Lessons from Ephesus: Part 2 - Revelation 2: 1-7

0:50To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this, I know your deeds, your toil, perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not, and you have found them to be false, and you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen. And repent and do the deeds you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. Yet, this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

2:04I really have seven words to share with you today. One exhortation: keep the main thing the main thing. Keep the main thing the main thing. Keep the main thing the main thing. Sometimes what starts out as a good thing can easily take the place of the main thing. And when a good thing takes the place of the main thing, you lose the whole thing. Once upon a time, there is a young boy who grew up in poverty, and then one day he happened.

3:01To scope out this pretty little girl. And out of love for her, he proposed to her. They were married. And he committed himself as an expression of love for her to provide for her so that she would never know poverty. Same is true for his kids. He committed himself as an expression of love to them to provide. Well, as time went on, he became pretty successful at providing. In fact, it got so he was so successful, but soon his love for his business took priority over the love that he had for his family.

4:05Once upon a time, there was a nation who fought hard to establish, to defend, and to protect its freedom to worship God. It wanted its freedom as an expression of its love to Almighty God. But then freedom itself took priority over God. They didn't keep the main thing, the main thing. Once upon a time, there was a church, a church that was characterized by love. We read about this church at Ephesus last time. Paul says this in Ephesians 1:15, For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers. There was a time this church was characterized by love. Love for truth, love for one another. In fact, in Acts 19:19, this is a depiction of this church at Ephesus. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone. And they counted up the price of them and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. They loved the word of the Lord. They loved the truth that comes from God and God Himself.

5:56Simple delight, simple devotion. These were the distinctives of the early church at Ephesus. Before the complications of church life, having to make true disciples, defending the faith from false teachers that were coming against the church on the inside, having to stand against the persecution that was coming against the church from the outside, before all of that and their great success in confronting false doctrines and false teachings, in the midst of all this, they became a very influential church.

6:45In fact, the church became leaders in defending biblical orthodoxy. However, at some point, that became primary, and they left their first love. What started out as a good thing took priority over the main thing, and they are at risk of losing the whole thing. It is only this church where the threat of removing their lampstand is leveled against them. Keep the main thing, the main thing. I think there is a great pain of losing or seeing a first love lost. I think we see it all around us. It's one of the deepest pains we see. It's one of the greatest occasions for lament. We understand this on a national level. When a nation starts out being noble and becomes something else. Or maybe it's a corporation who seeks to provide good, healthy, wholesome entertainment and edifying, and then in their success, they abandon it completely. Or maybe it's a restaurant. Whatever it may be, there are over and over again. It's dreadful to see an institution leave its first love.

8:29Time and time again, we witness all around us loves that start out strong, that get sent away and replaced by another love. It could be some of the source of the greatest pain and devastation. I thought dad loved us. I thought dad loved mom. But now he's gone. It's obvious that he now loves something else more. Listen, God feels that same kind of pain when a church leaves its first love. Last time we began looking at the situation in Ephesus, today I want to review the lessons from Ephesus, and then I want to look at how they apply to us today.

9:28So remember, the church of Loveless Orthodoxy characterizes the church at Ephesus. We learned three lessons. We looked at what Jesus liked about the church. We looked at what Jesus did not like about the church, and two ways the problem could be fixed. Just briefly review those. First of all, what did Jesus like about the church? Well, first of all, he loved their hard-working attitude. Look back at verse 2. I know your deeds, your toil, and perseverance. Deeds, your works.

10:10I know what you're about. I know what your routine, your church life routine is organized around, and they are organized around doing good works. They're good works. And they are works that require a lot of work, labor. And they persevered in them. They labored hard and long in good works. Very few churches you can say this about. And yet, this is true about Ephesus. Second, what Jesus liked about this church was that Jesus admired their commitment to biblical truth. Look back at verse 2.

10:55And that you cannot tolerate evil men, and that you put to test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false. You see, the church at Ephesus had a keen discernment in matters of theology. They excelled at exposing false teachers. They were good at sniffing out false teachings and exposing them and correcting them. Excelled in that. And Jesus admired them for that. Third thing that Jesus admired about them was their endurance. Look at verse 3. And you have perseverance. Boy, it's hard that in itself, just having perseverance. Isn't that something?

11:48Long, hard. You have endurance. Or you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and have not grown weary. You're not ashamed of my name. In the midst of all that's going on in society around you, you are not ashamed of my name. And you have persevered and endured all the hardships and all the challenges and all the pain and all the loss that comes with being associated with my name. And you have not grown weary. Not only have they endured and persevered, but they had not burnt out. They are still strong in these things.

