We’ve come to the end of the nineteenth chapter. Now you have to remember that the creation of “chapters and verse” came about in the year 1228 by a British clergyman, Stephen Langton. The original text didn’t have any divisions, they were added much later to make it easier to study. As a result the verses are quite arbitrary and chapter endings don’t always coincide with natural breaks in the Scriptures. The entire Bible as we know it, divided into chapters and verses, first appeared in the Geneva Bible of the year 1560. Now I bring this short history lesson up because the end of the nineteenth chapter is highly misplaced because the opening verse of the twentieth chapter is where you have the final sentence of this story:
“After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them and saying farewell” —Acts 20:1
Now here is what is going on. Paul is anxious to explain this event with the mob to the other believers. There’s something about it he doesn’t want them to miss, so he calls them together and exhorts them before he leaves. Unfortunately, Luke doesn’t tell us what that exhortation consisted of, but I believe that Paul does tells us . . . There is a passage in his second letter to the Corinthians which refers to this very occasion. If you turn to Second Corinthians 1:8, you will see what I mean when Paul refers to this very occasion:
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living” —II Corinthians 1:8
Put yourself back with the apostle in the midst of this tremendous uproar. It was a very threatening circumstance. It appeared for awhile that the gospel had so triumphed in Ephesus that Paul could think of leaving and going on to other places. Then this riot suddenly occurred, seeming to threaten the entire cause of Christ, and putting the Christians in great jeopardy and danger. Paul is crushed and very distressed. In fact, he says his very life is in danger. This crowd is so wild, so uncontrollable that for a few hours it looks as though they might just sweep through the city and wipe out every Christian in Ephesus. Paul expresses it in these terms:
“. . . we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living. Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us . . .” —II Corinthians 1:8b-9a
He couldn’t see any way out. It looked as if he had reached the end of the road.
“. . . but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead . . .” —II Corinthians 1:9b
You see, that is the very heart of the Christian message, as Paul will go on to explain in this letter. “Our sufficiency is not of ourselves,” he says. “It is not as though anything is coming from us; our sufficiency is from God. God alone is able. God without anything else, without any reckoning on any human resources, is able.” And his explanation to these young converts in Ephesus was unquestionably along this line. He was saying to them, “God has sent this event, has allowed it to happen, in order to teach us that he is able to handle things when they get far beyond any human control.” When our circumstances get way out of order, far beyond the resources we ordinarily look to, God is able. And he has taught us this so we won’t rely on ourselves but on him who raises the dead, who works in us to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think, according to the power at work within us. He goes on to refer to this deliverance:
“He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again, as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many” —II Corinthians 1:10-11
Paul is so aware of the fantastic strength of the body of Christ working together, praying together, supporting one another, upholding each other in prayer and grabbing hold of the mighty power of the God of resurrection, who can work through the most unexpected instruments to quiet a situation, to hold a crowd in restraint, to stop the surging emotionalism of people whose reasoning has been short-circuited, to hold them within limits and bounds, and to bring the whole affair to nothing! This is the might of our God.
This is what Paul particularly wants us to learn from this very situation, as we too come into times of danger and pressure and trouble. The difficulties which strike suddenly in our lives, the pressures through which we must go, the sudden catastrophes that come roaring in unexpectedly out of the blue—when these come, we can rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. So Paul sent for the disciples and having exhorted them he took leave of them and departed for Macedonia.
If interested, you can download the entire study of The Story of Acts
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The Book of Acts Chapter 19: (pt 16 of 16)
We’ve come to the end of the nineteenth chapter. Now you have to remember that the creation of “chapters and verse” came about in the year 1228 by a British clergyman, Stephen Langton. The original text didn’t have any divisions, they were added much later to make it easier to study. As a result the verses are quite arbitrary and chapter endings don’t always coincide with natural breaks in the Scriptures. The entire Bible as we know it, divided into chapters and verses, first appeared in the Geneva Bible of the year 1560. Now I bring this short history lesson up because the end of the nineteenth chapter is highly misplaced because the opening verse of the twentieth chapter is where you have the final sentence of this story:
“After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them and saying farewell” —Acts 20:1
Now here is what is going on. Paul is anxious to explain this event with the mob to the other believers. There’s something about it he doesn’t want them to miss, so he calls them together and exhorts them before he leaves. Unfortunately, Luke doesn’t tell us what that exhortation consisted of, but I believe that Paul does tells us . . . There is a passage in his second letter to the Corinthians which refers to this very occasion. If you turn to Second Corinthians 1:8, you will see what I mean when Paul refers to this very occasion:
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living” —II Corinthians 1:8
Put yourself back with the apostle in the midst of this tremendous uproar. It was a very threatening circumstance. It appeared for awhile that the gospel had so triumphed in Ephesus that Paul could think of leaving and going on to other places. Then this riot suddenly occurred, seeming to threaten the entire cause of Christ, and putting the Christians in great jeopardy and danger. Paul is crushed and very distressed. In fact, he says his very life is in danger. This crowd is so wild, so uncontrollable that for a few hours it looks as though they might just sweep through the city and wipe out every Christian in Ephesus. Paul expresses it in these terms:
“. . . we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living. Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us . . .” —II Corinthians 1:8b-9a
He couldn’t see any way out. It looked as if he had reached the end of the road.
“. . . but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead . . .” —II Corinthians 1:9b
You see, that is the very heart of the Christian message, as Paul will go on to explain in this letter. “Our sufficiency is not of ourselves,” he says. “It is not as though anything is coming from us; our sufficiency is from God. God alone is able. God without anything else, without any reckoning on any human resources, is able.” And his explanation to these young converts in Ephesus was unquestionably along this line. He was saying to them, “God has sent this event, has allowed it to happen, in order to teach us that he is able to handle things when they get far beyond any human control.” When our circumstances get way out of order, far beyond the resources we ordinarily look to, God is able. And he has taught us this so we won’t rely on ourselves but on him who raises the dead, who works in us to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think, according to the power at work within us. He goes on to refer to this deliverance:
“He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again, as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many” —II Corinthians 1:10-11
Paul is so aware of the fantastic strength of the body of Christ working together, praying together, supporting one another, upholding each other in prayer and grabbing hold of the mighty power of the God of resurrection, who can work through the most unexpected instruments to quiet a situation, to hold a crowd in restraint, to stop the surging emotionalism of people whose reasoning has been short-circuited, to hold them within limits and bounds, and to bring the whole affair to nothing! This is the might of our God.
This is what Paul particularly wants us to learn from this very situation, as we too come into times of danger and pressure and trouble. The difficulties which strike suddenly in our lives, the pressures through which we must go, the sudden catastrophes that come roaring in unexpectedly out of the blue—when these come, we can rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. So Paul sent for the disciples and having exhorted them he took leave of them and departed for Macedonia.
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The Book of Acts Chapter 19: (pt 15 of 16)
The Book of Acts Chapter 20: (pt 1 of 15)