7 Letters_The Church of Ephesus
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This sermon will explore the church of Ephesus, a church that was zealous for truth, but lost it's love for Christ in fighting the good fight. We will see that love and zeal are two essential "God-rails"; if we lose either one, we spiritually crash.
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7 Letters_The Church of Ephesus
- 2. The Most Envied Pastor in the World Pastor Ronald D. Williams
- 5. The Church of Ephesus Achieving the goal and missing the mark
- 6. First Point Jesus affirms the church that is zealous
- 7. Revelation 2 1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
- 8. Revelation 2 2 “‘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.
- 9. Revelation 2 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
- 10. Background on Ephesus Ephesus was… •An important commercial center.
- 12. Background on Ephesus Ephesus was… •An important political center.
- 13. Background on Ephesus Ephesus was… •An important religious center.
- 16. Acts 19 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.
- 17. Acts 19 25 These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
- 18. Acts 19 26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.
- 19. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” (Acts 19)
- 20. Background on the Ephesian Church 1. Faced fierce opposition by non- believers. 2. Faced serious infiltration by false teachers. 3. Exhibited diligence in rooting out false teachers.
- 21. Second Point Jesus rebukes the church that loses its first love.
- 22. Revelation 2 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
- 23. Revelation 2 5 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 lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
- 24. The Ephesian believers greatest strength, their dedication to battle for truth, became their greatest weakness.
- 25. “Every virtue carries within itself the seed of its own destruction.”
- 27. Third Point Jesus wants us to be both loving and zealous.
- 28. Revelation 2 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
- 29. Revelation 2 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
Editor's Notes
- ACHIEVING THE GOAL AND MISSING THE MARK Proposition: Christian zeal is not a substitute for Christian love.
- Revelation 2 1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
- 2 “‘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.
- 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
- 1. Ephesus was an important commercial center. a. Ephesus was situated at the mouth of the Cayster river on a gulf of the Aegean Sea. Thus, transportation of goods was easily achieved. b. The traveler from Rome landing at Ephesus would proceed up a magnificent avenue 35 feet wide and lined with columns which led from the harbor to the center of the city. c. There were three great trade routes which converged at the city. This heightened its commercial importance and boosted its population to over a quarter of a million.
- 1. Ephesus was an important commercial center. a. Ephesus was situated at the mouth of the Cayster river on a gulf of the Aegean Sea. Thus, transportation of goods was easily achieved. b. The traveler from Rome landing at Ephesus would proceed up a magnificent avenue 35 feet wide and lined with columns which led from the harbor to the center of the city. c. There were three great trade routes which converged at the city. This heightened its commercial importance and boosted its population to over a quarter of a million.
- 1. Ephesus was an important commercial center. a. Ephesus was situated at the mouth of the Cayster river on a gulf of the Aegean Sea. Thus, transportation of goods was easily achieved. b. The traveler from Rome landing at Ephesus would proceed up a magnificent avenue 35 feet wide and lined with columns which led from the harbor to the center of the city. c. There were three great trade routes which converged at the city. This heightened its commercial importance and boosted its population to over a quarter of a million.
- . However, the feature Temple was the Temple to Artemis (Diana in Latin), an Anatolian fertility goddess. The Temple to Artemis is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The original Temple burned in a fire in 356 BC. The Temple was rebuilt by Dinocrates, the architect who built the city of Alexandria.
- Here is an artist’s rendition of how the Temple of Artemis likely appeared in its full splendor. It was four times the size of the Parthenon in Greece. It was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide, and sixty feet high. There were 127 pillars of Parian marble, and 36 of them were overlaid with gold and jewels. The entire structure was adorned by the work of many artists. The beauty of this structure could easily obscure the evil that resided within. Diana, or Artemis, was worshipped through immoral sex acts. In his commentary on Acts, Arno Gaebelein states that Ephesus was a “stronghold of Satan in which many evil things, both superstitious and Satanic, were practiced. Books containing formula for sorcery and other ungodly forbidden arts were plentiful in that city. The occult worship of Diana was big business. Listen the Luke’s description in Acts 19: c. The account of Paul's stormy visit to Ephesus shows the economic importance of the Temple of Artemis. The Lord empowered Paul to work many miracles in Ephesus, miracles which asserted the power of the gospel and challenged the impotence of idolatry.
- Acts 19 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.
