Revelation 2:1-7 - When You're So Right You're Wrong

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

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Turn with me, if you will, this morning to Revelation chapter 2. That's right, you heard me.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

Not Ephesians. Revelation chapter 2. We'll talk about Ephesians some too.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

It's really good to be back this morning.

We actually finished our walk through Ephesians a couple of weeks ago.

But I think since we've spent much of this calendar year in the book of Ephesians together,

that it's well worth a look back for a couple of weeks at what God has taught us,

at what He has shown us there, at what He's had for us as a church.

So we're going to do that this week and next week, call it Ephesians in Review.

Particularly next week, we're going to look back at the highlights of Ephesians.

Some of the great things in that letter itself.

But to help us prepare for that, I want us to look this morning at another letter to the same church.

We've been studying Ephesians years after that letter from Paul to the church in Ephesus.

John records a letter from the risen Jesus to the church in Ephesus.

It's in Revelation 2 at verse 1.

These are the very words of God.

Let's give them our attention and our reverence.

Revelation 2 at verse 1.

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.

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 are 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.

The grass withers,

the flowers fade,

but these words of our God

will stand forever.

Pray with me.

Father, we ask for your help.

We ask because these are your words.

We ask because we are those who see,

but don't understand sometimes.

We're those who understand,

but don't desire to change.

We're slow to see the weakness in our own hearts.

We're slow to know you more.

And so,

would you show us ourselves?

Would you show us Jesus?

Would you make us different because of that?

We ask in his name.

Amen.

As we have studied Ephesians together,

one of the key points that Paul has been at pains to make in that epistle

is that we must keep our truth

and our doctrine,

our doctrine,

excuse me,

and our practice connected.

The truth that we believe

and the way that we live,

they have to be connected to each other.

How we believe

impacts how we behave

in every aspect of life.

That's what Paul does in Ephesians, right?

He spends the first three chapters

telling us these glorious truths

of the gospel of God's grace.

He tells us what he's done for us

and he spends all this time

teaching us these things

and then in the last three chapters,

he says,

now I'm gonna tell you what that means

in every area of life.

I'm gonna tell you how it changes

the way you live here

and here and here,

the difference that it makes.

And next week,

I'm so excited to get to look back

at some of those great truths,

some of those challenging applications

and specifically remember

those from Ephesians.

But as we prepare to look back,

this letter here in Revelation

to the church in Ephesus

is a reminder

of how vital it is

for the church to connect

truth and life together.

And how easy it is

in any church,

not just the church in Ephesus,

for truth and life

to get disconnected,

to be torn apart

and how devastating that can be.

To help us understand

what's going on in this letter,

let me tell you a little bit

about myself

that some of you may know.

I really like being right.

I always have.

I grew up in a family

that played a lot of games,

a lot of sports.

We were very competitive.

I'm the firstborn in that family

and as the firstborn,

it's very important

that you always be winning

and that you always be right.

And so from an early age,

that was very important.

So what you do

is you learn all the rules

to the games

and to the sports

and for two very important reasons.

One is it's a great way

to get ahead

if you know all the rules, right?

You can use them

to your advantage.

But what you can also do,

and I learned this early,

that one of the great joys

of sports

is getting to yell

at the umpire

or referee

who missed it.

And that's really

a great joy.

So if you know the rules

better than he does,

you get to yell at him

and tell him

what he should have done,

how he's gotten it wrong.

I went to college

and I became a copy editor

for a newspaper.

And so when you're

a copy editor,

you really need

to know what's right.

You need to know

exactly where every comma

is supposed to be

and not supposed to be.

So you learn all the rules

for comma placement.

It's very significant.

It's like being

an engineer with words

if you've never done it before.

So I'm suspecting

there are others

in this room

who like to have things

just right.

Anybody like things

like just so,

just the way

they're supposed to be?

Some of y'all,

that stresses you out.

I understand.

But some of us

like it just right.

In order to humble

a guy like me

who always wants

to be right,

God has given me

a wife who is right

way more than I am.

Christy is smarter

than I am,

so she's right

about lots of stuff.

But she's also

more intuitive than I am,

so she sees a situation

and she understands

what's going on

and what's going

to happen next

and so she's always

right about that

and it's these rare moments

where I'm right

and she misses it.

