The Church at Ephesus

7 Churches of Revelation

The Church at Ephesus

Rev. 2:1-7 (1:17-2:7)

2 Churches Promo Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship today.  As we get started with the sermon, I wanted to take just a moment to mention our Connect Event happening in a couple of weeks.  Some people might call this a new members' luncheon or something like that, but, really, it’s more than that.  It’s a time for anyone who is looking to get connected here at FMC.  Maybe you’ve been visiting for months, or even years, and never joined.  Maybe you’ve been a member for a couple of years, but you’ve never connected to a small group, or found your place to serve.

If that’s you – come join us for lunch on October 10th, meet some of the church staff, and learn how you too can get connected here at FMC.  Your RSVP card is in your bulletin, and I look forward to visiting with you all then.

Now, as we launch into today’s sermon, let us pause to invite the Holy Spirit to minister in and through us as we study God’s Word.

<Prayer>

Today, we are launching our new sermon Series on the 7 Churches of Revelation.

Series Slide

As John sat in exile on Patmos Island, he received a vision from our Lord, Jesus, and in that vision he was told to write these letters to these churches.  We covered who John was in our Apostles in Acts series, so I’m not going into detail about him here.  What I will say is this is the same John who walked with Jesus, was the brother of James and together they were given the nickname “The Sons of Thunder” for their desire to cause heavenly fire to fall on the Samaritans who had rejected them.  This is the same John who called himself “The Disciple Jesus Loved.”  It is the same John, who with his brother, asked to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus when he came into his glory – when he became the ruling King of the Jews.

But, after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, everything changed for him.  He was a leader in the church.  He was a voice of the Gospel.  After the other disciples had been executed, he continued to share the hope found in the resurrected King… and, he was imprisoned, lived through at least one martyrdom, and was then exiled to Patmos, an Island off the coast of what we call Turkey today.  It is there that he received and wrote his “Revelation”, his “Apocalypse.”

There is absolutely no way we can cover all the details of these 7 churches, so… I wanted to give you a resource to learn what I won’t be able to cover in these sermons.  I hope you all already have access to Right Now Media, if you don’t let us know and we will get you a registration link so you can enjoy this resource we are providing for you.

But for now, here is a little trailer of the resource provided on the home page of our Right Now Media page.

7 Churches Trailer Video

Series Slide

Like I said before, I hope you will take advantage of this great discipleship resource offered to you from the church.

So, you may be asking, “Why the 7 Churches? What do they have to do with me today?”

Well, there are a couple of things that come to mind when we think about these churches.  Some scholars are going to tell you that they were about specific issues going on in these new churches in Asia Minor.  Think about it, if you take the 69 AD date for the writing of Revelation, then these churches are less than 20 years old… and if you take the 95 AD date for the writing, then these churches are less than 50 years old.  They have each been planted in a place with a convergence of pagan religious practices.  It was part of the Greek Empire, so you have the Greek Gods represented, then as the Roman’s took over, you find the Roman Pantheon of Gods lifted up for worship along with the worship of Caesar.  Then, there is the influence from the East with the Buddhist and Taoist religions influencing the region. Finally, you have the Revolt in Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, causing the diaspora of the Jewish population…

So, these churches ARE having issues and John does address them…

But is that all? Would these letters have lasted for 2000 years if that is all they were about?

Another line of reasoning is that these letters were prophetic only and the churches were just symbolic of what was to happen in the future… and that those prophecies are coming true today in our church as we live and breathe.  I mean, if you watch the evening news and cross-reference your Bible, I can see how this argument can be considered valid.

Then another middle way is considered.  That yes, there is a prophetic nature to these letters and what is written to them is relevant for all times, especially to us as individuals seeking to follow Jesus; but, they are letters written to specific churches at a specific time, and to understand them, we must understand the culture where the churches were located.

And my answer to all those interpretations is, “Yes. Yes to them all.”

Here is what we know… the issues addressed in these 7 churches are the same issues we are facing in our churches today and in our individual lives.

The first church we are addressing is the Church at Ephesus.

Sermon Slide

Ephesus was a hugely popular city.  It was the 3rd largest city in the Roman Empire, after Rome and Alexandria.  Within its borders, we find one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, a huge Temple built to honor Artemis, or as we know her from the Roman pantheon, Diana. This Temple was nearly twice the size of the Parthenon. 

Ephesus was a crossroads of culture and commerce with trade routes leading from all directions, including through a navigable port on the Aegean Sea.

Another thing we know about Ephesus is that Paul planted the first church there after he came and spent time preaching in the synagogue.  He then brought Priscilla and Aquilla back to lead the church and sent Timothy there to help lead.

