Acts 19:15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?”
Have you ever been around someone who “name drops” in almost every conversation? It is almost like they know everyone of ‘importance’ and using that other person’s name somehow boosts their own standing in the community. For me, name dropping automatically reduces a person. I already see them as someone made in the image of God, so if they are identifying with a human, they are downgrading themselves in my eyes.
If we identify with Jesus, we are at both the top and the bottom at the same time. We are seated at the right hand of God in Christ and at the same time called to be servants of all. Top and bottom. But do we live our lives in the knowledge of this reality?
The Apostle Paul has moved to Ephesus and is preaching and teaching there, and he is having tremendous results. As is typical for the Apostles, miracles are happening and people are turning from their sin and to the LORD. This is a happening place. Paul is a mover and a shaker.
So in the usual fashion, other people want to get in on the action. There were seven sons of a priest who were driving out demons, but they didn’t have the power themselves to accomplish this task. So they tried to borrow the power of others. They tried to use third hand knowledge to accomplish something that only first hand knowledge could do.
You see, they were trying to drive out demons “in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.” It would be like going to apply for a loan at a bank not for yourself, but for someone you heard about through a news article. No bank is going to give me a loan simply because I heard about a billionaire on the news. I can’t use the name of the billionaire that I heard from a reporter to secure a loan. I just won’t happen.
So when these seven brothers try to use borrowed authority, the demons laugh in their faces. Jesus is the person with the power. Paul is the reporter. They don’t know Jesus personally, let alone Paul. It was all second and third hand knowledge. And demons know second and third hand knowledge is powerless.
Too many who claim to know Jesus are operating on second and third hand knowledge. They have not had a personal encounter with Jesus. Instead, they operate off borrowed power. And borrowed power is quickly depleted and always degraded in its ability to accomplish the task at hand.
So I urge you to get first hand knowledge of Jesus. Don’t be satisfied with the explanations of other people, even this BLOG. Get into the Word of God yourself. Slow down and read it with fresh eyes. Put yourself in the shoes of those who are living in the text. They were just like us.
How would we react in their circumstances? What does the text say and doesn’t say? What small details are included that seem out of place? Try to imagine possible reasons for those details and then test our your imaginations. Does the text give hints that reinforce your idea? Does your idea bring greater glory to the LORD and is it in line with all that we know about the LORD?
Become a student of Jesus. Get to know Him! He is the object of our faith.
The Arnold Journey 