Scripture Passage:
1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. 6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:1-7 NKJV)
Recently, I accepted the call to become a church planter for the North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention. Along the way, something strange happened. I became aware of a growing issue with churches in our nation. I began to see just unhealthy so many of them were and how many of them were either dead or dying. I became burdened with this knowledge and wondered why on earth we would be focused on planting new churches when there was so many established churches out there that needed God’s healing touch.
You see, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Christian denomination in the world with approximately 47,000 churches. Of those churches, recent statistics show that nearly 1200 to 1500 SBC churches are shutting their doors every single year. Nearly 40% of SBC churches are facing imminent closure within the next 5-10 years. Only around 18% of SBC churches are showing any signs of growth at all with a few that have plateaued. The vast majority, however, are dying.
And so, as my burden for struggling churches grew, the Lord led me to a ministry I’d never heard of before. Replanting. Instead of starting a church from scratch like a church planter, a replanter takes a dying or sickly church and nurtures it back to health. And that’s where my ministerial calling lies, I believe.
But you can’t nurture a church without first knowing what made it sick to begin with? Is this unhealthy trend because the world is increasingly antagonistic toward us? I don’t think so. The world has always been hostile toward Bible teaching/Bible-proclaiming Christ-centered churches. We know, by knowing the character of God and Christ’s promise that his Church will never be taken away that it’s not God who’s causing the decline. So if it’s not the world’s hostility, then what could it be?
Well, in the next few weeks, I am hoping we can explore that very question in depth. As we draw nearer and nearer to the return of Christ, I have a feeling the modern church will grow closer and closer in appearance to those churches mentioned in John’s Revelation…also known, by the way, as John’s Apocalypse (apocalypse, by the way, isn’t an event or a time period in the future…the word literally mean ‘the revealing’ or the revelation). So, with that in mind, I thought we’d take a look at each of those seven churches discussed in the Apocalypse by Christ himself for a possible answer to our question.
Background
We learn the origins of the church at Ephesus from Acts 19. Paul preaches in Ephesus for three weeks and baptizes around twelve believers during that time who had been baptized originally under John the Baptist (in other words, they’d been John the Baptist’s disciples, not Jesus’s). As the church grows, Paul moves from the synagogue into the quad at the School of Titanus (a kind of public space for teachers and preachers) and the church continues to grow from his teachings there. Eventually, the church catches the attention of several merchants who sold silver shrines for the temple of Artemis (Diana), which the city of Ephesus was best known for. As the church grew, people in Ephesus began to reject Diana and their sales began to tank. Naturally, this upset the merchants and a riot broke out one day.
It is through this foundation of the church of Ephesus we should remember when we study Revelation 2:1-7. The Ephesians started out with such passion for Christ that it led to a riot in the streets. By the time Jesus Himself addresses them, their passion seems to have fizzled. They are strong adherents to doctrine, orthodoxy, tradition, and purity…but Christ tells them they’ve got one thing going against them. And if they don’t change their ways, He promised to remove their candlestick (close down the church).
So, with all that being said, let’s get into the meat of the passage by taking a closer look at the first three verses.
The Commendation
Revelation 2:1–3 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.”
In chapter 1, John sets up the vision he’s having while exiled on the island of Patmos. He explains being caught up in the spirit and being visited by Jesus in Heaven, who was walking among seven lampstands while holding seven stars in his hand. Jesus explains that the lampstands represent the seven churches of Asia and that the stars represented the seven angels of each of those churches. After this explanation, Jesus tells John to write seven letters to these churches and he starts with ‘the angel of the church of Ephesus.’
Many have speculated on who this ‘angel’ was. Is Jesus telling us that every church is granted their own guardian angel? [First of all, the Bible doesn’t even teach that individual Christians are given their own guardian angel despite what’s commonly believed.] And while Jesus could have been referring to a supernatural being, there is nowhere in the Bible where supernatural angels appear and ‘read’ a letter from God to a group of people. There’s no need for them to read a letter, afterall. They pass on God’s message because God has told them directly what to say.
