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Sermon preached on Revelation 2:1-7 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 11/24/2024 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
We pick up from last week in Revelation where we had just seen a vision of a glorious heavenly being who was like a son of man who was in the midst of seven lampstands and who held seven stars. That vision was interpreted for us as the lampstands representing seven churches, and by extension, all Christian churches. The stars represented angels associated with those churches, reminding us of the spiritual warfare going on right now. The one in their midst of the churches was none other than Jesus who had a powerful message to speak to his churches. This vision was given to encourage Christ’s church who was enduring tribulation. What their physical eyes can’t see, this vision reveals, namely, that Jesus was with them and tending to them as a priest tends a lampstand in the temple. So then, what follows in the next two chapters are a letter from Jesus to each of these seven churches. These letters call each congregation to endure until Christ’s return, overcoming in Christ all the threats to the faith. Today we will study the first of these letters, the one to Ephesus. We’ll see Jesus commend them in their outward orthodoxy but admonish them about their need to return to their first love. May we learn from all these letters, including this first to Ephesus, about what we too need to hear and heed while we await Christ.
Let me begin today by talking about these seven letters in general. We’ve said that Revelation is largely apocalyptic in its genre, being a series of visions with symbolic imagery. But here, really a part of the first vision, Jesus gives these seven letters. This means there is a sub-genre here, that there is somewhat of a shift in genre from apocalyptic to epistle, yet not entirely. What I mean is that even in these letters we’ll find at least some amount of symbolic language, more than normal in a typical epistle. These are letters given in the midst of a vision, after all.
Another thing to note about these seven letters is they all follow a similar structural pattern. There is a consistent formula in the opening, body, and conclusion of each letter. Each letter opens with a command to write to the angel at that church followed by Christ giving some description of himself, surely with importance to the specific letter’s theme. We find this opening for our letter to Ephesus in verse 1, with Jesus describing himself as the one from last chapter’s vision who holds the seven stars and who walks among the seven lampstands. That reminds the church of Ephesus that Jesus is there with them.
The body of each of the seven letters is then introduced with the words, “I know”. We see that in today’s letter at the start of verse 2. Generally, the body of each letter contains some positive commendation of the church’s works, followed by an accusation of some sin they need to repent of. Then there is generally either a warning or an encouragement. Of note, sadly, there is nothing commended in the letter to Laodicea, but joyfully, no accusation of sin is made in the letters to Smyrna and Philadelphia.
Each letter then concludes with the words, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” followed by a promise of the good future to the one who conquers, giving some specific description of that glorious future that awaits Christians in the coming new creation. As for the refrain of, “He who has an ear, let him hear,” that reminds us of how Jesus used those same words in connection to his telling of parables, Matthew 13:9 as one example of several. Jesus uses those words to explain how only some people, God’s elect, would understand the meaning of the parables and be saved. For others, his teachings would fall on spiritually deaf ears. For Jesus to use this language again here, surely brings out a similar idea. As he speaks to these churches in Revelation, especially in using so much symbolic language, he is acknowledging that there are some even in the visible church who won’t understand and heed his words. These are the tares among the wheat. But for those who do have God-given ears to hear, Jesus encourages us of the victory that they will have as those who overcome.
Indeed, this language of conquering or overcoming that is at the end of each of these seven letters finds its fulfillment at the end of the book of Revelation. Starting in Revelation 21, John will see a vision of the new creation, the day we as Christians have all been waiting for. Revelation 21:7 specifically returns to his same Greek language of conquering as it starts to describe this new creation, saying, “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” And each of the specific descriptions in these seven letters for what God promises those who overcome is seen in that vision of the new creation at the end of Revelation. For example, this letter to Ephesus in verse 7 promises the right to eat from the tree of life, which that is then seen in Revelation 22:7. So then, these seven letters and the vision of the new creation bookend Revelation. The seven letters are Jesus urging them to faithful endurance amidst a time of tribulation, and where needed, making corrections, with the goal of his elect triumphantly making it to the glory of the age to come in the new creation. Revelation then concludes painting in glorious detail what the wonderful new creation will be like for us who overcome in Christ.
