In Revelation chapters 2 and 3 the Lord Jesus dictates seven letters to seven churches that were located in Asia Minor, and there are a few different ways we can look at these letters. First of all we need to remember that the churches to which the Lord Jesus is writing in these chapters were seven actual, local churches in Asia Minor. There were certainly other local churches that He could have written to, but the Lord Jesus specifically chose these seven because there was a specific message that each church needed. So as we look into these two chapters we can get an idea of the state of the scattered church in the first century.
These letters can also be seen in a prophetic sense. The thread of church history has been traced through these seven letters. The church at Ephesus being the Apostolic church all the way through to the church at Laodicea, a lukewarm church, characteristic of much of the church today. But the Bible is not merely a history book. The things that are recorded in these chapters are relevant to you and I today and just as the Lord had a message for the first century church through these letters He has a message for us as well. So as we look at what the Lord Jesus says here we don't want to sit back and hear the Lord speaking to someone else, we need to have our ears opened to hear Him speaking to us individually and specifically. Presented in these letters are standards by which churches throughout time can evaluate their worth in Gods sight. Some of the things that the Lord says are good and some are not so good. We can read through these letters, see the Lords description of each one, compare our local church to each one and find out the Lords opinion about us as a church, His advice to us as a church, and then we can act accordingly. But to go beyond simply applying these things to the local church that we are a part of, we should bring these things home in a personal way. Not simply looking at what the Lord says about His church as a whole, or what He thinks about the local church that I'm a part of, but further than that, seeing the Lords description of me. While reading through these letters we can ask the Lord to reveal to us personally the church that we are most like, and in doing these we must be honest with ourselves. It's easy to find the church that's in the best condition and say to ourselves that that must be where we are in our walk with God, but we must allow God to search our hearts individually and ask Him to reveal the condition in which I am personally. This is not a comfortable thing to do, but it is necessary and eye opening. Because until we know we have a problem, and until we locate what that problem is it can't be fixed.
In verses 2 and 3 the Lord Jesus lists eight things that He "knows" about the church at Ephesus. He says - "I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they 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 begins by saying "I know your deeds." From this first statement we get the very basic idea that the church at Ephesus had works. They were a busy church. Jesus goes on to expound upon their works in some of the things that He says in this letter. But just starting out with the simple idea, this church was not idle.
The second thing the Lord Jesus says that He knows about this church is their "toil." This word carries with it the idea of strenuous, exhausting labor. Christ says that these people were exhausting themselves doing the Lords work. Have you ever heard the expression “I’d rather burn out than rust out”? That’s the idea that’s being communicated here. This is the same word used in 1 Corinthians 15:58 where it says – “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” This church was hard working.
Thirdly, the Lord Jesus says that He knows their "perseverance" Not only were they hard working, but they refused to give up. This is the characteristic in the New Testament of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and suffering. So this is descriptive of a person who is committed to serving Christ, even when it’s hard. And not only that, but the perseverance talked about here, we know from other Scriptures, is a result of trials. Romans 5:3 says - “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance.” And we read in James 1:2-3 - “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” The perseverance that the Ephesian church had came about as a result of trials. This word was used to describe the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 1:4 where we read - “Therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all you persecutions and afflictions which you endure.” So this word, perseverance, is directly connected to trials and suffering, and the Lord Jesus says that He knows of this churches perseverance.
The forth thing He says about them is that "you cannot endure evil men." We could condense this idea into the word "uncompromising." This characteristic is largely missing in the church today. Many churches have compromised in our culture in order to be accepted. You know, the Bible has a lot to say about Gods hatred of sin, but that’s not a popular message. It’s true that God loves you the way you are, but it’s also true that He loves you too much to leave you the way you are. Too many churches are concerned with being “politically correct” and “coexisting” that they’ve compromised on the truth of Gods Word. This church, however, the Ephesian church, didn’t compromise. They weren’t going to tolerate evil in the church, and the Lord commends them for it.
Fifthly the Lord Jesus says "you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false." I'm going to condense this statement into one word as well, the word "discernment." We are exhorted in the Word of God to test what we hear. When someone is preaching or teaching we need to make sure that we don’t just take their word for it but we need to search the Scriptures for ourselves to see if these things are actually so. In Acts 17 Paul went and visited a group of people in the city of Berea. And we read that “The Bereans were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica because they received the word with eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” These people were commended for testing what the apostle Paul said, and looking at the Word of God to make sure what they were hearing was accurate. This is largely missing in the church today too. Too many people don’t know the word of God well enough to be able to discern truth. In Acts chapter 20 Paul warned the Ephesian church that this was going to happen. Paul says in verses 28-31 - “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert.” And then a few years later the apostle Paul wrote them the epistle to the Ephesians, and in that letter Paul said this - “As a result we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” Paul spent three years in Ephesus teaching the Word of God, and when he left he warned them that false teachers were going to come in. He then wrote them a letter and warned them again to watch out for false doctrines and to stand firm upon the Word of God and to grow up in all aspects into Christ. Now we come to Revelation chapter 2 and this church receives another letter, this time from the Lord Jesus Christ and He testifies about them that they were still holding firm to His Word. The Lord Jesus was sending this letter thirty years after the apostle Paul visited them with that exhortation. That’s a long time. But even with the span of time the Ephesian church was still doctrinally pure, and they were still on their guard against false teachers. They were still heeding the warning about doctrinal purity. They had discernment in spiritual things to discern between good and evil. This is what was written to the Hebrews in chapter 5 and verses 12-14 - “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” These people had not grown up in Christ. This was not true, however, of the Ephesian church. The Lord says that they had grown up in Christ. They were able to discern between good and evil. They tested what they heard against the word of God and exposed false teachers, even after that long period of time. That’s commendable.
