The History of the Church at Ephesus

Transcript

GR 1984
11/20/2016
The History of the Church at Ephesus
Revelation 2:1-2, Acts 18-19
Gil Rugh

We will talk about the reign of God when we get to the return of Christ. There are two areas or aspects we want to keep distinct. God does reign over all in His universal reign as He always has; that’s true today. Someday that universal reign of God will come to the earth in the Person of Jesus Christ Himself and then with the Father and the Spirit as well God’s presence will be in the midst of His creation where He will rule for eternity. What a glorious future! That’s where the book of Revelations is going. He is preparing us for that reminding us that we should be living in light of that.

Turn in your bibles to Revelation 2. We have finished the first chapter and in the first chapter, we have the first vision, and the first vision given to John was of the resurrected glorified Christ. The One who is Son of God and Son of man. The book of Revelation was written to his servants or literally to His slaves. The book opens up in Revelation 1:1 saying, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants,” That word translated “bond-servants” is simply the Greek word for slave, those who serve Him because they are no longer their own. They have been bought with a price.

Praise is given to Him at the end of verse 5 as the One who “loved us and released us from our sins by His blood--” That revelation of Christ in His glory revealed certain characteristics of Him, which are important for us as a church to understand and grasp. You realize the book of Revelation was not written for the unbeliever. The book of Revelation was written to those who belong to Christ and are to be living in light of His redeeming purposes for them.

As we move into the letters for the churches, this book is written to seven individual local churches seven in number as we have noted. Christ selected them because what is characteristic of them will be significant for every church down through the history of time. It is important to understand what He approves and what He disapproves. What is commendable in these churches is commendable down to today. What is unacceptable is unacceptable down to today. We as local church look at these letters and examine ourselves to see what Christ approves and what He does not approve. What He approves is commended and will be rewarded what He does not approve must be corrected.

A very personal letter, a very personal revelation with these individual letters that begin in Revelation 2 with the first letter, the letter to the church at Ephesus. We are at Patmos. The seven churches are in what is known as Asia Minor; what is present day Turkey. Ephesus was a coastal city. John is exiled in what I’ve called a Roman penal colony where Roman prisoners were sent to work in the mines. John has been exiled to that island but he has opportunity for visitors similar as Paul had when he was under house arrest in the book of Acts. People could come visit him and obviously John can have visitors on that island but he himself is restricted.

John sends the letters and addresses them each to each church. What is addressed to each church is applicable to every church because every letter ends as we have noted like the end of the letter to the Ephesians verse 7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Plural) This letter is addressed to the church at Ephesus but what is said here is applicable to other churches and that’s true of each of the letters. These letters are not restricted to one particular church and included here for just historical information. The church at Ephesus is an historical church but it is applicable to us. I want to spend some time here because the city of Ephesus is the major city of the seven. It is the largest city and it is the most important city as far as commerce activities are concerned. It is from this city that the other churches in Asia have been impacted. Evidently the salvation and establishing of these other churches in Asia, the seven addressed here are a result of the ministry Paul had when he spent three years in Ephesus on his third missionary journey.

We will talk a little bit about the city of Ephesus. He starts out addressing the angel or the messenger. We noted that word; angel is simply a word that means messenger. Often it means a spirit being who is a messenger, an angel but it often means just a human messenger. Here I think it is the human messenger. He is here representing the church at Ephesus, as each of these messengers will be on behalf of their church. The letter is addressed to them and through them to the church itself. This messenger is identified in the symbolism of a star. Look at the end of Revelation 1:20 “the seven stars are the angels or messengers of the seven churches” This is drawn from that first vision of Christ in verse 16. “In His right hand He held seven stars,” So now we are into the messenger of the church at Ephesus.

Revelation 2:1 “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand,” says… What do stars do? They shine in the darkness they are lights. You see the stars in contrast to the darkness that is around them. These messengers evidently are prominent figures from each of these churches and they are identified as standing out in a special significant way. They are addressed and they share the commendation and the condemnation given to each of the churches.

