Crowd Momentum

The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. This was the scene in Acts 19 in Ephesus. Ephesus, ancient Greek city of Asia Minor, was a leading seaport of the region. Its wealth was proverbial. The Greek city was also near an old center of worship of a native nature goddess (Artemis). These two city foundations – economy and religion – were the "justification" for the riot.

The passages tell us that Paul was speaking boldly, and performing miracles. A local businessman, Demetrius, was concerned about his business – silver crafts and statues (miniature idols). The “business of religion” was in danger because of the true Way of Christianity. Demetrius said:

Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.

Demetrius begins by inciting his fellow businessmen. Bad news travels fast. Note that the passage says, “Soon the whole city was in an uproar.”

Amazingly, we’re not really different culturally from the people of Ephesus almost 2000 years ago. Have you ever had something similar occur at your church? Leading people through change can be difficult. Vested interests get in the way of what God wants to accomplish. How does this occur? Satan’s attack begins with a few individuals. In this case, he used Demetrius. Convergence theory holds that crowd behavior is not a product of the crowd itself, but is carried into the crowd by particular individuals. Where have we seen this occur before?

• At the trial of Jesus, Matthew 27:20 records that “the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.”
• We saw this occur on one of Paul’s earlier journey’s in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:50). “But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.”

There is a lesson here for 3 groups:

1. To the “inciters”, don’t allow yourself to be used as a instrument of Satan to hamper God’s work.
2. To those in the crowd, note Exodus 23:2 and “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.” Taking it one step further, be an encourager to the leadership and come alongside to assist in doing good and what is right.
3. For leaders, follow Paul’s example as he followed the words of Christ in the Gospels, “if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.”

I had the privilege of attending the Creative Pastors Conference 2007 last year. Regarding critics against the work of the Lord and the church, Ed Young made the following remarks, “If you face criticism, ask the question ‘Is it true?’ If yes, then change; if not, move on or it will mess you up … Have a funeral in your mind for negative people.”

As a church, encourage one another in the work of our Lord, Jesus Christ.