The Church at Ephesus: A lost love

Transcription

1 Benjamin Searle The Church at Ephesus: A lost love Revelation 2:1-7 Snug Gospel Chapel: 21/06/2015 This morning we re going to be continuing through our series in the book of Revelation, looking primarily at the letter written by Jesus Christ to the church at Ephesus, in Chapter 2. Before we open God s Word, however, we need to come before the Lord in prayer. Let s pray. Father, I come to you this morning in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that as we meet together this morning, as we study Your Word, that You would reveal yourself to us, and speak the words that we need to hear. Father, I ask this morning that my voice would fade into the background, that Your voice might be heard and that your Holy Spirit would be at work among us to give us listening ears and open hearts. Above all else, Lord, I pray that you alone would be glorified. In Jesus Name. Amen. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Revelation Chapter 1. Although our primary text this morning comes from chapter 2, are details in that passage that we need in order to move forward. Bear with me, because this groundwork will be helpful for us not only today, but as we progress through the book of Revelation in the coming weeks and months. The last time we met, we looked primarily at the Revelation of the King from Revelation chapter 1. What we saw there was an amazing revelation of the person and the power of Jesus Christ. We looked first at the Jesus that John knew: a vision of Jesus Christ that John himself gave us a vision so amazing, in fact, that you might remember that the apostle John failed to keep tabs on his own language, and burst out into a premature doxology. After that point, we received what can only really be described as a vivid intrusion into the scene laid out by John. Jesus Christ Himself burst into full display, in all of His glory and majesty, as a terrible and radiant judge. This was the Revelation of the King, wherein Jesus Christ identifies Himself not as the Jesus that John knew, but as the risen, glorious judge of all the earth. This transcendent vision of Jesus Christ was so overwhelming that John said when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.

2 The Revelation of the King, however, waits for no man and John was soon lifted up by the hand of Christ Himself - and commanded to write; and it s here that we pick up our reading today. Look at verse 19. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. This verse forms the framework for the entire book of Revelation. John is told to write the things that he has seen, the things that are, and the things that will be. The things that John had seen, we ve already read and studied together. This, of course, is Chapter 1: the revelation of the King, in all of His glory. The things that are refers to the timeline of the churches in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3. It s my conviction that the things that are is a reference to the entire span of the Church Age, and it s from this context that we ll be looking at the letters to the seven churches. The things that will be after this are laid out in Chapters 4 and beyond, and refer specifically to the events that occur at the end of the Age, in the time of Jacob s Trouble the Tribulation. Now, in case you re thinking that I m dictating where those breaks come myself, allow me to elaborate. When Jesus tells John to write the things that occur after this, He uses a specific phrase in the Greek. That phrase is meta tauta. This phrase occurs only numerous times after this point in the book of Revelation, but ALL of those instances are in Chapters 4 and beyond. Turn with me to Revelation 4, briefly. Revelation Chapter 4, and verse 1. After these things - (meta tauta) - I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. So we can see that the Holy Spirit Himself announces when the things that occur after this begin to take place. Chapter 4 and verse 1 shows us a doorway open in heaven, a voice commanding come up here, and the reminder that the things that are to follow hereafter, meta tauta, are about to take place. When we do eventually reach this chapter, I ll be suggesting to you that this is a picture of the rapture of the

3 church; and likewise, to suggest to you that the things that the Rapture of the Church at this point brings to a close the things that are, ends the Church Age, and ushers in the things that shall take place after this. So, to put each of these things in context, we have: The things you have seen: the vision of Jesus Christ, seen by John, in around 90AD; The things that are: the Churches, spanning the entire church age, from the time of John s writing until the Rapture; and The things that shall take place after this: the Tribulation the time of Jacob s trouble. Within this context, we have, as a subset of the things that are, the seven letters that Jesus Christ Himself wrote to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. In this picture, the Church of Ephesus represents not only the literal church of Ephesus, which John himself knew well, but also the church of the apostolic age, from around 30AD to 100AD. Let s look now to our primary passage. Revelation Chapter 1, and starting at verse 20. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have laboured for My name s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. 6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds 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 to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

