Day 44 - Acts

Acts is one of my favorite books in the Bible.  There's so much good stuff in there.  I think I love it because I started a church and Acts is all about the start of the Church.  It's just chock full of incredible stories and passages.  Miracles were happening through the Apostles, explosive growth was happening, churches were being birthed all over the area, new understandings of reaching all people (Jews and Gentiles) were coming to light...it was just an awesome time.  One of the most fascinating aspects to me is how this new movement affected the social and political world.  Never before were those in power more 'concerned' about a faith than in Acts.  One of the most powerful examples of that is the following passage:

23 About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24 A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. 25 He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: “Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. 26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. 27 There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”


28 When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater. 30 Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. (Acts 19:23-30)

I couldn't help but think about the upcoming elections when I read this passage.  These next few months we'll be bombarded with political ads.  Focus groups and lobbyist will try to tell us that they way to fix the social ills of society is to elect this person or that person.  Religious groups and even some churches will endorse candidates as THE answer for our community, state or country.  Churches who worship the same God will even endorse opposing candidates, both claiming a divine calling for their leadership.  Christians have somehow began to think that politics is how you impact society.  But you can't legislate faithfulness.  You can't legislate heart-change.  Policies and politics don't change people - the Holy Spirit changes people.

The cool thing about this story is that it's the same issues as today.  Did you catch what happened?  People's lives and hearts were being changed so drastically that they were no longer buying the idols that some of the chief money makers had been producing for years.  Life change was happening, and it was having an economic impact on the community because people's values were changing.  That's pretty profound.  What if the church concentrated on changing lives in the community instead of changing policies in the community.  This is when Christianity was a grassroots movement.  It was from the inside out.

Do you know why they make R movies?  Because we watch them?  Do you know why the local news leads with crime and disaster?  Because we turn our channels to it?  Do you know why they keep producing pornography?  Because people keep buying it.  What if a grassroots movement happened again?  What if we changed our friends and neighbors and community from the inside out?  It could happen again.