To the Church in Ephesus - Revelation 2:1-7
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Revelation chapter 2.
Last week we studied in the end of chapter 1, where John introduced himself and the context in which he received this revelation from God.
When Jesus revealed himself in all his glory to John in a vision…, Twice John received the command to write down what he saw.
saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
This command to write now appears 7 times in chapters 2 and 3, but this time the command is to write specific instructions to the specific churches.
John is to be the instrument through which Jesus speaks very directly to these seven churches.
And our aim is to spend time reading,
and studying,
and hearing what Jesus has to say to each individual church…,
Interestingly the order of these seven churches are given in the order that a messenger would have traveled in a clockwise travel route so as to hit each church sequentially.
These are real churches in real places,
but remember, the number seven in Revelation signals to us the symbol of completion or fullness.
These seven churches are representative of the kinds of struggles that will be experienced by all churches everywhere For all time.
I want to pause here briefly before we get started and just comment on the significance of the book of Revelation beginning with Jesus’ words to individual local churches in individual cities.
God’s design for God’s people is that they survive the tribulations of Christianity in our covenant communities called churches.
We were made to live in commitment to the family of God the Father in the local church.
St. Rose Community Church is God’s plan for the perseverance of his people .
And As Jesus speaks to those churches by the power of the Spirit through the pen of John…
Jesus also speaks to every church in every generation by the power of the Spirit through the pen of John.
so lets read and lets pray for ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
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.’
Lets Pray
Each letter follows a similar pattern:
Jesus introduces himself with a particular description from the vision in chapter 1 that will be important for the church to be reminded of in their particular situation.
The introduction describes something that is true of Jesus right now.
2. He then commends the church on what they are doing well.
After the commendation and encouragement..,.
3. He transitions to confront them on where they need to repent.
(My father-in-law used to follow this same pattern with me in my younger days of youth pastoring. he would tell me he loved me, and perhaps something encouraging, but would then follow with what he called a restoration conversation)
Jesus starts with the commendation and then transitions to the confrontation… but then he concludes with a promise.
4. Lastly, He reassures them of what they have been promised if they persevere.
So lets begin with his introduction to the church in Ephesus.
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.
The word angel in the original language of the New Testament can mean messenger.
So it’s possible that when the word is used here, Jesus is referring to the messenger who will announce and proclaim the message for the church….
I lean toward that interpretation, but it is possible that this also refers to the angel that was assigned to the protection of the churches in the spiritual war.
But what about the stars and the lampstand?
What do they represent?
Remember, in Chapter 1 verse 20 that Jesus explained what these symbols mean.
20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
So The lampstands are the churches
And the stars are the messengers Or the angels of each church.
Jesus holds the messengers of the churches in his hand
and
Jesus walks among the churches.
So what is Jesus saying about himself when he introduces himself as the one who holds the stars in his hand, and as the one who walks among the lamp stands?
There is the theological reality behind the symbolism.
#1 Jesus is Present
#1 Jesus is Present
Jesus introduces himself not as some distant King who is uninterested and uninvolved with the difficulties of his people.
He introduces himself as a King who holds his people in his powerful right hand.
He introduces himself as a Priestly King who walks among his church.
The language is reminiscent of how God is described in Genesis 3.
God is described as a God who walks in the cool of the garden with Adam and Eve.
He is present.
He is active.
He is relational.
He is holding his people.
He is with his people.
This letter is one of the ways that Jesus himself is aiming to commune with his people.
He is present even through these words he is giving to his people.
This letter is proof of Jesus’ presence.
These are his words Given for us, speaking to us.
I want you to notice the repeated phrase “I know” in verses 2 and 3.
Look at verse 2.
Revelation 2:2–3 (ESV)
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.
There is encouragement in this phrase
“Jesus knows”
Jesus speaks to his people and he says very clearly…
I know what you are doing…
and I know what you are going through.
As the eternal, all-knowing God in Heaven,
He knows in a personal way what you are enduring and he is present walking with the churches in the midst of it.
I am sure there are different kinds of people in different kinds of situations represented here even this morning.
Some of you may be in a difficult season, a lonely season, a painful season.
Some of you may feel that you have been abandoned, neglected, or forgotten.
Some of you are just coasting through life not taking much of anything seriously.
Some of you do not feel that God could love you or forgive you.
