The Church in Ephesus

1“To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write: “He who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks among the seven golden lamp stands says these things: 2“I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false. 3You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4But I have this against you, that you left your first love. 5Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent. 6But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.

The apostle John was forced into exile on the island of Patmos by Domitian, the Roman emperor who persecuted Christianity. Even so, he loved Jesus Christ all the more and leaned on him all the more. Around AD 95 the Holy Spirit showed him a vision. He heard the prophetic word and wrote down Revelation. The apostle John delivered the word in obedience to the command of Jesus Christ to tell the seven churches of Asia Minor what God’s will for them was.

The church in Ephesus was planted by the apostle Paul around AD 53, when he stopped in the region of Ephesus on his way back from Corinth to Jerusalem. In Ephesus Paul spread the Christian faith together with Priscilla and Aquila and pastored there for two years. After that, Timothy pastored there, following Paul’s example of faith. And some years later, around AD 66, it was also a church the apostle John pastored. You need only hear the names of the pastors of the church in Ephesus to see how sound the truth was that its believers would have heard and learned. The pastors were all outstanding people, yet with the humblest faith they loved and proclaimed Jesus Christ alone.

It seems only natural that such a church would be commended, yet it is astonishing that it was rebuked for having lost its first love. Its pastors were martyred for the truth, and still it lost its first love. In the end, that would mean it did not hold on to true love.

Acts 19:8-10

8He entered into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning God’s Kingdom. 9But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

When Paul spoke boldly in the synagogue for three months, proclaiming the word, many people spoke evil of it. So he called aside the believers who had received Jesus and taught them the word daily in the school of Tyrannus. Through pastors whose faith was true, the believers of the church in Ephesus came to know God’s will. Because they had a right faith, they were able to devote themselves in the right way.

In Ephesus stood the statue of the goddess Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and because of it superstition flourished. It was an immoral place where the emperor was worshiped as an idol, so faith was muddied. Into the church in Ephesus, which was striving to keep its faith in such a muddied world, came false teachers. The false teachers shook the believers’ faith by teaching them to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. But the believers held on to the word taught them by pastors full of the Holy Spirit, like Paul, Timothy, Priscilla and Aquila. Because of that, they did not worship Artemis, the goddess of plenty and fertility.

Sadly, though, the believers who had worked so hard to keep their faith in a fallen world and a religiously corrupt place gradually lost their love for souls. They strove for a rational, knowledge-based faith rather than a faith that loves God and leans on him. As they argued to keep out people who taught a prosperity faith as if it were the truth, their faith ended up as one that only argues over logic and passes judgment. Of course, only by judging rationally and logically can we stand against what is not the truth. That is why Bible knowledge is taught, and why people are helped to experience many things: so as not to lose the arguments with such people. But we must never forget that what God wants is the saving of souls.

What Jesus Christ says to the seven churches is this: know God’s will fully, live it out by the word of truth, and love God and your neighbor honestly. So you must understand that everything, whether it is reason or logic, is needed for loving God and for the saving of souls. If your wealth is great and you have stumbled over it, or your knowledge is great and you have stumbled over it, then however much grace you have received from God, it is of no use.

The believers of the church in Ephesus learned the word from outstanding pastors and knew what the truth was, but they took the word in as knowledge. Then, in the name of keeping the word, they became people who only argued over logic. Even now there are churches and believers who have learned the word and know it, yet do not live by it. If we have Bible knowledge, we should not criticize and judge others but live out the word of truth and be an example.

What God wants from you is that you have much Bible knowledge, and that with that knowledge you show true love for the saving of souls. Just as Jesus sacrificed himself to forgive sinners, you must first, from the low place, sacrifice yourselves in order to love God and to love your neighbor.

Jesus Christ appeared in a symbolic form, holding the seven stars in his right hand and walking among the seven golden lamp stands. Through this he taught that, like seven golden lamp stands branching out from a single root, every church on this earth has Jesus Christ as its head.

Revelation 2:2-3

2“I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false. 3You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary.

