Keeping the Candle Burning - Part 2

This morning we are considering the series that we began last week and titled keeping the candle burning. We are in the book of revelation will be in chapter 2 today, and I think we are looking at something with the churches in revelation that isn't typically focused on. We are looking at the praise that was given to these churches. For good reason, the focus tends to be on the negatives that these churches find themselves threatened over: for instance, the Lord threatens to remove the candle from the candlestick of the church of Ephesus, because they had lost their first love. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, & Philadelphia are all first addressed by their positive qualities before given their warning — Sardis and Laodicea are a bit of a different story, probably best not to be like those churches at all.

Last week we considered this positive thing that was said of the church at offices, that they were church that worked, and they were a church that endured patiently.

Today we are going to talk about another positive thing that is sad of the church in Ephesus — and it is that they hold to sound doctrine.

Take a look with me at Revelation Chapter 2:2-3

Revelation 2:2–3 KJV 1900

2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

and again down in v6

Revelation 2:6 KJV 1900

6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

There are 3, similar things I want to point out: First, the church at Ephesus could not bear people who are evil — Second, The tested false teachers — And Third, They hated the false doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

Again, todays message is entitled Keeping the Candle Burning - Part 2

Let’s Pray

Evil

Evil. What makes something or someone evil? That is a theological or philosophical question that has probably been debated for millennia. What is evil today? We live in a time of moral relativism: I don't know how somebody who does it recognize God as the transcendental moral lawgiver can make any assertions to the goodness or evilness of something? How can I make that judgment by what do they measure good or evil? What guarantees that something that is considered good today will not be considered evil tomorrow

Right now, you can see that our culture doesn't know what to do with this. Because of how fast the culture is changing things that were considered innocent and fun 20 years ago are now considered greatly offensive. The standard keeps changing. At least it does if your standard isn't God.

Rather than have a philosophical debate, I think it would be fair for us to just look at the definition of the word, and how it's used in scripture, that will give us the best view into how God defines evil.

Evil as we read it here in Rev 2:2 is the word κακός (kakos) in the Greek. It’s a pretty common word, it’s found 51 times in the New Testament — In the Septuigent, the Greek translation of the Old Testament we find this word κακός (kakos) used 279 times. Let me give you some examples:

Mark 7:21 KJV 1900

21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Romans 7:19 KJV 1900

19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

1 Thessalonians 5:15 KJV 1900

15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

Let me give you some verses that use this word in the Old Testament:

Judges 2:15 KJV 1900

15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.

Psalm 21:11 KJV 1900

11 For they intended evil against thee: They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.

Deuteronomy 29:21 KJV 1900

21 And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:

It’s actually the word curses in that verse.

You get the idea. — It means bad or harmful. Something that will result in a negative outcome. For you and I as Christians we don't have to wonder what that is: we live in perspective of the ultimate negative outcome, which is hell. And we know that God is the author of goodness.

In mark Mark 10:18 Jesus pointedly asks:

Mark 10:18 (KJV 1900)

18 ........ Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

God is not only the standard for goodness. God is the only being in all of creation, which meets the standard of goodness. We could say that anything that fall short of matching the character of God is evil.

I think you have to understand that to understand the desperateness of our situation as sinners in need of a savior. It's not just that we've messed up once or twice and we need to have those mess ups swept under the rug. It is that we are the antithesis of God, we are evil. Man is evil.

It is in recognizing this evil, and repenting of our very nature for which the goodness of Christ, the goodness of God is imputed to us. What I mean by that is we are giving credit for Christ goodness.

This is the root of the problem. When revelation is talking about the church, rejecting those who are evil, they are talking about people who have interjected human wisdom into theology. That's the problem that we have today. So many people look at scripture and they find things for which they don't understand or that doesn't make sense to them and rather than accept that scripture is correct that God's wisdom is correct instead, they decide that they are now the standard of good. And we're scripture contradicts their standard. They decide that they're going to try and manipulate what scripture says, in order to back their evil understanding.

I don't think that the members of the church in Ephesus would be very comfortable and a lot of American mainline denominations. I've had a bit of satire on the Babylon bee if any of you read that that said that an Anglican priest had to step down and disgrace after admitting that he believes in God. It's funny, but it makes appointments, pretty ugly, so many Christians today are willing to give up on the truths of God in order to ensure that they are culturally acceptable.

