Truth Matters – What if you are singled out from the crowd?

Let us take a journey together to Ephesus in Acts 19. There is a riot going on and people are shouting on the top of their voices and the whole city is in commotion. Demetrius is the leader of the demonstration. It has spread to the Theatre and the city officials have been alerted. Alexander is pushed to the front to address the crowd but they will not allow him since he is a Jew. Suddenly in unison the crowd is shouting “great is the Artemis of the Ephesians” and this they have shouted for two hours.

The reason for this trip is that we want to know the truth about this whole turmoil. We learnt that there was a separate meeting of the artisans called by Demetrius before our arrival at the Theatre. However, many people in this Theatre were not in the meeting but they have all joined the march and everybody is shouting “great is the Artemis of the Ephesians”. Different persons are singled out for interview on what is actually going on but they all give different views. Their stories are not correlating, hence as the city official comes out to address the crowd, he sees the gathering as awkward and emphasizes that there is no basis for the riot and asks everybody to go home. The crowd dismisses and yet, most of the individuals singled out cannot yet give cogent reasons why they participated and took the risk to support the demonstration.

There are two moral lessons I want us to learn from this trip to Ephesus:

1.  It is important that we know the truth concerning any person or crowd we are following or  group we want to belong to. It is true that in the argument going on, we may align to one man or another, we have to ask ourselves, “What is the truth about this issue?” “What are the pieces that make the whole in this matter?” “Do I have the big picture?” “Why do I support this man or that man?” Why do I defend what I defend?” In our quest to know the truth, we must answer these two questions of what and why. The what answers the question of definition and context in order to be able to pass the test of correspondence and coherence. What is explained has to be logically consistent and empirically adequate. The why answers the question of meaning and application. Is it experientially relevant? These questions we must answer alone. Many persons in the crowd in Ephesus did not ask these questions, hence clueless of what and why they were in the Theatre.
2. It is important that we take full responsibility for our choices and decisions and be able to defend them anytime and anywhere we are called upon to explain why we take the stand we take. We may be in a crowd like the one in the Theatre in Ephesus and we are shouting with the crowd, we may be in a meeting and taking a stand in alignment with an opinion, but when we are singled out for questioning without the crowd, will we be able to answer the two questions of what and why? What is the truth about the issue at stake and why am I taking the stand I take? Make sure it is clear in your mind otherwise do not join the "crowd" at all. We are fully responsible for our action and inaction.

I have seen men align themselves with doctrines and ideas they have not thought through and are not convinced about. Some take a different stand when they are singled out by the corner. It happens in the political arena, in our churches and ministries, in council and board meetings etc. People push agendas and issues and coerce others to support them only because they want to satisfy their personal interests or their paymasters, oftentimes even against their own conscience. Like Demetrius in the Theatre in Ephesus, such people are conscious of what they are doing and are intentional. To be able to deceive others, they live in hypocrisy and cannot allow those listening to them to know their true intentions.

Others are ignorant men and women who may have good intentions, foolishly following the men behind the issues. “If Demetrius is supporting this, then I must be there” “If this ‘highly-placed’ person is on this side of the issue, he must be right and I want to be on his side”. They often shut all the doors to reason and just rush into the “Theatre”, as it were, strongly expressing their support with shouts.

We must endeavor to exercise ourselves to always have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men (Acts 24:16), no matter what we may suffer because of it. I am persuaded, and this guides my life, that one day, from the crowd of this world, each of us will be singled out by God for accountability for our choices, action and inaction. The crowd and the so-called paymasters will not be there but we will stand before Him who is Truth embodied and personified, and the secrets of our hearts will no longer be secret for His light will expose them all. Then, it will dawn on us that truth matters after all.

God bless.