2013 10-13 ‘The Church at Ephesus’ Revelation 2 1-7

“THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS”
REVELATION 2:1-7

I. Introduction
Think about Jesus. Picture Him in your mind’s eye. What do you see? Do you see a baby in a manger? Do you see Jesus as a young man preaching on the shores of the Sea of Galilee? Maybe you see Him beaten and bloody on His way to Calvary. Or maybe you see Him as He is nailed to the cross and suffers to pay the price for your sin and for mine. Regardless of how you may picture Him, the fact is that He doesn’t look anything like that. That was then. This is now.

Now, today, at this very moment, and at every moment since the resurrected and risen Jesus ascended to heaven, He is in His glory. While He walked this earth His glory, the glory that had been His since before the foundation of the world, was veiled. It had to be veiled or no one could have even looked upon Him. But now that He is home in heaven, that veil has been removed, and the Lord Jesus Christ is glorious beyond description. So however you and I picture the Son of Man in our mind’s eye, it is not at all the way the Son of God looks now. Not at all!

The Jesus from whom we will hear in Revelation, if we could see Him with these eyes, would, to use the vernacular, “blow our minds.” We would respond to Him the way John responded when He saw Jesus in His glory. What did John do? Let him tell us.
*Revelation 1:9-20
9 “I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,
11 saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: To Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12 And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;
13 and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle.
14 And His head and His hair were white like wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire;
15 and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.
16 And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,
18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

In vv. 13-18 we are given a description of our Lord Jesus as He now is, or at least what John was allowed to see of Him. This description is filled with symbolism but the sym-bols are readily identifiable because they are all explained elsewhere Scriptures. Rather than study these verses one-by-one we’ll simply summarize them.
• In v. 13 Jesus is standing in the midst of His church. He has absolute authority over it. He is fully man and fully God. He is our High Priest and our Judge.
• In v. 14 Jesus is absolutely pure, holy, and all knowing. He sees everything.
• In v. 15 Jesus, the all-powerful One is coming again to judge from a divine and holy perspective.
• In v. 16 Jesus honors, controls, and protects His church. He speaks with divine insight and uses His Word to judge. His judgment will be severe and He will dispense vengeance.
• In vv. 16-17 Jesus is eternal and He is glorious!
• In v. 18 Jesus is sovereign over both death and the grave.

This is the Jesus who speaks to John. He says…
19 “Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things.
20 “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

So there’s no need to speculate about the identification of those two symbols, is there?

The seven churches addressed in Revelation 2-3 were real churches that existed in the first century. It will be of supreme importance for us to remember that the spiritual con-ditions that existed in the first century church have existed in every church since that time. And so they exist here at LBC as well. Jesus will be speaking to us, to you and to me. It is my sincere prayer that we will hear Him and heed His words.
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II. Text
Is there any one characteristic that identifies a true Christian? If there is, what is it? I would suggest to you that the true Christian – the one who has repented and put his or her faith in Christ and Christ alone – can be identified and therefore distinguished from the masses of people who merely claim to be Christians by this: The true Christian loves God above all else.
In answer to the question, “…which is the greatest commandment in the Law,” Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment (Matthew 22:37-38).”

How are you doing with that? How am I doing with that? The simple unvarnished truth is this: When we fail to love God above all else, when we let our love for Him wither and fade, we are in sin. The Bible’s clearest example of that sin is here before us today. It is seen in the Church at Ephesus, a young church, a church that had started well, having been founded a mere forty years earlier by the Apostle Paul himself.

As we look at the Church at Ephesus, we will see the pattern Jesus will use to address each of the seven churches. He will begin by identifying the specific church. Then He will identify Himself to the church. He will both commend and indict the church. He will both encourage and warn the church. He will reassure the church with a promise for the future. And He will conclude with words of counsel… “Listen to Me!”
*Revelation 2:1-7 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.
4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
5 ‘Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place – unless you repent.
6 ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.’”

