Show Business at its Best!

Paul wrote the Corinthian Christians to inform them of his plans to stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” 1 Corinthians 16:9.

Ephesus was the capital of the Roman Province of Asia. It was a great luxurious city with its greatest claim to fame being the Temple of Diana (Artemis), one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The people were proud of the temple and it became a worship center for people of all faiths from many lands. It was a beautiful tourist attraction, visited by many who paid homage to Artemis in various forms. Its splendor also attracted multitudes of worshippers, though the worship there was egregiously corrupt. Among those who spent considerable time there were the professional exorcists. They were there to get rich by taking advantage of gullible believing people and to find new magical imposters and trickery to add to their repertoire of phony incantations. It was Show Business at its best!

There is something degrading about Churches and Christianity when it becomes show business. People who play games for show have no real love for their neighbor, the Church and no fear of God. Perhaps, if the witness of Christ is not what it should be, it is due to the fact that there is too much show business going on in houses of worship. Maybe it is because we are too preoccupied playing games, to busy acting, too busy trying to seen, trying to be a star. Some of us live lives of games confined to ideas and thoughts that are so trifling that we allow ourselves to sink into the quicksand of phoniness and pettiness; petty gossip, petty jealousy, petty envy, petty complaints, petty ostentations, which leaves no time for God’s business. The religion of the Ephesians was worse than the absence of it because it had become nothing more than Show Business.

But it is into this type of setting that God intervenes through the Apostle Paul. We note that Luke did not record that Paul performed miracles, but that God worked miracles through Paul in the name of Jesus. “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” Acts 19:11-12. Paul was merely the instrument through which God released His healing power. People would take Paul’s articles of clothing and carry them to the sick and they would be healed by touching them.

We remember the woman that was cured by touching Christ’s garment, but here in Ephesus were people being cured by touching Paul’s garments. Matthew tells us that Christ gave His apostles’ power against unclean spirits and against all types of sickness. Paul was empowered with God’s power. So great was it that it overflowed into the clothes he wore. There clothes were charged with the power of Paul’s personality, they became transmitters of his healing power.

But soon, these victories become a crisis. There are those who are so caught up in miracles, that they totally miss the Miracle Maker. What started out as a sincere effort to help the sick, became degraded. It became Show Business!

Now, I believe in God and I believe people were healed by touching Paul’s garments. But, I do not believe that any Tom, Dick and Harry can come along and promise folks that they can be healed by touching garments, radios, rabbit’s foot, holy cloths and other things that some of us think healing is all about. There is a distinction between authentic Christian Faith and Show Business.

The Seven sons of the Jewish high priest, Sceva, were in Show Business and they were there in Ephesus surveying around looking for a new act to add to their show. These itinerant professional exorcists (who apparently could not exorcise demons) discovered by observing the apostles that they could do wonderful works in the “name of Jesus.” They learned the “password” and their fortune were made. The password was “Jesus.” They would use Jesus’ name to get rich.

But Jesus was deadly serious when He told us “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” He reminds us that many will try to enter heaven by coming to Him and saying: we prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name.” And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus understood that there are those who are not in God’s business but Show Business. He knew that there are those who use His name as a magic formula; those who turn worship into a racket.

So Sceva’s sons added Jesus’ name to their list of tricks. These counterfeiters made their business going from place to place putting on a grand show. You know who they are. You have seen them. Our world is full of them and Jesus cautioned us because in the last days false prophets will come out of every crack and crevice and deceive a lot of folks. As Christians, we must stay on the alert because there are thousands of folks out to take advantage of us; trying to convince us they have a “special” relationship with God, a super-influence with God, an extraordinary persuasive means with God, a cannot fail block buster power that will get your prayers through to God. DO NOT FALL FOR IT!

The sons of Sceva were interested in making money. All of us know that we have to make money for a living, that is a given, but we had better be careful in what we choose to do to get the money for making our living.

The sons of Sceva kept a close eye on Paul and decided to make use of his method in their show. There is power in the name of Jesus and they thought all they had to do was mention His name and that would be sufficient to drive the demons out. They were looking for new material for their act and they found it, their fortune was made, the lottery was hit, or so they thought.

But I heard Jesus say the other day, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27) “the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1).

I see these men trying to emulate the practice of God’s anointed. They had heard the incantation work for Paul and were satisfied that they had found the perfect get rich quick scheme. To these magicians it was Show Business, but to Paul, it was God’s Business. When they uttered the words, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out,” the demon said, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” Acts 19:13-16.

We have got to be careful how we play with God for His Gospel is nothing to play with. I hear Paul declaring to the church at Rome, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”

I know that there are many claiming to be Christians who enjoy Show business, doing our own thing, writing our own plays. But I have learned something from Jesus. I have learned that God also is a playwright and that long before we were conceived; long before the mountains were brought forth or the earth and world were formed, God was already on the scene and He had already given us our role to play in life. But our problem is that we try to edit God’s plan.

We talk about the folks we do not like, the folks we can’t stand, folks we do not want to be bothered with, all the folks who get on our nerves. But I have learned that every now and then, God will intervene into our drama. Many times in life, the very people we can’t stand and don’t want to be bothered with, God will lift up to become our best friends. When those that we admired, those we put upon a pedestal, those we idolized; when they have forgotten about us and gone on about their own business, God brings those folks on stage that we did not like, to lend us a helping hand.

You see beloveds, in this play of life which we direct, we determine all the plays and we determine who the audience will be. We can let folks into our lives or we can shut them out. But in God’s grand play, there is no audience. God is the only Spectator. He knows what we are going to do before we do it. He knows where we have been and He knows where we are going.

And I hate to burst your pride bubble, but if you are out to make an impression, if you are out for show, if you are running around trying to fool folks, trying to run a game on God, trying to be a celebrity at God’s expense; you are can rehearse the part ever so well, you can put on all the airs that you want, you can pretend to your hearts desire, but in this play of life in which God is the Director, you have to live out the part. What you do to me, you will be held accountable. What I do to you, I will be accountable.

Christianity, beloveds, is more than an outward act, it means inner motive relentlessly revealing itself in the course of time by word and conduct. The Christian life is rooted in the faith and power of God through Jesus Christ. It is cultivated by discipline and worship and work, lest it becomes mere Hollywood. True Christians are not in show business, we are in God’s Business. We are not looking for prestige, wealth or fame but like Abraham, we are “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

You may go on in your drama, but one of these days, the curtains will come down and as “it is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’”

Are you in Show Business or God's Business?