12:39They are contending for the truth. Others had burnt out and contending for the truth, not Ephesus. This new generation of believers had picked up the mantle of biblical orthodoxy and they were good at defending it. Wave after wave of persecution, whether it was Nero's persecution or whether it was Domitian's persecution, they were remaining steadfast in biblical orthodoxy in spite of it all. Well, that's what Jesus liked about this church. Second thing we looked at last time is what Jesus disliked about the church in Ephesus. Verse 4. But I have this against you: that you have left your first love.

13:30In the midst of all these many strengths, from all external appearances, this church was right on, solid, doing what it looked like it should be doing. And yet it had one major problem. They had divorced their first love. They had sent away their first love because they loved something else more. This wasn't just, okay, their love had grown cold. We're going to see some of that in some of these churches. Something else took first place. The first generation found their identity in Christ. They loved Jesus and they defended truth out of a love for him.

14:24They loved biblical truth because it connected them to the God of truth, who revealed himself so beautifully and gloriously in the face of Christ. This they loved. And they had to defend biblical truth as an expression of love for the God of truth. The second generation found their identity in orthodoxy and their ability to defend it. Well, we're pretty good at this. I defy you to come find anything wrong with our doctrinal statement. They didn't keep the main thing, the main thing. Defending orthodoxy, which started out as a good thing, a necessary thing, a very good thing, surpassed the main thing.

15:26And when a good thing surpasses the main thing, you can lose the whole thing. The many battles against false teachers and teachings had a subtle but major impact upon the church. Loveless orthodoxy. Loveless orthodoxy. Well, then, last time we looked at two ways the problem could be fixed. Two ways the problem could be fixed. Or, not could, let me say this, would be fixed. The problem will be fixed one of two ways. Look back at verse 5. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the things you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place. Place unless you repent. The problem would be fixed one of two ways. The problem could either be fixed by the church or it will be fixed by Christ.

16:43The problem could be fixed by the church. Three steps, three verbs. Be remembering, repent, and do. The way back to your first love is to first be remembering and then turning and then doing those things which you did at first. That's the way back to your first love as a church, as an individual, as a nation, it's a corporation, anything. But certainly for the church, the church can be remembering, repent, and do, or Christ will come and remove its lampstand.

17:37Christ will remove the church of loveless orthodoxy from among the other lampstands. He will not allow his church to be characterized by lovelessness, even if they are active in good works, even if they are. Experts in defending biblical orthodoxy and biblical truth. If they are not characterized by love, Christ removes them. God does not want love for a good ministry to take precedence over a love for the Son. Then he goes on to say in verse 6, kind of a pattern breaker of the rest of the churches. He says, This, yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

18:48You see, there's a danger in going to the opposite extreme. Moral and doctrinal laxity is not the solution that Christ is looking for. He wants the church to be, to continue to be vigilant in its defense of the truth, in its exposure of false teaching, and not be ashamed to do so. He wants them to excel in these works, to continue to endure in these works. But he wants them to do so in a spirit of love for him and his church, not just heartlessly winning. Arguments.

19:34Hating what Christ hates is good. It's just not complete. Jesus not only wants his churches to hate what he hates, but he wants them to love what he loves. And the churches that learn to do this will be the victorious church. We'll be victoriously exalting him and his father. Look at verse 7. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

20:18So, what we want to do with the rest of our morning is look at how these lessons relate to us today. We want to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches and to us. It's clear that this message is for all churches. Back at verse 7, he who is having an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. He is saying to the churches. The message is clearly. For all churches. First, the seven churches. In Revelation 2 and chapter 3, all seven were to read this message. It was to be a circular. They were all to read it. This wasn't just a message just to Ephesus and then go down, tear out that section, now go and talk to the church at Smyrna. No, they were to all read all.

21:25But it isn't just limited to those seven churches in Asia Minor. There's a complete picture of the state of the church. He is speaking to the churches through the historical situations and exhortations that he gave to the churches, and he is speaking to the churches, all subsequent churches, including ours today. The entire Christian community is in view. Well, what are we to learn? What is the Spirit saying to us today? Oh, first of all, we are to contend for the truth of Scripture. We are to imitate that for which Ephesus was complimented, their strengths.

22:16We are to earnestly, privately and corporately, contend for doctrinal purity. We want a routine that causes us to grow. In our understanding of biblical truth, in our ability to understand it, our ability to apply it, embrace it, and defend it and proclaim it. We are to unashamedly expose false teachers and teachings, regardless of where they come from. We are to be a people promoting biblical truth in all of our teaching venues. So contend for the truth of Scripture.

23:05We need to do that. But, second, we need to contend for the truth of Scripture as an expression of love for the God of Scripture. We are to avoid that for which Ephesus was criticized. Even good works do not please Jesus if they are not done out of a love for him and others. We are not to become a church of theological policemen, the scriptural secret service. Do you know the type? The religious gestapo. No, there's nothing more off-putting than an unloving rebuke.

