Lost Love: The Ephesus Warning

Bible Passage: Revelation 2:1–7

Introduction

Patmos and the Seven Churches

We saw last time, the Revelation was given not simply to impart information about the future but to help God’s people in the present (Rev 1:3).

In our suffering and hardship, God is on his throne and Christ is at his right hand. We can look to Jesus and find encouragement to persevere and worship.

Not only that, it gives us hope in our mission strategy. These seven church were strategic for advancing the gospel effort in Asia Minor. Our ongoing mission will be a recurring theme throughout revelation. (e.g., Rev 5 every nation, tribe, people, and tongue)

They should turn us away from false sources of security in our own culture and world, from complacency, and welcome us into the heavenly worship around the throne: Spirit-empowered worship of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb!

Many times in my Christian life, I have thought. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear the voice of Jesus speaking to me. Would you like to hear the voice of Jesus today?

Let’s read Revelation 2:1–7

Main Idea:

Revelation Main Idea

Jesus commends the church in Ephesus for their faithful endurance in the true faith but calls them to repent for their failure to love God and people as they once did.

I. Christ is Near and He Cares for the Church (v. 1)

Drawn from Rev 1:12-20

Ephesus: The most important city of Asia Minor. The temple to Artemis/Diana was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. They were enthusiastic supporters of the Roman imperial cult

Barclay says it is “Vanity Fair of the Ancient World” (Barclay, Revelation, 59).

Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla founded the church (Acts 18–19)

“holds the seven stars”

If it is the pastors, what comfort like John 10, our leaders are secure in his grip (cf. John 10:28–29).

More likely, if it refers to the guardian angels of the church, it is a comfort because like Hebrews taught us, He is higher than the angels and is on his throne guiding and sending those angels to minister to those who will inherit salvation (cf. Heb 1:14).

“walk among the seven lampstands”

Lampstands:

A golden lampstand with seven lamps was setup in the tabernacle (Exod 25:31-40; 37:17-24; Heb 9:2)

Solomon’s temple featured 10 golden lampstands in front of the sanctuary (1 Kgs 7:49; 2 Chr 4:7, 20)

Zechariah 4:2–3 vision of a lampstand and two olive trees, telling Zerubbabel that it would not be by might, nor by power, but by the Holy Spirit of the Lord of hosts. that the temple would be rebuilt. Revelation 11:4 picks up on this theme.

the lampstands picture of the people of God and his Spirit in their midst.

Contrary to the great temple of Artemis, we are to remember that we are a competing temple for worship and unlike the idol of Artemis, Christ is actually in their midst.

This means he is in our midst!

The contrast between light and darkness/the church and the world

the stars and lit lamps picture the scene as night, but the dawn is coming!

We are the light of the world (Matt 5:16), bringing the Gospel to people in need

In the Great Commission, Christ said “I am with you always even to the end of the age.” He is near, in our midst, and he cares for us!

II. Christ Wants both Truth and Love (v.2–4, 6)

Commended for Purity in Deeds and Teaching (Rev 2:2–3, 6)

Jesus tells them, “I see what you’ve done, how you have worked hard, and that you cannot stomach evil.”

He then tells them, “I see that you are discerning and pure in what you believe. You have identified false teachers.”

He also commends them for patiently enduring suffering the name of Christ. “You have not grown weary in well doing.”

He concludes in verse 6 with the truth, “You hate the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers 1: The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Chapter XXVI

The Nicolaitanes are the followers of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles.1 They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John, [when they are represented] as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practise adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols

The Nicolaitans wanted the church to compromise with paganism. We will see that they successfully infiltrated Pergamum (Rev 2:15)

A major theme of the book of Revelation is remaining faithful until Jesus returns. The Ephesian church was a model of identifying with Christ even if it brings rejection and persecution.

Rebuked for abandoning love (Rev 2:4)

Even Jesus uses the sandwich technique of criticism

“I have this against you” - Jesus loves us enough to tell us the truth.

“abandoned the love you had at first” - they did not lose it, they abandoned it. They had become all

“head and hands” with no “heart.”

Have you ever had that happen to you?

At first, affections and love are bursting forth when a ministry or relationship is new.

Then, the excitement can cool down if we do not take care to fan the flame of love. It can then just turn to duty

Christ is displeased and grieved when we abandon the love we had at first, whether it is this Trinity church plant our or individual relationships.