Here ‘evil men’ does not mean people of the world who behave immorally, but the Nicolaitans, who twisted the word of truth. They led believers astray, made them eat things sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality, and now taught that the law was not needed at all.

But the law serves to make us aware of sin. So the law tells us that there must be Jesus, who would atone for that sin. That is why the law must be upheld. Of course, salvation is received by faith. But the law made sin to be counted as sin, and that is what enables such faith to believe in Jesus Christ.

The Nicolaitans also taught that the flesh is evil and the spirit is good, so it does not matter what one does in the evil flesh. But for the work of the good God, the flesh must be whole and clean. For if we live as we please in the world, we cannot take on the work of the holy God. They taught that Christians are protected, so whatever they do and wherever they go, Jesus keeps them and no harm comes to them. Of course it is true that he protects believers. But the world is ruled by Satan, who holds the power of the air, so only when we do good does the Holy Spirit work.

Christ commended the believers of the church in Ephesus for their works, their toil and their perseverance. He commended them because they worked hard in the faith that they would not tolerate those who were throwing the church into disorder. The believers fought the false teachers with all their lives and did their best to overcome their persecution. Look at that, and you can see how hard the believers worked to guard the church. The Nicolaitans, who called themselves apostles, not only denied Jesus but tried to teach the doctrines they asserted. But the believers discerned the spirits, so they did not fall for their temptations.

When the Nicolaitans, who taught that one must have the world’s wealth and power, came into the church, the Ephesian believers dealt with them firmly by the word and drove them out. There were false teachers who denied Jesus, stressed the works of the law, and spread a prosperity faith that says living well in the world is blessing. The believers kept those teachers from working in the church, and that was truly remarkable faith. They had learned from the apostle Paul that the idea that living well in the world means being blessed by God is not the truth. Because they knew this, they were not deceived. The believers of the church in Ephesus, who had grown well by the word that the apostle Paul and Timothy taught, persevered to the end so as not to mix with them, and did not grow weary in lifting up the name of Jesus. They did their best so that the church would not be stained by the ideas the evil men spread.

But the church is not a place that can accomplish God’s will and providence just because it knows a great deal of the word. The church is where the genuine truth must be proclaimed, and where believers who have understood it save souls through self-sacrifice, with a love as whole as God’s. It is truly sad that the church in Ephesus, which had worked so hard, was rebuked by Jesus Christ.

Revelation 2:4

4But I have this against you, that you left your first love.

To put this situation simply, imagine a soccer player with outstanding individual skill, skill that everyone acknowledges. But if that player trusts only their own skill, never passes the ball to their teammates and plays the game all alone, in the end the team will lose. It matters that the player is good at soccer, but it matters far more to think about the purpose, about why they are playing the game right now. In the same way, however much of the word we know and however devoted we are, if we do not show God’s love and do not sacrifice ourselves for souls, we are like dry ground.

Jesus commended the church in Ephesus on doctrine. So its faith was clearly no ordinary achievement. But he also said that he had this against it: it had left its first love. Those words show that its faith had become thoroughly a matter of form. It knew the word but did not live it out. Of course, keeping this much faith in Ephesus, where idols ran riot, deserves praise. But what God wants is not overflowing Bible knowledge and a rigorously doctrinal faith, but a faith that sincerely loves God and loves the fellow members of the body. That is why Jesus Christ rebuked the church and told it that it must recover its first love.

Among the seven churches, the church in Ephesus was without doubt a church that did its best to keep the right word. For the Lord recognized its works, its toil and its perseverance. Yet the toil of these people, who had done their best to guard the church, ended up as a dry, formal faith that judges and condemns.

As we come to know more of the word and our faith grows, God wants a true faith that can embrace other souls. If we love God, we can discern those who hold a false gospel, and without going out of our way to judge and condemn, we can bring them to submit by spiritual wisdom. Even without piling up knowledge to argue with people who care only about logic and doctrine, if we love God we can naturally carry out the power of the word. If we love God, love our brothers and love souls, we must have, on top of a knowledge-based faith, the wisdom of true understanding.

