To the Church in Ephesus
In this series on the Seven Churches of Revelation, we will be examining the commendation and condemnation of each of the seven churches and learning the lessons that is meant for our Church.
Let’s read:
Rev 2:1-7
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:
2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that 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.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
5 Remember the height from which 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.
6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
(NIV)
The book of Revelation was written around A.D. 95-100. There probably existed well over 100 churches at that time. Paul himself planted dozens and the other apostles would have done the same thing. Why did Christ pick these seven churches to write to. Traditionally there are 3 different thoughts on this matter.
First: The contemporary thought: That Christ had a direct message to seven literal churches existing at that time.
Christ did have a message to these seven churches that existed at that time, but if we accept this purpose, then we would just read over it without thinking that it may apply to us today. Everything else in the Bible applies to us today, so why wouldn’t this?
Second: The composite thought: That these messages are meant to be applied by all churches existing in all ages.
This to me sounds like the correct purpose. We can see attributes of each of these seven churches in our churches today.
Third: The chronological thought: That the characteristics of these churches serve as a prophetical preview of the seven great periods in Christendom from Pentecost to the rapture.
If this purpose were true, then all churches today would be represented by the Laodicea church, for which Christ had the most contempt. I do see many churches today that are represented by the Laodicea church, but not all.
At the time this letter was written, Ephesus was a flourishing city with a population of about 225,000 and possessed a huge harbor. The harbor could accommodate the largest ships in the world. Ephesus grew to become one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world. The temple of Diana was there, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, being the largest Greek temple ever constructed. Diana was believed to be the mother goddess of the world by the Greeks. Diana was the goddess of fertility, life and reproduction, so the worship of Diana was immoral beyond description. The worship consisted of sexual orgies and sexual mutilation. The Church at Ephesus had much to contend with, just has our churches today as to contend with pornography and homosexual agendas.
Let’s now look at the message to the church of Ephesus.
Rev. 2
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:
This verse is telling us that Christ is telling John what to write to the pastor of the Church of Ephesus. The word angel means messenger and in this sense refers to the pastor. The seven stars refer to the seven pastors. The seven golden lampstands refer to the seven churches. This also tells us that Christ walks among his churches. Is He here today in our church?
The Commendation:
Rev.2
2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that 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.
Christ tells the church that He knows of their hard work and perseverance. They were in an area that bound in sins of all kinds. There were the sexual sins of the worship of the goddess Diana. There was the making of graven images of Diana. With Ephesus being one of the wealthiest cities in the world, there was the obvious sin of the love of money. The saints of Ephesus had over come all of this. They hated all that was evil and could not tolerate wicked men. They even tested false apostles who came into their church with a doctrine other than what Paul had taught them. (1 Timothy 1:3 and Acts 20:30)
Can we say this about our church? Would Christ tell us the same as what He told the Church at Ephesus? Do we hate the sin that is in our world today and do we not tolerate wicked men? Pornography is rampant in our city, the killing of unborn babies is accepted even by some so called Christians and now it appears Hobbs will get our first horse track and casino. Are we standing up against these sins or are we just sitting back and letting it happen? Christ commended the church at Ephesus for their hard work against the wicked and also for their "toil to the point of exhaustion" for their service to Christ. Are we toiling to the point of exhaustion trying to reach the lost and to bring them into the fold of the church? In the series I preached on "Taking Up Your Cross in Today’s World", I told you if we are not being persecuted and enduring hardships then we are not serving Christ with all of our heart and soul. Also do we know the word of God well enough to test someone’s teaching that may come into our church? Today many people including Christians are being deceived by false doctrines that have come about after the Sep 11th event. We need to be in the Word of God everyday so that we can apply it in our lives and be able to know when someone is teaching a false doctrine.
The Condemnation:
Rev. 2
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
5 Remember the height from which 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.
Paul had visited Ephesus about 40 years before the book of Revelation was written and had stayed there for about 3 years. During his ministry a revival broke out. (Acts 19:20)
They were on fire for the Lord. Their hearts were in the right place. They praised and worshipped God with all their heart. Their love for Christ was greater than their love for anything else.
Do you remember when you were first saved? You loved the Lord so much that He was on your mind constantly and all you wanted to talk about was the love that He has for you. Is it still that way today or is it like what happened to the church in Ephesus?
