Untitled Sermon

The Letters to the Churches

Psalm 40:4–5 “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.”

Isaiah 41:10–14 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”

Revelation 2:1–7 ““To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

I want to begin today by reviewing some of what we learned last week. The Revelation was written by the Apostle John brother of James also known as the beloved disciple around the year 95 AD. This was the time when Domitian was emperor of Rome. He was one of the most wicked of the emperors. Persecuting Christians in horrific ways. It was by the grace of God that John’s life was spared and that he was just banished to the Island of Patmos. Most of the prisoners on Patmos would have been assigned to work in the quarry, a difficult way of life.

John wrote that he was in the spirit on the Lord’s day and had a vision of Christ. John mentions the seven spirits of God. This can be confusing, we refer to the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. John is referring to the attributes of the Spirit, not seven Spirits; the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Power, the Spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.

In his vision He saw Christ as a son of man, radiant, dressed in a priestly robe with golden sash, this would have identified Jesus as our Prophet, Priest, and King. Jesus identifies himself as the Alpha and Omega. He has a sharp two-edged sword coming from his mouth.

Two things that we will see throughout our study are the use of the number 7 known as the perfect or complete number and the phrase; the one who was, who is, and who is to come.

Today I want to begin with the first of the seven letters, the letter to the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a prosperous city on the west coast of Asia, modern day Turkey. It was the capitol of the Roman Province and the third largest city with a population of more than 250,000 and a large Jewish constituency. It was a major port city with lots of trade coming in and out of the port. It was home to the temple of Artemis also known as Diane. The temple was number three on the list of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Tourists from all over the world came there to worship. Many artisans derived their income from crafting statues of Artemis and hosting the tourists. Acts 19 “While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of …”

There is record of Paul being in Ephesus three times with one stay almost 3 years. Also we know that Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos, and Timothy were there. John himself was there before he was sent to Patmos and he returned there after he left Patmos when Domitian died.

The letter is addressed to the angel of the church of Ephesus. There is also reference to the stars of the churches. There are several ideas about what is meant by the angel. It is probably not a guardian angel because a guardian would not be bringing the message. Rather a messenger angel who was assigned to each church. I am inclined to follow this interpretation. Some interpret this to be a bishop or leader of the church, (possibly the pastor) Jesus identifies him self as the speaker and says that he holds the seven stars and walks among the lamp stands. This asserts that he is above and separate from the angels and he walks among the churches. Most of the letters begin with a positive statement. Jesus says to the Ephesians; I know your hard work (we cannot keep anything secret from Jesus.) You toil with patient endurance. That would be a good thing to hear on a job review and this is like a review. Reviews often begin with the positive evaluation.

They cannot tolerate wicked people. They have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not.

We are told to test the spirits. Not everyone speaks the truth. There were false teachers then and there are false teachers today. We are to hate sin, test the spirits, identify those with a false message. Those who would deny that Jesus is God, or someone who preaches that we can change our lives apart from God. (the power of positive thinking) Those preaching a Prosperity gospel. If you send a check to our ministry, God will bless you 100 fold.

The Ephesians have endured hardships and not grown weary. We may not face hardships such as persecution for our faith, but sometimes we do grow weary. This is something that I think we all experience. We want to endure, but we do get tired and sometimes say what is the use. This is when we need to trust the Lord for strength to carry on. Zechariah 4:6 “So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” When we reach the end of our strength and surrender to the Lord we receive power from on high more that we can imagine or hope for. Jesus is commending the Ephesians for not growing weary.

Then we come to the negative part of the message. He charges them for abandoning the love that they had at first. Not necessarily that they have given up completely but they do not love as they did at first. their love has grown cold. they are just going through the motions of worship not being whole hearted.

Richard Gibbons of the first Presbyterian church in Greenville SC illustrates this by comparing it to a married couple where the wife says to her husband I don’t love you anymore. I don’t want a divorce, I just want to do my own thing. stay together for the children”s sake, celebrate birthdays, Christmas and Easter, I just want some space. Imagine the feelings of that husband. He still loves the wife, he wants her to love him back to maintain an intimate relationship. That is what God wants with us. He loves us unconditionally. He wants the relationship that he had with the Ephesians when they first came to the Lord. He wants them (us) to repent. He warns that he will remove their lampstand.

Jesus returns to a positive note in his message telling them that they hate the Nicolaitans as he does. The Nicolaitans were guilty of Heresy. They are compared to Balaam, a mixture of truth, but leaning to idolatry and immorality. Followers were present at places of idol worship. eating food that was offered to idols and taking part in their religious practices. Many of the false gods had sexual activities as part of their worship. The temple of Artemis housed many prostitutes and worship involved fornication and adultery in order to guarantee good crops and a successful harvest season. Women would come if they wanted children and had not conceived. Fear is another motivator leading to idol worship. If you don’t sacrifice or participate you are in danger of a crop disaster or of being barren.

Verse 7 says; whoever has ears to hear. let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This phrase will be repeated to all seven of the churches, it is important. The command is to repent and return to your first love. We would not be happy with half hearted love form those that we love. Christ wants all of our love. He promises to those who are victorious in their walk with him that they will have the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and changed forever their relationship with God. Jesus wants us to return to our fist love. He promises life eternal with him in paradise.

This letter was addressed to the church in Ephesus, but it was intended to be read in all the churches, the seven, but also the others churches in the area.

We can read it today. Do we see ourselves in the letter? I will let each of us answer that question for ourselves. Have we drifted away from the love we had for Jesus when we first came to him? Do we follow the immorality of the world? Do we worship false idols? Jesus calls us to repent, to return to our first love and he promises us eternal life to those who remain faithful.