But they used all their knowledge only for arguing, rather than for saving and keeping souls, and so their spirits dried up. God grieved over such believers and told them to recover their first love.

The apostle Paul, Timothy, Priscilla and Aquila, and the apostle John were surely people who knew the word and had knowledge more than anyone. Paul’s family and education go without saying. Look at what the apostle John wrote, the Gospel of John, the letters of 1, 2 and 3 John, and Revelation, and you can see that he had outstanding knowledge and wisdom. But look at the letters they wrote. They do not boast of their own wisdom or mix in their knowledge when they deliver the word. Instead, you can see the traces of their wrestling over how to deliver the word simply, so that everyone from little children to the old would receive Jesus Christ. Their faithfulness, giving their lives only to send souls to God, was nothing but love.

The believers of the church in Ephesus used the truth as a tool for argument. That is why God rebuked them. The aim of their arguing was not the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the saving of souls but a faith of works, and that is why he called them to recover. Jesus too, when he argued with the Pharisees and scribes, had a clear purpose, and led the conversation so that they would acknowledge God. Even if we know the word of truth, if the saving of souls is not our purpose, it is only showing off knowledge, and it has nothing at all to do with Jesus.

Even in the world, at a job interview, people of good character, good attitude and good manners are hired rather than those who are clever and have a good background. The work itself the employer can simply teach. But a person of bad character and no manners becomes a serious problem in working life with others, and that is why such a person is not hired. In the same way, God is almighty, so whatever believers lack in doctrine or knowledge, he can help with. But people of bad character who are proud, however much of the word they know, would in the end betray God for their own sake. So God cannot raise them up.

The believers of the church in Ephesus worked hard at doctrine, but they lacked a true love that cares for souls and a heart of unconditional faithfulness toward God. They had forgotten the essential thing, why they were arguing at all. That is why Jesus Christ told them to recover their first love. For this is a deeply important part of their own salvation as well.

Matthew 22:37-40

37Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and great commandment. 39A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

The Pharisees kept the law at the risk of their lives. But they kept it by works, for their own salvation; they had no sacrifice and no forbearance, and they did not believe in Jesus’ atonement. So they were rebuked. Only by receiving the truth can we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and only by loving God sincerely can we love our neighbor as ourselves. The law made known that no one can shake off sin, and so the prophets proclaimed that we must believe in the one who would atone for that sin. That is why Jesus said that the whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

This commandment shows us the problem of the church in Ephesus. The church in Ephesus loved God, but only with its head, and served him coolly, by reason. Its people mistook this for the faith that serves God. But what God wants is not knowledge known only in the head; it is living it out sincerely in our lives, with all our heart, soul and mind. The pastors taught the word so diligently that the believers could pick out evil men and false apostles. They did not do this so that the believers would be content with knowing the word, but so that they would be faithful to death for the saving of souls.

But they did not carry out the Lord’s command to be faithful to death. They were content to win arguments with the word, and they were lazy in the work of saving souls. As they made a habit of arguing from knowledge, the humble faith with which they had served God by sacrificing themselves disappeared, and they became believers who judge and condemn. They would have craved more and more knowledge to win their arguments with the Nicolaitans, taken satisfaction in never losing an argument, and let that satisfaction turn into pride. So their concern for the saving of souls, God’s Great Commission, faded away, and all they did was discuss how they could beat those people. If the believers of the church in Ephesus had, in proportion to how much of the word of truth they knew, thought through for themselves what they would do for God and for the church, planned it and put it into action, they would have become a church greatly commended by God.

Looking at the church in Ephesus, I thought about our own church. Because you have read the Bible a great deal, you know what God’s will is. That is why you should now pray for the saving of souls, evangelize, and sacrifice yourselves and serve.

The church has a mission to teach people the word of truth and God’s will, and to teach them clearly where they will go after death. So if you know the word only in your head, you will be rebuked by God, just as the church in Ephesus was. The church’s role is to let people know that Jesus has made the road to our eternal home safe. And our mission as believers is precisely to proclaim that if people keep to the road of truth, they can go to heaven and receive eternal life.

