The Seven Cities : Ephesus

Pt. Tommy Pacatang

[video] The Mark of the beast
Paul was thrown out of Ephesus because he was teaching another religion/belief.

Revelation 2 : 1-7 (NIV)

¹"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands: ²I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. ⁴Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. ⁵Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place. ⁶But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

what we learn from this passage is,

• losing our first love
• how to make it rose again
• how to be in love with Christ over and over again

"I Know..." [Jews said]

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands: ²I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Rev 2:1-3

Deeds - Jesus recognize our hearts
How they live their lives. Not just specific deeds, but the manner of life and behaviour.

Hard work
Their persistent and painful struggles to maintain their Christian testimony in Ephesus, because the pressure was huge.

Perseverance
Patient endurance of suffering, discrimination and persecution. The quality of not giving up!
Toiling to the point of exhausted.
endurance under trials.

Don't tolerate wicked people - everyone in Ephesus knows they're Christians.
Lifestyle of sin.

Tested apostles
Issues of doctrine, leadership, attitude, and grace.
Ephesians' church also separate their doctrine from Paul's and his deeds, to make it pure.


"I hold this against you"

⁴Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. ⁵Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place. ⁶But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolai tans, which I also hate.

What does it mean to forsake your first love?
Love of Christ?
Love of the body of Christ?
Love of the lost?

"You do not love as you did at first" - J.B. Philips

What we do, and why we do these things :
first love is like the first honeymoon of a husband and wife. Through the years it should have grow stronger.
It's good for a change, but many times it's been drifted.

Solutions [to restore the first love] :

1. Remember
"remember" this is a PRESENT ACTIVE IMPERATIVE meaning
"always keep in mind - occupied your mind.

2. Repent : to change mind, need to decide.
Repentance is not emotion. It is changing the direction of your life to consistently go the correction direction. Not a feeling but a decision.

3. Do the first things.
"Get your priorities right!"
Love the Lord your God, not half hearted.
Love your neighbor
God wants our heart [mark 12]

Warning
Removes the church.
churches that loose its heart will lose its light.
⁶But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Nicolaitans were people who practiced and taught that Christians could participate in sexual immorality and idolatry.

"I will give"
⁷He who has an ear (minimum), let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

What does this mean to us today?

Christ's Active Presence - in our daily life

"Him who... walks among the seven golden lamp stands"
"I know" - constant companionship
"I will come to you..." - Jesus is involve
"I will... remove your lamp stand from its place."

First Love
"You do not love as you did at first"

Remember
from where we have fallen in love with God, keep on remembering, always out that in mind. Loving God from the inside out. Do the right thing, with the right person.

Repent - not just emotionally
Change of mind set. Change of direction.

Do the first things - living from inside out. You need to proof it, put it in action.

Compromise
You hate the practice of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Additional Notes
Ephesus

1. It was the largest city of Roman province of Asia Minor. It was not the capital, though the Roman governor lived there. It was a commercial center because of its excellent natural harbor.
2. It was a free city, which allowed it to have local government and much freedom, including no garrison of Roman soldiers.
3. It was the only city which was allowed to hold the bi-annual Asian games.
4. It was the site of the Temple to Artemis (Diana in Latin), which was one of the seven wonders of the world of its day. It was 425' x 220' with 127 columns which were 60'tall; 86 of them were overlaid with gold (see Pliny's Hist. Nat 36:95 ff). The image of Artemis was thought to have been a meteor which resembled a many breasted female figure. This meant that there were many cultic prostitutes present in the city (cf. Acts 19). It was a very immoral, multicultural city.
5. "Ephesian letters" were written charms or good luck notes that were bought and sold. People would attach them to their clothing.
6. Paul stayed in this city more than 3 years (cf. Acts 18:18 ff; 20:13)
7. Tradition asserts that it became John's home after Mary's death in Palestine.
8. The church there had a difficult time earlier with false teachers who were elders. The book of 1 and 2 Timothy were written by Paul to Timothy when he was in Ephesus to correct the false teachers and save the church.

Common elements in the seven letters.

1. Description of Jesus taken from 1:12-20, introduce each message
2. Jesus' knowledge of the churches, both positive and negative, "I know..." (cf. 2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15)
3. Jesus addresses the individual churches and their cultural, geographical and spiritual settings.
4. Jesus speaks of His sudden, soon coming, either in temporal judgement or the Second Coming (cf. 1:1,3 ; 2:5,16,25 ; 3:3,11)
5. Jesus admonishes spiritual hearing and understanding (cf 2:7,11,17,29 ; 3:6,13,22). Jesus used< "He who has an ear, let him hear" in the Gospels (cf. Matt 11:15 ; 13:9,43 ; Mark 4:24)
6. Jesus promises a reward for faithful followers, who are "comers" (cf. 2:7,11,17,2526; 3:4-5, 11-12, 21)
7. These elements are not consistent in each letter. The order changes and some elements are left out in certain churches, but overall this structures shows one of several of John's seven-fold literary structures.