4 To begin at the beginning, let s look at who this letter is addressed to. Chapter 2 and verse 1 begins, to the angel of the church of Ephesus, write. Each of the letters dictated by the Lord Jesus begins with a directive to John to write to the angel of the church. Now, I ve read a number of arguments as to whom this reference refers, but I think the simplest answer is the one that is most apparent in the Greek text. The word angel here, in Greek, is angelos, and literally means messenger. So, the picture we have here is that the letters dictated by the Lord Jesus Christ are given to those in the churches who bear the responsibility of preaching the message to the people; in this case, the leaders of the church of Ephesus. Now by the time we reach the book of Revelation, the church at Ephesus has already featured heavily in Scripture. It was visited by Paul in Acts 19, was fed with the teaching of the word by Apollos, a prominent early Christian preacher, claimed Timothy and Tychicus as elders, and was known to be the church perhaps most linked to the Apostle John Himself. It makes some degree of sense that the Lord Jesus would write to a church like Ephesus in the first place it s a veritable who s who of apostles, prophets and teachers. This is not, however, the only level of application in each of these letters. There are multiple layers evident here, and they re defined in the text itself. The first, and most immediate application is to the individual churches themselves: in this case, Ephesus. The second is to the churches, plural, as Jesus Himself says in this verse let Him hear what the spirit says to the churches. The third layer of application is to the individual. He who has an ear, let him hear. These letters, written to real, historical churches, are nonetheless written to ALL churches, and to all believers - at all times, and of all ages throughout history. Obviously, that includes us and there is certainly a lot that we can learn from these letters today. Let s move on. These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.

5 Here we have a reminder of the image of Christ that we saw in Revelation Chapter 1. As we progress through the book of Revelation, we ll see a series of these images in each of the letters, and the specific element of the Revelation of Christ chosen to represent Him in each instance is carefully chosen, and meaningful. In this letter, to the church at Ephesus, there is a single detail given that is not included in Chapter 1. We ve already seen from the Lord Himself who these seven stars are. They represent the angels of the churches. The seven lampstands, on the other hand, represent the churches themselves. The hidden detail here is placed subtly in between the two, and we ll find this image beautifully hinted at in the closing verse of this passage too. These things say He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. We saw this Revelation in Chapter 1. We saw the Lord Jesus amidst the lampstands, with the seven stars in His hands, but it is only here that we re given this additional detail; only here that we re told that the Lord is walking among the lampstands. What does that imply? We re going to take a slight detour here, but hopefully you ll be as blessed by this as I was. Turn with me to Genesis 3. Genesis 3, and verse 8. and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and His wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. and now to verse 22: Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. So with this small hint, this carefully placed word, what is the Holy Spirit conveying? What is the significance of Jesus Christ walking among the golden lampstands? It s fellowship. Fellowship! The same God who walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, the God whose violent purity and impossible holiness was so clear, so apparent in Revelation 1, the God who drove man out of the garden,

6 out of paradise, out of the garden of Eden, moved heaven and earth, and took His own beloved son and crushed Him, and caused Him to suffer, to reconcile us to Him, that we might have fellowship with Him once more; that we might walk in the garden in the cool of the day with our God. What the Holy Spirit is drawing our attention to here is that in Christ, through His death, and in the church, for the first time since the garden of Eden the fellowship between God and man has been restored. Jesus Christ is in fellowship with His people, now, and forever. This is one of the things I love about Scripture. In placing this single word here, the Holy Spirit has linked the first book of the Bible to the last and everything in between. Turn back with me to Revelation 2, and verse 7. He who has an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. Do you see the completeness of this picture? This is Jesus Christ in Genesis, walking in the garden, in the cool of the day in Revelation, walking among His people, His lampstands, His church and here, in verse 7, in the full restoration of fellowship with them in paradise where it all began. This is precisely what Jesus meant when He left His disciples, saying behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. He didn t mean this in some vague spiritual sense. He didn t even mean it in terms of the Holy Spirit though that s certainly true. He meant it literally, physically, powerfully. Do you understand what this is saying? Whenever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Do you hear it? Do you understand what this means? What do we call it when two or three Christians are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ? It s the Church! We are the church! And whenever two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ, there He is among them, walking among the lampstands, in fellowship with the ones He loves. The implications of these verses alone are staggering. CHRIST IS HERE! He is here, among His people physically present among us as we meet together in His name by His Word, and by His promise in fellowship with His children. Amen.

