The Church at Ephesus
The Church at Ephesus
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| The Church at Ephesus |
Perhaps, there are those Christians in the church today who
have never heard about the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, (Revelation of our
Lord Jesus Christ to St. John; chapter 2 – 3), there are some so-called Christians
that do not read and study the Bible on a regular basis, and some preachers seldom
preach from the book of Revelation.
Nonetheless, the book is a wonderful book of study for the
Christian, and the seven churches may be used very effectively for a measuring
gage in three aspects of your spiritual wellness, as an individual, as a
church, and as the church universal. The
conditions, which Jesus addresses, cycle through the Christian church
experience, as well as the individual relationship of Christians to Christ.
The church at Ephesus, its history of spiritual
good works for the kingdom, and its fault.
2 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things
saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy
patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried
them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my
name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen,
and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and
will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds
of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
7 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. (Revelation Chapter 2:1-7. KJV).
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken
the love you had at first.5 Consider how far you have
fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I
will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But
you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the
Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the
right to eat from the tree of life,which is in the paradise of God. (Revelation chapter 2:1—7 NIV)
Ephesus, a thriving metropolis, and the gem of Asia Minor,
then known as “the metropolis of Asia”.
The temple of Artemis, (Diana, KJV), with such splendor it was counted
as one of the wonders of the world. Of
course, the Romans had their gods and goddesses. The church in Ephesus had been a strong
church, a growing church, a church that persevered through tough
persecution. However, Jesus, He who
holds the seven stars in His right hand, and walks among the seven lampstands,
notices something amiss in His church. Jesus
alone, which has the authority as the head of all Christian churches, signified
by the seven stars he holds in his left hand and his omniscient presence among
the seven lampstands.
Jesus tells John to address the letter to the angel of the
church. It would be the pastor, elder,
or bishop, the one who leads the church, the under-shepherd – the one who prophesied
(forth-tells), the word of God. To this
servant write, I know what your strong points are, and you are to be commended
on your outstanding work; but I have this against you. Jesus, is the head of the church, He
legislates the law, and he executes the law, his law. What we must never try to do is shut Jesus up
in heaven. He is not an absentee leader,
he holds the seven stars in His right hand still, and He walks among the seven
candlesticks. Seven is the perfect number and represents the fullness of the
Christian church.
Jesus says you are doing what I wanted you to do, but the
thing I have against you is you have left your first love. The church at Ephesus had begun to move into
a comfort zone, the things they first had done through the love for Jesus, the work
for the kingdom with love and enthusiasm.
They taught the word, they reached out to the unsaved, they fed the
poor, the outcasts in poverty, the sick, and reached out to those in prison, the
widows and orphans, they tested those who gave claim to the Apostolic Authority
and found them to be liars, and they hated sin, and would not tolerate those
who practiced sin. This is the meaning
of the first love, and it only starts with that deep personal love for
Jesus. Jesus is the one who said, “As
the Father has loved me, I also have loved you, abide (live), in my love…” “If you keep my commandments my commandments
you will abide (live), in my love. (Read
in context, Jn. 12 through 15).
To the angel of the church, the star, the leader, or Pastor,
(Jesus is the head), the Holy Spirit is the life, the “under shepherd” is who
the letter is addressed, it is he who is held accountable to God for the
condition of the church, and each individual in that body. This is the Chairman of the board, writing a
letter to the CEO. It is great to have a
boss like Jesus.
Jesus starts by telling them what wonderful work they have
done, I know your work, which is not easy, but you have done a good job at it,
you have been a committed church working hard, and standing firm in the
faith. You cannot tolerate sin, or
wicked people. You have tested those who
say they are Apostles and found them to be liars; you have not allowed your
pulpit to be used by charlatans, or those who teach another Gospel than Jesus
Christ.
You have persevered, when others came against you, you have
endured some hard times, for my name, and still have not given ground to their
idiocies and slanders; these are good things.
I commend you for your courage and commitment, which is well deserved.
Then the “nevertheless,” the dreaded but, the nevertheless
in a running commendation for their extraordinary service. This is where the rubber meets the highway
moment. I have a bit against you, (the
word here is ‘somewhat’, not bit, bit is my insertion of a small thing which
left alone could sink their ship.
Jesus says, you have left your first love. Remember, as an individual who having matured
enough to experience the love in doing the work of the church? Being involve in
church. It is an experience not easily forgotten;
but actually comes about by neglect, or wrong motivation. Today, we leave our first love because of our
lack of spiritual strength, through allowing the world to rob the church of its
commitment to Jesus.
How do we allow the world to rob the church? By paying more attention to what the world is
doing than what God wants us to do. Political
correctness is one of the greatest enemies we face in the church today. Bullied by liberal politics, anti-Christian movements
that rob the nation and the church of our principals in favor of a false
prophet, to rob of our moral values, in favor of sexual depravity, moral accountability
in favor of charlatans, preaching liber and liberation theologies, and not the
gospel, which the Apostles preached.
We allow the world to rob God’s church when we leave our
first love and follow after the world in the name of tolerance. Our human nature simply cowers before the
name calling and belittling by the politicians and liberal movements not having
any morals, and liberal anti-Christian persecution.
In all due respect to some of the “mainstream”
denominations, who have fallen prey to the liberal movements and political
agenda of this administration. When they
have allowed sexual depravity, and progressivism, defile the pulpits and
biblical doctrines, which Jesus entrusted to the church, it is shameful.
Moreover, it truly makes me wonder about the salvation of
their leaders, but the Bible tells us that we are the ones that are accountable
to Christ for the wellbeing of the church. Therefore, it is not mine to judge
but perhaps expose and warn against the leaving of the first love.
As previously mentioned, the teaching of these seven
churches may be applied to the church age, the universal and local church as it
cycles through these seven conditions, and not to be forgotten, the individual Christian,
as they grow in the faith, and find themselves frustrated by personal
interaction with the church and their relationship to God.
In summation.
In the United States, as well as the free world, we find the
devil has brought a great confrontation against the Christian and the Christian
church. Our liberal and progressive movements
have brought somewhat of a persecution to the church. I do not believe that what we see as
persecution actually reflects what Jesus meant by persecution. The persecution that we find in the nation
today is nothing like the persecution of the early church, and the persecution
of which we witness in the Middle East, and other countries; that is serious
persecution.
What we experience here today is more of a buffing, if you
will, but it is enough to cause the falling away from the church, we call the
couple of generations that may not return, millennials and they are the ones who
being educated by liberals for the purpose of the liberal and progressive movement.
If you find yourself or your church becoming more worldly,
more liberal, then you might want to examine your heart and see if you might
have fallen from your first love. The instruction
is clear, first admit it, then confess it, and repent—change directions and
return to doing the first works of your Christian walk.
If it is the church that you notice the change in accommodating
the world; do not start a battle, just simply find a good Bible believing
church that teaches and preaches the word of God in the truth and the Spirit,
there God will bless you and you will be the Christian you ought to be. If you are too worried that the world is
calling you some sort of a phobia, or nutcase, intolerant, Bible thumper, believing
fantasies and being part of antiquity. Just
remember Christ is standing beside you, and the world hated him first.
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