Revelation 2:1-7

Mark Smith preaching from Revelation 2:1-7.

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SPEAKER_01 0:08

Let us read together. The words of him who calls 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, and so reads God's word.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

We are starting a little mini-series in uh the seven letters to the churches that are at the start of the book of uh Revelation. Uh, one revelation, not revelations, it's one revelation of the Lord Jesus. Uh, and and so we uh begin in Revelation chapter two today. Uh well, arena read for us. I invite you to open that up in front of you on your phone if you've got a physical Bible. We're going to be looking at the letter to the church in Ephesus. And the letter to the church in Ephesus, I think, um, speaks uh to the church in in every age because human beings have a tendency uh to start things with great zeal and passion, only for over time for that same passion to begin to fade. Uh, maybe you are not a complete or finisher and you know exactly what that's like. You love to start things, but completing and finishing them, you kind of get it kind of tails off. And that is true of all of us. We tend, as human beings, to be motivated by by two things. We're motivated on the one hand by duty, and on the other hand, we're motivated by beauty. To be motivated by beauty is when our hearts are so captured and captivated by something that we can't wait to get involved. We can't wait to show that person how much we delight in them, how much we care for them. We share the vision for a particular ministry or initiative. We're captivated by it, and so we get stuck in. That's what it's like to be motivated by the beauty of something. It's captured our hearts. Then sometimes we're motivated by duty. We do something because we know that it's the right thing to do. We're not quite sure what we would do instead. We don't particularly feel it, but we get on with it. This can be true of our lives as followers of Jesus. You know, the five folks getting baptized today, I suspect that actually their following of Jesus right now, as Stefan prayed, is kind of in that first flush of passion and zeal for Jesus, that their desire to be baptized and all of the celebration that rightly comes from today motivates a lot of beauty-driven obedience and following. And then there will come a time in as it does in all of our lives, where we don't feel so on fire as we did. The love has gone cold a little bit, and we're motivated more so by duty. Over time, the flame can burn dimmer. We don't leave Jesus, but the passion can go, and we feel like we're going through the motions a little bit. Maybe you're here this morning because you know that it's the right thing to do, and where else would you go? But to say that you're really quote unquote feeling it or super passionate. It's just not there right now. Maybe you can remember what it's like. But it's been a while since it came and visited you. You know that it's the right thing to do, but it's been some time since your heart burned, and I wonder what it would be like to recapture that again. Maybe Jesus has words for you in that space this morning. Why do you think that is? Why do you think our passions grow dim? Well, they can certainly be dampened by difficulty. Working on things is hard. Working on a marriage is difficult. Working on your faith is difficult. Following Jesus can take its toll when you face difficulty and opposition. There can be particular and unexpected sufferings that leave us questioning ourselves: did we make the right decision? Is Jesus still really walking with us through this and in this? Sadly, I think that's one of the reasons why it happens is because we live life in a fallen world. And we have divided hearts in ourselves. Don't you feel that? Christian, follower of Jesus, I'm talking to you, don't you feel that tension even in your own heart? Where there's a there's kind of a current, there's a flow to your affections, and so oftentimes the current flows towards anything but Jesus. And so if you just kind of lift up your legs like you're in the lazy river, the current will take you away from him. It will just allow you to drift because there's a flow to your heart. John Newton, the hymn writer who wrote Amazing Grace, wrote a whole bunch of hymns, by the way, uh, in a thing called the only hymn book. And he recognized something of the tension that exists this side of heaven between duty and and beauty. And he saw a day when actually the two would come together, and that the most dutiful thing that we could do would be the thing that we most wanted to do. Wouldn't that be lovely? He says this. He says, our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before, since we have seen his beauty, our joined to part no more. That is, when we see Jesus in the last day, the thing that we should do and the thing that we want to do will be the same thing. Won't that be lovely? In this short series, through the letters to these seven churches in the book of Revelation, the author, John, gives a complete rounded picture of what the church is like, really, in every place at every time. There may be times when a church is going through a more Ephesian season or a more Pergamum season, but it's really a vision of the whole church. That's why it's seven churches, that number of completeness, right? Different temptations at different stages, different pressures to persevere, but also beautiful things to be celebrated, beautiful resilience, beautiful perseverance. And in the midst of it all is the risen and ascended Lord Jesus. John begins in chapter one with a vision of Jesus, because that's what all of this book is. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's uh Revelation chapter one, verse one. The revelation of Jesus Christ. That is, what John is doing is he's literally pulling back the curtain on time and saying, Do you want to see Jesus how he is right now? Here he is. And what we see in Revelation chapter one is the Lord Jesus alive, reigning, ruling, walking amidst seven golden lampstands. Now we're in the book of Revelation, so things are a little bit flowery in terms of language, so we need to understand what they what they mean. But if we were let me remind, or let me read for you Revelation uh chapter one, uh verse 20. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw on my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars, and the seven angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So we see this vision, you imagine these great lights, seven of them, and Jesus is walking in the middle of them. He's walking in the middle of his church, he's present with his church. The lamps are symbols of his people. And here Jesus says that I am the one who walks among you. I am with you, I'm not separate from you. I am in your midst. You think, well, imagine what imagine if Jesus walked in here today, what would he say to City Church Dublin? Well, one of the things that John is saying, well, he is here. He does walk in our midst. He's not far removed from us, he is intimately involved with us. He walks amongst the lampstands, he holds the seven stars. And however you decide to understand what it means for him to hold the angels, the point is clear that not only is Christ identifying with his church, but he is in sovereign care and control of his church. So, whatever season our church is in, whatever season you are in as part of his people, Jesus is not removed from you. He is present with you, he is active, he is moving. That, of course, can bring both comfort and a degree of nervousness as to what he might see upon his inspection. And in a sense, that is what's happening here in these seven letters. He sees beyond the appearances that we present to the world and to one another. And what Jesus sees in this letter at first is deeply encouraging. So let's look and be encouraged by what Jesus sees at the church in Ephesus. First, there's our first point. Jesus sees what's right. I'm gonna have a um a little sit just because my throat is a bit croaking. If it is Victoria in here, if Victoria is in here, could I ask her or some other well-meaning person just to get me a cup of just hot water, just so that I can keep on going. Jesus sees what's right. Being a Christian in Ephesus, thank you, sister. Being a Christian in Ephesus wasn't easy. Ephesus uh was a hub city. It was at the intersection of trade routes, of culture, of religious life. Some of you may well know that on the hill standing above Ephesus stood one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Anyone want to geek out and tell me what that wonder was? Temple of Artemis, well done, gold star. The temple of Artemis, or Diana, uh, depending on whether you're a Greek or Roman. This huge colonnaded temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And the Ephesians were super proud of the temple of Artemis. You can read about it in the book of Acts, that they're really, when they have a riot and they kick Paul out, they chant, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians, for two hours until they're horse, like I am today. Not only that, but because it was a hub, there was traveling preachers who would come and teach, like Paul did in the hall of Tyrannus. Don't think named after the dinosaur. People would come in and they would acclaim to be apostles and prophets and messengers sent from God, and that had to be weighed and tested, and the Ephesians church did that. They were discerning, they could tell truth from error. The Ephesian Christians had remained faithful, even though through the swarm of all of the Artemis worship and how that was linked with business. That really, unless you were involved in pagan idol worship, you couldn't buy and sell things. And Jesus sees it, he recognizes it, he says, I know that this is difficult for you, but you are persevering, and I am so glad that you are. He also says later on that they oppose false teaching, particularly the false teaching, thank you, my sister, of a group called the Nicolaitians or the Nicolaitans. Now, we know very little about the Nicolaitians of the Nicolaitans, right? Other it seemed that they were encouraging Christians basically to kind of live however they wanted morally, particularly sexually. They were quite a permissive group. Apart from that, we don't know. But Jesus says, You hate them, and that's great. I hate them too. That's jarring, isn't it? Because in the in the Gospels, we think of Jesus who who who cuddles lambs and welcomes small children. And then the book of Revelation, you have sword coming out of his mouth, white robe dipped in blood, uh, and going, I hate these guys. Okay. We're getting a fully rounded picture of who Jesus is here, right? There are things that Jesus is opposed to. And Jesus is commending the church. Listen to this. Jesus is commending the church for hating what Jesus hates. That doesn't sound very loving. Exactly. So here's a question. Do you hate what Jesus hates? Let me soften it for you slightly. Are you opposed to what Jesus is opposed to? There's lots of injustice out there. Shabbam talked about it in his testimony. Jesus is opposed to things like human trafficking, to injustice, to corruption, to the marginalizing of people, to the removing of rights of the most vulnerable in our society. Jesus is opposed to stuff. And one of the things that he commends to the church in Ephesus is I think it's great that you're opposed to what I'm opposed to. Wow. That's worth reflecting on. Are we opposed to the things that would grieve the heart of Jesus? You see, being a healthy church often means playing both defense and offense is where I people begin to laugh at me because it's like, oh, Mark's gonna try and begin a sports analogy. Um I'm not, I'm gonna say the words defense and offense and try to move on very quickly from