Ephesus: The Church with one more move

Even if you have never seen the program, the premise of the reality TV series Undercover Boss is easy to grasp.

The identity of the owner or CEO of a corporation is disguised and he or she is “hired” at one of the company’s outlets to see how things operate in the trenches of sales, production, and customer service.

What the boss finds is sometimes very gratifying—an employee who goes above and beyond what is required to make a customer happy, for example.

At other times the boss finds laziness, theft, rudeness, and worse.

At the end of the program the boss’s identity is revealed to the employees and justice or reward is handed out.

I remember a time when I was a manager at a restaurant. We would have the district come in to inspect the store. They’d usually tell us a head of time so we could prepare. We would bring in extra people, clean stuff extra well, made sure all the hold times on the food was correct, make sure everything was perfect to the best of our ability.

Then there were other times where the inspection would be completely random. I remember one night when it was late, I was walking around the store and noticed all the chicken was passed it’s hold time and usually we wouldn’t care so much about it late at night because it was slow.

But for some reason i thought we should throw it all away so we can have it all fresh. We dropped the chicken in the fryer, dropped fresh fries, and starting cooking fresh beef.

Guess what happened? Not even a minute after we did that our district manager walks in the store. This never happens at late night!

He says hello, then walks arounds the store, looking and inspecting everything. He comes back to me before he leaves and says “The store looks good”!

I just say to him “I know” and smile while thinking inside, “phew that was close!”.

Now the Church also has a boss and it’s not the Pastor or the Church board but it’s Jesus Christ and everything that is said and done should be centered on Him!

Now the Apostle John begins to describe what Jesus says to the seven churches in asia beginning with the Church at Ephesus.

Let’s read...

Revelation 2:1–7 (ESV)

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.

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.

3I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

4But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

5Remember 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.

6Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7He 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.’

I. THE CHURCH—v. 1

Illustration: I heard a story about a husband and a wife as they were getting ready for church one Sunday morning and as the wife was getting ready to walk out the door she noticed the husband had not even lifted a finger to get ready.

And she said, “Honey, we are going to church today. What are you doing? He says, “I am not going to church today.”

She said, “Why not?” He said, “I will give you three reasons why not...

Number 1. The congregation is cold.

Number 2. No one there likes me.

And

number three. I just don’t want to go.”

The wife thought about it for a moment and she said, “Well, let me address those concerns of yours.

Number one. The congregation is very warm.

Number 2. There are a few people who do like you.

And

thirdly. You are the PASTOR!, so get dressed!”

Now, God had had a lot of good things to say about this church of Ephesus. But he also had one large criticism against them.

But first, Some background about the church...

A. Adam Clarke in his commentary on revelation says that this word “Angel” as we understand as “Messenger” is the person God has sent to preside over this Church who is responsible to read, pray and teach to the people of God.

B. The Angel or Messenger this is most likely referring to at this time to this Church is Timothy. The Apostle Paul Pastored there before him and the Apostle John Pastored there after him. Now these are some heavy hitters who pastored what was considered a loveless church.

C. The church of Ephesus was also located in a commercial center where at one of the ancient wonders, the Temple of Diana, the goddess Diana was worshiped (Acts 19:27).

In the community idolatry and sorcery ran wild. But to attack these would to go against the financial foundation of the city.

I don’t think its too different today. Picture a cities financial foundation that they idolize and worship being questioned. i am sure there would be a riot from the city council because there money making machine is threatened.

We can see the same thing in the church too. A lot of times it says that the church often reflects the community it’s in.

There can be sacred cows in the church that are worshipped more than the lamb of God. Such as...

traditional or contemporary music

Whether the sanctuary has pews or chairs

Pictures of Jesus or items of “In rememberance of” and trophies from 1980 and beyond.

C. Now we see Christ. He walked in the midst of the candlesticks. The rightful place for Christ is in the midst of His church, however, He must be welcomed there. Jesus says later on that “I stand at the door and knock”.

D. There are many buildings that say “Church” on it or have a sign outside that says it. But just because it says it’s a church doesn’t make it a church.

