Seven Letters Pt II
Notes
Transcript
Give Visual the signal to hit the green Caption button to START Spanish Stream
Make sure Spanish is online before beginning.
Start Preach Timer
Welcome Spanish listeners
Plug Casa De Gracia and Pastor Mike Ortiz and Lily Amaya
switch screens
9 I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
Verse 10 says, he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.
Before we go any further to day, let’s shed our spot light on that phrase for just a second.
“The Lord’s Day”
Many people interpret the Lord’s Day here as a Sunday.
However, some interpret it as on the Sabbath Day.
Some commentaries say it was Sunday, Some On the Sabbath.
The truth is, we don’t really know whether it was Sunday or Saturday.
There are good arguments for both days on from both sides of the isle of Thought on this one.
Most Scholars agree that here the Lord’s Day was a Sunday.
So, unfortunately, we’ll have to wait til Glory to know for sure on that question.
Today we will be examining the seven letters to the seven Angels of the seven churches.
Of the four major interpretation’s or View’s on The Book of Revelation, which are
Preterist View
Historical View
Allegorical View
Futurist View or Prophetic View
Since the Book is all but Irrelevant to the other three Views.
We will be examining these seven letter, churches, and Angels through the lens of the Futurist View.
Although these seven letters were written to seven different churches, they share some interesting similarities.
For instance, they all share the same structure.
Each begins, with
An Address to each church’s angel
Jesus declares his authority by a different title, like Alpha & Omega etc.
Then He gives each a statement of Acknowledgment of their deeds. Like, “I know what you’ve been going through.”
He also then gives a critique of their strengths and weaknesses. Like, “You’re doing good here but not so good there,” kind of thing.
Then comes a call to repentance.
And finally a promise to those who overcome.
They also share four types, or levels of application.
It applied to the local churches.
All seven churches were real churches with those names, an with real problems as addressed by Jesus in His letter.
(The Letters to the Seven Churches of AsiaAuthor:W. M. Ramsay)
2. Next, is, they are warning to “All churches”
3. They are also written to Us, you & Me in the now, to whomever reads it.
4. They are also prophetic, speaking to those things yet still in the future.
The first Letter is to Ephesus.
1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. 6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’
You see, there is that structure.
He addresses the letter, then He says He knows that they’ve been going through, then He is issues a critique with word Nevertheless, and this you have…
Then He urges them to repent, or He will remove the lampstand from it’s place.
Lastly, comes the Promise to him who overcomes.
Now again, by way of review, this Futurist view is further encouraged because of the apparent order in which the churches were arranged.
The futurist’s hold that each church was not only a real church with real problems addressed in the letters, but chosen by Jesus because they represented specific ages, or phases in the history of the church
You see, the order in which they are addressed, does so neatly fit each successive time periods of the church’s existence as it ebbed and flowed through the next two millennia's
Today, we’ll zero in on the Letter to the Church of: Ephesus
Slide (Map)
Ephesus was on the west coast of Asia. Just across the Aegean Sea from Athen, Greece.
It was made the capital of Asia Minor by Augustus Caesar in 27 BC to 14 AD
Paul taught there every day for two years according to Acts 19
It was the third largest city of the Roman Empire
Slide (Temple Ruins)
It Had a massive Artemis Following, since before Paul’s time, where he had to deal with the idol makers complaining he was ruining their business
Slide (Mary’s Stone house)
According to some traditions, The Apostle John, & Mary the mother of Jesus lived out the rest of their lives here in Ephesus.
There is a stone house in Ephesus named, “House of the Virgin” which many believe was the house where John took Mary to live.
But there is no hard evidence of this, no one knows for sure, and it’s only as a matter of debatable history.
(Long, Fredrick J. “Ephesians, Letter to The, Critical Issues.” In The Lexham Bible Dictionary, edited by John D. Barry, David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott, Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016.)
Slide (Theme)
The letter to
Ephesus describes the birth of the church age. Many alive through that time had known, seen or passed these apostles in the streets of their time. They may have even passed each other in the market place. They were in the thick of it. They were hearing the gossip of what was happening to the apostles in real time.
So they had first hand knowledge but seemed to have become conceded in a way. They became too confident in their having been there, that they lost the significance of how special it really was.
Reminds me of my generation X.
We proudly boast that our generation witnesses first hand the birth of the internet, and the computer age.
But, thirty or forty years removed, many of us still can’t program our smart TV’s
Many have became complacent on the tech savviness of their generation, then suddenly realized we aren’t close to ready for the new world of A.I or, Artificial Intelligence.
Praise God, I have a car that tells me when I’m too close to another car.
Wow!
When I got my first car at 18, All I was hoping for was power windows.
How far we’ve come?
The church of the Apostolic Age, took their eye off the ball, so-to-speak, and Jesus Called them out on their failure.