The seven lampstands that we will see at the end of Revelation 1:1 represent the churches. That’s at the end of Revelation 1:20 as well; the seven lampstands are the seven churches. We talked about this. What are the lampstands for; they give off light? You see the connection; the stars stand out in their position in the church but are to be lights in the darkness. What does the lampstand do; it gives light in the darkness? The pictures are similar and this is key as we are going to look at the city of Ephesus and then the church in Ephesus.

Our church, what are we to be? We are to be lights in this darkness. The city of Ephesus was a place of darkness. It was a thriving successful prosperous city of major commercial significance. There was a major seaport but they were having problems. A major river came down to the sea carrying silt as rivers do. The harbor that was so key was becoming less hospitable to large ships but in biblical times, it was still accessible. Today the old city of Ephesus is six miles from the ocean, the Aegean Sea. You can see how much silt has come down over the years but then it was a significant commercial port.

It also had three major land routes commercial routes that intersected at this city. You not only had the sea route but you also had the land commerce that would come into the city of Ephesus. It made it of major commercial significance.

It was of great political importance. It was what was known as a “free city” in Roman times. The Romans ruled the world at this time as you are aware but they had granted Ephesus the status of being a free city, which meant it had a lot of liberty in governing itself. Roman soldiers were not permanently stationed in the city of Ephesus. That was a unique privilege given. If Rome had any concerns about possible trouble, they stationed their soldiers in a city. Remember like Jerusalem in times of the gospel when there was trouble Roman soldiers appear on the scene but in Ephesus there were no Roman soldiers stationed there. Being a free city gave it a position of honor, recognition as a significant place and a place on which the Romans had conferred this honor. The Roman governor for the region would make his rounds in the region of Asia setting up his court for major cases in the city of Ephesus. It becomes significant because of its governmental position where cases would be tried.

We live in a city where sporting activity gets some attention and Ephesus was a major center of the Pananomin games. We don’t think of the Pananomin games but we do think of the Olympics. Now the Olympics took place in Greece but in biblical times of equal importance and impact were the Pananomin games held at Ephesus. Thousands of people would pour into the city in the month of May when the Pananomin games were held. All of this made Ephesus a thriving, humming city of significant importance.

Of special interest to us, it was of great religious importance and significance in the whole world. This was the center of the worship of Artemis. Artemis is the Greek name for the one we know by the Latin name Diana; Artemis is Diana. The center of the worship of Artemis was in the city of Ephesus and the temple built for the worship of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. One of those “must see” places and of course with this kind of religious impact people poured in here. They have a huge temple built for her. There were a hundred and twenty-seven columns around this temple. A different king had paid for each one of those columns. You see something of the significant import for a king to have the privilege of paying for one of these pillars and showing his loyalty and devotion to Artemis. It had an impact around the world.

This centered in the worship of an image. Supposedly, it had come down from heaven from Jupiter. A carved image like you’ve seen in books and bible encyclopedias; a little squat grotesque image of a female with multiple breasts. It was a fertility kind of thing so associated with the worship of this goddess was all kinds of immoral, lascivious activity. There were hundreds; some say thousands of priestesses, which was just a religious name for the religious prostitutes. You see what took place in connection with worshipping in this system. It was a very licentious immoral thing. Interesting we may have a little touch of this that helps us appreciate it.

The temple of Artemis was an asylum we would call it a sanctuary. We have sanctuary cities or places today. There is a lot of debate about them. Which are what? If an illegal person can get there, they are supposed to be free from any prosecution. (I’m not into that so don’t get side tracked.) The temple for Artemis was a sanctuary for all crimes or illicit activity and so for 200 yards all around the temple it was a safe asylum. If you had committed a crime but could get into that area around the temple, you could not be arrested or prosecuted. You can imagine the kind of people this drew to the city. One writer says of Ephesus, “Into Ephesus there poured a stream of criminals of every kind. Fugitives from the law, escapers and avoiders of justice. Into Ephesus, there flowed a torrent of credulous superstitious people for in a superstitious world Ephesus was well-nigh the most superstitious city in the world. The character of the people of Ephesus was notoriously bad. The people had the reputation all over Asia of being fickle superstitious and immoral.” Amazing, we think of what’s going on in our country and what’s happening and you know Paul would have thought this was a cakewalk.

