28th Oct 2010

Acts 19:1-23 – Paul in Ephesus

• “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know – pt2”
• The Jews believed in demons and that they could be exorcised.
• You may be surprised to know that many of the Jews in the first and second century also believed in the power of Jesus’ name.
• “.. the serpent only bit him that a serpent might not bite him in the future” Shabbat 14d
• This quote from the Jerusalem Talmud gives a fascinating insight into the minds of non-messianic Jews. It is taken from a story [quoted in various Jewish documents] of a Rabbi warning another Jew not to allow someone to heal them in the name of ‘Yeshua ben-Pandira’ – Jesus from Nazareth. Before the person gets a chance to be healed by a Jewish follower of Jesus, a serpent bits him and he dies. The Rabbi says that this natural serpent bit him so that a metaphorical serpent could not. The symbolic serpent standing for heresy.
• In other words he is saying that God sent a serpent so he would not get mixed up with the Jews who followed Jesus.
• The point being this: the Rabbi obviously believed there was power in Jesus name!
• The seven sons were right – there is power in Jesus name but they did not know Jesus’ power in their own lives. They did not know Jesus.
• It seems that sometimes demons can also be exorcised by magical means not just by Godly ones.
• It has been suggested that there is a pecking order where some demons are more powerful than others and incantations invoking stronger demons can be used to overthrow weaker ones.
• In this passage the seven sons of Sceva use a very typical method of invoking supernatural power by piling on top of one another names of spiritual authorities.
• They of course fail.
• It is not what you know by who you know.
• In our spiritual battles there are all sorts of methods we can use to advance the kingdom of God. They may not always be ‘magical’, they might be;
• political
• manipulative
• good business sense
• etc
• But ultimately we and those around us will get hurt, just as in the story of the seven sons of Sceva who knew what to do but not who they needed to know.. Jesus.
• Yes we can get things done for God but if we fight a spiritual battle without being genuine and knowing Jesus we will ultimately fail… ourselves.
• Recently I heard of a great preacher who used and advised others to use positive thinking to build the kingdom. All I know is this; now his church is bankrupt, there is a power struggle in his family and one of his children is airing the family’s dirty laundry in the media.
• Was a large church built? yes.
• Were Christian books written? yes.
• Was the Gospel preached? yes.
• But at what cost? One that ultimately undermines what was built.
• To fight a spiritual battle with good business sense, positive thinking or politics is like taking a knife to a gun fight. You might cause some damage to your enemy but not as much as they will cause to you.
• Praying today for the common sense to rely on spiritual sense.