Title: Lessons from the Church in Ephesus
Contents
Lessons from the church in Ephesus
Text Revelation 2:1-7
If you look at Revelation 2-3, you will find the story of 7 churches.
However, after the words spoken to each church, the same words are written in common. “Listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches” Looking at these words, it is about the 7 churches at the time, but it is also about the churches of all ages to come.
These seven church stories point us to one important point.
It means that the Lord is paying attention to the church and knows the condition of the church very accurately.
The point is that he clearly states what is to be praised and what is to be reproved.
We must keep in mind that the Lord is watching our church, and we must pay attention to the appearance of our church in the eyes of the Lord.
Indeed, when the Lord sees our church, we need to think about what points He will praise and what points He will rebuke.
You also need to think about what you will praise and what you will rebuke when the Lord sees you and me.
Dear all! A church praised by the Lord We must become saints praised by the Lord.
Today's text is the story of the church in Ephesus, the first of these seven churches.
Let's look at the story of this church and look for the lessons it gives to our church today.
What kind of church is the church in Ephesus?
It is very unusual compared to the churches in other regions who did ministry as if they were passing through during their evangelistic trip.
The Ephesian church is one of the few churches that personally received a letter from the Apostle Paul, and he wrote it with all his heart while imprisoned in a Roman prison.
The content is much more profound than the other letters, but it is a passage that shows how much he cared.
Was the church in Ephesus mentioned first?
The Church of Ephesus is the closest church to the island of Patmos, where the Apostle John is receiving a revelation. To go to Patmos, you had to take a boat from the port of Ephesus at the time, but it may have been mentioned first because it is the closest church across the sea.
But more importantly, this church was the leading church in Asia at the time.
So, the church in Ephesus was the leading model church in Asia at the time.
So, I think this church was mentioned first, and the important thing is to have a new faith by mentioning Paul. Our church must have a new vision like the church in Ephesus.
Please pray for this and devote yourself to this vision.
Praise for the Ephesian Church
Verse 2-3, “I know your deeds, your toil, and your perseverance, and that you have not tolerated evildoers, that you have revealed their lies by testing those who claim to be apostles, but are not, and that you have persevered and endured for the sake of my name and did not become sluggish. Knowing” The praises of the Lord are introduced, which can be summarized in three ways.
First, it adhered to the teachings of the apostles.
In verse 2, it says, “I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance.” This shows that the church Paul was leading taught three things as practical virtues.
However, in today's text, the Lord praised the church in Ephesus through the Apostle John and said these things. That is, the church in Ephesus has been thoroughly following the instructions given by the Apostle Paul.
Second, it rejected heresy.
In fact, there was a great heresy in Asia at that time, and it was the Nicolaitans mentioned in the text.
The Nicolaitans are those who follow Nicolas, one of the seven deacons in the early church.
Nicolas fell into the gnosticism that prevailed in the early church and created heresy.
Gnosticism is one of the ideas that insist on the dualism of the spirit and the body, and mixed with this gnosticism, two wrong arguments were made.
One is that there is no need to keep the law because the time of the law has passed, and the other is that because only the spirit is good and valuable, it is meaningless to do anything with an evil and worthless body. I fell into caution and destroyed all of my healthy religious life.
However, the church in Ephesus thoroughly rejected this heresy, kept the law, and kept the beautiful virtues of the religious life.
Third, they endured persecution well.
At that time, Ephesus was a stronghold of idolatry, and there was a temple of Artemis large enough to be considered a wonder. It is more than four times the size of the Parthenon. People were constantly coming and going from all over Rome to come to this temple and make sacrifices. In addition, various pagans and mysticism flourished.
What would be the persecution of Christians in this situation?
What about the sufferings of the minority and powerless Christians?
However, it is that they endured a lot of hardships and worked diligently to overcome them.
That is, they did their best to keep their faith in a difficult situation.
In the end, the Ephesian church has defended its faith well from the chaos of heresy on the inside and from the persecution of idolatry from the outside. And he thoroughly followed the teachings of the Christian apostles. So I was praised by the Lord.
I've seen some impressive TV commercials. Two young men got on the subway. The seat is empty, but it says "Senior Seat". My legs hurt and it hurts, but because I'm a young man, I don't sit down and stand all the way to the end.
Then a copy is thrown. “I will protect what I will protect” Yes.
Keeping what you keep is not easy. There are situations that cannot be kept. There is also temptation. The same is true of the lives of saints. This is true of Holy Week, tithing offering, and the specific words of the Lord.
There are situations that are difficult to keep. There is also temptation. But what you have to keep is what you have to keep.
That's how you get the Lord's praise. A church with such members is a church that is praised.
Rebuke against the church in Ephesus
In text 4-5, the Lord's rebuke against the church in Ephesus is introduced. “I have this against you, that you have left your first love. If you do, I will come to you and remove your candlestick from its place.” The problem with the church in Ephesus is, in one word, that they abandoned their first love.
What does first love mean here? It refers to the passionate love for the Lord when you first believed in Jesus.
It refers to the passionate love for the church when you first believed in Jesus.
It refers to the passionate love for the saints when they first believed in Jesus.
The church in Ephesus is that the passionate love that they had when they first believed in Jesus had grown cold.
This is what the Lord rebukes.
But why did the Ephesian church forsake their first love? As we saw earlier, heresy was infested in the Ephesian church, and there were many people who spread bizarre ideas, including the Nicolaitans.
In addition, many of the saints were caught up in idolatry in the world because of their weak faith.
I had to sort out those who were caught up in such a force and discipline them harshly, but I couldn't.
Then, I lost even love, which is the core of Christian truth, which requires obedience to the Word and keeping faith.
We need a cool head. To judge good and evil, to analyze situations accurately, and especially to discern spirits, you must have a cold head. But our hearts must always be warm.
It must be overflowing with the passion of love. In many cases, a cold-headed person has a cold heart.
That is what the church in Ephesus has become.
While the head is cold, the heart is also cold.
I kept the precious things with my head, but the love in my heart only grew cold.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and the words of angels, but without love, I become a sounding copper and a trumpeter, and I have the power to prophesy, knowing all mysteries and all knowledge, and having all faith that can move mountains Even if I have this, if I do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I have and give my body to be set on fire, but without love, it is of no use to me.” Saying it is nonsense.
Any fancy car is useless if its engine doesn't work.
No matter how great a belief is, it is only when there is love that it can function properly.
That's right. Dear all! When we lose love, we lose everything. 1 John 4:16 says, “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” When we are in love, God is also in us.
Verse 5 of today's text contains a truly dreadful message. “Therefore remember where you have fallen, and repent and do the first deeds. It is a command to recover.
If love is not restored, the candlestick will be moved.
The word “moving the candlestick” here means that God will no longer recognize the church as a child.
This is indeed an extreme warning. That's how important love is.
Churches and individuals whose love has grown cold are no longer seen as children of the Lord in the eyes of the Lord.
If you do not repent, the candlestick is already being moved.
Our high school has a cold head with the word of God, so we must keep our faith well.
With the Holy Spirit, your heart must be full of love. We must be a church that keeps the Word sober and is filled with the Holy Spirit, a church that has a heart filled with the Holy Spirit, and believers.