Paul comes into Ephesus into this the kind of cesspool. A people who delighted and promoted the vilest of activities. In fact, this center of the worship promoted and involved this. The people were superstitious and the metalworkers would make these little souvenirs. They made little images of the goddess, souvenirs supposedly having magical powers. You had something if you had gone to the temple and bought one. It would be like going to the Vatican and you are devout Roman Catholic getting something that had been blessed by the pope. Supposedly, this would bring some kind of blessing to you in your home and so on. The superstitions haven’t changed but they just permeated the city.

This letter is written to that city and over forty years earlier Paul established the church in it. We are going to look at that in a moment but just a couple of dates. Paul established the church on his third missionary journey in 52 A.D. Then in 62 A.D., Paul wrote a letter to them, which we have in our New Testament the letter to the Ephesians. Now this letter was written to them in 95 A.D. You just have some kind of perspective. The church has been in existence in Ephesus for over forty years and over thirty years earlier Paul had written a letter that will have some connections to what is said here and what is connected in Revelation to them, as we shall see.

Come back to the book of Acts 18. This is review for most of you but we are going to do it anyway. We talk about the Mediterranean down here and then the body of water coming up known as the Aegean Sea that separates Asia from Europe. As you cross that water, you move from Asia into Greece and Ephesus is in Asia. We’re talking about Asia Minor now where Turkey is. If you went straight across the water, really just straight west, you’d run into Athens and then a little further west you run into Corinth so that is something of the proximity here.

We mention this because in Acts 17 Paul is ministering in Athens and then he comes down to Corinth. His ministry at the end of Acts 17 is on Mars Hill the Hill of Ares W of the Acropolis and then in Acts 18:1 it opens up, “After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth.” In verse 11 “…he spent a year and six months,” we’re on the second missionary journey, ministering the word in Corinth, and then there was trouble so in verse 18 “Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria.” He is going to go is to Antioch of Syria which is over north of Israel, Jerusalem. If you’re familiar with where Paul started out, we call it Syrian Antioch to distinguish it from the other Antioch over there. That’s his ultimate goal but they are stopped on the way so he sets out to sea and of course you cross over from Corinth and the major stop there would be at Ephesus.

He came to Ephesus and Priscilla and Aquila are with him. They were with him in Corinth and now they leave with him and travel over when he came to Ephesus. He leaves Priscilla and Aquila there and he’ll go on but we interrupt the flow here because verse 19 says, “They came to Ephesus, and he left them there.” You could put a parenthesis around that to give the idea because we’re going to say something that happened at Ephesus. Paul hasn’t left yet but it is just telling us that when Paul leaves these two individuals will be staying.

Verse 19 “Now he…entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.” That’s where Paul would start. Where else to start. People who believe the Old Testament want to show the Jews that their Messiah has come. Old Testament prophecies have seen a fulfillment in the coming of the Messiah to be the Savior; so he ministers there. Evidently, there’s some positive response because they want him to stay longer but he is committed to go on so he tells them in verse 21 “I will return to you…if God wills,” he set sail from Ephesus.”

He evidently goes to Caesarea and then he will stop at Jerusalem because, verse 22 “When he landed at Caesarea, he went up” Caesarea is a seaport below Jerusalem. “He went up,” it doesn’t say he went up to Jerusalem but wherever you are, you go up to Jerusalem. He goes up to Jerusalem, “he went up and greeted the church” evidently in Jerusalem and then he “went down to Antioch.” Well Antioch is north. We would say you go up to Antioch but you always go up to Jerusalem and down to Jerusalem in the bible so you don’t want you to get confused. He’s going up to Antioch in the north but since he’s in Jerusalem, he’s going down to Antioch. All right, so he is at Antioch and then he is going to leave Antioch and go on his third missionary journey. He is going to do this by land. He’s going to go across the land through the region of Galatia where the church is he wrote the letter to, the Galatians.