Then he urged them to REPENT
Or their Lamp stand would be removed from it’s place.
What does that mean?
It means, Jesus is among them, if He moves it, it will be away from Him.
Not only was this letter applicable to the church of Ephesus, and throughout the church age, but also throughout the ENTIRE church age.
The message is basically, “Don’t become so high and mighty that we fall from grace.”
Churches That Have Fallen Due to Scandals or Leadership Failures
Willow Creek Community Church (Illinois, USA) – Faced a major leadership crisis in 2018 when it’s founding pastor resigned due to allegations of misconduct.
Mars Hill Church (Seattle, USA) – The megachurch dissolved in 2014 after allegations of spiritual abuse and financial mismanagement.
Hillsong Church (Global) – Faced multiple scandals involving leadership, including the resignation of global pastor in 2022 due to misconduct.
Harvest Bible Chapel (Illinois, USA) – The Pastor was removed in 2019 due to financial and leadership misconduct.
Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) – While not a church, this Christian organization collapsed after reports surfaced in 2020-21 about sexual misconduct.
The Lord removed His lampstand from it’s place in those churches.
Oh how the mighty have fallen
Before we move on, I want to touch on verse “6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”
Who were the Nicolaitans?
To be clear, no one really knows with certainty who the Nicolaitans were or what is meant here other than Jesus shares in the hatred for them.
Some scholars suppose that the Nicolaitans refer to a sect that began by an appointee of the apostles, in Acts chapter 6.5
as a deacon.
The Bible tells us he was a proselyte from Antioch, and eventually fell into heresy, and debauchery, including some pagan practices, eating foo sacrificed to idols, preaching freedom of the flesh, and even wife swapping.
Many of the early church fathers held this negative view of him, although there have been some who came to his defense.
Another view of who these Nicolaitans may have been is derived form the word itself in Greek.
The Word Nicolaitan can be broken into two parts,
Nicos which comes from the Greek “Nike” which means “Victor”
Laity which means, the Laity or people
Meaning = Victory or rule over the people.
Based on this association with the name, this sect practiced the elevation of the Clergy, like ministers and deacons, etc, over the people, as Religious Rulers over the people.
Regardless of who or what they really were, Jesus Hated them, and commended the Ephesus church rejecting and hating them too.
We too in the here and now should also hate and reject anything that raises itself over the written Word.
Now, if we use the four levels of application that I mentioned earlier here, and with level one being the actual church, that was dealing with this issue in real-time.
Next level would be that the other six churches would also be able to find some of this fault in their church too.
Next, comes us, on the practical level.
We should take stock in our own lives here.
We should examine ourselves to make sure that just because we are saved, that we should hold ourselves over those who haven’t yet accepted Christ into their hearts.
They are lost, which means we still have work to do.
This doesn’t mean, to cloth the naked, and feed the hungry, or even give to the poor,
It means, going into the world and reaching the lost for Christ.
It means, get up, and cry out to the world, Jesus is coming back.
You know, when I say these things week after week, I see people’s heads turn, and eyes roll even from up here.
Well the reason it keeps coming up, is because, frankly, it’s not happening.
Jesus said, go out into the World and preach the gospel to the lost.
Even when we do, there are some who don’t want to help but instead criticize the rest of the church for doing it.
Or they’ll criticize the focus and destination of the mission trips, saying “There are people who need help here too.”
But, even when we do local mission projects, I’m usually standing there by myself.
So, that’s how I can say, “It’s not happening”
Again I say,
This doesn’t mean, to cloth the naked, and feed the hungry, or even give to the poor,
It means, going into the world and reaching the lost for Christ.
Although these things should be done.
But the primary focus of the church is to reach the lost!
And we in Christian Churches should doing that with every fiber of our being.
Now that we’ve applied that level of application of the letter to Ephesus to the churches.,
Let’s now apply it to you, the hearer.
What are you doing about the lost?
Are you reaching the lost?
Or are you making the same mistake as the church of Ephesus?
Believing you are already saved, since you know Jesus as your savior, and you know you’re going to heaven
saying to yourself, “What’s the point of doing any more hard work?”
Jesus rebuked their complacency, and told them to “REPENT”
Or their lamp stand would be removed,
People read right over that line without ever giving it a second thought.
What he is saying is this, Either you “Your Church” get to work, as you did at the first, or He will close your churches.
Sound familiar?
How many churches have closed because they lacked growth not only in number, but in the spirit?
I suggest taking a drive around some of our neighborhoods, and just count the churches that are closed or dying and close to closing.
We would do well to remember what this Book of Revelation says,
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
If you aren’t thinking like this, then the Letter was indeed written to you as well, and Jesus says “REPENT”
Or He will remove those that bear the light from you too.
What happens when you find yourself without light?
You’ll be in the dark!
SWITCH SCREENS
Turn off Captions
Invitation
Communion