I would also like to note that this conquering or overcoming theme that bookends Revelation is also developed within the body of Revelation. There we see that we can only conquer because Jesus has already conquered, Revelation 5:5, 6:2, and 17:14. Meanwhile, Revelation will also speak with the same language of how Satan and his evil forces will seek to conquer or overcome Christians. But right in the middle, Revelation 12:11 will tie all this together by speaking of he we can overcome Satan by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimony, not loving our lives even unto death. In other words, the victory that these seven letters speak of reflect this spiritual battle we are in, but by the grace of God we can find victory as we trust our lives in faith to Jesus Christ and his shed blood. Victory is not ultimately about our works that earn our victory, but about clinging to Christ in faith. That is how we will conquer unto eternal life.
Let us now in our second point to begin to delve into the body of this letter to Ephesus. Our second point will look at what Jesus commends about this congregation at Ephesus. I’ll begin by mentioning that Ephesus was an important city in the Roman Empire, known as “the first and greatest metropolis of Asia”, a major port city of the western coast of Asia Minor, as well as home to temple to the false goddess Artemis which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Paul had done ministry there on his second and third missionary journeys, and of course the book of Ephesians is his letter to them. Tradition records that John himself ended his life and ministry at Ephesus. So, it is an important city which was blessed with much apostolic ministry. And here, Jesus writes them this letter.
Jesus does have some good things to say about their ministry. Look at verse 2. First, Jesus mentions how they’ve patiently endured trouble for his sake. That is the sense of the word “toil” here in context, that it is toil in the sense of difficulty and suffering that they’ve experienced. Verse 2 describes this as patient endurance which is the same Greek word John used of himself last chapter in verse 9 to describe how he’s persevered through tribulation. Jesus repeats this same point in verse 3 with the same language of patient endurances and encourages them that they’ve not grown tired or weary of going through it. So, first things first, Jesus says this church has been going through the kinds of tribulation and persecution and opposition that this book of Revelation is especially addressing. Jesus commends them that they are bearing up with it well. That is a good thing.
Jesus goes on to further commend them that they have opposed false teaching. I refer to verse 2 when it describes how they tested some who claimed to be apostles and found them to be false teachers. We know that there were false apostles back then, as we see Paul mention such in 2 Corinthians. Paul there describes such as deceitful workmen who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ and as servants of righteousness. Paul reminds us that Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. So, the church at Ephesus had to discern their teachings in order to recognize them for the wolves in sheep clothing that they were.
Given how this reference to their opposition to false teaching is sandwiched in the middle of the point about their patient enduring suggests a connection. In other words, their testing and ultimately opposing these false teachers is related to the troubles they’ve had to endure. This does make sense. It is easy for us to quickly read of this matter in two verses and not appreciate how messy this would have been for the church. As mentioned, false teachers don’t show up with that label on their back. No, they come and are really persuasive and can really gain a lot of support. People in the church can be enamored with them. If the church ultimately stands up and says, “No, these are false teachers”, that can get difficult very quickly. That can become a very quick source for trouble and tribulation for the faithful in the church as they fight the good fight against such false teachers. It surely is toil that you are tempted to get tired of and just want to give up the fight. But Jesus says they didn’t give up even though it was hard. They took a stand for truth and orthodoxy. Jesus commends them for it.
Let me note in a spirit of commendation that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church exists today because of a difficult stand against false teaching and essentially false apostles. Our forefathers in the OPC had a lot of toil and patient endurance so we could have a church like ours where a sacred trust of orthodoxy has been kept for us and now entrusted to us. In our day, we must continue to protect this.
Let us now in our third point turn to see the exhortation Jesus gives this congregation of Ephesus. We find a bold accusation in verse 4 that they had abandoned the love they had at first, or as some translations say it, their first love. Let us just pause and appreciate the contrast here. A moment ago, they are heralded for championing orthodoxy, now Jesus is saying they had forsaken their first love. It is such a serious situation that Jesus threatened to remove their lampstand as a church. The Ephesians had tested those so-called apostles and found them to be false and had them removed. Would they themselves be tested as a church and found to be a false church and have their lampstand removed? This concern describes what is sometimes referred to as dead orthodoxy. If someone confesses all the right doctrines so that they can brilliantly pass a theological examination, but have not love, then they have nothing. Genuine living orthodoxy comes from a heart of love and your orthodoxy will then guide your love. But if you have abandoned love, then that is this dead orthodoxy.
