Sound Reasoning

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

SOUND REASONING

Acts 19:35-41

35 The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "Men of Ephesus, doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash. 37 You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. 38 If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. 39 If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. 40 As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today's events. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it." 41 After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

NIV

There doesn't seem to be anything in the narrative that could be used as a life lesson, other than one man of reason was able to put the crowd at rest, and cause it to dismiss, to forego its wrath, its anger, and for part of it, its unknown reason for rioting. If they were truly all upset about the disciples blaspheming Artemis this city clerk put that to rest with good reasoning. But the City Clerk was calling out specifically Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen who started all this commotion. Perhaps this is the life lesson. When we encounter a fellow believer who is causing commotion within the Body of Christ we need, with reason, in love, call them out and instruct them in the proper way to handle their grievance. If they have a justified reason for being upset over the way something is happening, they have a proper course of action to bring that to the attention of those who are the reason for their feelings. Of course we know that is to go directly to that person and with calm reason, and with love, discuss the problem which exists so as to resolve it in a Christ-like manner, so love may abound. We have to make sure that it is the course of action, should we have any issues within the Body of Christ and not be like Demetrius and insight a riot, cause dissention or encourage any ill-feelings within the Body of Christ. We use this term so as to not limit our responsibility to within one denomination or for that matter within a specific church. But the main point here is that not only should we not be the cause for such outbreak of dissention and perhaps in some sense a meaningless riot within the church, we should be as this city clerk and bring sound reason to the situation and calm the storm. This is the story of Jesus in the boat, He calmed the storm not only on the outside of the boat, but he calmed the storm within the hearts of the disciples that were with him, bringing peace and an assurance of his authority. We need to bring a peace and an assurance, not of our authority, but an assurance of the authority of Christ in whatever situation is occurring. Sound reasoning should always bring truth to the matter, especially when the reasoning is based on the word. It does no good to become emotionally intense matching the rage of the crowd, but quite sound reasoning wins the day.