Letters to the 7 Churches: Ephesus - Revelation 2:1-7 | Pastor Daniel Reese

Welcome to 563 Church, a podcast production of

Cornerstone Church, Eldridge, Iowa. You are joining

us for this week's sermon on the letters to the

Church of Ephesus. We'll be exploring Revelation

chapter two verses one to seven with Pastor Daniel

Reese, where Jesus commends the Ephesians for

their perseverance but warns them about losing

their first love. Tune in to discover the powerful

lessons this message holds for us today. Chapter

two is where we'll be this morning over the last

few months. I have spent some time reflecting,

reflecting on what the Lord wants for me, but

also reflecting on and praying about what the

Lord wants for our church. My hope for our church

is that we will all be moving in the same direction

as we follow the Lord together. So if you are

new here, my hope is that you will hear that,

that our goal is to follow the Lord together.

If you've been here for a while, I hope this

series that we are about to embark on will strengthen

your commitment to our church. And if you've

taken a break from our church, I hope that you

will return soon and join us as we follow the

Lord together because we're not the same without

you. We'll be in Revelation chapter two this

morning. Now in the book of Revelation, there's

this... series of memos, if you will. They're

called the letters to the churches, but they're

not really long enough to be considered letters.

They're very short little snippets of other churches

who have tried to do what we are trying to do.

To live in a community like the New Testament

Christians did. We're not the first persons to

try to live in biblical Christianity. We're not

the first people to say, hey, hey, let's try

to do this. Let's try to be this. Let's try these

things that we feel like the Lord is calling

us to do. Now my mentality in studying these

churches is that we may be able to get a glimpse

into the future and possibly see some of the

bumps in the road ahead for us. And so we're

gonna start in verse one of Revelation chapter

two. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write,

the words of him. who holds the seven stars in

his right hand, who walks among the seven golden

lampstands. Now I'm gonna stop there. This is

red letter. This is Jesus speaking. And here's

what he just said. In his right hand, he holds

seven stars. And those are seven angels. Now

it's important to note that these are in his

right hand. The right hand symbolizes control.

It symbolizes authority. The reason that it's

important for us to notice it is because it is

a reminder that the Lord has control over the

churches that we are about to read about. The

Lord has control over the churches that praise

His name. So apparently churches have their own

angel. Now that could mean a messenger. which

could mean that each church has its own angel

that it's responsible for. That's kind of cool

to think about that maybe cornerstone has its

own guardian angel or it could be referring to

the leaders that the Lord places over the churches.

And then it says that Jesus is going to walk

through the seven golden lampstands, which are

the seven churches. So lampstands are churches

and stars are angels. Verse 2, I know your works,

your toil and your patient endurance, and how

you cannot bear with those who are evil, but

have tested those who call themselves apostles

and are not, and found them to be false. I know

you were enduring patiently and bearing up for

my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.

Now if we didn't know the rest of the text, this

sounds like an amazing church to be at. A church

that's getting it done. This is the church that

no matter what the outside pressure that culture

is putting on them, they have remained steadfast.

They have not grown weary and given glory to

God's name. The Bible says that not only did

they not crumble under pressure and stress from

the outside world, but they are continuing to

grow in their cognitive knowledge of who God

is and who Jesus is because they can tell when

someone is teaching something that is false.

Now, there's a lot of false teaching out there

in a variety of different churches. Some churches

have taken up the cause of social justice. Some

churches have taken up the cause to redefine

marriage. Some churches have taken up, have elevated

tradition over what the Word of God says. Those

churches have given into the culture and the

pressure that it brings. But not Ephesus. Not

Ephesus. We'll learn more about that in a minute.

