Good News from Stony Creek Church of Christ

Burning down the competition

In Acts 19:18-20, Paul was in Ephesus, preaching and teaching, when something incredible happened. It says “many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”

Don’t gloss over this. Here you have this town of people who found Christ. And when they found out that what they lived their life by was not compatible with Christ, they all came together, collected this big stack of magic books, piled them up, and burned them.

First notice that those books were worth 50,000 pieces of silver (or Greek drachmas). The drachma was equivalent to the Roman denarius (one day’s wage). These books totaled 50,000 days (140 years) worth of wages. That is between 8 and 16 million dollars in today’s wages. Would it impress you to see someone set fire to 16 million dollars because they realized something was not compatible with Christ?

Also, think about what they used these books for. Luke suggests they were “magic books,” but people turned to these books for guidance. When they had emotional and psychological issues, they would go to their library, open these books, and say, “Here’s the solution for me!” These were books they lived life by. They realized these things did not matter and were insufficient. Now they had the word of God. Notice after they burned these books it says, “the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”

Here are the questions for us. What do we need to burn? What do we find guidance in that we need to eliminate from our lives, because they are not compatible with Christ so that the Word can grow and prevail?

Human creeds & catechisms

Creeds are man-made statements of belief written by people to summarize what they believe about God, faith, or doctrine. They are essentially man-made summaries of their religious teachings and practices. Catechisms are similar to creeds, in that they are man-made books that summarize their Church’s faith, teachings, and practices. Yet, they are not necessary and very often incompatible with scripture.

The bible says scripture is inspired (breathed out) by God, not man. Scripture, not creeds, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Scripture completes and equips us for every good work God has asked us to do (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Traditions & customs

Jesus teaches that tradition(s) (customs) are not authoritative (Mark 7:1-13). Essentially, Jesus is asked by the Jewish leaders, “Why are you not doing things the way we have always done them and following the ‘traditions of the Elders’?” (Mark 7:5). Essentially, Jesus responds by asking in several different ways, “Why are you following your traditions and not the word of God?” (Mark 7:8, 9, 13).

We are bound to have traditions, but when traditions contradict the word of God, scripture should always prevail. Honestly, the winds of tradition(s) could blow all over the place from generation to generation, but scripture will never change. The only tradition we should stand firm and hold on to is that of the apostles, written in the inspired scriptures (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

Preferences & good intentions

Anytime we say, “God will love this … This is a good thing … This feels right … I know God would want this …” we need to be careful. There is no way to know unless God tells us that is what He wants. How can we know God (or anything about God, for that matter) unless He tells us? (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). Or when we say “I want this or that … in a church … in a religion … or in a worship service” let us remember we are here to worship and serve God, not ourselves. Let me challenge you to study to show yourself approved and rightly divide the word (2 Timothy 2:15). Let’s think more in terms of what God says He wants and has asked from us.

That is just a short list and not comprehensive. Yet, the people in Ephesus did not compromise. They did not hold on to these books “just in case.” They did not say “There are some good things in there” – they burned what competed with the truth to the ground. And when they did, “the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”

How about us? What do we need to “burn”?

Visitors are welcome and valued. We meet at 15530 Herriman Blvd., Noblesville. Our phone number is (463) 287-0664. We meet for Sunday morning Bible Study at 10 a.m. and have classes for all ages. Worship begins at 11 a.m. and we have a Bible Study Wednesdays at 7 p.m. A warm welcome awaits!