A Tale of Two Kingdoms: Revelation 2:1-11 (Week 2)

Well, good morning and welcome to CBC.

My name is Joe.

I'm one of the pastors here.

I'm glad that you're with us.

I was reading a story this week about a meeting that took place in Texas back in the year 2000.

I was in high school in those days, and there was a little startup company that tried to merge with Blockbuster Video.

Anybody remember Blockbuster Video?

Blockbuster Video was a store that you could go to and you can rent VHS tapes or DVDs.

Now, we didn't have Blockbuster money when I was growing up, so we had to go to the library and get our DVDs and VHS tapes.

But there was this little company and they were trying to merge with Blockbuster.

These two guys who had started this little company, and Blockbuster was kind of the king of entertainment at that time, and they laughed them out of the building.

They wouldn't even consider what they were saying.

They're like, yeah, this kind of this little niche idea.

It's not really for us.

Thanks, but no thanks, youngsters.

See, there was these there were these two guys who had started this little company, and in their mind, instead of having to go to the Blockbuster store, what if you could mail DVDs and get them right at your house?

They came in these little red envelopes.

You may remember this was how this company called Netflix actually started before streaming was a thing.

And Netflix had asked Blockbuster to acquire them, and the price was$50 million.

Well, Blockbuster wanted nothing to do with them.

And nobody in the room that day could see what was gonna happen in the next couple years.

See, the giant who ruled that market was on the verge of collapse.

And this little startup called Netflix that looked like it was a little nobody was getting ready to inherit the future.

See, Blockbuster is no more.

They would have gotten a discount.

As of this morning, Netflix is worth$322 billion.

But nobody in that room, here's the thing, nobody in that room could have known that day.

The profit and loss statements, the business plan, everything looked and pointed to the fact that the blockbuster executives made the right call.

And I tell this story because it's actually apropos to our study of Revelation.

See, it can be very easy with our human point of view to look at the world and see or think that the kingdom of darkness, that the devil is winning.

And that this little kind of rag tag group of people that we call Christians are somehow losing.

But Revelation gives us God's point of view.

And it shows us that what might look like the giant is actually on the verge of death.

And this kingdom of God that maybe doesn't look too strong because its people are constantly being persecuted and suffering and walking through difficulty, that the kingdom of God is actually getting ready to inherit the future.

See, revelation is not some sort of code for us to unlock or some secret timeline that we need to figure out.

Revelation is, as his name describes, is a revealing.

It's information that God reveals to us, namely not a code, but a perspective.

Revelation allows us to see reality and the future as God sees it.

Because if we just look at it from our point of view, we may end up looking like fools like Blockbuster.

And so we want to see it from God's point of view so that we might endure through the difficult days and inherit eternal life.

We're going to begin to look today at the first things that God reveals in Revelation.

And it's not some sort of epic battle.

There aren't some sort of apocalyptic beasts.

The first thing that God reveals to us is ourselves.

He begins by looking at the church.

And we'll, over the next couple weeks, we'll look at these seven letters that were written that were written to seven churches in ancient Asia Minor.

But they're not just to those churches.

The number seven throughout the Bible is used as a symbol.

And the symbol means completeness or wholeness.

And so they're not just letters to Ephesus and Smyrna, like we'll look at today.

They are letters to Cuyahoga Valley Church.

And we'll also see that while the letters begin speaking to the church in the plural, the actions or the obedience that is called for begins to be seen in singular.

So I've been using this little phrase, who you are, will determine who we are.

I think sometimes we think of the church as just some sort of this nebulous thing out there, and whatever God says to the church doesn't matter to me.

No, we are the church, and so how each of us individually chooses to respond to God's call is how we will respond to his call.

He'll move through these letters, and I kind of liken it to a doctor's visit.

Jesus will begin with his credentials.

He'll use a name or a title that he'll draw from chapter one.

Now, the whole idea of this is that Jesus wants the people that are receiving the letter to know that he's quite capable and has the credentials to speak to them.

In much the same way.

If you had a heart problem, you don't want a podiatrist walking into the room.

They're not gonna help.

So Jesus gives his credentials, then he gives a diagnosis.

Here's what's going on in your life, your church, your heart.

After that, he provides a prescription.

Here's what you need to do.

Sometimes it's continue on through difficulty.

Other times it's repent of the sins that you're walking in.