24:00And there is nothing that brings more healing than a loving rebuke. An unloving rebuke sounds something like this. You did what? What were you thinking? What's wrong with you? Don't you know? Let me show you where you really went off the deep end. There's nothing more off-putting than an unloving rebuke. You see, there are those who think that Christianity can be reduced to simply signing on to the right doctrinal position. Listen, Christianity is more than an intellectual exercise.

25:00There are those who think they can serve Christ by theological debate. And Christianity is more than a sent to a correct position. It is an ascent that touches the heart and moves the will to honor and glorify Christ out of a love for Him. That's what truth in the soul does. It involves faith in the truth that brings about a heart. Heart-felt life-impacting volitional change. Listen, loveless orthodoxy is a comfortable place for those who want to look Christian but divorce themselves from Christ.

25:48There's a lot who want to look Christian but not really be married to Christ. And this church of loveless orthodoxy is a very attractive place to visit. You can reduce all of Christianity to intellectual assent. And I want to be very careful in saying all this. Biblical orthodoxy is necessary to know the God of Scripture. Growing in Christ's likeness is dependent upon growing in biblical truth. One cannot know him without knowing biblical truth. It is through the words of Scripture that we are connected to the God of Scripture, to the Christ of Scripture.

26:44And so we must contend for biblical truth. But when the main thing gets replaced by a good thing, we lose the whole thing. You see, one cannot know him. Without knowing biblical truth. However, one can know biblical truth without knowing him. Or stated another way: you cannot love Christ without loving orthodoxy, but you can love orthodoxy without loving Christ. Hear what the Spirit is saying. Don't let that be us. And the application is not just limited to sound doctrine. We can easily fall into the trap of defining ourselves by our ministries. Oh, yeah, we do stuff other churches don't even try to do.

27:47We sacrifice on levels that the lightweights don't even try. Why? Because we're so holy. That's why. Because we love Christ. We may be small, but our doctrine is correct. How are we to keep the main thing, the main thing? Oh, we need to learn. We need to learn how to return to our first love. We need to learn how to return. What is the main thing? Simple delight and devotion to Jesus. Let everything else, all of our pursuits of everything else, ministry, even pursuit of biblical truth, comes out of a heart of loving the one who is the truth. This is why they can't be separated.

29:03We are to remove every vestige of loveless orthodoxy from our lives. How do we do this? By remembering. Repent and do. The way back involves the same three steps that the church at Ephesus was exhorted to walk down. Back at verse 5, therefore, be remembering from where you have fallen. They were to remember their earlier state, and they had fallen. This isn't like you're slipping away. No, you have fallen. Remember where you have fallen and repent. That is, turn around. Remember where you were. Take a look at where you are and turn.

30:04And do the deeds you did at first. You see, they were to assess their former state and their current state, and they were to turn away from the lovelessness of their current state, turn back to him, and to do the things that they did at first. It starts with remembering. We are to be remembering Christ. We are to be remembering, I'd say, first of all, we need to be remembering Christ's delight and devotion to the church. Start there.

30:46This is what the Lord's Supper, this is why I believe we're commanded to take the Lord's Supper often. And I know we do it largely on the second Lord's Day each month in the evening service. I would encourage you to be there, especially for these, because we are to be remembering, first of all, His delight and His devotion in us, His delight and devotion to the Father's will, which inevitably involved His delight. Devotion to us. You remember, so we first, remember, you've lost your first love. If this is you, if this is us, this is the way back. Let's start there by remembering Christ's delight and devotion to his Father and to His church.

31:56Second, we are to remember the early days of church in history. Remember Acts 2:44? This is what it says about that early church. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all as anyone might have need. Day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

32:50To remember that early state of the church. Do what they did. They were simply devoted. Devoted to Christ. They delighted in Christ. And this created something for them to share with each other. Sacrificial devotion to one another that stemmed from the sincerity and gladness of heart in knowing that they had been united with Christ. Sins forgiven. Third, I'd say in many cases we need not only should remember the church in history, New Testament history, but even our own history as an Emmanuel Baptist Church.

33:41At least this could be true in many cases. I can remember not long ago, Emmanuel, we were not really a church of theological polish. Some of you who were here know what I mean. Okay, we were a mess. But there was love for God. There was love for each other. Listen, we didn't even know enough theology to know how different we were. But we knew enough to know that we were loved by Christ, that we had been redeemed, that our brothers and sisters in the church had been redeemed, and so we loved each other.

34:30Jesus was enough. We had that right. Jesus was enough, and we knew we wanted to serve him. So it's good to remember the main thing. Fourth, we are to remember our history as individuals. Think back to a time when all you had was Christ and when that was enough. I remember when I first met Nancy, neither one of us really had any money. She had a little more than I did. In fact, that was a time in my life when I was trying to get my possessions. I was so much about the gospel that I wanted only possessions to fit in one backpack. All my worldly possessions, I wanted in one backpack. My guitar couldn't fit, so I made an allowance. Okay, backpack plus the guitar.

