Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Wednesday, 22 October 2014 "Choosing the gospel over sorcery"

Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Wednesday, 22 October 2014 "Choosing the gospel over sorcery"
Daily Scripture:  Acts 19:17-20 It was soon news all over Ephesus among both Jews and Greeks. The realization spread that God was in and behind this. Curiosity about Paul developed into reverence for the Master Jesus. Many of those who thus believed came out of the closet and made a clean break with their secret sorceries. All kinds of witches and warlocks came out of the woodwork with their books of spells and incantations and made a huge bonfire of them. Someone estimated their worth at fifty thousand silver coins. In such ways it became evident that the Word of the Master was now sovereign and prevailed in Ephesus.
The Goddess Artemis
21-22 After all this had come to a head, Paul decided it was time to move on to Macedonia and Achaia provinces, and from there to Jerusalem. “Then,” he said, “I’m off to Rome. I’ve got to see Rome!” He sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, on to Macedonia and then stayed for a while and wrapped things up in Asia.
Reflection Questions:
As in most major cities, many Ephesian citizens held political or economic power. Some also sought to exercise a more mystical kind of power, through the dark arts of sorcery or magic. But a greater power—the greatest power—had come to town. Luke wrote, "The Lord's word grew abundantly and strengthened powerfully." One sign was that people who believed Paul's message then got rid of sorcery scrolls worth roughly 50,000 days' wages!
Jesus often stood what seems to us like economic "common sense" on its head (cf. Matthew 6:25-34, Luke 19:1-10). There's no hint that the Ephesian believers thought of re-selling their sorcery texts to others, despite their great value in a world where scrolls were hand-copied rarities. Have you ever had to "burn" anything of value in order to follow God faithfully? If so, was it worth whatever the economic cost?
Ephesus (and the whole Greco-Roman world) had limited medical expertise, even less emotional awareness, and served a pantheon of fickle gods who seemed to harm humans more than they helped. Finding Jesus' power, many of them broke cleanly from their past. Scholar William Barclay wrote, "It is all too true that many of us hate our sins but either we cannot leave them at all or we do so with a lingering and backward look. There are times when only the clean and final break will suffice." Is there any place in your life where you need to make a clean, final break from something hurtful and wrong?
Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Ephesus was a center of power, and Paul a traveling, tent-making preacher. Let his power, your power, be the kind of power I seek, a power than can truly change the world by changing hearts. Amen.
Insight from Angela LaVallie
Angela LaVallie is the Worship Logistics Program Director at Resurrection. She oversees preparing the Sanctuary for worship, supports Vibe worship and volunteers in the Student Center, provides oversight for Holy Communion at the Leawood campus, and assists with worship logistics at conferences.
Although there certainly were those who practiced dark arts, as Pastor Adam mentioned in his sermon this past week, the “sorcery” Paul warns against was probably often spells to help people achieve goals or dreams – spells for fertility or health or happiness.
These sorts of spells might seem absurd to us given our advanced knowledge in medicine, agriculture, technology, and other fields. I wonder, though, if these spells might be compared to superstitions. Many athletes (and fans) have superstitions around their teams winning; they must wear the same smelly ball cap or watch the game with the same group of people in the same location or they’ll lose. If a bride wears something old, new, borrowed, and blue, she’ll have good luck in her marriage.
In the summer of 2005, my cousin and I drove Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica. At breakfast on the Sunday morning we left, Kristee spilled salt on the table (a supposed cause of bad luck); that afternoon, we got a speeding ticket. At breakfast on Monday morning, she again spilled salt; that afternoon, we had a flat tire. I had never considered myself particularly superstitious, but I salted Kristee’s food for the remainder of the trip and since then have thrown spilled salt over my left shoulder (the believed antidote to cancel the bad luck).
I actually wrote my Master’s Thesis (a creative nonfiction piece) recounting our adventures on the Mother Road. One of the very subtle themes in my thesis is faith – in superstition, saints, God. Superstitions seem harmless, but when we give them even a little power in our lives, how much power do we take away from God?
I’m guessing there are a lot of people who don’t struggle with superstitious beliefs, but there are plenty of other areas of life that we let take control of our lives. Some struggle with drug or alcohol addictions, busy work schedules or kids’ schedules. Maybe the tv shows we watch or the music we listen to has more influence on the way we act or speak than we’d like to think. I challenge you to ask God to help you avoid those things that tempt you to give God less control in your life.
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