September 14, 2003
Title: Ephesus
Text: Rev. 2:1-7
Introduction
Last week, we looked at the picture of Jesus Christ;
standing among the 7 candlesticks
each one representing one of the 7 churches that we will be studying...
Walking among them...
inspecting them
congratulating them on things they are doing well
condemning them about areas where they need to improve
And we mentioned that TODAY
Jesus is still visiting His churches...
speaking to them...
inspecting them...
ministering to them...
and disciplining them...
But, sometimes, I wonder if the church is really listening...
Jesus knew of the dangers of getting distracted...
the dangers of losing our focus...
that’s why; over and over again he said,
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches"
This message isn’t only for the 7 Churches in Turkey...
This message is for Belleview Church of the Nazarene.
We need to hear the message that Christ has for His Church today!
Tonight, as we study the Church at Ephesus, I believe that God has some things to say to Belleview Church of the Nazarene as well.
Let’s open our ears, and listen...everybody listen...to what God has to say to us this evening.
Read Text: Rev. 2:1-7
1. Background on Ephesus
All 7 of these churches are in what we call Turkey today.
Ephesus is near the modern city of Selcuk.
Ephesus was populated by the Greeks about 1200 BC.
With its proximity to the Aegean Sea, it was a major seaport...
and it became a major city.
And being one the Cayster River, it was a gateway for trade to all of Asia Minor.
By the 1st Century, Ephesus was a major Roman City.
It was the city where the Roman Governor lived.
It was a major metropolis.
The Ephesians worshipped the goddess Diana, the Roman goddess of fertility and nature.
It is associated the Greek goddess Artemis.
In fact, one of the 7 Wonders of the World is located in Ephesus...
the Temple of Diana (also called the Temple of Artemis
In the 2nd Century when Christians were being martyred...
fed to the lions for the entertainment of Rome...
they were shipped via Ephesus...
and Ignatius even refers to Ephesus as "the highway of martyrs."
Paul, recognizing the importance of this city...
founded the Church in Ephesus.
he spent more than 3 years there...
afterwards, he wrote the book of Ephesians to this church.
And even later, Paul assigned Timothy to Ephesus...
and wrote 2 letters to Timothy while Timothy was serving in Ephesus.
And early Church tradition states that John, the writer of Revelation, made Ephesus his home in his later years, before his death (source: People’s NT Commentary)
Perhaps John wrote to Ephesus first of the 7 churches because it was the closest,
only60 miles away...
and because of its importance...
and because it was the church that John thought of as his home church.
2. Characteristic of Christ
In each of the letters to the 7 Churches, the letter describes a specific characteristic of Jesus Christ which was first mentioned in Chapter 1
There is certainly some thinking that Jesus chose to reveal Himself in a particular way to each particular church for a particular reason.
And I’m sure there is some truth in that.
Even today, Jesus reveals Himself differently to different people and different churches.
To the Church of Ephesus, Jesus Christ reveals Himself as the one "who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands" Rev 2:1 (NIV).
Which is a reference back to Rev. 1 where we see Christ walking among the lampstands...
holding the 7 stars in the palm of His hand--which represents the 7 Churches.
Perhaps, because of the persecution that this church was facing...
they needed the reassurance that God was in control...
they needed to know that Jesus was in their midst...
that He held them in His hand...
and thus, Christ reveals Himself in a way that will encourage them.
3.Compliments of Christ.
Each of these letters to the 7 churches follows a similar pattern...
After the mention of the specific charactistic of Jesus Christ...
there follows a portion of Scripture where Christ compliments those people.
And using this patter, Jesus begins to compliment the people of Ephesus...
He says, "I know your deeds"
"I know that you work hard"
"I know that you have persevered"
I Know that you do not tolerate people who claim to be My apostles but aren’t"
I know that you have endured hardships for My sake"
Let me divide these compliments into 3 areas...
First, Jesus knows about our hard work!
Do you ever get discouraged?
Do you ever feel like no one seems to know what you are going through?
Do you ever feel that no one cares?
Do you feel like you are doing a lot of grunt work and no one really appreciates the work that you are doing?
Jesus says, "I know about your hard work"
I see what you are doing!
I appreciate your faithful service!
You think that no one cares about what you are doing...
but you are wrong...because I see what you do...
I know that you faithful teach a children’s SS class week in and week out...
I know that you pick up trash around the church...
I know that you are visiting and writing letters to encourage people...
I know that you are working hard to spread My Gospel...
I know your deeds....I know your hard work...
And I appreciate what you are doing!!
Isn’t it comforting that when other people don’t notice...
or don’t seem to care about what we may be doing...
that there is One who cares...
and He is the One we are doing all this for anyway...
and Jesus is letting us know that it matters to Him what you are doing in service to Him...
