What is the role of the members of a church, and the pastor? What is the lifeblood of a church and what happens to a church when it is missing that essential element?
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A Biblical Church And The Fuel That Drives It
Revelation 2:1-5
The apostle John is exiled on the island of Patmos because of the word and testimony of Jesus, very similar to our brothers and sister from Iran and many other Christians who are being persecuted and kicked out of their homeland for the testimony of Jesus. And while before, we were safe here in America, that persecution is now coming our way, we see this in the various laws that ware being passed. While on the Island of Patmos, John gets a vision or is taken in the Spirit to see the glorified Christ.
Son of Man
In Revelation 1:13, he said that he saw “one like the son of man”. This is also how Daniel identified Christ in the vision that he was given (Daniel 7:13). This is also the term that Jesus frequently used to identify himself.
And when John sees the son of man, he is standing in the midst of seven golden lampstands and he is holding seven stars in his hand. He then commissions John to write what he sees and to write to seven churches in Asia Minor which is modern day Turkey. Today we will look at Christ’ words to the Church in Ephesus and get a lesson in Ecclesiology. In the first five verses we will see:
–The authority and responsibility of a Shepherd/Pastor
-Responsibility of the church and its members
-The fuel that should be driving the church-Love
-What can happen when the church runs low on this fuel
Revelation 2:1-To the Angel of the Church-Now there is some speculation that there was an actual guardian angel of the Church that this letter is address to but the general consensus opinion including mine is that this “Angel” refers to the Elders/Pastor of the church. So he identifies the pastor/ elders/shepherds as “angel”.
What is an angel?
In the proper sense they are messengers, they are servant of God, set to serve and not be served. And that should be the heart of an Elder/Shepard….to serve. The Elder/Shepard that this letter is address to is also identified as a star in the right hand of Christ (Revel 1:20).
Why the right hand of Christ?
Because through scripture and even the secular world, the right hand is consider to be a position of authority.
For example Act 7:56-Before Stephen is stoned, he see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Hebrews 10:12- After offering himself as a sacrifice for sins, he Sat down at the right hand of God.
So there is this authority that the Elder/Pastor/Shepard has but that authority that the pastor/elder/shepherd has is not exercised out of his own free will but only that which is in accordance with Christ.
And while the Pastor/Shepard is an authority figure in the church, with that authority comes with a huge weight of responsibility. And the first six words of Chapter 2 in Revelation show us this weight of responsibility.
While this letter is addressing the entire church it members, their deeds, the letter is addressed to the Pastors/Shepard because they bare the bulk of the weight of responsibility of what’s going in the church.
Hebrews 13:17-Read
So when God looks at the Bridge, yes he sees everyone but when it comes time to give an account of the Bridge, who is he looking at Elders/Shepherd?
I liken the position of the Pastor to the Church to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Eve is the one that took the fruit and bite it, passed it to her husband but when it came time to give an account, who did God call? Adam, Where are you?
So the letter to the Church in Ephesus starts out with a bang and if I am apart of leadership in the church at Ephesus, when I read that letter, hairs should begin to stand up on my arm.
As the verse continue…………..
Lampstand
From verse Rev 1:20, we see that the lampstand represents the church.
Why a lampstand?
In the construction of the sanctuary, God order that one part of the sanctuary be separated from the other by a veil, this inner part of the sanctuary was the Holy of Holies. The lampstand stood in the outer part (Holy Place) of the sanctuary where the priest would perform their duties, and guest what, this was their only source of light. The priest were charged with making sure that this light never went out.
Now the Old Testament temple items point to Christ, for the example, the Showbread that the priest ate, Jesus said that I am the bread of life. Likewise the lampstand, Jesus said that I am the light of the World. (John 8:12). So as the church, we carry the light of Jesus that is why we are the lampstand..
In Mathew 5:14, Jesus said that we, his disciples are the light of the world
So we the Church together, we are light………we are the light for truth
Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:15 that the church is the “pillar and ground for the truth”
Dr. Walker at City Seminary would say that because the church is the pillar and ground for the truth, when a person says out of church fellowship and attends every now and then, they are so susceptible to error because they are away from the pillar and ground of the truth.
Now in the Book of Revelation, only seven churches are address but each church throughout the world, big or small should stand as a light.
I heard a pastor say that if your church closed its door (this is more in the context of church in America) and moved to another neighborhood, would the community that it left even notice that it is gone, when they even notice that light has left its community.
That is why being a church is more than coming here, singing songs and hearing a sermon for doing bible studies, it’s about action, resisting evil, evangelizing the lost, it is about meeting needs as Jesus described in Mathew 25, where the needs of the homeless, sick and prisoner were met.
