“The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia. ”
Acts 20:3b

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MAY 7, 2025

As we’ve been studying the book of Acts, we’ve seen over and over that healthy discipleship comes with both internal and external opposition.

Let’s clarify what external opposition is and isn’t. The external opposition depicted in Acts is experienced by believers who are preaching and living the truth of Jesus, the good news. There is no justification for believers committing acts unworthy of Christ, refusing to repent, then claiming they are “being persecuted for Christ”. The next time we claim we are being persecuted because of Christ, we need to ask ourselves if this is truly the case or if we have sinful blindspots we’d rather avoid seeing.

Just last week, we read about a shocking confrontation with traveling exorcists and what happened when they tried to use the Holy Spirit as part of their display of spiritual power. Ephesus was the home of Artemis and her temple. Preaching Jesus here led to a chaotic revolt against Paul and the believers, and a two-hour long chant of “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Why such opposition from the Ephesians? The gospel was an assault to the entire structure of their identity and their lives; to what they worshipped, their family relationships, their economy, their customs and traditions. To become a follower of Christ, they had to sever entirely from their former life.

How would you respond if someone asked you to leave behind your country of origin, language, security, job, achievements, hobbies and comforts, traditions, and identity-defining relationships—in other words, everything that makes you, you? Most of us would react in panic and anger. But the fact is, our culture is also founded on political, economic, and even worshipping principles that must be entirely uprooted if we are to build our identity around Jesus and God’s kingdom.

Discipleship comes with internal and external opposition because we must publicly and privately renegotiate our identity and values. No longer does country, party, job, or even family take first place—now, that place belongs to Jesus alone. Everything else shifts as a result.

Around the time of this passage, Paul writes his second letter to the Corinthians and visits them for a few months. His words to the Corinthian church describe this mysterious aspect of discipleship well:

“We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”
2 Corinthians 4:8-12

 

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • How do you struggle with internal opposition to discipleship?
  • What does it mean to die to yourself? Describe what that looks like.
  • Describe a time when you have seen the Holy Spirit work in a powerful way through external opposition!

 

Church Reading Plan: Numbers 15; Psalm 51