Word of Salvation – May 7th 2023
The Living Lord and the Church at Ephesus
A sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Revelation 2:1-7
Reading: Acts 20:17-38, Revelation 2:1-7
Theme: The living Lord’s letter to the Church at Ephesus with its commendations, warning and promise.
Introd: It would be the easiest thing in the world to read Revelation 2:1-7 and promptly to dismiss it.
Let me suggest three reasons why you might find these 7 verses totally irrelevant.
First, it’s an ancient document from nearly 2000 years ago.
Furthermore it was written to people in dramatically different circumstances to yours.
They lived in the ancient Middle East – Asia Minor, to be precise.
And the people it was written to no longer exist here on planet earth.
Doesn’t that make this part of the Bible rather irrelevant for us?
Second, it’s one of those places in the Bible that’s addressed to a group of people; a community.
It’s not the kind of text that jumps out at us – as addressing us each as individuals.
In any case, in church communities we so easily hide behind others.
Sure… there are good things and bad things in this letter.
But at first glance it really doesn’t touch me personally.
Thirdly this letter is addressed to an angel… the angel of the church at Ephesus.
The Greek word for ‘angel’ simply means ‘messenger’.
So the consensus is that this means: the Pastor of the church at Ephesus.
So, if there are issues in the church it’s not my problem… it’s Pastor XXX’s, right?.
Because in terms of this letter he would be the ‘Angel of the Church of XXX’.
A] THE HEART OF THIS CHURCH LETTER.
1. If you feel that these Bible verses could easily go in one ear out the other let me say this:
These 7 verses of the Bible are not first of all about a church.
Sure, take away the Church and there’s no point in these 7 letters in Revelation 2 and 3.
But… let me ask you: How would you sum up the whole Bible? What’s it all about?
Sum up the Bible for me, the Word of God… the entire Scriptures… in just one word.
It’s about Jesus, isn’t it? The Old Testament is looking forward to His coming.
The New Testament tells us the good news of Jesus and explains it.
So if the whole Bible is about Jesus – so is the book of Revelation.
And if Revelation is about Jesus, then so are the letters to the 7 churches.
If you doubt that… take another look at Rev.2:1-7 in your Bible.
How does it begin in vs.1? With Jesus…!
How does it end in vs.7? With Jesus… and what He will give us.
In fact, each of the 7 letters begin with Jesus identifying Himself.
He doesn’t want any misunderstanding about who the author of these letters is.
He carefully introduces Himself in all seven letters so that we might be certain about Him:
This is Jesus, your Lord and Saviour, who is addressing the church.
And suddenly we can no longer dismiss this text as irrelevant.
You mustn’t let it go in one ear and out the other.
The imagery in each of the 7 introductions is drawn from Revelation chapter 1.
Here He pictures Himself as holding the seven stars in His powerful right hand.
The last verse of chapter 1 tells us those stars are the pastors… the messenger/angels.
What an encouragement! Your pastor is held in the right hand of the living Christ.
And then He adds that He walks among the golden lampstands
And from the last verse of Revelation 1 we know that these lampstands are the Churches.
And again, what encouragement: He is intimately acquainted with His Church.
2. But there is something else that is telling about this introduction,
He’s not just letting you know that He will look after your pastor.
And it’s not just that because He walks among the golden lampstands He knows us intimately.
He is above all showing us how much He cares about the Church.
And why wouldn’t He? The Church is His beloved Bride.
Wouldn’t you expect the Divine Bridegroom to be concerned about His beloved Bride?
Surely that’s totally understandable. Let me give you 3 reasons why He cares.
a) First, He cared for these Ephesian Christians and He cares for us because we didn’t come cheaply.
Did you know Jesus had to pay a Bride-price? And the Bride price was horrendous.
He bought His church at an immense cost. Peter says: we were not bought with silver or gold.
We were bought by the poured out blood of the Son of God. What an horrendous cost..!
Do you understand why Jesus cares enough to write a letter to this church…?
b) Secondly, He is concerned because His Bride is being attacked… attacked on all sides.
Any husband worth his weight will encourage and take up the cause of his wife under attack.
Well, here in this world the Church is caught up in a warfare between two kingdoms:
the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.
And you can see that, reading between the lines in this letter. Jesus speaks of evil (people).
Jesus also mentions people calling themselves apostles… but they are false apostles. Liars! Out to mislead God’s people.
c) Thirdly, Jesus cares because there are problems and those problems need to be fixed.
I confess that I have a tendency to wait and hope that problems will go away.
And it’s so easy to do that in a church isn’t it? Maybe it will all sort itself out.
But it doesn’t – and it begins to fester. Here the problem was the cooling of their love.
And that’s serious enough for Jesus to talk here about removing their lampstand.