He sees what you do and He appreciates it!
The other compliment...Jesus sees that they recognize false teachers when they see them...
This is a church that doesn’t tolerate people trying to twist Scripture...
They don’t allow people to twist the Gospel...
they stand up for the one True and Right Way...
they stand up for the Truth.
Perhaps this is an area that the Church of today needs to work on.
So often, in our desire for a spirit of unity...
we open the door for many different beliefs and doctrines...
we begin to think that there are many ways to God...
we hesitate to speak out against falsehood when we see it.
We hesitate to let people know when they start to allow wrong thinking to enter in to their Christianity.
We don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings...
and to be honest...I am that way myself...
I want everyone to get along...
I want us all to agree...
I want us all to love one another...
But in our desire to have unity...
we must not allow false doctrine to spread through our people...
we must not allow false teachings to begin to enter into our church...
and take a foothold...
because if they do, it won’t take long before the Gospel doesn’t look much like the Gospel any more.
We must speak up when falsehood is proclaimed as truth...
we must speak up when people try to twist Scripture to accommodate homosexuality...
we must speak up when people say its okay to commit sin...Jesus won’t send anyone to hell, He’s a God of love...
we must speak up when people say it doesn’t matter if you follow Christ, or Allah, or Buddah, or Mohammed....there are many ways to God...
We must speak up when people say "as long as you are a good person...and a good citizen, that is what is important"
We must try to set the record straight!
Christ commended the Ephesians for doing that...
and it’s simple to see that He wants us to do that too.
And the third commendation, Jesus congratulates them for persevering in the face of hardship.
When trouble has come their way...
they haven’t given up...
they haven’t grown weary...
they haven’t waffled...
they haven’t decided that it just isn’t worth it...
they have hung in there...
they have remained resolute...
they have kept their determination
And today, Jesus would tell His Church...
You are doing great!
Hang in there!!
I know what you are going through...
I know that it gets tough some times.
I know that it isn’t always easy...
but I appreciate you...
I am glad that you are faithful...
I’m glad that you haven’t given up when the going got tough...
4. The Weaknesses...
Along with the commendations...
Jesus also pointed out some areas where the Ephesians were weak...
these were areas that they needed to improve...
these were some things that they needed to focus on.
I was struck by the Pastoral review process with Orville Jenkins yesterday...
it was like it followed this kind of pattern...
He asked the Board about the strengths of the church...
but then he also asked about what were some areas that we needed to improve...
I don’t know if Orville was following the example of Christ in these 7 Churches of Revelation or not...but I noticed the similarity...
But one big difference...
Orville asked us about our areas that needed improvement...
in Scripture...
Christ is the One who points out the weaknesses.
For the Ephesians...
Jesus said, "I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love"
Rev 2:4 (NIV)
It wasn’t that the Ephesians had stopped loving the Lord...
or stopped loving each other...
but the love had become perhaps taken for granted...
perhaps they had been affected by the persecutions...
perhaps they had been affected by the labor...
it wasn’t that they stopped loving the Lord...
but it just wasn’t the same anymore.
This isn’t any unique to the Ephesians...
we do this too.
When we first get married...
boy, our love is HOT...
It is PASSIONATE...
It is EXCITING...
It is ALIVE...
HUGGING AND KISSING all the time...
Holding hands when you walk in the mall...
But then, kids come along...
and concerns about finances begin to weigh us down...
and perhaps concerns about work enter in...
and maybe the boss is giving us a hard time...
and we are always tired...
and we get used to being with our spouse...
and perhaps we even take them for granted...
It’s not that we don’t love our spouse anymore...
but we really don’t express our love that way any more...
and perhaps, in a sense, we have forsaken our first love...
we have allowed our love to become boring...
commonplace...
and dry...
That’s not a good thing to do in our relationship with our spouse...
and it’s not a good thing to do in our relationship with the Lord!
5. But Jesus doesn’t just drop the bombshell of criticism and then leave us quivering in His wake...
He tells us how to fix the problem.
Jesus told the Ephesian church, "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first Rev 2:5 (NIV)
Back to our illustration about the marriage...
perhaps when the marriage gets dry...
when our love isn’t as exciting and passionate any more...
maybe we need to reminisce a little bit...
maybe we need to remember what it was like when we first got married...
or even remember what it was like when we were dating...
remember how we would hold hands in the mall?
remember how we would kiss when we came to a stop light?
remember how we would write those little love notes?
Or a poem?
Well, maybe we need to do that again!
Maybe those things are important in a relationship to maintaining an exciting a passionate level to our love!
And now let’s relate that to our relationsip with the Lord...