Illustration:

It’s like, if I would start a health store and only sell nutrition drinks and snacks. Things that are really good for you.

Then I notice that there aren’t many people who are as passionate about health as I am and business is slow. So what do I do?

I put some whip cream on the nutrition drinks. Drizzle some chocholate on the snack bars so they don’t taste like chalk.

Pretty soon…I see a lot more people coming. But somewhere a long the line it loses what it was originally intended to be so the sign should of changed to reflect that.

E. The Real Church is the people of God. It’s not an organization but it’s living and breathing. It’s not an hour on Sunday morning but it’s a family of God seven days a week.

F. Now that might sound strange to some of you. How can the church be as important to me as my “real” family? I think it’s suppose to sound strange. It’s not suppose to be natural because it’s a supernatural concept from God.

II. THE COMPLIMENTS—vv. 2–3

A. Purity—v. 2. Christ knew all about these people.

1. Christ knew Their work

“toiled to the point of exhaustion.” It refers to a spending of oneself in tiresome labor. Apparently Ephesus was a busy, active church.

It no doubt had all the programs and activities we normally associate with a church that is spiritual and passionate. They were truly diligent and hard-working.

Christ knew all their sweat, tears, work and blood that they put into the ministry for the church.

2. Christ knew Their perseverance

Christ knew their perseverance. That they were a faithful church. That they didn’t quit or give up when things got tough.

He is perhaps referring to their diligence in bearing the persecution and hatred of an unbelieving culture.

Despite the temptations which assaulted them from every direction, they stood unmoveable and firm in their allegiance to Christ.

3. Christ knew Their purity and doctrinal integrity

No false doctrine could ever raise its ugly head in Ephesus without being cut off by the sword of biblical truth. The Lord praises them for their doctrinal purity.

They refused to tolerate evil people

They tried and tested those that claimed to be prophets and found them to be false.

They hated the practices of the Nicolaitans

Now the Nicolaitans were the spiritual descendants of Nicolas of Antioch, who had been ordained as a deacon in Acts 6:5. He was also a convert to Judaism and then a convert to Christianity.

According to the writings of the Early Church leaders, Nicolas taught a doctrine of compromise, implying that total separation between Christianity and the practice of the occult was not essential. Especially in the sense of sexual sin.

He had no problem mixing belief systems and saw no reason why believers couldn’t continue in the black magic of the Roman empire and its countless cults.

Now even though the church at Ephesus were celebrated for their hard work, perseverance and purity of doctrine there was a complaint about them...

III. THE COMPLAINT—vv. 4–6

A. Reckless—v. 4.

1. The people were reckless and were becoming indifferent. As the result, they lost their first love—their love for God. No one can fully love others until they love God.

2. We are all called to love God with all our heart, soul and mind with all our strength!

3. It’s been thirty years since Paul had ministered among them. They are now second generational Christians. by this time now id imagine some things have changed.

a. they have lost some saints that were pillars of the church

b. They have grown weary of battles of conflict within the church

c. They needed healing of both lost saints and those who have seemingly turned against them with their own four walls.

d. All this can without a doubt lead to more of an inward focus instead of why the church ever existed in the first place which was to be a beacon of hope and light to the community around them.

e. What makes your Church so special that you chose it as your own? The Church you attend today was planted by someone who cared about your neighborhood, community and world long before you came along.

f. God placed in the planter’s spirit the heart to reach those around them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sadly, today the gospel is being drowned out in a sea of voices that are screaming: what about me? Me! No, me first!

g. Dr. Carl Summer wrote recently and said: “Every Church exists because somebody cared for somebody besides themselves. It seems to me that for a church to decide they are going to take care of themselves first and foremost and basically ignore those outside the walls of the Church is a violation of the very spirit that created them.”

h. The Church was not founded to be a shrine to the pastor or to the people that attend. The Church was designated where it sits today to reach the lost for Christ.

i. The voice of Christ is to help and not hinder. To love, and not judge. To extend grace, and not damnation.

So What can be done to rekindle that flame for our first love of Jesus Christ? Well, we are giving three words of instruction. First of all we are told to...

