7 Churches: Ephesus

Depending on where you’re joining us from, +/-3 hours north of us, we have both federal agents posting up in neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals. AND we have protesters disrupting church services.

More deadly altercations between law enforcement and people angry at how they are enforcing the law.

Europe is sending troops to Greenland.

Russia is still bombing Ukraine.

Iran is on fire.

Israel and Palestine are still on a devestating brink.

Apparently we’re running Venezuela now.

China is patrolling Taiwan.

Alliances that have guaranteed the world’s safety for the last 80 years seem to be in legitmate danger of falling apart.

And…

The historically worst college football team just won the national championship.

If that’s not a sign of the apocalypse, then I don’t know what is!

This weekend we’re starting a series called “7 Churches,” based on the first (3) chapters in the last book of the Bible:

“The Apocalypse of John”—more commonly known as…

The Revelation.

And right up top, the most important thing that you need to know about this book you now already know—and that is this:

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There is no “s” in Revelation.

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There isn’t. Because there’s not more than one. Just one Revelation.

And so even if you eventually forget everything else we’re gonna talk about over the course of this series, you’re already better off than when you started. You don’t have to commit that rookie mistake any longer.

You’re welcome.

An Impulse to Write

Hey—I don’t know if you’re feeling like this or not, but I’m starting to feel a little deja vu—and not in a good way.

I’m starting to feel a little “2020”ish. 2020 vibes.

It kinda felt like the world was ending back in 2020, too. But that’s not really what I’m talking about.

What I’m talking about is what my social media feed is starting to look and feel like. That’s my deja vu feeling. It’s starting to feel again today like it felt back then—which is this:

Angry.

Argumentative.

Lots of dunking and straw men arguments and oversimplification.

Lots of political divisiveness and self-righteousness.

But in my feed (and again: the algorithmic powers that be know that I’m a pastor… so my feed might be different than yours)—

But in my feed, I’ve got way more “Christian” or “Church-based” or “Christian political” or “Christian podcaster” or “Christian activist” voices mixed in.

I’ve got more voices in my feed trying to tell me (and the rest of world) what it means to approach each and every one of these world-ending crises like a Christian would and should.

What it means to think about these Christianly. Respond to these Christianly.

And it’s getting so noisy that I’m getting the point I got to back in 2020:

I had to turn it down (and in some cases, turn it off).

But I also had to just sit down and write down my own thoughts on what I believe and how I think Jesus is calling me to respond—and calling his church to respond.

And right now, those thoughts are just sitting as a digital file on my laptop. Not sure what I’m going to do with it.

But that impulse to just shut everything else off, tune out every other voice and all the noise, dial into Jesus and what he said, and then write down and share what he’s saying to his church—

That’s an impulse that I’m very familiar with.

And just shy of 2,000 ago, the risen and ascended Jesus himself revealed something to his close friend and disciple, the Apostle John. And he told him to write it down and share it with the churches.

And he did. Which is what we have in front of us today.

So, grab your Bibles, go to the very last book, and let’s read the first few verses of Revelation together:

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Revelation 1:1–3 “The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”

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So:

Most of our time in this series will be spent in chapters 2 and 3, in which John dictates seven letters from Jesus to seven churches in and around the Roman province of Asia.

But there’s a few things in chapter 1 that are critical for us to know before we dive into those letters—starting here in these first few verses. And these things are going to help us interpret these letters—and the book of Revelation—faithfully:

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Interpreting Revelation

“Revelation” (Greek: apocalypsis) means unveiling.

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Kinda like the Price is Right: “What’s behind door number 3?”

Only this kind of revelation pulls back the curtain on God’s sovereignty—how he sees our world from his perspective, and what it looks like for him to bring our story to its fulfillment.

#2:

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Interpreting Revelation

“Revelation” (Greek: apocalypsis) means unveiling.

The book of Revelation is a prophecy—both foretelling and forth-telling.

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That’s what John calls it—a prophecy. Prophecy in the Bible is both foretelling (meaning it predicts events in the future that haven’t happened yet) and forth-telling (interprets events in the past and present in light of God’s patterns of faithfulness so that we remain faithful).

It was written 2,000 years ago as both a prediction of the future as well as an interpretation of the present… which is gonna kinda mess with your mind.

And this fact alone is where most of the debates and arguments and different opinions rage on when it comes to this book:

Is it talking about things that were about to happen to them 2,000 years ago? Is it talking about things that had already happened to them? Or is it talking about things that haven’t yet happened—but will? Or might be happening right now, even?

(Pause.)

Yes.

Yes to all of that, actually.

Which takes us to #3:

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Interpreting Revelation

“Revelation” (Greek: apocalypsis) means unveiling.

The book of Revelation is a prophecy—both foretelling and forth-telling.

The book of Revelation is also an apocalypse and an epistle.

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So it’s three things at once: it’s a prophecy, and an apocalypse, and an epistle.

We’ve already seen that the verb “apocalypse” means to unveil or uncover. But when it’s a noun, it refers to a type of literature.

Apocalyptic literature appears in parts of Revelation—as well as parts of Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Isaiah, and Joel.

