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Learning from the 7 Churches in Revelation.
Sermon 1: Ephesus and Smyrna
Revelation 2:1-11 Page 1034
Today we begin a four part sermon series through a small section of the book of Revelation. I have chosen this text because it connects to the thoughts of the previous series about the church as a body. People need people and the church is a blessing from God which is to fulfill His purposes not an institution which we use to fill our needs.
Quotes:
Churches: Soulariums P. K. Thomajan
God never intended his church to be a refrigerator in which to preserve perishable piety. He intended it to be an incubator in which to hatch converts. F. Lincicome
Before the service speak to God. During the service let God speak to you. After the service speak with your neighbor.
We all know that not all congregations are the same. As we read and study through the text we will see that each of the seven churches is handled individually and they are assessed as to their strengths and weaknesses. They receive compliments from the Lord and we read of some of the criticisms. It is a reminder to me that God can be both pleased and displeased with us as individuals and congregations. He may be pleased at how we are doing with our families but displeased at our ministry to others and our evangelism. As a group of believers we are not perfect and we are on a path of health.
In most areas we are healthier than we used to be but we have not arrived. In some areas our health has declined compared to where it was a while ago and we need to keep an eye on those things. Some of our members are really growing spiritually and some are not and some are in danger of losing connection with their first love while others keep the pace or ride out a plateau. We can encourage one another to become healthier but we cannot do it for anyone, we are each accountable for our own choices.
Jesus is Lord and leader of this congregation and it is His view of where we are at that makes a difference. We need to know how He is seeing things. What is He pleased with and what warnings would He give us? Do we want to know and would we change if He told us? Are we going to ask Him for His perspective?
When we read through the scripture we learn that the church is not about us coming together to meet our needs; it is a gathering of those He has called out of the world for His purpose and our worship is our group offering to Him because He is our Lord and He deserves the glory. It is nice that some of our needs are met along the way but our happiness and preferences are a very secondary reason for us to be here.
So what do we learn from these two churches today? We begin with some background about the church at Ephesus which Paul visited in his second missionary journey and then stayed at for three years during his third missionary journey.
Acts 19:8-10 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.EPHESUS (Gr. Ephesos, desirable). Ephesus was a proud, rich, busy port, the rival of Alexandria and Syrian Antioch. Ephesus in the first century was a dying city because the port was silting up. Ephesus' decline was mortal sickness, and it is possible to detect in the letter to Ephesus in the Revelation a touch of the weariness that characterized the decadent and declining community.
It is to this group of people in this city at about 90 AD that Jesus speaks and says:
REV 2:1
"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:Then He commends them:
2
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, 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.They have been active, persevering, standing up against doctrinal wrongs, testing the teachings of others. They have kept going when things were difficult and they were persecuted. They have done this and not grown weary.
Would you like to hear these compliments from God about your life or about our congregation?
How do you think we are doing with these things?
Now on to the not good part!
REV 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which 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.There is debate about what is meant by first love. Is it a love of each other or a love of God – well both!
They have not stopped loving they are just not where they were so they are called to repent and DO what they did at first. They have chance to get things right and if they do not keep doing the right things for the right reason – focused on Christ they will no longer be considered a church. If Christ is not the center then we are not a church.
It ends this part with another compliment about standing up against the practices of false teachers.
And it ends with what will happen if they repent as He has called them to:
REV 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.From the church in Ephesus we are challenged to keep doing the right things for the right reason. If we do the right things without proper motivation we are not pleasing to the Lord and it is also true that if we have good motives but we do not do what the Lord calls us to do we will be called to repent of that as well.
Questions: Why do we do what we do?
Is Christ leader of your life, our worship, and our worship assembly and are we doing what He has called us and prepared us to do? How faithful are we to Him and His word?
The church in Smyrna is one of two churches that only receives compliments so what can we learn from them? Unlike Ephesus Smyrna is only mentioned here in the Bible and we know very little about the city or the church.
According to the NIVBC Smyrna lay forty miles almost due north of Ephesus. The city was exceptionally beautiful and large. It was an important seaport and a wealthy city where learning, especially in the sciences and medicine, flourished. It repeatedly sided with Rome in different periods of her history, and thus earned special privileges as a free city.
Smyrna was also a center of the emperor worship. Under Domitian (A.D. 81-96) emperor worship became compulsory for every Roman citizen on threat of death. Such an act was probably considered more as an expression of political loyalty than religious worship, and all a citizen had to do was burn a pinch of incense and say "Caesar is Lord." Yet most Christians, with their confession "Jesus is Lord", refused to do this. Perhaps nowhere was life for a Christian more perilous than in this city of zealous emperor worship.
It is within this context that we read:
REV 2:8
"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty--yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.This is a church under spiritual opposition but the Lord is their strength.
They are called and prepared to be faithful because of their connection to Christ. Some will lose their lives but they will be rewarded in heaven.
They have died once in baptism and the second death is one of victory.
Reading about the church in Smyrna reminds us that God knows what we are going through. It reminds us that God can carry us through the worst times in life individually and as a congregation. It is a church that shows us the faithfulness of doing the right things for the right reasons.
Smyrna is also a reminder that walking with God will not be easy. Opposition is a part of the walk and when we are tempted to give in or take the easy way we need to choose to follow the example of Jesus and to overcome. In some ways I would summarize the call to Smyrna as a call to stand firm and alert.
What now?
Next Week: Pergamum and Thyatira; churches that were only living out a part of God’s word without unity of doctrine.
4107 Pleasant Valley Road
vernonchurchofchrist@telus.net
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