First Love

***If our interpretation makes no sense to the original audience, then it is probably incorrect.***

***It is a mistake to think we must understand 100% of Revelation or we cannot understand any of it. We should focus on the mins theological message of each vision.***

INTRODUCTION

Tonight we are going to begin chapter 2-3 which cover the letters to the 7 churches in Asia Minor.

It is an important thing to remember that Revelation first is a letter written to actual churches in the first century and second to every church in every century. And as we read these letters, our task is to extract eternal truths and apply them to our lives. These letters were not written to us, but we can learn much from them as we study them.

The order of churches in Revelation is to correspond to their location from Patmos. New Testament letter were meant to be read allowed during worship services and most of them were written to address certain problems in specific churches.

The description of Jesus in each letter is different and fits the message of that letter perfectly

Revelation 2:1 ““To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:”

In this letter, Jesus is the “One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands”

QUESTION: What does this description of Jesus say about Him in regards to the problem in this church?

ANSWER:

What does the right hand mean? It is a symbol of authority and power

It is Jesus who holds the church, who controls the church, who has the authority over the church, not the members of the church who holds the church.

No matter how well we plan, how hard we work, this church belongs to Jesus. Every ministry belongs to Jesus. The bank account belongs to Jesus. The building belongs to Jesus.

No one in this church has authority in the church over the authority of Jesus and everything we do should be filtered through that

When people in the church, ministry teams, or the pastor tries to take the authority from the Lord they have stepped out of line.

How does that happen?

I have seen deacons who led in this way. They wanted the church to be what they wanted it to be, to teach what they wanted it to teach, to do the kind of ministries they wanted.

I have seen people who treat the church bank account as if it were theirs and the money should either not be spent at all or be spent to do what they desired no matter how unbiblical

I have seen pastors who made big decisions that from a worldly view seemed great but never even consulted the Lord or did so at bare minimum

“Who walks among the the seven golden lampstands”

There are two things here:

He is watching over the churches. Jesus is not separate or distant from His churches, nor is He not-caring for them. He watches over them like a hen watches over her chicks.

He provides for them, He protects them from evil, He ministers to them, He feeds them spiritually, He adds to their numbers so that they may grow.

Jesus is with us here in this church. We are not on our own and that is a very comforting to me. How often do we feel alone and forget who is walking in our midst?

He is watching the church

This is very evident as we walk through these letters. Jesus sees it all. He sees the good, He sees the bad, he sees the faithful, he sees the unfaithful, He sees the honesty or the dishonesty. He sees the hard work, He sees the hard work that no one else sees or commends. He sees the depth of our commitment and the excuses we use. He sees our home life, our personal life, our lives when we are in the world.

Jesus even sees the depths of our hearts. He knows why we do what we do, and He knows the very motives in all we do. He sees our insecurities, he sees our fears, He sees our ambitions.

QUESTION: How should this affect us personally as church members.

Jesus begins with commendations to the Ephesian church

Revelation 2:2–3 “‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.”

Jesus begins by mentioning things that this church does well.

deeds = their character, the kind of lives they live, they were upright, and moral people.

They would not be characterized as a sinful or immoral congregation

toil = labor, hard work, the labor they put into ministry. This was a church who sacrificed fore the Kingdom of God.

Almost certainly giving up things in their personal life to do ministry.

Toil makes us think about a hard days work yet in terms of church life

perseverance: this is their ability to press on despite hardships, to endure the difficult road. to not give up!

Many Christian churches in the first century were persecuted. They were persecuted by both the government and Jewish people.

This was a church that continued the faith despite the hardships they faced

they do not tolerate evil men = This implies they carry out church discipline.

When someone is in covenant with that church and displays behavior that is out of sorts for a believer, they take action! They do not all wickedness to corrupt their congregation!

The word “tolerate” here means to carry a heavy burden implying that sinful people in the church are burdensome! They are hard to deal with. How much sweeter the fellowship and life of the church when church discipline is carried out!

They put to the test those who claim to be apostles = this implies they used discernment!

They did not just let anyone come in their and take an authoritative role in the church no matter what they said!

Those who call themselves apostles.

How many false teachers have found their way into the church because they call themselves teachers, they call themselves leaders, they call themselves Christians!

This church was wise as a serpent

QUESTION: (1)Does this imply that New Beginnings should test people who want to be in authoritative positions? (2) What are authoritative positions in this church? (3) If so, how would you test them?

QUESTION: What would Jesus commend about our church

The weakness of the church: they left their first love

Revelation 2:4 “‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

“I have this against you” indicates divine displeasure from the Lord. It implies that if there is not a change in that church, then judgement from the Lord.

Leaving their first love does not mean that they do not love Jesus anymore. It means that they do not love Him like they did at first.

The NLT says, “You don’t love me or each other as you did at first”

They had lost their enthusiasm they had when they began. They had lost some of their zeal that they had when they began. Their love for Jesus was not like it was when they began to follow Jesus.

No more were they burning hot, wanting to learn all they could, no more were they telling everyone about this Jesus that had saved them.

Their love for Jesus had become cold.

This love is not just for God, but for the others in the church as well.

That is because we cannot separate love of the brethren from the love of God.

The two greatest commandments

1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren”

This church had much going for it and it seems that they were lovers of truth! They hated wickedness, they loved righteousness, they lived upright lives, but deep down inside their love of Jesus had faded

QUESTION: Why do you do the things that you do? What motivates you to serve, fast, attend? Is it for Jesus, or is it for something else?

The solution: remember from where you have fallen and repent

Revelation 2:5–7 “‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’”

They are told to remember how much they loved Jesus at the beginning.

Think back to their zeal, to what motivated them, how they felt about Jesus

Remember their spirituality in the beginning

Repent: This means there needs to be a change of heart. It means to embrace a new lifestyle.

They are to rekindle their love for Jesus.

This is not so much a new way of life, but a return to their former way of life

QUESTION: What is the relationship between remembering and repenting?

When we remember a time when we loved Jesus more, it convicts us about our present reality and produces repentance.

“do the deeds you did at first, or I am coming to you”

If they do not repent, Jesus says he will remove their lampstands

This likely means Jesus will bring judgement to them in both this life and when he returns.

“and will remove your lampstand out of its place”

This threat was to remove their status as a Christian church. That is God’s power, God’s blessing, God’s protection, God’s providence, care, the very life of the church would be lost.

QUESTION: What would this look like in a Christian church today?

Do the doors close?

Does the church stop operating?

Do people stop coming?