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Today is the last message in the series “Closer: Pressing into Christ.”
We need to continue to develop our relationship with God.
We are to be continually moving deeper in our relationship with Jesus.
The call to discipleship is a call to commitment.
We are to be fully committed to doing the will of God.
Next week, we are going to talk more on the subject of prayer.
I hope you will make it a point to be with us because many of you had questions about the nature of prayer.
After that, on Father’s Day, which is also Trinity Sunday, we will talk about the nature of the triune God we worship and serve.
Then, we will start our summer message series on the Names of God.
I am really looking forward to the series because, I think, knowing the names and titles of God will help us get to deeply know him and how he works in our lives.
Let’s read our theme verse for the series.
James
The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ begins with an encounter with our resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
After the vision of the risen Lord, John records seven messages from Christ to seven churches.
Next year, I plan to look at the messages given to these seven churches.
These letters were given to seven historical churches scattered throughout Asia Minor.
They dealt with actual conditions in actual churches.
There were many other churches who could have been addressed.
However, Jesus chose these specific churches because they perfectly represent conditions that would characterize many churches throughout history.
In the Scriptures, seven is often the number of completion or perfection.
Seven messages to seven churches indicate that there are essentially seven types of churches.
Each letter closes with the statement, “let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Notice the plural.
The message is not just for the specific church being addressed.
The message is for all churches to hear.
This morning, we are going to look at the first church to be addressed, the church at Ephesus.
<show picture of Ephesus’ location>
Ephesus was located near the mouth of the Cayster River only three miles from the coast.
It became the capitol of Asia Minor, was connected by highways with the interior of Asia and all her chief cities, and became a great commercial center.
The emperor had made Ephesus a free city and it was given the title “Supreme Metropolis of Asia.”
It also contained one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the temple of Diana.
<show picture of the temple of Diana>
<show picture of the temple of Diana>
Ephesus was a center of mystical cult worship.
“The temple was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide, and 60 feet high, with great folding doors and 127 marble pillars, some of them covered with gold.
The worship of Diana was ‘religious immorality’ at its worst.”
The church of Ephesus was established by Paul on his third missionary journey.
You can read about it in , and it was from this church that Paul called the elders of Ephesus to meet him at Miletus when he was on his way to Jerusalem ().
After that, Ephesus became the residence of the apostle John before and after his exile, but no church stands there today.
Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 2.
Here is what you need to remember.
This is the main concept and the message for the church.
God does not simply want us "doing things".
He didn't just want sacrifices in the Old Testament.
He doesn’t want simply religious activity.
God wants our love and obedience.
Remember this:
Here is what you need to remember.
This is the main concept and the message for the church.
God does not simply want us "doing things".
He didn't just want sacrifices in the Old Testament.
He doesn’t want simply religious activity.
God wants our love and obedience.
Remember this:
Here is what you need to remember.
This is the main concept and the message for the church.
God does not simply want us "doing things".
He didn't just want sacrifices in the Old Testament.
He doesn’t want simply religious activity.
God wants our love and obedience.
Remember this:
“The One who walks among the seven lampstands.” “Who walks.”
In the vision of chapter one, He is evidently standing, but here we see not only Christ’s constant presence in our midst, but His active ministry.
In that ministry, He examines us for the quality of our production, He provides for our needs, and He is always available to us seeking to minister and to have fellowship.
Our need is to be available to Him!
This is also a note of warning and comfort.
Remember this:
Ritual without relationship is meaningless.
Doctrinal purity is no substitute for passionate obedience.
The church at Ephesus had a lot of things right.
Jesus knew their works.
They were doing good things.
They were working hard to maintain their doctrinal purity.
They weren’t giving up.
They had no tolerance for sin.
They refused to allow apostasy and immorality to go on in the church.
They tested the claims that people made.
Some people would claim to have a “word from the Lord”, but they were just fakers.
They weren’t really what they claimed to be and the church of Ephesus exposed them for who they really were.
They had persevered.
They had endured hardships.
They had not grown weary.
Largely, they were doing the right things and they believed the right things, but something was wrong.
Look at verse 4.
Revelation 2:4
The word “abandoned” is the word
ἀφίημι (aphiēmi) - left, to leave, forsake, or depart
The word stresses an act for which a person is completely responsible.
This is not that they “fell out of love” or “lost love”.
This is about leaving your love.
They had moved away from the original love and devotion they had for Jesus.
They decided to put service and doctrinal purity ahead of their love for Jesus.
Their labor had become what they were trusting in for salvation, rather than the one they claimed to be serving.
Ritual or service without relationship is meaningless.
Doctrinal purity is no substitute for passionate obedience.
ἀφίημι (aphiēmi)
Warren Wiersbe says: But the Man in the midst of the churches saw what was missing: they had left (not “lost”) their first love ().
The local church is espoused to Christ (), but there is always the danger of that love growing cold.
Like Martha, we can be so busy working for Christ that we have no time to love Him ().
Christ is more concerned about what we do with Him than for Him.
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