Ephesus: The Desirable Church That was Fallen.
Text: Revelation 2:1-7.
Introduction: This morning I want you to come with me to the first century and the beautiful Mediterranean city of Ephesus. Here we find an important and prosperous commercial centre in the ancient world, its streets crowded with travellers and merchants each displaying his wares. There is a variety of tongues to be heard as the busy port brings in many foreign visitors. Caravans carrying commodities from all over the world trundle along the streets making their way to market.
Down by the docks we find huge warehouses, filled with goods ready for export or just arrived as import. Well heeled, well dressed business men, are making their way to the world’s very first bank, the Bank of Asia, which is conveniently situated in the city’s most prominent building, the temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the world, used in the worship of the goddess Diana. Within that building was housed a great image of Diana, a grotesque statue, said to have fallen from Jupiter, depicting the goddess bearing many breasts, symbolising fertility and female purity. Only females or male eunuchs were permitted in her presence.
Street traders can be heard calling out to worshippers as they make their way to the temple, for Ephesus is famed for its talismans and ornamental charms. And not only do they sell trinkets and charms, but books dealing with the black arts, incantations and magic. Silversmiths were doing a roaring trade
It was into this city, in 56 AD. the apostle Paul arrived. He came preaching a new god - Jesus, and he performed miracles which confirmed his message. There was a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost “and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, and many that believed came, and confessed and shewed their deeds.” Indeed some brought with them their black magic books and publicly burned them at great cost to themselves, turning away from the idols and icons that had been the trademark of Ephesus for centuries. Naturally the silversmiths were alarmed, such a move was bad for business, and so their trade union representative Demetrius, called everyone together and pressed to have Paul banished from the city, but it was not to be, and for three years the great apostle worked in Ephesus planting and establishing a New Testament church. And it is to this church in that city, we find the address of the Lord Jesus in Revelation 2. And it is this church which is to be the centre of our attention this morning.
I. The Assembly. (Rev 2:1a)
A. The church at Ephesus was the flagship of New Testament churches.
1. The word Ephesus = “desirable.” And there can be no doubt that this was a desirable church.
2. It was the kind of church that almost all spir. Christians would find attractive.
a. It was busy, zealous, it was doctrinally sound, it was successful.
3. It was the only church which secured an address from two different apostles, and had at its outset a Pastor whose name is well known to us all, Timothy, who was himself the recipient of two epistles from Paul.
B. Here was a church founded by Paul, pastored by Paul’s trainee, situated at the hub of revival, confronting head on the paganism and superstition of centuries old idolatry.
1. It was, no doubt a very exciting church, living in a very challenging time.
2. Yet it was to this church that the Lord Jesus sent, what was effectively, a letter of complaint.
a. His complaint: They had left their first love.
II. The Author (Rev 2:1b)
A. The whole Bible is the Word of God.
1. Yet the letters to the seven churches of Asia are unique, in that the message is verbatim the Words of Christ.
a. There is no personal insight or input from the apostle John, he acts only as a secretary taking down dictation and delivering the message to each church.
b. The message is addressed to the angel of each church.
(i) Angel = angelos = messenger = pastor.
(ii) Can you imagine what Jesus might say if He were to send us a letter?
B. To each of the churches, the Lord describes Himself differently.
1. Here He is “He that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks”
2. The seven stars are the pastors of the churches concerned - Rev 1:20.
a. Always said I’d be a star someday!
b. Seriously, it is encouraging to see that God’s Pastors and ministers are upheld by His power & His strength.
(i) The right hand for most people is the stronger hand & that is what it pictures here - the strength & power of the Lord, and the security of His ministers as they are held in His right hand.
3. The seven golden candlesticks are the seven churches of Asia - Rev 1:20
a. Every true church is a candlestick - a lighthouse pointing to the grace of God.
b. It is good to see the Lord is in the midst of His churches.
c. We are not abandoned, we are comforted and assured by His presence among us.
(i) “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
d. So it was at Ephesus - the Lord was upholding the Pastor, present in the midst of the church.
III. The Approval (Rev 2:2-3)
A. There was much in the church at Ephesus that was to be commended.
1. Certainly as far as their outward testimony was concerned they were flawless.
2. But I want you to notice the first two words Jesus said to them... “I know.”
a. We can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can never fool Christ any time.’
b. “I know ...” says the Lord Jesus. And he does know.
(i) If your Christian life is a sham He knows
(ii) If you are all outward show... He knows.
(iii) If our motives are not pure... He knows.
3. What then did the Lord know about Ephesus?
B. He knew that externally they were standing up to the task.
1. “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience...”
2. Here was a church that was on the job, they had a week full of programmes and ministries, they were a hive of activity.
a. There was nothing wrong with their works - what they were doing, nor with their labour - the way they were doing them.
(i) labour = toil = they were industrious, to the point that they wearied themselves in the work of God
(ii) They were missionary minded, evangelistic, soul winning - they were on the job, and on the job with patience - they were sticking at it.
(iii) Their church programme was a well oiled machine that just run & run & run!
3. But I want you to notice something about the description of the Ephesians work & labour & patience in contrast to the work, labour and patience of the Thessalonians.
a. See 1 Thessalonians 1:3
b. The Thessalonians had work - but it was a work of faith, they had labour, but it was a labour of love, they had patience, but it was a patience of hope.
c. Yes, the Ephesians had works, labour & patience but w/o faith, love and hope.
4. Here was a church which was outwardly flourishing, but inwardly decaying.
a. I wonder could there not be a little of that here.
b. Could it be that some are just going through the motions?
c.The Lord knows that ... He says “I know, He knows all about it - there is no fooling Him.
C. He knew that they were standing up for the truth.
1. “ I know ... how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.” (Revelation 2:2).