7 Let s continue. Verse 2. I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles, and are not, and have found them liars. To best understand this part of the letter, we need to understand where Ephesus was, and how the church there was formed. Luckily, we re not in the dark on this one, as the events in question are detailed for us in the book of Acts. You would struggle, I imagine, to find a more hostile anti-christian environment than the one facing the apostle Paul at Ephesus. For the sake of time, we re not going to read the passage, but allow me to fill you in on the events of Acts Chapter 19. Paul spent two years in Ephesus, preaching and teaching. In that time, he encountered men that he refers to in the book of Corinthians as wild beasts. Occult practices were rife. What Scripture describes as itinerant Jewish exorcists were practicing in the city. Riots broke out, Christians were assaulted, and Paul himself was forced to withdraw from the city and take refuge in a school. More importantly, however, Scripture tells us that through all of this persecution, through the perseverance of the saints, the gospel took hold. Acts tell us that: many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all and the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. The church at Ephesus, then, was established in extraordinary and difficult circumstances. Preaching the gospel alone must have been incredibly intimidating, while reaching those who had dedicated their lives to Diana required hard work, perseverance and serious tenacity. In fact, looking at Revelation, we can see that the church at Ephesus faced problems that even Acts didn t list! Verse 2 states that they were required to test those who say they are apostles and are not, and found them liars. So, in addition to all the conflict and chaos of the city of Ephesus, there was one more spanner to throw in to the works: false prophets and false apostles had emerged from within the church, to add to the conflict without. To their credit, the believers at Ephesus had remembered what so many of our churches have forgotten. In one of his earlier epistles, John had written from Ephesus, to the churches of Asia Minor, exhorting them, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

8 The believers at Ephesus had taken this command seriously. They had tested the false apostles, comparing their works and their words against the standard of Scripture, and had found them to be liars. It is an absolute travesty that the very thing that Jesus commends the Ephesians for here in Revelation 2, in exercising their spiritual gift of discernment, is a practice at best marginalized, and at worst, mocked and rebuked in Christian circles today. The modern church, in stark contrast with Ephesus, is far too concerned with living its best life now to test the spirits - and if they did, they d find that the Holy Spirit, whom they so freely sing about and spend so much time trying to summon with emotional music and practices that border on the occult is nowhere to be found. but that s an issue for another time, another sermon and another of the seven letters. Let s move on. Verse 3. You have persevered, and have patience, and have labored for My name s sake, and have not become weary. I hope you re starting to develop a picture of this church. The church at Ephesus had been tried and tested by false prophets, by deceivers, by the occult, by demonic oppression - and yet had persevered, and had labored, and had not become weary. In a world of increasing darkness, where people seem to be more and more resistant to the gospel, we need to remember just how important it is to persevere. The Lord Jesus commends them on this. Make no mistake, the works of the church of Ephesus were above reproach. In fact, in many respects, this was a church that had everything going for it, and seemed to have it all together. In the same way, we, in these Last Days, we cannot allow the state of the world to drive us to discouragement. Instead, we need to realize the urgency of the gospel demands that we continue to devote ourselves to Jesus Christ not only in our adherence to good works, but primarily to prayer, and to the reading of the Word, as we see the Day approaching. and it s here, on this point, that the Lord s tone turns to rebuke. Look at verse 4. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

