Acts 19:27

To a life built on lies, Christianity is a threat.  Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen had built their wealth and prosperity on the false god Artemis.  They were already angry at the immediate loss of income, but fear made them even angrier.  They were afraid that Christianity would discredit the goddess Artemis and that it would rob her of her divine majesty.

They did not base their fear on the direct actions of the Christians.  When the city clerk calmed the riot, he noted that the Christians had neither robbed Temples nor blasphemed Artemis.  The Christians were not spending their time and energies attacking false gods.  It would have been counterproductive to attack the faith of Artemis’ worshipers.  Attacking them would have caused them to become defensive and more entrenched in their beliefs.  Yet, without directly attacking false beliefs, the gospel was changing the value system and faith of Artemis’ followers.  Even those who had not converted to faith in Jesus were losing faith in their false gods.

A new agent was training to detect counterfeit money.  For the first few weeks, they had him count, sort and handle genuine currency.  He did not understand his training, but one day they slipped in a counterfeit bill and he caught it immediately.  They knew that when you spend enough time with the real thing fakes are easy to spot.

The Christians in Ephesus were serving and worshiping the Most High God.  Their God was real, which meant their lives were also genuine.  Their lives were shining a light of truth into the darkness of the pagan beliefs.

Demetrius was right to be afraid of Christianity.  Within a few years, the cult of Artemis was dead.  People, who were unwilling to worship God, were even more unwilling to worship an obviously false god.

The light of Christ shining through the lives of Christians reveals the deceits of a sinful world.  Some people love darkness and will not turn to the light.  Christians let their light shine to give them the option.