Now verse 24 We’re back in Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila in verse 24. “Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus.” Well Paul’s not at Ephesus but Priscilla and Aquila are. “…and he was mighty in the Scriptures.” We would call him an Old Testament believer. He had not learned or been taught that the Messiah had come and that scriptures regarding his suffering, death and resurrection had been fulfilled and the Spirit of God had been given to indwell believers. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and he’s a man on fire; he’s fervent in spirit. Apollos is speaking and teaching in the style of the Old Testament believer because he’s only acquainted with the baptism of John. Remember John’s baptism is “get ready for the Messiah.” We’re a long time before electronic communications so it’s not unusual he didn’t know about Christ’s coming. Paul is evangelizing him for the first time. The Jews that live here are Old Testament style believers like John the Baptist. They do not know all that has happened.

Priscilla and Aquila are here. They update him at the end of verse 26 they, “explained to him the way of God more accurately.” They brought him up to date. The Messiah has come, suffered and died and been raised from the dead. The Spirit of God has been given. God is now saving Gentiles as well as Jews. Apollos is ready now to go over to Greece and tell them what he learned and be involved in the ministry there that Paul had established. He goes over to Achaia, which is the southern region of the northern providence of Macedonia, and he helps the believers there.

Alright now Acts 19:1 opens up, “It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus” So he’s come over by land and before when he was returning home he was going by ship. You know, across to Ephesus and then down through the Mediterranean over to Caesarea. Now Paul has left Antioch up at the northern tip crossed over through Galatia, and comes down into Ephesus. When he comes to Ephesus verse 19, he finds some disciples but these “are not aware that the Holy Spirit has been given.” You get the idea that the ministry of Pricilla and Aquila has had an impact in Ephesus a city of significant size. Even so, when Paul comes into the city, he finds some Old Testament style believers. Disciples verse 3 baptized “into John’s baptism”

People get confused when they come to the book of Acts because they try to read everything as though everybody knew everything we know. Remember the book of Acts is unfolding the progressive history of the truth of the redemptive work of Christ being spread through the world. Perhaps these people had been exposed to John’s ministry while visiting on feast days or perhaps from other Jews. So Paul ministers to them and the Holy Spirit comes upon them. In effect, they become New Testament believers if you will and the Spirit that is given to believers in Acts 2 is now given to them.

You note this happens through the hands of the apostles as we’ve talked about and that keeps all the churches unified. They are all under the authority and oversight of the leadership of the apostles so that the doctrine comes down through them. You don’t have all these starting out individually on their own.

Then he goes into the synagogue. Acts 19:7 “There were…about twelve men” that experienced that ministry of Paul. Then he goes into the synagogue verse 8 and he’s there for about three months. Every Sabbath he would be in the synagogue persuading them about the kingdom of God; instructing them how this all had to happen. The Jews believed the Messiah would come to establish the kingdom so Paul had to clarify and show them from Old Testament Scriptures that first He had to come and suffer and die to secure redemption so we could be cleansed from our sins. Then we could inhabit the kingdom when He came to establish it.

The word of God always does something, either it softens or hardens. We read in verse 9 “…some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way” It is difficult to continue the ministry when you have intense opposition building. These Jews are no longer open to hear and they want the old way instead. Christ confronted this during his earthly ministry and we continually find opposition to the ministry of God’s truth. Some people were positive. Paul moves out of the synagogue, he can no longer stay there because evidently, the leading Jews are not open and he moves to another facility verses 9-10 called the school of Tyrannus. He is there for two years. Note here, “so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord.” I wonder how the other six churches in Asia hear--well Paul is here for three years. Turn over to Acts 20:31. On a later visit to Ephesus he’ll remind them, “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” Paul’s total time there was three years. He was three months in the synagogue, he was two years in the school of Tyrannus and we don’t know what other places he ministered; but a total of three years.