God uses that.

He knew I needed that.

But of all the things

I love to be right about,

I think theology

tops the list.

I mean,

is that a fair thing

to be at the top

of the list?

I mean,

many of you

don't care at all

about the rules of sports

or the placement of commas.

It just doesn't matter

to you.

But I mean,

our doctrine

is vitally important,

right?

What we believe

about God,

our theology,

I mean,

we better get that right.

We find out

in this passage

that it is indeed

a really big deal.

God is the God of truth.

Satan is the father

of lies.

So distinguishing

between truth

and falsehood

is of great importance.

We might even say

above all else.

It's why Paul taught

the riches

of the gospel

of grace

over and over

to the Ephesians

in person

and then he wrote

them a letter

about it.

It was the mystery

he was tasked

with telling them,

right?

It's what Jesus

commends the church

for in this letter

in Revelation.

Look at verse 2.

What does Jesus

say to them?

I know your works,

your toil

and your patient endurance,

how you cannot bear

with those who are evil

but have tested

those who call themselves

apostles and are not

and you found them

to be false.

I know you're enduring

patiently and bearing up

for my name's sake

and you've not grown weary.

You're finding the truth

and you're rooting out

the falsehood.

On top of that,

you've found specific

false teachers.

The Nicolaitans,

you hate their works

and I do too.

You've honed in

on the truth.

Jesus praises them

for holding fast

to the truth

they've been taught.

We don't know

all the particulars

of the false teachers

in the beginning

or the Nicolaitans

in verse 6.

We don't know everything

it was that they taught

but the Ephesians

have carefully tested

these teachers.

They've heard

what they've said

and they've found falsehood

and they've zealously

weeded out

those who were misleading them

even to the point

that they hate

some of the teachings

and God says,

I do too.

Listen,

we must never

compromise

on God's truth,

right?

God has entrusted

the truths

of the gospel

to us

so that we will

treasure them

so that we will

know Him

and that by knowing

the truth

we'll be able

to sniff out

counterfeits.

Call them what they are.

You know,

when there are millions

of wrong ways

to do something

the best way

to recognize them

is to know

the right way,

isn't it?

You don't have

to memorize

every wrong way

to spell a word,

do you?

What do you memorize?

You memorize

the right way

to spell it

and all of the wrong ways,

all the mistakes

you could make

become easily

identifiable

as wrong.

It's why when we turn

back to the start

of Ephesians next week

we'll find Paul

insisting on reminding us

over and over

of the great truth

of God's grace

to us in Jesus Christ,

the basis

of our hope

because he's going

to say it's vital

that the church

never get distracted

from that,

never get tossed

about or led astray

as Ephesians says

by every wind

of doctrine.

He wants our anchor

to hold firmly

in Christ, right?

And so Jesus says here,

these are the words

of Jesus to the church,

he says,

well done Ephesians,

good job,

you've been right,

you've sorted out

the false

and the evil

without wearying

in your work,

you've rejected

the wrong

in favor of the right,

keep up the good work,

well done.

But then things turn,

don't they?

This is where those of you

who are like me,

who love to be right,

start not liking

this sermon so much.

And I want you to know

I didn't know

what was going here

when I started

studying this letter.

I didn't know

it was headed

this direction

and all I can say to you

is I don't enjoy it

any more than you do.

That's really encouraging,

right?

That's what you wanted to know.

Listen,

I know you don't like

the sermon,

I don't like it either.

That's all I got

for you right now.

Don't you just love

being around people

who are always right

and know it

and love it?

Yeah,

people who love

being right.

You don't?

You mean,

you mean they're known

for being insufferable

to be around?

You mean they're known

for critiquing

everybody else

for always telling you

how you're doing it wrong?

For making umpires

and refs feel like dirt?

For making friends

and co-workers

feel incompetent

and worthless?

You mean you don't need

someone to spell check

your grocery list?

I always thought

that was going to be

so helpful.

See,

the Bible says

that truth,

that knowing

and believing

the truth of the gospel

should lead to love.

It should lead

to love for God,

love for neighbors,

he says,

even love for enemies,

especially love

for each other

in the body of Christ.

Those things

should be connected

to each other,

but oftentimes

we fail to make

that connection.

