Letter to the Church in Ephesus
Introduction:
I would like us to look at the letters written to the Seven Churches in Asia as a series. We are a new Fellowship and it is good for us to watch for the pitfalls that other churches fell into. It is also good for us to consider what the Lord requires from his church.
BACKGROUND
The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John whilst he was banished to the island of Patmos in traditionally AD 96.
1)Ephesus Rev. 2:1-7
History: EPHESUS.
Ephesus was the commercial, political and religious centre of western Asia. It was located at the mouth of two rivers, the Meander and the Cayster where they enter the Aegean Sea.
Like other cities, it was deeply religious and had a famous Temple of Diana (also called Artemis) the goddess of fertility - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
There were two temples constructed to Diana over the years as well as three shrines.
The first Temple was started in about 550 BC, dedicated in 430 BC and burnt in 356 BC on the day of Alexander the Great’s birth.
The second Temple took more than thirty years to build and was completed in 323 BC. It was so extravagant that the women of Ephesus sold their jewels to pay for it and kings presented columns, gifts of gold and furnishings of every kind. It was the Ephesians’ national pride and this explains well how Demetrius was able to stir up the crowds against Paul in Acts 19.
The city was a centre of witchcraft and sorcery. Paul, however, built a very strong church there . We read in Acts 19:19 that his ministry was powerful. All the believers, who had been reached by Paul’s ministry "who had practices sorcery brought their scrolls together and burnt them publicly (Acts 19:19).
The value of these was 50 000 drachmas = 500 000 dollars. A lot of money - a lot of sorcery!!
It was as I said a very religious city and there was a lot of opposition to the Christian Gospel from the religious people.
Acts 19 tells us much about the city and its people and you might care to read it sometime.
THE EPISTLE (LETTER) TO THE EPHESIANS
The Epistle to the Ephesians (and I shall use this term to distinguish it from the Letter to the Ephesians in Revelation) was written by Paul and is to be found after Galatians in the New Testament.
It was dated about 60-64 AD. The reason for writing the letter was that the converted Jews in the early church appear to have been inclined to be exclusive and separate themselves from their Gentile brethren. The keynote of the letter is Christian Unity.
In other words the theme is unity within the Church between Jew and Gentile Christian. The Christian who is saved by Grace has no right to be snooty towards his brother.
The letter can be broken into two parts:
Part I : The Church and the Plan of Salvation.
Here Paul provides a different approach to that in Romans, where he dwells on faith apart from works and Galatians where he dwells on faith apart from ceremonial rituals.
In Ephesians, he dwells on the unity of believers. The redemptive work of Christ is universal in scope. Indeed in Chapter 2 v.7 to 10 we see that Paul reminds the Ephesians that:
"it is by Grace you have been saved, through Faith and this not of yourselves, it is the Gift of God not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Part II : Practical application
What the divine plan calls for on the part of the Church.
i) The unity of believers
ii) Consistent Christian life
iii) Home Life; and
iv) Spiritual warfare.
THE CHURCH
I mention the Epistle in passing so we can get a better insight into the Church itself.
In my opinion, it was still legalistic and works orientated, if Ephesians 2, 8-9 is anything to go by.
In other words the Jews still felt that they were better then the Gentile believers.
Reading the epistle of the Ephesians together with the Letter in Revelation you get the feeling that their works orientation and disunity might well have brought about their loss of love for the Lord.
In other words, when we look down on Christian brothers (which is what division brings) we quench our love for God. Perhaps the famous parody of Onwards Christians Soldiers might apply.
"Like a mighty tortoise moves the Church of God
Brothers we are treading where we always trod
We are all divided, much disharmony
Very strong in doctrine, weak in charity"
We do well to remember Philippians 2:14
"Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the Word of Life."
THE LETTER of Revelation 2:1-7
This letter can be broken down into three sections:
a) Their Commendations (v.2 to 3 and 6)
b) Their Reproof (v4 and 5); and
c) Their Hope (7)
a) Their Commendations (v.2 to 3 and 6)
The Lord introduces himself in verse 1.(You will recall that most of the epistles of Paul start in the same way - for it is a usual form of introduction.)
Here we see the Lord presenting himself, as the Divine Presence represented in power.
As we see from later passages, the lampstands represent the place that the church has in God’s Kingdom.
Perhaps they also reflect the Lord’s words in Matt.5:14-16
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand and it gives light to every one in the house. In the same way let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
It is marvellous that the Lord wants his Church to shine, for people to be impressed by our changed lives. I became a Christian, not by being preached at but by seeing a life that I wanted.
The profile unfortunately that the world generally sees of the church is not the glorified Bride of Christ waiting expectantly for the Lord’s return, but a Church fighting each other really often no different to any of the clubs and societies that the world has to offer. The letter is written to wake them up from their lethargy.
