A Message To The Church In Ephesus Series

Revelation 2:1-4

A Message to the Church in Ephesus

11/6/2022

As stated in Revelation 1:11 Christ sent a message to each of seven local churches in Asia Minor. The order of scriptural presentation was geographic. A messenger would naturally travel the route from the seaport Ephesus 35 miles north to another seaport Smyrna, proceed still farther north and to the east, to Pergamos, and then would swing further to the east and south to visit the other four cities (1:11). Obviously these churches were specially selected and providentially arranged to provide characteristic situations which the church has faced throughout its history. Just as Paul’s epistles, though addressed to individual churches, are also intended for the entire church, so these seven messages also apply to the entire church today insofar as they are in similar situations. It is clear that they are messages to these historic local churches in the first century, but they also constitute a message to similar churches today.

There are many instances when Jesus spoke to individuals and groups, but these letters show Jesus Christ speaking to the very people He died to save. Most of these letters contain words of Commendation; words of Correction; and words of Challenge. One thing all of these letters have in common is that each one concludes with a promise to the overcomers in each church. Jesus begins by explaining a mystery in chapter one saying, “the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands… are the seven churches.”

A. It’s Prominent – As Jesus dictates to John saying write to the angel of the church at Ephesus (ILLS: Angel of the House - Messenger), He does so in glowing terms, commending them for their works and their doctrinal purity. It appears that this was a very busy congregation. They were active with many ministries occupying the time of the members of the congregation. In verse 2, Jesus uses three words to describe the business of this church. The word “works” refers to their “accomplishments”. This was a church that had been used of the Lord to do great things in the community. The word “labor” refers to “intense work involving toil and pain”. The word “patience” reminds us that they carried out their works for the Lord in the midst of great “persecution”. This was a working church which was doctrinally pure. They stood for the truth and against evil. They were not allowing the world to influence their worship or their walk. Anyone looking in from the outside would have concluded that they were a rock-solid congregation. Just like the church today, we have Christmas Plays and Hallelujah Festivals and we donate to local schools and give gifts to the community every Thanksgiving. We are busy doing the work of the Lord. We hold our Family Meetings and Hour of Power and we post and we stream and we serve in our assigned duties each week. But have we been so busy doing the work of the Lord that we forgot the Lord of the work? We often blame it on the pandemic, but you know as well as I know that some have served in the same work for years but have never found time for worship.

B. It’s Personal – “I have somewhat against thee...” While those in the community were looking at their wonderful deeds, Someone far more important had His eye on this church. While Jesus had much to commend them for, there was a problem in the church of Ephesus. The Lord knew what the people around them did not know. The Lord knew that this church was just going through the motions of serving Him. He knew that they did not love Him like they had once loved Him. They had lost their first love. As it was in Ephesus, many in our day are merely going through the motions. Many simply do not love Jesus like they once did, and it shows. The Ephesians probably thought their biggest problems were the pagans around them and the persecution they faced. Jesus tells them that the biggest problem they faced was a personal problem with the Lord Himself. Jesus is concerned about you! His love for you has not changed. Jesus has never loved you more than He loves you right now. Jesus has never loved you less than He loves you right now. His love is immutable! He does not change!

Most of us would look at ourselves and think that we are all right. The problem with our way of gauging our own state of rightness is to compare ourselves with others. Of course, we never compare ourselves with anyone who lives holier than we do; we always compare ourselves with those who live less holy than we do. God’s standard of holiness is higher than that. His standard of righteousness is Christ Himself (Romans 10:3).