"too Much Of A Good Thing" Series

SLIDE 1: Winnie the Pooh

Sometimes, a children’s story from the past can help set the stage for new topics. A fitting one is Winnie the Pooh. He knew it was lunch time because his empty stomach told him so. He headed off to Rabbit’s house because Rabbit always had honey. “Rabbit – Are you home?” “Come on in Pooh – you are just in time for lunch.” That’s just what Pooh wanted to hear. After many, many, many pots of honey, Pooh was tired and ready to go home. But when he tried to leave the way he came in, he got stuck. “Oh bother,” said Pooh – “It all comes from Rabbit not having a big enough door.” “Nonsense!” said Rabbit – “It all comes from eating too much of my honey!” Pooh learned the lesson the hard way. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

As children, in some way, shape, or form, we learned this lesson. Some of us learned it through stories, or a father’s gentle guidance. Meanwhile, others of us learned it the hard way downing too much ice cream or sweets with resulting stomach aches. Too much of a good thing is actually not so good. Calvin Seminary Professor, Dr. Jeff Weima concludes in his commentary that’s the message behind the distress bulletin to the church in Ephesus. Let’s begin with verse 1.

Slide 2: Verse 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.”

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THE ANGELS: The first unusual observation we notice - John is instructed by Christ in to write to the angel of the church in Ephesus. That’s the case with each letter. Who are these angels? We don’t know for sure.

Thankfully our interpretation is not shaped one way or the other. For those who answer an actual angel, some will speak to a guardian angel for the church though Scripture makes no mention of churches having guardian angels. Nor do other texts direct humans to correspond with angels. Given Revelation is loaded with symbols, it is possible the angels are humans – like angels - servants of Christ who led the church or function as messenger to deliver the letter.

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THE SEVEN CHURCHES: Why these seven churches? By now, there were far more than seven congregations. Setting the framework for what is to come, the number seven is frequently symbolic for completeness – perhaps representing the church both then and now. Every church named would be copied on the content to the other six churches in addition to their own.

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THE CITY: When it comes to the city, Ephesus was a metropolis of nearly a quarter million people and the center of much church ministry. In Acts 19, you can read about the silver workers and their celebrated god, Artemis. Her large temple took the form of a great tree shrine which was the symbol of Ephesus. According to Acts 20, Paul spent three years there. Timothy came to be stationed there too. Then, after his release from Patmos, John trains the next generation of church leaders in Ephesus and writes Revelation, his Gospel, and possibly his three letters.

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THE UNIQUE AUTHOR: But the Revelation letter itself to Ephesus is not from John. It is from Jesus Christ. Notice how highlighting the authority and power presence of Jesus Christ with symbols give this letter added weight. “The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.” Christ’s presence comes as both a comfort and a challenge to correct what is wrong. The seven stars being the seven angel recipients and the lampstands, the seven churches. Both symbols originate from John’s first vision in Chapter 1. But they serve another function too – downplaying the universal authority of Rome - The Ephesian coin known for its seven stars – representing the seven known planets at the time to the right of the Tree of Artemis. We’ll come back to how the tree shrine is minimized in a few moments. Now we get to the heart of the letter that begins with celebration:

Slides 7-8

Verses 2-3 “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. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary.”

Slide 9

Jesus, who knows all, praises them for their perseverance and their knowledge. Their theology is put to good use to test those who claim to represent God – thus affording themselves a means of protection. It is also clear they have suffered many hardships through persecution but have not grown weary. Using this passage as a foretelling, we can then look to see if we bear similar strengths.