2. These sophisticated Ephesian Christians did not suffer fools gladly.
3. They tried men, they tried doctrines and tested spirits and examined them alongside the hard truths of God’s Word..
a. And where they found any error, they rejected both the message and the messenger.
(i) They would not bear evil men, or false apostles.
b. They were commended for their discernment, in particular they were commended for their rejection of the Nicolaitanes.
(i) See verse 6.
(ii) Nicolaitanes were a sect began by Nicolas of Antioch - one of the first deacons, mentioned in Acts 6.
(iii) Gnostic sect which believed that since all matter was evil & detached from God, it could be enjoyed & indulged in so that they were a licentious sect, embracing all kinds of immorality and wickedness.
(iv) Part of their belief system wasthe operation of a caste system hence in their name Nicolaitanes - people conquerors. From the Gk. “Nikao” = conquer & “laos” = people.
(v) It was this group which introduced the concept of A clergy/laity divide in Christendom.
c. But the Ephesians had examined their doctrine, found it flawed and rejected it with a holy hatred - for this the Lord Jesus commended them.
D. He knew they were standing up to the test.
1. “I know thou ... hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
2. Ephesus was no easy place to live for the first century Christian.
3. The Roman authorities and the pagan people made sure of that.
4. There was persecution of believers in that city - but in spite of that the church at Ephesus had continued on, and had done so for the sake of the Lord, and the Lord saw that also, and commended them for it.
E. So here was a church that was standing up to the task, standing up for the truth, standing up to the test, but there was a problem.
IV. The Admonition (Rev 2:4-5)
A. They had left their first love.
1. This church, with all their zeal, all their endeavour, all their orthodoxy was not loving the Lord as they should.
2. This church, to which Paul wrote, mentioning love some 20 times in his epistle, this church which preached love to others was not loving the Saviour as it ought.
a. Their first love left - the love of espousals, the love of a new bride for her groom, the honey moon love.
b. For this church the honeymoon was over.
B. We can be doctrinally correct, so professionally polished, so practically flawless and yet be so cold, critical, faultfinding, stern & self righteous.
1. Friend, have you left your first love.
2. Do you love the Lord Jesus as much today as you did the first day.
3. Have we become like Martha, so occupied with DOING for Christ as to miss the importance of just LOVING Christ?
a. Works for Christ will never satisfy the heart of Christ.
b. Mary’s devoted service is more approved than Martha’s toiling service. The church at Ephesus needed to realise that & so do we.
4. The fact that Christ reproves this church on this matter at all is a proof of His love for them.
a. Someone has said that “Life holds few things more bitter than the tragedy of unrequited love.”
b. Christian, the Lord Jesus loves you with all His being and he wants you to love Him back.
5. A church member may be regular in his attendance, faithful in his giving, sacrificial of his time, but no amount of activity however intense, can compensate for a lack of love.
6. Sacrifice, even to the point of poverty & martyrdom, if it has not love, will profit nothing.
a. “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3).
b. At Ephesus activities were consistently carried on, but inspiration was gone and enthusiasm for the things of God had disappeared.
c. Their first failure was not in their testimony before the world, but in their secret relations with Christ. Inward departure always precedes outward failure.
7. Christian is there decay in your first love?
a. Are you eager and earnest in your daily devotions.
b. Do you still come with excitement to the house of God, or has your heart chilled to His Word?
c. When the Lord looks down upon you, is His heart grieved because you are fallen out of love.
C. Notice, vs 5a they were fallen.
1. “Thou art fallen...” In one terse , tragic comment, the Lord sums up their problem.
2. But do you know the really sorry thing - they were so busy getting on with it, they didn’t notice.
3. They were like old king Rehoboam, when God chastened him and had the Egyptians run off with the golden shields Solomon had provided for the temple guard. What did he do? He made shields of brass.
a. After all, brass shines just as well in the midday sun as gold!
b. That is what happened at Ephesus, may be even here. The enemy has run off with the gold of devotion so we make do with inferior brass instead.
c. Thou art fallen - what a rebuke!!
D. What were they to do?
1. “REMEMBER therefore from whence thou art fallen, and REPENT, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
2. Do Christians ever need to repent, confess & turn back to God? I think they do.
3. If the church at Ephesus was to be salvaged there would have to be a change of mind and a change of direction.
4. The consequence of failure was the removal of their candlestick.
5. Indeed history tells us that shortly after this letter the light of the gospel in Ephesus was extinguished.
6. Friends, there are no better guarantee for this church.
a. Some act like church will always be here - God can remove this church from this place.
b. Look around the city and see churches which were once bastions of gospel truth are now derelict, warehouses, commercial premises.
c. God can remove this church from this place, if our love toward Him is not what it should be.
(i) Their must be a return to the first love & the first works which were motivated by that love.
V. The Appeal (Rev 2:7)
A. Notice we have here the Spirit talking.
1. Christian, where does the Spirit of God reckon in your life? In your service?
2. Someone has said that 95% of the activity in the average local church would go on as it is presently even if the Holy Spirit did not exist.
a. Is that true of us? you?
B. Notice also, that although the letter is to the whole church & the problem lies with the whole church the appeal is made to the individual ... “To him that overcometh.”
1. Churches are made up of individuals. Listen this message is for you - personally.
2. Love is a personal matter. we are saved one by one; we must be restored one by one. The Lord was not looking for a mass response from the church, but an individual response from each member.
3. The promise then to those who respond is gain access to the tree of life, a privilege withdrawn from Adam after the fall.
Conclusion: How will you answer to the Spirit’s appeal. Here is an invitation to get back to your quiet time, to take time out with the Lord, to restore your first love. How do you reply? What will you say?
Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.
Remember. Repent & Restore your first love.
