Before I begin my sermon this morning we have to have a history lesson.  Everyone say, “Oh boy, I love history!”  This history is going to be fun because it involves… magic.  Who doesn’t like a little magic?  A little David Copperfield or that guy Blain whatever; who doesn’t like Harry Potter? 

1) The history lesson begins in the city of Ephesus. Ephesus was all about Artemis. For a 1000 years, the cult of the mother goddess had dominated the region like no pagan religion anywhere in the world. Her temple was more than just a religious shrine. It was a source of immense civic pride, an assurance of protection, a secure bank, a treasure trove of priceless artwork, and most importantly, the center of the city's thriving economy. Said to have been rebuilt seven times, the Temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

2) Ephesus was also a center for magic and the magical arts. (ohh) 
Magic is the attempt through various sorts of rituals and words of power and spells to manipulate some deity or supernatural power into doing the will of the supplicant.  Those who practiced magic in Ephesus during the times of the New Testament believed that the spirit world was everywhere and in everything. The spirit world controlled every aspect of everyday life, or so they believed.  The goal of the magician was to figure out the good spirits from the harmful spirits and control them.   If they could learn which spirits were more powerful than others and then force the more powerful ones to do their will then they were successful. 

3) Another aspect of Magic involves invoking names. If a magician could learn the name of a spirit then the magician could control the spirit. It is interesting that some Jewish magicians attempted to add all the vowels possible to get the tetragramathon right to coerce God to their will. They knew the name of God was YHWH but they didn’t know which vowels.  So, they guessed all the possible combinations.   If they could say God’s name right they would have power over him, or so they believed.   

4) In 51 AD Paul comes to the city of Ephesus and into this world of magic.  And he does some pretty spectacular stuff.

Acts 19:11-12 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

The handkerchiefs mentioned here are literally sweatbands, the word translated here literally means “sweat.” The aprons were leather and he wore it protect his clothing as he worked with the animal skins making tents.  These were taken by others and used to heal and most importantly to control spirits. Wow, Paul was doing magic, or so the Ephesians believed.

That was our history lesson.  Wasn’t that fun?  You are supposed to say, “Oh boy, I love history!” Now we are ready for our story this morning: Acts 19:13-16

Acts 19:13-16  Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out."  Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.  One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

I suspect this is Luke’s way of some comic relief of this section.  You can just picture this scene if it were in a movie.  You would have this demon possessed big guy with weird eyes and blood on him and crazy looking.  These seven guys come into his house at night while it is raining and the thunder in the background at 3:00 in the morning all carrying their magic amulets and candles and creepy music in the background.  Then one of them points straight at the hulking evil guy and says, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out."  Then there is this pause as nothing happens and then the demon starts snickering; an evil snicker – you know what evil snickering sounds like.  The seven start looking at each other nervously; how long does this take?  Amongst his laughing the demon says, " I am afraid of Jesus and I know about Paul, but who the devil –  he snickers again - are you?"  Then you see the seven guys doing a Scoopy-do and screaming out of the house while the demon beats the whoopee-john out of them.   I don’t care who you are, that’s funny. 

After reading this story and understanding our history lesson on magic in Ephesus, I have a question.  It is kind of a silly question.  But I think it is the question Luke wants us to ask as we read this section.  Why didn’t this work?  Why did the exorcism of the Seven sons of Sceva – by the way, that would be the name of my movie, “The exorcism of the Seven sons of Sceva” – why did it fail? 

You might say, right off the bat, “Well, Tim that is a silly question. Magic isn’t real. Of course it failed.”  I don’t know.  You would have thought these seven guys would have hesitated about going into the demon’s house if they didn’t think it would work.  Luke said, in verse 13, they went around driving out demons.  He didn’t say they were trying to drive out demons or they deceived people into thinking they did. Luke says it was real. Certainly, the demon was real.  Part of our problem here in the 21st century, in Los Alamos, is that everything has a scientific explanation.  We, kind of, pooh, pooh on supernatural stuff.  Let’s not be too fast in just dismissing our question by ignoring the reality of an unseen world around us. 