Revelation Explanation of the Text

It is a veneer of busy outward activity without the inward motivation of sincere love in response to God’s great love for them in Christ and without the grace and love toward others that is needed

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Remaining faithful is important but not at the cost of love.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I remember at a pastor’s conference, Alex Strauch told us to put our names in place of the word love.

Why is Jesus doing this with the church at Ephesus? Because he is near to his churches, he watches over them, he grieves over their sin and supplies their need, and he cheers them with the promise of victory and reward

Light and Truth: Or, Bible Thoughts and Themes, the Revelation III. What Does This Walking Mean?

He is faithful to notice sin, and to warn against it; just as He is faithful to pardon it when confessed. His holy eye detects the sin; His loving, tender heart mourns over it. There is no anger, no fury here. All is gentleness and grace. He mourns over Ephesus for leaving her first love; over Pergamos for allowing sin; over Sardis for death; over Laodicea for lukewarmness. He feels these things profoundly. He is not indifferent to them, as if He did not care whether His lamps burned bright or not. He mourns over every sin; He longs to supply every want.

Has your love grown cold? Is it evident by secret sins that no one but you knows? Do you hide it with good doctrine and teaching?

III. Christ’s Love Corrects Us (v.5)

He gives them three commands as a remedy:

“remember from where you have fallen” - keep on remembering/remember what it was like when your love for Jesus was a consuming passion, a magnificent obsession

“repent” - turn around and go the other way

Exalting Jesus in Revelation Repent of Your Sin

Jesus reminds them that labor is no substitute for love, purity is no substitute for passion, and deeds are no substitute for devotion. Do not pat yourself on the back for doing good things for the wrong reason. God looks on the heart

do the “first works” - love God, love neighbor, be salt and light, ambassadors for Christ like lampstands

If not, “Jesus will remove their lampstand!” - They were the pre-eminent church in Asia Minor. But the consequences of living without love is no more presence, no more witness.

IV. We Conquer in Christ (v.7)

“to the one who conquers, I will grant to eat from the tree of life”

To overcome is to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Genesis 3:22–24 ESV

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Revelation 22:2 ESV

through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

All of these rewards point to the realities Adam enjoyed in the Garden, and thus, the inheritance of eschatological promises to restore and transform what was lost in the Fall.

Conquer - military language that sets the stage for the rest of the book of Revelation. To conquer or overcome is to win the spiritual war with Satan, his antichrist, and this world system.

Revelation 11:15 ESV

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

Revelation 22:14 ESV

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

Into the full presence of God. Christ called himself the one who walks among the lampstands, and the one who overcomes will live with him forever in the celestial city!

Conclusion

They are intended to be read as a unit - Revelation 2:7 “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.’”

a b c c c b’ a’ form

a - in danger of losing their identity as a Christian church

b - proved themselves faithful and loyal

c - mix of faithful and compromising

It is remarkable that everyone of these churches are told that they can overcome. This means as the Spirit is speaking through the Scriptures to us, we can overcome.

I will say it stronger. If you have believed in Jesus and have been born again by the Holy Spirit, you will overcome.

Horae Homileticae Vol. 21: Revelation—Claude’s Essay—Indexes Discourse 2483: Epistle to Ephesus (Rev. 2:7)

Our being called to maintain a conflict does not render it at all the less a free gift: our conflicts can never merit it; they can only prepare us for it, even as a medicinal process may prepare the body for the enjoyment of perfect health. When our Lord said, “Labour for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life,” he added, “which the Son of man shall give unto you.” The gift will not be the less free because we labour for it; but, by the imposing of that condition, a distinction is made which to all eternity will justify God in the bestowment of his gifts.

Horae Homileticae Vol. 21: Revelation—Claude’s Essay—Indexes Discourse 2483: Epistle to Ephesus (Rev. 2:7)

Never, then, imagine that your conflicts, however arduous, will deserve life: they will only “render you meet for” the enjoyment of heaven; and evince, that, in the communication of his blessings, God does put a difference between the evil and the good. If it be said, that “they who do God’s commandments are said to have a right to the tree of lifee,” I grant it: but it is a right founded only on the promise of your God. Your merit, in your best estate, is found only in hell: it is the grace of God alone that exalts any soul of man to heaven

How can you know? Because Jesus has overcome

John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.””

Revelation 3:21 “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

Revelation 5:5 “And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.””

How do we conquer? We conquer by confessing our sins placing our faith in Jesus. We conquer by believing the Gospel.

1 John 5:4 ESV

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.