To the Church in Ephesus
2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
So for a bit now, I am going to be taking a wander through Revelation. This will not be a thorough examination of all things eschatological but rather a seeking of inspiration from some of the powerful charges and images we find there.
In this first letter, to the Ephesians, the apocalyptic version of Jesus that appears to John in his vision walking amongst the seven lampstands of the churches and holding the seven stars (Angels) in his hand, is one who is passing judgement. Not the final judgement but an assessment of where they stand.
In this first letter, to the Ephesians, the apocalyptic version of Jesus that appears to John in his vision walking amongst the seven lampstands of the churches and holding the seven stars (Angels) in his hand, is one who is passing judgement. Not the final judgement but an assessment of where they stand.
This is, if you like, their appraisal.
It is good to take stock and honestly assess where you are at.
I am an ostrich. I haven't looked at my bank balance for nearly two weeks now, because I know it's bad.
How many of you know this is foolishness?
If you look and it is bad, you can address the situation and do some damage limitations. You may even be able to recover the situation entirely. Perhaps it is not actually as bad as you think and you can save yourself a lot of worry.
Either way, an honest look at where you are at is a helpful thing.
We should keep short accounts and not allow a wander on the dunes of worry to become a trek across the desert of prayerlessness.
And Jesus knows it all anyway.
We should not be afraid to face him.
He says; I know your deeds.
And in Ephesus he finds a church in the midst of all kinds of debauchery. And he praises them for their abstinence from such things, And even their intolerance of them.
They are committed. Perhaps even militant in their commitment to the cause. They even have a long history of perseverance, but he holds this one thing against them...
That they have forsaken their first love.
It is so easy to just keep on keeping on. Well perhaps not easy, but it can become default.
If we are not careful we can forget why we are keeping on at all.
We are only left to speculate as to what those things they did at first were.
Bur if the charge is that they have left that first love... Then I can only encourage you to look to how you were impacted and behaving when you first believed. Giddy love for the Lord. Unjaded enthusiasm in your worship and evangelism. And you felt like you would hold nothing back from the Lord.
In our stock taking, may we find and rekindle that first love, when forgiveness was fresh, and hope was tangible and when our view of the saviour was so clear.
Come let us return unto The Lord.
Amen
It is good to take stock and honestly assess where you are at.
I am an ostrich. I haven't looked at my bank balance for nearly two weeks now, because I know it's bad.
How many of you know this is foolishness?
If you look and it is bad, you can address the situation and do some damage limitations. You may even be able to recover the situation entirely. Perhaps it is not actually as bad as you think and you can save yourself a lot of worry.
Either way, an honest look at where you are at is a helpful thing.
We should keep short accounts and not allow a wander on the dunes of worry to become a trek across the desert of prayerlessness.
And Jesus knows it all anyway.
We should not be afraid to face him.
He says; I know your deeds.
And in Ephesus he finds a church in the midst of all kinds of debauchery. And he praises them for their abstinence from such things, And even their intolerance of them.
They are committed. Perhaps even militant in their commitment to the cause. They even have a long history of perseverance, but he holds this one thing against them...
That they have forsaken their first love.
It is so easy to just keep on keeping on. Well perhaps not easy, but it can become default.
If we are not careful we can forget why we are keeping on at all.
We are only left to speculate as to what those things they did at first were.
Bur if the charge is that they have left that first love... Then I can only encourage you to look to how you were impacted and behaving when you first believed. Giddy love for the Lord. Unjaded enthusiasm in your worship and evangelism. And you felt like you would hold nothing back from the Lord.
In our stock taking, may we find and rekindle that first love, when forgiveness was fresh, and hope was tangible and when our view of the saviour was so clear.
Come let us return unto The Lord.
Amen
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