Then he calls us to respond.

What are you gonna do with it?

Are you gonna go fill the prescription?

Are you gonna do the physical therapy you're supposed to do?

And then finally, the prognosis, a promise.

If you listen to me, and he'll use the word conquer, to the one who conquers.

He doesn't mean win a war, he means respond to his correction, who conquers that sin by his strength.

To the one who conquers, I will do this.

If you don't listen, here's what's gonna happen.

And so let's dig in this morning.

We're gonna look at two churches, the church in Ephesus and the church in Smyrna.

Now, imagine you were looking for a new church.

So you jump onto Google and you type in Ephesus Community Church.

You see, man, Michael T gave it five stars.

Been coming here for years, can't recommend it enough, rock solid teaching.

When some guys came through claiming to be apostles, the elders tested them against scripture and called out the fakes.

This congregation works hard and has weathered real hardship without ever burning out.

Highly recommended.

142 people found this helpful.

And you continue to scroll and you stumble upon Smyrna Fellowship.

Oh man, Rachel B.

only gave this one star.

Not sure why this place is still open.

It's in a rough part of town, and it shows they're reportedly harassed by a local religious group.

A few members are facing real legal trouble.

No growth, nothing impressive going on here.

Now, if you were choosing, you'd probably end up in Ephesus Community Church.

The problem here is that we're only seeing things from man's point of view.

Revelation gives us God's point of view.

So let's see what God has to say and then determine what church we want to be like.

Revelation chapter 2, beginning in verse 1.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

To the angel of the church in Ephesus.

Now, a real quick parentheses here.

This is how each of the letters will be introduced to the angel.

And scholars are in disagreement as to whether this is literally there were angels who had some sort of supernatural authority over individual churches, or whether this is to be a pastor or a leader of the church.

Either way, it doesn't really matter which way we interpret it.

The point is that there's a letter to the church, and the person who has responsibility or authority over that church is to bring that word to them.

And then Jesus introduces himself to the angel of the church in Ephesus, right, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

Now, last week we don't have to wonder what those symbols are.

We learn it.

It says it right in the text that the seven stars are the angels of the churches, and the lampstands are the churches themselves.

So the way that Jesus is introducing himself is the one who has authority over and who walks among or knows his church.

So we don't have to wonder.

Does Jesus know what's really going on in our church and in each of our hearts?

Yes, he does.

And does he have authority to both encourage and correct us?

Yes, he does.

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 that you're enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.

But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

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 lampstand from its place unless you repent.

Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.

Everything on the outside of the church in Ephesus looks really good.

They've got good programs, they've got good systems, they're really involved.

And all of the encouragements here are genuine encouragements.

They're not some sort of like backhanded encouragement so that Jesus really can get to the correction.

They're real.

He's honest.

They're a driven congregation.

He says, I know your works.

The Greek behind it is labor to the point of exhaustion.

So they're doing stuff.

They got greeters in the foyer and people making coffee and enough volunteers for kids' ministry and people going on mission.

They're involved in ministry.

They're a driven congregation.

They're a discerning congregation.

It says that they are testing teachers who, traveling teachers who come and claim to be bringing the truth.

And they're testing them against what the apostles have taught them.

They're a doctrinally sound congregation.

We don't know exactly who the Nicolaitans are, but we do know that what they're teaching and doing, Jesus hates.

And Ephesus hates their teaching and their actions as well.

And they're a diligent congregation.

They are bearing up for my name's sake and have not grown weary.

Now, I was thinking about CVC as I read these things.

And I think there's a lot to be grateful for as it relates to our church.

I think you are all a driven congregation.

When there's volunteer needs, when there's ministry needs, when there's missions needs, you guys are the first to step in, to help, to lend a helping hand.

I think we're a discerning and doctrinally sound congregation.

Our elders hold us accountable and we hold one another accountable so that we don't drift from God's word into some other gospel or into just teaching what we feel or think on any given day.

We're a diligent congregation.

We pray for all of you regularly.

And when we receive prayer requests, I know I read them that many of you are walking through deep, difficult situations, heartache, grief, trial.

And so many are doing it while holding firmly to the faith and trusting Jesus in the middle of it.

So all of those things with Jesus, I would say to you, Amen.

But then Jesus comes in with this statement that, man, if I was in that room, it would just have blown me away.

But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

I was thinking about how I would feel if my wife said this to me.