9 You see, the church at Ephesus, the same church whose works were praised, and whose doctrine had enabled them to remain vigilant against false teaching, had become so consumed with works and doctrine that they d forgotten that the Lord Jesus Christ demands devotion, too. Let s look at what He says. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. The Church at Ephesus, for all of their positive works, had lost their first love. That had sacrificed a relationship with Jesus Christ for the sake of working for Christ. and while those works were rightly commended by the Lord he chastised them for being so willing to devote themselves to the study of the things of God, while neglecting the person of God. To our own shame, I don t think anyone could claim that we live up to the standard that Ephesus set in works; and yet, In this late hour, many of our churches have become powerless and ineffectual; not through a lack of human effort or through a lack of desire, not even because the world itself has become darker (though it has). The church has lost its power before the world because it has largely forgotten that the only Light we have comes from reflecting the King of Kings and that demands that we spend time in His presence. I quoted these verses in my last sermon, but I m going to quote them again. You remember, don t you, the events of Acts Chapter 4. Peter and John, full of the Holy Spirit, had been teaching and preaching throughout Jerusalem. In this passage, they had healed a man that had been lame. That, to me, sounds like a pretty incredible event something that might make even the hardest skeptic raise an eyebrow. And yet, despite this, when the Sanhedrin approached Peter and John, we re told, chapter 4 verse 13, that when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated men, they marveled and they took note that they had been with Jesus. Do you see what made the ministries of Peter and John so powerful and effective? Note what the Scripture says here. Peter and John were changing lives! They were performing miracles! They d turned Jerusalem upside down and yet when the Sanhedrin looked on, as furious as they were, they recognized that what made Peter and John truly revolutionary, truly dangerous, wasn t their miracles, or the power of their works but the fact that they d been with Jesus. Tell me, when people look at you, do they take note that you ve spent time with Jesus?

10 When the world looks in on the church, and dissects our works, and our doctrines, and our sermons, and our prayers when it takes the sum whole of our lives here in this world and reduces it to a single dot point hurriedly scrawled on a piece of paper, does the world take note that we have been with Jesus? For far too many of us, in these last days, the honest answer to that question is no. It s no! And men, women and children are living and dying and going to hell not just out there in the world, but inside the walls of the church because Christ isn t known, and Christ isn t taught....and you can t love someone you don t know. So what s the solution? Jesus Himself provides it. Look at verse 5. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. Repent, and do the first works. There s a single key word in this verse, and it s often neglected. Neglected, in fact, in the majority of the commentaries that I read. Repent. Brothers and sisters, we need to understand here what the Lord is saying. If you re not in love with Jesus Christ if you re not spending time with Him, every day, if you re not devoting yourself to prayer and the reading of the Word, if you re not wholly given over to a relationship with the transcendent, righteous King of Kings you re in sin. This is the relationship you were created for the relationship Christ died for, and the relationship He now lives for, and if you re not so deeply engrained in Christ that your very life and being radiates the fact that you have been with Jesus, you re in sin. and you need to repent. Brothers and sisters Is this your life? Is this my life? Are we so comfortable in the world that we think we don t need Jesus for every waking breath? or do people look at us and see Christ reflected in glory?

11 Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3: 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him Can you see what the Apostle Paul is saying here? The end of all things is Christ. Knowing the gospel isn t enough. Knowing the creeds of the church is not enough. Knowing traditions, or doctrines, is not enough. Even having good works, as important as that is, is not enough. But rather, Paul, who suffered the loss of all things, counted them as nothing that he might gain Christ, and be found in Him. I wonder today have you lost your first love? Is Jesus Christ the first thing on your mind when you wake up, and the last Name on your lips before you go to bed at night? Are you spending time in His Word? Are you spending time in prayer, locked away from the world, just you and Him, forging that relationship that He so deeply desires? And if not, why not? What are you waiting for? This is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and He desires to be with you! He desires to be with me, of all people! and the apostle John, at the word of Christ and with trembling hands, reaches down to write and says, Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. Repent, and do the first works. Brothers and sisters, we must get back to the things we did at first back to the days when our love was new, and our hearts were filled with gratitude to the Christ who died for us; the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. because from now until eternity, the one who was, and who is, and who is to come is the only one that matters. Love Him. Love Him! and if you can t honestly say this morning that Jesus Christ is your first, your one great love put down what you re doing. Set the world aside. Set aside for a moment your works, your world, your life, and spend time with the King of Kings. because nothing matters more. Let s pray.