February 19, 2012
Revelation 2:1-7
Mail Call: Ephesus
Have you ever had someone looking over your shoulder and reading your mail? Or maybe you’re on a crowded bus or train, and the person sitting next to you is as engrossed in your book as you are. One of the privileges we have as a church is to look at the Bible as a long letter, sent to others, but we get to look over their shoulder and read it.
For the next 7 weeks, we’re going to be taking a deeper look at mail which was sent to 7 churches in the book of Revelation. We’ll see what was happening and how we can learn from these early churches. It could be very scary if Jesus were to write a letter to our church and tell us what He believes we’re doing right, what we’re doing wrong, what we should be doing and what our reward will be. That’s kind of the gist of these two chapters that were going to take a look at.
You ever wonder what Jesus would say about us?
Would He be impressed by the things that impress others?
Would He mention the size of the congregation?
Would He notice how much money was given last week?
Would He feel like an outsider?
What would Jesus be looking at?
Let me give you a couple of quick points, then we’ll jump in. These letters were written by the disciple John. He wrote them from the small Mediterranean island of Patmos. John was banished to this island by the Romans, but it didn’t stop him from writing. The letters were written to actual churches in Asia Minor, or what we would call modern day Turkey.
Here’s a map of where the letters were sent and where Paul was in relation to the churches. Each letter was written regarding specific situations the churches were facing. These churches were filled with real people struggling with real problems. Though 2000 years separate us, their issues are not much different from ours.
The first letter went to Ephesus, it was a city with a population of about 250,000, making it the second largest city in the world. The city was an important trade and religious center. Ephesus had the temple of Diana, who was one of their central gods. The temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The city had the best harbors in Asia Minor. Paul spent two years there and was eventually run out of town. Over the years the church had been taught by Paul, Apollos, Timothy, and eventually by John. Not a bad group of pastors and teachers.
So, John gets to writing . . . and we’ll take this verse by verse . . .
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands:
Woe Pastor Michael, what’s going on here. You’ve read one line of scripture and I’m lost. Now don’t worry, you see Jesus was really nice to us, because in the verse right before this, He told us what this means. In Revelation 1:20, He said, 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Let’s not get all weirded out over this. Jesus is really telling us this . . . I’m 100% qualified, I have the power and authority to tell you what’s going on in your churches, because I am the One who is holding your church. In fact, I’m the author of the church. I see all that’s going on, I know you, I see you, and I have not forgotten you.
And just as Jesus loved these churches, He also loves First Baptist Church and wants us to be the church we are called to be. Every letter follows the same general pattern. Let’s look at what the Church at Ephesus was doing that was good.
Jesus said ~ 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
The church was hard working. In fact, their hard work literally means an intense labor, coupled with toil and trouble. It can also mean great sorrow. So, we know they worked hard, and it was brutal work. They were persevering through their hard work. It was a labor of love. If you love who you serve and what you’re doing, hard work isn’t a problem. This church worked hard.
The church faced fierce opposition. Remember, Ephesus was a religious capitol and Christianity flew right in the face of idol worship. In Acts 19:24, we learn Paul was run out of town for threatening the livelihood of the silversmiths who made false idols for the people to worship.
So, the church patiently endured, serving the Lord. Even though it wasn’t easy, the church didn’t grow weary of serving Jesus. They also resisted sin. It probably wasn’t easy in a city like Ephesus which was noted for their immoral practices associated with the worship of the goddess Diana. They didn’t tolerate the evil men.
The church was loyal to correct doctrine. In order for a church to be able to tell if a person is a false teacher, they must know the truth so well that they can spot false teaching. They weren’t afraid to challenge false teachers. That doesn’t happen all too often today. Today it’s much more fashionable to keep your negative views to yourself.
After all, we don’t want to risk offending the very people we’re trying to reach. We feel if we say what we believe as a Christ follower the rest of the world is going to get on us, so we just sit and watch the world move further and further away from Christ, then we wonder what happened. They weren’t that way. If you were not teaching Christ, they let you know it. Good for them!!
Let’s jump to verse 6 for one more praise Jesus gave the church . . . 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
They also rejected the teaching of the Nicolaitans. They were a strange sect in the early church that taught that “freedom in Christ” meant you had the freedom to sin with impunity. That means there were no consequences to your sin. You could do whatever you wanted and since you had received the grace of Christ, you could do whatever you wanted.
They compromised on all types of issues, believing “My body’s mine, I can do with it whatever I want and still be in good standing with God.” Note that Jesus actually says he “hates” the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. That’s really a politically incorrect statement from Jesus. You see, we’ve made the Jesus of today to be one who loves everyone and would never hate anyone or anything. But that isn’t the Jesus of the New Testament. If something was wrong, Jesus let it be known.
When you look at the praise heaped on the church at Ephesus in this letter, one would have to ask themselves, “What is wrong with this church?” The church was a hard working doctrinal sound church. They carried on in the face of persecution; they hated sin, and did not grow tired of working for the Lord. What could the Lord possibly say was wrong with these people? Glad you asked!