False Teachers

Revelation 2:2 goes on to say

Revelation 2:2 (KJV 1900)

2 .... thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

You have to understand something about church polity and church leadership to understand this. There is a position that goes by a couple of names: Pastor, Elder or Bishop — and then there is a position called a deacon. — We are gonna have time to go into this in full detail, but as I study scripture, I find that the ideal church model is not necessarily what we see in most of our churches. I believe that the church is best served with a plurality of elders, Harvest isn’t set up that way because we are not really large enough to support it, but that seems to be a biblical pattern — . Now I do think having a single teaching pastor, makes sense, but having the weight of the spiritual needs of a church distributed among multiple men is the healthiest situation for a church to be in.

Second, to be a Deacon, just means to be a servant. And that's what we read about when we read about deacons in the church. It's those people who are appointed to serve the physical needs of the church. — really what most Baptist churches today call a trustee is pretty close to what we see the deacons as in scripture. In fact, you might be surprised to find that women are referred to as deacons in scripture.

But there is another position in a church, and it is a position that today is left, unfilled, and it is the position of apostle.

Apostle is the basically the Greek word transliterated into English. It is ἀπόστολος (apostolos). Let me give you Louw Nida’s definition of this word:

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 53.74 ἀπόστολος, ου

53.74 ἀπόστολοςa, ου m: one who fulfills the role of being a special messenger

Being an apostle of Christ is to be part of a very small group. Do you have the initial 12 apostles, and then subtract Judas for obvious reasons. Then we add in Matthias who was added in to replace Judas — And finally Paul who was made to be an Apostle later.

And each of these cases, we are talking about men, who witnessed the resurrected, Christ, and who were specifically anointed for the position by Christ's and confirmed by the other apostles. — that's it, there is no other way.

Claiming a parcel ship is particularly dangerous for a church. An apostle is a representative of the word of God. Apostle can come into a church and say something whether it's found in the scripture or not, and it is to have the same authority as if Christ himself had said it. No, I want you to understand this. No, Pastor has the authority to speak, as if it were words coming directly from God. All that we can do as pastors or preachers of the word is to go to scripture seek out the truths of scripture and do our best to convey those truths to the church. I have no authority of my own. All I can do is lead you to scripture and points to the authority of the scripture and then you are obligated to submit to the authority of God's word, not my authority, that's some other preachers authority. I could be mistaken I can make an error, but the word of God can't.

The church at ethicist tested those that came in and cleaned apostleship. I don't know what this test looked like they could have use the same standard which I said they could've asked them if they also witnessed the resurrected Christ. They were forced apostles. They could've just lied about it. What support thing is determine if their message contradicted her added to scripture. If it did then clearly, these were false apostles, false teachers.

With the modern charismatic movement today, there are many people that claim to have a word from God. They claim that they have some sort of special revelation and since it's from God, how can you argue. We should understand that god's revelation is closed. Nobody is able to add to the word of God. For anyone who would not think that that is a fair statement I would advise them to bury themselves in scripture, and when they have mastered, gods revealed truth, as contained in the Bible, then, and only then would I entertain new revelation. We are lacking anything. As the reformers would say: Sola Scriptura, scripture alone is sufficient.

Nicolaitans

Finally this morning we come to what Jesus says of the Ephesians in v6

Revelation 2:6 KJV 1900

6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

We don't know much about who the Nicolaitans were, and their teaching are not explicitly explained in scripture. — But we are given some hints:

The first hint comes in v14-15, moving on to the church at Pergamum

Revelation 2:14–15 KJV 1900

14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

There is some sort of link between the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. — Then in v20-25 in speaking about the church in Thyatira:

Revelation 2:20–25 KJV 1900

20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.

The prevailing thought is that linking these sins of eating meat offered to idols and sexual immorality were sins that are linked to the Nicolaitans — It is even believed that Jezebel, this prophetess mentioned in v20 is a Prophetess of the Nicolaitans.

I think it is safe to say, a good church is a church that hasn’t given in to normalizing sexual depravity or to compromise with the word — in other words, eating meat that was offered to idols.

Conclusion

It is important that a church be known for the good things that the church in Ephesus was known for. That it worked hard, that is was patient and that it held strong to good doctrine. Good by God’s standard. — This is a roadmap for any church and is foundational for what anyone should be looking for in considering a church.

Let’s Pray