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We've Got Mail Jesus' Letter to the Church in Ephesus — Revelation

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We've Got Mail Jesus' Letter to the Church in Ephesus — Revelation Pastor Jeff Barclay - July 5, 2020 We’ve Got Mail Jesus’ Letter to the Church in Ephesus — Revelation 2:1-7 Passionate about Doctrine, Passionless for Jesus Of the seven churches described in Revelation 2-3 Ephesus is the church with the most extra historical and doctrinal details —Acts 19-20 and Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. COMMUNION. As we share in the Lord’s Supper let’s go back to last week’s Sermon-to-Life. It will be a helpful way to provide context and introduce today’s sermon. The focus of which will be this statement from Jesus to the Church in Ephesus: “I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you. You have abandoned the love you had at first. You have abandoned Me, your first love,” (Revelation 2:4-5). Last week I wrapped up saying this Together let’s slow down a little and pay attention to the most significant person that ever lived. Let’s pay a ridiculous amount of attention to Jesus. In the days ahead, let’s make more of Jesus in the days ahead! These sound similar to what Jesus reminded the church in Ephesus. Returning their focus to Him their first love. In it’s beginning the church in Ephesus made much of Jesus. The Apostle Paul lived and taught there for three years. (Acts 19:10) In a city known for its sensual cult worship of Artemis, extraordinary miracles occurred. Healings. Demonic deliverances. “And this became known to the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of Jesus was greatly honored,” (Acts 19:17). In other words, they made much of Jesus. They paid a ridiculous amount of attention to Jesus. They made much of their first love. Their boast was in the Lord. Fast forward to a few months after Paul’s three years in Ephesus. Paul has made a whirlwind gospel tour through Macedonia (now the modern Balkan states of Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, and Kosovo) and Greece. Now Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. Wanting to get there in time for Pentecost. From the coastal city of Troas he sails to Miletus and asks the elders of Ephesus to join him in Miletus for some final words of exhortation. Paul has been shown he will not be back. It’s reasonable to assume he shared his final words over a time of worship and a meal that closed with communion. This was a common practice of the early church. (I Cor. 11:17-34) As we share in Christ’s body and blood, hear Paul’s encouragements: 28 “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—His church, purchased with His own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders. 29 I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. 30 Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following. 31 Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you—my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you. 32 “And now I entrust you to God and the message of His grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those He has set apart for Himself, (Acts 20:28-32 NLT). We’ve Got Mail Revelation 2-3 contains seven letters to seven churches in Asia. They reveal Jesus’ “read” of them. Hand delivered, they got mail from Jesus. His mail revealed His heart for them. Their mail is our mail. These letters reveal Jesus, the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13), walking in the midst of His church. Recall that around the table of the chief tax collector Zaccheus, Jesus had taught that the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost, (Luke 19:10). We’ve got mail! The action points of this series are four-fold: a.) If one of Jesus’ commendations fit— wear it. Rejoice. b.) If one of Jesus’ corrections fit— say yes to it. Repent. Respond humbly and appropriately. c.) In light of Jesus’ revelation of Himself to these churches, ask Him questions like these: What are you saying to me through what You said to them? What is Your word to me?” d.) Each letter ends with a promise to the overcoming conqueror. Christians don’t talk much about rewards, but Jesus did. Anticipate and celebrate! Revelation 2:1-7 Ephesus was a church full of hard working believers, solid in doctrine, patient, enduring opposition, discerning, yet loveless in practice. A church so loveless, that unless it changed its ways, it would be removed from the lampstand. An action to be interpreted as either Jesus discontinuing the church in Ephesus or removing it from its position of influence and impact. It doesn’t take a spiritual rocket scientist to realize this is a shaking and awakening moment for every Christian. In our most recent sermon series I had reminded us that re-entries are always bumpy and full of friction. And heat, lots of heat! This is our time to fall deeply and madly in love with Jesus. In this letter Jesus has invited His Bride to a courtship encounter! He wants His church to redefine, rediscover their relationship. His love for them and us has not changed. But He is asking what about our love for Him? A season of self-examination? A time to Reset? Redefine? Restore passion! Surrounded by the wealth and opulence, as wells as, the many idolatrous and pagan influences in Ephesus one can only imagine how counter-cultural their beliefs and practices. The pressure to mollify and appease their pagan neighbors must have been intense and wearisome. But Jesus commends them for not capitulating or succumbing. Perhaps remembering their founder’s admonitions… (Acts 20:28-32) Faithfulness can be draining. The price of using so much energy to resist opposition and spiritual deception was a dwindled passion for Jesus. Investing their vigor doing those things very little energy was left for Jesus. The same Jesus, whom in their early days they had extolled and greatly honored. (Acts 19:17) and had purchased them with His own blood. (Acts 20:28) Jesus described this loss of love in terms of the first passions of a romantic relationship. This loss of love was not something the Ephesians had set out to do. But it did. Consider for a moment the things necessary to restore love to a marriage relationship… Confessions of love assumed, but left unsaid, are said again. A couple starts “dating” again. Temporarily unplugging from work and children, they refocus on each other... Rediscovering that when their focus on each other is vibrant their other responsibilities become less draining. So it is in our relationship with Jesus. I am finding the events of these days draining. There are so many examples: Discerning fact from fiction in the news, holding and defending a Biblical response to cultural shifts in beliefs about human sexuality, Christian citizenship in a post-Christian nation, health and safety concerns, and all the questions arising from the seducing philosophies of Critical Theory and Intersectionality. All of which are provoking today’s riots, our gradual loss of civil liberties, and the advance of Marxism. All these things can drain one’s passion for Jesus! Distracting us away from spending time with our first love in worship and prayer. Jesus asked the Ephesians to remember what their passion toward Him had been and restore it. Change their ways and renew their minds to love Me and others again! His warning was serious and sobering. A church not in love with Jesus will always lose its influence and impact. The best people to decide if a relationship has lost its pizazz is the couple. What is your heart saying to you about your love for Jesus? The great news about the church of Ephesus is that it remained an influential church for at least 400 years after this letter was delivered! They repented and fell in love with Jesus again! Surrounded by pagan worship and extreme wealth an influential Christian community arose. Significant Christian councils met there in 431 A.D. and 449 A.D. Unfortunately By the 7th century earthquakes, repeated invasions, and a silted in harbor brought an end to the long history of Ephesus. In a closing compliment Jesus says He shares an equal hatred toward the Nicolaitanes. Nicolaitans were doctrinal seducers leading to syncretism and compromise. A Nicolaitan (Nikon) describes anyone that is out to conquer, destroy or dominate the church. Some scholars think the Nicolaitans were a sect founded by Nicolas from Antioch. (Acts 6:5) Their thinking being that as an early convert to Christianity he eventually fell into Gnosticism and sexual license, swaying others to follow him. Contrast the Nicolaitans to a very different kind of Nikon, a “Christian Nikon.” These are the faithful, the ones who resisted doctrinal seductions, worldly philosophies, enduring to the end, the overcomers and conquerors of all that oppose the church, the gospel of the Kingdom, and Jesus. These are the ones strong to the finish. I am the only person responsible for what I hear and how I respond. True hearers are doers. What a wonderful promise to the conqueror and overcomer. To those who stay true Jesus will grant to eat from the tree of life, put first in the Garden of Eden and now in the city of God.
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