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The Church
who Left Her First Love, Ephesus
(ef'-e-sus) (Ephesos, meaning "desirable"): A city of the
Roman province of Asia, near the mouth of the Cayster river, 3 miles from
the western coast of Asia Minor, and opposite the island of Samos. With a
harbor accessible to the largest ships, standing at the entrance of the
valley which reaches far into the interior of Asia Minor, and connected by
highways with the chief cities of the province Ephesus was the most
easily accessible city in Asia, both by land and sea.
See map
Ephesus, at the time of the writing of the
Revelation, was a city of great importance in Asia Minor. This city, with
an approximate population of 225,000 was the gateway to and the capital of
the Roman province of Asia and as such it was a city of great wealth,
great culture, and great corruption both politically and socially. Of the
seven churches of Asia Minor, Ephesus is the only one that we can trace to
the beginning.
It is believed Paul established this congregation of God's
people on the heels of Apollos who came through before him. On
Paul's third missionary journey he remained there two years preaching in
the Jewish Synagogue (Acts 19:8,10). As a result of this, "all
they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and
Greeks" (Acts 19:10). Timothy was an evangelist in Ephesus
when Paul wrote both letters to Him. The church in Ephesus had
elders, "And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of
the church" (Acts 20:17). Thus we learn that the church in
Ephesus was a tremendous influence on the spreading of the gospel
throughout the Roman province of Asia.
This church was not a tiny little congregation of
the Lord's people nestled away in a remote community. This
congregation was the result of years of evangelism and instruction by
Apostles and other great teachers. This congregation was directly
involved with the evangelism of the entire province of Asia. This
congregation was large and influential, located in one of the richest
cities in all of the Roman Empire. Thus the Christians in Ephesus
developed a satisfied complacency in their service to God and allowed
themselves to become a little too full of themselves. As such they
were not motivated by love and it appears that they desired the praises of
men more than the praises of God. It is with this background that Christ
addresses this Church.
The message to them was threefold. Hard
times are on the horizon, stop loving yourselves and return to your first
love or suffer eternal consequences and he that overcomes will eat of the
tree of life.
Revelation 2:1
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These things saith he
that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, he that walketh in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks:"
As discussed earlier this is Jesus Christ who
walks among the congregations of His church which is His body over which
He rules as the head.
"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."
Jesus calls attention to the good qualities the
church was exhibiting. They were rich in works and labor, they were
being patient and faithful, they had encountered people who were evil and
they could not bear them. They had confronted and exposed false
prophets. They had worked for the name of Christ and not given up in
spite of some pretty severe persecution.
"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love."
Notwithstanding all the good works they had done,
Jesus had something against them. The importance of being a well
rounded Christian complete and sound in the faith cannot be overstated.
We are commanded to Love Christ "out of a pure heart and a good
conscience and faith unfeigned" (1 Timothy 1:5), and to "follow
righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out
of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22).
Going through the motions of Christianity is not
enough. Evangelizing, visiting the sick, helping the widows and
afflicted is for nothing if it not done out of love for Christ and for
each other. We
are His bride, a bride is expected to love her husband.
"Remember therefore from whence thou art
fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee
quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou
repent."
These Christians had fallen away from their first
love. They were going through the motions of Christianity but they
didn't have their hearts in the right place. They were told to
repent. Their departure from their first love was sin and Jesus said
if they did not repent and return, He would remove their candlestick.
This can only mean one thing. Christians of the first century were
warned by Jesus Christ that they could lose their standing as a
congregation of His church. And they were doing everything right
with only one exception and if they did not fix the problem, they were
going to be rejected by Christ.
The Church who would claim Jesus as her head
cannot depart or deviate from the truth and trust in their righteous deeds
to pull them through. All of the good deeds and works we can do will
not erase unrighteousness. Jesus was unwilling to overlook this one
thing in favor of all the rest of the good things they were accomplishing.
The importance of this cannot be overstated. An entire congregation
of the Lord's church can lose their candlestick, their light, their
standing, their fellowship with Christ over a single shortcoming, except they
repent.
"But this thou hast, that thou hatest the
deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."
How significant this is that Jesus would mention
the Nicolaitans at this time. The Nicolaitans started their apostasy
with a single transgression. They had been around for a while when
Revelation was written, but in the beginning of their existence they
started by eating meat sacrificed to idols. There was a lot of
pagan worship going on in the Roman Empire and many of them included
animal sacrifices. When these sacrifices were completed, the meat
from the dead animals was used for huge public feasts. The
Nicolaitans wanted to participate in these feasts and they did so in
transgression of God's will (Acts 15:29). This was the beginning of their
apostasy. As time went on, they assimilated many of the other
idolatrous pagan practices into their worship until it resembled nothing
of Christian worship. How fitting for Jesus to correct a
church who was guilty of only one transgression and then conclude with an
example of one that likewise started with one transgression and ended up
far worse. When Jesus mentioned the Nicolaitans to the Ephesian
church, He used them as an example of where they could end up starting
with but a single transgression.
The application for us today is the same.
We are to be diligent to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15),
contending earnestly for the faith that was once delivered (Jude 3),
realizing and accepting that the commandments of men constitute vain
worship in the eyes of God (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7). Apostasy no
matter how far from righteousness it may be in then end, starts with a
single departure from the truth. Jesus' warning to the church at
Ephesus has just as much significance for the church today as it did for
the church in Ephesus 2000 years ago.
"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."
Finally, Jesus makes a promise to the faithful of Ephesus. He was
saying to them and to us today that He will give eternal life to those who
remain faithful and overcome all obstacles and remain faithful to the end.
The application for us today is no different. Christians of the 21st
century are not any different than those of the 1st. God's will has
not changed in 2000 years. Those of us today who hope to inherit
eternal life must overcome and endure to the end.
Next: The church
at Smyrna
Previous:
John's Vision of Christ
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