The Letter To The Church At Ephesus Series

THE LETTER TO THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS

Revelation 2:1-7

If you have been born again then you certainly remember the joy and excitement that you felt when you first met Jesus. It is an overwhelming experience to know that you have gone from death unto life. Chances are pretty good that when you were converted you wanted to tell everyone about the glorious change that Jesus brought into your life. In the early days of your faith you couldn’t get enough of the things of God. You spent much time worshipping, praying, studying and sharing the gospel with others.

Many would have to admit that somewhere along the way something changed; you may not have consciously turned away from the Lord, but if you are honest, the joy, excitement, and zeal that you experienced at first has faded. Perhaps you are at a place in your life where you your focus has shifted back to the things of this world and your relationship with Christ has suffered as a result.

If this describes you then our selected text contains a message that you need to hear. Jesus confronted the members of the Church at Ephesus because they had “left their first love”, He then called on them to “remember how far they had fallen”, and to “repent, and do the works they did at first.” If they refused to repent, He would come to them and “remove their lampstand from its place”; this is a warning of the discipline and judgment that they would face if they refused to return to Him.

This is a message that was addressed to an actual church; Jesus sent this message through John to the assembly of Believers who met and worshipped in Ephesus. This was a church that had a rich history and many positive attributes, but they had one major flaw that had the potential to destroy their productivity for the Kingdom of God.

As I study this letter, I realize that there may be some potential parallels between our local assembly and the Church at Ephesus. If so, then we have a choice to make; we can receive the message that Jesus has for us and respond accordingly, or we can continue to ignore it and risk Him taking His hand off of us. I would like to examine this first of the seven letters to the churches in Asia Minor and preach about “The Letter To The Church At Ephesus”.

Over the next several weeks we will walk through all seven of these letters, you will notice that each letter has the same general outline. In almost every instance these letters contained praise, a rebuke, a command, a warning and a promise.

- Look with me to verse 1 as we consider:

THE RECIPIENTS OF THIS LETTER

v1a "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write…

This letter was addressed to the “angel” of the Church at Ephesus. The word “angel” here literally means “messenger”. In this context “angel” does not refer to the heavenly agents of God that we read about in other places in the Bible, rather it speaks of the seven Elders or Pastors who led the seven churches in Asia Minor.

This specific letter was addressed to “the Angel of the church at Ephesus”. He was expected to receive this information and then share it with the members of that church. The city of Ephesus was on a major trade route that was renowned for its magnificent harbor. Ships came to Ephesus from all over the world bring their goods and their wealth. Ephesus was the richest city in Asia Minor and it was referred to as “The Gateway To Asia”.

This city was also the center of worship of the Greek goddess Artemis; she was identified by the Romans as Diana. Diana was the goddess of sex and fertility. People came from everywhere to come to the temple to worship Diana.This temple was filled with hundreds of prostitutes and the way you worshiped Diana was to have sexual relations with a temple prostitute.

Clearly, Ephesus was a wicked, degenerate, vile place to live. However, in the midst of this wickedness and idol worship was a strong church with a rich history. God sent the Apostle Paul to minister in Ephesus (Acts 18:19-21; 19; 20:17-38.) He was the founder of this church and he preached there for two years. Timothy was the first bishop of the Church at Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3). Tychicus, Aquila, Priscilla & Apollos all labored in the Ephesian church as well. The Apostle John spent the last years of his life in Ephesus. It was here that he wrote the Gospel of John and his three epistles. John was in Ephesus when he was arrested by Domitian and exiled to the Isle of Patmos as a result of his service to Christ.