Jesus’ first words to each of the seven churches are virtually the same – “To the angel of the church in…write.” Who is the angel of the church? There has been much debate over this but the answer is not difficult if we simply compare Scripture with Scripture. The word “angel” is translated from the Greek “aggĕlŏs.” It literally means, “to bring tidings.”

So an angel is simply a messenger from God. The heavenly angels do what God sends them to do. It is no more complicated than that.
Therefore the word “angel” can be applied to anyone who brings God’s Word to His people, whether they’re God’s holy and heavenly angels, or the pastor/teachers and elders who bring God’s Word in this present earthly realm.

For example, in Matthew 11:10 Jesus refers to John the Baptist as an “aggelos.” Don’t think of the word as describing the nature of the messenger. I am not a holy angel. (Some of you may be aware of that.) I am not by nature an angel, but, in the context of Revelation 2-3, as your pastor/teacher, I currently hold the office of “aggelos” or messenger.

Therefore, in Revelation 2:1, Jesus, writing to me, your messenger, and thereby to you, His church, identifies and describes Himself.
The Description
*Revelation 2:1b
1b “…the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this…”

John has already said this about Jesus in Revelation 1:13, 16. Jesus will identify Himself to four of the other churches using the description John has given us in Revelation 1. This serves to confirm the fact that He, Jesus Christ, is the One who is speaking to us. He has told us that the seven stars represent the leaders of the churches whom Jesus holds in His right hand. And He has told us that the seven golden lampstands represent the churches themselves. What is a lampstand but a place to put a light and have it shine out and illuminate those around it. Lighthouse Bible Church is appropriately named, isn’t it?

Listen, Jesus is here! He walks among us. He examines us. He evaluates us. He is our sovereign ruler and He has the right to do so.

What was the Church at Ephesus like? It was founded by Paul’s close friends and part-ners in ministry, Apollos, Priscilla, and her husband, Aquila. Paul himself ministered at the church on his third and final missionary journey. Acts 19 tells us Paul preached the gospel and baptized new believers. He would stay and teach in Ephesus for three years. Years later, Paul’s young protégé, Timothy would pastor the church. Near the end of the first century, the Apostle John was pastor at Ephesus when he was arrested and exiled to the Island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. It was there that John wrote Revelation.

What a heritage! Has any church ever have had a better start or been blessed with more godly and powerful human leaders than had the Church at Ephesus? I think not! What a great church! But wait a minute. John is writing this merely forty years after the church was founded. Is it still a great church? Or has something begun to go wrong? Well, yes, something was beginning to go wrong.

What was the problem? Was it the place they were planted? Was it Ephesus? During the first century Ephesus was the most important city in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).
A city of nearly a half million people, it was a center of both commerce and government.
But it was also a center of pagan religion. The temple of the goddess Artemis was there. It was the most prominent building in the entire city. Artemis was portrayed as a multi-ple breasted monster that was believed to have come down from heaven. The worship of Artemis was largely centered on the idols themselves and the thousands of so-called “priestesses” who were nothing more than prostitutes.

On the surface the city of Ephesus was beautiful, powerful, and eminently important. Underneath, it was little more than an open sewer of immorality and evil. (San Francisco, Las Vegas, New Orleans) Deep in the midst of this city was a church. What does Jesus say to them? The first thing He does is commend them.
The Commendation
*Revelation 2:2-3, 6
2 “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary…
6 “(and) you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

Before rebuking His church for their failures, Jesus commends them for what they were doing right. And make no mistake – they were doing much that was right. The word “toil” in v. 2 is a word that exemplifies hard work even to the point of exhaustion. They evangelized the lost, they edified the saints, and they cared for the poor and weak among them. The Church at Ephesus worked hard for the cause of Christ.