In that time, they were confronted with all kinds of Pagan rituals and idol worshiping practices.  They dealt with persecution because of how they taught against worshipping idols and that there was only one God.  When we read in Acts 19 about the start of the church, they were going strong. They were a powerful force for the Gospel in Asia Minor…

We read in the words given to John that they were hard-working people who had endured hardships.

We read how they called out false prophets and the Nicolaitans, these people who wanted to call themselves Christians, to say that they were followers of Jesus, but also said it was OK to follow the culture around them.  The church at Ephesus called out these people who said they were Apostles, but their lives and actions said otherwise.

These people, this church, has been a powerful force for the Gospel in the region.  People had given their lives to Christ.

And here, now, we find Jesus saying that he holds the 7 stars, he holds the spiritual life of the churches in his hands… and that he walks among the 7 lampstands… that he walks among the 7 churches and he knows about their deeds.

I want to pause and think about that for a moment.  Do you understand the implications of that?

Jesus walks among the churches and knows what the church is doing.  Let me ask, if Jesus walked in and among our church… or should I say, as Jesus walks among our church, what does he see?

Does he see us working hard?

Does he see us persevering?

Does he see us suffering for Jesus?

Does he see us confronting errant theology?

Does he see us standing against cultural theology?

I hope so…

But, as he sees all this…

As he sees how active we are, does he ask if maybe we have forgotten why we are so active?

One commentator I read made the statement, “It is easy to start talking about God and forget to talk to God!”

Maybe that’s the reason for Jesus’ statement, “This I have against you, you have forgotten your first love.”

I love the way the NIV translated that verse.

“You don’t love me or each other as you did at first.”

If I may have a little liberty here, We call ourselves Methodists… we claim to be seeking to become like Jesus… the Methodist way of saying that is that “We are going on to Perfection.”  That means that we believe that we can be made perfect in love in this life… love of neighbor and of God.

As a Methodist, I have to admit… this statement from Revelation scares me.  I have to ask myself, do I love God as I did when I first gave my life to Christ?  Do I love God the way I did when I rededicated my life to Christ… or accepted my call to ministry… or the way I did when I left my Walk to Emmaus… you get my point…

And it scares me to think that I may have to answer for the fact that sometimes I don’t love my neighbors as I should… That I sometimes look at people and see their differences more than their similarities… I sometimes see someone I might call a Nicolaitan, and I have to admit that I don’t hate their actions… maybe I hate them… I don’t love them.

I am supposed to be going on to perfection, and yet I so often hear my Lord asking, “Why have you lost your first love?”

Why don’t you spend the time with me that you once did?

Why don’t you take time to read and reflect on my love letter to you?

Why don’t you see that person as someone created in my image instead of someone unlike you?

People, we have to return to our first love.

We are living in a society where people think it’s OK to kill someone because they disagree politically.  We live in a society where it’s OK to sit and watch an innocent person be stabbed to death.  We live in a society where people think it’s OK to walk up to a police car and shoot the officer point-blank because people don’t like what a police officer did in another community.

We have lost our first love… and love is the only answer to the ills of this world.  We have got to return to our first Love!

Yes, we have fallen… We have fallen far!  We have fallen so far!

But, there is a way back.  We read in verse 5, “Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first.”

And then this warning…

“If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.”

If we don’t repent, then he will remove his light… his spirit… his power from among us.  That terrifies me…

I have to return to my first love.

You have to return to the love you had for the Lord at first.

We need to love Jesus and love each other as we did at first.

And what is the reward?  An eternity with Jesus at his heavenly banquet!

Think about this closing image from the scripture here…

“To everyone who is victorious, I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.”

Think back to the Garden.  What tree did Adam and Eve eat the fruit from?

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

What tree was left that they had to remove Adam and Eve from the Garden to prevent them from eating?  The tree of life.

It was a tree with fruit more desirable than the other…

And yet, that will be the very fruit on the buffet of Jesus’ banquet.

Jesus has set a table before us, it is prepared along with our dwelling place in heaven… it awaits our arrival… if we are victorious. 

So, the call today is to return to our First Love… to come back to the Life Jesus called us to… to return to the life we said yes to so long ago…

As we sing our closing hymn today, I hope you will pause and pray, invite Jesus back into your life.  We do not believe in a once saved we are done religion… We believe in a faith in Jesus Christ that grows… that we continue to be drawn closer and closer to our Lord… that we become like our Lord… that we are going on to perfection, loving God and neighbor.

So, today, take that next step on your road as you return to your first love.

Let us pray.