So, the identity of this angel should best be interpreted in the strictest translation of the Greek word ‘angelos’, which literally means ‘messenger’. In the context of these seven letters then, a church’s angel…or messenger…most likely would be their pastor/bishop/elder.
They would be asked to read the letters written by John to their congregations, interpret them, and lead the congregation to repentance and change.
A local church is only as strong as their pastor. It’s only as strong as a given church allows their pastor to be. They have to have the courage to teach God’s word with boldness and without fear. They have to be given the freedom to be the church’s primary leader in discipling his congregation. This is probably the first mark of a healthy church. A strong, faithful pastor (faithful to God and His word).
High Marks for Ephesus!
Now, as to the message contained in the letter itself, at first glance, one would think the Ephesians church was top of its class. I mean, they received some very high marks from Christ in His assessment of them. If a Southern Baptist Church was going to be evaluated and critiqued by Jesus, what he says here would certainly be a source of pride for most of us.
Their ministry programs, patience toward each other, and intolerance for the things that are immoral and wicked are certainly commendable. Additionally, the Ephesians seem to be masters at doing what John commands Christians to do in 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” And they have persevered throughout tribulation and hardship (the Diana cult of Ephesus were extremely hostile toward them during their entire existence), and they seemed, despite all the trials, to not grow weary of it all. They kept going on despite the odds stacked against them! Seriously, this church seemed to be doing everything right! They had a strong work ethic. They were doctrinally sound. They refused to give up despite the animosity toward them in their city. Any modern day church would certainly be pumped for Jesus to say these things about them, right?
The Condemnation
Revelation 2:4–5 “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”
“Nevertheless” Ouch. How quickly a single word can bring elation to a crashing halt! “Nevertheless. However. But.” These three words and others like them have a way of letting the wind out of our sails, don’t they? After the glowing praise, Jesus gets real with the Ephesians church. He tells them he has a major bone to pick with them.
“…You have left your first love.”
Now, that’s an unusual turn of phrase. What do you think Jesus means by ‘you have left your first love’?
Well, we need to examine what a first love is before we can know what He means by it. Is it a first crush? A first romantic love? Well, since this is Jesus talking, I’m doubting that’s what ‘first love’ means. So, let’s take a look at something else Jesus said regarding love, shall we?
Matthew 22:34–40 “But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
The greatest and second greatest commandments: 1) Love God with everything you have and 2) Love your neighbors the same as you love God (ie, with everything you have).
So, the question is: what happened in the church of Ephesus? Of all the good things Jesus said about them, how had they lost this passion for Christ (the church was built on a riot in the city…that’s how passionate they were in the beginning about Christ). What happened? What does Jesus mean by this?
Well, It’s honestly quite an old story really. The church starts out strong with excitement and zeal. They begin doing everything right. They remain deep in the study of God’s word. They hold amazing worship services that draw more and more people in. They perform church discipline on those claiming to be Christians, but were really false teachers. Maybe they start a Sunday School program or Awanas to bring in the children. They have weekly visitation. They hold business meetings and vote on the color of the new church pews. In a short amount of time, they become experts in ‘doing church’.
And before they know it, everything about them can be categorized or pigeon-holed into some program. For the sake of efficiency, they have bureaucratized everything within the church. Things are run on committees. It’s almost autonomic now. Their Bible knowledge has increased, but now it’s mostly academic in nature. Maybe a little pride on who can memorize the most verses? Which Sunday school teacher is considered the most dynamic teacher or who has the highest attendance records. And all the while, they become more and more internalized. More inwardly focused. They view the church in terms of inside the building and in the internal dynamics and programs that are going. Their windows get stained glass maybe and they can no longer see outside into the increasingly wicked city in which they reside. Church has become a safe haven for them…a place to get in off the streets. A sanctuary they feel comfortable, respected, and needed.
And the more internalized they become, their zeal and fire for Christ dwindles until it’s little more than an ember. And as their focus on Jesus becomes less and less, so does their focus on the community. There’s no longer any outreach to the community and if there is, it’s because a program was established years ago and it’s just ‘what we do’. There’s no love behind it. No compassion. They have become automatons merely enacting their programming.