They have grown cognitively in their understanding

of who God is and how he works. The Bible also

says something pretty phenomenal about them and

that they can recognize evil and that they don't

tolerate it. They can see it and not tolerate

it. The church in Ephesus is a church that does

life together so well. That when they see things

that are sinful, they don't just pretend they're

not there, they address them. But Jesus isn't

going to stop there. He's gonna say, when I look

at you, when I look at you as a church, I see

that you persevere against culture. I see that

you recognize right and wrong, that you don't

tolerate evil, that you've grown in your cognitive

knowledge of who I am and how I operate. All

of this is great. But then he says in verse four,

but I have this against you. That you have abandoned

the love you had at first. Now as a preacher,

I'm supposed to tell you that that first love

is Jesus. But what does that mean? What do we

do with that? How does that work into life? We

we don't ask those types of questions. We just

love Jesus more But the text here in Revelation

isn't going to let you get away with having a

cliche Theology Jesus is going to be extremely

detailed here and talk exactly about what he

means by that He's saying that we can do all

the things we're supposed to do And we can imitate

the church at Ephesus and their ability to see

evil and not tolerated, and have all these great

things in place, have all these great ministries

in place, and lose the whole point of it all.

That's a terrifying idea to me. We can function

like a church, we can look like a church, but

not be the church that God is calling us to.

So he calls Ephesus to remember. Verse five,

remember therefore from where you have fallen.

repent, and do the works you did at first. If

not, I will come to you and remove your lamp

stand from its place unless you repent. Jesus

has just said this, if you don't get back to

what you were doing at first, then you might

function as a building, but you will not be the

light. So the real question is, what were they

doing at first? That has to be the question.

What were they doing at first? What deeds was

Jesus talking about? Because he says you're doing

all these things well, but you stopped doing

what you did at first. So let's figure out what

he was talking about. So Paul came to the city

of Ephesus on his third missionary journey. Now

Ephesus is a sprawling metropolis that is very

pagan. It is a home of the temple of Artemis.

Now Artemis was the goddess of the region and

the temple itself was one of the seven wonders

of the ancient world. In order to worship Artemis

in her temple, followers would go to the temple

and basically have sex with a temple prostitute,

either male or female. And it was this dark,

pagan, City that the Apostle Paul absolutely

loved We know that he loved it because there

he spent three years there longer than any place

that we know he spends anywhere else He lives

there and he does things that are pretty unbelievable

in this time period For one he he shows up and

he begins to preach the gospel Causing causing

all these miracles to start happening around

him His his handkerchief and his apron once they

were removed from himself are tossed onto sick

people And instantly the sick people are healed

So all these miracles are happening. He's teaching

the way of Jesus All these people are getting

saved and they're not worshiping Artemis anymore

Now during the first century people lived in

guilds, which means that you would live next

to people within your own profession And so if

you wanted a silversmith to make you an idol,

you would go to the silversmith part of town.

If you wanted clothing, you would go to the fabric

section of town. The Bible is going to tell us

that during this month that they had set aside

to worship Artemis, the silver makers, the silver

makers guild, that whole section of town was

furious because so many people had begun to follow

the way of Jesus. They were losing business.

They were going bankrupt and and so they just

they started a riot Now at this time in Acts

Acts 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19 a man sees Paul cast out a demon So

he walks up to a demon possessed man and says

in the name of Jesus Paul's God I Command you

to come out the demon possessed man says I know

Jesus I I've heard of Paul, but who are you?

And then the demon -possessed man just beats

him senseless. In the book of Acts, right after

that story, where the guy gets beaten senseless,

we find the only deed that we can find occurring

in the church of Ephesus. So in Revelation, when

Jesus says, get back to what you did at first,

because there's only one recorded deed performed

by the church of Ephesus in the scriptures. and

it's found in the book of Acts and it's Acts

Acts 19:18

chapter 19 verse 18. This is the what you did

first that Jesus was referring to. Acts 19 verse

Acts 19:18

18 says also many of those who were now believers

came confessing and divulging their practices

and a number of those who had practiced magic

arts brought their books together and burned

them in the sight of all. And they counted the

value of them and found it came to 50 ,000 pieces

of silver. So the word of the Lord continued

to increase and prevail mightily. Amen is right.