Paul tells the Galatians in 6:10 “To do good unto all men”.
Now let’s examine the light of the Church in Ephesus…….understand this that at this time, we get to examine the light of the Church in Ephesus, but when Christ, returns, the light of the people at the Bridge will be examined.
From Revelation 2:2-3, we see that the Church is letting their light shine. READ
So they are making sure that the church is the pillar and structure for truth by not tolerating evil men, and testing those who all themselves apostles which is very important because this how false doctrine get spread or heresy which has the potential to destroy a church.
The writer of Hebrews 12:15 warns us of this where he said to
“See to it that no…….root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled.
So the church in Ephesus is cutting out that root of bitterness that can defile the whole church by testing false Apostle and not tolerating evil men. So the church is being militant in the fight for truth, which is a great thing, especially considering how and where they started.
The Beginning of the church in Ephesus
This is Ephesus, Ephesus was the largest City in Asia Minor (Turkey), a very pagan city, it was the City of the Greek goddess Dianna or Artemis. The temple dedicated to Dianna was so large that tourist would come to marvel at it, the temple of Dianna was consider one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And Paul goes there and spreads the Gospel and some forty years later this church is still standing.
And they are militant in fighting for truth, resisting evil men and from the outside, we would say, this is a good church. We would say that they are doctrinal sound, that they have strong biblical teaching. Yes, doctrine was not there problem, Doctrine was the problem in the Church at Pergamum-Revelation 2:12-17
Revelation 2:4
So the church in Ephesus is doing all of the right things but here is the scary part, here is the hair raising part, here is the big warning sign….even though they are being militant against evil as a good solder of the Lord, they are missing one of the most crucial elements………….LOVE!
See you can be at a church that is doctrinally sound, strong biblical teaching, but if that teaching is not done in love, the church is incomplete
Now before we get into the debate of what love is lacking: Love for the each other or Christ, let not miss a major point…..that the church was actively engaged in biblical ministry. It is not like they were a lazy church, they were militant but now they are being indicted on a charge of “love gone cold”.
So this tells me that you can be active in ministry, evangelism, attending Christian conferences, bible studies, feeding the homeless but if love is missing, your efforts are void.
Does this remind you of another text: 1 Corthin 13-Let read
Now let’s get to the Love that they had fallen away from. I agree with most commentators that the love that has grown cold, was their first love, the Love of Christ because as Christians our love from other flows through of love of Christ……His love compels us as Paul would say.
But regardless, do you think that if a person would hear, “well done” from God, if they loved Christ and not his Bride which is the church? No, considering the fact that Jesus said in John 13:35 that the world will know that we are his disciples by the love that we have for one another.
And do you think that we can love one another and have a weak love for Christ and still be okay? No
And here is the thing, when love is removed from a church, get what happens? In comes legalism, incomes religious traditions, incomes self-righteousness.
See love is the thing that should have gotten you here this morning, not the car but love for Christ, love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Love is the thing that should get us out of bed on Sunday morning when the alarm clock goes off. Love is the thing that makes you preserve when you have three screaming kids in the back of the car….Love. Without it, then we are just coming to church because my parents raised me this way or it’s the American tradition, on Sundays you go to church.
I want to show you example of another church in scripture who fell away from their first love.
Read-Galatians 1:6
What has happened here is that Paul preached the good news of Jesus, the Galatians fall in love with Jesus and then a root of bitterness springs up(the Galatians were not as militant as the Ephesians) and people are convinced that Jesus is not enough but that you need to follow these certain commandments, circumcision, observe certain holy days.
My brothers and sisters, many bad churches are the way that they are because the Love of Christ has grown cold.
Revelation 2:5
If the Church of Ephesus does not repent, and do the deeds that were directed by love, Christ promises to remove their lampstand, they would no longer be a church………this is how important love is to a church.
Body of Christ, it is so easy to fall in love with a ministry and your love for Christ grows cold. Guess what you can fall in love with evangelism and not be compelled by love or for the person that you are trying to evangelize.
You can fall in love with worship, you can actually worship and not the God of worship.
For example I have heard of people that go to particular churches to hear a choir and once the choir is done or the praise and worship team is finished, they are ready to go home………where is love? You can also do this with your favorite speaker and (I am guilty of this, I love me some Francis Chan and John Piper).
So my brothers and sisters, I must ask you, do you really love Christ? Does your heart beat for him? Do you really love the person that you are sitting next to right now? Do you love me your brother in Christ? If not, pray that God changes your heart.
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