Acts 19
26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesusand in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 27 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.”
What Paul did when he preached against idolatry was to expose people to the real idols of our life. It is still rampant today. We grew up that way – we worship the gods to get our ultimate god – MONEY, POWER, FAME, CONTROL.
I remember growing up in a home full of man made idols. From Buddha, Santo Nino, 8 gods of China, Jesus on the crucifix. We were actually a very religious family literally. You can go to a particular room in our house and worship a god. But I do remember why we had all this gods. We wanted more money and blessings.
When Paul was preaching against the god Artemis, the traders knew it will affect their business which means they might close shop if people converted to Christianity. Why? Because it’s all about the money. They tried to discredit Paul not because Paul was wrong but because Paul was messing up their business.
You see Jesus will mess up your business. If He comes into your life, He meddles with what you have. He wants complete surrender. He wants to be the Lord of your life. He wants you.
One more thing. As Christians sometimes we have a tendency just to change our gods or convert to Christianity and just change our terminologies but still end up worshipping money.
That is why you have to ask yourself, ” Do you worship Jesus to get money? or do you worship Jesus with your money?”