To help us understand what it means to abandon our first love, let us notice how Jesus contrasts this with their first works. In verse 5, Jesus explains that for them to repent of forsaking their first love is to return to their first works. Notice the language of “first” is being used to intentionally connect these ideas. If they return to their first love they will return to their first works. While there is a clear difference between love and works, there is also a clear relationship between the two. True love will express itself in works. Remember, this is how the entire moral law of God is summarized in the Bible. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength, and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Such love to God expresses itself in obedience and worship to God. Such love to neighbor is why we honor them and don’t harm to them. And so for the Ephesians to have abandoned their first love is not to speak of some mere emotional feeling that they had started to lose. Rather, such love is a deeper matter of the soul whereby they are to be devoted to the Lord from the heart, to enjoy him, to delight in him, to honor him, and to seek his glorify. Yet, at Ephesus, over time, that inner love had begun to disappear in the church. Jesus himself prophesied in Matthew 24:12 that in the latter days the love of many would grow cold and he related that to an increase in lawless behavior.
Let us add an additional nuance here by pointing to verse 6 where Jesus turns to commend them again, this time for hating the works of the Nicolaitans. Early church fathers write that this was a group that coopted the name of Nicholas the deacon from Acts 6 and they became known for licentious living and moral laxity. They promoted unrestrained indulgence and even treated things like adultery as a matter of indifference. Basically, all the things that God’s law says not to do, sins of commission, they said, it doesn’t really matter if you do them. Later in this chapter the Pergamum church will be commended for their rejecting of the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which surely the Ephesians also rejected. But Jesus here commends them for their hating the works of the Nicolaitans.
Put this all together. The Ephesians got their doctrine right. In terms of their living, they also got it right to hate obvious and overt sins of commission. They hated moral laxity. Yet, they had lost their first love outwardly seen by how they had stopped doing their first works. So, this tells us that works they weren’t doing, the sins they were committing, were sins of omission. There were positive duties that they had done when they first became a Christian that they had stopped doing. This is so serious that Jesus speaks of them as being fallen, verse 5.
Jesus calls them to repent of this dead orthodoxy. Let us appreciate how in verse 5 he calls them to, “Remember”. They were to stop and think back to before. What did their love look like before? What works did they do at first? Jesus had said Christians need to let our light shine before men so that people would see our good works and bless our father in heaven. It is interesting that this is the counsel he gives for a loveless heart. He doesn’t say “start loving.” He says to spend some time reflecting on their former love and to start doing what they did before. Surely, there is wisdom that says a great way to cultivate love is to consider what love should be looking like and go and do that. You may just find your heart changed for the good in the process.
What positive duties might they have been neglecting? Maybe they weren’t evangelizing like they had in the past. Maybe they weren’t giving to the Lord like they had in the past. Maybe they weren’t participating in the life of the church as before, in its fellowship and service. Maybe they weren’t helping the poor and needy like they had done in the past. Maybe they had just gotten so focused on their own lives and their own affairs that they hadn’t had their hearts fixed on Jesus and how to serve him with their lives. Whatever outward works had disappeared in their living, Jesus says it reflects an abandoned love within them.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, when we read each of these letters to the seven churches we will need to ask ourselves the question, “Is this an issue in our church or in my life personally?” If it is not, then take heed lest it become an issue. But if it is, in any way, then let us look to respond as Jesus says to address the issue. In this case, we are called to recognize the danger of abandoning our love. Someone can know the right doctrine but not have genuine love for the Lord. Such love can be seen in our living. A healthy church will have both orthodoxy (right doctrine) and orthopraxy (right living). If any of us struggle with this, Jesus says to spend some time reflecting on your past days with Christ. Have you fallen from the love you used to have for Jesus? If so, go back and return to your first works. Maybe for some people, a reflection on this might reveal that you’ve never really loved the Lord in the first place. If that’s you, then turn your heart to Jesus and begin to love him as your Lord and Savior.
As we reflect on returning to our first love and thus also to our first works, we are encouraged by the presence of God. Jesus began this letter by reminding him that he is there in our midst, walking with his churches. And he ends this letter by saying that in the new creation, we Christians will be in a renewed garden of Eden. In the first Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve. Surely, in this new Eden, we will again walk with Jesus in that coming paradise. So both now and in the future, Jesus walks with us. If we remember that we are walking with Jesus, and Jesus is walking with us, it will be easier to keep our love focused on him.
Let us pray now that our hearts would always be where they should be.
Amen.
Copyright © 2024 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
