January 14, 2024
Havasu Christian Church
Revelation 2: 1-7
Ephesus
Revelation 2:1–7 “To 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 and your toil and 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 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 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.’
- The good news:
- They have a letter from Jesus!
- The One who holds their church, and the others, in His right hand!
- The One who is walking among them.
- Jesus Himself, is speaking to them!
- He cares!
- He is there to help!
- Jesus knows all about their deeds!
- They have been Toiling!
- This word has the idea of discomfort, difficulty, distress… It also has the idea of HARD work! Labor that wears you out by the end of the day!
- They have been putting out the effort, and Jesus not only sees this, He commends them for it!
- They have shown perseverance.
- Almost anyone can work hard for a day… but the real test is what they do tomorrow!
- Do they come back for more, or do they quit?
- The Christians in Ephesus had been going through difficult times, and they didn’t quit!
- They haven’t put up with evil men!
- They have kept going through difficulties, but they don’t put up with evil men.
- They take a good hard look at those who would present themselves as “apostles.” (One sent)
- They have tested these people out and found them to be false.
- They haven’t even allowed these people to stop them!
- It’s easy to let people who aren’t living a godly life discourage us.
- These evil men don’t truly represent Jesus! Don’t blame Jesus for them!
In many ways, the Church in Ephesus have done very well!
- The bad news!
- “You have left your first love.”
- There is LOTS of discussion about exactly what this means.
- Obviously, Jesus knew what He meant.
- Obviously, the Church in Ephesus knew exactly what Jesus meant!
- Jesus might be speaking about their love as a Church for Him.
- Sometimes, it happens that as we’ve been a Christian for a while, we begin to just let things slide. We take our love for Jesus and His love for us for granted.
- Jesus might be speaking about their love as a Church for each other.
- Again, we can easily take our love for each other for granted.
- Jesus might be talking about their love as a Church for the people in the world around them.
- When we quit caring about others, we quit making sharing Jesus a priority.
- Personally, I think it’s a little of each. When we let one thing slide, the others tend to go too!
- There is choice to be made
- Get back to where you should be… Get back to your first love….
- Remember!
- They WERE there! They need to remember what they have walked away from!
- Repent!
- This is a choice that needs to be made… I’m going to change the way I’m living.
- Get back to doing what you know is right!
- Live what you know to be truth!
- If they don’t make the right choice, the church will die!
- “I will remove your lampstand…”
- How does a church cease to be a church?
- It ignores what Jesus put it there to do.
- Loving Jesus,
- Part of loving Jesus is doing what He said we are to do!
- When we ignore what Scripture teaches, we quickly become something other than the Lord’s Church.
- Loving each other,
- If we ignore this, the body will disintegrate.
- Loving the people in the world around them.
- When all we care about is ourselves, it’s over!
- At some point, Jesus says “you aren’t my church anymore!”
- The lampstand is removed!
- The encouragement
- Jesus leaves them with something positive!
- They hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans; deeds that Jesus also hates!
- Nobody alive today really knows what these guys were doing, but we know that whatever it was, Jesus was dead set against it!
- So was the Church in Ephesus!
- They (Jesus and the Ephesian church) hate the DEEDS!
- They don’t hate the people doing them.
- They want these people to change!
- To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.”
- THERE IS HOPE FOR THIS CHURCH!
- If they make the changes, Jesus says that they will live forever with Him in the Paradise of God!
- Jesus WANTS them to succeed! He doesn’t want them to fail!
- When you love someone, you will do whatever you can to help them succeed!
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
This is our invitation to read and learn from this personal letter! So what should we take home with us?
- These things apply to us as a Church and as individuals.
- We can do well as individuals, but it’s much better when we help each other do well!
- Jesus knows what’s going on and He cares!
- He knows our struggles, and our victories!
- He is with us through it all!
- We are called to serve Jesus in the easy times and the hard times….
- We are called to serve Jesus without quitting!
- Jesus recognizes our toil & Perseverance!
- How we live matters!
- Giving your life to Jesus is a “one time thing” followed by doing it again and again, every day!
- Don’t fall from your first love!
- We keep serving Jesus!
- Love is a choice! Don’t be a slacker!
- If you can hear this message, there is hope!
- We can get back to what we should be doing… Serving Jesus!
- If we do, Eternity awaits!
