Sermon Tone Analysis

Study 2 -- The Letters to the Seven Churches

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Revelation 2:1-29

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In Chapters Two and Three of Revelation we find the letters to the seven churches in the province of Asia (now) Turkey.

There were churches that were much larger, such as in Alexandria and Rome, but the Apostle John had ministered among these seven churches.

Also, the seven churches in Asia are representative of all classes of Christians and churches which have existed throughout Church history.

We will see in this study that some of these Christians were genuine, some were fallen, and some were hypocrites.

In each local congregation there may be a variety of the seven classes of believers.

The class of believer that predominates in any one congregation will determine the style of church it is -- like the church in Ephesus, or Sardis, or Philadelphia, or one of the other representative churches.

In any denomination there can be all seven categories of congregations.

According to the category that predominates, that religious entity will be similar to one of the seven churches of Asia.

We will also notice in these chapters that the Lord Jesus is among the lampstands;  that is, He is among His churches, searching them out.

In each one of the letters to the seven churches, the Savior introduces himself in a distinct manner, giving us some idea of the message He has for that church.

The message is then given, followed by the Lord’s decision as Judge.

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!

I.

The Letter to the Church in Ephesus

!! The Church that Had Lost Its First Love

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The first letter is sent to the church at Ephesus, which at that time was the most important city  in Asia Minor.

The great highway from Rome to the eastern portion of its empire passed directly through this city.

Ephesus was the seat of worship in honor of the goddess Diana.

Her great marble temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the construction of which took 220 years.

This temple measured some 450 feet by 220 feet, with a height of 65 feet.

The temple and its system of worship were sustained by so-called “sacred prostitutes.”

Ephesus was a city full of vice, idolatry, and sorcery.

Yet, it was there that Paul had the greatest success of all his illustrious ministry.

Many people were converted and many sick folk were healed.

There were times when cloths or aprons taken from Paul were placed upon the sick who were consequently healed (Acts 19:12).

From Ephesus the Gospel was carried to the other cities of the Province of Asia.

Later, the Apostle John became the Bishop of this city.

/1         //To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands./

We saw in the previous study that the seven stars represent the pastors, while the seven lampstands represent the churches.

Remember, John at this time was on Patmos.

It was some other person who was pastoring the church in Ephesus.

We have noted that the pastor of a local church should give forth the divine light.

The believers who compose that congregation should reflect the light throughout their community.

The emphasis that Jesus gives to the fact that He is in the midst of the lampstands and that He has the stars in His hand suggests that the church in Ephesus is in danger losing its position.

/2         //I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.

And/

/       you tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; /

/3         //and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored  for My name’s sake and have not/

/       become weary./

In each of these letters, when it is possible, the Lord begins by taking note of the positive qualities of the church to which the letter is directed.

The church in Ephesus had much in its favor.

The brothers and sisters there were working with great fervor and patience.

They did not tolerate false doctrine, nor did they tolerate false prophets.

They had suffered for their faith and yet had remained faithful.

/4   Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love./

In spite of all that which was positive, Jesus has a very severe criticism concerning the believers in Ephesus.

They who had had so much love and enthusiasm for Jesus Christ in the beginning, had lost their fire.

Their work had come to be a matter of routine.

The same thing happens among many Christians and in many churches today.

It is easy to put religious activity in place of an ardent love for Jesus.

The devotion that one has for the Savior is worth much more than the quantity of work that one does in His name.

In my experience in the Lord’s service, I have known many Christian workers, pastors, missionaries, and laymen who have worked, and are working diligently, but they are not joyful.

Rather, there is found among them a hard attitude, even bitterness.

Their lack of love makes null and void any impact of their ministry.

In First Corinthians 13, Paul tells us that one can give his goods to the poor and his body to be burned, but if he does not have love, everything he does is worth nothing.

Jesus considers it a grave fault for a Christian to lose his first love.

We must not permit church attendance, Bible reading, and prayer to become routine things.

The Lord demands that we always maintain a fresh relationship with Him.

 

/5         //Remember therefore from where you have fallen;  repent and do the first works, or else I will/

/        come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place -- unless you repent./

When mention is made of a fall and the necessity of repentance, it means that there has been sin.

Losing one’s first love is a sin which easily leads to other sins.

Jesus said that the church in Ephesus had fallen from its first love and was in danger of losing its relationship with Him;  it was in danger of no longer being able to carry His light into the world.

It is a tragedy that many churches and persons bearing the name of the Lord Jesus in reality do not have anything of His love or His light.

Thank the Lord for His great patience.

Like the believers in Ephesus, He also gives us time to repent.

But if one persists in spiritual coldness, there comes a moment when the holy Spirit leave him and that person no longer belongs to the Lord.

/6   But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate./

Bible scholars have had a lot of difficulty in explaining the word “Nicolaitans.”

Usually they say that the Nicolaitans belonged to some false cult that came into existence at that time.

But a Reverend Seiss, who more than a hundred years ago preached a series of sermons on Revelation, explained that the word “Nicolaitans” is a compound Greek word meaning “people conquerors” (/The Apocalypse,/ by Seiss, / /p.

78).

Already in the first century of the Christian era there had begun the ecclesiastical tyranny that has plagued the Christian Church throughout its history:  men who wanted to introduce pagan philosophies and worldly customs into the church with the purpose of ruling for their own benefit.

They were men who were more interested in position and in authority than in fulfilling their duty before God to take care of and nurture the believers.

We still have Nicolaitans in the church today.

While living in South America, I talked with a lawyer who excused the evil life and intolerance of the clergy, saying that for them religion was a business like any other, and that they sometimes used force and violence against the evangelicals to defend their business.

Such religious leaders are in reality “people conquerors.”

But, we do not need to look beyond the evangelical circles to encounter Nicolaitans.

Consider, for example, the movement that was begun by the preaching of the great English evangelist, John Wesley, in the 18th century.

Mr.

Wesley graduated from the famous university of Oxford.

He was ordained a priest in the Anglican church although he had not yet been born again.

It was after having served as a missionary to the Indians in the New World for two years, and after having returned to England, that he had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

Full of enthusiasm and love, Mr. Wesley began to preach salvation and the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Immediately all the doors of the Anglican churches were closed against him.

For that reason, Wesley and his companions in evangelism had to go out into the open air to preach.

Multitudes flocked to hear them and thousands were transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.

As a result of the spiritual liberation of so many people, there came about the social reforms that England so badly needed.

Secular historians have said that it was due to the revival in England that that country was saved from a bloody revolution like that which later on took place in France.

Soon, Wesley’s new movement crossed the Atlantic to North America where, a short time after the American Revolution, it was officially organized as an evangelical denomination.

In the fertile atmosphere of the New World, this church continued growing until it became the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.

Then something happened.

In this same movement, born of the Holy spirit, the politicians, that is the Nicolaitans, came to power and produced the very same ecclesiastical tyranny that had existed in the Anglican Church.

During the first half of the 19th century, many of the leaders of the church to which we refer became rich.

They even came to own slaves.

Meanwhile, many of their pastors were active in the Abolitionist movement.

Irritated and shamed by the activities of these pastors, the Nicolaitan leaders tried to shut them up.

As a result, a group of pastors left and formed a new denomination  faithful to the Word of God.

With the passing of the years, other pastors left and other denominations were formed in reaction to the tyranny that reigned in the mother church.

But now, it is evident that the Nicolaitans, the people conquerors, have come to power in some of those denominations.