If she said, Hey, we need to have a talk.

And I sat down at our kitchen table and she said, Hey, Joe, I'm so grateful for you and the way that you care for our family, and you're a good dad, you're a dutiful husband, you mow the lawn, you come home from work on time, you're you're nice.

Uh you take us on vacation every once in a while.

But I feel like you're just doing those things out of habit and duty.

I don't I don't feel like you love us anymore.

Man, I would be destroyed.

I would be devastated.

And I wonder how that news from Jesus hits the church in Ephesus.

You have lost your love for me.

And I think we just have to be honest with ourselves.

Part of reading these letters is not just to look at Ephesus, but to look at our own hearts and ask, has our own individual and collective love for Jesus cooled?

Maybe you're still doing all of the right things.

You pray and read your Bible every morning.

But it's kind of at a place where you just do it because you've built a good habit.

And you don't have deep, loving, abiding relationship with Jesus, maybe like you once used to.

Maybe you're a generous giver.

You give to CBC every month on schedule, same amount.

And you don't complain about it.

It's just become kind of a a bill to pay instead of worship to extend.

Maybe you show up every week to serve in ministry, but at this point it's n it's just kind of because well, everybody expects me to do it, and I would let some people down if I didn't.

Maybe it's your posture towards sin.

You're not grieved by your sin anymore.

You're just kind of like, well, I Jesus will forgive me.

It'll be okay.

I wonder if Jesus would walk into our midst today and say something like this to CVC.

You used to love me differently.

And your love has grown cold.

Mighty say that to us individually as well.

Well, if so, what do we do about it?

I've been wrestling with that.

You know, if your spouse comes to you and says, hey, I I could really use your help with the laundry and the dishes a little bit more.

Well, you know exactly what to do.

Do the laundry and the dishes more.

But your spouse can't command you, and neither can you command your affections.

Your kid can't come to you and say, hey mom, love me more.

And so what do we do?

What do we do when our love grows cold?

How do we fan that flame?

I want you to hold on to that question.

We're gonna come back to it.

But before we do, I want to I want to look at this church in Smyrna, who's in a very different situation.

Verse 8.

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna, right?

The words of the first and the last who died and came to life.

These are Jesus' credentials here.

This is a reference to chapter 1 where he says, I've died and came to life, and I hold the keys of death in Hades.

He says, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich.

And the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Do not fear what you're about to suffer.

Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested.

And for ten days you will have tribulation.

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

He who has an ear, let him hear what this what the Spirit says to the churches.

The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.

Now, by all outward appearance, Smyrna is not doing too hot.

See, what was probably happening is towards the mid to the late first century, Rome and Christianity started butting heads a bit.

In the first part of the century, they were pretty tolerant of Christians.

Well, part of being a Roman citizen was not only recognizing Rome as the political leader, but the emperor as God.

The truth claim that you had to make was Caesar is Lord.

Well, Christians had a competing church claim, truth claim, namely that Jesus is Lord.

And so Rome started to arrest them and persecute them.

And what's probably happening when it talks about Jews and slander and a synagogue of Satan is that there were probably some Jews in Smyrna who were tattletaling on the Christians to the Romans and opening them up to persecution and jail time.

And we might like to think or read, we would hope, that at some point Jesus is gonna say, but I'm gonna break you out of jail.

Or don't worry, I'm gonna make sure that those plans don't succeed.

Rather, he just says things are gonna get worse.

And his encouragement is stay faithful to me all the way to the point where you die.

Not really the letter that you want to receive either.

But Jesus gives us here the important perspective that revelation intends us to have.

He invites Smyrna and us to see.

The first death, as quite honestly, not that big of a deal.

He says, To the one who conquers, they will not be hurt by the second death.

Now, what is that?

Well, we'll learn about it more at the end of Revelation.

But here's how Revelation finishes.

I'll do some foreshadowing.

Jesus returns, and life of this age, this world as we know it, comes to an end.

And everyone who has ever lived will be resurrected into a body that is uniquely suited for eternity.

And everyone will be judged by God.

And there are only two options.

On the one side, if you have trusted Jesus to be the leader of your life and the forgiver of your sins, then you will be ushered into what the Bible calls the new creation, where this world will be recreated.

And all of the things that it means to be human, we will experience in perfection, the pinnacle of which is the presence of God, the manifest presence of God will be everywhere because he will be himself present with us.