In our movie as we follow the seven beaten guys out of the house and down the street back to the synagogue.  Obviously, if you are being chased by a demon you are going to run back to some kind of church building.  Everyone who watches scary movies knows that.  These guys run back to their dad the high up priest. They ask their father the same question I asked, “Dad, we used Jesus’ name just like we planned, but the demon just snickered at us and beat the whoopee-john out of us.  What went wrong?”   What do you suppose their dad is going to say?  “Well, boys you must have done it wrong.  You didn’t hold your mouth right as you said the incantation.  It isn’t Heysus or Jesus it is Yoshua.  If you had done it right it would have worked.”  But I suspect the seven sons would have said, “No, we did it just like you taught us.  We said Yoshua.  We did it right, the problem wasn’t in the technique.  It just didn’t work like it does for Paul.” 

I think they are right. In the next verse in Acts 19; the very next verse after the seven get the beatin’ we find the clue we need to answer our question.

Acts 19:17  When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

The people of Ephesus figured out something important that day; the power of the name of Jesus.   Jesus’ name is all powerful.  Listen to the scriptures Luke has already given us about the name of Jesus. 

Luke 1:30-31  But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.

Acts 2:38   Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3:6   Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."

Acts 3:16  By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see

Acts 4:30  Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

Acts 16:18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.

There is power in the name; JESUS! 

How does this help us figure out why the seven sons of Sceva exorcism failed?  Here is what the Ephesians figured out.  The name of Jesus is so powerful that he cannot be controlled.  This magic which used a being’s name to manipulate it into doing the magician’s will, doesn’t work on Jesus.  That is why the people of Ephesus were afraid of his name.  It is beyond anyone’s control.  The name of Jesus is above all names! 

Now watch what the people of Ephesus did once they realized Jesus was above any kind of magic.

Acts 19:17-19  When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.  Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds.  A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.

Some of the Ephesians, who had already believed in Jesus, now brought their magic paraphernalia, their fortune telling crystals, their tarot cards, their psychic hotline numbers, their Ouija boards; their New Age books, their channeling stuff, their talismans, their crystals and burned it all.  These believers suddenly changed their understanding from Jesus as a powerful spirit which could be manipulated to their own advantage; to Jesus as all powerful and we had better get in line with him! The name of Jesus is not a magic incantation to be used to do our will.  The name of Jesus is beyond control.

Interesting sidebar; listen to verse eighteen from the NRS.

NRS Acts 19:18 Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices.

Scholars believe this means they revealed the contents of their spells. According to their beliefs the potency of a spell was bound up in it secrecy, if it is divulged it becomes ineffective. They were not only confessing their involvement in magic but also in doing so rendering their spells powerless.

Luke says the value of the stuff they burned was “fifty thousand drachmas.” A drachma is roughly a day’s pay for an average worker, it is roughly one hundred thirty six years of income. They threw away all their stuff when they realized Jesus is not just another powerful being to be controlled by magic.  Jesus is Lord of All! 

That is the point of this sermon and where today’s question intersects our life.  What is the motivation behind magic? Magic’s purpose is to be in control.  We all kind of want to be in control of our own lives; don’t we?  “Here is the plan of my life.  I am going to do whatever I can to make it happen.”  I doubt very many of us have even an Oujia board… much less any real magic stuff.  But do we really trust Jesus to be in control of our lives.  Christianity is not like the pagan religions at all.  Christianity is not an attempt to get God to do our will or us being in charge or manipulating the world to get our way.  Rather, Christianity is all about faith.  It is all about our trust in the God who loves us dearly and guides to his glory.  Christianity is all about surrender of control to Jesus, who knows what is best.  That is the point of this sermon and the point of our lives; living in faith. 

There is one more history lesson we need to learn. It is the historical result of a group of people holding the name of Jesus in high regard, giving up their attempts at manipulating God and living in faith.   

Acts 19:20   In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.  
 
When we give up our attempts to impose our control upon Jesus and bring our lives under his control, guess what happens?  We become his witnesses and his word spreads and grows in power! 

Los Alamos Church of Christ
August 17, 2008