Acts 19:17-20 - Religion, Irreligion, and the Gospel: How the Gospel Overcomes Addictions
Hey Everyone,
Please find attached a sermon I wrote on Acts 19:17-20.
Acts 19: 17-20 - Religion, Irreligion, and the Gospel
How the Gospel Overcomes Addictions
Martin Young
February 27, 2011
Acts 19:17-20 [ESV] 17 ... And fear fell upon them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
In July last year (2010), Terry Jones, the Pastor of Dove World Outreach Center announced “International Burn a Koran Day” to be commemorated on September 11th. Given that Jones led a small congregation of only 50 members or so, Jones’ proclamation probably did not deserve much intention. But, the media grabbed hold of it and in a Wall Street Journal Article, General Petraeus condemned the planned event, worried that such actions would jeopardize the lives of American Soldiers by inciting the Taliban and other enemies of the United States. Thus, in early September 2010, this little known sect in Florida had ignited an international firestorm, as protests began erupting all over the Moslem World. Fortunately, through a large public response, from both the religious and secular, Jones called off the event. But, emotions ran high in the Middle East and during protests in Afghanistan, 3 Afghanis were killed. Perhaps, some of you saw the impact of Jones’ stunt firsthand in Afghanistan.
Why would Jones do such a thing? Well, to use Jones’ own words: “What we are doing, you actually find in the Bible. In Acts 19:19. As the people converted to Christianity, they brought books, books of magic they brought books that they felt were damaging, dangerous and they burnt those books.”
Is this what the Bible says? No. Jones’ exegesis of the Acts text is poor. Those who formerly practiced sorcery and accepted Christ, confessed their evil deeds, and then burned their own books, books they already had owned. They did not go out and spend the astronomical sum of 50,000 pieces of silver to buy books to burn, like Jones was planning to do. Amongst Biblical objections to Jones’ plan was his misuse and appropriation of Church money. In any regards, this incident is very helpful to us in helping us understand the Acts text and the nature of Religion, Irreligion and the Gospel.
Jones’ religion follows the typical pattern of Religion, which is governed by an underlying theology that works like this:
1. Sacrifice: In order to meet God, I must offer up some sort of a sacrifice.
2. Righteousness: This sacrifice makes me acceptable to God.
3. Relationship: Once I am acceptable to God, I will encounter Him.
For example, in Jones’ case, his view is that the Koran is “full of lies” and that so it should be burned, thus offering up a sacrifice to God. Doing this makes him acceptable to God and thus able to encounter him. This is the pattern of Man’s Religion.
The Religious person must sacrifice something in order to make himself acceptable to God and so able to meet Him. Thus, Religious conflict is easily traced to different flavors of how one Sacrifices, becomes Righteous, and enters into Relationship with God. In extreme forms, this is the theology of the suicide bomber, such as the terrorists that took down the World Trade Center. The suicide bomber sacrifices his life to obtain a sort of perfection and then meet the divine. In ordinary forms, we see Religion in everyday behavior, as people sacrifice their time, resources, and relationships to justify themselves before their gods.
Irreligion looks at Religion as foolishness. Atheists and Agnostics look at Jones and the spectrum of Religious responses as idiocy. To a great degree, Irreligion is right. Man’s attempts to reach for God fail, time and time again, with expensive and sometimes tragic consequences. As a result, after failing to meet the true God on their own terms, Religious people generally settle for made up gods that simply project their own fallen desires or become Irreligious people. Sophisticated Atheists and Agnostics see the scam of man’s Religion for what it is.
Within the framework of Religion, Religion and Irreligion have equal and opposite points of view. The only difference is that the Religious believe that Religion works and the Irreligious believe that Religion does not work. However, whether Religious or Irreligious, all of us are Religious to various degrees… depending on who or what we perceive our god to be. We know this because of the sacrifices we offer daily to appease our own personal gods, which are idols and the fallen desires of our hearts, which are also idols.