Some of you feel as if God is far from you…
I want to pause here at the beginning and I want to urge you to consider the kind of relationship that Jesus offers the church at Ephesus and to you.
Jesus is introducing himself as a King who knows you,
who holds you in his right hand,
and who walks with you in a very real and relational way
We need to see Jesus this way.
#1 Jesus is Present
#1 Jesus is Present
And Jesus’ aim at the beginning of this letter is to encourage the church at Ephesus.
He sees all the good they are doing and he wants to affirm that good.
Read verse 2 and 3 again.
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.
#2 Jesus Commends Hard Work and Patience
#2 Jesus Commends Hard Work and Patience
Jesus sees how hard the Ephesians are laboring for his name.
He sees how difficult it has been for the Ephesians to endure.
He sees how long their difficulties are lasting so much so that it requires patient endurance.
There is something revealing about the Christian life in these words that we will see in every letter to the Corinthians.
When we put faith in Jesus, we put our faith in a promise of eternal life.
One day all of our tears, and all our pain, and all our difficulty will be wiped away…,
BUT until then..., we labor and we fight and we endure.
When we become a Christian we enlist in the army of Jesus until we see the final fulfillment of all his promises to us.
The Ephesians understand that the Christian life is about patiently waiting for future promises while enduring present difficulties…,
The promise of the gospel of Jesus is not an easy life now, but it is eternal life forever.
That hardship now varies in its kind and severity.
In the case of Ephesus, some people within the church had began to call themselves apostles though they were not.
They claimed to represent Jesus, though they didn’t.
They were evil.
They were false.
They were causing division.
They were leading people astray.
That’s no small thing.
They caused real relational conflict,
real heartache,
and real difficulty within the community of faith.
Imagine that you had a group of friends that you thought you were close to, and then two or three of the group betray you.
They leave the faith,
and they turn on the church.
In fact,
they turn on you,
they begin to ignore you
or worse they threaten you.
That at least some of the difficulty faced by these believers in Ephesus.
I am sure there were moments where perhaps they grew tired of what it meant to follow Jesus.
Perhaps they were tempted to grow weary with their own fight against sin.
weary with the persecution they faced.
weary with the burden they felt for the lost all around them.
But Jesus commends them. He says they have not grown weary….
They aren’t giving up
They are bearing the difficult things for Jesus’ name’s sake… patiently
They are laboring for the kingdom of God. and representing Jesus well through the turmoil.
The question we must pause and ask as we read… is do we believe following Jesus is worth temporary hardship and difficulty?
We will be confronted with this question over and over again in these seven letters.
Are we prepared to embrace the harder road if it means it’s the more faithful road?
We are not a culture of people who endure discomfort or inconvenience very well.
But according to Jesus…, the Christian life is the inconvenient life.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
The road is narrower and more difficult for Christians In a lot of ways…
so be warned…, if your always looking for easier… you may not be looking for Jesus.
Parenting well is hard work.
Having a healthy marriage is hard work.
Making a disciple is hard work
Exercising biblical hospitality is hard work.
Maintaining friendships and keeping unity is hard work.
Stewarding your finances so that you can show generosity is hard work.
Sending missionaries and church plants is hard work.
Here is the resurrected Jesus standing in all his glory and the thing he is commending in these Ephesians is that they get after it for the glory of God.
following Jesus may require very real patience over the course of years of faithfulness,
long suffering, endurance and hard toil ….
and it will be totally worth it.
#2 Jesus Commends Hard Work and Patience
But thats not all he commends
#3 Jesus Commends Doctrinal Discernment
#3 Jesus Commends Doctrinal Discernment
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.
6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Jesus commends these believers for being able to recognize when someone is claiming to be a follower and teacher of Jesus when they are not.
He commends them for being the kinds of followers who “test” things.
Christian, the spiritual war is not simply one of physical persecution.
The Satanic scheming against you comes in various forms…, and one of those forms is deception.
In the year AD 130, Irenaeus identified the Nicolatians as the heretical followers of Nicolaus, the proselyte of Antioch.
Listen to what he writes,
“The Nicolaitans are the followers of that Nicolaus who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles. 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 practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.” - Ireneaus
Don’t miss where Irenaeus is saying these false teachers came from.
He’s claiming that the false teaching first came from one of the seven deacons appointed in the book of Acts
5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.
