That's for the Lord's help. Father, as we come to your Word, we pray once again you would speak by your Spirit that we might grow in holiness, in discernment, in courage, and in love. Give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, but the Spirit is saying to our church through your Word, for Jesus sake we pray. Amen.
You heard Eric mention in the prayer I was in Detroit over the weekend speaking at a conference and had the privilege of preaching at one of my former associate pastors churches who was sent out from my last church before I came here to a church in Detroit. He's also a really good friend of Eric and his family and it's really exciting what the Lord is doing in the PCA all over this country even up in Yankee land up there. They had a goal I think maybe 10 years ago with this Detroit church planting project to have 10 PCA churches in the Detroit area by 2030 and now seven years out from that they've recalibrated the goal to be 35 churches by 2035 because things are going, God's opening all sorts of doors and churches are planting and multiplying and so it's exciting to be there and try to spur that on. This particular church is a church plant and meeting in rented facilities and just a couple of years ago and old historic Catholic church Mike Miller has been there and so have a few others in the heart of Detroit. Nobody was worshipping at this church anymore and rather than had it destroyed or turned into a bar or something they signed a 20 year lease with this PCA church so it is one of the most beautiful and most Catholic PCA churches you could ever, they gave them permission to cover up some of the statues but not quite all but it is really a remarkable place for a church plant to be meeting in this sort of a Romanesque kind of Gothic cathedral so it was good to be there and got back last night and good to be with you. We come this morning to one of my favorite sections in the whole Bible because I think it's so orderly I like that there's a real rhythm we'll see to it and because it is so amazingly relevant to our world the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation these were seven real churches and also seven representative churches, seven churches in Asia Minor, Revelation there were more than just these seven but think about Turkey in particular Western Turkey some of you have probably been on a tour of some of these places I've been to Ephesus the church address here this morning I haven't been to most of the other ones but it's remarkable to think of the churches being here two thousand years ago and the problems that they faced are the same problems that we face the same issues found in these ancient churches are the ones we find in our contemporary churches we find that though technology has rapidly changed medical history has rapidly all sorts of changes in two thousand years you know it's the same people human nature and when you get a bunch of human beings together saved people but together you have the same sorts of strengths and the same sorts of weaknesses Jesus hasn't changed people are still people Jesus is still Lord the church is still the church and there are still congregations like each of these seven congregations rich apathetic churches like Laodicea small persecuted churches like Philadelphia fancy shallow churches like Sardis and that's why this is one of my favorite sections in the Bible because it's not hard to find contemporary application and because in the Lord's wisdom he gave us seven different churches with seven different kinds of struggles if we just had one church of these seven we'd be tempted to think ah that for all time is the problem that's plaguing the church they don't love people or they don't have good theology or they're too compromising or they're not accommodating enough and we think that there was just one narrow set of problems this is often what happens in our internet age when you can speak about everyone to everyone and so we tend to think that the problems we see or the problems that feel scariest to us are the problems that be devil every church to realize no some churches are strong over here and weak over here and some churches are just the opposite and by moving through all seven of these letters we see the sorts of issues we won't find all of them here but perhaps we can find temptations to all of the weaknesses and can find some evidences of all of the strengths even at Christ's covenant we start then in Revelation chapter two hopefully you're there to this first church the church in Ephesus verse one to the angel of the church in Ephesus right the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks among the seven golden lamp stands I know your works your toil and your patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are evil but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false 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 that you have abandoned the love you had at first remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the works you did at first if not I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent yet this you have you hate the works of the Nicolayatins which I also hate you who has an ear that I'm here with the spirit says to the churches to the one who conquer as I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God here at the first church let me give you some introductory information about these two chapters and these seven churches these seven letters follow a very definite pattern there are eight parts which appear in most of these letters first an introduction to write to the angel of the church in such and such a place in scholars debate whether the angel was some representative