Two Santifying Habits for Responding to Those Who Resist Christ

Ephesus was a vast city in the ancient world, rivaling the populations of some of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, including Rome itself. Located on the coast of the Aegean Sea in present-day Turkey, Ephesus became a hub of activity connecting trade and commerce from the east to the west. One account says this of Ephesus,

“It is the land where the Eastern and Western civilizations meet and mingle.” (1) 

Many other historians consider Ephesus a shining example of a classical Ancient Greek city. One of the most significant aspects of this ancient city was its most famous landmark, the Temple of Artemis, dedicated to the ancient Greek goddess, known to the Romans as Diana. This temple was central to the city's way of life and made a significant contribution to the economic prosperity of many, as we will see shortly.

The Temple of Artemis wasn't the only thing that helped shape life in the city. Ephesus became a melting pot for Greek and Roman influence. Art, technology, literature, philosophy, and commerce all played significant roles in shaping the city's culture. When I think of Ephesus, I tend to picture one of our modern American cities, such as New York City or Los Angeles, as they share many of the same attributes and influences.

Like many cities in that region, Ephesus was also heavily influenced by regional pagan traditions and belief systems, including Eastern mysticism and the occult. The affluence and prosperity of Ephesus also attracted a diverse range of people groups. This undoubtedly made it a place where all sorts of lifestyles and behavioral choices were permitted, many being immoral and pagan.

All of these factors together created a climate that made this new and fledgling Christian faith of the first century a target for criticism and rejection, mainly because the Christian faith represented a way of life that stood in contrast to the accepted practices of those within the city. While many in Ephesus believed in free expression or the natural pursuit of oneself, Christianity recognized the need for temperance, self-control, and identification with Christ's righteousness alone. As a result, Christian converts were generally among the most marginalized people groups in and around the city.

Pastor and Author, David Berry, writing on Ephesians 1, says this about the plight of Christians in the city:

“The Christians in Ephesus lived their lives outnumbered, in the shadow of the Temple of Artemis, surrounded by the occult, and under the threat of renewed violence.” (2)

Despite the attitude of intolerance towards the Christian faith, the Gospel of Jesus Christ flourished in the three years Paul preached in and around the city and region. Indeed, many were turning away from pagan religions and turning to Jesus. The spread of the Gospel did not go unnoticed either, and many began to hate those who preached and taught it.

This included a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who appears to have been profiting greatly by selling all manner of “officially licensed Temple Artemis merchandise.” Demetrius saw this new gospel as a real threat to his way of life.

As a result, Demetrius decides to organize a “resistance movement” in hopes of bringing an end to Paul and the other disciples' gospel preaching ministry. Luke records the entire account in Acts 19. Here is a portion of that account, specifically the rallying cry Demetrius gives to the people to stand up and do something to stop these Christians from converting people away from temple worship to the Gospel.

“Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” — Acts 19:25-27 —ESV

We don’t have time to explore this whole statement in detail in this post. Still, one observation I want to highlight is that the excuses and tactics used today to justify sinful practices and motivate people to ignore the truth are the same as those employed in the first century, primarily that of fear and manipulation. Fear is a strong motivator. When people are afraid or sense harm from something, they generally don't stop to consider the logic behind their fear; instead, they lean into it, and soon become easily manipulated as a result.

Demetrius effectively employs both manipulation and fear in this instance to gain the favor and commitment of the larger throng of people. However, his true intentions are not hidden either. Clearly, I think, it’s not his love of Artemis, nor is it some kind of genuine fear that she will be forgotten, that is motivating his actions; instead, it’s the very realization that if she is ignored, the people will quit buying his “merch.”

If you genuinely take the time to consider why unbelievers, such as Demetrius, use fear and manipulation to undermine your faith in Jesus, or even attack you personally on some level? Consider first what appears to matter the most to them. In other words, what are they really clinging to for happiness and contentment?

This is what we observe happening in Ephesus, and the same thing is happening today. The undermining attacks on our Christian faith are nothing new either. Nor should they be seen as out of the ordinary; rather, they should be expected. Disrespect for Christian values, or the dismissal of the Word of God as being irrelevant and unsound as a source of wisdom and truth, is a reality that we must accept from those without Christ.

There are, however, things we can do — sanctifying habits of practice — that will prepare us to respond to the inevitability of resistance and even aggressive opposition to our faith in Christ. First, we must have a robust understanding of our faith in Christ. We can't just project shallow Christian rhetoric or spew our bumper sticker doctrines on people who have no foundation in the Christian faith. This isn't because it won't be convincing enough, as even the most articulate communicators of the Word are still rejected. Instead, when we demonstrate a shallow faith in Christ, we also demonstrate our lack of real confidence in it. This lack of confidence can lead to focusing on trivial things, such as what people think of us, rather than on what our response should be. In this, we can fall prey to manipulation and fear tactics used by people who challenge our beliefs or question our principles, causing us to compromise in some way just to maintain a level of acceptance. Confidence in Christ is the result of a deep, abiding relationship with Him, through His word. We must therefore make it a regular practice of reading and studying the Word of God. When the truth of God's Word is naturally alive in our hearts and minds, we have renewed confidence that the Spirit of God will enable and empower us to respond with courage, temperance, and wisdom.

Secondly, we must learn to practice humility. Remember, resistance to the Christian faith is primarily the result of an allegiance to a faith in something other than Christianity. We cannot be insensitive to the loyalty that unbelievers have to their way of life, or the measures they might take to defend it. Humility, though, enables us to recall the same loyalty we once held to our own way of thinking, the result of our previous alienation from and rejection of Christ. This allows us to be more compassionate in our responses. Too often, we view the practices and behaviors of those outside the body of Christ with such disdain that we convey superiority and self-righteousness, instead of the grace of Jesus Christ. Indeed, we don't want to deligitimize sin in any way, understand me here. However, when we quote verses, employ truth tropes, and assume that what we are saying is easily understood by everyone to be correct, we communicate an attitude of intellectual superiority rather than biblical humility. Take a minute to read what Paul tells these very Ephesian believers, who were no doubt witnesses to the opposition of Demetrius. We can understand the meaning of faith in Christ because he first loved us.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands — remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” —Ephesians 2

If we forget that it is God's grace and mercy that have given us the ability to understand and embrace Him (Ephesians 2:8,9), then we will never be effective communicators of that very grace and mercy. None of us went about looking for Him; instead, we went out of our way to hide from Him. God, though, has made us alive in Christ and given us His Word and His Spirit to transform our thinking. This is what makes us desire Him. It is the mind of Christ, alive in us, that informs our thinking now; moreover, our responses to those who would discredit and undermine what it means to be His disciple.

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” —Philippians 2:4-9