RE-KINDLING PASSION: EPHESUS Revelation 2:1-7 JesusNext #3 S-1609 SLIDE #1: Do you ever wonder why Indian, Hindu woman wear red dot on forehead. Old tradition symbolic of husband s love and commitment. Break finger, take blood and put it on her forehead as sign of his willingness to sacrifice pain and suffering for her protection. (Today they use stickers and even little children have them). Arranged marriages. Often don t meet the wife or husband until the day of the wedding. It works well. We spend all our growing up years training to love and serve the one we will marry. SLIDE #2: Some marry the one they love. We love the one we marry. Bronwyn s teacher from India knows that. She has been happily married for 35 years. By the way, the divorce rate in India is miniscule compared to the U.S. It is sad to fall out of love. It can happen to you. It can happen to me. It can happen to a church. In the opening pages of Revelation Jesus ministered to a church which fell out of love with Him and with one another. By the way, can you imagine that the God who created the universe. READ JOHN 21:15-17 and explain agape and phileo. Emphasize the God is interested in how we love Him. The creator God wants to have a loving relationship with Him. READ JOHN 21:18-22: By the way, Peter wore the red dot sacrificed upside down. John lived to see the Revelation. If you are new to Casas, we are studying the Book of Revelation for the next several weeks. Please feel free to purchase a tape or CD of the previous sermons at the table on the Plaza immediately after this service. SLIDE #3: Open your Bible. Pray for God to enlighten us as we come to the Word today. SLIDE #4:Chapters 2-3 consist of 7 letters written to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. Describes how Revelation letter worked. Scroll and particular letter read. No one had Bibles. It makes no difference that these letters were written in the first century. They sounds as if they are written in the 21 st century because these seven performance reviews contain relevant, timely, penetrating, piercing words for any church in existence. 1
These seven actual churches represent every type of church and they represent every type of church member. In our own church we can find some Ephesians, some Laodiceans, some Ephesians, some Philadelphians and so on. Jesus is giving each church a performance review. SLIDE #5: The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard SLIDE #6: Jesus uses the same pattern in all seven letters: 1. He shares a Characteristic of the Christ (Read Revelation 2:1) In each evaluation Jesus describes Himself with the descriptions in the vision John saw in chapter one. 2. He Commends them for strengths (Read Revelation 2:2-3,6) 3. He Criticizes their weaknesses (Read Revelation 2:4) 4. He offers Correction for their problems (Read Revelation 2:5) 5. He Counsels consequences for the disobedient and rewards for the obedient (Read Revelation 2:7) Two of the seven churches need no warning. All is in order. Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-10) Intense persecution. Persecution produces pureness. Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7) Totally involved in winning souls to Jesus. The church that is persecuted by the world and the church that s confronting the world with the gospel are the two churches that need no warning. SLIDE #7: I. CHARACTERISTIC OF THE CHRIST (REVELATION 2:1) SLIDE #8: Revelation 2:1: "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: This letter addressed to church at Ephesus. SLIDE #9: Travel there, Ephesus has been wonderfully unearthed. See the roads the Apostle walked on himself. SLIDE #10: St John Basillica dates to 350 a.d. John pastored there. SLIDE #11: Not bathroom humor in sermon, but here is the bath house on main street. SLIDE #12: Paul also sat here. Preached here in 40 seat auditorium. Stoned here. Most prominent city in Roman Asia. Great port. Trade route to east, wealthy city. They had a beginning like no other church. Paul came in and flipped Ephesus on its ear to begin that church. (Acts 18-19 story of how church was founded). Ephesus Temple of Daina. Idol sales fell off so much that a riot began. In the midst of all that a small group of Christians huddled there. That little church was pure and solid. Paul pastored there for over three years. When Paul left they got another good pastor Timothy. Then Aquilla and Priscilla and then Apollos--followed by John in his aging years before John was exiled to Patmos. That was the ranking staff of the New Testament! Best that God had to offer He gave to Ephesus. 2