But the world is a place where Satan has made a big puddle in the middle of the road and lies in wait, to hinder believers on their way. So the church must teach not only the road to heaven but also the wisdom of how to get past the puddles of hardship we meet as we go through life. If it taught that there is a way to leap across, and a way to throw stones into the middle of the puddle and step on them, it would be a little easier to go by the road of truth. This is how the church works to help people travel safely toward heaven.

But if we hear the word and never even set out on the road of truth, we cannot experience God’s love. There are people who ask how wide they must stretch their stride to get across when they meet a big puddle, and how big puddles are, statistically. Someone who asks such questions may think they are wise, but in the end they will not reach the eternal home. Sadly, this person has heard in detail, through the church, the road to heaven, and still does not go.

Revelation 2:5

5Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent.

If we know the word but have no deeds of faith, Jesus will move the lamp stand out of its place. When he said he would move the lamp stand, he meant this: a word that only fills the head is no different from the world’s knowledge, so to expand the kingdom of God he would choose hearts full of the word and of love and begin his work through them. When those who know the word only show off their knowledge and do not devote themselves to the saving of souls, they are acting just as Satan acts.

Friends, now that you know and understand the word, work for the church. If you, who have understood the word of truth, are not faithful for the kingdom of God, God will seek out a church and believers who are filled, even if he has to move the lamp stand to do it. The moment the lamp stand is moved, the labor of the apostle Paul, Timothy, Priscilla and Aquila, who until then had given their lives to preach the word, vanishes along with it.

We know how hard those pastors labored to found the church in Ephesus and raise up its believers. In those days they had to move from region to region to evangelize, so the pastors were probably all the more earnest. A day would come when they could no longer pastor, so they would have hoped that the believers would live by faith, and that they would work with all their lives to spread God’s love. Jesus said that to believers who overcome the power of darkness by faith he would give the fruit of the tree of life in Paradise to eat. To eat the fruit of the tree of life is the blessing of being promised salvation.

The believers of the church in Ephesus could discern the Nicolaitans by the word, but it went no further than boasting of knowledge. They did not sincerely devote themselves to saving souls, so they had to repent and turn back. Seeing this, we too cannot boast that we have been saved, and must not, until the day we stand before God. They argued to guard the truth, but the moment the truth is made into knowledge, God’s word becomes one’s own boast, and becomes words like garbage thrown away in the world, with nothing to do with God.

For the believers of the church in Ephesus, the arguing began at first because they loved God and wanted to keep the word. But in the end they forgot the heart of the word and failed to reveal the gospel. When people used the word as knowledge, even the word turned into knowledge that had lost its power to save.

Of course, God’s power is at work regardless of what people do. But you must be careful, because turning the word into a boast that shows yourself off is also a sin. So when you deliver the word, you must deliver it wisely, so that anyone can easily understand it and easily accept it. For the word was not given for people to boast of; it is a sharp sword given to save even one soul headed for the fire of hell.

Do you still hold on to your first love now? If God asked you whether you still have your first love, how would you answer? This is a very important question for us as believers. At first, even without knowing the word, you would have believed because you loved Jesus, who bore the cross, and you would have worshiped because you wanted to go to heaven, where God reigns as king. But as you have learned the word and your years of faith have grown long, hasn’t a proud heart risen up in you, thinking that you know God a little? Stop and ask yourself whether you may have looked down on the faith of people who have just received God and of people who do not know the word well.

As you come to know more of the word, do not boast of knowledge; proclaim who Jesus is and how beautiful heaven is, so that anyone can easily understand. When you do, you will be able to make the light burn all the brighter on the lamp stand Jesus gave you, and to eat, together with many people, the fruit of the tree of life that Jesus Christ gave.

Whatever happens, never forget the true heart of the word God has given. I hope you will love God and love souls honestly, as the word says, and live out God’s will as his precious people.

May you always hold God’s love in your heart and sacrifice yourselves to save souls. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.