angel or many people think that the angel and it's just the Greek word for messenger that the angel here is sort of a spiritual name for the earthly office of the pastor and that these letters are going to the human pastoral leaders in these congregations instructions to write to the angel seconds we didn't have a statement about Jesus which matches the problem in the church so the description of Jesus is often to mirror something about maybe the strength or the weakness in this congregation third there's often a section of commendation it usually begins by saying I know I know and here's a list of some things you're good at then there is an accusation but I have this against you fifth there's a call to change in repentance therefore strengths weaknesses do this six there's a statement of what the Lord will do sometimes it's an offer of encouragement if they press on sometimes it's a warning of judgment if they don't turn around and instead then there's a promise to him who overcomes and ate there is an invitation he who has ears let him hear what the spirit says to the churches that phrase there he who has ears is a take on Jesus saying he often said he who has ears to hear let him hear the idea is not everyone will have this spiritual sensory perception to understand this to hear it a right some will be like Isaiah 6.9 ever hearing never understanding ever seeing never perceiving but those who have the mind of Christ will hear the spirit of Christ and will obey the central aim is that they would become overcomers probably heard me say this before but if there's one word that summarizes the theme of the entire book of Revelation I know it's a difficult book and I'm just taking the the easy sections here all the hard stuff comes after chapter five but if there's one theme and it's here in the opening chapters and throughout the 22 chapters it's a word that all of you already know it's the Greek word Nike Nika that's the Greek word for victory it's translated here with each of these seven churches to him who overcomes to him who conquers that's the Greek word Nike so each of the letters were sealed with a swoosh as they went out to the ancient world
Nike these letters are written to churches who have obstacles to overcome for some of them they're sin issues for others their weaknesses for others it's opposition pressing in on them and they need to keep going despite the persecution but each one of these churches is facing an obstacle and the question is whether they will be overcomers or succammers whether they will conquer and be victorious or whether they will give up and capitulate these seven letters conform to this definite pattern but within this definite pattern each church is different they have different sins they have different strengths Ephesus is theologically morally sound but deficient in love Smyrna is vibrant but fearful Pergamum is witnessing but undiscerning Syatira is loving but over tolerant Sardis is impressive on the outside but dead on the inside Philadelphia is struggling but strong and Leodicea is affluence but apathetic just from that quick summary you can understand how these are real churches but also representative churches these are the very same issues that churches have today two churches have nothing bad said about them Smyrna and Philadelphia and it's no coincidence that the two churches that have nothing bad about them are the struggling churches facing outward opposition they may be small they may be struggling they may be persecuted but Jesus here has nothing negative to say about them their struggle is to keep pressing on in the midst of suffering two churches have practically nothing good said about them Sardis and Leodicea and they're really the opposites of the struggling small churches these are the churches that seem to have a great reputation for looking very fancy but on the inside they're not and in three of the seven have a mixture of good and bad that's Ephesus Pergamum in Syatira the underlying struggle for each of the seven churches is the same how are we to be overcomers in a hostile pagan world and so we start with this church at Ephesus one of the leading cities in the ancient world estimated population at this time around 250,000 that's a massive city for the ancient world it fell along three major trade routes was influential in commerce in exports it boasted a major marketplace a stadium theaters one seating 25,000 people the religious atmosphere in Ephesus was diverse and idolatrous there were imperial cults that is worship of the emperor they were common you have the famed temple to Artemis which we read about in Acts 19 when the people gathered all days to shout great is Artemis of the Ephesians you've heard of the Parthenon well the temple of Artemis was four times larger than the Parthenon considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world so this was a pluralistic pagan religious place but in the midst of this great city with all of its religious pluralism there was a church in Ephesus started by Paul and his associates pastor later by Timothy and according to tradition John himself John is the one receiving this revelation this last book of the Bible according to tradition John himself was an overseer there there was a relatively brief but a strong tradition of Christian witness in Ephesus and notice from the letter here this church in Ephesus had many strengths it was excellent in many ways they were hard workers they are bearing up verse three for my name's sake verse two I know your work your toil your patience endurance the Lord doesn't want lazy followers Paul and defending himself to the Corinthian said I have worked much harder than all of them yet not