We are right,

but we're unloving.

So right,

I would say,

that we're wrong.

Look at what Jesus

has to say

to the Ephesian church

that he's just commended

for being right.

He says,

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.

He said,

you stopped loving.

You have abandoned

the love you had at first.

Ouch.

You quit loving.

You missed the big one.

Certainly loving Christ,

loving those outside the church

would be included

in this love

that they've stopped,

but particularly here,

what seems to be in mind

in this letter

is love for each other

within the church.

You can see that a little bit

from the context.

It's not just a feeling of love

that we would love God

or something like that,

but the response

is to be repent

and do the works

you did at first.

This is active loving.

This is demonstrating love,

showing love to others.

And we know well

from the book of Ephesians

what is the love

that Paul talks about

to them regularly.

It's that bond of unity

that they have in Christ,

isn't it?

The love they're supposed

to have for each other

that he commends them for

and now he's saying,

you've lost that.

You've abandoned that love.

And it's not a light thing.

It's not just a little mistake,

they took a wrong turn.

How serious is it?

Jesus says,

if you don't repent

and do the works

you did at first,

I'll come and remove

your lampstand

from its place.

That means you won't be a church.

Yikes.

Rightness without love

is sub-Christian.

Listen,

it's true that truth matters.

A lot.

Love without truth

is at best

mere sentimentality.

At worst,

it's false hope.

But what this passage

is highlighting

and what we often miss,

what we in our circles

with a Presbyterian heritage,

a Reformed heritage,

are much more prone to miss,

is that truth without love

is at best

mere moralism.

And at worst,

it's false teaching altogether.

That's what Jesus is saying.

It's less than Christian.

Jesus says,

I'll take the lampstand away.

Francis Schaeffer once said,

I've said this recently,

biblical orthodoxy

without compassion

is surely the ugliest thing

in the world.

And Jesus says here,

you got your truth right,

but you lost love,

and so you're in danger

of losing Christianity

altogether.

You got truth right,

but you lost love,

and you're losing everything.

Reminds me of Jesus' warning

in Matthew 24

about these last days

that we live in.

What he says is that

many false prophets

will arise

and lead many astray.

They didn't get the Ephesians,

did they?

No, they found

the false prophets.

What else is going to happen?

Because lawlessness

will be increased,

the love of many

will grow cold.

They passed the first part

of the test

with flying colors,

but part two,

they failed.

Reminds me of

1 Corinthians 13,

what Paul wrote

about love there.

If I speak in the tongues

of men and of angels,

but have not love,

I'm a noisy gong

or a clanging cymbal.

If I have prophetic powers

and understand all mysteries

and all knowledge

and have faith

so as to remove mountains,

but have not love,

I'm nothing.

If I give away all I have

and deliver up my body

to be burned,

but have not love,

I gain nothing.

You can know

a lot of right things,

but if you don't connect it

to loving,

you've gained nothing.

In fact,

if you don't connect

your right theology

to loving,

you'll probably start thinking

how much righter

you are than others.

You'll know lots

of right things

and without love,

you'll just become

more and more right.

And that happens a lot.

Sadly,

the Ephesian church

is not the only church

that's happened to.

They're not the first ones

and they won't be the last ones

to struggle with it.

In the history

of the Christian church

in America,

Presbyterians included

some of our best,

richest,

deepest theologians,

people we still read

and learn from

had great truth,

but they were blind

to their own racism,

their hatred.

They failed to love

those who were different

from them

to our great shame.

They disconnected

right theology

from that arena of life.

And we're just beginning

to get our hands

around the gravity

of this sin as a church,

as a denomination,

and see our deep need

to repent.

Because where there was

a lot of truth,

there was a lack

of love.

You might ask,

how does something

like that happen?

I mean, really,

guys who love Jesus

so much,

who know God

so well,

how do you make

such seemingly

obvious mistakes?

We might think,

how could you ever

miss that one?

How do the Ephesians

fight for truth

so well

and love each other

so poorly?

I don't know all

of what developed

in Ephesus,

but at least a couple

things I've seen

in my own heart

and life

and in Christ's church

that fit

with this letter.

I think we get

so focused

on being right

that we can become

obsessed

with what we're against

rather than

what we're for.