B. Remember.

1. From where you have fallen. Remember the state you where in when Christ first found you

2. Over time there can be this slow fade of dedication and devotion to Christ where in simply becomes a duty to serve him.

3. I dont think no one would ever admit that they go to a love-less church

4. In rooting out error and expelling false teachers, they had grown suspicious of new-comers and have formed Holy Huddles which have created a toxic enviroment.

Next they were told to....

C. Repent.

1. Repent and do the first works.

2. Repentance means to have a change of mind. To turn from our sin and turn to God. It’s a reorientation of our hearts! So they were commanded to Remember where they have fallen, to repent and do the works they did at first.

3. These works they did at first wasn’t done out of duty but out of a love for God and a love for people.

4. I seen and heard of too many churches go into spiritual by-pass mode.

a. medically this happens when a substance builds up in the arteries of our heart and blocks blood and oxygen from reaching it.

b. Spiritual by-pass is when we go into a defense mechanism mode. We go into maintenance mode instead of being missionaly minded. We shield ourselves from the truth and disconnect ourselves from the reality of what is happening.

c. Before we realize it we find ourselves on spiritual life support.

D. Removal.

1. Next we are told that if we don’t remember and repent then we will be removed.

2. If you do not repent, Christ will remove your candlestick, which is the the church.

3. Jesus gives a stern warning to the church without love. That he will remove them.

4. If you survey churches that have closed and the main reason why. It’s not because they were without money or they were without a building but it’s because they were without love.

IV. THE CONCLUSION—v. 7

A. Hearing.

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

1. A church will be spiritual if the members are spiritual. It will be worldly if the members are worldly.

2. No church can be stronger than its members. All of us would do well to examine our faith in God, as well as their dedication, so we don’t lose our first love as the Ephesians did.

3. “There is a picture of a chess game hanging in Paris. On one side of the painting is the Devil, and on the other side is a boy of about sixteen years of age. They are playing chess.

The Devil has a arrogant, triumphant expression on his face. He is destroying this boy at chess, and the boy is sitting there with his head bowed, hands over his head and big tears trickling down his cheeks.

The Devil has just won in the game of life over this boy. He has no strength, he has no way out, and he has given up. The title of the picture is "Check Mate".

4. Now there was a group of athletes. Champions of different sports that came through this museum one day on a tour. He and his group looked at this painting as their tour guide explained the story of the painting which was named “Chessmate”. Everyone felt so sorry for the boy and he hated the looks of the Devil.

5. The tour group moved on except for one person who just so happened to be a chess champion. He just started studying and stairing at the painting, especially the Chess board and where all the pieces were placed.

6. Eventually the tour guide noticed that he wasn’t with the group so he came back to him and asked “Are you coming with”?

7. Well i’ve been looking at this painting. “Well yeah it’s called “Checkmate”. The devils laughing and the man’s lost”.

8. Yeah, but I have a problem with that. You know that “I am a world champion chess player?” I spend my life playing and normal people don’t normally see what I see”.

9. When y’all walked away I seen something in the painting. Either they are going to have to change the painting or change the name”

10. The tour guide asked “Well, why is that…?

11. Because THE KING STILL HAS ONE MORE MOVE!

12. I have COME TO TELL SOMEONE TODAY THAT YOU HAVE FELT LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN CORNERED. THAT EVERYTHING IS GONE. THAT THERE IS NO HOPE. THAT YOU HAVE BEEN DEFEATED.

13. BUT I HAVE COME TO TELL YOU THE KING HAS ONE MORE MOVE!!!!

14. HE HAS ONE MORE MOVE OVER YOUR HEALTH. HE HAS ONE MORE MOVE OVER YOUR FINANCES. HE HAS ONE MORE MOVE OVER YOUR FAMILY.

15. IT IS NOT FINISHED YET!

Francis Chan, Letters to the Churches

Greg Laurie, The Greg Laurie Sermon Archive (Riverside, CA: Harvest Ministries, 2014).

Seven Letters to Seven Churches: 8 Studies for Individuals or Groups: With Notes for Leaders (Study 2: Lost Love (Revelation 2:1–7)

Billy Graham, One more move Sermon