SLIDE #13: Revelation 2:1: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: Walking amongst the churches He knows all about his churches. Struggles, battles, sufferings, relationships, sins, deeds. Even hairs on our heads. Each church has a lamp stand with an oil lamp and Jesus is tending to each lampstand in turn. He is going to give a performance review of each church. SLIDE #14: II. COMMENDATION FOR THEIR STRENGTHS (REVELATION 2:2-3,6) SLIDE #15: Read Revelation 2:2a: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. He names three strengths of the church. Your deeds Your hard work Hard Work = kapas sweat really worked hard and labored for Jesus. Visited sick, mended clothes, committees, activities, chariot parking lot ministry, shut-in ministry. Your perseverance SLIDE #16: See verse 3. Revelation 2:3: You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Terribly unpopular to live in area of Artemis many breasted goddess of Asia. Marked individual, snubbed in public and maligned in private. Your business would be boycotted. You d be marked as one who wasn t a worshipper of Diana. You d be like the Jewish merchant in Berlin in the 1930 s not an easy place to be. I know you hold up under the load! SLIDE #17: Read Revelation 2:2b: I know that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. They were doctrinally discerning They stood for the essentials of the faith: the authenticity of the Scripture it s verbal and plenary inspiration. They believed in the Trinity and Deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They stood for the Virgin Birth, and Christ s sinless life and bodily and visible resurrection and the Second Coming. They preached faith and nothing equals salvation! They didn t grow weary in keeping out the false teachers. 3
Today is seems that the more intellectual a person becomes, the more heretical in his thinking, the more we seem to elevate him as a man of advanced thought and scholarship. Man like that appeared in Ephesus they called him a liar. SLIDE #18: Revelation 2:6: But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. They hated the Nicolaitans. Talk more about the Nicolaitans with the Pergamum church. Seduced people into doctrinal and moral impurity. You hate that, and I also hate that. This helps clarify who Jesus us. He is not some sort of spineless, wimp-out individual. Love, love, love. There are things that are false that He hates. He commends them. This is one dynamic church! They had something for everyone. Programs abounded, people busting loose in ministry. The place was hopping! If you attended this church you would immediately sense that you are in a special place of God s chosen followers. The few, the proud, the Ephesians! What could possibly be wrong with a church like this? SLIDE #19: Revelation 2:4: Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. SLIDE #20: III. CRITICISM OF THEIR WEAKNESSES (REVELATION 2:4) SLIDE #21: Revelation 2:4: Yet alla emphatic negative to turn the corner. Performance review by your boss. They go on and on and on about your great qualities. What are you thinking? There s a but in here someplace. But what? You left your first love. Too important to go over quickly. Too important to leave in English. Go to the language in which it was written. SLIDE #22: In Greek, Your love the first one! you have left. π π Syntactical constructions shout certain things. The adjective is placed with a definite article following the noun in order to emphasize the adjective. I am the true vine I am the vine, the true one. Do you hear it? They did have a first love for Jesus and for each other. 4
SLIDE #23: Ephesians 1:15-16: For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. End of passage. SLIDE #24: Eph 6:24: Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. It was pure, incorruptible. It took 35 years 35 years from time Paul wrote this in 61 a.d. until Jesus tell them that they lost it. The word left refers to a slow process an erosion. You don t wake up in the morning and say, I don t love Jesus anymore. I m not going to follow Him anymore. No, it occurs over a long period, after hardship, suffering, questions to can t get answered, trials that don t seem to have reason, loss of health, loss of hope, loss of a loved one. Little by little their love had cooled off. Ladies, been married 27 years. Husband came in tired. Husband, I need to tell you something, I just don t have the love for you when we first married. I m not walking out, I ll be a good dad, still get paycheck, sleep here, go on vacations together, go to church and watch TV and watch kids grow up, but I ve got to tell you, I just don t love you anymore. Is that okay? No! Nothing is right! Is it? It s just a series of activities to deaden the pain of an empty life, if he doesn t love you anymore. These Ephesians had broken the Lord s heart. We don t talk like we used to talk. Not intimate like we used to be intimate. I know you re busy and I know you re putting up with a lot, and I know it s difficult times, but I miss you. It is fait to say that there are many in this room who are passionately in love with Jesus Christ. It is also fair to day that there are some in this room who have fallen out of love with Jesus. What does He tell them to do? SLIDE #25: IV. CORRECTION FOR THEIR PROBLEMS (REVELATION 2:5A) SLIDE #26: Revelation 2:5a: Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. 5
