"Seven Churches of Asia Minor" - Pt 1

Scripture Reading Revelation 2: 1-7
Scripture Text: "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:" Rev. 2:2 (KJV)

By way of a post-introduction, since I already sent out some notes on this section Friday, let me just say that the Lord actually sets out a well-defined format in His dealings and writings to each of these Seven Churches.

First: We will always see some "feature" of the Glorified Christ that has been lifted from John's vision in the 1st Chapter and is emphasized in addressing the church in each letter. We have pointed them out in the chart by the word WHO?

Second: we will see that each of the letters are addressed to "the Angel" of each church - which we know to be the Pastor of the church. (The Church being the candlestick)

Third: Our Lords begins each letter by saying, "I know thy Works"

Fourth: He first gives a word of "commendation" then gives word of "condemnation" except in the cases of Smyrna and Philadelphia. It would do well to note that each receive a commendation and a condemnation with the exception of Laodicea. The Church of Laodicea does not even get a commendation. She did not look like the Lord nor did she represent the Lord. He was so miserably distraught with her lack of commitment that He said I will spew you out of my mouth.

Fifth: Each letter concludes with the warning, where Jesus Says, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;"

Ephesus Was known as, "The Metropolis".
About the time at which this church was at it's peak, letter writing and travel were commonplace in the Roman Empire. Furthermore, these letters, written at the hand of John the Apostle, reached multitudes of people since they were letters shared first, by the churches they were written to, as well as the other churches in the set of seven. These Letters became much like NEWSLETTERS in our day, and since they came from the hand of the Apostle John who had been exiled and taken from them, and dictated by the Lord Himself - according to the First chapter of the book - they were a priceless treasure.

So this Apostolic Church "Ephesus", and John - had a great impact on the people of that time. In fact, there in the city of Ephesus - actually at the entrance of the Port of Ephesus stood four GIANT Pillars and on each one of those four pillars of which I understand only one stands fully erect today - was placed a cross. one for Matthew , Mark Luke and John. So you see that this was the hub of the "then" Christian movement.

The Church at Ephesus

Looking at the section here in Revelation on the Church of Ephesus, we find that Jesus gives seven words of "commendation" to the Church at Ephesus (verses 2,3),and I want to take a look at those verses with you now - if you will. It says there:

"I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. I know thy works," (speaking to believers here - these were no the works done by their own righteousness), but they were, "according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; and thy labour,"

Now, a point of interest here is that word labor is used here in the light of "weariness". They got tired in their work for the Lord. In other words they got tired "of doing their work for the Lord" - and I'm going to pick that up here again in a minute but next part of the verse: "... and thy patience," which actually shows us that they were filled with the Holy Spirit as patience is a definite attribute of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But let's go on: "...and how thou canst not bear them which are evil".

In the early days, Ephesus did not allow evil doers to come amongst them nor did they allow evil speaking of any kind amongst themselves. Now, my wife and I have discussed this at some length, and she even wonders if they went so far as to the calling out of sickness in your body. You know, like, "I've got a headache" or I've got a stomach ache", or "I think I'm going blind". We all say things like this everyday, and I know we even say some of it in jest, but Osella is a believer in the verse that says "life and death are in the power of the Tongue", (ref., Proverbs 18:21) and you can see where the lack of such statements could bolster faith as opposed to setting our selves up for sickness.

Going on.. let's take and group the next couple of statements Jesus Makes to John together. They are:

"... and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:"

"... and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured,"

In other words - they stayed true to their faith even though they weren't so vocal about it anymore. They had stayed true "in principal" to the Lord.

Last commendation...  "...and hast not fainted."

Now, I said earlier that I was going to pick that portion back up in regards to labor. If you remember I said that the word labor here referred to their being a weariness in serving the Lord. There might very well be a question here wondering if this might be a contradiction saying that they were weary yet, they "...hast not fainted." But it's not. While one can become weary in the work of Christ due to the long tedious hours and very little to show for it at times, yet there is such a thing of continuing in their work - yet being tired of doing it with seemingly no results. This may very well be the reason that led to why they were then condemned in this one area where the Lord says,

"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first(or best) love." Revelation 2:4

Let me just interject here if I might, that as you came into the city of Ephesus you would immediately step out on a beautiful White Marble boulevard and make your way into the city on what was called the Arcadian Way.

On each side of the Arcadian way you would find beautiful shops somewhat like the malls we have today only it was out of doors that you would walk and enter the shops as you passed them by. The historians tell us that the Arcadian way was the most beautiful and richest boulevard anywhere in the world at that time. Off to the right you would see a small arena that would seat 20,000 people where many of the Orators would come to speak. Then off to the left you would find the GREAT AMPHITHEATER of Ephesus said to hold up to 100,000 people.

In my studies on this city I found that there would be anywhere from 1-1/2 to 2 million people in the city of Ephesus during the height of their festivals due to the beauty of the city and all that it had to offer. This included, by the way ... some of the lowest and debase sensual practices anywhere in the land as well, and it was in this city that God told Paul to begin a church, and eventually as we know the very writer of this book of Revelation became the Pastor. It became the Apostolic Center for the Christian faith.

In their beginnings, the Church at Ephesus had great zeal for the Lord. They had not lost that zeal in Principal, but in practice they had not "continued for the Lord". In their heart of hearts they had a deep abiding love for God, yet they no longer exhibited that emotional fervor and depth of evangelism they once had. They no longer spontaneously expressed their love and devotion to Him as they once did, so Jesus tells them that they must:

"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." (vs.5)

They were charged to once again fan the flames of evangelism or else Jesus said, “I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place.”

Oh friends - does any of this relate to your church today - or to you individually? I can't think of a more appropriate place to end the lesson on the church at Ephesus - than to ask that question.

My dear Pastor, Sunday School Teacher, Deacons, congregational members: your church is your blessing from the Lord. Your Pastor is your blessing from the Lord. He is your guide and protector from the outside element that would like to come in and sift you like wolves. But WAIT!!!! YOUR PASTOR IS ALSO YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!!!  Has he fallen asleep? If he has, the Lord would say to you today to "wake him up!" Charge Him with these verse in the book of Revelation speaking of the Church of Ephesus and remind him of His "FIRST LOVE", his "BEST LOVE", and stir him up to lead you once again into the fires of revival and evangelistic endeavors! FOR THE LORD HAS WARNED... “I WILL COME UNTO THEE QUICKLY, AND WILL REMOVE THY CANDLESTICK OUT OF HIS PLACE."

He is speaking not only of that Preacher, but He is speaking of YOUR church.

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." (Vs 7).

Let's pray,

Oh Father - how I am afraid that there are so many churches out there who have become weary in well-doing. They have lost the fervency of their first LOVE and Oh how we are needing REVIVAL in our land today. Come Lord Jesus and sir us up as Christians and help us to return to those first days and to do our first works - lest you come and give us up to reprobate minds and leave us to our own lusts. Help us Oh Lord! Deliver us Oh Lord! In Jesus' Name, I Pray, Amen.