Number 6 In A Series of Studies on Revelation -

Ephesus: The Careless Church - Revelation 2:1-7

A little girl was sent to school with the only copy of her birth certificate and clear instructions on its safety. But before she arrive, she lost it along the way. Sitting on a curb, crying, a passerby tried to comfort her in vain. The little girl's remarked, "Mister, I've lost my excuse for being born!"

Today we study a church who lost its excuse for being born – a careless church.

1. City. Ephesus was a fabulous city in its day. Under Caesar Augustus, Ephesus was the capital city of the Roman providence called Asia (today western Turkey). It was a center of wealth and commerce and crossroads of travel and trade, much like San Francisco or New York in our own era. Ephesus was a pagan town - the center for the goddess Artemis (also called Diana). The world-renowned Temple of Artemis was longer than two football fields and was one of the seven wonders of the world.

2. Church, Revelation 2:1. "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write..." Now remember, when we speak of the church of Ephesus we are talking about a local congregation of baptized believers in Jesus Christ who were carrying out God's work in their city.

Ephesus means "desired one." This was the most desired of all the churches in its day. It had been written up by the Baptist press of that day. It was a "five-star" church.

· The church at Ephesus was founded by Paul. You can read about it in Acts 19.

· Timothy would serve as pastor at Ephesus.

· John the Apostles would make this city and church his headquarters in his last years.

· The Epistle to the Ephesians has no correction in it like so many of the other epistles.

- Galatians - legalism and Judiazers were compromising the true gospel.

- Philippians - a personal squabble between two women had to be addressed.

- Corinth - major moral and doctrinal problems were challenged and corrected.

- Thessalonians - their second coming doctrine was not straight.

- Ephesians had no rebuke, no correction.

· It was the oldest mentioned established, existing church in the New Testament by the end of the first century.

3. Christ, Revelation 2:1. "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write: These things saith he that holdest the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks."

Notice how the book of Revelation interprets itself.

* Revelation 1:16.

* Revelation 1:20

His protection of His pastors. The "angel" here is the pastor, God's messenger. And I remind you, every believer is securely in the hand of Almighty God, John 10:28-29. Our times are in God's hands, Psalm 31:15. Isaiah 49:16 says we are graven in the palms of His hands. I would say, everything is in hand! A young preacher was threatened by a representative of a rival church. The man warned him of the day when he would be deserted by his supporters. "Where will you be then?" The young preacher confidently said, "Then, as now, in the hands of Almighty God."

His presence in His churches. "Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks."

Revelation 1:12, 13 "I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man..."

Revelation 1:20 "The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches."

Christ is Lord over all His churches. He hold walk among all the churches. He is here today!

4. A Commendation, Revelation 2:1-3.

There were so many good things.

"I know thy works...."

"And thy labour..."

"And thy patience..."

"And how thou canst not bear them which are evil..."

"And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars..."

"And hast borne, and hast patience..."

"And for my name's sake hast laboured..."

"And hast not fainted."

These were not "couch-potato Christians." They were active for the Lord. They were orthodox. They had convictions about what they believed. Their faith was well defined and well defended. They were not quitters.

John Phillips says "They were standing up to the task, standing up for the truth, and standing in the test."

James Draper says, "It was known to be evangelistic, conservative, and compassionate. It was everything we say a church ought to be."

So far their grade is A+, but the final exam was about to be given.

5. A Condemnation, Revelation 2:4. "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love."

What was bad about this church was bad. Only one bad thing, but it made all their good seem unimportant. Look what had happened to them. Revelation 2:4 "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." Notice it is "left" not "lost."

What is this talking about? It really simple. Christ was saying, "You have left your first love...the love you had at first."

It happens in marriages. I hear people all the time say something like, "We fell out of love." No, you fall out of trees. Love is not an accident looking for a place to happen. Love is a decision. Love is a way of life. On man said he loved his wife so much when he first married her he could have eaten her. After a couple of years he said he wished he had!

It happens on our jobs - our careers. At first we are early, we are excited, we are eager. But after a few years we have used our all our sick days, our favorite aunt has died so many times we can't remember, we show up late and sneak off early.

It happens in churches. Churches sometimes place all their emphasis on sound doctrine, even separated living, instead of a sold-out love for our wonderful Lord!

Let me be very honest with you. This is one of our major problems in our church family: we have left our first love. We do not love Jesus as we ought, as we have, as we must, and as we can.

"First love" is the love we had at first. Do you remember when you had those first feelings of love? Someone described it as an itch all over than can't be scratched. I do not know how you know you are in love; you just know it. Its real, not fake. Its all consuming, not selective. Its sacrificial, not selfish.

6. Counsel, Revelation 2:5a.

Three things that must happen to recover "first love."

Remember. If you are like me, you are a slow learner and a fast forgetter. Remember what? "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen..." "Remember" is an imperative mood - a command. (Man - wife, named Rose). We are failing to remember some very important things.

Do you understand what this is saying? When Paul wrote to Ephesus he reminded them, "You are risen. You are quickened together with Christ. You are raised with Christ. You are seated in the heavenlies in Christ."

