LOOSING OUR FIRST LOVE?
(Lessons from the Church of Ephesus)
Revelation 2:1-7, 03/30/2014
Do you remember
the first time you thought you were properly in love? Did you think about him/her constantly? Think
of how many ways you have invented just to see her or to spend time with her
alone? Nothing else really mattered, all you wanted was to be in the embrace of
each other right? If you’re married, think about your wedding day. Were you
excited, nervous, hopeful, happy, and full of anticipation?
The other day we had our couples date
night. I asked a question; how did you both meet? Oh boy you should have been
there to listen to the exciting, adventures and romantic stories each couple
shared. For some of us it was love at
first sight; well that did not stop them there but carried them all the way to
the wedding altar. What is even more interesting that these couples are still
in in love with each other, for some after some three or four decades of marriage!
As a pastor for me it was very
satisfying to see how couples here are still committed to each other in spite
of ups and downs in their marriage. But sadly, many couples separate just a few
years after their heartfelt commitment? I wonder what has happened to them,
have they lost their first love they had for each other? One marriage expert
says, “No matter how sincere we are, staying in love is a choice! Love can grow
and become more precious with each passing day; but for this to happen we must
pursue the secret to staying in love.” Is it even possible to lose our first
love? What happens in a marriage relationship could also happen in our
relationship with God and with one another. In fact the Bible says in the last
days due to the increase of wickedness most people’s love will grow cold. (Matt
24:12)
For the past few weeks we have been on an
exciting journey of studying the book of Revelation. This book is all about the
message of God to the world and His Church in particular about what would
happen before the final return of Jesus, prior to establishing His eternally
enduring Kingdom. We are exploring the seven letters to the seven Churches and
how that message could impact us today. For the next few Sunday’s I would like
to go through these seven letters. Today we look at a Church that once was on
fire for the Lord yet ended up loosing it’s first love. Revelation 2:1-7 A bit of background to help
us understand Revelation.
Revelation
is a symbolic book, but that does not mean the symbols do not depict literal
events like the great tribulation, the white throne; the final judgment, the
battle of Armageddon, the coming of the Antichrist, the thousand year rule of
Christ; the rapture and the final destruction of Satan; the coming down of the
heavenly city etc. Some of the events mentioned in the book may happen
literally, and many will not. So while interpreting the symbols we need to
realize we “see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror reflection.” ( I Cor
13:8 NLT). However we are to center on the purpose of the text, the message of
the text and its application and leaving what, when and how things will actually
happen with God.
It is traditionally believed that the
apostle John was the author who wrote it at a time when the church was
undergoing persecution and difficulty in the first century AD. It was written to encourage believers to look forward to a
better social reality in the midst of oppression, a world where God is supreme.
However the real problem was not
persecution but compromise. Too many Christians had gotten “cozy” with a pagan
world, and so the book calls them to choose allegiance to Christ or to the
emperor. So the real purpose of the book of revelation then and now is to
encourage and warn Christians that they must stay strong under persecution and
not to compromise with the pagan culture as their only allegiances are to
Christ and Christ alone.
A
bit of background information about the city of Ephesus. It is one of the four
most powerful cities in the Roman Empire. In ancient times it was one of the
Seven Wonders of the World. Religiously, Ephesus was best known for its temple
to the fertility goddess Artemis (Roman Diana). The church was apparently
established by Priscilla and Aquila, who had been left there by Paul in A.D 52
and they were aided by Apollos (Acts 18:18-25). Paul returned and spent two
years and three months there (Acts 19), apparently using Ephesus as a center
for evangelizing the whole region. Later the church struggled with false
teachers (Eph 4:14)
Before we dwell into the letter let me
explain a general pattern we find in all these seven letters. It contains a
commendation (some words of affirmation and praise), a confrontation (a rebuke),
a call to repent and a reward to those who repented or will hold firm until the
end. With that in mind let’s look at the first letter to the Church in Ephesus.
Like all letters it begins with a command, “To the angel of the Church in
Ephesus write.” The word angel must not be confused with angels who are the
spirit beings, whereas here it could be translated as messenger, elder, leader,
bishop or pastor.
“The One who holds the seven stars in
His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this:
John begins each letter by describing one of the aspects of the glorified
vision of Jesus in order to show the sovereignty of Christ. Here he refers to Him
as the One who holds the seven stars (the leaders, elders of the seven churches)
and walks among the seven golden lampstands (seven churches).