- 25 These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
- 26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.
- 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” (Acts 19)
- 1. Fierce opposition by non-believers. It was this militant pagan city which was the mission field of the Ephesian church. Their opposition was acute and frequently violent. Jesus affirms their tireless work, their unceasing effort to communicate the gospel to this spiritually dead city. 2. Serious infiltration by false teachers. Robert Mounce comments that: The importance of Ephesus in the ancient world and its crucial location on the trade route between Rome and the East made it susceptible to itinerant frauds. The problem was especially acute in predominantly Gentile areas, where recent converts were not schooled in OT backgrounds and could easily misunderstand Christian terminology. 3. Diligence in rooting out false teachers. a. The Ephesians had a solid understanding of the gospel. They knew the truth and recognized counterfeits. b. They were not a timid church. Once they discerned that a teacher was false, they subjected him to church discipline, including expulsion from the congregation. Transition: Wearied from within and without, they remained vigilant, energetic and rigorously maintained their doctrinal purity. For all these positive qualities, Jesus affirms them. The world we live in is also hostile to the gospel. False teachers abound as well. During the last several years we as Evangelicals have experienced the corrosive effects of a culture which is loosing its moral bearings. Gay characters on many sitcoms, blasphemous movies like the Last Temptation of Christ, Mapelthorpe exhibit and the Andre Serrano work, "Piss Christ." Debased art like one recently on exhibit wherein the artist placed the aborted remains of her own child in a bell jar filled with blood and received critical acclaim for her work and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. We have also experienced erosion from within. Immorality amongst clergy, growing materialism within the church, lack of evangelistic zeal and an increasing worldliness. Churches who remain zealous in such a hostile climate will assuredly receive affirmation from the Lord.
- Second Point Jesus rebukes the church that loses its first love
- 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
- 5 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 lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
- The Ephesians greatest strength, their dedication to battle for truth, was also their greatest weakness. Mounce diagnosed the Ephesian problem well with these insightful words:
- Every virtue carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction. The Ephesian Christians had become a church of battle-scarred warriors. They were decisive, incisive, men of action. They studied Gods Word, in order that they might put on the full armor of God. They preached Christ, defended Christ, but somewhere in that process, they began to wane in their love for Christ. 1. Christ had become a cause and ceased to be the object of their love and devotion. 2. Similar to the Crusades of the Middle Ages, where thousands died for Christ, but few loved Him. 3. Imagine the offense of these words. How could anyone challenge their love for Christ? Look at all they had done, all they had suffered. 4. Zealousness is admirable. However, it is not a substitute for Loving God. Without the Love of God, zealousness becomes dead orthodoxy. Goals are met, objectives achieved, but the whole enterprise becomes meaningless. 5. Once the love of God wanes, there is a caustic transformation within the Body of Christ. Mounce observed: A cooling of personal love for God inevitably results in the loss of harmonious relationships with the body of believers. Jesus had made it clear that "by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." (Jn. 13:35) Brotherly love was the distinctive badge of Christian discipleship, but at Ephesus hatred of heresy and extensive involvement in the works appropriate to faith had allowed the first fresh glow of love to God and one another to fade.
- 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
- 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ Jesus affirms their vigilance once again. He tells them that he stands in agreement with their assessment of the Nicolaitans, a heretical sect which claimed to accept Christianity, yet retained their idolatry and their immorality. Jesus encourages them to continue to overcome false teachers and to rekindle their spiritual passion for God. If they do, he assured them of eternal life in Paradise.
- This star imagery and its use in Revelation 1:20 opens up an interesting question: “Were these churches especially blessed to have a guardian angel or does God extend this angelic protection to every true church?” In other words, is there an angel whose primary responsibility is to look out for the churches of Geneseo, or even, in particular, GEFC? I don’t believe that we can answer this question decisively. However, there is a true principle that we can assert. Jesus deeply loves his church and uses angels, at times, to safeguard and protect them. I can’t help but think of the old chorus: We are standing on Holy Ground… and we know that there are angels all around. Against the drab backdrop of the Isle of Patmos, Jesus, the revelator, revealed His glory, His majesty, His power, His love for the lost, and His love for the church. In fact, he loved the church too much to let it become less than it was called to be… His precious bride. That is what we are going to explore over the next 7 weeks… Jesus love for His bride, and I will do my best to help us come to know these churches and not miss Jesus.