When Christ looks at a church, He looks under the rugs, inside the closets, and gets a look at what’s really happening. In this case all the good the church was doing was overshadowed by a sad reality. Jesus said, 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Here is the saddest part. Christ knew they didn’t love him.
They had left their first love. It’s not that they didn’t love Jesus, but He was no longer number 1 in their lives. It was impacting everything about them. Decisions would be made without Jesus in sight. Somehow in the midst of all their godly busyness and all their standing for the truth, somehow, somewhere along the way, they left Christ out of their church. Is that possible?
Does it happen in our world today? I’ve seen people so excited to serve Jesus, then the spark, the flame fades away. Start a new job filled with excitement, and before you know it, you’re not too excited about work any longer. Relationships and marriages start out with passion and excitement, then we make those comments that we’re not in love anymore.
We find ourselves too busy with life, and we slowly pull away from our spouse. We don’t realize it at first but slowly we move further and further away. When we come to that realization, we’re shocked, we’re in denial, but we’re caught!
The church in Ephesus was called out by Jesus. They were so busy, they had lost Christ. They were too busy serving, a good thing, but doing it for all the wrong reasons. The church calendar was filled, there was constant activity, but the heart, the passion, the fire . . . was gone. . . and so was Christ. I’ve seen many Christians who do and say all of the right things, but they too have lost the love that once motivated them. Why we do what we do is more important than the results! Sometimes that’s a tough one to take, but where’s our heart in anything we do?
So, what’s Jesus’ solution? He says, 5 Remember how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Jesus gives 3 simple, yet challenging steps to change. We are to ~
Remember how it used to be.
Repent – change your mind and your heart.
Repeat the first works.
We don’t regain our first love overnight. Ask any couple that has gone through a marital crisis. A marriage doesn’t deteriorate overnight, and it is not restored overnight. Healing takes time.
The same is true about our spiritual life. And Jesus tells us it all begins with a good memory. Remember how far you have fallen. Ouch! That hurts, doesn’t it? Remembering what you once had can be a good thing if it leads you to action. In most of life, it’s taking the small steps, the baby steps to return to God. If you keep walking in the right direction, soon you will walk out of the darkness and into the blazing light of God’s love.
Of course, in our quick fix world, we want a quick prayer, which will make everything better. We don’t want to have to go through the pain, we want everything to be instantly right. Healing begins, it occurs where we need it most, in our heart, spirit, mind and body.
Yet, remembering isn’t enough, action needs to occur, so we are called to turn from our self-centered living. We look at ourselves and with the help of the Holy Spirit and possibly others, we realize our sinfulness, confess it and turn from our wicked ways and ask God to forgive us. Remember, repentance is all about a 180O turn, so that we do what’s right and not what’s wrong.
Then we are to return to do the “first works” again. Ahh, do you remember those first works when you were first in love with your spouse? Those notes, the hand holding, the quick kiss, the look into one another’s eyes, the desire to serve them. The care, the passion, the devotion. That’s what Jesus wants from us!! He wants us to remember what it was like to be fully, completely, in love with Him!!
What should we do? I can easily say, read the Bible, pray, worship and so on, but I really think there’s more to it than that. Yet, it’s really pretty simple too!
I believe we are to serve . . . serve God and serve one another. We do that because God loves us, and we’ve experienced that love and we’ve been changed by God. If we love one another, and we do it regularly, and we demonstrate that love, I really believe the love we once experienced will slowly start to come back.
In marriage counseling, couples are often told, “Act as if you love your spouse even when you don’t feel like it.” I’m not talking about abusive relationships, but about those where couples say the feeling is gone. Often times, it’s easier to act yourself into a new way of feeling than to feel yourself into a new way of acting.
But there’s still a warning from Jesus, before the final victory, we are told that if we don’t repent, He will remove our lampstand from its place. The lampstand represents the approval of God on the church itself. Any church may have its “lampstand” removed by the Lord.
Let me ask a question . . . How does a church know when its lampstand is removed? Now here comes the tricky answer. The church would never know because in one sense nothing would change. God would take his hand off the church and everything would continue a usual.
The preacher would preach.
The choir would sing.
The lights would shine.
The sound system would work.
The Sunday School would meet.
The ushers would collect.
The people would worship.
The committees would meet.
The kids and youth would hang out.
And God would not be there. It would be religion without reality, preaching without power, and church without Jesus.
It’s a sad fact that the church at Ephesus eventually ceased to exist. Maybe that’s better than to continue as a church when Jesus is absent.
And so we come to the ultimate question. Are we listening to what God is saying? Each of the seven letters includes this sentence: 7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Do we have ears to hear? Or are we already too distracted by the noise of the world? God is speaking. Are we listening?
The message to the church at Ephesus ends with this promise - To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
The word paradise speaks of the personal presence of the Lord Jesus. It’s what Jesus promised to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” If we are faithful in this life, we will know Jesus intimately in the next life.
Do we love Jesus?! That’s the question before us this morning. It’s a pretty simple one, but how do we love Him? Is it with lip service, is it that perfunctory kind of love? Or is it real, deep, filled with passion and power?!
That’s what He wants, and you know what . . . ? It’s available for all of us! You just have to ask, and He’s ready, able and willing to give it to you. As our scripture verse says, draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