When Christ dictated the letter for Ephesus to John, it was about 40 years after Paul had left Ephesus. This means that these people had 40 years to cool down from the revival that Paul had started there. They were like many churches today. Outwardly we see their good deeds and their religious traditions, but inwardly they are empty. Christians go through the motions. We give food for the food closet. We sign petitions against having a casino in our town. We attend church every Sunday morning because we feel that it is expected of us. But where is our first love? Where is our love at all? In the Book of Ephesians, Paul commends them for not only their love for Christ, but also for their love for each other. If we still had our first love there wouldn’t be any bickering or jealously in our church. If we still had our first love, we would be lifting each other up instead of trying to knock each other down.
If we still had our first love, we would be praising and worshipping God with a joyful noise instead of a ritual of religious traditions. Do you think God cares what songs we sing? Do you think He cares what we wear to church? I don’t think so. What He does care about is your heart. Is your heart right with God? Does Jesus live in your heart? Do you love Christ more than anything in the world? Are you following God’s call in your life? Without love our church will not grow. Without love new members will not remain in our church. Without love our lives will be miserable. Let’s return to our first love.
Rev 2:6
6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
The Nicolaitans were a sect of the Gnostics, who taught impure doctrines and followed impure practices. They are also supposed to have derived their origin from Nicolas, one of the seven deacons mentioned in Acts 6:5. The Nicolaitanes taught the community of wives, that adultery and fornication were things indifferent, that eating meats offered to idols was quite lawful; and mixed several pagan rites with the Christian ceremonies. From secular writing of this time we find that Augustine, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Tertullian, have spoken largely concerning the Nicolaitans. Again we see that the Ephesians were doing good works and were good in testing the teachers of the church.
Rev 2:7
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
In this verse Christ is giving us a warning. We had better hear his word and follow his commands. In this verse we also see that the letters to the seven churches also applies to all Christians from when the book of Revelation was written until today and even into the future. If we will overcome and return to our first love then we will be given eternal life.
If you have truly accepted Christ has your Lord and Savior then your love for Him should still be greater than anything in your life. A Christian without love is not a true Christian. Christ taught more on the subject of love than anything else.
Let’s read:
Matt 22:37-40
37 Jesus replied: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
(NIV)
Jesus taught that love for God is the greatest commandment. We are to love Him with all (not some) of our heart and with all of our soul (not some) and with all of our mind (not some). Do we love God with every ounce of our heart, soul and mind? How often do you think of God in one day? We should be in constant communication with God. We should seek His will in everything that we do, every second of the day. He should be in our thoughts constantly. Our soul and spirit should be praising Him constantly. This is the true first love. We are also to love everyone. Do we show this love to everyone? Sometimes we don’t even show it to others in our own church.
We need to get out of the business of religion and return to our first love. We need to really start praising God in our churches. We go though the motions, but our hearts are not in it, because we are afraid we might go against traditions. We don’t come to church for traditions. We should be coming to church to praise and worship our Lord with all of our soul and spirit. We need to let the Holy Spirit lead us in worship and forget about how we were taught has a child to worship. We don’t have to sing the same old hymns just because they are traditional hymns. I am sure the church at Ephesus didn’t sing the same hymns that we sing today. So why can’t we sing more contemporary music, if it praises and lifts up God? Why can’t we change the order of worship sometimes if it still honors God? People, let’s get out of the religion business and return to our first love and really praise and worship our Lord and Savior.
If you are here today and you have forsaken your first love, come to the altar and humble yourself on your knees before God and repent.
If you are here today and you don’t know Jesus has your savior, then you are missing out on eternal life in heaven. You do have eternal life without Him, but it will be in Hell where you will be in torment constantly for eternity. The choice is yours. Jesus loves you and He suffered and died on the cross for your sins because He loves you. He arose on the third day where He sits at the right hand of God the Father, waiting for you to call upon His name. Come now and accept Christ as you Savior and Lord. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and repent of those sins. He will help you to change your life and to turn away from whatever sins you are involved in. You haven’t done anything that Jesus won’t forgive. Come now and have assurance that you will spend eternity in Heaven. Your life here on earth will change too. It will be full with the first love that we have been talking about tonight. It is a love for Christ that will change your life for the best. Come now.