I but Christ who works within me Paul said I am working my tail off here and this same attitude characterized the Ephesian Christians they were not just talkers but doers they didn't wait for someone else to fix the problem they fixed it themselves they kept going they pressed on they were disciplined they stayed up late to get it done they worked up early they had a Protestant work ethic before they even knew the word Protestant they were there getting it done steadfastness active steadfastness and that they labored but also a passive steadfastness and that they endured suffering hardship the world they lived in was hostile to their beliefs certainly the world they inhabited was what much more hostile to their beliefs than even are increasingly post-Christian society might be hostile to ours you see verse two there's a play on words in the Greek it says I know your deeds and your toil or your hard work Greek word is copos then verse three says but you are not growing weary copio I know your copos but you're not getting copio but you can put it in English you are laboring hard but you're not getting labored verse two says you cannot tolerate or bear with wicked men the word is bastazo and in verse three you are enduring hardship bearing up same word bastazo for my name so you might say in English you don't put up with wicked men but you put up with a lot for my name sake these Ephesian Christians I liken them in my mind to the world war two generation that greatest generation they're called work hard rule of your sleeves getter done suffer long maybe sometimes that generation of which some of you are a part has not been really good at kind of expressing what's going on inside but what you have been good at don't gripe don't complain it's the way things are life is hard press on work hard that was this church and they're commended for their toughness more than that more than just being tough hard working notice they're doctrinally sound it says you do not tolerate wicked men verse two says you have tested those who call themselves false apostles and are not and have found them to be false so these are discerning Christians there's false teachers roaming around and they've got bestselling books and they got a big following online and they got popular conferences and the people discern and realize nope that's not true perhaps they were especially vigilant because Paul told them to be vigilant you may recall act chapter 20 Paul is stailing away from my leotus and he gathers there the Ephesian elders the men who had shepherd this congregation and do you remember what Paul told those Ephesian elders keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers be shepherds of the church of God which he bought with his own blood I know that after I leave savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them so be on your guard that's what Paul told them and here in those intervening decades they had done just that they had been on their guard perhaps it was Paul's instructions to Timothy remember Timothy also is in Ephesus and he was charged for symphony one three command certain men not to teach false doctrines anymore Paul even named names sometimes you have to name names now don't name names if nobody knows the names but if everybody in the church is following some false teachers and everyone's wondering what you think about it then you have to name them so Paul says beware of in Alexander I handed them over to Satan not to blaspheme have nothing to do with these false teachers Ephesus had gotten a lot of good instruction and here they were in the latter years of the first century if we take in the late date of revelation John is writing this around 90 AD in the reign of Domitian it was one of the bad emperors which is why lurking in the background of this entire letter is persecution and the threat of opposition from Rome but they had maintained their steadfastness this was a theologically rock solid congregation they knew what was right heresies about Jesus oh get them out of here legalism nope anti-nominism spotted a mile away a few years after this book of revelation the church father Ignatius wrote to Ephesus and praised them because he heard the report that no heresy or sect or false teaching could even gain an audience in the Ephesian church they were taught so well their reputation stretching even into the next century was no bad books getting your book no no false teachers are on your sermon list of these were doctrinally sound people and not just that ethically sound in fact defaults teaching and we can see this in the other letters to come but likely the false teaching that was threatening was not so much a point of esoteric doctrine as it was an ethical matter how do you live if you follow Christ and you're saved by grace can you live any way you want maybe it's the case that the body is so bad and the spirit is good that what you do with the body really doesn't matter well here again about this group the Nicolayatins you see them in verse 6 not the nicotines that's a different kind of you know danger but the Nicolayatins we don't know exactly who they were but it seems that they were following Balam's error as we read about later in Revelation 2 and 3 Balam was the prophet that was hired by Baylek to curse Israel but he did a blessing Israel but later in the book of numbers we find that Balam eventually was the instrument of leading the people into sexual sin in idolatry and so the Nicolayatins somehow are associated with his error of Balam they were that anything goes crowd and what we read over and over the false teaching that is most tempting to the people is the teaching that says go ahead and compromise with the food