It is saying you use to be up here, and now you are down here. There was a time in your life when you loved the Lord more than you do now. You may be keeping up the outward appearance that things are still tight with you and the Lord but you know better in the heart of your hearts.

Where are you today as opposed to where you were 5 years ago? Is there progression or regression? Are you moving ahead or backward?

Someone might say, "Well, I don't know for sure if I'm progressing or regressing. How can I tell?"

Ask someone who knows you - your spouse, your friend, your pastor. I don't know if you could stand it, but they could give you an honest evaluation.

Repent. "Remember...and repent." The word "repent" carries a couple of meanings. This verb tense means to make a sharp break with evil. It carries the idea of changing the mind and changing direction.

We need to change the way we think about our condition. We have allowed ourselves to be deceived. Change your mind about your excuses. Expose your excuses for what they are - "the skin of a reason, stuffed with a lie," Vance Havner.

Return. "Remember...and repent, and do the first works..." We've got it all wrong. We think if I don't feel love it would be hypocritical to act like it when its not there.

The fact is if we start doing the things we use to do when we really loved the Lord we would end up back in love with the Lord.

- Reading the Bible...Prayer...Attending all the church services.....Giving...Witnessing.

Love for God's people, love for the church, love for God's work, all grow out of love for the Lord. "We talk much about church loyalty while we beg and coax and almost bribe church members to come to church. People go where they want to go. Where their hearts are their heels will follow. Deeper than church loyalty there must be Christ loyalty and that must grow out of love to Christ. The Lord of the Lampstand, the Christ of the Candlesticks is asking, ‘Lovest thou me?'" Vance Havner.

A true love for God is always manifested in the works which it produces. "Oh, I love God, but I'm not in church like I need to be." That's can't be true. That would be like saying, "Oh, I love my wife, but we seldom see each other."

"The children of God who excuse their indulgence and lack of consecration only prove by their conduct that they do not love the Lord Jesus Christ will all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind," Tim LaHaye.

As a Bible teacher it is my intention to cover every part of this book. Who are the Nicolaitans? They could still hate evil, but they had forgotten how to love the Lord.

Revelation 2:6. "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."

Revelation 2:15. "So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which things I hate."

We take notice that God hated their ‘deeds" and their "doctrine." Now that should get our attention! Who were these people? The word "Nicolaitans" comes from two Greek words "niko" meaning "to conquer, overthrow," and "laos" meaning "people." From everything I can read, the attempt was being made to organize some pastors as a group to rule over congregations.

"The history of the Church of Jesus Christ is a continuous cycle of autonomous churches amalgamating into great conventions or denominations of ecclesiastical hierarchies that eventually become apostate. Evidently the church at Ephesus and the early apostolic church were successful in withstanding the work of the Nicolaitans, which was accepted later by the church at Pergamum (Rev. 2:15)," Tim LaHaye, Revelation Unveiled, Zondervan Publishing, 1999, p. 47.

The saints at Ephesus could still hate evil, but they had forgotten how to love the Lord.

7. Caution, Revelation 2:5b.

Christ gives a word of caution to those who may refuse to recover their first love. "Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove they candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."

It is a pretty simple equation: No love = no light.

If there is no real love for the Lord Jesus, the reason for a church's existence has vanished. A church without love for the Lord is worse than useless. It gives the wrong impression of what Christianity is all about. It is best removed.

Your personal lack of love for the Lord Jesus is a threat to the life of the church where you are a member.

8. Challenge, Revelation 2:7. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

Hear what God is saying to you. Up to this verse Christ had talked in the second person plural - you plural, all of you. In verse 7 He speaks in the singular.

Churches do not repent as groups, but as individuals. That is the only way a church gets back to its first love, when people in the church get back to their first love. While this admonition is addressed to the church at Ephesus, it is for individual repentance, not church repentance. Christ calls for each person to face the truth, for each Christians to come back to God himself.

9. Comfort, Revelation 2:7. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

The Tree of Life which was removed by sin in the book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, is now being offered to us again in the book of Revelation. The Tree of Life appears again in Revelation 22. In the new heaven and the new earth, the Tree of Life is in the middle of the New Jerusalem. The 12 fruits of the Tree of Life—one fruit for each month—are the food of the people of the city. Ray Stedman calls it a "Fruit of the Month Club."

The Tree of Life is a symbol of our Lord Jesus. He feeds us and sustains us. We draw strength from Him.

As I look back over my life there were many times when Christ was at the center of all my endeavors. The Lord Jesus was real and vital to me.

There have been other times I have drifted - when He was not center, but on the periphery. There, but hardly there. I was important to Him; but He wasn't important to me.

You and I know where He belongs! I want Jesus at the center. I ask you to pray for me at Christ will be at my heart and center.

"To come to Christ cost nothing. To follow Christ cost something. To serve Christ cost everything." M. R. De Haan

"Revival is the Church falling in love with Jesus all over again." Vance Havner

Prepared and delivered by
Dr. Jerry D. Locke
Lake Worth Baptist Church
4445 Hodgkins Road
Fort Worth, TX 76135-2136