Book Burning

Acts 19:17-20

Recently I have heard the phrase "book burning" used many times. In this case, the term is used figuratively. A Christian author wrote a book challenging the transgender movements position on transitioning children to the opposite gender. One person complained to Target and they removed the book from their shelves. The decision was reversed when a lot of people complained about this "book burning".

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And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. 19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

Acts 19:17-20

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There was a time in America when Christians burned books. Then, a counter movement argued that this was a violation of the First Amendment and was bad. Christians gave up their position on destroying evil and immoral books. Also, there were accounts of some moral or neutral books being burned in the fray of passionate activism. The whole concept became vilified.

So, what about our text above? Did the people in this text do evil? Absolutely not! There are some lessons we can take away from this text. These are important lessons that Christians need to readopt in American society.

First, there was a commitment to Christ. Verse 17 says that "the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified". That means His name was "made great or powerful". This is not an arbitrary magnification, but rather the name of Jesus was magnified in the hearts and minds of the Ephesians. It is impossible to magnify the name of Jesus in your mind and heart and not commit to Him. If there is not commitment, then there is no magnification.

We see in verse 18 that they began to demonstrate their faith. We see that they "came", "confessed", and "shewed". I have said this a lot lately, but we must come together. That is what church means; "an assembly". Then they confessed. Jesus said, "Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God" (Luke 12:8). Finally they "shewed". James said "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).

In verse 19, we see the abandonment of evil practices. That is the significance of the book burning. It was a commitment to turn away from (repent) from their witchcraft. When they burned their books, during a time when books were much harder to come by, they were demonstrating just how serious they were to breaking from this practice.

Finally, in verse 20, we see that Godly influence increased. When people commit to Jesus, and completely remove sin, Godly influence increased in Ephesus. This means that lost people took note. These Christians made a difference in their culture. It was undeniable.

If you continue to read in Acts 19, this change in the culture drew so much attention that it led to a riot. The world fought this change with all they had. Evil was not happy and it took a stand. The Christians were persecuted. However, persecution never kills the gospel. It actually tends to spread the gospel more and more people come to faith in Christ. So, we must do as the Ephesians. We must "come", "confess" and "show" just like the Ephesians.

Father, magnify your name in my life. Give me faith to stand and confess no matter the cost. I pray that people would be saved by the power of your word.