Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: I want to begin by thanking you for the opportunity and privilege to preach this evening.

I am thankful for the testimony and legacy of this church in Chowan county.

And I also want to begin by telling you that you have friends and kingdom partners over a few miles down the road at Macedonia.

I hope that there is never any indication that there is competition between sister churches.

Rather, I celebrate and we should all celebrate when God is working in the midst of local churches.

Tonight, I must tell you that I’ve been struggling what to preach to you.

It can be a difficult thing to do when you come into a place and preach that you are unfamiliar with.

Again, I count it a privilege to be here and I am excited to preach, but oftentimes, these one-shot sermons are hardest to get a grasp of because you wonder, what do these saints need?

So I’ve prayed, I’ve struggled, but I think I’m in the place I need to be.

So turn to Revelation 2:1-7.

As I’ve come to this text a number of times before, it humbles me every time and I pray that God will use it in my own life and then into yours as a church.

READ REVELATION 2:1-7

CTS: Guard against a cold orthodoxy and tradition that lacks love for Jesus and others.

THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS:

Major themes throughout the book of Ephesians

Ephesians can be easily divided into two sections.

Chapters 1-3: The first three chapters deal with doctrine, specifically reminding the church of their identity.

Paul wants them to know who they are.

Who are we?

God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

We are chosen by him, made holy and blameless, adopted as sons and daughters, made to praise Him, redeemed, forgiven of oursins, made his inheritance and given an inheritance of eternal life, sealed with the Holy Spirit, a promise and guarantee of all these spiritual blessings.

God has transformed his people from death, dead in trespasses and sins, Satan followers, sons of disobedience, children of wrath, and made us alive together with Christ, through his grace by faith alone.

Our identity is now changed, a living masterpiece for God instead of spiritually dead.

God has made a new people, once separated and alienated from him and from one another, and made them one in Christ.

We call this the Church, expressed all across the world and expressed local church.

There is no Jew and Gentile.

No race, no class, no geographical boundaries.

All are one in Christ, redeemed by Him.

Chapters 4-6: The second part of the book is then taking that identity they have and then living in light of it.

In other words, live who you are.

That is expressed in the first verse of chapter four: walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

Walk worthy by being unified as one people, loving one another as Christ loved us.

We believe the same thing and are called to unity as one.

We are also called to be diverse in that unity by using the spiritual gifts God has given us and to treasure the gifts that God has blessed his church with through pastors and shepherds who equip the saints to do the work of ministry through the ministry of the proclaimed Word, strong and growing in love for Jesus and for one another.

Walk worthy by putting off the old life and putting on the new life in Christ.

Walk worthy by walking in love, and that love means we abstain from sin, sin of sexual immortality, impurity, and coveting.

Walking not in darkness, but walking in the light.

Redeeming the time and worshiping together through righteous means of singing and praise together as the church.

Walk worthy by letting your home reflect Christ and his church.

Husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church.

Wives submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ.

Children obey their God-given authority of parents as we the church obey the authority fo Jesus.

We all obey the authorities in our lives and work hard to the glory of Jesus.

Walk worthy by putting on the whole armor of God to stand strong in spiritual warfare, for Satan seeks to destroy his people

Concluding Blessing (23-24)

And as a final word, he blesses this church.

The standard blessing of that time would be reformed toward a Christian worldview.

Peace - peace with God and with one another, major themes throughout Ephesians.

Love: Love is a major theme throughout Ephesians as well.

Paul reminds them with this blessing of the love they have in Christ.

(predestined in love for adoption Eph 1:4, loved by God Eph 2:4, rooted and knowing Christ’s love Eph 3:19, loving one another Eph 4:2, speaking truth in love Eph 4:15, building itself up in love Eph 4:16, walking in love Eph 5:2, loving as Christ loved the church Eph 5:25 Very clearly, this love is rooted in faith in Christ, made possible by God through Christ.

It is from him and a result of Him.

Grace - For by grace you have been saved by faith.

Grace that continues in our lives daily, as God gives us his undeserved merit to those that love have undying love for Jesus.

We are reminded though that we only love because he first loved us.

(1 John 4:19)

The church has been taught great orthodoxy and great orthopraxy.

To know who they are then how they should live.

In the blessing, Paul reminds them of his intention.

And Paul concludes the letter that we would know these things, be encouraged in the faith, and to experience the peace and grace of God that is made available by the love of Christ for us.

The final admonition to the church is to have undying love for Jesus.

That’s the ending application for the church.

Do you have undying love for Jesus?

AN IMPORTANT WARNING (Revelation 2:1-7)

Now we shift to the main text tonight in Revelation, the last words written to the church at Ephesus in Scripture.

Important words also to remember.

If were to take stock of the church over its history, we would look back and see that the church had a pretty stacked lineup of leaders/pastors.

Paul obviously had a hand in plant the church according to Acts.

He wrote the letter we just walked though to them.

Timothy, Paul’s young protege pastored the church.

Church history tells us that John the apostle pastored the church as well.

But even with all of that, we see that Jesus has to warn the church, one last final time.

And the first reminds us very clearly, that He who walks among the churches is Jesus himself, he holds them in his hand.

Jesus is the head of the church.

And he begins to address the church in Ephesus with these words.

I.

You are to be commended (2-3)

The commendation is this: Faithful to the task, they tested the truth, and they were tough, willing to endure and bear whatever came for the name of Christ.

The commendation is that they were very warrior like, the fighter.

They fought against that which was false.

They stood for something they truly believed in, and challenged anything that was against those strongly held beliefs.

They say that churches often take on the personality of their pastors/leaders.

Which is a very convicting and honestly frightening thing.

But John at one point was the pastor.

One of the sons of Thunder, he no doubt took on the passionate warrior type mentality, defended truth against falsehood.

The church had taken to that.

Passionate defense of the truth.

People of orthodoxy.

Tough and willing to endure whatever it required to stand upon it.

The church today must be strong like this as well.

Again, this is commended by Jesus.

Working hard to defend the Bible, the Gospel, even the notion of “objective truth” in a subjective truth world.

Patient endurance against those that would try to stifle it.

Standing against evil, not able to bear with those that do evil.

Waiting until Jesus comes again, a stalwart of truth and righteousness.

Good things!

Truth must be defended.

It is good to be concerned about what is right and wrong.

False teaching is seen and ignored and put out of the church.

We fight this good fight, not growing weary, even when the pressure is on for us to recant or give in to half-truths and compromise.