2021-8-15 AM, Revival & Rebuke: Jesus Speaks to His Church, Revelation 2:1-7
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Introduction
Background
In this preaching series we will look at a portion of the Book of Revelation.
Revelation is a letter written to seven churches of Asia Minor, to give them encouragement and to reveal the last parts of God’s redemption plan.
It is important to know that just as Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s redemption plan. He is the theme of the book. It comes from Him and is about Him. He is the “faithful witness” (Revelation 1:5), “the Alpha and the Omega” (1:8), the One “who is and was and who is to come” (1:8)
The words of Revelation would have given encouragement to the Christians who were part of an illegal religion in the Roman Empire and then persecuted harshly during the reign of Domitian. The rest of the apostles were dead and John had been banished to Patmos (JM).
Revelation comforts believers because it emphasizes Christ’s return and triumph over evil.
(JM).
Revelation is divided into three parts in Revelation 1:9. Jesus the Lord instructs John to write down:
The things which you have seen (1:1-20),
the things which are (2:1-3:22),
and the things which will take place after these things (4:1-22:21). Past, present, future.
In the first section, John had a vision of the risen Jesus as He was on the Island of Patmos.
On the Lord’s Day, Sunday, he was in the Holy Spirit. He heard a loud voice like a trumpet commanded him to tell the seven churches what he would see in the coming vision.
John turned to the voice and he saw the Son of Man walking among seven golden lampstands, which represent the seven specific churches (1:12-13) to whom Revelation is addressed, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Given that seven was commonly understood as a number of completion, we understand that the churches also represent of all local churches of the Lord ever since the start.
John sees Jesus...
14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
1. Jesus walks among the lampstands like a commander inspecting his troops.
2. Jesus judges His church according to righteousness (signified by the stark whiteness of his hair).
3. His eyes were each like a flame of fire, meaning that they pierce deeply into the hearts of His churches. He sees and weighs their intentions and attitudes.
The letters to the churches occur in the second section. In real time, Christ addressed these churches which existed at the time of John being on the Island of Patmos.
4. His feet were like burnished bronze, glowing hot. Kings in ancient kingdoms had elevated thrones so that those being judged would always be beneath the king’s feet (JM, Because The Time is Near, 37). This imagery should be understood as representing divine judgment.
5. His voice becomes like the roar of many waters, signifying His authority and power.
6. He has seven stars in his hands. We learn these are the pastors of the seven churches (Logically it does not mean angels as it does elsewhere because angels to not lead churches). This means that he holds the church and its leaders.
From this imagery, we understand that While Jesus encourages and protects His church, He also holds it to account for sin. He judged these specific churches when they existed. He judges our church in the present time. This is something which should cause us all pause.
We are going to look at Jesus’ judgments on the churches of Asia Minor. Jesus’ words revive them and rebuke them.
As we do this, we might try to imagine what Jesus would say to our church.
First, Jesus spoke to 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.
Author-
Restatement of Jesus as the one who holds, controls, and inspects His churches.
Recipients-
Ephesus the church
Priscilla and Aquila brought the gospel to Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19)
Apollos (Acts 18:24-27)
Paul ministered in Ephesus for years; during this time the other 7 churches were planted.
Timothy (1 Timothy 1:3)
John was likely pastor of this church when he was arrested by Domitian and exiled 50 miles SW to Patmos (2 John 2:1).
Ephesus was a center of worship for Artemis/Diana. temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Full of magical arts and idolatry. Massive repentance and riots (Acts 19:10-11, 23-41)
Ephesus the city
Inland 3 miles, but the greatest harbor in Asia Minor, but it continuously filled up with silt.
Cayster River continuously filled with silt
Commendation-
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.
Jesus commends their diligent work for the cause of Christ. works, toil- labor to the point of exhaustion; diligent workers to the cause of Christ.
They were evangelizing the lost, preaching the Word, loving the lost and loving the church, all in the context of a spiritually dark place.
They did this with fervency.
Jesus also commends their patient endurance. They did their work in difficult circumstances, but with a hopeful attitude. They knew Christ would some day return and give them release from their labor. They were faithful.
Jesus continues with this idea saying...
3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.
They have kept on keeping on in Jesus’ name, even when it is hard.
This is an encouragement to us that it is pleasing to Christ for us to work hard for Him.
We have some who are master servants, who give themselves to the labor of the Lord, even in trying circumstances. This gives joy to your Lord.