This is why doctrinal discernment is so important.
This is why we want to take very seriously who serves as an elder or a deacon in our church.
This is why we want to train you to be able to read the Bible, and to know sound doctrine. We want you to be able to recognize and test what you hear.
Jesus commends this.
In fact, He goes so far as to say…that he joins the ephesians in their hatred for the false teaching and the false works.
6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Jesus commends their hard work and patience
Jesus commends their doctrinal discernent.
but he also aims to correct them.
This hard work of patient endurance should not be just the cold discipline of doing the right thing until you die.
The Christian life is not just about resisting temptation, or being disciplined.
Its not just about avoiding the big bad sins, or going through the motions of church life and spiritual disciplines.
This doctrinal discernment is not just an intellectual exercise that crosses all our theological “t’s and dots our interpretive “i’s”
It’s got to be more than that.
And though Jesus commends the Ephesians for hard work and sound doctrine…,
he does confront them on losing something very important along the way.
They did not lose their belief in the truths of Christianity…,
but over time they had begun to lose their affections for Jesus and for one another.
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
#4 Jesus Condemns Religious Work Without Real Love
#4 Jesus Condemns Religious Work Without Real Love
Jesus affirms hard work.
He affirms patient endurance.
But he desires something much more than that.
He does not need your spiritual gifts,
He is not lacking in power, that he needs you,
He is not looking to be impressed with you.
He loves you and though he does not need your ministry,
he does desire your love.
We are different than any religion in the world.
Our God loves us…,
and our God did for us what is necessary to be with him forever.
He showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
He died in our place, so that we would be forgiven.
Therefore we do good works,
we work hard, and we endure patiently,
not in order to earn God’s love but because we have received God’s love
AND Because God has done a work in us so that we too might love Him.
This is our first priority
When Jesus was asked about the most important commandment, this was his answer:
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Somewhere along the way we can forget this.
we can forget that God is real and that his real desire is a loving relationship with us.
we can get caught up in all the churchy things, the ministry things, the fight against sin…, that we forget that behind it all is…..
a “God who so loved the world that he sent his son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life.”
We are not just running from sin in our Christian life….,
we are to be running into the arms of our Savior.
We are not just running from heresy…,
we are running to know our God more deeply.
We are to know him,
to be known by him,
to love him,
to be loved by him.
Apparently for these Ephesian Christians,
they have done many good things,
they have endured many hard things,
but they are forgetting the most important thing.
And Jesus says very clearly, “I have this against you.”
What an unsettling phrase.
I don’t want Jesus to have this against me… that I am so busy doing things “for him” that I lose my affection for him.
This is a danger in my own life.
I am not the most lovey dovey feely kind of person.
I can very easily fall into a place of hard work to expand God’s Kingdom all the while forgetting just to love and enjoy my relationship with the King.
Let me ask you a question.
When you think about Christianity…, do you think about your relationship with God himself…, or do you think about doing the religious stuff?
If your primary thought is doing the religious stuff, and there is no consideration of real every day relationship with God himself… hear Jesus’ invitation to you in this text.
He wants your love… but your love is not totally and entirely disconnected from the religious stuff.
What do you do when your love for God has grown cold?
What do you do when you do not love the Lord or his people as you once did?
Well listen to Jesus’ words here:
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.
Jesus gives them some instruction:
If you have drifted from your first love, your love for God and your love for God’s people…, here are two steps
#5 Jesus Commands Remembrance
#5 Jesus Commands Remembrance
Firstly, Remember - take time to remember from where you have fallen.
Remember God’s great salvation of your life.
Remember what God has done,
remember what God has forgiven you of,
remember what God has protected you from,
remember what God has promised you,
remember what God has invited you to participate in
remember how you once fell in love with God and his people.
Half the battle in the Christian life is the battle to remember what we so easily forget.
This is why we gather for preaching weekly,
this is why we do things like the Lord’s Supper regularly,
This is why I often urge you to set aside daily time to read a chapter of the Bible and to spend time with God…
we are a forgetful people in need of remembering the grace our Lord has lavished on us.
We need constant reminder of real meaningful theological truth that shapes our lives.
the doctrinal truth is meant to produce the relational love.
You should love the truth of the Bible
You should hate any teaching that contradicts it…,
but loving truth, is not the same thing as loving God himself.