And there’s a lot of other apocalypic literature outside of the Bible as well, mostly written in the handful of centuries right before Jesus as well as the century after.

Apocalypic literature is marked by visions, and symbols, and angelic messengers, and cosmic conflict—all unveiling what’s really going on behind history, especially as it seems like it’s coming to an end.

And there’s a reason it’s so symbolic: because for a lot of the peoples of earth who wrote apocalyptic literature, history did come to an end—first at the hands of the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, then the Persians, then the Greeks, and in John’s day, the Romans.

Entire cities were leveled. Entire civilizations were wiped off the history books.

And that’s when you see a lot of these apocalypses written—sybmolic, because the empire is always watching. But we’ve gotta have a way to communicate—even when it feels like our world is ending. It’s like a secret code.

Which is why Revelation is also an epistle. It’s a letter, written to a particular audience, for a specific occasion or purpose.

We’ve got a lot of them in the New Testament: Romans. Corinthians. Galatians. Ephesians.

Messages to particular churches in real cities in real history for a real reason.

Which leads me to the fourth thing that I think will help you as you go to read and interpret this book:

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Interpreting Revelation

“Revelation” (Greek: apocalypsis) means unveiling.

The book of Revelation is a prophecy—both foretelling and forth-telling.

The book of Revelation is also an apocalypse and an epistle.

John’s purpose for writing it—and Jesus’ purpose for revealing it: to help his church live faithfully in the shadow of the empire.

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Revelation has a lot of symbols. But it’s not all sympbolic.

Revelation contains a lot of prophecy. But it’s not all about the future.

Revelation was written to real churches in real history. And over every single one of those churches, the Roman Empire cast an increasingly long shadow.

Sometimes that shadow was pretty imposing. We think John wrote Revelation a little later in his life—likely under the reign of the emperor Domitian sometime in A.D. 81-96.

Although persecution had broke out against Christians earlier, it was pretty spotty until Domitian—who was the first emperor to make it a captical crime to be unpatriotic. If you weren’t loyal to him and his empire as God’s divinely chosen ruler, you’d be breaking the law and subject to punishment even unto death.

And John talks a lot about this kind of persecution—mostly symbolically—in Revelation.

So, sometimes the shadow of the empire was pretty imposing.

But other times, the shadow felt more like a cool shade. It wasn’t imposing at all; it was comforting—especially if you accommodated.

After all… what’s the harm in a little patriotism? Who’s to say he wasn’t chosen by God? And isn’t it nice to have the most powerful army in the world at your back rather than at your door?

Besides: Rome will let you worship your own God as long as you demonstrate loyalty by celebrating the holidays and going to the parties and making the sacrifices. You could worship your God however you wanted if you also worshipped however your country and culture demanded.

And so God sees all of this and gives Jesus this Revelation to give to John, so that John can give it to his church—seven real churches, to be exact.

But seven in the Bible is a symbolic number itself—meaning complete.

In fact…

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Show Seven Churches Map Picture

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(Explain the map… postal route… was likely one 7-part letter circulated to all of them.)

And so in giving seven letters to seven churches, he’s giving one seven-part letter to the whole church. Then… and now.

Because there are still empires today that cast a pretty long shadow.

As we dive in, you’re going to see churches that are suffering under persecution—because remaining faithful to Jesus brought them into conflict with their country. And you’re going to see churches that are accommodating and tolerating things that are perfectly fine in the culture and even demanded by the empire—but that have no place in Jesus’ kingdom.

What does it mean to remain faithful to Jesus when there’s a real empire who seems to have the power to determine your fate—to either reward you or punish you—

Not on the basis of your loyalty to Jesus,

But on the basis of your loyalty to the empire itself?

John says that we are to take to heart what is written in this Revelation—meaning he wants us to understand it and then live by it—because “the time is near.”

And that’s the last thing we need to understand before we dive into our first letter of the seven:

This was written 2,000 years ago now. John says that the things that he wrote must “soon take place;” “the time is near.”

All of the terrifying predictions that John talked about—those all came true in the world those churches lived and moved in. In fact, some of them already had—even before he wrote.

There was a tribulation. The Roman emperor Titus had leveled Jerusalem. The beast had already consumed some of them.

And still… no Jesus coming to the rescue.

And now it’s been 2,000 years! So… what do you mean “the time is near?” That all of this is happening “soon?”

Here’s what that means:

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Interpreting Revelation

“Revelation” (Greek: apocalypsis) means unveiling.

The book of Revelation is a prophecy—both foretelling and forth-telling.

The book of Revelation is also an apocalypse and an epistle.

John’s purpose for writing it—and Jesus’ purpose for revealing it: to help his church live faithfully in the shadow of the empire.

The veil between heaven and earth is thin. God could tear it open at any time. Our job as God’s people is to live ready.

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We gotta live ready.

Ready for Jesus to return. Ready for God to intervene.

Not caught up in our fear of the empires of this world or entangled in accommodating the empires of this world.

And certainly not more loyal to the empire and whichever emperor is in charge than we are to the king.

To Jesus.

