What is Jesus saying to His Church? (2)

Where is the love?

When I was 8 or 9, there was a meeting that was taking place at the church our family attended. I don’t know any of the details, but a statement came out of the meeting that I will probably never forget. One of the ladies in the church asked the question, “Where is de love?”

Today, we are going to look at the church in Ephesus. Paul wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus, we call the book of Ephesians.

In Ephesians 3:18-19

Ephesians 3:18–19 NLT

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

So Paul prayed that the people in the church would experience the love of Christ. My prayer is that we would experience that same love in a new and fresh way.

Let’s read our Scripture today and see what Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, and let’s see how it applies to us today.

Revelation 2:1–7 NLT

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands: “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do. “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.

As we work our way through what Jesus said to the churches, we’ll start to see a pattern.

There will be a description of Jesus which ties back to chapter 1, for most there will be a complement or commendation, as well as a rebuke. Jesus doesn’t leave the churches without direction, so there will be next steps.

How does Jesus describe Himself?

Revelation 2:1 NLT

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands:

So what Jesus is saying is that He is among His churches and He holds His messengers in His right hand.

Hebrews 13:5 NLT

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

Hebrews 13:8 NLT

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Jesus wants you to know that He will never leave you. No matter what, He is there. He holds His messengers in His right hand which represents authority, and nobody can take us from His hand.

Psalm 91:1–4 NLT

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

As we trust in the Lord, as we walk with Him, He is there and He holds us.

This week at VBS, we looked at four different stories of God’s faithfulness: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, David and Goliath, Jesus and Peter walking on water, and finally Paul and Silas in prison.

In each case, there was a trial: a fiery furnace, a giant, a storm, and a prison, but in each case God was there, and He had each of them in His hand. If God moved in each of these cases, I believe that He can move in your life too.

What did Jesus say to the Church at Ephesus?

Is it the good, the bad, and the ugly?

Let’s start with the good.

The Compliment

Revelation 2:2–3 NLT

“I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

Revelation 2:6 NLT

But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do.

1. I know all you do

Have you ever felt like nobody sees what you have done. You’ve served the Lord faithfully. You’ve taught Sunday School, greeted, been an usher, always went to Bible Study and prayer meeting.

And yes, there are times that you have just grown tired. Maybe you’ve even felt a touch of burnout.

Jesus sees everything that you have done. I’m not sure if this is accurate, but it can be the case, that in a smaller rural church, it can be hard to find help, and you can’t drop the kids programs, we have to have worship, we need somebody to greet, but we just don’t have enough people.

Others will say, I’ve done my time, and now it’s time for somebody else to step up. So the weight just seems to get heavier.

Elijah

In 1 Kings, Elijah was a powerful man of God, but he was a human just like you and me. He had faced some really hard times and hard people. God provided as he went through the drought, but he still went through the drought just as the people around him.

When the wicked queen Jezebel wanted him dead, he ran and hid and he asked God to just let him die. He felt like he was the only one left, but God told him that there were still 7000.

God wants you to know that you are not alone either. He is able to help and to supply everything that we need according to His riches in Christ Jesus.

2. They stayed true to the word of God

It can be so easy to get off track and follow new teachings without making sure that they are true.

Ephesians 4:11–14 NLT

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

They weren’t swayed by the Nicolaitans. Maybe what they said sounded good but it wasn’t the message of the gospel.

Life Application New Testament Commentary (The Message to the Church in Ephesus / 2:1–7)

The Nicolaitans were believers who had compromised their faith in order to enjoy some of the sinful practices of Ephesian society, including idolatry and sexual immorality. The Nicolaitans had amalgamated some Greek, some Christian, and some Jewish practices to form a sort of civil religion. It may have been that they were willing to worship in the imperial cult, worshiping the emperor, justifying it as a civil duty. They were probably advocates of freedom and compromise, but the Ephesian church had taken a strong stand against these heretics.

They had worked hard. They had endured. They had even stood against false teaching, but Jesus had a stern rebuke.

The Rebuke

Revelation 2:4 NLT

“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!

In Matthew 22, when Jesus was asked what the greatest command was Jesus gave a command that many of us know well.

Matthew 22:37–40 NLT

Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, “You don’t love Me or others like you did at the start.”

Let’s take a moment and search our hearts. Many of us have served the Lord for many years. Yet is our love for God as fervent as it was when we first believed. Have we cooled off? Do we still love people or are we tired of looking out for the needy?

Does our serving the Lord ever become mechanical where we just go through the motions of serving the Lord rather than because we love Jesus with all of our hearts, our souls, and our minds?

Jesus didn’t leave them hanging there, He gave a warning, but he also called them to come back to the closeness of their first love.

Warning and encouragement

Revelation 2:5 NLT

Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.

Maybe you used to spend more time with the Lord whether reading the Bible, praying, listening to music, caring for others, and you just loved doing it, but you lost your love for that and your joy is gone.

I believe that Jesus wants to give you that joy back. I believe that He wants to take away any apathy or and stagnancy in our walk with Him and make it new and alive, and fresh and clean, and vibrant.

Jesus said, repent, turn back! Stop the way that you are going and get back on the right road. You can’t keep going this direction.

If you refuse to change, I will come and take away your lampstand, your light.

My prayer is that our light would shine bright. My prayer is that we would be quick to listen to the voice of the Lord when He calls and wants us to turn back.

Brian Doerksen wrote a song that I believe sums it up really clearly.

To the river I am going... bringing sins I cannot bear Come and cleanse me, come forgive me... Lord I need to meet you there In these waters, healing mercy... flows with freedom from despair I am going, to that river... Lord I need to meet you there Precious Jesus, I am ready... to surrender every care Take my hand now, lead me closer... Lord I need to meet you there

To the one who listens

Jesus wants our light to shine bright to bring honour to God the Father. He doesn’t want to extinguish our light, but we need to have ears to hear and hears that obey what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church.

Revelation 2:7 NLT

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.

To everyone who overcomes, to everyone who returns to loving God and loving others, Jesus will give fruit from the Tree of Life.

The tree of life was in the Garden of Eden. When sin came into the world, God sent an Angel to stop Adam and Eve from ever eating from the Tree of Life, but God wants to give us eternal life. Eternal life starts when we Jesus comes into our lives.

We can have that Zoe life, that eternal life and have it to the fullest, and we will live with Christ forever.

To close

Revelation 22:12–17 NLT

“Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.

Do you long for Jesus’ coming?

He is coming soon! Let’s make sure that our robes, that is our lives, are white and clean. Let’s be ready to meet Jesus.

Come and drink freely from this water of life that Jesus has for you. The more we love Him, we will find that He has given us everything that we need to live lives that please Him.

Amen.

Let’s pray.