Christ to Church in Ephesus

BACKGROUND OF EPHESUS...

First church = Ephesus

Two temples built to Caesar Augustus

Greatest of all was Temple of Diana/Artemis

Emporer Domitian called Ephesus “the guardian of the Imperial cult” ie emporer worship.

Domitian had been given particular honor by Ephesus at the Olympic Games just before this letter was written.

He reigned from 81-96 ad and was guilty of great persecution of believers and great many deaths of his own people and leaders.

First church’s letter is to Ephesus...would be first in terms of location for a messenger coming from Patmos...

Ephesus was the 4th largest city in the Roman Empire...population of something like 200,00-600,000. Home of Temple of Diana or Artemis, one of 7 Ancient Wonders of the World...1 1/2 football fields long, 225’ wide, 60’ high

ZNIV: a major center for commerce, political administration, and religion

MEN WHO HAD SERVED AT THIS CHURCH:

-Paul, 3x and once for 3 years

-Priscilla, Aquila, Apollos

-Tychicus Timothy (possible that Timothy was pastor here when John wrote this letter?)

-Apostle John

LETTER BEGINS WITH...

(1) Command to write to the church’s angel 

Revelation 2:1

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.

Who is the “angel” in v1?

It could be the pastor...it could be the messenger...it could be an actual heavenly angel, but this would be a strange one to write the message to the church to...

A thought: angel is the majestic one who holds the church...protects it and watches over it:

-Hebrews 1:14: Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

-Ac 5:19; 12:6-11: protectors and deliverers of God’s people

-Acts 27:23-24: angel on ship to Paul...conveying God’s message

Thus, the angel of God who watches over and protects the church is held in the hands of Christ...for the angel does His will, and this protection and watching over comes from Him

-

Whoever it is (and I do not think we can know for sure), the message is to the church (and churches) regardless...

(2) Christ’s SELF-DESCRIPTION (from vision in ch1)

All

NOTE: Christ repeats who He is as viewed in the vision of Chapter 1...He does NOT want us to forget who He is so that we will LISTEN to HIM as he speaks...

The Words of Him... = Thus says...A reminder that He speaks with DIVINE AUTHORITY...so LISTEN! Words of God...Royal edict 2 Chronicles 36:23

-holds the seven stars in His right hand: sovereign power...if an angel, He holds the one who holds the church in his hands

-walks among the 7 golden lampstands: he is active watching and knowing them...Christ is not just someone we talk about and sing to when we gather...HE IS ACTIVELY IN OUR MIDST at all times...the one who is holy and all-knowing...

NOTE: seven: perfect number, representing all churches of all time, including FBC

Golden: precious BECAUSE THEY ARE HIS AND ARE THOSE PURCHASED BY HIS OWN BLOOD...and they must be if they are in His presence...

Lampstands: purpose to give light so that there is light for what is being done...but He is also the Light of the World, so the light of the churches comes from HIM...as well as shines back on Him...

-also: Christ is in the midst of ALL the churches...there are NO favorites...

(3) Christ’s KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHURCHES (“I know your...)

Revelation 2:2-6

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.

‘I KNOW YOUR WORKS” brothers and sisters...He knows us, He knows us UP TO DATE...because he is always walking among us...we should never think we can hide anything from Him...HE KNOWS...

-and this is a help to us IN PRAYER: because if we do not know how to pray, HE DOES...”Lord, you know...”

Note: he is speaking to the church COLLECTIVELY...not to us as individuals first of all...

And, as we will see here, HE knows the commendable and the condemnable, the good and the bad...WHAT SHOULD BE PRAISED AND WHAT SHOULD BE REPENTED OF...

-Christ’s COMMENDATION:

FIRST, HE KNOWS EPHESUS (and He knows us)...VV2-3

-their works, toil and patient endurance: it seems this work, toil, and endurance has to do with standing for the truth...fighting against and keeping evil out of the church...PERHAPS IN THE FACE OF THE IMPERIAL CULT WHERE THEY WOULD BE PRESSURED TO CONFESS CAESAR AS LORD...