That shows that Jesus was in absolute
command not only over the seven pastors/leaders of the Churches but the
churches themselves why won’t He? After all it is His Church and He is the
Chief shepherd over all the under shepherds; I am one of them just like any
other pastor, elder or Bishop of any Church or organization. John makes an interesting
observation here saying that, “walks among the seven golden lampstands (seven
Churches) what does that mean?
Osborn notes, “The imagery of “walking”
combines ideas of concern for and authority over the Church. Christ is among
his people and is both watching over them and watching them.”[1] Jesus
not only walked among the seven Churches in Asia Minor but he also walks among
the Churches today. My pastor in India used to say, “Every time we come to
worship in the Church; Christ walks among the pews wanting to touch all those
whose hearts are open towards Him” Therefore it is so important to attend
Church regularly; even more so when you are down, discouraged or struggling
with sin and sickness, you never know in which one of the services the Lord
might reach out and touch you to heal and make you whole.
Vs 2 “I know your deeds” Let’s look at
this for a moment. The words “I know” are mentioned in all seven letters. Ch
2:2, “I know your deeds, 2:9, “I know your tribulation” 2:13, I know where you
dwell 2:19, I know your deeds; 3: 1, I Know your deeds; 3:18 I know your deeds;
3:15, “I know your deeds.” What does this tell us? It tells us about one of the natural
attributes of God, that is his Omniscience. Our God is All Knowing. He knows
exactly who you are, where you live, what you do, what difficulties, challenges
and victories you are going through, and whether you are living for him or
selfishly living for yourself. In other words he knows everything of you.
This revelation of God knowing
everything about us must give us confidence knowing that God knows and
understands our situation as well as give us a healthy fear of God. Just to
know that God is watching; there’s nothing I can hide from him, he sees what I
am doing in secret. We had an interesting discussion on this matter in our
Thursday Bible Study. I encourage you to attend the Bible Study group where we
study the book of Revelation much more thoroughly.
What did Christ know about the lives of
the believers in the Church of Ephesus? That brings us to the Commendation part
of the letter. The
believers in Ephesus had persevered, tested the spirits (I John 4:1) exposed
the false apostles, (2 Cor 11:13), endured for the sake of God’s name, they had
not grown weary and hated the deeds of Nicolaitans and they were commended for
it.
Who are the Nicolaitans? Nothing is
mentioned of them anywhere else in the Bible except in the Book of Revelation.
So in order to know who the Nicolaitans, were and what their teachings were
like, and why God hated their works we must look at Church History and some
extra biblical material. Here is what other theologians say about the Nicolaitans:
“Irenaeus says that they owed their origin to Nicolas, who was one of the seven
deacons (Acts 6:5). Victorinus of Pettau, the first commentator on Revelation,
refers to them as ‘false and troublesome men, who, as ministers under the name
of Nicolaus. They had made a heresy, to the effect that what had been offered
to idols might be exorcised and eaten, and that whoever should have committed
fornication might receive peace on the eighth day.”[2]
Barton, in his commentary notes, “They
appear to have taught a loose compromise with the social ethics of that day
which included idolatry and immorality. They did not separate from the church
but seemed to suggest that Christians could embrace the teachings of Jesus as
well as attend functions at the various temples and partake of immoral activity
that was perhaps associated with the worship of idols.”[3]
What do we call this type of ideology? Syncretism! The Church in Ephesus was
commended by Christ for their hatred towards such syncretistic teachings and
practices that were rampant at that time. Are we today any different from them?
Do we find the teachings of Nicolaitns today in the Church worldwide?
We better believe it! The scriptures warn us
in the last days, “many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many.”
Those who fall for these false teachings believe that all roads lead to God, so
it really doesn’t matter which religion you follow as long as you are sincere
about your commitment; you serve people and do good to the environment; fight
for social justice; human rights etc. They compromise the Truth, where by
denying the sovereignty of Christ and the Orthodoxy of His teachings in order
to please man and accommodate their philosophies.
If Jesus were to evaluate our Church
what would he commend us for? Would he find us like the believers in Ephesus who
had persevered, tested the spirits, exposed the false apostles, endured for the
sake of God’s name, had not grown weary and hated the deeds of Nicolaitans? I
would hope so. We will close on this positive note today and next time we will
study what Jesus was upset about with the Church in Ephesus. For a more
detailed study on the Church of Ephesus please check out my sermon blog on our
Church website. Invite your friends or family members for a Sunday service as
we go through this series on the book of Revelation. Amen
