The Church in Ephesus

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- Ephesus was like Honkong / Singapore. A major port, a city of great wealth and heritage. 

- It's well known for it's pagan temple (statue of diana), a very erotic cult. (Paul had to deal with this in Acts 19) 

- Ephesus was also very rich in spiritual heritage, pastored by many of the great pastors in that time.

Revelation 2:1-7
- "angel" is also 'messenger' 

- 7 stars were held in His right hand (1:16), 7 stars are the angels of the church (1:20). The leadership of God are all held in God's right hand. 

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Revelation 1:20

- the 7 Lampstands refer to the 7 Churches 

- Jesus walks amongst us when we are gathered

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Standard Format 

Commendation (good)

Complaint (bad)

Correction (remedy)

Compensation (promise) 

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3 Commendations for Ephesus

1) Enthusiasm

- I know... your good deeds & your hard work.

- God knows when the church "labours unto extreme weariness to the point of exhaustion" and He commends them for it

- John 9:4 (as long as it is day, we must do the work for the one for sent us)
 

2) Endurance

- Rev 2:3

- It's not enduring reluctantly but enduring with Joy. 

 

3) Enlightenment

- Rev 2:2

- God saw that they cannot tolerate evil. 

- Church in Ephesus at that time was pure and rejected false teachings (Rev 2:6) 

- We need to hate what God hates, if we don't we will compromise until a point where we become immune and we end up tolerating what God hates. 

 

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v4 "Yet, I have something against you, you have forsaken your first love" 

- by the time Revelations was written, the Church in Ephesus has already been established for 40 years (3-4 gen Christians)
- once we stop loving Jesus, we will begin to stop loving one another. 

- all the labour will be pointless. 

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3 Things we Must Do: 

1) REMEMBER

- "remember the heights from which you have fallen..."
- remember how it was like when we were so in love with Jesus

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2) REPENT

- change in mind that results in a change in action

- it's not "lost' your first love. but you have 'forsaken' or 'left'. It means we can return to it

- if not. Jesus will come and 'remove your lamp-stand". Blow out your light. Don't test the Lord

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3) REPEAT

- v5 "do the things you did at first" 

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Conclusion:

What happened to the Church in Ephesus after they received this letter?

- they repented and came back to the Lord in 2nd century

- in AD3, the church in Ephesus again left their first love. Now Ephesus is just a small tourist town, the church is no longer there. 

- if we overcome, we can expect to eat out of the tree of life. 

 

1) Am I still serving God enthusiastically? Am I holding on to my faith? Am I pure in my doctrine? 

2) Have we passed the honeymoon period with Jesus? Am I still fervently in love with Jesus? 

 

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The Church in Smyrna

(Rev 2:8-11)

- one of the shortesst letters, and one of the two letters without a rebuke

- Smyrna was the loveliest of the all cities, the name means "bitter" 

- They were undergoing persecution. 

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1) The Reason for Their Suffering

v9 "i know your affliction". 

- affliction means crush, not just inconvenience

2 causes: 

- Romans (everyone had to bow down and declare that Caesar is lord. the Christians refused) 

- Jews (highly opposed Christians.  Jews at that time didn't have to bow down to the Emperor and they guarded this privilege. When Christians came along and also wanted this privilege, the Jews were antagonistic towards them) 

- the root cause was because: the church was DIFFERENT

- in a society where Christianity is not the norm, it's common to be persecuted. But in cultures where Christianity is the mainstream, it's easy for the Church to become so like the world that we lose our influence. 

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2) The Result for their Suffering

3 areas of Loss

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a) Loss of Prosperity

- "i know your affliction and your poverty"

- "poverty" - "ptocheia' means totally bankrupt 

3 type of Christians

- Good weather Christians (see them when everything is well)

- Bad weather Christians (see them when everything is not well) 

- Weatherproof Christians (rain or shine, they will be there) 

- Smyrna was weatherproof christians (Philppians 4:11-13) 

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b) Loss of Respectability

- v9 "I know the slander"

- Believers in Smyrna were accused of being traitors (refuse to bow to Caesar), cannibals (consume body & blood of Jesus) 

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c) Loss of Liberty

- imprisonment. 