Some of the most Religious people I know are addicts. The Bible teaches us that “covetousness is idolatry,” [Col 3:5] covetousness in all its forms. We covet those things that satisfy the desires of our fallen hearts, the things that we raise up as idols and our own personal gods. Because we desire these idols, God gives us over to our desires and we become addicted, sacrificing our time, resources and relationships to appease our addictions. Here is a common list of addictions in four categories:
1. Greed Addictions, for example shopping, gambling, or workaholism
2. Sex Addictions, such as pornography, promiscuity, homosexuality, and other unhealthy infatuations
3. Substance Addictions like drug, alcohol, or even food addictions
4. Adrenaline Addictions
a. Some people are addicted to anger or even hatred.
b. Others are addicted to the rush of reckless behaviors
c. Some engage in destructive behaviors like cutting, extreme body art, etc.
Every addiction follows the pattern of Religion. I must sacrifice my time, resources, and relationships to make myself ready to meet my fallen god. For example, the alcoholic will sacrifice his marriage, his job, and his health in order to meet the god of his heart. The workaholic will sacrifice his marriage, family, and health to satisfy his god of work. In New York City, my general experience is that the question isn’t so much about whether or not you have an addiction, it’s a question of how many do you have?
The Religion that governs addiction is powerful. Addictions have real power and the addict is powerless to break it because the addictions are intimately connected to the fallen condition of his heart. As a result, many addicts in their “state of sin and misery” will pursue all sorts of other Religions to try to break the bindings of addiction, often even pursuing other addictions, as they pursue other false gods. For example, it’s not uncommon for a workaholic to become an alcoholic, as their family falls apart. And so, these attempts at Religion will fail because the addict, like every other human being, is unable to make him or herself acceptable to the true God. So, the pattern of getting back on and falling back off the wagon doesn’t only continue but increases in ferocity as the addiction’s power manifests greater hold on the miserable addict. Thus, miserable, frustrated addicts are also some of the most Irreligious people I know, as they bounce back and forth between Religion and Irreligion, trying to break the bonds of the addiction.
This powerlessness is real, for example notice the first of the 12 Steps in alcoholics anonymous:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
However, then the next steps in the 12 Step Program falls back into the pattern of Religion, for example:
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
In other words, here is a solution to my problem. And, for those interested, I would advise examining the 12 Steps against the Ordo Salutis, the Order of Salvation… so that you can see it for what it really is…
Anyway, Religion is what we, as fallen human beings turn to solve our problems, whether temporal or eternal, or whether material or spiritual. And so, its no surprise many addictions are rampant in our culture, as are all sorts of Religious and Irreligious solutions to solve them, the approaches of which are also generally fallen.
What is the solution? The solution for the problem of Religion and Irreligion is the Gospel.
Recall, that the typical pattern of Religion is:
1. Sacrifice
2. Righteousness
3. Relationship
Irreligion observes man’s Religion and simply says that it doesn’t work. Then, there is Gospel. Gospel is the reverse order of Religion.
1. Relationship: Through Jesus Christ, God enters into a relationship with me as I am, full of sin and unclean in every aspect of my life.
2. Righteousness: Through Jesus Christ, God makes me Righteous in every aspect, by taking the blame for my sin, paying the debt of my sin, and covering over my sin with His own blood so that it is remembered no more.
3. Sacrifice: Through Jesus Christ, I sacrifice my fallen idols and those things that led me to sin, in loving response to what God through Jesus Christ has done for me.
This is the pattern in the Acts 19 text and throughout the entirety of the Bible:
1. Relationship: Christ is exalted and fear falls upon all those in Ephesus, both Jew and Greek [Acts 19:17] as they enter in the presence of God through Jesus Christ.
2. Righteousness: Because Christ atoned for their sin and made them Righteous in every aspect, they no longer atone for their own sin and thus Righteously confess and divulge their evil practices [Acts 19:18], as proof of the Righteousness through Christ alone.
3. Sacrifice: And so now those who Christ has made Righteous sacrifice those things that caused them to sin and so stop practicing their magic arts and burn their books as a whole burnt offering up to the Lord [Acts 19:18].