sacrifice to idols compromise with idolatry and compromise with sexual immorality done really matter you can have a compromise with your worship and it's okay you can have compromise with sex sounds sort of relevant these are the people who probably said you're free in Christ why don't you live like you're free in Christ don't you believe in God's grace don't you believe that God is a God of love when God wants you to be happy when God wants you to be satisfied this was the error and the Ephesians had none of it they were not drawn away like some of the other churches were being drawn away they were not drawn away by such notions it's interesting here the church at Ephesus is commended for two things that we would rarely hear churches commended today look at verse 5 he warns them as we'll see and I may remove your lampstand but then he comes back in verse 6 to tell them something good yet this you have you hate the works of the Nicolayatins which I also hate and up in verse 2 you cannot bear those who are evil you have not grown weary that word bear with those who are evil could even be translated you do not tolerate those who are evil in other words you got two things Ephesus way to go you hate and you're not tolerant whoa really Jesus that's what you want to commend them for I don't know those are the two worst things you could be intolerant and filled with hate well yes of course those are bad things if you hate people those are bad things if you are intolerance of things that you ought to tolerate but here in this context Jesus says you don't tolerate wickedness good for you you hate the teaching of the Nicolayatins the works of the Nicolayatins notice what Jesus says I also hate that right there this is Jesus remember Jesus is the one giving these letters Jesus hated the works of the Nicolayatins make sure you don't have a cartoon version of Jesus Jesus says to the church and Ephesus I commend you you don't tolerate false teaching and you hate immorality this church was your exemplary let's just put it in contemporary sort of language I know it's anachronistic but this was your exemplary conservative church close eye on theological orthodoxy Jesus might say to them today you're a faithful people you read the right books you declare truth in an agent of air you haven't compromised with the world you can spot false teaching you don't follow it you're hard working you're truth defending you're immorality hating you've not compromised with sexual sin I commend you for that and you know that on the other hand is coming and we'll get there but before we get there just notice Jesus genuinely commends them for that he doesn't say half-heartedly yeah yeah yeah yeah okay you got good theology and you work hard and yeah yeah yeah as if he's just clearing his throat so he can then just blast them no Jesus says I know you have a lot of good things about you Jesus does not tell them to be less of what they are in order to become more of what they are not this is how it often works in our people will look at the conservative church and you got all your doc it's you people it's with your doctrines it's with your morality it's all of that that's what's getting in the way Jesus doesn't say that's getting in the way he says good on you mate that's exactly what I want to see I know you're working hard I know you don't tolerate wickedness I know you're discerning people you're theologically sent you're ethically sent he does not tide them for their strengths he doesn't say doctrines the problem he doesn't say moralities the problem he doesn't say hard work is the problem he says I commend you genuinely these are exemplary however these exemplary things in your church Jesus says are not the only things that matter in the church not all is well in Ephesus yet I have this against you that you have abandoned your first love verse 4 see the church had a lot of strength and it had one big cancerous problem they didn't love at one time they were marked by love we know that because Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 1 15 and 16 he said he was giving thanks unceasingly for the Ephesians because of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints so they had been marked by great love which is why Jesus says to them you've lost something you used to have this used to be you and it's gone some people think it means love for God that they lost knows there's no object we don't know what love were they missing was it love for God was it a feeling of emotion and worship well in the Old Testament whenever God's people are said to forsake their love for God they're pictured as adulterous and idolatrous and that's just the opposite here that they're not spiritual adulterers they're not spiritual idolaters so I don't think that the love here is that they failed to love God I think it's not so much the first table of the law as it is the second table of the law not the first great commandment but the second great commandment they love God they worshiped him they were in spirit and truth but something happened and their love for their neighbors was leaking they stopped loving one another in the church maybe they had keen minds busy hands and shriveled hearts it's a classic case but we already read earlier in the service from 1 Corinthians 13 if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but I have not loved if I have to give the prophecy you can fathom all mysteries but have not loved if I give all I possess to the poor surrender my body to the flames or Jesus might say here to Ephesus if you keep out the false teachers if you walk on the straight and narrow path if you work hard for my name but you have not loved you're you're a clanging