John was to write a letter to each of the seven churches of Asia Minor in the year 95 AD. The first letter was to his own church, the church of Ephesus. This is what he was instructed to write.
1“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,
‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3“and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. 6“But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
John ministered to or pastored the church of Ephesus for 25-30 years. Here we see he writes about love. Love was always forefront to John. He was called the Apostle of Love. Timothy and Paul also ministered here in Ephesus. Actually when reading the book of Acts we can see that this was a major port for Paul with the gospel being sent out from this city to the surrounding areas. The gospel quickly spread in this seaport with many ships coming and going spreading the news as they did so.
This was a seaport church being right at a major port. There were many roads leading out of Ephesus with the city itself being roughly 200,000-300,000 in population. This was a major thriving city. This city was well known for its pagan temples. There were temples for the worship of the Emperors. The worship of Domitian was very big in the 80's and 90's. Domitian ordered or demanded the people's worship and most likely the reason for John's exile. Domitian was known to exile those not in compliance.
The worship of Artemis (Latin-Diana) was also very prevalent during this time. There was a huge business by the silversmiths of making and selling tiny statues of Diana that Paul got in the middle of and almost got himself killed. When he started preaching about Jesus ( Acts 19) he was messing with business and they tried to run him out of town. Nothing new under the sun here.
The Ephesians back then believed that the gods delivered to them a huge statue of Diana. It just fell from the sky and a temple was built around her. At the time this temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This was a magnificent structure with 127 columns 60 feet high standing on an area 425 feet long and 220 feet wide. The theatre there accommodated 25,000 people.
So with this background is the church at Ephesus with John, their Pastor, exiled and is writing them a letter dictated from Christ himself. We see by the beginning of the letter that Christ is involved, actually in the midst of them. He sees them and is watching over them closely.
We see four parts to this letter. We see commendation, criticism, command & cure, and a call to hear.
First the commendation. Isn't it always good to hear that first? Christ notices the good things. He sees their works, their labor, their patience and their intolerance (discernment) for what's going on all around them. They are an uncompromising church. This church we can see by this letter was busy. They did alot of works even to the point of physical exhaustion in an immoral city. This was a city of Diana. There was much work to be done here.
Looking at v3 we can see they had the right motive. They were doing this for Christ's sake. Today, as I look around I see many churches that are complacent; apathetic. They have forgotten Christ. They are compromising, letting the world dictate their works and by doing so have lost their way. The light is gone out of them. Their lampstand has been taken away.
He says he notices their patience and that they are enduring. He commends them that they are intolerant of evil. They hate evil. We need to ask ourselves as a church body if we are compromising the gospel for the sake of the world. What are we comfortable bringing into our church? Affairs? Sexual immorality? Multiple Gods? Most likely church discipline was applied in this church as needed (Matt 18). They lived in a city of tolerance; anything goes mentality. They dared to believe that Christ was the only way. There were major roads in this city representing many roads of spirituality. Here it would have been ok to worship Jesus, but not teach that Jesus was the ONLY way. So here sat this little church in a very large metropolitian, an everything-anything goes city. I know a church in the country Poland that fits this description.
They tested and discerned all the so called prophets it said in this commendation. How? They picked up the word of God and tested ithem. The words of the modern day prophets exposed them and they were called liars. No messing around. They were not just in "error." They were called liars. Today we have trouble with discernment because for the most part we are biblically illiterate. We don't know the truth, so how can we spot the lie that crops up?
In v6 we see they get another compliment. They stayed away from the Nicolaitans. We don't know alot about them. Some think Nicolas was a deacon gone bad (Acts 6:5). Maybe he was never a true believer and started doing his own thing. What we do know is the Nicolaitans were great compromisers. They tried to live both sides of the fence with one foot in the world and the other in the church. This is still quite common today.
Most likely they lived a life for Cesar or Diana during the week and were totally different on Sunday. Again, nothing new under the sun here either.
The Nicolaitans also could have been the start of man-made religion or a religious order. The word comes from two Greek words: niko meaning "to conquer, overthrow" and laos meaning "the people, laity." Nicolaitanism is synonymous with modern day ecclesiasticism and is a concept which Jesus Christ said he hates. One of the evils of this practice is that it causes the local church body to look to human beings for the solution to their problems rather than to the HS, (John 16:13). This church at Ephesus was successful in withstanding the work of the Nicolaitans which will later be accepted by the church of Pergamum (2:15).
So now we come to the criticism. This church had lots of knowledge but had forgotten their first love. It's not enough to have knowledge. It's not enough to have discernment. It's not enough not to compromise. Love cannot be left out of the church. Paul wrote to the Ephesians and said this about 30 years prior in Eph 1:15:
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints
So they started out ok. Somewhere in the thirty years it took from when Paul wrote his letter to them and now here with John writing to them they lost their first love. What happened? Did they get to busy in their many programs and works? We are to love God first, each other second and then the lost third. What usually happens is we lose our love for the lost first, then each other second and then finally God last of all..
The word "left" is "aphiemi" and means to "set aside, sent away." It basically means they made a decision NOT to love. I saw the same word in the disciples when they "left" their nets to follow Christ. Here, they "left" their first love.
Many churches have lots of programs, bible studies, many debates, much talk about love but when it comes right down to it are too busy to act on it, to love.
It's as if Christ is saying: "Hey, will you stop a minute and listen to me?"
Does your neighbor know Christ? Have you said anything? If our studies are not bringing us out to the community, and if we don't have a loving heart it's nothing but ritualistic, cold hearted activity. We need to seek the lost. We need to be explosive and evangelistic. We need to remember our first love. We need to remember that when we first came to Christ we had a burning desire to tell others and to be the feet and hand of the one who touched us. Sure, the world is going to douse the fire. That's the battle. It's warfare. It's good against evil. It's hot against cold. Too many churches are maintaining status quo.
Ya, I realize baby Christians are a pain in the neck. But in all reality, they are what keeps the church alive. They may not have alot of knowledge, but they have that love. They are on fire. Scared? Get over it. Somebody needs you to tell them about Christ.
Jeremiah 2:1-2 says this about Israel when they were a young nation:
1Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord:
“I remember you,
The kindness of your youth,
The love of your betrothal,
When you went after Me in the wilderness,
In a land not sown."
Jesus said to Peter after Peter betrayed him in John 21:15-17:
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
Jesus was going back to the beginning. He was checking first. "Do you love me?" Then, get to work. Otherwise, don't bother. Jesus knew Peter loved him. Peter needed to know this.
It's very important to remember that Christ said that in the end, the lack of love will be noticeable. He said this when he spoke of the end times in Matt 24:12:
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold
So after the commendation and criticism we have the command and cure.
We look at v5 and see these words: REMEMBER, REPENT, RETURN, REMOVE.
If we don't remember and repent he will remove the church. He will shut it down. That's a scary thought. How many boarded up churches do we see across the country? They are simply gone. They are dead churches. They had no head. Anything without a head is dead. Our church is contingent on serving God HIS way. No church is secure.
Notice it says to hear and understand. Notice it's in the plural. This is for all to hear. All those who are overcomers are simply those who have put their faith and trust in Him. This is a call to hear and perceive. He alone has the power and the promises of which He willingly gives us. When we do listen and take seriously His words, we see we're back full circle. He's given us the promise to eat from the tree of life. We first saw that tree in Gen 3:22 and will see it again in Rev 22:2. We will be restored or reconciled back to the state of harmony we once were.
Peter says in 2 Peter 1:5-9:
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
The foundation is love. All things must be done with love. Christian, don't lose your first love.
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