This is the Gospel. By definition, the Gospel is at conflict with Religion, which is a perversion of the Gospel. Religion is a false gospel operating directly opposite to the true Gospel. This is why man’s Religion generally doesn’t work, other than perhaps as a Placebo Effect, as the Irreligious astutely observe.
But, then you say, how do I grasp hold of this Gospel in my state of sin and misery? Well, the Good News is that God, condescended Himself to Man. God, in fact, through Jesus Christ, endured the humiliation of man’s Religion by redeeming us through the wretched curse of the cross.
1. Sacrifice: Jesus Christ offered Himself up as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of God due to us for our sin.
2. Righteousness: Jesus Christ’s death on the cross makes us Righteous, by taking the blame for our sin, paying the debt our sin, and covering over our sin with His own blood so that it is remembered no more.
3. Relationship: Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, did these things so that we may have relationship with the true, Triune God.
Thus, now it is obvious to see why Gospel works:
1. Relationship: Through Jesus Christ, God enters into a relationship with me as I am, full of sin and unclean in every aspect of my life.
2. Righteousness: Through Jesus Christ, God makes me Righteous in every aspect, by taking the blame for my sin, paying the debt of my sin, and covering over my sin with His own blood so that it is remembered no more.
3. Sacrifice: Through Jesus Christ, I sacrifice my fallen idols and those things that led me to sin, in loving response to what God through Jesus Christ has done for me.
How do I grasp hold of the Gospel? Focus on Jesus Christ and Him alone as He is offered in the Gospels, crucified on the wretched cross.
1 John 4:2-3: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
If you come to believe that Jesus Christ is God come in human flesh, crucified on the cross for your sin, then the Spirit of God is operating in you and you are beginning the Gospel filled life, made free from the bondages of Man’s Religion and Irreligion. And so, as the former sorcerers did in Acts 19, we extol the Word of the Lord, which is Jesus Christ, and increase and prevail mightily over the highly addictive bondages of sin leading to death in this life and the next.
Please find attached a sermon I wrote on Acts 19:17-20.
Acts 19: 17-20 - Religion, Irreligion, and the Gospel
How the Gospel Overcomes Addictions
Martin Young
February 27, 2011
Acts 19:17-20 [ESV] 17 ... And fear fell upon them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
In July last year (2010), Terry Jones, the Pastor of Dove World Outreach Center announced “International Burn a Koran Day” to be commemorated on September 11th. Given that Jones led a small congregation of only 50 members or so, Jones’ proclamation probably did not deserve much intention. But, the media grabbed hold of it and in a Wall Street Journal Article, General Petraeus condemned the planned event, worried that such actions would jeopardize the lives of American Soldiers by inciting the Taliban and other enemies of the United States. Thus, in early September 2010, this little known sect in Florida had ignited an international firestorm, as protests began erupting all over the Moslem World. Fortunately, through a large public response, from both the religious and secular, Jones called off the event. But, emotions ran high in the Middle East and during protests in Afghanistan, 3 Afghanis were killed. Perhaps, some of you saw the impact of Jones’ stunt firsthand in Afghanistan.
Why would Jones do such a thing? Well, to use Jones’ own words: “What we are doing, you actually find in the Bible. In Acts 19:19. As the people converted to Christianity, they brought books, books of magic they brought books that they felt were damaging, dangerous and they burnt those books.”
Is this what the Bible says? No. Jones’ exegesis of the Acts text is poor. Those who formerly practiced sorcery and accepted Christ, confessed their evil deeds, and then burned their own books, books they already had owned. They did not go out and spend the astronomical sum of 50,000 pieces of silver to buy books to burn, like Jones was planning to do. Amongst Biblical objections to Jones’ plan was his misuse and appropriation of Church money. In any regards, this incident is very helpful to us in helping us understand the Acts text and the nature of Religion, Irreligion and the Gospel.