You can love theology about God, without really loving the God of your theology.
So when Jesus commands us to remember.., its not just remember true things… he’s asking them to remember “from where they have fallen”
He wants them to remember the great work of salvation and transformation God had once worked in their lives.
Firstly, Remember
#6 Jesus Commands Repentance
#6 Jesus Commands Repentance
Secondly, Repent:
to repent means to have a change of direction, a change of mind, a change of heart.
Jesus gives very plane instructions:
“repent, and do the works you did at first.”
Now Jesus has already made plane, its not about doing works, its about love
but apparently there are particular kinds of works that help us to grow and express our love for Jesus.
It is very hard to make ourselves feel love for God.
But we can repent of our tendency to love anything more than God.
We can’t force ourselves to feel affection for Jesus…,
but we can set the phone down and pick up our Bibles to spend time with God.
We can set the social media down and spend some time in prayer.
We can repent of and turn away from the sin that we are loving more than God.
When the love grows cold or tumultuous in a marriage…., the encouragement is often to go on a date.., to go on a trip…, to spend intentional time doing loving things for your spouse while praying that the feeling of affection catches up with the actions of love.
If you don’t feel love for God…, force yourself to do the action of spending time in prayer with God…. not to earn his love…, but to enjoy his love and be transformed by it.
What is it in your life that hinders your love for God?
What distracts you?
Who or what do you love most?
Repentance is a turning away from those things and a turning toward God
and as you do that God will work in your heart an increased love for him.
Jesus says do the things you did before.
Do the things that fan into flame your love for God.
We can give ourselves to prayer,
to communion with God over reading his word,
to church community,
to the mission of telling others…,
and in giving ourselves to those things
we do so asking God to shape our heart to more deeply love him.
Jesus makes very clear, that if a church ceases to put their love for God at the center of everything they do…. they will cease to be a church.
Look at the warning at the end of verse 5.
Revelation 2:5 (ESV)
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.
According to Jesus,
Lovelessness is unacceptable for a church.
If a church stops loving Jesus…, Jesus will “remove the lampstand of that church”
It doesn’t mean people lose their salvations…, it means a church loses their witness in that community.
They are no longer the outpost of God’s glory…, a shining presence in the darkness of the world.
The Christian life is a war in which we fight to love our God every day so that the world might see the shining glory of God through them.
It is a war in which we are called to conquer.
and It is one which we will win in the end, not because we love perfectly, but because Jesus has won the final victory.
Jesus brings the letter to conclusion in verse 7 as he does in each of these letters…, by highlighting the future promises for those who conquer until the end.
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.’
#7 Jesus Promises His Presence Forever
#7 Jesus Promises His Presence Forever
Jesus uses the language of Genesis 1-3 to refer to what we have been promised after we patiently endured in this life.
The tree of life in Genesis was a tree that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the perfect presence of God in a world without sin or death.
And here Jesus says, we will one day eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God again.
In other words, Jesus plans to restore the world to perfection.
He plans to bring us back into a perfect relationship with him
He plans to bring us through all of our trials and tribulations and sins and struggles and short comings, and he plans to dwell with us forever in paradise
And in paradise we will forever fully love him and be loved by him.
We will no longer need to work hard
We will no longer need to endure patiently
We will no longer need to remember and repent
We will no longer struggle to love God.
That is our future victory,
thats our future life,
and it will be worth the struggle.
In every letter, Jesus says its the conqueror who enjoys the eternal blessings.
Its the Christian who endures the tribulations of this life, you lives, and labors, and dies…, and rises again in the victory of King Jesus.
To be a Christian is to be a conqueror. We will talk more about this language in the coming weeks…,
but for now, let me just say…., Though it may feel that you are losing the battle…, there is guarantee that genuine believers will stand with Christ the victor in the end.
We are going to close by seeking to do what Jesus commands the Ephesians to do.
If you are a Christian:
lets spend some time:
Remembering our salvation
Repenting of what keeps us from loving Jesus
and Rejoicing over the future promises we have been given.
If you are not a Christian:
we would love to talk to you
Jesus invites you into relationship with God
You can know God now and forever through faith in what Jesus did for you.
He lived the perfect life
died the substitutionary death for sinners like us.
and rose again to offer eternal life to us.
Lets Pray.