Christ s command to this loveless congregation was a three-pronged Remedy: SLIDE #27: Remember Repent Return to the things you did at first. Let s fix this. No longer criticizing. Let s fix this. Remember the Prodigal Son in the pigsty remembers his daddy and went home. Peter denied Jesus three times, cock crowed and Peter remembered and wept. Remember where you started. Repent Remember is imperative, keep on remembering. But this is aorist. At a point in time take responsibility. The Lord hasn t moved, we moved. Repeat Go back to the beginning and repeat your life, your habits Strong words of counsel come at the end: Or else! I ll remove your lampstand. SLIDE #28: V. COUNSEL OF CONSEQUENCES FOR THE DISOBEDIENT AND REWARDS FOR THE OBEDIENT (REVELATION 2:5B, 7) SLIDE #29: Revelation 2:5b: If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. You stay like you are and the light will go out. Many churches where the light has gone out. I know Christians where the light has seemed to go out. Want to hear something sad? Ephesus didn t repent and it doesn t even exist today. Jesus came and wrote Ichabod the glory has departed over it. You know any churches to whom Jesus has done that? I do. Churches are there, people are meeting, but the world doesn t know that they re there. No power with God, with man, with community, because they left their first love and Christ took away their lampstand. This penetrates my heart. If Satan can do it there, Satan can do it here. SLIDE #30: Great truth: It s never too late to start doing what is right SLIDE #31: Revelation 2:7: 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. 6
Tree of Life Apocalyptic scene of intimacy with God. He ll give us the kind of fellowship that Adam and Eve knew. SLIDE #32: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ME? SLIDE #33: 1. We Are The Orthodox Bishops Of The Third Century Mediterranean World. We Must Keep The Message Of Christ Doctrinally Correct And Pure In Both Our Thoughts And Actions. We are in a struggle today for the purity of the Christian faith. Study all religions so I know where I stand. No. Study the truth and you ll know error. SLIDE #34: 2. If What We Believe And How We Behave Does Not Lead Us To A Deeper Love For God And For Others Then There Is Something Wrong With What We Believe And How We Behave. OVERHEAD #: Chart of compassion and commitment SLIDE #35: 3. The Bible Gives A Checklist For Ensuring that Our First Love Is Still Passionate. SLIDE #36: a. When my delight in the Lord is greater than my delight in someone or something else, I love my first love (Mark 12:30). SLIDE #37: b. When my fellowship and intimacy with God in His Word and in prayer is passionate, I love my first love (Psalm 42:1; 10:4). SLIDE #38: c. When I treat people as I would treat the Lord Himself, I love my first love (Matthew 25:40; 1 John 4:20). SLIDE #39: d. When I am burdened, upset and convicted about the sinful conditions around me, I love my first love (Matthew 24:12). SLIDE #40: e. When my Christian life centers more around what God and others are receiving from me, instead of centering around what I can get out of God and others, I love my first love (John 21:15-17). SLIDE #41: 4 If Your First Love Is Wavering: Remember, Repent, Repeat. Clarence McCartney loved to tell story of people in Scottish highlands. Shepherd raised his little daughter, who meant the world to him. Took her with him over the moors to tend the sheep. She loved to hear him call the sheep with the shepherd s call. She grew up, went off to Edinburgh to take a job. Letters at first every week. Then longer intervals. Finally ceased altogether. 7
Rumors in the village that the shepherd s daughter had been seen with immoral company and in questionable places. One day a lad from village saw her in the city and spoke to her, but she pretended she didn t know him. When the shepherd heard this he gathered some things and, clad in his shepherd s smock, staff in hand, he set out for the city to find his lost daughter. Day after day he sought her on the avenues and in the slums, all in vain. Then he remembered how his daughter loved to hear him give the shepherd s call. He sounded the call. People turned to look at the old shepherd going up and down the streets sounding the shepherd s call. At long last, in a house in a degraded street, his daughter sitting in a room with her looseliving companions, suddenly looked up in astonishment. There was no doubt about it. It was her father s call, calling her. She rushed to the door, flew into father s arms and he loved her back to decency and to God. 8