there. But defense, you've got to guard the church from error, you've got to guard yourself from error and from immorality. And there is offense standing against practices and teachings that would wound, destroy fellow image bearers, that would drag the name of Jesus through the mud. Jesus sees what's right and he commends them for it. He says to the Ephesians, I can see that you're doing both of those things. If we visited the church in Ephesus, if we got into our time machine and went back to the first century, we'd probably sit there and think, gosh, it's uh it's a healthy church. They're defending the gospel against error, they're opposing things that harm other people. It's good. Where's the membership class? Can I sign up? But Jesus doesn't stop there. Yes, he sees what's right, but he also knows what's missing. And that's our second point. Jesus knows what's missing. Have a look down in your Bibles at verse four. Jesus says, but I have this against you. That you have abandoned the love you had at first. Did they stop loving one another? Probably not. They were enduring suffering together. At the center, though, their love for Christ had cooled in some way. When a love for Jesus begins to cool, everything can become affected, not least of all the effectiveness of the church's witness. Remember, what's the image of the church? What is the image in the book of Revelation? The church is a lampstand. What's a lampstand designed to do? To give out light, to show other people light in a dark world. And their light had grown dim. That's why Jesus introduces himself as one walking amongst the lampstands. The churches were designed to be lights showing the hope of Jesus to a hopeless world. What had happened to the Ephesian church is that they had become cold, defensive, unwelcoming, uninviting. They had battened down the hatches, they had pulled up the drawbridge in order to keep themselves safe. And they had stopped loving others and loving Jesus. There was duty. They were gathering on a Sunday, they were going to community groups, they were doing all the things that they should do. They were being good Christian boys and good Christian girls. And it had been a while since their heart was in it. And when there is only duty and no delight, it stifles your lampstandness. It stifles your desire to tell others to make Jesus known. They had lost the love that they had at first. This can be our problem. This can be the problem in our constituency. In the more kind of, if I you use these words without caveat, in the more kind of conservative evangelical kind of reformed world. If you don't know what any of those words mean, just let them pass you by, right? But this can be our problem. We can drift into a loveless orthodoxy. We can drift into a coolness that doesn't really seek to make Jesus known. Because we're defending the gospel and opposing people who would want to take it down. There are plenty of churches that define themselves by what they are. Against we oppose this teaching, we oppose that thing, we oppose these people. What are you for? What are you holding out? What are you excited about? Where has Jesus captured your affections? And how is that causing you to shine your lampstand all the brighter? This can be a danger for every church, for any church, for our church. We must avoid a discipleship that prioritizes winning arguments over winning people. We must avoid a discipleship that substitutes busy, busy, busy actions for actual genuine affection for Jesus. You do that? Fill your diary, fill your calendar, always saying yes, always doing stuff for Jesus. And then it all goes and you stop thinking, oh, who am I? Who am I as a son, as a daughter of God when I'm not doing stuff for Jesus? It's convicting, isn't it? We must avoid a discipleship where familiarity breeds contempt, where familiarity with the old, old story drowns out an amazement and a childlike wonder at who Jesus is and what he has done. They had left the love that they had at first. I don't imagine that any of the Ephesian Christians woke up one day and thought, do you know what? Today I'm gonna stop loving Jesus. I'm gonna turn the temperature right down, and I'm just gonna go about my day. I don't imagine that any of them did that. Imagine receiving this letter, they they wept. Because the cooling had it had happened so gradually, slowly learning to live without a reliance on him. But what is so hopeful is that Jesus doesn't just expose this in order to convict and to shame, but finally in order to call them back, in order to invite them into something better. That's our third point. Jesus calls them back. So if you're sitting here right now thinking, yeah, man, like I feel Ephesian right now. I've been going through the emotions. I remember what it's like, but it's been a while since I felt it. Take hard, brother, take hard, sister. Because as soon as I take a sip of this, I'm gonna give you some hope. Here we go. What does Jesus command to those who have big heads and shriveled up hearts? The first thing that he tells them to do, verse five, is to remember. Remember therefore where you have fallen. Just look back. Look back at those times when you were so captured, captivated, motivated, raptured and in love with me, Jesus says. Can you glimpse it? Can you feel it again? Don't you remember when faith tasted sweet? When it was lively and invigorating, when it refreshed your soul, when coming on a Sunday morning felt like, I can't wait to be with my brothers and sisters, I can't wait to lift my voice in praise and adoration of the one who set me free. Do you remember what it was like? Jesus' encouragement to you is to remember. Remember when your soul was refreshed and enlivened by his spirit. And the second thing that he encourages you to do is to repent. Verse 5, remember, therefore, where you've fallen. Repent. You think, oh, that's a that's a harsh word. You shouldn't say no, you need to repent. What does