The people at Ephesus are coming out of this

pagan ritualistic culture where there's everything

from prostitution to bestiality. They are confessing

and repenting. The picture that we get of the

church at Ephesus in the beginning is this really

gritty, really honest group of people that have

come together and said, I've been a part of some

really wicked things. I've been a part of some

really horrific things. Jesus, help me. Within

40 years, This gritty honesty, this untamed beast

of a church becomes civilized and pretty. And

where at one time grace and love grew out of

the fertile ground of honesty, it's now been

replaced by all these external things. An understanding

of right and wrong. The ability to spot evil

and not tolerate it. Jesus in Revelation is saying,

I commend you for your perseverance. I commend

you for growing in a knowledge of me. But you've

missed the whole point. You've missed it all.

Essentially what Jesus is saying is that you've

created your own culture and are functioning.

And how other people think you should function.

They have accumulated knowledge, but they aren't

doing anything with it. They are no longer walking

in honesty, but are just accumulating knowledge.

Now Numbers, the book of Numbers, is in the Torah,

which is the first five books of the Old Testament.

The Torah is the foundation of all that we know

and all that we're experiencing in Jesus. Jesus

even says, I haven't come to abolish the Torah.

I've come to fulfill it. He says, I haven't come

to get rid of the Torah. I've come to show you

what it looks like to live this thing out. Rabbis,

even current rabbis to this day, they would say

that nothing that's ever been said wasn't first

said in the Torah. So this is the foundational

piece of who we are as believers in Jesus. In

Numbers chapter five, verse five, it says, and

the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the

people of Israel. When a man or woman commits

any of the sins that people commit by breaking

faith with the Lord and that person Realizes

his guilt. Alright, so real quick. I'm gonna

stop there. What the Bible has just said is that

when I sin against you or Or you sin against

me There there's this third party intertwined

into our conflict God the Lord He's intertwined

in our conflict. Therefore, how I relate to you

reveals how I feel about the God that made us

both. And how I relate to God is inseparably

linked to how I relate to those around me. Later

writers in the New Testament would say it like

this, if you say you love Jesus, but you hate

your brother, you're a liar. They would agree

that we are intertwined. were intermingled and

that you can't separate us out. Have you ever

heard anybody say that the sin they have inside

of them doesn't have to do with anybody else?

That it belongs to them. The sin I have inside

of me doesn't belong to anybody else. It's just

me. It doesn't bother anybody else. Ever say

that yourself. That you've got this thing in

you. but it's just yours. Doesn't have any effects

on anybody else. That is a completely foreign

concept to the scriptures. Because if you got

the sin inside of you, that you're not working

through, that you're not trying to heal from,

that you're not seeking help for, then you're

not becoming all that God created you to be.