During that time, there are other people with Paul. We will get a few names but there would have been a group gathered with him. They would have gone out to the other regions of Asia carrying the gospel and some people that would have come into Ephesus and heard and been saved would have carried it back. Perhaps one of these companions of Paul would have gone back with them. Two or three get saved so they might have gone back to Smyrna or one of the other cities and helped establish a church there. At least we know what happened and how this portion of Asia where these seven churches were got evangelized. During these three years, Ephesus becomes a center for the word going out. We know a number of churches, more than seven because we know of other churches that aren’t mentioned among the seven like the church at Colosse, which is near the city of Laodicea but it’s not one of the seven mentioned here. This area is being evangelized.

The rest of the chapter tells you about Paul’s ministry at Ephesus. We don’t have time to go into that but as often happened the ministry of the Word touches hearts but the larger number are antagonized and stir up opposition. Acts 19:23 tells us at “about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.” Things were happening that people didn’t like. The silversmith made a lot of money, making images of Artemis that you could purchase and have a little shrine in your home, for the magical powers. Since people don’t want to buy them now, they say this is a threat. You know everything is a threat and it would turn people away from that. Verse 26 “You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all.” Well, that’s true but they don’t want to hear it.

This is the same problem Jeremiah the prophet had. Jeremiah 10:3, 8 He said you know a piece of wood is a piece of wood. They cut down a tree, they make a table out of it, and out of another portion; a god and they make it with their hands. What kind of god is this? That’s why He said, Jeremiah 10:5 “Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.” That’s Paul message. The whole city is in turmoil so they flow into the large theater. Alexander, one of the Jews who is a believer (just so we know there are others here) wants to make a defense but verse 34 says, “But when they recognized that he was a Jew,” this just inflames them.

Some of you saw in the paper that there is a rise of anti-Semitism. People are surprised this is happening in our country as well as in Europe and of course, we have it in other parts of the world. They say, “We can’t believe it” ... That is where we’re going in Revelation. The devil has one continuing goal to destroy the Jews and all the followers of Christ but there is a kingdom promised to the nation Israel. All the followers of the devil are anti-Semitic. Some might say, “Well I know some people that aren’t saved that are not anti.” Give them time give them the right circumstance. John 8:44 “The children of the devil always do the will of their father the devil” and there will come a time when the whole world will join to destroy the Jews.

The opposition is so bad but finally the town clerk, a leading political figure gets into this theater and quiets the city down. Acts 19:35 They have been doing nothing for two hours but crying out, “Great is Great is Artemis, Great is Artemis!” We can see this when we see it in some of these Muslim countries when something inflames them and they just chant, chant…two hours of this. Things could get out of hand. You could have a riot here.

Now remember Ephesus is a free city. If things get out of control, you know what the Romans will do. They will send a contingent of soldiers in to settle things since they don’t have any special love for Ephesus and when soldiers come in they will lose their freedom. They will be under the thumb of the Romans with a contingent of soldiers and a Roman ruler stationed here.

He quiets them down and says…you know we have courts and if there is something that needs to be dealt with the Roman governor will come through. We can do that; we have a way to handle things so … In verse 40 in says, “Indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot … since there is no real cause for it … and we will be unable to account for it.” The Romans don’t have any particular thing here. They were willing to make comprises with the Jews, give them certain freedoms and Christianity is just there. The Ephesians had better be able to take care of their own business or the Romans will take care of it for them. That’s how things are settled down and Paul moves on.

This is about 52 A.D when the church is established. Come back to the book of Revelation. Christ is speaking, He is “The One who holds the seven starts in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:” You will note here He has the seven stars, these prominent representatives of each church in His right hand. We noted here from the description of Christ in Revelation 1:16 His sovereign authority control and protection; that is all involved and He is walking among the seven golden lampstands. The lampstands remember represent the churches. In Revelation 1:13 He was “in the middle of the lampstands,” but now what you have is Him moving around giving His evaluation of each of the churches. Remember the picture verse 14 “His eyes were like a flame of fire.”

He will start out in Revelation 1:2 “I know” and he gives His evaluation … this is serious business. Then He will move from church to church and that’s the picture; He is walking among the lampstands. He’s not getting reports given to Him but the reminder is His presence there observing and observing with perfect knowledge. This is recorded for us and this church is under that penetrating gaze and evaluation of the One who is our Master, we are His slaves. He has brought us together as His body in this place and He is doing His searching evaluation. We talked about that, we easily lose our perspective and what it is He is doing. He is the High Priest who “released us from our sins by His blood” in verse 5. He has the dress and the robes that would characterize the high priest; a person of authority and dignity and He is here now looking at the lampstands.