The Lord starts with their positive attributes. We would do well to remember that (and also to note that in most of Paul’s letters, he starts with the good points before going on to correct) We on the other hand can come over, when we criticise, as harsh, cold and loveless because we never give credit where it is due.
Story: I remember that my father often complained about what I did wrong and very rarely gave any praise. He always remembered what I did wrong until I didn’t want to do anything for fear of being wrong.
We need to be careful to realise what is necessary to "complain about" and what isn’t. To be a caring fellowship not full of people who say "I told you so" when things go wrong.
The positive commendations are:
1. their deeds
2. their hard work
3. their perseverance
4. their intolerance of wickedness including the false practices of the Nicolatains;
5. their intolerance of false prophets
6. their perseverance and
7. their endurance for Christ.
The Nicolaitans were probably an early church group who took their name from Nicolas of Antioch and who thought that they could work out a compromise with paganism to enable Christians to take part in some of the religious and social activities of the close knit society.
It is however also possible that Nicolaitans are derived from a Greek version of the Hebrew "Balaam" and therefore the name is allegorical of the policy of the sect being likened to that of the O.T. corrupter of Israel (Nu.22) In that case the Nicolaitans could be identified with groups attacked by Peter in 2 Pet 2:15 (and those referred to in Judges 11) for their advocacy within the church of pagan sexual laxity.
The Lord does realise our strengths. He is not a hard task master just looking for results. Rather He looks at our heart. Hence the strong reproof. In Ephesians 5:1 we read:
"Be imitators of God therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
b) Their Reproof (v4 and 5).
The Church had forsaken its first love.
There are three types of lobve in Greek
1. Agape
Christian love did not fit classical Greek thought about their "gods" and so we find Christians using the word Agape, which was a fairly undefined word in classical Greek to describe Christ’s love for mankind love that loves despite the response of the recipient of the love.
Agape is the love, in which in the words of Romans
5: 8 God demonstrated "while we were still sinners Christ died for us."
Romans 5:5 tells us that it is "God who has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us."
When we lose love we are rejecting God.
Love can also be hard against sin, but is always, like the Father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 willing to forgive.
Perhaps 1 Cor.13. 1 was especially written for charismatic Fellowships
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."
I know, I often am a clanging gong and cymbal. But God’s way is different.
Christ came into the world and started a revolution. He revolutionised the world with unselfish love. The Greeks have far more descriptive words than we do. I was told that for love they had two common words:
2. Philea
This is friendship or brotherly love from which the name Philadelphia, the church to which the sixth letter is written comes. It is the love for Christ that Peter uses of himself in his realistic assesment of himnself in John 22:15-19
3. Eros
It is this word for love from which we get the word erotic, such as in erotic art.
The Ephesians in the beginning had a great love for Christ, for we read in Acts 19:18 and 19
"When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus they were all seized with fear and the Name of the lord Jesus was held in high honour. Many who believed now came and confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practised sorcery brought their scrolls together and burnt them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls the total came to 50,000 drachmas, 500 000 dollars."
There was real conversion there a sign of real love for the Lord. But now the church had lost this first love, the love that sought the Kingdom of God first and His Righteousness. Christ’s revolution had been quenched.
God in his mercy had not finished with them but was calling them back to repent. To turn around.
Repent and do the things you did at first.(v.5)
c) Their Hope (7)
The Lord encourages them. He wants them to repent and to have a hope. You will recall that in the Garden of Eden, after man ate of the tree of knowledge he was banned from the Garden and banned from eating from the Tree of Life, in other words sin led to death:
And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever." (Gen 3:22)
Yet God wants his children to have life. We read in Rev.22 2 that in the new Jerusalem, where the River of the Water of Life flows from the Throne of God, that the Tree of Life stood on each side of the river.
When we go to be with the Lord, we can look forward to a life in which Christ is in the centre.
Let us just read Rev. 22 15 just to see what this will be like.
"And the angel showed me the River of the Water of Life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the City. On each side of the River stood the Tree of Life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the Tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The Throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city and His servants shall serve him. They will see His Face and his Name shall be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever."
Just meditate on this great hope. This is the great hope we have, we will be with the Lord. The Bible is a book that describes how we lost the tree of life and how we will find it again.
But He wants us to develop our love.
You know one of the important things when one loves is that you want to spend time with that person.
Without contact, our love grows cold. Remember Jesus often went away to pray. He loved the father so much that He just wanted time with the Father.
"One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the whole night praying to God." Luke 6:12
And in John 17 we read of the Great High Priestly Prayer of Christ.
Conclusion
The challenge of this letter is to develop our love for Christ, in Praise, in Prayer and in Fellowship in His Church and with Him.
Make this our prayer today: "Lord, light the fire again!"