You are not becoming fully you. Because we are

the church and the Bible is going to say that

we're upheld by every joint and ligament You

and me we cannot be fully we as the church if

you are not fully you if You are not fully you

Then we cannot be fully we so so who are you

hurting with your sin? all of us all of us, because

God's given you this creativity and this beauty

and this vitality. And instead of using it for

the reason that it was given to you, you use

it to hide. And that's exhausting. God's going

to tell us how to deal with this, this intertwining,

this us being a part of one another in God. In

verse seven in Numbers five, he says, he shall

confess his sin that he has committed. And he

shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding

a fit to it, and giving it to him whom he did

the wrong. The Bible says that you and I, we

have those secrets, right? We have those secrets

and we're walking in that darkness. If that's

who we are, we need to confess them and make

them right. But that isn't us. That's not how

we want to operate. We like to stuff it down

as deep as we can so that nobody can see us maybe

not even ourselves We like to hide it as best

we can so that nobody can see it including ourselves

now I have very strong opinions about why we

are so busy and technologically driven I Think

the reason we only take our air pods out of our

ears Is to answer the phone or turn on the TV

or or the reason that there's there's no place

that we go without a gadget with us I think one

of the reasons that we busy ourselves like that

is because when things get quiet We get a glimpse

of who we really are And most of us don't like

what we see We don't want to think about it We

don't want to see who we are. And so we busy

ourselves. We distract ourselves. In Psalm 32,

it says blessed is the one whose transgression

is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is

the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity

and in whose spirit there is no deceit. The word

blessed is the word for fortunate or happy. So

happy is the man. Fortunate is the man. Blessed

is the man who has come clean about all the dirt

in his life. David the psalmist knows this. David

does come clean. For instance in Psalm 40 he

writes a song that they would sing in the temple

and the words are like this in Psalm 40. My sins

outnumber the hair on my head. They've overcome

me. I can't see. Now that doesn't sound like

somebody that's happy. That doesn't sound like

somebody that's blessed. Why is it, why is this

man who comes clean then fortunate? In Psalm

Psalms 40:3

40 verse 3 it says, for when I kept silent my

bones wasted away through my groaning all day

long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon

me. My strength was dried up by the heat of the

summer. It takes so much energy to hide. It's

exhausting. The man is fortunate, blessed, happy,

because when we hide our creativity, when we

hide our life, when we hide our beauty, and our

energy is diverted into us, and so we're half

the fathers we are meant to be, half the children

we are meant to be, half the wives we are meant

to be. But when you cut and sever that vitality

that God gave you and you damn it all up And

you use it to hide you spend it in the wrong

places This is why some of us are so exhausted

And that's not why Jesus came in Galatians it

talks about freedom and Paul writes it says it

was for freedom that Christ has set us free Freedom

is a soul or a life unchained. Jesus wants us

to confess because the depth and freedom of our

lives is linked to this idea. The more you hide,

the less freedom you have in terms of your soul.

The more you hide, the less freedom you have

in terms of your soul. Think of it like this.

We are all each given certain freedoms in this

world. But sometimes with those freedoms, we

can become captives. For instance, people who

smoke have a freedom to do so. You have that

right. With that freedom, however, they can lose

all sorts of other freedoms. For instance, how

free do you think that person feels when when

no one wants them to smoke in their house and

they have to go stand outside in the cold? That

that isn't much freedom in every area of sin

We have the free will to choose it and in every

area of sin there is going to be consequences

The the choice of adultery could lead to divorce

The choice of theft could lead to jail. The choice

of idolatry could lead to hell. By exercising

our freedoms in sin, we end up losing the freedoms

that we want. Galatians tells us that Christ,

through his death and resurrection, did so so

that we could have freedom. Not freedom to continue

living in sin. but freedom to be able to bring

all of our sin to the table, to lay all of our

sin on the table before Him. And Him just wipe

it clean. That's the freedom that He brought

us. Because you are not defined by them anymore.

You are defined by your faith and what He did

for you on that cross. So there's no more reason

to hide. There's no more reason to pretend. There's

no more reason to manufacture a false reality

of perfection. None of us are perfect. All of

us sin. That's reality. None of us are perfect.

All of us sin. So therefore, we shouldn't be

surprised. When somebody else sins We shouldn't

take pleasure in it We should remind them of

the grace and love that God has for them Some

of the most free men I've ever met in my life.

I met in prison They got busted in their crime

Whether it was assault or drugs or theft or whatever

was they got busted they're in jail Some of them

were innocent, of course, but most of them that

I met owned it. They are paying the consequences

for their crimes, but Christ paid the punishment

for their sins. And because of that, even though

they are behind bars, their souls are free. They're

not wasting energy trying to be someone they're

not. That's the freedom that Christ died for.

No more hiding. This is what the church in Ephesus

had at the beginning. A real community of honesty

and confession. And when they operated in that

way, it says the Lord continued to increase and

prevail mightily. When they operated in confession

and repentance, the Lord continued to increase

and prevail mightily. When they ceased to operate

the way that the Lord says when they cease to

operate that way The Lord says that he's going

to remove their lampstand They're no longer going

to be the light But they're just going to function

basically as a social club in their community

If we want the Lord to increase in this place

If we want the Lord to move mightily in this

place, it has to start at a place of repentance.

Revival is preceded by repentance and confession.

I want the Lord to move mightily in us. I want

Him to move mightily in me. So I have a responsibility

to confess and repent. I have committed adultery

in my heart. So I'm an adulterer. I have committed

murder in my heart. So I'm a murderer. I have

lied. So I'm a liar. I have walked in pride.