Remember back in Leviticus 24, Aaron is instructed in front of the tent where God manifested His presence when He meant with Israel. There was a lampstand and it symbolized what? The light of God’s presence among His people and on the earth. This is where He manifested His presence. The high priest Aaron is given instructions in the opening verses of Leviticus 24:1-4. We looked at them in a previous study. He is what? To constantly keep that seven-pronged lampstand burning? You know it as the menorah and in Exodus it is described. It had a bowl on the top and you filled the bowl with olive oil. Then you put a wick in it and then you’d light it. The high priest was responsible to keep that burning all the time. What did he have to do? The oil had to be replenished it would burn down. The wick had to be trimmed and replaced so that care for the lampstand. That’s what Christ is doing, walking around looking at the lampstands seeing their condition. A lampstand what? Gives off light.
We looked at this but I want to connect it to Ephesus. Come to Philippians 2:14 a verse we looked at when we looked at some of the passages on believers in the church as light. “Do all things without grumbling or disputing;” -- We could be in trouble on this but we won’t stop here. Verse 15 “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,” -- You see Philippi is in Macedonia the northern part of Greece across from and up from Ephesus but a similar kind of situation, “among whom you appear as lights in the world,”

The church at Philippi was to be the same thing as each of the seven churches in Asia were. Light, every individual believer and then the church as a whole. Lights in the world by their conduct and by their message verse 16 “holding fast” or holding forth “the word of life,” We’re making God known, revealing Him, we are instruments of revelation by our godly lives. We reveal His work in our lives by holding forth the word of life; we shed light on people. That’s why they are uncomfortable with it. They don’t want to be revealed to be sinners. They don’t want their conduct revealed to be displeasing to God. They don’t want the light. This is the condemnation that came upon the world, what? John 3:19 -- “the Light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the Light,” but we are the light.

Come back to Ephesians just before Philippians. Paul wrote this letter to the church. When he wrote it he was in his imprisonment, we have recorded at the end of the book of Acts. It’s about ten years after he established the church as we read in Acts 19. He says, in Ephesians 2:1 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,” verse 2 “In which you formerly walked”—so this is going to picture the darkness. He doesn’t use the word here but keep it in mind. This is descriptive of what he will call the darkness shortly. You were dead—this is spiritual deadness during which time we will be in spiritual darkness—you “walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” verse 3 “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

Paul reminding the Ephesians that they were part of that cesspool that now they find so revolting so repulsive. You were no different. We were all like that. It puts things in perspective. That’s what we were. What we are now we are by the grace of God. (v.8) “For by grace you have been saved by faith;” and this is all God’s doing.” Ephesians 4:1 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,” Come down to verse 17 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind.” You no longer conduct your lives like the people around you were conducting their lives. Back in Ephesians 2:1 you used to walk that way but by the grace of God you have been made new on the inside that now manifests itself on the outside.

Walk in a manner worthy Ephesians 4:18-19 “being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart and they, having become callous,…” They give themselves over to all kinds of sinful practices but in contrast, we are not to function that way.
Come down to Ephesians 5:7-11 “Therefore do not be partakers with them;” the unbeliever, their conduct which will ultimately bring the wrath of God on them. “Do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness … now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light” consists “in all goodness, righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness …” and the whole issue here, come over to Ephesians 6:12 “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” – so you need the armor of God.

Before we go back to Revelation go to II Corinthians 4:3-6 Satan blinds the minds of the unbeliever less the “light of the gospel of the glory of Christ … should shine” into their darkened hearts. There is a battle going on over forty years after the church at Ephesus was established. We’re over thirty years after Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians but the battle has not changed. Ephesians 6:12 “We wrestle not against flesh and blood … but against … spiritual forces of wickedness;” the devil and his hosts.