All those wondrous positive compliments Jesus gave this church? They’re all hollow because the motivation behind them has become more about programs and traditions than shining the love of Christ on a wicked, hurting world.
Christ’s Judgment
So how does Jesus address this issue with the Ephesians? He does so by offering a very stern warning of His coming judgment against them. Jesus calls the Ephesians to repent! To remember that love they once had and renew their zeal for God and their neighbors.
What does he say will happen if they don’t? He’ll remove their lampstand. He’ll close the doors to their local church.
Jesus promised that the Church (capital C/church universal) will never pass away (Matthew 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” ). But that doesn’t mean that a local church is protected when they have lost their first love. When they aren’t doing things for the right reasons or are doing right things for the wrong reasons. If a local church dies, Christ can easily raise up a new one in its place…but he would rather an established church repent and return to their first love again.
The Cooperation
Revelation 2:6–7 “But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
Here, Jesus provides a bit of a praise sandwich. He once again commends them. What does he commend them on this time?
“…that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”
Now, who exactly were the Nicolaitans? Hate to break it to you, but no one knows for sure. At least, there doesn’t seem to be any agreed upon theories. The most prominent view is that they were the followers of Nicolas, a deacon in the Jerusalem church as described in Acts 6. Tradition states that Nicolas became apostate and began following a certain type of Gnosticism.
What they believed is unimportant. Take a closer look at the wording here: “…that you hate the DEEDS of…”
Jesus doesn’t say they hated the Nicolaitans. He said they hated their deeds. Their practices. Later, when we talk about the church at Pergamum, Jesus will mention the need to hate the TEACHINGS of the Nicolaitans, for the teachings lead to the deeds.
But it’s important to note here that we are not to hate the people (actually, quite the opposite), but rather the actions or deeds of those contrary to God’s word. This reinforces the attitude of FIRST LOVE that is so important in this passage.
Overcomers!
Finally, Jesus tells the church, “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life…”
So what is Jesus saying here? Overcome what? Is he saying whoever ‘overcomes’ the issue of losing their first love? That would be a works-based salvation, wouldn’t it? It would imply you could lose your salvation. We know neither of those things are true, so overcoming must mean something else.
Let’s skip ahead a bit to see a possible explanation of this word ‘overcome’. Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” In this passage, it’s talking about how Satan and the antichrist comes for the Church in persecution. And yet, the Church ‘overcomes’ the devil by…The blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (Romans 10:9 “…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” )
Jesus further states that they ‘…did not love their lives to the death.’ (Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” )
This, my friends, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We overcome the devil and our sinful nature by dying to self and confessing with conviction that Christ’s blood has washed us of all our sins. That confession is a confession of our first love…our love for Jesus Christ. For God in the flesh.
The Confession
So what does a church in such a state need to do? Jesus tells us exactly what to do in verse 5: repent and do your first works.
Repentance: changing directions. It’s recognizing we’re going the wrong way, so we turn around and get back on the right path.
We do this individually, but I also feel that we must do this as a body of believers as well. For a church to survive such a state, they not only need to rediscover their love for God and others individually, but also as a community of believers.
That means, not only looking inward and upward, but outward as well.
Let me ask you this (it’s something the director of Replant at NAMB asks in his amazing book ‘Reclaiming God’s Glory’): If your church was to close its doors this Sunday, who in your community would notice? Would anybody?
Of all the programs and ‘ministries’ a church boasts, how many of them are reaching the community around them? How many lives are being touched on a regular basis by a specific church? How is God’s glory being reflected in the community a church belongs?
Given that there is no longer a church in Ephesus, we can assume they didn’t do this. They didn’t repent. They didn’t rediscover their first love. And Jesus withdrew their lampstand from the world. They should be a warning for any church that has fallen into a similar state of folly. What folly? Doing church work for church work’s sake. If this is us, as an individual, let’s repent today. If it’s us as a local church, let’s agree together to put Christ first and the community a close second in everything we do…and consider our own wants and desires the least to be considered.
