The Bonfire

  • 2025-12-03
  • Barry Newton
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Had the ancient city of Ephesus ever seen a fire quite like this one? The year was probably about 52 A.D. Neither the intense heat nor a rising column of smoke would have been unusual.

What may have been a novelty was witnessing people motivated to burn their possessions at great personal loss. The calculated value of what the fire consumed that day exceeded a common laborer’s earnings for 136 years!

So why had one fellow and then another willingly carried to this great fire what had been so dear to their hearts? What could have caused such a reversal of values?

In a single hour a handful of Jewish exorcists had overturned what many valued. These exorcists had made the mistake of invoking the authority of Jesus’ name like another lucky charm in their bag of spiritual tools. What happened next was both unexpected and revealed the greatness of the Lord Jesus.

The evil spirit had acknowledged knowing Jesus and Paul but then a question of disdain emerged, “who are you?” Jesus’ authority was not a power they could subdue and wield for their own bidding; Jesus was far greater and more powerful than them or any of their tricks. The exorcists were exposed standing alone and unprepared before raw evil. The result was not pretty. Wounded and naked men fled from that evil presence into the streets.

Fear erupted among both Jews and Gentiles because they clearly understood what this revealed about Jesus. What followed next represents what happens whenever people realize the greatness of God and His Son. They confessed their evil deeds and burned their magic books.

Later when Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians, in essence he insisted that Christians visit the bonfire. We are to cast off everything which is incompatible with serving Christ. What belongs on the bonfire?

  • Unwholesome locker room talk
  • Shoplifting
  • Bitterness
  • Jokes at another’s expense
  • Sexual immorality
  • Being driven to simply acquire more and more


 

Barry Newton
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Barry Newton

Barry has worked with congregations in Texas, California and Brazil. He and his wife Sofia have two sons. He believes we should love God above all and that to honor this principle will shape daily decisions and silence competing values. Furthermore, we ought to love people in those ways we would like to be treated.