Come back to Revelation, Revelation 2:2-3. Now as Christ evaluates the church, He graciously begins by commending them. “I know” that full complete knowledge. “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and…are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.”

He starts out with this commendation and so important because each evaluation of these churches will be true. We are learning what pleases the Master that we serve. Remember Jesus asked when he walked the earth Luke 6:46 “Why do you call Me, ‘LORD, LORD,’ and not do what I say?” I tell you He is the Lord and we are His slaves. We are not our own.

So here is what He commends, it is important to know. “I know your deeds” and that’s simply the word for works. We talk about ergonomics and ergon is the word for work in Greek, so your works. These are people that are active, busy about Christ’s work and that is good.

We get concerned about being workaholics but in the spiritual realm that’s commendable. This church is at work for Christ. “I know your works and your toil-“-adding more detail. Now toil is work carried to the extreme if you will. It’s a totally different word but it means work that is exhausting so our word toil gives you that idea. They don’t just do those things you can do without a lot of effort. They are toiling, working at a level that wears you out and it’s exhausting. They were serious about their service for Christ, working to exhaustion. Sometimes we think we will do the Lord a favor by coming out on Sunday. You know I’d do something but I’m busy with a lot of other things. Christ looks at His church and sees people who are worn out if we could put it that way. They haven’t quit but yes we’re tired. That’s often the way it is. The world even talks about that. The work gets done by tired people who are pouring themselves into it. That’s the work of the church and that’s what we are. Is that how the Lord will look at us? Remember, He is evaluating us individually and our church together. Praise the Lord for people who pour themselves into it, give of their time, their effort and their energy. He commends them for their toil.

We only have time for one verse. I Corinthians 15:58 We could do a word study on the word “kopos” the word for toil or “kapiao” the verb. Some of you have taken Greek could do that. What’s Paul say, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, able, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain …” You know Paul didn’t know any other kind of work for the Lord but that work you pour yourself into so fully that it became exhausting. Now I have to think, boy, I’m tired. Why don’t I look for things I’ll cut back on but I don’t want to cut back on my work for the Lord. I realize you have jobs to do and homes to take care of but in reality I need to see how I can be most used of the Lord. I don’t fit the Lord into my schedule with what’s left over; I go the other way. Your toil in the Lord is not in vain.

Then back in Revelation 2:2 and we’re going to leave off here. We’ll pick up, and your, “perseverance” and perseverance is simply endurance; toil over time. We had a football player who had an unusual experience yesterday on the football field. He got to run the ball and he’s a lineman. What did they say, he weighs three hundred and some pounds and going down the field when he got there one of the announcers said what? They may have to come and get him after everybody else is done showering. Exhausting, endurance, keeping at it—this is the picture we have here. These people are at work; exhausting wearisome work but they hupomeno, persevere; they endure they keep at it.

We’ll stop there. That’s what Christ commends and I praise the Lord for the years of my ministry with so many people who have given of themselves to the work of the Lord in this church that the Lord has brought us together not just to work but to pour themselves into it. They pour their life into it and they have done it over time. Some of you have been doing it for twenty, thirty, forty years. Some of you were at it when I came--that’s commendable, honorable. You say well I gave up doing other things to do that. You didn’t give up anything that would be more worthwhile. That’s our privilege, that’s our blessing and we don’t want to grow weary in well doing and doing the work of the Lord. So these things, which are precious to the Lord, we don’t want to be at things that if He came, wrote us the letter today…these are things we would want to be commended by Him. There are others but sadly, there are things that have to be fixed and we’ll have to look at that as well.

Let us pray together. Thank You Lord for Your word. Thank You for the church at Ephesus. Lord it is encouraging to meet this church some forty plus years after it was established and see that our Lord could commend them for their diligence, endurance and their discerning as we will see as we move into the letter. Lord we want to take these things to heart, see ourselves in light of what You have given as an evaluation. There is even less excuse for us not to be what we should be. We have the clarity of these letters given to us so pray that we will have a church that is honoring You in every way plus our testimony for you wherever we are and whatever we’re doing. May we indeed shine as lights in the darkness as we pray in Christ’s name? Amen