All of Life, All for Christ

In the Spring of 52 AD, Paul first visited the town of Ephesus. He was there on his second missionary journey. And he came into this incredible city that had one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the temple to Diana, whom they said the statue fell from heaven, and she was enshrined. Her statue was enshrined in this magnificent temple.

None of that temple is left to this day. Just a couple of pillars remained from that temple.

He goes there in the spring of 52. He brings with him a wonderful couple that he had met in Corinth. And we like this couple for one reason. Their names rhyme, and they’re just cute– Aquilla and Priscilla. They had been tentmakers. They were Jewish. They had lived in Rome at one time.

But Claudius, the emperor, kicked all the Jews out of Rome. (Acts 18) So Aquilla and his wife Priscilla, who were tentmakers, left Rome and came to the city of Corinth, where they met Paul the apostle. And they became friends with Paul because Paul’s trade also was that of a tentmaker. So they became close. They joined a partnership with Paul. They heard the gospel from Paul. They were born again because of Paul’s ministry in Corinth.

But later on, Paul went to Ephesus on his way back to Antioch of Syria at the end of his second missionary journey. And when he went to Ephesus, he brought with him Aquila and Priscilla. And Paul went into the synagogue. They asked him to stay longer. He said, no, I’ve got to get back to where I’m going before the feast.

He left Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus, and it seems like the church was started in Ephesus because of the ministry of Paul ministering to Aquilla and Priscilla, who probably planted the church themselves in Ephesus. Now, that’s just a guess. I may be wrong. It could be that Aquilla and Priscilla were there, and somebody else came to town, and Aquila and Priscilla got close to him. And it could be that the church started from this guy by the name of Apollos.

Apollos is a Jewish man who comes to Ephesus. He’s mighty in word, mighty in the scriptures. He was quite intelligent. He could prove that Jesus was the Christ.

But he only knew the gospel up to the baptism of John. So though he was powerful and mighty, he didn’t quite have all the information. So Aquila and Priscilla, who were mentored by Paul, took Apollos aside and trained him more completely in the ways of God.

So it could be that the church in Ephesus was started through Apollos and Aquila and Priscilla. We really don’t know if Paul in his second missionary journey began the church or just left this couple there, and then they got together with Apollos. But we do know that when Paul comes back on his third missionary journey, he comes to Ephesus.

He meets with the disciples. There’s not very many at that time, only about 12 believers in Christ. He meets with them, and he said to them– because he evidently, in looking at their lives, noticed something was lacking. Something was missing, maybe joy, maybe peace, some fruit of the spirit. Something was lacking.

And so Paul said, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said, Holy Spirit? We haven’t even heard that term. We don’t even know– We don’t even know what the Holy Spirit is.

So Paul went on to explain to them the rest of the story that had been left out by Apollos, evidently. And then we discover that Paul saw ministry opportunity in Ephesus, and he decided to stay there for at least two years, probably a total of three years, two of which he taught in the school of Tyrannis. He taught the scriptures every day so that all of those who dwelt in that province of Asia, ancient Asia Minor, all those who lived in that province heard the gospel.

So Ephesus sort of became Paul’s new home, new headquarters, for about three years. Now, while Paul was in Ephesus and he was sharing the gospel and building up the church, it was successful. It was fruitful, but it was also dangerous because as I said, the main object of people’s worship was whom?

Diana, Diana of the Ephesians, this multi-breasted figure that they worshiped in this temple. And there was quite a trade going on in that city where Demetrius, the head of the silversmith guild, was in charge of making little figurines and selling them off to people who would buy them and place them in their homes. Well, when Paul goes to the city and spends a few years there, the gospel spreads.

It is very effective. He’s very fruitful. More and more people are coming to Christ.

The silversmith business was losing income. People weren’t buying these idols anymore because they’re coming to a revelation of who the true God is. So this caused a problem, and a riot will break out in Ephesus where the whole town rushes into the theater.

By the way, that theater can still be seen in Ephesus today. In its original grandeur, it could seat 25,000 people in ancient Ephesus. 25,000 people from that town could pile in there and see a play or a concert or whatever.

But the whole town rushed into the theater and cried out on one particular occasion for two hours. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

And Paul wanted to go in there. He thought, great. I have an audience. God made it easy. I’m going to go in there and preach the gospel. And some of the brothers said, no, you’re not. They’re going to rip you limb from limb. And they prevented Paul from doing that.

So Paul stayed there. A work was accomplished there. It was a very divided town because of their worship of Diana. Eventually, Paul will leave, and Paul will go back to Jerusalem, where he’s going to be arrested– you know the story– and then taken to Rome.

When he is at the end of his journey on his way back to Jerusalem, the last meeting that he has in Ephesus doesn’t take place in Ephesus, but it takes place on the shores of Miletus. Miletus is about 10 miles away from Ephesus. It was right on the coast. Paul didn’t want to go inland.

Paul met with the Ephesian elders, Acts chapter 20 on the shores of Miletus. And he said, you know, I’m going to Jerusalem. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me there. The Holy Spirit testifies wherever I go. Chains and tribulation await me. None of these things move me. Neither do I count my life dear unto myself because I want to finish my course with joy in the ministry that I have been given by the Holy Spirit.

And then Paul says, I know that I’m never going to see your faces ever again. At that, the elders of Ephesus started weeping, hugging Paul because they heard that Paul is leaving and seems like he’s never going to return. He’s walking into the lion’s den.

He’s walking into– going to Jerusalem, and he even says the prophecies say that– not going to be good, but I don’t care. I’m going anyway. So Paul leaves, goes to Jerusalem, gets arrested, spends a couple of years in Caesarea, is taken as a prisoner to Rome.

When he is in Rome, he is placed under house arrest. And that means that for two years, he was chained day and night to a guard. He had his own house. So he had his own, like, little apartment. People could come in and see him, but he couldn’t leave. He is chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day, and they were doing it in shifts, which I’ve always thought was fascinating because can you imagine being chained to the apostle Paul?

Do you think you’re going to hear about Jesus? Do you think you’re going to get the gospel? Yeah, not only did they get the gospel, but many of those guards that were chained to Paul, because they were indeed a captive audience, came to Christ.

And so when Paul writes one of the letters from that prison, Philippians, he said, all of the members of Caesar’s household, even in my chains, greet you. So some of these elite soldiers who were the Praetorian guards, they were in the royal household, had come to Christ. While Paul was in Rome for two years, he wrote four letters– Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

This is the first of the prison letters written by Paul during those two years to the church that he loved, to the elders that wept with him when he left. It’s a church Paul was very fond of. Evidently, Paul prayed for them often, as you will read in the first chapter.