To the Church… Part 2_Out of Focus

Intro

Revelation 2:1–7 (ESV)

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

1) Jesus Knows Our Works… (v.2-3, 6)

Jesus knows what we set out to do for Him and His Kingdom.

As a Church and as a Christian with New Life, we exist for God’s Glory!

We are not to be fans in a crowd cheering on the Kingdom of God. We are to be actively involved and engaged in the work of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus understands the circumstances of which we pursue His purposes.

He knows that living Kingdom lives in pursuit of Kingdom purposes is not done in a vacuum.

Jesus understands the secular world we live in.

He understands the demands of living in our day, in our time, in our culture.

He is aware of the craziness and the chaos of the 21st Century and what it takes for us to patiently pursue Christ’s Kingdom in our hearts, our lives, our families, our communities, and our culture.

Jesus commends our pursuit of pure doctrine.

He sees that there are many false teachers and influencers that seek to distort our perspective of what God commands.

In the 1st Century it was Judaizers and Syncretists.

In the our present 21st Century context it is “Moral Therapeutic Deism,” prosperity gospel, and syncretists.

MTD is the belief that God is nice and nonjudgmental and only demands for me to be nice as well; The main point of religious practice is to help me find my happiness, peace, and personal fulfillment; and God really just wants me to available to Him for emergency occasions as I live my own life in a nice way.

PG is the belief that God wants to set His people apart by placing them in a different socio-economic class. The only things holding you back from God’s abundant worldly blessings is your lack of faith and belief that He wants to do it. Jesus is your ticket to the next level of living the American dream if you’ll but stop being a doubter and be a pursuer. Don’t lose faith…live your best life now!

Syncretism is any attempt to fit Christianity and the Gospel into a box framed by any other belief and worldview.

In the 1st Century, the attempt for this is associated with the Nicolaitans.

Anyone who promotes or seeks to teach anything outside of the pure doctrines of the Bible as a whole are false teachers and need to be exposed as frauds.

Testing doctrines, not putting up with false teachers, and holding to a pure understanding in a culture of chaotic spiritualism is hard.

Jesus notices our endurance and persistence.

When we stand firm for Jesus and do not grow weary, we don’t have to just hope that He is noticing….He sees it! He applauds it!

2) Jesus Knows Our Hearts… (v.4)

In the midst of our Kingdom pursuits we cannot forget Kingdom purposes!

The purpose of the Kingdom is to grow through the Gospel.

Jesus’ major concern with the Church in Ephesus was that they had forgotten their first love!

They are doing really good things.

They are holding to really good things, but somewhere along the way, they lost something….something vital to their existence.

Acts 19 records Paul’s time in Ephesus and early growth of their church.

Acts 19:10 says that from Ephesus, all of Asia heard the word of the Lord. Acts 19:18-19 says that new believers were abandoning their worldly and demonic practices as the Word of the Lord increased and prevailed mightily.

The Church in Ephesus lost it’s love for what Jesus loves: The Lost and dying finding hope and New life in Jesus!

The Church in Ephesus did a lot of really good things, but they lost focus of the really great thing: The Gospel in Action!

The greatest way to glorify Jesus is to share His Gospel of New Life with a dying world.

3) Jesus Calls Us Back to His Purpose… (v.5, 7)

Jesus calls them back to the mission of the Gospel.

He doesn’t tell the Ephesian church to stop doing the good things…He tells them to get back to doing the greatest thing!

Jesus gives them a warning.

Doing a lot of good things but neglecting the greatest thing will result in Jesus shutting down His church.

Jesus calls them to overcome this world!

Every message to the seven churches ends with this encouragement.

Pursuing Christ’s purpose isn’t easy, but is always worth it!

In this case, the church in focus is promised life in paradise with God.

He who keeps his eye on the prize (Sharing the Gospel) is guaranteed the reward (Eternal Paradise with God).

CLOSING

Do you have the hope and New Life of Jesus in your heart?

Do you seek to share the Gospel of Jesus with those who are separated from God?

Has MTD, the PG, or Syncretism become a compromise in your heart and belief?

What is God leading you to do in light of His message this morning?