The sixth thing the Lord Jesus says that He knows about this
church is their "perseverance." This is the second time He talks
about their perseverance. Perseverance is a great quality and it’s hard to come
by. It’s an interesting study to read through all the Bible and take note of
all the people who started out well but didn’t finish well. They didn’t
persevere. But the perseverance of the Ephesian church was so outstanding that
the Lord mentions it twice.
Seventh, He says that they "have endured for My
name's sake." The definition of this word "endurance" is
“One who must take upon himself the condemnation of the judge on account of
professing the Lords name.” Being a Christian wasn’t as easily for the church
in the first century as it is for us in America today. Christians in that area of
the world at that time could be fined, beaten, imprisoned or even killed simply
for being a Christian, and many were. And Jesus says of this church that they
were willing to do this. They were willing to suffer, and they were enduring
suffering for His names sake.The final characteristic of this church that the Lord lists in verse 3 is that they had "not grown weary" This is the idea, again, of standing firm until the end. It's similar to perseverance. This word is translated “endurance” in other places in the Bible. This isn’t the idea of endurance in the light of suffering for His names sake, like we just looked at, but this word has the idea of staying strong all the way through to the end. Another translation says “You have not fainted.” You’ve remained strong all the way through.
This is a pretty impressive list. And it's all the more impressive when we consider that the Lord Jesus is the one who is saying these things about this church. That’s a pretty big deal. How would you like to hear this from Him? Suppose you went out to your mailbox and inside was a letter from the Lord Jesus Christ. You quickly tear open the envelope and read the following - “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My names sake, and have not grown weary.” You would probably feel pretty good wouldn’t you? These are all good things. Every one of these qualities is commendable and these things should characterize our lives, but it can't end here. Outwardly this church looked great, but there was a problem beneath the skin that needed to be addressed. Remember, this is the Lord Jesus saying these things about this church. He doesn’t lie. He can’t lie. So these things are absolutely true about this church. But then again, so is the next verse.
After giving that great lists of commendable features of the church at Ephesus, the Lord Jesus says in Revelation 2:4 - “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
I was teaching on this passage at Aletheia Springs one summer and after talking about verses 2 and 3 I asked the kids based on these things would you say that this was a church that loved God or didn't love God? And they responded that this was a church that loved God. Then we read verse 4. And I think that if we were not familiar with this passage any one of us would think the same thing simply based on the Lords commendation in verses 2 and 3. And the reason for that is that the things listed in 2 and 3 are visible to one degree or another. When we come across a person whose life displays all the things listed in these verses we don't have any doubt in our minds that that person loves God. But this teaches us a very important principle, that God is more interested in the inward reality than in the outward show. And just because we may be doing the right things outwardly doesn't mean that we are where we should be in our relationship with God. The church at Ephesus had works, we saw that. They had deeds and toil and perseverance, they were uncompromising and discerning, they had perseverance and endurance and they had not grown weary. So they were working, but rather than their works stemming from a loving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ they were serving out of a sense of duty. They got so caught up in working for the Lord that they forgot the central, foundational thing of loving Him. Their Christianity had become a religion rather than the relationship that it was meant to be. There are works that are a part of the Christian life, but those works are to flowing from an intimate love relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not the other way around. They were still serving Him, they were still enduring for Him, and all these things that we’ve just seen, but they were doing it out of a sense of duty. Rather than letting their works flow out of their love for God they were serving Him from a sense of obligation.
This tells us something very important. It is possible to be involved in a bunch of good works, and it’s possible to look very religious outwardly, but just because someone looks good on the outside it doesn’t necessarily mean that they love the Lord Jesus Christ. We read this in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 - "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." Love is the main thing. The Ephesians were hard working, they were spiritually discerning and they were willing to endure persecution for the Lords name sake. I think that everything that the Lord Jesus said about them can be put into those three categories. But according to First Corinthians 13, all that the Ephesian church was commended for was canceled out by the fact that she had left her first love. The Lord mentioned eight things about the Ephesian church that He knew about them and only one thing that He had against them, and at first glance it doesn't seem so bad. After all eight is a much bigger number than one. But that one thing that He had against them was the main thing and everything else was useless and worthless because they had left their first love. Though these things may be true in my life, if I do not have love, “I am nothing.” This is something that is very important, and I don’t want us to miss it. A growing, intimate love relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is the main thing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 - "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."
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