3. So because Jesus cares He writes this very personal… this very specific letter to this specific church.
At this point I want to digress a moment and talk about HOW we got our Bible.
We say that the Bible is inspired. But what do we mean by that?
a) Well, there are three theories of inspiration.
The first is called the ‘dynamic theory’ of inspiration.
This is taken as meaning that the Bible is just an inspiring book…
…just as there are many other inspiring books… the Bible is just a little more so.
The second is called the ‘dictation theory’ of inspiration.
This basically suggests that God used the human authors as if they were mere typewriters.
Meaning the Bible almost dropped ready-made out of heaven.
The third is called the ‘organic theory’ of inspiration.
This Reformed/Presbyterian view accepts the Bible as fully human and fully Divine.
It is the Word of God in the words of human beings.
b) Okay… the point is that while we reject the dictation theory… we make some exceptions.
In this instance our text is obviously: ‘dictation’.
Turn back a moment to Revelation 1 and let me prove this to you.
We’ll begin with verse 11 of Revelation 1 (and there’s a similar idea in vs.19):
“Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches….!”
Okay… that’s not yet dictation – John has some liberty in just how he reports things.
But now notice how chapter 2 begins: “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write…!”
IOW: “Get this down John…!” – because these are literally the words of Jesus.
Six times in these 2 chapters: Write down these words.. to Smyrna.. to Pergamum.. to Sardis!
That’s how much the Living Christ cares about His church. He actually dictates letters to them.
B] THE CARE THAT JESUS EXPRESSES.
1. So, okay, how then in practical terms do we see that concern of Jesus for His church expressing itself?
It begins with Jesus saying: “I know your works.”
That proves Jesus is not some sort of distant Deity… some remote and removed Saviour and Lord.
He knows their works… He saw how these people had responded when Paul preached there.
He knew how they had worked together with Priscilla and Aquila when they came to Ephesus.
Jesus was there when Paul laboured in Ephesus, preaching and teaching there for two years.
Jesus knew the story in Acts 20 where the elders of Ephesus had met with Paul.
“I know your works.” Jesus has been watching their activities for His Kingdom.
Do you see how that gives meaning to Jesus walking among the lampstands…?
The same Jesus is walking among the churches today.
And this morning He would also say to us: I know your works!
There is not a single effort that we make for the cause of Jesus that He doesn’t see.
Let it encourage you that Jesus still walks among the lampstands.
Yes, those golden lampstands are the churches.
But ask yourself: what’s the point of a lampstand? What’s the purpose?
Well, obviously lampstands are for the purpose of giving light, aren’t they?
Do you remember the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount?
You are the light of the world!
So this congregation at Ephesus was to be a light in a dark place.
It’s task was to let the light of Jesus shine into the surrounding darkness.
We as Christians are light-bearers – pointing to Jesus the light of the world.
And we’re assured that Jesus knows all about our works of shining His light into our society.
2. Actually, I love the way the Lord commences this letter with the positive things.
I don’t know about you but I’m not always so very good at that.
If there’s an issue that comes up and that needs to be addressed…
… then as I said before, I often just hope the problem will go away.
But when I can’t avoid it any longer then I tend to grab the bull by the horns.
And I’ve learnt the hard way that this is not always the best way.
In contrast, notice the way Jesus deals with the Ephesians… and learn from it.
There’s a problem that needs to be addressed… it threatens the church.
And Jesus comes and confronts that issue. But he doesn’t immediately focus on the negatives.
Instead He begins by commending them for three positives things they had going for them.
That’s pretty good counselling advice isn’t it? Begin with the positives.
a) First, He commends them for their ‘patient endurance’.
In verse 3 He says they have been bearing up for His name’s sake and have not grown weary.
I don’t know about you but I get a picture of a resilient church.
It takes seriously this Kingdom battle between God and Satan that believers are engaged in.
b) Second, He commends them because they have taken seriously their stand against evil.
This letter from Jesus doesn’t spell out the nature of the evil that they resisted.
But don’t get me started on it… or ask me to spell it out for you.
Because I’m sure it’s not really any different to the evil that you see in your daily news.
c) Then thirdly Jesus commends them for their orthodox beliefs. It doesn’t say that in your Bible…?
No! Of course not. But it’s there when you read between the lines.
This was a church that could distinguish truth from falsehood… they exposed false apostles.
And Jesus commends them for opposing the Nicolaitans – a sect that wanted compromise.
3. It’s only when Jesus has complimented them for all these positive things that He gets to the problem.
And our Lord is very direct when He gets to the problem in Ephesus.
Verse 4: But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
I mentioned before that the Church is the Bride of Christ… she is His betrothed.
Where did we get that idea from? Well, right here in the book of Revelation.
It’s there in the way the apostle John winds up this Bible book.