PAUL opened his letter to Ephesus (maybe 30 or so years before Revelation) with “saints who are faithful” Ephesians 1:1

-as well as their faith and their love toward all the saints, 1:15

-and remember Paul’s great section on spiritual armor and warfare...ch 6

-they cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested (put to the test, examine, try: AGL) those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false...ie, they are LIARS, see Rev 21:8

THIS SEEMS TO REFER TO CHURCH DISCIPLINE...

-this endurance and bearing up is: for Christ’s name sake; 

-Jesus said that for His names’s sake persecution and suffering would come to His disciples: 

John 15:21

-and they have not grown weary in it...which means they had a deep heart commitment to it and the knowledge of its true importance...

This church is doctrinally sound and has labored hard to compare all things to Scripture...and they have not given up and compromised with the culture...they have remained pure...

And then in v6: you hate the works of the Nicolitans, which I also hate.

-see vv14-15 and church in Pergamum...

But like the great counselor Jesus is, he goes to the HEART, for He knows the heart...WE WOULD have been impressed with all Ephesus did and the purity of their worship songs and their refusal to let men preach who did not hold to the truth and their efforts at church discipline; no study books or commentaries unless they were thoroughly biblical and Christ-centered...and these things WERE good and DID show love...and Christ, the one who died for them KNEW all these things...

But, being the Holy One and the great Saving Lover that He is, He also sees the heart and what does NOT please Him...

-CHRIST’S REBUKE...

He has something AGAINST them...NOTE: this is the holy lover...the one who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood: that is, He has purchased us FOR HIMSELF

-we are not our own...we have been bought with a price...we are to honor God in our bodies and our spirits, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:20).

YOU HAVE ABANDONED THE LOVE YOU HAD AT FIRST...

-abandoned = leave, desert, quit: this was not passive, but active on their part

BEEKE: this charge serious for 4 reasons:

1. Christ is the one who complains: I have become undesirable to you?

2. Christ sees our abandoned first love

3. Our relationship with Christ is at stake

4. It is sinning against the greatest love we have ever known

-SEE Jeremiah 2:1-13

The love we had at first...passionate, can think of no one else, there are no other loves, eyes for him only, energy for him only, motivated by love in all we do and say...

WHAT KINDS OF THINGS CAN COOL THIS LOVE?

BUT this can be abandoned (even by a doctrinally pure, outwardly faithful church...) over time by:

JOHN OWEN: from not realizing that our love for Christ must receive continual nurture and protection...like a marriage relationship...

Like a plant in a planter or a garden that requires weeding, watering, sunlight, etc.

The Spiritual life becomes slowly, almost unnoticeably external...

-Prayer becomes just a HABIT

-Reading Scripture is a box we check...getting it done as we start our busy day, but not connecting with the living Lord Jesus through it as HE speaks...on the heart level

-Entertainment becomes an addiction: Facebook, novels, movies, hobbies, newspaper, news on TV or cable, 

All the while we are still keeping our orthodoxy and our church attendance and ministries...

(4) CHRIST’S EXHORTATION TO REPENT:

V5: Remember: from where you have fallen

-Remember Your First Love

-reminders of who He is and what He has done for us in the Scriptures

-sermons, reading, hymns, Lord’s Supper, memory verses, walking in the woods.

Repent:

BEEKE: Evangelical repentance: grieves over and hates sin, confesses specific sins, forsakes sin, cries for mercy...

Repeat: Do the works you did at first...what were those first works when you came to know and love Christ?

-in marriage: cards, time with, time talking, lavish expressions of love, seriousness about relationship problems, dealing quickly with whatever harmed relationship, thinking about often, talking about her with others, guarding heart from competing loves, seeking to know what he loves and learning about it, being involved in it, loving those he loved, 

IN regards to our relationship with Christ:

-a joyful willingness to do all He desires

-a careful guarding against sin and all that would draw our heart from Him

-witness to your love for Him to others

-loving truth

-listening carefully to Him as He speaks in the Word, sermons, through brothers and sisters, etc.

-denying self what competes with Him

(5) Summons to hear the Spirit’s message

&

(6) Promise for victors

All

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.’