symbol and worse than that he threatens that they'll no longer be a church that's what it means when he says that I will remove your lampstand from you you don't repent from this verse five I'll come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent only the first and the seventh churches are threatened with actual destruction Leo Decia because it had grown lifeless and Ephesus because it had grown loveless maybe the people cared about being right and they didn't care about each other maybe they had a careful eye for theological and moral error and it had become a critical eye in finding fault with one another this is always a great danger for sharp steadfast careful churches now I I'm I'm I'm not preaching this thinking that this is Christ covenant I think you love each other well give to each other well are eager to care for one another so don't hear in there ah we must pastor must think were this conservative theological church it doesn't love anymore by God's grace I I don't think that's us but with so many of the strengths I think of this church we must be careful and be on guard against the weaknesses of this church perhaps Ephesus was quick to judge and slow to forgive perhaps their keen minds meant they analyzed everyone and everything maybe they were so used to fighting the world that they got bored with fighting the world and they started fighting each other there are certain people they always need to be against something I've heard it said before about some Christians they're good and wartime and they're bad in peacetime meaning they're good when you got to have them in the trenches and they got to fight off the theological and they're good they're courageous and they're there with you but they never quite learn how to be at peace they don't learn how to live and settle down there's always the next person to tackle there's the next issue to conquer there's the next person to defeat always against something someone this is why many denominations end up splitting again and again and again fighting gets in their blood and lack discernment fighting for the right things or for the wrong things I learned at least I hope I learned this early in ministry that it wasn't enough that I was against all of the right things to be against if I wasn't for anything it's often the problem today in politics isn't it you just each party just sets themselves up just what are you about not being them what are you for I'm against that but it knows exactly what you're positively offering or for it's just they're bad and I'm not them the Lord's point to emphasis is this you hate what I hate that's good but do you love what I love you can build a church or at least a following by gathering people together who all hate the same things and people are drawn to listen to those who hate what they hate and even better yet to hate the people who hate them you can get a following of people in fact it's a lot easier than to get a people together who love all the same loves this love takes a while to grow and to percolate and you have to sacrifice for one another and you have to put up with things hate comes quickly man you get so upset and it's a quick bond with someone you're you're upset with the same things I'm upset about or friends you hate what I hate work together and Jesus says good you should there are things out there to hate and Jesus himself hates evil how could he not he's too pure to look upon sin but he says that this is not enough to hate what I hate do you love what I love too often churches lose sight of love love for their neighbors outside the church and love for neighbors inside the church perhaps it was a love for outside for witnessing that may be part of it but if that verse from Ephesians one is any indication they used to be noted for their love for all the saints that that's the love that has grown cold Jesus says consequently he who walks among the lamp stands do you see that verse one him who holds the seven stars who walks among the seven golden lamp stands remember I said the description of Jesus is given to match the problem that he's going to see in the church so the picture is of Jesus walking among the seven golden lamp stands and he wants to see with Ephesus do you have a light anymore remember I said my disciples would be salt and light are you burning brides or are you just burning each other up they defended the light but were they shining in dark places were they bearing witness to Christ their love for Christ Jesus says if your lamp doesn't shine a light I'll take it away that's what you do when you we have so many rooms in our house that my wife is always saying we need more lights in this room so dark we want lamp lamp and we buy those things and I don't know if it's something about having a baseball team worth of children around but they're always breaking and it's not just the light bulbs but the the lamps we've so many of those glass gloves have fallen and broken and eventually you spend a bunch of money on it just out what good is the light but doesn't emit light you get rid of a lamp that doesn't have any light Jesus is I'm walking among the lamp stands and I don't know if there's any light left it's a scary proposition now this doesn't mean every time a church closes that it's the Lord's judgment churches close and disappear for many different reasons but the reason this church was threatened with destruction was because the light of love was growing dim some of you have toured Ephesus I've been there before it's amazing to walk and think of where Paul was and where the church might have been and see the the ruins there and you realize there is no church there's a book based on this letter with the appropriate