Revelation 22:17: The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come…!” The Church is the Bride of Christ.
But do you know where we find the most profound explanation of that?
In a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to this church at Ephesus.
In Ephesians 5 he addresses the relationship between husbands and wives.
In the process he quotes from the institution of marriage in Genesis 2 and he says:
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
and the two will become one flesh.” And then he adds:
“This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
And now we have the situation where the Bride has abandoned the love she had at first.
I suspect we’ve all heard of loveless marriages.
Situations where husband and wife still live in the same house… but love has gone.
They go through the motions of still being marriage partners.
But it’s obvious that things are not the way they used to be when they were courting.
And now Jesus levels that charge against the church at Ephesus.
Well, okay, love changes and matures with the passing years.
But the word in our text is ‘to leave’ or ‘to forsake’.
So it’s not even that their love kind of ‘dwindled away’ under pressures of life.
No, it’s as the ESV translates it: they have abandoned their first love.
That’s the issue here – the danger of a their relationship becoming a loveless marriage.
This is the scary thing in the Christian Church, people of God.
We can do all those things that Jesus commends in the church at Ephesus:
Hard work… resisting evil… opposing falsehood… bearing up and not growing weary…
and… even doing it (as we see here) for Jesus’ name’s sake…
but doing it only out of a sense of duty… or because it has become routine…
and not out of love for Jesus.
C] THE REMEDY THAT HE PRESCRIBES.
1. I pointed out at the start that these verses in the Bible are really all about Jesus.
It begins with Jesus… but it also ends with Jesus.
And it ends with Him prescribing a specific remedy to the church at Ephesus.
And he needs to do that because as Paul points out in 1Corinthians 13:
“If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
When there is lovelessness in the church it needs to be dealt with. It must be!
So Jesus comes with a threefold remedy.
And BTW – it’s not a triple suggestion; it’s a triple command – they must do three things.
a) The first is to remember… to remember “from where they have fallen”.
Interesting isn’t it, how Jesus speaks of their abandonment of love as “a fall”.
Remember…! To deal with that remembering is so important.
In marriage counselling I have often asked folk: What first attracted you to your partner?
And a loveless church needs to be asked that: What first attracted you to Jesus?
Are you still blown away by the enormity of what Jesus did for you on Calvary?
b) But remembering needs to be accompanied by repenting.
The Bible’s idea of repenting means doing a U-Turn – a change of direction.
Remembering is good – it brings our focus back to Jesus and gospel.
But that needs to lead to repentance… repentance for our lovelessness so often.
c) And then the third command is to “do what you did at first.”
Think back to when your labours in the church were not just out of a sense of duty.
Remember the time when your deeds for Christ were not driven by mere routine.
And do them again with the passion that flowed from His love shown to you.
2. It’s tempting for us today to think that this situation in Ephesus is not really all that bad.
I mean… look at all the positive things they had going for them… a faithful busy church.
So, okay, their passion for Christ wasn’t what it used to be. But look at all the positives.
No! Jesus highlights the seriousness of the situation by issuing a warning.
His threefold remedy is followed by a very solemn warning.
Remember… repent… and do again the works you did at first.
And then there come those solemn words:
If not, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place.
That’s a sobering thought: the lampstand’s removal by Jesus… Jesus taking a church out.
And it happens all too often… tragically.
Churches that became loveless community centres… and that eventually closed.
So is this doable…? Or is this too big an ask…?
No! It is doable. Because Jesus adds one further thing in verse 7:
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
You see, there lies the solution. To listen to the voice of the Spirit.
And that’s not first of all a mystical hearing of voices in our heads.
No! The Spirit speaks to us through the Word… and through the Word Jesus guides us.
So let the Spirit drive home to your heart and mind the message of Jesus and His love.
The good news of the doing, the dying and the victory of Jesus…
and all that that means for us in our church community.
3. Let me say once more: this text is about Jesus.
And we see that especially in a closing promise that He gives as He wraps up this letter.
It concludes with a delightful promise that our efforts will not be in vain.
There is a glorious promise given to those who overcome… to those who conquer.
But that promise centres on Jesus and on what He will do.
I will grant (that person) to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the paradise of God.
What a wonderful way to end this letter.
Behind that lies yet another reason why we ought to love our Lord with all our being.
He not only paid the price on Calvary for our forgiveness and for our eternal wellbeing.
There’s much, much more. His saving work has a cosmic dimension.
Nothing less than the total renovation and restoration of creation.
Because this closing promise takes us back to Genesis 2.
Back to where Adam and Eve first lived in a perfect world.
The point is that Jesus didn’t just die and rise again to get our souls into heaven.
But rather that we might live for all eternity with Him in that restored creation.
What a glorious prospect to encourage us to serve our Lord in love.
He will grant you to eat one day from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. Amen.