Then we’re told they persevered. They “stuck to it,” thus proving that despite setbacks and opposition, they remained faithful to their Lord and Savior. Jesus also commends them for refusing to tolerate the evil that was all around them. They exercised spiritual discernment so that they were ready, willing, and able to spot false doctrine and those who were the purveyors of it. They remembered Paul’s word to their leaders.
Acts 20:28-31a
28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He pur-chased with His own blood.
29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 “And from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31a “Therefore be on the alert…”

False teachers are a great danger to the Church of Jesus Christ.
The true Christian must always be on guard. Jesus said false teachers would come to His church “…in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly (they) are ravenous wolves (Matthew 7:15b).”

So the Ephesian church tirelessly persevered and endured for the sake of Jesus. And there is yet one more thing for which Jesus commends them. In v. 6 He says that they “…hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” It may be tempting to soften the word “hate,” but we cannot do so. The Greek word is “misĕō” and it means to detest, to literally despise something. The Nicolaitans were followers of Nicolas, a false teacher who led his people into immorality and evil.

A false teacher like Nicolas was a perfect fit for a city like Ephesus because he would appeal to those who claimed to be Christians, but wanted to live like the world. Such people destroy responsible Christian liberty by self-indulgence, and by saying that nothing is wrong. They are the polar opposite of the extreme legalists who destroy any and all Christian liberty by saying that virtually everything is wrong. The point is that Jesus hates false teaching…and so did the Church at Ephesus. And that was good.

But Jesus had something else to say to the Church at Ephesus and it wasn’t good. It was an indictment. They were doing the right things but, and here is the fatal flaw, they were doing the right things for the wrong reasons.
The Indictment
*Revelation 2:4
4 “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

What love is Jesus talking about? Of course He’s talking about their love for Him, but He’s also talking about their love for the lost, and don’t miss this: He’s talking about their love for each other. It has cooled. It has lost its intensity. It isn’t what it once was. Their work had become mechanical. Their service had become ritualistic. And their love had become routine, cold, and unfeeling. They were doing what they were supposed to be doing, but you might say that their hearts just weren’t in it. This is the fatal flaw!

One might say that “the honeymoon was over” for the Church at Ephesus. As it ended the door was opened to apathy and indifference. Oh, they still looked good, but there was a cancer growing within the body. So Jesus strongly exhorts to “take the cure.”
The Exhortation and the Warning
*Revelation 2:5
5 “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place – unless you repent.”

Jesus’ remedy is the cure for every true church whose love is beginning to wane. The Church at Ephesus needed to recognize its sin; it needed to agree with God about it; it needed to admit it; and it needed to turn from it.
The Church at Ephesus is told to repent and return to the love they had when they were planted. If it did not, Jesus’ warning is clear. If they do not study His Word, if they do not devote themselves to prayer, if they do not worship Him in spirit and in truth, then He will come and “…remove their lampstand out of its place.” Remember that in Revela-tion 1:20 Jesus said that the lampstands are the churches. He is warning the Church at Ephesus that unless they repent, He will judge them and their church will cease to exist.

Jesus is not talking about His Second Coming. Rather, He is telling them that their ministry will be taken from them. Jesus’ final words to the Ephesian church come in the form of a promise.
The Promise
*Revelation 2:7b
7b “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.”

Who are the overcomers? All true Christians are the overcomers. John makes that clear.
1 John 5:4-5
4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.
5 And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

When Jesus says that those who overcome will eat of the tree of life, He is referring to the eternal life giving food that was lost to us when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. This is His promise to all true believers. Finally, in the opening words of Revelation 2:7, Jesus says what He will say to each of the seven churches. It is what He says to you and to me and to every one of His churches this morning.
*Revelation 2:7a
7a “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
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III. Conclusion
The lesson for us is that doctrinal purity and Christian service cannot replace a cold heart.
As we break up into our groups I’m going to ask each of the leaders to…
• Focus on what Jesus said to the Church at Ephesus and how it applies to us both corporately and individually.
• For what are we to be commended?
• For what are we to be indicted?
• How does Jesus’ warning apply to us?
Please pray over these things. We’ll come back together at 10:15 for a song, the closing prayer, and the benediction.