Metanoia

Big Idea: Consider and cut your relationship(s) with sin, and commit yourselves back to God.

Take heart, turn from sin, and trust God!

take heart - find the courage and conviction

Question: What does it mean to repent?

Metanoia or Repent (verb): to have a change of self (heart and mind) that abandons former dispositions and results in a new self, new behavior, and regret over former behavior and dispositions.

Background for Revelation: John is in prison at Patmos (an island about 40 miles from Ephesus). While in prison, John is commanded to write down

Revelation 2:5 ESV

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.

Background for Acts: In Acts 19, Paul goes to Ephesus on his missionary journey and learns about the kind of activities going on in that city. Ephesus is a major city in the Roman world. They were devoted to many deities.

Artemis appears in Acts 19 as the goddess of Ephesus (Acts 19:23–41). Under the leadership of Demetrius, the local silversmiths of Ephesus incited a riot because they feared that their business of selling silver shrines of Artemis (ναοὺς ἀργυροῦς, naous argyrous; “Αρτέμιδος, Artemidos) would be damaged by Paul’s evangelistic efforts (Acts 19:26–27).

The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Biblical References)

In the book of Revelation, the church at Ephesus is the first congregation mentioned in the letters to the seven churches (Rev 2:1–7). The letter refers to the Nicolaitans in Ephesus—a group that is difficult to identify—that was likely condoning immorality among the congregation at Ephesus.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Nicolaitans)

NICOLAITANS (Νικολαΐται, Nikolaitai). An enigmatic group condemned in Revelation for its heretical teachings and practices. Little is known about the Nicolaitans, but they appear to have advocated participation in pagan religion and immoral behavior.

Nikao-laos means to conquer people.

lampstand represented their light and the presence of God. Unless you repent, their lamptstand would be removed. They could continue as an organization but not as a true church of Jesus Christ.

Acts 19:23–27 ESV

23 About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. 25 These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. 26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

Christians were co-mingling or being influenced, or hearing conflicting messages about their faith. The more you surround yourself with someone or something, the more inclined you will become it. This leads to spiritual apathy. It feels like a spiritual staleness or confusion or stagnation.

Question: Who are we fooling? Who are you fooling? We’re walking around like we’re real Jesus followers but are dying on the inside. We are losing ourselves in the “name of Jesus” but don’t really know Him.

Spiritual apathy - coldness or indifference as a Christian. what’s worse being lukewarm (on the fence about their faith) or sure of their faith, just apathetic?

Question: What are the signs that we are spiritually apathetic? Hard to tell. In Ephesus they were doing magic and attempting to cast out demons in the name of Jesus. In Ephesus they were worshipping the goddess Artemis

Question: How do we address spiritual apathy?

Remember - think back to the time when you experienced the closeness of Christ’s presence; think back to when you first accepted the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Savior (Adam and April). How far have we really fallen? What are we measuring our lives against? We should realize we can return to that state of fellowship.

first works are spend time in the word, pray, fellowship with other Christian believers, excited about telling others about Jesus.

difficult to remember because we aren’t in the faith or never knew the meaning or purpose of Jesus Christ.

difficult to remember because we are over saturated with information, out of sight out of mind.

Repent - see spiritual apathy as sin and our wrong doing as sin and confess that sin to God. This is where conviction or that something that gives us an indication (or warning sign) pushes to having a change of heart.

difficult to repent because we can’t see beyond ourselves. We’re selfish.

Renew - create and cultivate a renewed commitment to the Lord - not to just come to church or serving the Lord, but to know the Lord, praise the Lord, fellowshipping with the Lord.

Metanoia is to turn from ungodliness and turn to God; to have a change of heart.

Turn from and turn to.

Practical Application

What can we do today or this week?

Evaluate how far we have fallen. Evaluate the bad things we have done; sin against God.

Invitation to Christian Discipleship

This is a time to get closer to the God already loves you. We believe that God loves us, and He loves us so much so that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:9 “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

If you are not “saved”, we offer a time to sit reflect on this scripture and to accept the invitation to join a community of believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; who loves us unconditionally. If you are saved, we offer this time to reflect on your relationship with God and to see how far we have fallen or in some instances run from God.

Pray

Part II will be about forgiveness.