You’ve got mail series. Revelation 2:1-7 Ephesus 06/05/07
1. Slide 1 You got mail Last November I preached on the opening chapter of this book of Revelation… if you want to remind yourself of what I said .. it’s on the website…. if you can’t access the web... ask someone who can. Now we are coming to read the next couple of chapters. (Pray)
Slide 1a island.
John was in exile.. on the island of Patmos, just off the coast of turkey. We don’t know much about his days on the island, how he felt, what his conditions were like… but we do know about one particular day… “the Lords Day” he says it was, (1:10) when the Holy Spirit overwhelmed him with his presence and he had a glorious vision of the risen Jesus and he received messages from Jesus to his church.
Slide 2 map. (read names of the churches)
Each one of the Letters to the Churches has something to say to us now - because Jesus is the living word of God. The words of Jesus carry authority for all eternity. We need to take notice.
Slide 2a (Ephesus sign)
This morning we are looking at the letter to the Church in Ephesus.
2. Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus… (vs1) There is no explanation in the bible, of what it means to say that each church has it’s angel. We do know that Jesus once stood a child in front of him and said that “I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.” (Matthew 18:10) The simple meaning of Jesus’ words is that God has appointed an angel in heaven to watch over each one of us. So I think we are meant to read this phrase in Revelation in the same way and understand that God has appointed his heavenly beings, his angels to watch over each of his churches. I like the idea that every time we meet an angel in heaven is there to join in our worship and praise.
That’s pretty cool… but it gets even better…
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 (vs.1)
Ask: Who is the one who holds the seven stars and who walks among the seven gold lampstands? (Jesus ! )
And just to let you know… the seven lamp stands represent the seven churches. And the seven stars - represent the angels of the seven churches. You don’t have to be a great bible scholar to know that - you just have to read revelation chapter 1 verse 20 ! The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
So even better than having an angel watching over us… Jesus is watching over us... He holds us in his hands.
So what does Jesus say to his church in Ephesus… and what does he say to us?
Slide 3
3. I know all the things you do…
Jesus can say that to every one of his churches.
His word to us makes it clear. He doesn’t need to read the annual report, or the minutes of the last PCC, or ministry team. Jesus knows this church.
Every time we make a step in the right direction, he sees it and is pleased. And we cannot wander away in the wrong direction without Jesus knowing.
There is encouragement in that for us. Because the Jesus who knows this church is the same Jesus who promised
Slide 4
I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. (Matthew 16:18) (Isn’t it a relief to know that the future of this church depends on Jesus and not on the vicar!)
4. When Jesus sends a message to the church in Ephesus he has much to commend them for. They have been hard working church, a persevering church. Yet they have got something wrong. We will come to that in a minute…. first of all let’s look at a few more holiday photos (!) Pam and I visited the sites of the seven churches a 12 years ago when we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.
Show pictures of Ephesus…
Slide 5 grave of John
One thing you might not know is that the apostle John lived in Ephesus for some time. Church history records that he was bishop of Ephesus, and was buried there. This is the site where his body was buried.
Slide 6 pavement
You can still walk on the streets that would have been known to him. (Note the H &S feature.. non slip paving)
Slide 7 tiled street
Still see the lovely mosaic pavements that covered the main shopping and commercial area. Ephesus was an impressive city, with well engineered water and sewage systems, beautiful buildings designed by architects and built by skilled workers. It was a thriving business centre.
Slide 8 entrance to market This is the entrance to the market area. Led down to the port.
Slide 9 shopping streets The half a million people who lived in Ephesus did their shopping in long malls that were lined with columns and covered with wooden canopies.
Sometimes they would visit the library.
Slide 10 Library. It was just a little bit more impressive than the one at Sankey’s corner.
Slide 11 & 12. This was a sophisticated, intellectual culture that celebrated learning and enjoyed the arts, and thousands of people attended the theatre for concerts and plays. The theatre in Ephesus could accommodate 25,000 people. Just to put that in context, there is not a theatre in the UK where 25,000 people would go every week to see a play.
(NB. Thi sis not the amphitheatre for races and gladiator fights.. that was a much bigger place just down the road!.)