repent mean? Repent means turn around. Stop going in the direction that you're going and turn around. That I've just repented. I've just repented of that direction, and I am now going in this direction. That's what repent means. It says turn around. And there's such hope in that because Jesus is saying it's not too late. It's not over. You can actually turn around and go a different way. You can think differently about these things. You can act differently about these things. I am here walking in your midst. I want to refresh your soul. Come back to me. That's such good news. Don't let the word repent make you think, oh, why did I come here this morning? Now he's saying, it's not too late. I'm right here. Come and talk to me. I want to enliven you again. And then he says, do the things you did at first. When faith had a childlike delight to it. What does that mean? What does that look like? How do we turn from our lovelessness, our joylessness in the gospel to a refresh delight in Jesus? Well, it's not just mechanical, it's relational. And we'll see that even the promise that he offers is so beautifully relational. The first thing that we do is we remember specific things about who he is, what he has done for us, what he declares over your life, the depth of your lostness, and the deeper still measure of his grace towards you. That the Prince of Heaven would leave his throne and step down to give himself for you, to be captivated again by the wonder that he would love the likes of you and me. It also means to engage again with others. You know, sometimes one of the things that's most exciting about those early days of faith is that you realize that you're in a new family, God's great family. If you're new this morning, you see us hugging one another during a song. Can I just say all that means is we take our faith seriously, we just don't take ourselves too seriously. Okay? That's all God's great family means. But we've come to faith. We think, I'm with, I have a new family. To return to Him, to return and do the things He did at first is to re-engage with your brothers and sisters, to love them, to speak about the hope that you have in Jesus. Maybe even just to speak about the coldness that you're feeling. Maybe you do that in a community group this week. Maybe you'd be like, yeah, I don't know where I'm gonna identify in the other six churches, but I'm really feeling Ephesian right now. Feel a coldness, and I don't want to. Another way is to deliberately, intentionally seek him, to seek him in his word, to seek him in prayer, to know that he is not far from you, and to reach out to him, to take time to treasure him, to sing, to sing those songs. It was completely accidental on the drive in this morning. We often listen to Christian music in the car, and whatever age you are, there's Christian music from your younger self, from your more kind of first flush of faith days. That when you hear them, you're back there. And those songs just came on the playlist for me. I'm not going to embarrass myself by telling you what they are. And I just feel myself just kind of welling up because I remembered. I remembered what it was like to stand and sing those songs. Put them on and weep and allow the spirit to minister to you. Take the sacraments in a few moments with a renewed attention. We take them every Sunday. And we can always talk about Jesus' body broken, his wine, his blood poured out. And we can go through the motions. But as you place bread on your tongue, Jesus' body broken from me. As you drink wine or juice according to your conscience or preference, Jesus shed his blood from me and allow the Spirit to minister to your heart. Jesus offers a warning. I really need to wrap up. He says, the warning is that if you don't, I will come and I will remove your lampstand. Jesus closes loveless churches. But that is not his final word. His final word is one of great, rich promise. He says, To the one who overcomes, I will grant them to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. To the one who overcomes, that is, the one who hears Jesus' call and remembers their need of him. He says, You will be with me forever. That's it. The tree of life is where we've been sent away from. We were sent away from the tree of life right back at the start. Sent away from the presence of God, sent away from home, and our whole lives have been lived in exile. Jesus says, if you recognize your need of me, if you want me to enliven your heart, revive your soul again, do you know what I'll do? I'll bring you home. I'll bring you home. In the court of the temple of Artemis, there was a tree. It was a place of sexual immorality and debauchery, a place where criminals and brigands gathered. What a striking thing that the Ephesians would say. That there's another tree. There is another tree that I will bring you home to, and it will be in my presence, and you will have life forever there. That's my promise to you. That's why the symbol is a tree. That is what he invites you to. There is a day coming when duty and delight will be perfectly united. And even now, Jesus calls us back to a vibrant relationship of love with him. This church was doing so much right. But at the center, something had faded. Jesus, in his love for them, exposes it, not to condemn them, but to call them back, to call them to something better. And what we're going to see in these baptisms in about an hour and a half's time is not people saying, I've got everything right, nearly to a man. Everyone said, I don't do everything right. Amen. It's people saying, I know my native Jesus. And I have come to follow him. Not just in duty, but in delight. Not just in belief, but in love. And that same invitation stands for us all. Jesus walks amongst his church. He sees us clearly, and he calls us back to have life with him forever. Let's pray. Father, stir our hearts, renew our affections, enliven our love for Jesus. By your Spirit, we pray. Amen.