And so,

differences of any type

become grounds

for critique

and conflict

rather than

cause for celebration.

instead of focusing

on truth

and deepening

our understanding

of God

and who He is

and knowing Him,

we become like

heat-seeking missiles

except we're

difference-seeking missiles.

We're looking around

where can we find

differences

and we don't look

for differences

so that we can

celebrate them

and say,

isn't that beautiful?

We do it

because we want

to critique.

We want to find

a reason for conflict

because if you're wrong

then I'm right

and I can be better

than you.

So we focus

on the differences.

It happens

with racism

in the church,

right?

Maybe we can

understand it better

if we think

about marriage.

Have you ever

allowed a difference

in how you

and your spouse

approach something

to create distance

in your relationship

rather than love?

Has that ever happened?

Have you allowed

your love

to grow cold

because

she spends money

differently

or he washes

the dishes

differently?

Have you ever

seen a distance

grow there?

And now,

I know all of you

right people

are objecting

at this point.

Yes,

but there are

better ways

to budget.

Some ways

are better

than others

and there are

some ways

that are better

to wash

the dishes

than others

and that may be

true.

That's not the point.

The point is

have you allowed

the difference

to create distance

in your relationship?

Have you begun

to think of yourself

as better

and to let bitterness

and contempt

grow in your heart

over the difference

rather than

appreciating the difference

perhaps?

Or if it does

need to be addressed,

I mean,

you can really

wash dishes poorly,

addressing it graciously

in a way to restore

a loving relationship

rather than

create distance.

the difference

is diversity

is part of the beauty

of the body

of Christ

but when we are right

and not just right

but desperate

to see ourselves

as right,

others have to be wrong

so that we feel righteous

or at least better

than you.

I have to be better

than the next person

and it happens quickly,

doesn't it?

Disconnect truth

from love

and we're unloving

very quickly.

we lose love

immediately.

We see it in our homes.

We see the distance grow.

It happens in our churches too.

Happened in Ephesus,

in America,

in Huntsville.

Some of you in this room,

I've hurt

because I love to be right.

I said it glibly earlier

but it's true

and it hurts people.

When conflict

comes in a church,

a lot of times

people become

identified with positions

and when you have

a position

or a perspective

that's different

from mine

and I'm desperate

to be right,

a lot of times

rather than listening

to you,

rather than seeking

to understand you,

I want to argue

against you.

I want to defend myself.

I want to be vindicated

and so I don't love.

I pursue the truth

and I forget

about love

and when you've been

to seminary

and you've been trained

to do so,

you can throw at people

not just chapter

and verse of the Bible

but you can throw

confessions of faith

and books of church order

and catechisms

that brothers and sisters

of yours

haven't even read

and use them

to defend yourself

rather than

to love someone else,

to be right

and prove someone else wrong

and I may have been

right sometimes

but I have sometimes

failed to love

as well

and deeply wounded people

who are on my team,

people God has put

in my life

for me to care about

and love

and there are probably

others I've hurt

and don't even realize it

maybe some of you

that I'm so concerned

with being right

that I don't even realize

I've hurt you

and that's part of

my sin,

part of what I do

and have done

in the church.

You don't have to be

a pastor though.

You don't have to have

a degree in theological

rightness

to fail to love others.

You just have to be

desperate to be

righter than someone else.

to treat a brother

or sister as an obstacle

or an enemy

because what you want

is right.

To ignore the pain

someone else is experiencing

because the feeling

of being right

is such a high to you

that no one

or nothing else

really matters.

Happens here too,

doesn't it?

Do you feel it

in your own heart?

Do you know the reality

of wanting desperately

to be right?

Does your heart

right now

protest like mine does?

But I was right!

That vindicates me!

I was right!

About the dishes.

About the doctrine.

About the decision.

We've all at times

individually

and corporately

disconnected

truth from love.

What we believe

from how we behave

and we've hurt others

and practically speaking

not in what we've said

but in how we've acted

denied

the reality of the gospel.

That's pretty serious.

That's pretty bleak,

isn't it?

Just shut me down,

Jesus.

Shut us down.

We've blown it.

Isn't that what you'd feel

if you got a letter

like this?

Is that what you feel

when you realize

that's true of you?

You've been right

and unloving?

What does Jesus say

to his church?