35:40My sister-in-law gave me a car. It's a good car for a dollar. Of course, it took me a few months to pay it off. But that was the situation. I wasn't a guy that a father would say, Yeah, I want you to marry my daughter because she's going to be well off, right? No. But when I met Nancy, our love for each other was enough. It was enough for us to take on the world. And this illustrates our new life in Christ. Simple devotion.

36:26It's enough. Simple delight in Christ. It's enough. Do you remember the time when you realized your sin and his love for you in spite of your sin? Do you remember the time when you wanted to rid yourself of everything that offended him? Getting rid of all idols, getting rid of all entertainment. I remember when I first came to Christ, it was like I had all this awful music, and it wasn't even a thought. I want to burn it. I want to get rid of it. Not just because I was love fire.

37:09In fact, I couldn't start the fire, so we just broke them. Just a simple devotion, and that was enough. I was overflowing with joy, just the delight that my Creator loved me and that He had redeemed me, and my sins were forgiven. And I have. Raised from the dead, and I have a new life with him. That's enough. It's like the picture of the feast of unleavened bread. Get rid of all the leaven and do it joyfully.

37:471 Thessalonians Paul speaks about the Thessalonican church in verse 8, chapter 1. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth so that we have no need to say anything. Everybody has heard about your faith. For they themselves report about what kind of reception we had with you, how you turn to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. That is Jesus who rescues from the wrath to come.

38:27Remember those times. Remember the time when you were happy to serve him in whatever capacity he chose. It was a privilege to do the smallest task. You were not after the esteem of the church, the esteem of the community. You just simply delighted as an expression of your love for Christ to serve in whatever capacity as an expression of love for him. Yes, we are to assess those areas of our life individually, corporately as a church, areas of ministry where we have divorced our first love.

39:17We are to remember that. Where has my life left its first love? Listen, all of life is to come out of this one simple principle: delight in Jesus Christ. Let everything you say, everything you do, every action you've taken, every ministry we embark on, let it be an expression of delight in Him. That's keeping the main thing the main thing. We are to remember where we have divorced. We are to repent. We are to turn back and we are to do those things we did first.

40:05You see, there's beauty in simple devotion. Turn back to it. Do the works of ministry, Emmanuel, out of a simple delight and devotion to Christ. Earnestly contend for truth as an expression of love for the God. Who is the truth? Keep the main thing, the main thing. There's something else that the Spirit of God is saying to the churches here. Look back at verse 7: He who has ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Ah, do you see a promise of victory here? Do you see the reward of victory here?

41:05Look at the first verse: It is Christ who speaks. The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this. And then he speaks. And then look at what he says in verse 7. Hear what the Spirit is saying. It is the Spirit of Christ that is speaking to the church. Churches. But look at the promise. There's a promise of victory. Some go down the road of Revelation thinking that it's a prophecy of evil domination, scary times.

42:00But there is a glorious picture of victory throughout. It's about a people who overcome every satanic influence that would seek to destroy the bond between God and his people. The victorious people. And look at what it is to him who is overcoming, present, the one who is actively overcoming. I will grant, future, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. The tree, the tree of the life, the life belonging to God. This is the very thing. This reward is what God withheld from Adam in the garden. You remember? He fell.

42:56And God did not allow Adam to eat from the tree of life because he did not want Adam to be confirmed in his fallen state. But now here's open access to the tree of life, to the overcoming one. This is for you. The ones who simply delight, who are simply Devoted. These are the ones that are going to be confirmed in glorious holiness. This is what he wants to confirm humanity in. Who is the one who overcomes? Well, in this context, it is those who do not tire of earnestly contending for biblical truth out of a fervent love for the Christ who is the truth.

43:59How do they overcome? By keeping the main thing, the main thing. What is the main thing? Simple delight in Christ, simple devotion to Christ. And this should be the fountainhead for all of our deeds as individuals, as church. Let me ask you: are you simply devoted to Christ today? You can be. But it's not going to come out of your own volition. You're going to have to be born from above. And the good news is: if you will call upon His name, ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and give Him a delight in your Son, He'll do it in an instant.

45:01Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do bow our hearts before you, confessing to you that we need more sanctification. There are many areas in our life where we have left simple devotion to Christ, simple delight in him. Help us to remember and be remembering the times when we act or think or do out of any other principle for any reason other than simply delighting in Christ. Help us to remember. Help us to turn and do those things which most please you. Father, we're absolutely dependent upon you to do this in us, and so we call out to you. Forgive us of our sins. We turn to you and ask you to have your way in us. Thank you. Thank you. We raise our cup of salvation to you, thanking you.

46:05In Jesus' name, amen.