- God told them to "be faithful even to the point of death"

- Polycarp was one of the leaders in the Smyrna church. He was burned to death on a stake because he refuse to denounce Christ.
After his death, the persecution of Christians in that area stopped and the Gospel was being spread even more.

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3) The Remedy for their Suffering

- what is the one thing a person needs most when they are going through a tough time? Encouragement.

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a) "i know your affliction"

- Matthew 25. 

- Jesus knows. 

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b) "I am the first and the last who died and came back to life again" 

- Jesus conquered death

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c) "They say they are Jews but are not but are of the synagogue of Satan"

- God vindicated them and assured them that He is on their side. 

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d) "You will suffer persecution for 10 days" 

- God was telling them that what they are going through is seasonal. 

- 10 days often used as a period of testing (Daniel 1:12 and Lev 23:27)

- It is only for a season, and your faith will come forth as gold

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e) "You are not poor but rich" 

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f) "He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death" 

- there's a natural birth and a spiritual birth

- there's a physical death and a spiritual death 

- those who go through the second birth will not have to go through the second death

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g) "You will receive the crown of life"

- in the end, the church will win. 

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Conclusion:

- out of the 7 churches, Smyrna is the only one that remains significant

- under turkish rule, it's renamed Izmir and it's the last stronghold of Christianity in Turkey today.

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- Have we ever been misunderstood like the Smyrna church just because we are different? In times like this, can we remain faithful to God? (Matthew 5:10-12) 

- Until you can trust God in both good times and bad times, your faith is not tested. Crisis proof faith. 

- On the cross, Jesus suffered the loss of prosperity, respectability and liberty in our place. 

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The Church in Pergamum

(Rev 2:12-17)

- Beautiful and wealthy city built on top of a cont shaped hill

- at the top of the hill was a huge staircase that led to a big temple filled with gods (like a throne for satan) 

- three main deities (Zeus - head of Greek gods, Dionysus - god of the kings, Asclepius - god of healing) 

- in the midst of all these idolatry, God planted a church there (like a church at the edge of hell) Matthew 4:16

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10 - 40 Window (Satan's Throne in today's time)

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1) His Commendation (v12 - 13)

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a) They remained true to His Name (v13) 

- though surrounded by false gods, the believers in Pergamum did not worship other gods

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b) They held on to their faith (v13) 

- anti (against) pas (all) 

- Antipas was slowly roasted to death and went down in history as one of the first martyrs 

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2) His Correction (v14) 

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a) The teachings of Balaam

- Numbers 31:16 & Numbers 25: 1 -2 (everytime Balaam tries to curse Israel, a blessing comes out. 

- No curse without cause can land on the people of God. 

- Balaam came up with a scheme and got Israel men to indulge in  sexual immorality with the Moabite women, eventually leading them to worshiping Baal. (through wrong association, they ended up in idolatory)

- Doctrine of Balaamism (when you try to take the things of God and the things of this world and you mix the 2 together. If a direct wouldn't work, then go indirect) 

- We must watch out for who we are associated with. (1 Cor 15:33)

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b) The teachings of the Nicolaitians 

- Compromises that comes out of fleshy desires 

- v16. God was asking them to repent and not compromise. 

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3) His  Compensation 

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a) Hidden manna

- God will satisfy you with the manna from heaven (true satisfaction in life) 

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b) White stone with a new name 

- Voting pebbles (in greek law courts, they cast their call by using a black stone (guilty) or a white stone (innocent) ) 
If we stay true to Jesus, we will be judged innocent.

- Invitation Stones (a white stone with name is also used as a invitation to a banquet.) 

- Winner's Medal (symbol of those who triumph through faith)

- Mark of Citizenship (white stones were given to those who were freed from slavery) 

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1) Why is the Lord so harsh with the Church in Perganum? 

A compromising church is a hindrance to the Gospel. The world can no longer see a clear testimony of Christ once the church compromises. Compromising is like running down a steep slope, once you start you can't stop (momentum) and even when you try to stop you will tumble down the slope. 

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