Blessings be to God for giving us this wonderful day. It's a day that the Lord has placed upon my heart to make an exposition on a church talked about in the early verses of the book of Revelation.
This book can be divided into many parts. The part that talks about the past, the present and the things to come. And here we see this portion of the book that talks about some seven churches that were literally existing in the early ages of the church history.
We shall take our text from verses 1 to 7 of chapter 2.
Revelation 2:1-7 "Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands: "I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. "But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don't repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do. "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.
Before I start I want you to know that these seven church mentioned in the book of Revelation were real churches. They were not just theoritical churches that were used by God to speak to us. They were literal churches. The church of Ephesus was there. And I believe as we continue this exposition you'll get a clearer understanding of that.
The Compliments
When Jesus was speaking to this church he first started to praise them for what they were doing. This church was a lively church. They were applying some of the things that had been thought by the word of God. In totality, They were living in obedience to the word of God. They did not 'tolerate evil people'. They exercised proper judgement when it comes the way of life of the people, and their reaction to evil people was not 'friendly' as to form any partnership with them.
'You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars'. They judged the lives of the men of God in their time to see whether they pass the test of scripture. Perhaps Matthew 7:15_20 was used by them to know whether these people are really from God. They might have used the analogy of the tree and it's fruit to check to see whether those many prophets in their time were really from God.
I think there is something we all have to learn from this text. That is that God has given us his word as to how we will know if a so called man of God is really a man from God. There's nowhere in scripture where the Lord calls us to throw away judgement. After all everything we do now is based on judgement. The fact that you are a Christian makes judgement and discernment inevitable. In our daily lives, we must by the knowledge we have gained from God be able to decipher between black and white. And not just that but also between white and almost white.
Remember that these false prophets and men of God were not coming as wolves. They were rather in a covering of sheep. The devil had painted them white meanwhile deep within they were vicious wolves waiting to pounce on the children of God. We all have to learn the scriptures. And also apply it to discriminate between the people we listen to. Because we are warned by our Lord that many false prophets will come in the last days and they will deceive many. Don't be a victim of their sugar coated words. Exercise proper judgment and discernment. You will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:15-20 "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
So knowing this we would 'Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.'Ephesians 5:11. We have nothing to do with them than to expose them for the sake of the weak ones so that they may not fall victim to their deception.
Also the Lord complimented them on their hard work, endurance and suffering. As I have said many times in my previous posts, suffering can not be taken out of Christianity. God uses it to humble his people, bring them on track when they go astray , and refine them through it. Suffering has always been of a great importance in the individual life and the church as a whole. Remember the persecution the church went through at the start. But we should know that it was through this persecution that the church spread the more.
We should be glad when we are made to suffer. But let our suffering be as a result of a good course undertaken. Let it be because of righteousness. Let it be because of our faith in Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 4:13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
1 Peter 2:20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.
These people were suffering because of their faith. They suffered for righteousness sake. They suffered because they were following the words of the Master. And we should do similar. Even if our obedience will trigger hatred from the world , we should not be discouraged but rather stand firm in it because we know that our reward will come from God .
The Ephesians also endured in suffering. It is one thing to suffer but also another to endure in ones suffering. That's that we continue doing what causes the suffering and persist in it until we die or perform the will of God. That's what the disciples did. They did the work of God even while in prison. John had to pen down this marvelous apocalypse whiles in prison. So did Paul and the other followers of God. We must learn from them. Despite the threatening from this world, we should be motivated by the Lord who promises us of eternal life in heaven. But suddenly the compliment changed to complaint when he said
But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first
The complaint
So now he comes to the core of their problem. And this teaches us that there is no perfect church (talking in terms of men and not Christ). Despite the sanctification God had performed in his church, there still remain besseting sins that prevents us from being perfect practically. So God had a but despite their good works , discernment, endurance and sufferings.
The were cold. They had lost their first love. Truly did Christ say that the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). Their love had grown cold and God was calling them to go back to what they were practicing when they started. This doesn't mean that they had no love at all for God and people. But that comparing their present with their former love, it was lower and cold. This might have affected their evangelism. If the love of one is cold , they care less about the souls of others.
Cold love mean that less heart for others. It's possible that this church was not even caring for the poor and needy. But that they were unmoved and apathetic about the needs of fellow Christians. So they were reminded that they have lost their first love. That desire and appetite for the word of God and the care for others was weak and he asks them to rekindle. He asks for revival. And that's that they should go back and learn what they learnt at the beginning and practice it.
Your post was found valuable and insightful by the steemchurch Ghana community. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks @gadol for the exposition on the Church of Ephesus. Blessings!
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