Jones’ religion follows the typical pattern of Religion, which is governed by an underlying theology that works like this:
1. Sacrifice: In order to meet God, I must offer up some sort of a sacrifice.
2. Righteousness: This sacrifice makes me acceptable to God.
3. Relationship: Once I am acceptable to God, I will encounter Him.
For example, in Jones’ case, his view is that the Koran is “full of lies” and that so it should be burned, thus offering up a sacrifice to God. Doing this makes him acceptable to God and thus able to encounter him. This is the pattern of Man’s Religion.
The Religious person must sacrifice something in order to make himself acceptable to God and so able to meet Him. Thus, Religious conflict is easily traced to different flavors of how one Sacrifices, becomes Righteous, and enters into Relationship with God. In extreme forms, this is the theology of the suicide bomber, such as the terrorists that took down the World Trade Center. The suicide bomber sacrifices his life to obtain a sort of perfection and then meet the divine. In ordinary forms, we see Religion in everyday behavior, as people sacrifice their time, resources, and relationships to justify themselves before their gods.
Irreligion looks at Religion as foolishness. Atheists and Agnostics look at Jones and the spectrum of Religious responses as idiocy. To a great degree, Irreligion is right. Man’s attempts to reach for God fail, time and time again, with expensive and sometimes tragic consequences. As a result, after failing to meet the true God on their own terms, Religious people generally settle for made up gods that simply project their own fallen desires or become Irreligious people. Sophisticated Atheists and Agnostics see the scam of man’s Religion for what it is.
Within the framework of Religion, Religion and Irreligion have equal and opposite points of view. The only difference is that the Religious believe that Religion works and the Irreligious believe that Religion does not work. However, whether Religious or Irreligious, all of us are Religious to various degrees… depending on who or what we perceive our god to be. We know this because of the sacrifices we offer daily to appease our own personal gods, which are idols and the fallen desires of our hearts, which are also idols.
Some of the most Religious people I know are addicts. The Bible teaches us that “covetousness is idolatry,” [Col 3:5] covetousness in all its forms. We covet those things that satisfy the desires of our fallen hearts, the things that we raise up as idols and our own personal gods. Because we desire these idols, God gives us over to our desires and we become addicted, sacrificing our time, resources and relationships to appease our addictions. Here is a common list of addictions in four categories:
1. Greed Addictions, for example shopping, gambling, or workaholism
2. Sex Addictions, such as pornography, promiscuity, homosexuality, and other unhealthy infatuations
3. Substance Addictions like drug, alcohol, or even food addictions
4. Adrenaline Addictions
a. Some people are addicted to anger or even hatred.
b. Others are addicted to the rush of reckless behaviors
c. Some engage in destructive behaviors like cutting, extreme body art, etc.
Every addiction follows the pattern of Religion. I must sacrifice my time, resources, and relationships to make myself ready to meet my fallen god. For example, the alcoholic will sacrifice his marriage, his job, and his health in order to meet the god of his heart. The workaholic will sacrifice his marriage, family, and health to satisfy his god of work. In New York City, my general experience is that the question isn’t so much about whether or not you have an addiction, it’s a question of how many do you have?
The Religion that governs addiction is powerful. Addictions have real power and the addict is powerless to break it because the addictions are intimately connected to the fallen condition of his heart. As a result, many addicts in their “state of sin and misery” will pursue all sorts of other Religions to try to break the bindings of addiction, often even pursuing other addictions, as they pursue other false gods. For example, it’s not uncommon for a workaholic to become an alcoholic, as their family falls apart. And so, these attempts at Religion will fail because the addict, like every other human being, is unable to make him or herself acceptable to the true God. So, the pattern of getting back on and falling back off the wagon doesn’t only continue but increases in ferocity as the addiction’s power manifests greater hold on the miserable addict. Thus, miserable, frustrated addicts are also some of the most Irreligious people I know, as they bounce back and forth between Religion and Irreligion, trying to break the bonds of the addiction.
