The Church who Left Her
First Love, Ephesus
(ef'-e-sus) (Ephesos, meaning
"desirable"): A city of the Roman province of Asia,
near the mouth of the Cayster river, 3 miles from
the western coast of Asia Minor, and opposite the
island of Samos. With a harbor accessible to the
largest ships, standing at the entrance of the
valley which reaches far into the interior of Asia
Minor, and connected by highways with the chief
cities of the province Ephesus was the most easily
accessible city in Asia, both by land and sea.
See map
Ephesus, at the time of the
writing of the Revelation, was a city of great
importance in Asia Minor. This city, with an
approximate population of 225,000 was the gateway to
and the capital of the Roman province of Asia and as
such it was a city of great wealth, great culture,
and great corruption both politically and socially.
Of the seven churches of Asia Minor, Ephesus is the
only one that we can trace to the beginning.
It is believed Paul
established this congregation of God's people on the
heels of Apollos who came through before him. On
Paul's third missionary journey he remained there
two years preaching in the Jewish Synagogue (Acts
19:8,10). As a result of this, "all they which
dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both
Jews and Greeks" (Acts 19:10). Timothy was an
evangelist in Ephesus when Paul wrote both letters
to Him. The church in Ephesus had elders, "And
from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the
elders of the church" (Acts 20:17). Thus we
learn that the church in Ephesus was a tremendous
influence on the spreading of the gospel throughout
the Roman province of Asia.
This church was not a tiny
little congregation of the Lord's people nestled
away in a remote community. This congregation was
the result of years of evangelism and instruction by
Apostles and other great teachers. This
congregation was directly involved with the
evangelism of the entire province of Asia. This
congregation was large and influential, located in
one of the richest cities in all of the Roman
Empire. Thus the Christians in Ephesus developed a
satisfied complacency in their service to God and
allowed themselves to become a little too full of
themselves. As such they were not motivated by love
and it appears that they desired the praises of men
more than the praises of God. It is with this
background that Christ addresses this Church.
The message to them was
threefold. Hard times are on the horizon, stop
loving yourselves and return to your first love or
suffer eternal consequences and he that overcomes
will eat of the tree of
life.
Revelation 2:1
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars
in his right hand, he that walketh in the midst of
the seven golden candlesticks:"
As discussed earlier this
is Jesus Christ who walks among the congregations of
His church which is His body over which He rules as
the head.
"I know thy works, and
thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not
bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them
which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast
found them liars: And hast borne, and hast
patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and
hast not fainted."
Jesus calls attention to
the good qualities the church was exhibiting. They
were rich in works and labor, they were being
patient and faithful, they had encountered people
who were evil and they could not bear them. They
had confronted and exposed false prophets. They had
worked for the name of Christ and not given up in
spite of some pretty severe persecution.
"Nevertheless I have
somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy
first love."
Notwithstanding all the
good works they had done, Jesus had something
against them. The importance of being a well
rounded Christian complete and sound in the faith
cannot be overstated. We are commanded to Love
Christ "out of a pure heart and a good conscience
and faith unfeigned" (1 Timothy 1:5), and to
"follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with
them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart"
(2 Timothy 2:22).
Going through the motions
of Christianity is not enough. Evangelizing,
visiting the sick, helping the widows and afflicted
is for nothing if it not done out of love for Christ
and for each other. We are His bride, a bride is
expected to love her husband.
"Remember therefore from
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first
works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and
will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except
thou repent."
These Christians had fallen
away from their first love. They were going through
the motions of Christianity but they didn't have
their hearts in the right place. They were told to
repent. Their departure from their first love was
sin and Jesus said if they did not repent and
return, He would remove their candlestick. This can
only mean one thing. Christians of the first
century were warned by Jesus Christ that they could
lose their standing as a congregation of His
church. And they were doing everything right with
only one exception and if they did not fix the
problem, they were going to be rejected by Christ.
The Church who would claim
Jesus as her head cannot depart or deviate from the
truth and trust in their righteous deeds to pull
them through. All of the good deeds and works we
can do will not erase unrighteousness. Jesus was
unwilling to overlook this one thing in favor of all
the rest of the good things they were
accomplishing. The importance of this cannot be
overstated. An entire congregation of the Lord's
church can lose their candlestick, their light,
their standing, their fellowship with Christ over a
single shortcoming, except they repent.
"But this thou hast,
that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which
I also hate."
How significant this is
that Jesus would mention the Nicolaitans at this
time. The Nicolaitans started their apostasy with a
single transgression. They had been around for a
while when Revelation was written, but in the
beginning of their existence they started by eating
meat sacrificed to idols. There was a lot of pagan
worship going on in the Roman Empire and many of
them included animal sacrifices. When these
sacrifices were completed, the meat from the dead
animals was used for huge public feasts. The
Nicolaitans wanted to participate in these feasts
and they did so in transgression of God's will (Acts
15:29). This was the beginning of their apostasy.
As time went on, they assimilated many of the other
idolatrous pagan practices into their worship until
it resembled nothing of Christian worship. How
fitting for Jesus to correct a church who was guilty
of only one transgression and then conclude with an
example of one that likewise started with one
transgression and ended up far worse. When Jesus
mentioned the Nicolaitans to the Ephesian church, He
used them as an example of where they could end up
starting with but a single transgression.
The application for us
today is the same. We are to be diligent to show
ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15), contending
earnestly for the faith that was once delivered
(Jude 3), realizing and accepting that the
commandments of men constitute vain worship in the
eyes of God (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7). Apostasy no
matter how far from righteousness it may be in then
end, starts with a single departure from the truth.
Jesus' warning to the church at Ephesus has just as
much significance for the church today as it did for
the church in Ephesus 2000 years ago.
"He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat
of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God."
Finally, Jesus makes a promise to the faithful of
Ephesus. He was saying to them and to us today that
He will give eternal life to those who remain
faithful and overcome all obstacles and remain
faithful to the end. The application for us today
is no different. Christians of the 21st century are
not any different than those of the 1st. God's will
has not changed in 2000 years. Those of us today
who hope to inherit eternal life must overcome and
endure to the end. |