Pester Your Little Gods — E.A. Johnston

Spiritual Declension and Denominational Apostasy

I've lived long enough to witness a sad spiritual declension in the churches and downright apostasy in some big denominations. Years ago, I was helping a fellow pastor plant a church, and it opened my eyes to the trend which was developing in my own denomination.

The Temptation to Build a Popular Church

All this pastor talked about was how he wanted a church of 5 ,000 members. We started the church plant with 5 families, and it soon grew to about 30 members. But my friend wasn't happy. He was not interested in a small congregation or even the sheep under his care.

He was only interested in building a big church so he could be recognized within that denomination. We parted ways as I saw him compromise his message in an effort to draw bigger crowds. I believe that if a man is truly called to God to preach, then that man will not fail to warn his hearers to repent and to flee from the wrath to come.

He will not compromise the gospel to make it more palatable to sinful man, but he will preach the full counsel of God and be honest with folks and care about their eternal souls and the destiny of those souls.

Preaching That Confronts Idolatry

He will not give his hearers smooth messages and funny stories to win their approval, but rather he will preach convicting sermons that will pester your little gods and monkey with your pig pens to turn you to God, because before you can preach about the living Christ of the Bible, you'll first have to get out your double-edged claymore of the great doctrines of the gospel and hew down men and kill their little gods.

And if you kill their gods, they will come after you with malice, and if you monkey with a person's pig pen, they will hate you as well. Look what happened to John the Baptist when he monkeyed with Herod's pig pen of a marriage.

It cost him his head. The title of my message today, friends, is Pastor Your Little Gods, and my text can be found in the book of Acts in chapter 19. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. Have you ever wondered why, when Jesus Christ preached, the religious leaders wanted to take up stones and stone him or hurl him down a cliff?

Have you ever wondered why, every time the early church preached in the book of Acts, that it caused a riot and they ended up in prison? Have you ever wondered why John Wesley and George Whitefield were attacked by mobs when they preached, and who dragged the diminutive Wesley by his hair through puddles of mud, and why they threw rotten eggs and pieces of dead cats at Whitefield?

Have you ever wondered why nobody bothers you when you preach, Brother Pastor? Everybody is fine with your message. Is it because Jesus and his disciples and men like Wesley and Whitefield and Luther and Knox did not fear man, but only fear God?

Bloody Mary of England said she feared more than anything else the prayers of John Knox in Scotland. Let me read us our text, friends, and see how the Apostle Paul pestered the little gods of his hearers.

Paul's Confrontation with the Pagan Gods at Ephesus

Here now is God's word, and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of his holy word. And the same time arose no small stir about that way. Let me pause here, friends. Christianity, back then, caused a stir in pagan society because the church traveled in one direction and the pagan culture in the other, and when they met there was a clash, a stir, a riot.

For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen, whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.

Moreover, ye see and hear that, not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods which are made with hands. Let me pause here, friends.

The Apostle Paul knew full well that when he preached the gospel of the Son of God, he had to pester their little gods and first smash his hearers' idols before he could tell them about the one true God of the Bible.

You want to go start a riot in a Baptist church? Then tell that congregation, who swallowed an only-believed gospel, that they will go to hell unless they repent. Why, you'll have a riot on your hands.

The good deacons will want to stone you. And that's what happened when Paul preached. He pulled no punches and warned his hearers that the little gods they were serving had to be smashed and cast aside, and this caused no small stir wherever he went.

Listen, brother preacher, you start pestering people's little gods, and you start to monkey with their little pig-pens, and you'll be face to face with your modern-day Demetrius in the face of the chairman of the deacons.

The Threat to Artemis Worship and Religious Power

Well, let's return to our text. So that not only this our craft is in danger, to beset it not, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth.

Let me pause here again, friends. This temple of Artemis, or Diana in Ephesus, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Listen to an eyewitness account of its magnificence by Antipater of Sidon, who compiled a research of each seven wonder.

I have set eyes on the lofty wall of Babylon, on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Jesus by the Elpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the sun, and the huge labor of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Marcellus.

But when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy. So we see, friends, what a big deal this temple of Artemis was in Ephesus, and how huge was the worship of the goddess Diana, who was portrayed as being a woman with multi-breasts.

The little statues of Diana showed a woman with dozens of breasts, which spoke of her fertility. So we can see why the concern of Demetrius the silversmith was so aroused against the apostle Paul, who was going around literally smashing all these idols by his preaching of the true gospel.

The Riot at Ephesus and the Triumph of the Gospel

And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! And the whole city was filled with confusion. I will stop there. I have stood in that arena where they cried, Great is Diana!

And I've walked over the ruins of that broken-down and destroyed temple. Demetrius the silversmith is dead and in hell. The pagan Diana worshippers are all dead and in hell. But the Greeks who gave Paul an audience and believed in the Christ whom Paul preached are in heaven with Paul and with the Christ whom he preached.

Faithfulness Over Reputation and Numbers

Listen, brother preacher, if you want to protect your reputation within your denomination, and if you just want to have a big huge congregation for the sake of numbers, then keep on doing what you have been doing, and your success will be secured.

But if you want to have the results like an apostle Paul and a George Whitefield, then go out and pester people's little gods and monkey with their pig pens, and do some idol-smashing preaching that will bring souls to Christ and bring glory to the Father.

Oh, you have it right on your hands. But it will be worth it for eternity. Let us pray.