The way that we summarize that is by calling it heaven.

The other option, it says, for those whose names have not been found in the book of life, for those who have rejected Jesus, they will be, it says, thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death.

So we're all going to die once, the first death.

This body that we have will die.

And what we hear to the letter in Smyrna is it's sad, it's real, it's not ultimate.

In the grand scheme of things, don't worry about it.

That's why Jesus doesn't offer them, Jesus doesn't offer them any consolation in this life.

Just be faithful unto death.

And what you what will you receive if you're faithful unto death?

I will give you the crown of life, eternal life.

You will not be hurt by the second death.

And that's the death that matters.

Because the second death is eternal.

The question that I've been asking is, and I think that we need to ask, is which church do we want to be?

Do we want to be like Ephesus, who is doing a lot of really good things, but whose love has grown cold?

Or do we want to be like Smyrna, who's in the midst of trial and persecution and pain, and it's just gonna get worse.

But notice Jesus has no correction or rebuke for the church in Smyrna.

He doesn't say, but this I have against you.

So my presumption is their hearts are warm towards Jesus.

They love Jesus as compared to Ephesus.

Why might that be?

You know, study after study after study asks Christians, what are the things in your life that have made the greatest impact in growing your faith most significantly?

Bible reading, prayer, giving, going on missions trips, church attendance, being in a life group, serving.

Every single one of those things statistically pales in comparison to the number one thing that Christians always say is the most meaningful in their spiritual walk, namely suffering.

Because here's what suffering does it kicks the legs out from under our self-reliance, so that all we have to hold on to is Jesus.

And we just see in new and fresh ways how lovely and loving and gracious and merciful and powerful he truly is.

And so I have to admit to you, there's part of me that wishes, not part of me.

I battle with this every single day.

I want life to go well for me now and well for me later.

Don't we?

I just, I just I don't want to have can't I love you and not suffer?

And I'll tell you, the answer that the Bible gives us is no.

Because every single time that we're in a season of things going well for us, we tend to forget him.

And we start going through the motions, and he has to walk in the room and say, your heart has grown cold again.

And so some of you, I know, are in.

You're like the church in Smyrna right now.

As I have gazed over our congregation across three services this morning, I have caught eyes with people, some who are dealing with chronic illness, and just continue to worship Jesus in the midst of it.

People who are walking through deep grief and loss, and who just refuse to question or curse God in the middle of it.

People who have nothing.

I talked with a young man last week who just got out of jail, and he's just talking about how that time in jail was so transformative for his relationship with Jesus.

Who talks like that?

People who like Smyrna are willing to walk through pain and suffering because they know that the first death is not the death to be worried about.

What is the second death?

And so we pray things like God, whatever you need to do to warm my heart and cause me to love you.

Do it, even if it means taking away everything in this life.

But some of us, myself included, are like Ephesus.

I think there's a little bit of Ephesus in all of us.

And one of the battles that I face every week is I'm asking myself, am I just preaching this to you?

Or am I preaching this to myself first?

And so I've had to look myself in the spiritual mirror this week.

And I've had to invite God in to say, like, put in the thermometer and take the temperature of my heart.

Do I love you, God, like I used to?

And I'll be honest with you, I'll go first and say it.

I get caught up in the busyness of doing really good Christian things in my role here.

And my love grows cold.

I wake up some mornings, and my quiet time is bland.

Because I'm not loving Jesus like I ought to.

And so sometimes his prescription is to move us into suffering.

But he also gives us some steps that we can take.

So I want to go back to that question.

Like, what do we do?

What do we do when our affections are dull?

When we're loveless, when we're cold, when our hearts aren't responding to God like they should.

Sometimes God will bring us trials to remove our self-reliance.

But he also gives us three instructions here in verse 5.

He says, remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first.

Remember.

This is part of why we take the Lord's Supper, to remember.

To look back at His grace and His goodness and His kindness.

To remember if even for a few moments who we used to be without Jesus, how lost we truly were, how deep the pit really was, and how extraordinary His love and grace towards us truly is.

We look back at some of those early days when we were on fire for Jesus.

And we do this with all relationships.

It's good for my heart, after 20 years of marriage, to open up the wedding album.

And think of those early years when I couldn't think of anything but Linda Valenti.

It's good for our hearts to do that spiritually as well.