The Letter to the Ephesians

So let’s dive into our first letter—which is the letter to the church in the city of Ephesus. Chapter 2, verse 1:

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Revelation 2:1–3 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.

I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.”

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Ok. So we’re already encountering some of those symbols that are so common in apocalyptic literature: seven stars and angels and seven lampstands. Here’s what those likely symbolize:

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Lampstands = the churches who should be acting as “lights” in the world.

Angel & Stars = that church’s prevailing spirit; what they are/are not “shining” to the world; their message to and reputation in the world.

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Angels are messengers from God. In a similar way, we as God’s church should be faithfully shining his message to the world. We ought to be his stars; lights in the night.

And the church in Ephesus was doing a pretty good job of that.

Unlike some of the other churches that we’re gonna see, we know a lot about the church in Ephesus:

The Apostle Paul wrote an entire epistle to them. They were one of the earliest churches. They had been around the block. In fact, it’s likely that the Apostle John himself lived there as he cared for Jesus’ mother, Mary.

And so as one of the earliest founded churches, with some of the founders of our faith living as residents, they had done some pretty commendable things—most notably in their morality, in their theology, and their doctrine.

This is the early church. There aren’t yet traditions established. So it’s kind of a free-for-all. If you were a charismatic communicator, you could say kinda whatever you wanted in Jesus’ name and win a following pretty quickly.

But the church in Ephesus didn’t buy all of that. They remained faithful to what Jesus and his true apostles taught. They didn’t get caught up in some of the sexual sins and cultural acommodations that the other churches did.

They didn’t chase after every last charismatic preacher.

Instead, they dove deeper into the teachings of Jesus’ apostles. They worked hard on deepening both their faithfulness to Jesus in how they lived and how they thought.

And they were willing to pay the price for it. They persevered. They worked hard. All very commendable.

But…

Verse 4:

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Revelation 2:4–5 “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

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They got their theology right.

They had their doctrine right.

They had their morality right.

They called sin a sin. They didn’t accommodate everything the empire and the culture around them pressured them to accommodate.

They were these bold, courageous, take-the-hit-for-Jesus and keep on going kind of people and kind of church.

And yet, Jesus is telling them:

I’m about to remove you from your lampstand.

Because what you’re shining to this world is increasingly love-less.

You pat yourselves on the back for being bold. For being courageous. For standing for the truth.

You commend yourselves for standing strong on the truth when everyone else seems to compromise.

But you’ve forgotten who you once were. You’ve forgotten how lost you were when we first met. And you’ve forgotten that before right theology and right doctrine and right living that what you really needed was to be loved.

You’ve forgotten what it feels like to simply be loved—not for believing rightly or living rightly, but to be loved out of the bottomless grace and mercy that I have for you.

And so you’ve forgotten what it’s like to lead with that kind of love—to shine that kind of love into a world that doesn’t believe right or live right.

No; you’re no longer the church that leads with love. You’re the church that leads with “the truth,” and “saying the hard things,” and “combating false teaching.”

And while I commend you for doing all of those things,

You are doing them without love in your heart for the people you’re doing them for and doing them to.

And I can’t have that. Because I told you—the first and greatest commandment is this:

To love the Lord your God as you love your neighbor as yourself.

You can never allow yourself to stand for the truth without standing first on love.

You can’t become a church that feels like it’s shining it’s light by standing on its doctrine and theology.

You have to go back to your first love.

You were loved by me. Remember that. And always—always!—start there with others.

There’s a reason, I think, that Jesus begins with Ephesus. Because his message to them echoes now for millennia—especially today.

I don’t think the calls for “take a stand for the truth” and “be bold for Jesus” to the church in America have ever been louder.

And don’t get me wrong; Jesus is commending his church in Ephesus for doing that and being that kind of church.

But is that the prescription for what this world needs? They just need us to be… louder?

No. They need the truth from people who genuinely love them.

Becuase we know what it’s like… we remember what it was like…

To simply be loved by the God of the universe who had every right to judge us for our bad theology and bad doctrine and bad lives, even.

But who loved us enough to not only tell us the truth but to live that truth out in the most loving of ways.

Jesus loved the world by dying for its sake.

Listen:

I’m ok with standing for the truth—even when it’s not popular.

I’m for standing on the things God’s Word says—even when I’m called unloving for doing so.

And when we do that, we’re going to get commended by Jesus—just like he did with the Ephesians.

But watch out:

The temptation to give ourselves a pass on love—

Which looks like:

Loving your enemies.

Blessing those who curse you.

Taming your tongue.

Being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

Minding your own business and working quitetly for the good of others.

Doing unto others what you would have them doing unto you—

That’s what love looks like in a world that does not share our truth—but still desperately needs it.

We can never allow ourselves to stand on the truth or for the truth in an unloving manner.

Nor can we allow the truth to take the front seat over love.

It’s not loving to swallow the truth. It’s not.

But it’s not loving to shout it, either.

We must love first. And we must be known as loving first. That’s gotta be our reputation as Jesus’ church.

Because if it’s not…

Jesus himself will remove us from our lampstand and put some other church up there so that his light can shine.

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