It was in this place that Paul stood and faced a rioting crowd who had been offended by his preaching. (Acts 19)
He had spent three years in this city and for two years he had held daily meetings in a public lecture hall… and there he argued the case for belief in Jesus as the Messiah. He would have proved his point by reference to the Old Testament scriptures as he engaged in debate with people from Ephesus who came to hear him and argue with him.
Slide 13 Soldier It was to the church in Ephesus that Paul wrote and encouraged them to put on the whole armour of God. He used imagery that would have been well known to the Christians in Ephesus. Every time they went to the theatre they could walk past columns that had carved on them figures of roman soldiers, wearing the armour that
Slide 13a put on the whole armour…
Paul described… belt, the body armour, the shoes, the shield the helmet, the sword. The Christians in Ephesus needed all the protection that God alone could give.. because in this city of learning and culture.. there was also a deep spiritual hunger. And people looking for answers to their questions came up with the wrong answers.
Ephesus was famous for it cult of worship of the goddess Artemis… people flocked to Ephesus to buy the magic charms and parchments produced by the city’s traders.
Slide 14 Artemis The goddess Artemis still on a roundabout in the modern city of Ephesus which is nothing like as beautiful as the city known to St. John and St. Paul.
In this city of wrong belief and occult religion, Jesus took hold of people. The church grew in Ephesus and people turned away from the false religion which had dominated the life of the city.
Jesus says that the Church in Ephesus had continued to be a discerning church, they had rightly distinguished false teaching from the truth. 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. (vs. 2)
A little later Jesus says… You hate the deeds of the immoral Nicolaitans, just as I do.
The Nicolaitans said that it was alright for Christians to conform to the actions and lifestyle of those around them. Here is the library again…
Slide 15 Library and brothel
(… from the library there was an underground walkway… that came up in the brothel that stretched all the way down one side of the street that led to the theatre. It was an accepted thing for men to do a bit of reading and study and then just pop across the road.)
In that sort of culture, there were teachers who would say.. “Christians don’t have to be different,” they would have said, “God doesn’t really mind what you DO, he is only concerned with what you BELEIVE.”
We’ll come across the Nicolaitans, these false teachers again later in this series. Jesus commends this church for their concern for the truth AND right behaviour, a concern they have had ever since they were founded.
But it seems as if in all their concern for the truth, in all their perseverance, in all the sacrifices they had made for the sake of Jesus, they had forgotten the most important thing.
Slide 16
You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! (2:4)
I can still remember when I first met Pam, how I used to look forward to seeing her at the weekend. Sometimes get that feeling of butterflies in my tummy. (Still do every now and then!) Some of you are old enough to remember when the world was in black and white! Here is a video that was made just a few years after Jesus sent his message to the Ephesians!
Slide 17 You’ve lost that loving feelin’
Jesus is NOT saying to the church in Ephesus.. you’ve lost that loving feeling.
The feeling of love can be very intense at the start of a relationship… but it might wear off a little bit.. (still look forward to seeing one another when we’ve been away.) Every good thing comes from God, all those feelings of love are intended by him to provides a foundation for a love which is much stronger, much more permanent.
Slide 18 You don’t love….
He is saying you have abandoned love, the first and moist important thing.
Slide 18a Agape love
The love that Jesus is talking about… is the special kind of love that the New Testament talks so much about… AGAPE love - the sort of love that God has for us, the sort of love that Jesus showed when he gave his life for us on the cross, the sort of love that God wants to pour into our hearts through the presence of the Holy Spirit with us, the sort of love that he commanded us to show towards one another, the sort of love that as Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians, always hopes, always perseveres, the love that never gives up… the love that wins.
This sort of love always wins the approval of Jesus. It is his sort of love.This is what the church in Ephesus has lost. Something says Jesus has become more important to you than agape, love, love for me - and your love for one another.
Love in a human relationship is not simply a matter of feelings. Our feelings of love may be stronger at some times than at others – because our emotional responses, our emotional moods do change. It’s the same with love for God, love for his church.
Love is shown in the decisions we take.
Love is shown in the choices we make, the things we do. And the decisions we take and the choices we make can also reveal our lack of love.
The church in Ephesus must have made some wrong choices, and they have stopped loving.
Now we can’t know what those choices were.
