Revelation: The Church of Ephesus - “Learning to Love One Another”

Two weeks ago we looked at the book of Revelation and last week we talked about Jesus’ concept of church. We know that the book of Revelation is actually a letter written by John the Apostle at the direction of Jesus to Christians being persecuted in the area known as Asia Minor. In this letter, Jesus addresses 7 churches, pointing out how they are each living up to the being what Jesus calls them to be….. and how each of them fall short, Each Sunday for the next 7 weeks we will look at these churches to help us as the church see how we can better be the church Jesus calls us to be; how we can better live up to the the call of God to the work he has laid out before us - and to see how we are doing a good job of being the church of Jesus Christ.
It has been pointed out that more than seven churches existed in Asia at the time Revelation was written. Seven church addressed is hardly a coincidence, but rather a clue to the purpose of Jesus in helping us understand what he is saying. Throughout Revelation are not only 7 churches, but seven seals, seven trumpets, seven different images of people and angels, seven bowl, seven dooms, and finally seven new things. Seven, in Revelation, stands for completeness, meaning that even though seven churches are mentioned, what is said about them is complete - these letters to the seven churches represent all churches. Each of the seven churches has its unique strengths and weaknesses so that there is a distinct message given to each. However, the problems addressed in chapters 2 & 3 are those which have characterized the church throughout its history. The church world-wide of today would provide ample illustration of the same issues found in these seven churches of Revelation. Indeed, in any local church most, if not all, of the problems described here could be found among those in the congregation. By divine design, then, the Holy Spirit has not only spoken to the ancient church, but also to us as well. This is why the reader is urged to take seriously the Lord's words to the churches - to us: ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’. In other words, Jesus is saying to us today, “Pay attention to my words in these letters because here you will find yourself.”
It is not that Jesus is wagging his finger at us and saying “Shame on you” - These letters are not designed to make us feel bad but it is Jesus saying - “I love you” and I want you to be the best you can be. The idea is to encourage us to learn and grow and adapt to the purpose God has for us as the church.
It is appropriate that the church at Ephesus is addressed first. Ephesus was the largest city of the Roman province of Asia. By the time the gospel was preached here it had a population of more than a quarter of a million people. Located at the mouth of a major river and also on a gulf of the Aegean Sea, it was a flourishing commercial and export center for Asia. Ephesus was also the end for the great road from the Euphrates, as well as a cross roads for many of the major cities in Europe and Asia. It was truly a breath-taking city: The traveler from Rome landing at Ephesus would proceed up a magnificent avenue thirty-five feet wide and lined with columns which led from the harbor to the center of the city. It boasted a major stadium, marketplace, and theater. The latter was built overlooking the harbor, and seated some 25,000 people. Ephesus was also a prominent religious center: Temples were built to Roman leaders Claudius, Hadrian, and Severus whom the people worshipped as gods. The major religious attraction, however, was the Temple of Artemis (Diana in Latin), one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. About four times the size of the Parthenon, it was adorned by the work of many great artists. The dimensions of the temple as 425 feet long, 220 feet wide, and sixty feet high. There were 127 pillars of Parian marble, with thirty-six of them overlaid with gold and jewels. We know a good deal about the Ephesian church from the New Testament. Paul's first visit to Ephesus was very brief. Paul’s disciple Apollos was there as well and had an effective ministry. When Paul returned to Ephesus, he stayed for three months, teaching in the synagogue at Ephesus, followed by two years of teaching in the school of Tyrannus. The result was that many came to believe in the gospel. Many of the new converts wished to make a complete break with the magic of their pagan past and burned their books publicly, books which were worth 50,000 pieces of silver. As a result, the gospel flourished in Ephesus. Jesus always begins his letter to each of these churches talking about the things the churches are doing right. Two things are commended in the Ephesian church, their persistence and their purity, their diligence and their doctrine. Jesus congratulates the Ephesians on the persistence of the church members in


their personal commitment to obedience and ministry, even in the face of difficulty and opposition. Doctrinal purity was
diligently preserved by the Ephesian church - in other words, the church was willing to stick by what was taught in the message of Jesus Christ instead of allowing themselves to be influenced by what is popular, or current. Because Ephesus was located on commercial sea and land routes, many Christian travelers passed through, some of whom were teachers who were teaching false information about living as the people of God. These travelers actively promoted their false doctrines. The warning of the apostle Paul had been taken very seriously by the Ephesian church. They had not allowed false doctrine to corrupt their congregation, even though some false apostles had attempted to do so. For this the Ephesian church was sincerely praised. But Jesus said there was a very serious problem in the church,: 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love’. When the church in Ephesians was first formed, the Apostle Paul had commended them on their love for one another. But even though the church was strong in their faith and their holding to the truth of the gospel, they lost their love of one another. The Ephesian Christians were caught completely off guard by this charge, for the simple reason that they had almost unconsciously forgotten the priority Jesus taught in loving one another. In the passage Jesus says that because they have lost their call to love each other, their lampstand would be removed. What this refers to is the lampstand which illuminated the Holy Place in the temple. The lampstand then became a symbol of the illumination to the world of Jesus Christ through the church. Remember Jesus’ passage at the end of the Beatitudes which said to let our light shine - you don’t put your light under a basket, but you let it shine so that the world will see the love and grace of Jesus Christ. According to Jesus, one of the chief ways we show the love of Jesus, is to show the community around us that even though we are a collection of different people, because we share the love of Jesus, we can truly love one another as different as we are. This letter to the Ephesians says that if we lose that love of each other, we will lose our witness to the world and therefore the purpose God has given us.
So what does that mean practically for us as a church - it means to love one another even when someone annoys us, or someone disagrees with us, or because we know something about a persons past, or maybe even their present, or because a person hurts us, or does something we disapprove of, or because a person is not part of our ‘circle’ of friends or part of our family. It means that we truly believe that everyone in this congregation is here because God placed them here and we are all one in the eyes of God - even if we don’t like someone or who they are or what they have done or who they support or which political party they are a member of……
Remember Jesus’ words, in John 13 - “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” What Jesus is saying is that we can do all the good deeds we can and give loads of money to good causes and serve people in the community and live pious and obedient lives, but we don’t love each other, we don’t love everyone who is part of this church, then all that good stuff is worthless. What Jesus is saying is that the best witness we can have for the community is to show the people around us that we can love each other - different and imperfect as we are. “How can you go to church with so and so, didn’t you know that they did whatever” and the response is, “Because we come together in the love of Jesus and because he can love everyone, we can to.” And those who are unloved in our community begin to think, “If Jesus can love so and so, then maybe he can love me as well. If that church can love and embrace so and so, then maybe they can love and accept me as well….” What a powerful witness we can be simply by being willing to allow the love of Jesus to teach us that we can not only love ourselves, love everyone here…. It is not that we can neglect sticking to proper doctrine and continuing in our mission regardless of what form it may take, but that we remember that of all the things we do, the greatest thing is to love.
Amen!