I think that this commendation belongs to the church family, especially in this ongoing season when a virus interrupts our gathering, our giving, our care for each other, and efforts for the kingdom. It pleases our master as we produce good works, as we toil, as we patiently endure and bear up for His name’s sake.
There is a challenge in this for all of us to rise up together as a body in Christ to continue His work. Even if you’ve stepped back, it would please your Lord for you to step up in serving Him again.
Jesus also commends them because they do not tolerate false teachers in their midst.
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.
Verse 2 also says that the church has an intolerance for evil people and evil teaching.
Evil people here are those who are a part of the church for the purpose of derailing it through false teaching and sowing division.
We learn that the Ephesians, who had an excellent teaching and preaching ministry, successfully tested and exposed these wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Specifically, Jesus says...
6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
One of the church fathers, Irenaus, said the Nicolaitans were a group based on Nicolas, who was made a deacon in Acts 6 and either went apostate or was misrepresented by this group. No one knows for sure.
However, we do know from 2:12-15 that they were linked to Balaam’s false teachings in the OT which led the Israelites astray. He led people into immorality and wickedness. This group perverted grace and replaced liberty with license.
The Ephesians called this group out specifically and we presume that they implemented church discipline.
This is something that churches have to watch out for. This is something we have to watch out for.
When individuals or groups teach heresy in the church, the leaders of the church have to address it personally, specifically, and biblically. Person, place, time, false-teaching, why it is incorrect according to the Bible.
If we don’t learn how to do this when the need arises, Jesus will take action in our church.
Concern-
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
This is heart-wrenching- “Though they maintained their doctrinal purity and served Christ, that service had turned mechanical. Forty years after being marked by love, the affection had cooled.” Jesus confronts the Ephesians because they stopped loving Him as before.
The Ephesians had loved Christ...
30 years earlier, Paul said,
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,
and...
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
They had once known Christ with a powerful love. At one point their service and obedience to Christ grew out of their abiding with Christ in the Word and prayer.
Now, they skipped the abiding in Christ part.
This was a lot like the Israelites in the OT. What was the first thing Israel was to do?
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
But they slipped away from the love of the covenant
13 And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
Sadly, this was like the Pharisees, who were so precise in the law, but entirely missed the underlying relationship with God.
7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
So the Ephesians were falling into the same pattern as the people of God before them.
I look at couples that have been married for decades. Some of them keep that love alive and you can tell it in the way they act as husband and wife. They are kind, considerate, cooperative, generous, trusting with each other. Other couples experience a slow fade. The zealous love from the earlier part of marriage cools and then they are just going through the motions.
The Ephesians were like the latter. They had loved Jesus at first and abided in Him, but no longer did they do this.
It is really easy to let our love for Christ fade isn’t it? We can forget the joy of salvation and quit meeting Him in our prayer and study of the Word and then we are spiritually dry. We can go for years being faithful in service and defending the faith, but not communing with Christ our Savior and Friend.
As you can imagine, when we do this we compromised the very essence of Christianity, which is Jesus Himself.
Instead of operating out of His power, we operate out of our own strength (John 15:5).
Instead of following Him as Lord, we follow our own opinions and whims.
Instead of living the authentic Christian life which grows out of Him, we settle for religion sans Christ, which is worthless.
Command
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.
Jesus calls on the Christians at Ephesus to repent and love Him as before.
Remember- Come back to the way Christianity is supposed to be. Remember the day of your salvation- your testimony.
Repent- Sin always drives a wedge between Christ and us. “To fail to love God fully is sin”.
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Return to their previous deeds- just as the couple married for 50 years does certain things to maintain their love, so believers need to return to the activities which foster their love for Christ.
Bible study, devotion to prayer, passion for worship.
Consequence
If not, then Jesus said the church’s lampstand will be removed. This means the Lord would cause a church no longer to exist, no longer to represent Him to the world.
Churches are a gift. They are expressions of God’s grace to a community. If you doubt this, then go live in a community without a church for a while; find yourself in a situation where you cannot go to church for a while. Sooner or later, you will feel the sadness of a missing church.
While this is a sad thing, Jesus is willing to remove a church if it doesn’t repent.
Counsel
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.’
Over comer or conqueror is not a reference to a Christian who earns salvation or manages not to lose it. It refers to one who finishes the faith which Christ started in him or her. This is a reference to all true believers every where and in all times.
Elsewhere, John says...
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The reward for believers is to get to eat of the tree of life which Adam was forbidden to eat of in the Garden of Eden.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
The Paradise of God is heaven
43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”