But some of the words of the risen Jesus to his church, have made me aware of two dangers that maybe faced the church in Ephesus and that certainly face us today.
Jesus says to this church:
Slide 19 I have seen your hard work (vs 1)
Sometimes we can get very busy in the life of the church... doing lots of things that are important. Turning up to do our duty on a rota, coming out to meetings, going along to a REAL group, working in YPC on Friday or Sunday, working with Community Care, raising funds, practising music, doing the flowers, helping with administration, working at Oscar’s - there are so many different tasks that need to be done… they are important they are needed… but our hard work is not the MOST important thing.
This country is littered with people who used to work hard in the church, but who don’t belong to a church fellowship now, People who used to exercise ministries - in choirs, as musicians, as teachers, as preachers, leading groups, serving others… whatever… but they don’t now. Maybe there was a disagreement, maybe they simply moved home and stopped going to a church they had attended for a long time. Maybe other things gradually took more and more of their time so that there was less time left for life as a follower of Jesus. Whatever the reason, the fact is there are many people who walk away from their love for Jesus and their love for brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a tragedy.
It not a matter of “falling out of love”, or losing a loving feeling… it’s a matter of making wrong choices, wrong decisions, choices and decisions that hurt Jesus and that hurt his body, his church.
Everything that we do, as God’s people, in church and out of church, every act of kindness, every service we come to, every song we sing, every prayer we pray, every offering we make of our time and money, everything.. should actually be nothing more... or less, than an expression of our LOVE for God… and our love for our brothers and sisters in Jesus. Our practical service has to be a way of saying … I love you. If the things that we do are not done as a way of saying “I love you”...well than as St Paul said... “even if I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing.”
And another danger that we must be alert to is maybe indicated in the words of Jesus to this church when he says…
Slide 20 I know you don’t tolerate evil people.
He also talks about how they have examined the claims of false apostles, and how they hate the immorality.
We have to be wholehearted in our desire to understand biblical truth. Don’t ever be deceived by preachers and teachers who go beyond what the bible plainly teaches. No matter how famous they are, no matter how many slots they have on the God channel. If a teacher is teaching something that is contrary to the teaching of the bible… then they are a false teacher.
The Church in Ephesus had faced battles against false teachers, and they had needed to speak the truth loudly and clearly. And so must we.
In our own time we face real challenges to biblical truth. There are those who want to reinterpret God’s idea of marriage. Our government has actually amended every single piece of legislation on marriage, and wherever there is a reference to marriage, the phrase (“or civil partnership” has been added. So now there is a real danger of confusion, thinking that the two are the same. They are not. Marriage is God’s idea. Civil Partnership is simply a legal relationship that we have invented.
There are those who want to ignore what the bible says about human sexual behaviour.
We need to hold fast to all that we can understand of what God says to us… about what our loving heavenly father has told us what is best for us… we need to speak his truth plainly and clearly…
BUT we must not forget to love.
In our relationships we have to desire above all else, AGAPE love. Sometimes we can deceive ourselves.
We can be so sure of how right we are.
We can think we are standing up for the truth.
We can think we are defending a principle that is important.
We can be pointing out and trying to correct wrong and sinful behaviour… but if our concern to do all of those things becomes more important than love for Jesus and love for others in Christ… then we have forgotten the most important thing of all.
This word of Jesus to his church comes with a command and a warning.
The command is Slide 21
Turn back to me again (Repent…)vs.5
In other words the Christians there are being challenged to compare their former way of life with their present way of life. To remember how once they were motivated by love for God and for one another. To look back and to recognise that they have made some wrong choices. And they need to make a new decision to live in love with God and with one another.
If God is speaking to you this morning about your need to offer him your own hardness of heart, and to invite him to once again fill you with his love. Then take notice of what he says.
And Jesus has a warning for his church…
Slide 22 The warning…
If you don’t, (repent) I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.
Slide 23
There is no church in the locality of Ephesus today.
If we are to be the Church of Jesus Christ in this community, we need to be ready to recognise his voice speaking to us… and willing to be obedient to his command. Jesus has made it clear that his church, is made up of people who live in a relationship of love with him… and who show his love in all of their life together.
That is the only kind of church that the risen saviour can hold in his hand. Slide 24