This powerlessness is real, for example notice the first of the 12 Steps in alcoholics anonymous:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
However, then the next steps in the 12 Step Program falls back into the pattern of Religion, for example:
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
In other words, here is a solution to my problem. And, for those interested, I would advise examining the 12 Steps against the Ordo Salutis, the Order of Salvation… so that you can see it for what it really is…
Anyway, Religion is what we, as fallen human beings turn to solve our problems, whether temporal or eternal, or whether material or spiritual. And so, its no surprise many addictions are rampant in our culture, as are all sorts of Religious and Irreligious solutions to solve them, the approaches of which are also generally fallen.
What is the solution? The solution for the problem of Religion and Irreligion is the Gospel.
Recall, that the typical pattern of Religion is:
1. Sacrifice
2. Righteousness
3. Relationship
Irreligion observes man’s Religion and simply says that it doesn’t work. Then, there is Gospel. Gospel is the reverse order of Religion.
1. Relationship: Through Jesus Christ, God enters into a relationship with me as I am, full of sin and unclean in every aspect of my life.
2. Righteousness: Through Jesus Christ, God makes me Righteous in every aspect, by taking the blame for my sin, paying the debt of my sin, and covering over my sin with His own blood so that it is remembered no more.
3. Sacrifice: Through Jesus Christ, I sacrifice my fallen idols and those things that led me to sin, in loving response to what God through Jesus Christ has done for me.
This is the pattern in the Acts 19 text and throughout the entirety of the Bible:
1. Relationship: Christ is exalted and fear falls upon all those in Ephesus, both Jew and Greek [Acts 19:17] as they enter in the presence of God through Jesus Christ.
2. Righteousness: Because Christ atoned for their sin and made them Righteous in every aspect, they no longer atone for their own sin and thus Righteously confess and divulge their evil practices [Acts 19:18], as proof of the Righteousness through Christ alone.
3. Sacrifice: And so now those who Christ has made Righteous sacrifice those things that caused them to sin and so stop practicing their magic arts and burn their books as a whole burnt offering up to the Lord [Acts 19:18].
This is the Gospel. By definition, the Gospel is at conflict with Religion, which is a perversion of the Gospel. Religion is a false gospel operating directly opposite to the true Gospel. This is why man’s Religion generally doesn’t work, other than perhaps as a Placebo Effect, as the Irreligious astutely observe.
But, then you say, how do I grasp hold of this Gospel in my state of sin and misery? Well, the Good News is that God, condescended Himself to Man. God, in fact, through Jesus Christ, endured the humiliation of man’s Religion by redeeming us through the wretched curse of the cross.
1. Sacrifice: Jesus Christ offered Himself up as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of God due to us for our sin.
2. Righteousness: Jesus Christ’s death on the cross makes us Righteous, by taking the blame for our sin, paying the debt our sin, and covering over our sin with His own blood so that it is remembered no more.
3. Relationship: Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, did these things so that we may have relationship with the true, Triune God.
Thus, now it is obvious to see why Gospel works:
1. Relationship: Through Jesus Christ, God enters into a relationship with me as I am, full of sin and unclean in every aspect of my life.
2. Righteousness: Through Jesus Christ, God makes me Righteous in every aspect, by taking the blame for my sin, paying the debt of my sin, and covering over my sin with His own blood so that it is remembered no more.
3. Sacrifice: Through Jesus Christ, I sacrifice my fallen idols and those things that led me to sin, in loving response to what God through Jesus Christ has done for me.
How do I grasp hold of the Gospel? Focus on Jesus Christ and Him alone as He is offered in the Gospels, crucified on the wretched cross.
1 John 4:2-3: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
If you come to believe that Jesus Christ is God come in human flesh, crucified on the cross for your sin, then the Spirit of God is operating in you and you are beginning the Gospel filled life, made free from the bondages of Man’s Religion and Irreligion. And so, as the former sorcerers did in Acts 19, we extol the Word of the Lord, which is Jesus Christ, and increase and prevail mightily over the highly addictive bondages of sin leading to death in this life and the next.
Marty, I am just now reading this and love it. It reminds me of something Tim Keller would say (imagine that?).
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