Using the Methods of God, Part 1

In this part of the sermon: Martin reviews previous sermons on the background of Ephesus, its people, and Paul's labors, setting the stage for the question of how such a heathen city was transformed. He…

The great bonfire of magical books in Ephesus (Acts) illustrates the city's deep entanglement in the occult, making its transformation by the gospel all the more remarkable and relevant to contemporary rises in astrology and black arts.

At last, Lord's Day morning, we are spending several weeks looking into the background of the formation of the church at Ephesus in order that our study in a verse-by-verse, phrase-by-phrase manner of that letter might in some manner be enriched as we understand a little bit more of the church to which that great epistle came. Thus far, we have looked at the city and its people, particularly noting what the letter to the Ephesians itself reveals about the people to whom it came. What were they like before the gospel came to them? And such phrases as these are found in the epistle itself withou...

0:03 - 1:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He challenges contemporary evangelical approaches that mimic worldly attractions (e.g., grand buildings, rock music, choreography) to gain a hearing, contrasting them with Paul's…

Paul considering building a grander temple than Diana's to attract people is an analogy for the modern philosophy of using impressive buildings to draw people to church, which Martin rejects as unbiblical.

Now, what are you going to do to get a hearing? Well, maybe Paul ought to go down to the temple and as he sees people coming from all over the world to see this that was one of the great wonders of the then known world, maybe you ought to think this way. Well, it's obvious that the beauty and the grandeur of this many-columned temple is that which attracts people to its worship. If we're going to get people attracted to the worship of the temple, which is the true and the living God, why don't we try to outdo them and build a fancier temple?

11:10 - 11:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He challenges contemporary evangelical approaches that mimic worldly attractions (e.g., grand buildings, rock music, choreography) to gain a hearing, contrasting them with Paul's…

Paul considering adopting Diana worship's musical patterns and 'temple priestesses' (harlots) is an analogy for modern churches using rock music and choreography to appeal to contemporary youth, which Martin condemns as compromising the gospel.

So he analyzes their form of worship. And he says, well, they have a certain musical pattern that they employ and they have these temple priestesses who were nothing but temple harlots and prostitutes. And if we're going to get a hearing for our message, we've got to take their musical patterns and maybe have a line of Christian chorus girls. I mean, you've got to meet people where they are and if people come attracted there, by these temple priestesses.

12:39 - 13:11 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He challenges contemporary evangelical approaches that mimic worldly attractions (e.g., grand buildings, rock music, choreography) to gain a hearing, contrasting them with Paul's…

Martin recounts seeing a 'great Christian leader' on television with 'miniskirted girls bouncing up and down' with 'semi-Christian talk,' serving as a concrete example of the worldly methods he criticizes.

There's one great Christian leader who actually has his own little choreography arrangement with his little miniskirted girls bouncing up and down and around, floating some kind of semi-Christian talk. I've seen it with my own eyes. On the television. That's the philosophy some would say.

13:46 - 14:04 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines Paul's first principle: seizing every legitimate platform for uncompromising communication. He highlights Paul's confidence in his message and his singular focus…

The term 'Corinthianized' to describe deep wickedness illustrates the depravity of Corinth, where Paul's message still transformed lives, reinforcing his confidence in the gospel's power when he came to Ephesus.

He had been to that town so noted for its wickedness, so reputed for its ungodliness, that when you wanted to describe somebody who'd really sunk to the depths, you said he had been Corinthianized. And in that very place, that cesspool of filth and ungodliness and heathen worship, he came determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ and intrusiveness, Christ and intrusified. He left the philosophers shaking their heads, saying that poor dolt, that silly little Jew, all he preaches about is his Jesus and the God who sent him and the blood of his cross, foolishness. The Jews over there saying th...

16:11 - 17:27 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines Paul's first principle: seizing every legitimate platform for uncompromising communication. He highlights Paul's confidence in his message and his singular focus…

Paul's 'fixation on one part of the anatomy of every individual he saw'—their ears—is a metaphor for his singular focus on verbal communication of the gospel, contrasting with worldly fixations like pocketbooks.

