Part 2/8
Series: Revelation | Will the Church Be on the Right Side of History?
Read: Revelation 2-3
Read: Ephesians 4:17-5:2
What would you do if Jesus showed up to your Church on Sunday morning? I know, it’s not a very theological question. The Spirit of God is always present with us, especially so whenever we gather to worship. We see here in Revelation that the Son of God stands in the midst of the Churches. He’s there, but is He pleased?
We get a glimpse into these seven Churches in Revelation and one thing is perfectly clear, there were just as many problems in the first century as there are today. While there are some pretty heavy evaluations handed out, the point of Jesus’ criticism was to bring the Churches back to worship so that they would persevere and have victory in the final hour of testing. There is a natural fear of the uncertainty, and this fear often leads to compromise or disengagement. Jesus shows up, not to crush the Church, but to encourage them by His presence.
What Do You See When You Picture Jesus?
As Jesus introduces Himself to the seven Churches, He uses seven different attributes in His introduction. These are the same images John used to describe Jesus in chapter one when He first saw Him and fell on his face as though dead. Each of the introductions mean something different to the Church that Jesus is speaking to.
There is a similar pattern in John’s Gospel when he describes the various encounters Jesus is having. With Nicodemus, a man who had lived a long life as a priest, Jesus told him that he had to be born again. To a Samaritan woman who had been married five times and was currently living with a man out of wedlock, Jesus offered to satisfy her most fundamental desire. This is a pattern that shows how Jesus is able to present Himself to us in just the right way that we need to see Him.
To the Church in Ephesus, Jesus is pictured as the one who holds the seven stars and walks among the seven lampstands. We already know what this means as the last verse for the first chapter tells us that the seven stars are the seven angles, and the seven lampstands are the seven Churches. There is a bit of speculation what the seven angels are, heavenly creatures or physical pastors, but the principle is the same. Jesus holds authority over the leadership and dwells in the midst of His people. I think that this is especially important for the Ephesian believers to hear because they were the elite Church. They had an excellent pedigree. They had been pastored by Apollos, Paul, Timothy, and John. They were likely the mother Church to the other six and they may have felt that the preservation of their faith depended on their legacy.
When Jesus describes Himself to the Church in Smyrna He says He is the first and the last, the one who died and rose again. This was to encourage a Church who was facing heavy persecution and needed to be reminded that they had no reason to fear death. Subsequently, all of the Churches get a different description of Jesus that somehow addresses their need.
How Do You Think Your Church Would Fare on Evaluation Day?
The Ephesian Church was actually doing pretty well in their evaluation. They were hard workers and they knew how to persevere. This wasn’t a Church plant still in their honeymoon phase. They were also strict on orthodoxy. They would not tolerate the acceptance of sin, the error of false teachers, or the allure of heretical doctrines.
When you compare them to the other six Churches you can see why they stood out. Pergamum and Thyatira had compromised on their doctrine. They were tolerating sin and accepting false teachers. They were unwilling to do what was right for fear of offending anyone.
When I was in Bible college, I had a professor split us up into smaller groups to discuss some case studies of individuals who were on the verge of Church discipline. The example we were given was a man was having an affair and refused to reconcile with his wife. The husband was still going to Church, but the wife was not attending. The scenarios were pretty straight forward, but what I found interesting was that none of the other students in my group wanted to discipline the husband. They kept trying to make excuses and find a solution where everyone would be happy and the issue could be dealt with privately. Compromising on sin is a real issue that dilutes the potency of the blood of Christ until public and private confession is lost entirely.
But these other two Churches had also fallen prey to false teachers. This was the Apostle Paul’s warning that in the last days, or perilous times, false teachers would rise up to tell everyone what they wanted to hear. False doctrines would attempt to counterfeit the truth (another recurring theme in Revelation), and entice people with more immediate blessings. Like when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, so the Church is offered a lesser treasure today rather than the greater treasure in the future. Too often, we take the bait.
Ephesus was not so. They had kept the faith and guarded their teaching, but that didn’t give them a passing grade. It might seem that their offense pales in comparison to their strengths, but it is probably the greatest mistake they could ever make.
How Much Do You Love Jesus?
The Ephesians had lost their first love. That’s, at least, the way I remember reading this text growing up. More accurately, they had forsaken their first love. How does that even happen? How can you remain fully devoted to something that you don’t love?
I don’t think it’s hard to imagine what first love is all about. When I first met my wife, I would drive for two hours to sit in a coffee shop and talk to her for a few hours before driving all of the way back home. Now, I groan when she asks me to get up before her and make the coffee. It’s hard to maintain that level of intensity for an extended period of time.
In the case of the Ephesian Church, they had continued to go through all of the motions, but the emotions were not there. It’s hard to surmise specifically where they went wrong. We can read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and see how they were being encouraged to model themselves after Christ, “Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the Church.”
The Ephesian Church had done what they were told to do, but they had forgotten the motivation to do it. At the core of every imperative is the lesson of the Gospel. We get so accustomed to hearing it that we tend to tune it out. It becomes white noise in the background that no longer has an affect on us, but we would definitely notice if it was gone.
The Churches in Sardis and Laodicea were in a similar position. They are described as, “Having the appearance of life, but being dead,” and, “Neither hot nor cold.” Like the Ephesian Church, they had failed to take the Gospel to its conclusions. They had said the prayer but they hadn’t walked with God and been transformed into the image of Christ. They needed to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.
The Ephesians are given three commands, “Consider how far you have fallen, repent, and do the things you did at first.” At the core, this is the act of going through the Gospel again and again. Those who do not repeat the Gospel, lose the Gospel. And the consequences are terrible. If they didn’t repent, Christ would remove the Church from Ephesus. If we are no longer preaching the Gospel with their lives, then we are presenting a message of self-righteousness, and that is a false teaching that Jesus will not tolerate.
Can You Hear Christ Calling Out to You?
I wish I had time to go in greater depth into all of the details of these seven letters, but having already lost the advantage of brevity I just want to comment on the final promise made to these Churches. “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.”
To each of the seven Churches, the invitation is given. If you can hear, if the Word of the Spirit resonates in you, and if you press deeply into Christ and conquer through Him, there is a future hope.
What would be the ideal circumstance for the Church to thrive? We tend to think it is getting the right legislation or politicians in Washington, but the only two examples of Churches without any criticism were Churches who were suffering persecution. Smyrna and Philadelphia were praised like Ephesus for their faithfulness, but they were a difficult road to journey down.
Paul told Timothy that if anyone wanted to live a godly life, they would inevitably suffer persecution. We, however, go through great lengths to avoid any hardship. The Book of Revelation is written to Churches in various stages, with a great deal of uncertainty about the future. These prophecies were given to show the Church the upside down nature of how God brings about ultimate good.
Jesus died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. What seemed like a defeat, was actually a victory. So, John is telling the Church in his day and our Churches as well, that the way forward is not about seeking comfort, but seeking the Kingdom of God above all else. That will not be easy, but we will be better for it. It is through suffering, as Paul says, that we are united with Christ and we are transformed into His image by taking up our own cross and following Jesus.
Adam Miller is the president and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of South Chatham Community Church. This article is a condensed version of one of his sermons.