and provocative title love or die it's true you've heard live free or die this is love or die when churches don't love they die and what we need is a church that's not simply the gathering of people with the same sort of temperament you see to have a church where everyone is soft and nice and tolerant and rather indifferent about doctrine that doesn't take a work of the spirit that's just maybe your personality and on the other hand to have a church filled with people who are very smart and they're defiant and they will tell it like it is and they'll work hard that church by itself does not take a work of the spirit that may just be your temperament but to have a church that is the constellation of all of these diverse excellencees to walk in and say you people absolutely you care about your theology you care about the truth you care about not compromising with the world you hate what Jesus hates and you know what you're actually good people to be around and you care for one another that only comes by the work of the spirit what is Jesus tell the church to do at Ephesus and what would he tell any of us if we find ourselves with a love growing cold he gives three commands repent remember return repent from this lovelessness he says remember verse five what you used to do and then return that is do that thing you used to do love your brother love the one who frustrates you because Jesus died for him serve your sister who's never treated you as well as you think she should have because Jesus is her shepherd to bear witness in a dark world some of those sheep will hear the master's voice Jesus said the reward if you overcome this temptation to lovelessness is to grant to eats of the tree of life the fight to overcome is not just a fight to endure suffering it's not just a fight for purity it's not just a fight to withstand compromise we'll see that in the other churches but it is also a fight to love so all of us would do well to consider if we had love flowing through our veins or have we contented ourselves to be right about many things and to not live a life stained by the world Jesus says you will inherit eternal life in the paradise of God if you exhibit spiritual life in your love now whether you think they deserve it or not wasn't this the the genius and of the civil rights movement at its best in the 50s and 60s is that at its best African Americans and many others with them said we will show dignity to those who do not show us dignity we will keep on loving even when they don't deserve to be loved and so Christians we will have the opportunity in our day to treat with dignity those who may not treat you with respect to love those who may not be loving to you and within the church to serve and minister to those even who may frustrate you contending for the faith is necessary being passionate for the truth is good holiness is worth fighting for we don't want one iota of compromise on the truth we need courage for these days but we also need love we never want to be a church that just gathered together because like-minded people who like to think and talk about the same ideas well you might like to talk about all sorts of other ideas and it just happens to be that you like to talk about Bible ideas well that's good we need people who are unafraid to take unpopular stands we need people vigilant for what is right but if i can steal from pilgrims progress we need valiant for truth to meet up with mr. great heart may it be true of each one in this congregation that meeting in Christ covenant valiant for truth and mr. great heart because of course we see in the Lord Jesus Christ our example not just our example but the very embodiment of love how could we not love one another when we have been so loved by God in Christ think of those famous words from first Corinthians 13 and how we see everything that we ought to be in Jesus Jesus is patience and kind Jesus does not envy your boast Jesus is not arrogant or rude Jesus does not insist on his own way in fact he lay down his life for his enemies Jesus is not irritable or resentful Jesus never rejoices at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth Jesus bore all things he believed all things hoped all things endured all things for us and so we have in Jesus forgiveness for our sins and we have the embodiment of the God who is love and walked among us may it be so of Christ covenant there is a story according to church tradition that the apostle John who wrote this book was for a time the bishop of Ephesus and he was a great model for everything that Ephesus needed he was an apostle of love and he was a son of thunder there's a story handed down that on one occasion John was in a bathhouse in Ephesus and he heard that the heretic Serenthus was in the same bathhouse at the same time and John said to his companions let us fly less even this bathhouse shall be struck down because Serenthus the enemy of the truth is inside John's and I'm not going to be in the same gymnasium with this guy because the house is going to fall he's such a heretic and yet it's also said that at the end of his life John's sermons were essentially over and over this one line which we actually find in his epistles little children love one another that's the model for us of course we see it in Jesus who came from the Father full of grace and truth let's pray Father in heaven would you so work in these people here in this beloved church that we may grow in all that was strong about the church in Ephesus and you would keep us from all that made them weak give to us love where it is lacking may we repent and remember and return that we would love having been so greatly loved by Jesus in his name we pray amen