We need to remember what it was like when we first got saved...
we need to remember how we were quick to read the Bible...
and not just read our chapter and quit...
but how sometimes we just couldn’t seem to get enough of it!!
We need to remember how we relished spending time with the Lord in prayer...
not just "now I lay me down to sleep"...
but a real conversation...
stimulating...
not just a one sided "wish list"
(Lord do this and do this and do this for me)
We need to remember how we would be so excited about our relationship with Jesus that we would tell our friends about it...
we would stand up in church during testimony time and tell everyone how much we loved Jesus...
It was a passionate relationship...
it was exciting....
REMEMBER?
CAN YOU REMEMBER THAT?
Remembering is the first step in getting it back...
the second step is repenting...
we can do this with our spouse..
"Honey, I’m sorry I haven’t been as loving as I used to be...
please forgive me"
And we can do this with the Lord.
"Jesus...I used to be so excited about serving you...
but lately I’ve just grown weary...
and I’ve been taking You for granted...
please forgive me"
6. Warning...
But Jesus doesn’t just compliment the Ephesians...
and tell them where they need to improve...
and tell them HOW to improve it...
He gives them a warning too!
He says, "If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Rev 2:5 (NIV)
If you allow your marriage to grow stale...
it can severely damage your relationship with your spouse...
so much so that that marriage might end...
Well, there’s a danger in our spiritual relationship with the Lord as well.
He knows that if you continue to allow your relationship with Him go one without passion...
without excitement...
it won’t be long before you aren’t reading the Bible like you should...
and it won ’t be long before your prayer life suffers...
and perhaps attending church isn’t as important to you as it used to be...
and it doesn’t take very long before your relationship with the Lord is just as damaged as the relationship between a man and woman who have gotten a divorce.
If you let it go very long...
if you don’t heed the warnings of the Lord...
if you refuse to repent...
if you refuse to return to a loving, vital relationship with Jesus...
well, sin follows...
and after sin is judgment...
and Jesus says, "I will come and remove your lampstand from its place"
In other words, Jesus says, "This church will no longer exist"
When Jesus has a warning for the Church...
and if that warning falls on deaf ears...
and if the Church is unwilling to repent & address the concerns that Jesus brings to Her attention...
then that church finds itself on very precarious footing...
Jesus will hold the Church responsible for Her actions
or lack of action, as it were...
and judgment will follow.
7. Reward...
But Jesus didn’t just utter a harsh warning and leave...
He also gives the Ephesian church a promised reward if they will do what He tells them to do.
He said, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Rev 2:7 (NIV)
If you will remember, mankind lost this right in the Garden of Eden with the sin of Adam and Eve...
they were forced from the Garden so that they couldn’t eat from the tree of life.
But to the Church (which is to say, the people)
who overcome...
to those who are victorious...
Jesus will allow us to finally eat from the tree of life...
which, Scripture says is "in the paradise of God"...
To me, this brings up the picture of the Garden of Eden...
And God is going to allow us to return...not to the physical location of the Garden of Eden here on earth...
but He is going to allow us to return to that opportunity...
He is going to give us that chance to enjoy that kind of relationship with Him....
when man sinned in the garden...
that changed everything...
and no matter how much we draw closer to the Lord in this life...
I feel that it is still a shadow of what it was like before the fall...
But if we will overcome
if we will heed the warnings...
if we will remain faithful...
if we do the things that He wants us to do...
then the day will come when we will get to enjoy that relationship in all of its fullness...
just as it was intended to be in the Garden originally!
Conclusion
This first letter, to the Church of Ephesus...
it contained a powerful message for those early Ephesian christians...
but not only that...
Jesus has a message for the Belleview Christians of today...
I know what you are doing...
I see your work...
I appreciate your service for the kingdom...
I’m glad that you speak up when people try to twist the Scripture and teach falsely...
I’m glad that you have remained faithful, in spite of persecution and hardship...
But...you have allowed your love for Me to become habit...
you’ve been taking our relationship for granted...
you have forsake that early passion and excitement that you used to have for Me.
you need to remember what it used to be like and repent!
You need to do those things that you used to do...
your love for Me should be passionate...
and enthusiastic...
and exciting...
and filled with joy...
and if you do..
then you will have the opportunity to eat from the Tree of Life!
You will enjoy such sweet fellowship with Me as mankind hasn’t known since those very earliest of times in the Garden of Eden!
Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches"
Jesus is speaking to His Church in Belleview...
He’s doing it right now...tonight...
and if the Lord is speaking to you...
I invite you to come and pray....
maybe you need to repent...
maybe you need to remember what it used to be like...
Whatever He is saying to you tonight...
I encourage you to be obedient...
the rewards are incredible...
and the alternative...
well, I don’t even want to think about that.