And the Bible says that God opposes that. I have

failed to trust him at times. I have at times

found my identity in my kids and not him. I have

worshipped at the altar of entertainment far

too many times. I have used my words to hurt

others. I have failed to walk in obedience to

what the Lord has called me to do at times. I

have been a gossip. I have failed to extend grace

to other sinners. I have judged people based

on lies that have been told to me. I have been

angry at the Lord. Honesty this morning. I am

angry at the Lord Because my phone is vibrating

every five minutes Reminding me telling me that

my son's blood sugar is way too high It's a constant

reminder of his sickness Angry at the Lord for

that When you look at me, I I don't want you

to ever think that I'm walking in perfection

I don't ever want you to think that I have this

all figured out. I want you to see me for who

I am. I am a sinner who is saved by the grace

that the Lord has given me. I want you to see

someone who despite all their flaws, despite

all their sin, the Lord still called me and still

uses me for his purposes. I am able to walk in

freedom, not because of anything that I have

done, but because of what the Lord has done for

me. If we want the Lord to move mightily in our

lives, if we want the Lord to move mightily in

our church, it has to start with confession and

repentance. Now I'm not opening up the mic and

say that you need to come confess all these things

before the church like I did. That's my responsibility.

Those things are not easy for me to write. I

want to hide. I want to portray perfection. I

want to portray all these things that you think

of me at times. But the reality is I don't want

you to see me at all. I want you to see what

God has done in me, despite of all my brokenness.

No one is righteous. Not even one. That's what

the scripture says. but because of what Jesus

has done for us. Because He came and lived a

perfect life. Because He resurrected and conquered

death. Because we can trust in Him as our Savior.

When God the Father looks at me, He doesn't see

a murderer. He doesn't see an adulterer. He doesn't

see pride. He sees the righteousness of Christ.

And so if it's surprising to you that I am a

sinner, I hope that brings some clarity today.

But I'm not the only one that's been hiding.

If we want revival, it has to start somewhere.

If we want the Lord to move mightily in this

place, we have to get back to what He's calling

us to do. I don't want to function as a social

club. I want to see the Word of God go from this

place. I want to see us walking in freedom. I

want to see you experience the abundant life

that Christ has offered you. And so what that

looks like, I don't know for you. I don't know

if it's coming here before the altar and so somebody

can hold you accountable for laying those things

down. I don't know if it's confessing those things

to the person next to you. I don't know if it's

confessing those things in your chair to the

Lord this morning. But if we want the Lord to

move mightily in this place, it has to start

with confession and repentance. And so I'm going

to pray for us. I'm going to pray over us. Our

worship team will come up here and lead us in

one more song. And during that time, I think

it's just an important reality that we need to

just stop. We need to stop. Your prayer, I hope,

is just like my prayer has been over the last

few months. God, what do you want of me right

now? How do you want me to respond right now?

What steps do you want me to take right now?

That has been my prayer and will continue to

be my prayer. And so I hope that that will be

your prayer right now. How does God want you

to respond? How does God want you to repent?

What do you need to confess before him today?

We're not having open mic night. Although that

might be beneficial. But confess those things

before the Lord so we can see him move mightily

in this place. Let's pray. Father, Father, I

thank you for Jesus. Father, I hate the sin that's

in me. I hate the sin that's in me. And I will

ask you to forgive me again for being angry at

you. Help me trust your ways. Help me trust that

you have my boy in your hands. Father forgive

me where I failed to honor you. Right now I just

pray God that you will move mightily and powerfully

in this place. I pray that you'll speak to those

who have just spent so much energy hiding, so

much energy trying to be perfect. So much energy

trying to hold all the pieces together. I pray,

Father, for freedom to come to this place. Move

powerfully in this place. Move in our hearts.

Give us the courage to walk in obedience. I ask

all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank

you for listening today to 563 Church, a production

of Cornerstone Church, Eldridge, Iowa. For more

information about our church or just getting

right with God, please visit us at 563church

.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram.

Have a great week.