And then what do we do?

Then we repent.

We just go to God and we say, I'm so sorry.

I want to love you more than I do.

All this other stuff's in the way.

Oh, I get so distracted, Lord.

I love other stuff so much more.

Would you please forgive me?

I'm so sorry.

And I can't seem to fan into flame my own heart, and so I need your help.

Forgive me for not loving you like I should.

Cause me to see you clearly and to love you more dearly.

And then it says, and do the works you did at first, which is kind of a surprise.

Because essentially Jesus is telling us, don't wait for your feelings.

See, sometimes that happens.

A couple will come into my office or to Pastor Dean's office and they make a statement about their spouse, something to the effect of, I don't love him anymore.

Or I don't love her anymore.

And there are several pieces of counseling that we might give them.

One of the action steps will be act like you do.

Act like you do.

I don't care how you feel.

You made a commitment.

And so we don't wait for the feeling to come back.

We obey what God has called us to do.

And we hold firm to our commitments and we repent of our lovelessness.

And we trust Him to do the work of heart transformation that only he can do.

We keep opening up our Bibles, even when it's stale.

We keep praying until that fan of the Holy Spirit flames our hearts and we burn with love for him again.

We let the sting of conviction of sin sit in our gut for a while, until we are really sorry.

And in this way, our affections for him are rekindled.

And to the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

But here's the correction.

It's in the second half of verse 5.

If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.

What does that mean?

A lamp on a stand is intended to do something.

It's intended to bring light into a room.

So the church, the lampstands, we are intended to bring light into dark places.

We're intended to have a ministry and a witness to the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord and that there is a second death and there is a judgment.

And that there is a God in heaven who loves and who saves.

But Jesus says, if you will not repent of your lovelessness, I will remove your lampstand.

Meaning, I'm not going to allow you to have any influence or light in my kingdom.

You can still gather if you want.

Sing all the songs you want.

You can keep going through the motions.

But if you will not repent of your cold hearts, I will remove your lampstand.

And I've been thinking about that.

As we talk about wanting to plant more churches in our city, in our region, in our world, one of the questions I often get is don't we have enough churches already?

Well, the first answer is no, we don't.

Just to keep up with population growth.

But here's the other issue.

There are churches on every corner of this city.

And on so many streets across the United States, they're still there.

They've just had their lampstand removed because of comfort and compromise.

And it can be easy for us to kind of look at them and go, shame on you.

That's not what Jesus is concerned about.

He's concerned about us today.

I've been thinking about that.

If we don't repent of our lovelessness, we might still have a building at 77 in Wallings in 50 years, but we will have done nothing for the kingdom.

And so I've been praying for my own heart and for you and for our church dangerous prayers.

Prayers like, God, do whatever is necessary for our hearts to remain on fire for you.

And for the lampstand of CBC to remain in place.

Repent, remember, and do the works you did at first.

And I think this perfectly leads us into an opportunity this morning to take the Lord's Supper together.

Because communion invites us to remember.

Communion invites us to repent.

Communion invites us, as we walk through pain and suffering, to consider the blood of him who went first, who walked up that hill, and who had nails driven into his hands and into his feet, and a spear into his side, who died because he was not afraid of the first death.

And he lives forevermore.

And the bread and the juice are reminders that we can be faithful all the way to the point of death just like he was.

And so you should have received one of these little prepackaged communes.

If you did not, and you'd like to take commune with us, please raise your hand and the ushers will find you.

I would simply ask as the ushers are doing that.

If you're not a follower of Jesus today, taking the Lord's Supper is really for Christians.

I don't say that to shame you or to call you out, but just to politely ask, if you're not a follower of Jesus today, you can still sit with us and walk through the process with us and pray with us.

I would just ask that you not take the bread and the juice.

For those of you who are followers of Jesus, this is just an opportunity to ask the Lord.

Would you search my heart?

Would you help me to remember the sweet moments of your goodness and your grace and your faithfulness?

Would you give me a heart of repentance to say sorry when my heart is cold?

Would you sustain me through the moments that are hard and painful?

And would you help me to continue to do the good works that you have entrusted to me, believing that you will provide the fan of the flame that my affections would once again burn strong for you?

So Sarah is gonna play.

And I'm just gonna invite each of us to take these next few moments to pray, to do some self examination, to remember, and to repent.