Be zealous for both truth and love

Sermon for Midweek of Epiphany 2

Revelation 2:1-7

We’re finally back to our consideration of the Book of Revelation. Remember the image of the Son of Man that John saw and that we talked about several weeks ago in chapter 1: One who was like a son of man, clothed with a garment reaching down to his feet, his chest girded with a golden sash. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like bronze, as though fired in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In this evening’s reading, that extraordinary-looking Son of Man speaks to His servant John with a message that John is to put down in writing and send to each of the seven churches in Asia Minor. And just as with all the New Testament epistles, even though this one was written to specific churches at that time, with specific circumstances and needs, it has been God’s will to preserve these apostolic writings so that the Spirit may continue to speak to all the churches and apply the same lessons to every church of every time.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write. “To the angel,” that is, to the pastor of the church, because there would be no need for Jesus to have John write to one of the heavenly angels. Evangelical Christians miss this simple truth. They think that God simply communicates directly with each believer, through music or through feelings or through a burden on the heart. The pastor is really just a motivational speaker, a sort of community organizer. But God has always chosen to deal regularly with His people through men, through the ministers whom Christ has called to the churches, through the churches. God uses that call to turn a man into an “angel,” into a divinely appointed messenger to minister to His people. He is responsible for passing on the message of the Lord to the Lord’s people, and he’ll have to answer for how he carries out his ministry.

Write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Jesus wants His angel and His church in Ephesus to remember especially these two truths about Him: first, that He holds the seven stars, that is, the pastors of the churches, in His right hand—He has placed them where they are. They speak for Him; they are responsible to Him. And second, that He is present with His churches, walking among the lampstands, tending to each one, inspecting each one. And, if He chooses, He has the right and the power to remove them, too.

What does His inspection of the church in Ephesus reveal? First, something to praise the pastor for: I know your works, both your toil and your patience; and that you cannot tolerate those who are evil; and that you have tested those who say they are apostles, and are not, and have found them to be liars; and that you have endured and have patience; and that for my name’s sake you have toiled and have not grown weary.

What did the Son of Man see as He walked by the lampstand that stood in Ephesus? He saw a pastor, and by extension, a congregation, who was working hard. “Works” here includes both his toil and his patience. “Toil” is hard work, tiring work, meticulous work, preparing and preaching sermons, teaching, rebuking, correcting, comforting, tending to the needs of the flock. Patience is bearing up under pressure, under persecution, under attacks from without or from within. Jesus also sees the pastor disciplining and, where necessary, excommunicating those who are evil, who fail to repent after being warned. He also sees the pastor testing other preachers who claim to be Christians, to be sent by Jesus, and exposing them for the liars they are. He’s been doing all this for a while, and he hasn’t slacked off; he has patiently endured.

But then a word of rebuke from Jesus: Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have abandoned your first love. Your first love, also translated as your “former” love. Some 35 years earlier, the Apostle Paul had written this to the Ephesian Christians when their church was in its early days: I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. Apparently, that love had grown cold, in the pastor and, by extension, among the members. His devotion to purity of doctrine and life had become an external thing, perfunctory, loveless. He was doing the right things, but it wasn’t coming from love, and as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works. But if not, I will come to you soon and will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. It isn’t enough to be doing some things well. If you’ve abandoned love, it profits you nothing. So repent, Jesus says. Recognize the lack of love in your words and deeds. Don’t remain as you are. Confess your sin, receive forgiveness, and then change your behavior, with the help of the Holy Spirit, or else Jesus will see to it that your church is removed from its place.

But then a positive observation: But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. The Nicolaitans, from all we can gather from history, were a group of people who were trying to normalize sexual immorality within the Christian Church. They promoted adultery, sex outside of marriage, and, for lack of a better term, wife-swapping, terrible sins that have become almost as commonplace in our culture as they were in the first century Roman world. But Christians are expected to be different from the surrounding, godless culture. So even though Jesus criticizes the Ephesians for a lack of love, He praises them for their hatred of deeds that He Himself hates.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Don’t hear these words and fail to act on them! Don’t hear these words and then go back to life as usual. If God gave you a working ear and sent a preacher to preach these words to you, then hear them and change! Because it’s God’s own Spirit who is working through the Word to produce repentance and renewal in all who hear it and take it to heart.

Finally, Jesus adds a promise: To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Who overcomes. Who wins the battle—the battle against the flesh, the devil, and the world. That battle is won through contrition and repentance, through a renewed faith in Christ, through the forgiveness of sins, and through obedience to the Lord’s message. To the one who overcomes all the way up until the end, Jesus promises that he’ll be allowed to eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God. Just as eating from the tree that stood in the Paradise of Eden would have given Adam and Eve eternal youth and the ability to live forever, so there will be a continual source of eternal life in the Paradise of heaven for everyone who overcomes.

Now, how do Jesus’ words to the angel of the church in Ephesus apply to us? Does He see works, toil, and patience? Does He see us taking seriously the doctrine that is preached from this pulpit and taught by the pastor, practicing church discipline where necessary and excluding from our fellowship those who are impenitent or who adhere to false doctrine? Yes, I’d say that, honestly, we do that more than any other church in Las Cruces. We have those things in common with the church at Ephesus.

What about our “first love”? Is our faith toward God and our love for one another and for our neighbor in general as strong as it has ever been? Or has our attention to good works, doctrine and life grown somewhat external, dry, and loveless?

I need to first examine myself, as the “angel” of this church. After that, if I see signs of this lack of love in any of you, the Lord commands me to rebuke you for it, gently where gentleness is appropriate, and more harshly where harshness is needed. And if such lovelessness does exist, but I can’t see it—because I can only see the outside—remember that the Lord Jesus, with His penetrating eyes of fire, can see it. So examine yourselves, and if you see a lack of love in yourself, a lack of genuine concern and devotion to your fellow Christians, including the fellow Christians within your own family, then repent. Urgently. Sincerely. And turn to the Lord for forgiveness. And ask Him for His help. And then go forward in the renewal of the Holy Spirit, determined to let both love for the truth and love for the Lord’s people rule your heart and life.

Here is God’s Spirit, giving you all the words and the warnings, the encouragement and the strength that you need to stand firm in the faith and to be renewed in love, so that you may be among those who overcome and who are given to eat of the tree of life in the Paradise of God. Amen.