Jesus says,

repent.

Look at verse 5 again.

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.

Repent.

Do what you did at first.

Repent.

Repent.

Love the way you used to love.

Repent.

Repenting means

turning from sin.

It means a change

of direction.

Turning away

from our sin

and turning back

to Jesus.

I just want to make

one observation

about the repentance

in this passage.

Who is told

to repent?

The false,

evil apostles.

No.

The heretical

Nicolaitans.

No.

The right ones.

The right ones

are told

to repent.

They're the ones

who need to start.

That's not the way

we would write it,

is it?

Listen,

I'll do repentance

and forgiveness,

reconciliation

as long as they start,

as long as they come

and apologize

to me.

Then I'll repent.

As long as they start,

the repentance

will be good.

Jesus says,

you repent.

Parent who's seen

a child go off

and lose his way

and felt,

I told you so,

while the relationship

has grown distant,

you repent first.

How has your rightness

contributed to the love

growing cold

between you?

boss who's belittled

an employee

for failing miserably?

You repent first.

How are you so right

that you were wrong?

Church member

who has allowed

distance to grow

in a previously tight,

loving friendship

with a brother or sister

who treated you

or your church wrongly?

You repent first.

Have you been so right

that you were wrong

toward them?

You know the beautiful thing

about repenting?

When we finally get

to the point of saying,

I'm not the right one.

I'm actually willing

to admit

that I'm wrong

to turn from that.

To say even,

I was so right

that I was wrong.

When we turn from that

in repentance,

who do we turn back to?

It's Jesus.

It's Jesus'

rightness,

righteousness

that we turn back

to when we repent.

That's the hope

of the gospel,

right?

That's where we turn.

For those of us

who are stuck

in our self-righteousness,

so intent

on being right

and proving

ourselves right

and having it all

so that we can

be right enough,

the call is not

get away from me,

from our Savior.

That's not what

he says,

is it?

That's not what

he says to the

Ephesian church.

The call is,

turn back to me.

See me,

see the vision of him.

You know how

this letter starts?

Jesus gives the vision

of himself

that goes back

to Revelation chapter 1,

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

the one John

has just seen

in a vision.

Jesus says,

verse 1,

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.

That's this vision

of Jesus

just a couple

verses before

who's standing there

and John sees Jesus

and says,

he's righteous,

he's holy,

he's magnificent,

he's powerful

and you get this

detailed description

of Jesus

and he's holding

his church in his hand.

What's he saying

to his people?

Is he saying

get away from me?

No,

he's walking

among the seven

golden lampstands.

He's with them,

isn't he?

He's holding them

in his powerful

right hand.

When you,

who are so convinced

that you've got

to be right,

finally are willing

to admit you're wrong,

you look back

and find Jesus

standing there,

not sending you away

but saying,

turn back to me.

If you've disconnected

your theology

from love,

if you've so wanted

to be right yourself

that you've become wrong,

repent and look back

at your Savior.

See him in his pure

righteousness and holiness.

John says,

shining as the sun

at full strength

and when you fall

as though dead

before him

in your guilt

and your shame,

listen to what he says

to you.

He says,

fear not.

Fear not

the one who blew it,

the one who was so caught up

with being right

that he failed to love.

Fear not,

my rightness

is for you.

You are forever

pure in my robes

and safe

in my hand.

Forever.

I've got you

and now in that security

with no more need

to prove yourself right

because you've got

my rightness

given to you,

now in that security,

go,

turn,

repent

to others.

Go love again

like you did

at first

that your church

would shine

the glory of his name

as you love the truth

and love each other

too.

Let's pray.

Jesus,

might we see you

that way this morning.

Might we see

your rightness

as so much

more beautiful

than any

rightness

we could defend

for ourselves?

Might we truly

receive it

and know

that it is ours

by faith

and then

might we be free

in that

to repent?

To say we've forgotten

to love.

We've neglected

to love.

we've intentionally

been unloving,

hurtful,

hateful,

spiteful.

Father,

thank you

that there's hope

for us.

Thank you that there's

forgiveness for us

and forgiveness

to extend

to others.

Might you

make us

a church

where the truth

is never compromised

and where it is

always connected

to love?

Might we love

the way you have

loved us?

We ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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at southwood.org.