And I've said on other occasions, Paul had a fixation on one part of the anatomy of every individual he saw. Unlike the businessman whose fixation is on your pocketbook, and unlike someone else whose fixation may be elsewhere, his fixation was right there at people's ears. And the moment he came to Ephesus, he was jealous to know, how can I get those ears? How can I get those ears?

17:42 - 18:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Seize every legitimate platform for an uncompromising, unaccommodating communication of the message of grace, especially seeking out groups already convinced of scriptural truth (like 'synagogues').

Two hypothetical men in the congregation—one a product of humanism, the other convinced of creation and accountability to God—illustrate how a person's foundational beliefs (or lack thereof) affect their receptivity to the gospel message.

You perhaps came through those doors this morning without any deep-seated conviction as to the reality of the doctrine of creation. Maybe you believe the lie that has been fostered upon our own generation under the guise of scientific fact that you are simply the highest expression of those brute forces that express themselves in the evolutionary process. If so, when you do wrong and you have twinges of conscience you merely look upon that as some kind of hang-up you've picked up along the way in the process of evolution. But if you came through those doors convinced that you are a creature ma...

22:06 - 23:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Seize every legitimate platform for an uncompromising, unaccommodating communication of the message of grace, especially seeking out groups already convinced of scriptural truth (like 'synagogues').

The synagogue is described as a 'potential incubator for future elders' due to the attendees' background in Old Testament scriptures, illustrating Paul's strategic thinking in seeking out those most prepared for leadership.

and dread of his judgment when I tell you Christ died for sinners to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself I'm preaching good news to you. Because you see there's a structure of thought which makes the reception of the gospel far more likely. Now, Paul recognized that and so he would go immediately to the synagogue wherever possible in the church in order to proclaim the message in that situation which was most likely to yield proper fruit. Secondly, he also knew because of the third point that we'll get to God willing next week that if a church was to be established there would have to be ...

23:35 - 24:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For those who do not think it fit to hear their pastor's voice except in the church building, and moreover who cannot bear to be warned and reproved at home, no, and fiercely reject such warning as a necessary function, …

A lengthy quote from John Calvin's commentary on Acts 20:20 is used to support the interpretation of 'house to house' ministry as individual admonition and to challenge congregants who resist personal spiritual counsel from their pastors.

Now, you can't do that in the synagogue, every one. Any more than I can say, if my only contact with you people was here in this public building, I could not say I admonished every one of you with tears. I could use the general term of the plural, I admonished all of you. There has to be, there has to be an individual contact and I believe this house-to-house has reference not primarily to what may be a legitimate form of evangelism, a systematic house-to-house campaign, but rather he's underscoring the principle that in his communication of the message there was not only public communal commu...

34:05 - 35:30 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The principle involved is the recognition coming from the pen of this very man that God has ordained by the foolishness of preaching or the foolishness of the thing preached to accomplish His mighty work of grace in the …

Extended quotes from Lenski's commentary on 1 Corinthians 1 are used to elaborate on God's deliberate choice of the 'silliness of preaching' to expose the futility of worldly wisdom and to emphasize God's non-accommodation to human thought.

Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching or the thing preached to save them that believe. There are some very precious thoughts on this passage in Lenski's commentary and I want to share several of them with you.

45:09 - 45:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not philosophize or philanthropize as the primary means of addressing societal problems; instead, focus on the simple, powerful proclamation of the message of God.

The presence of individuals in the congregation who were once bound by drug culture, lechery, or confusion but are now liberated and at peace, serves as a living 'monument to the power of God's silliness' (preaching).

Sitting here this morning, there are monuments to the power of God's silliness. Some of you enmeshed in the very problems that send our sociologists reeling. Some of you bound in the drug culture. Others of you were bound in the culture of lechery that is emerging in our own day.

51:14 - 51:33 Read in full sermon