’s advice is clear: test the spirits to see if they are from God or not.

« Previous Page