Revelation 2:1-7
What Does Jesus Think? #1
INTRODUCTION: You remember the judge of all the churches that we saw last week. He was in the middle of the candlesticks that represented the churches. He was holding the messengers to the churches in His right hand. Here Jesus is reminding the church at Ephesus that the messenger is bringing His message to His churches. We all have our ideas about what our church should be and what should be the major priorities in our church. But what does Jesus think a church should be? That is what really matters. His church should be a:
- WORKING CHURCH (VS. 2-3)
- The word works has the idea of the thing that you are employed in
- Jesus knew what the church at Ephesus was spending their time on
- When we look at this word with the other words like labor and patience we see it as a good employment
- Jesus was happy with the good things that they were busy doing
- The idea here is that this church is not sitting around doing nothing
- They are busy about God’s work on earth
- They were sharing the gospel, they were helping the poor, no doubt they were training the saints
- Then there is the word labour that adds to the intensity of what they are doing
- This church is doing the work of God
- But they are doing it with everything they have
- The word labour has the idea of working one’s self to exhaustion
- In describing the Greek word, Strong’s Lexicon says intense labor, united with trouble and toil.
- These guys were not just employed about God’s work, they were doing God’s work all out with all their might
- They were making themselves tired doing God’s work
- They were doing the hard things
- A person works when they mow the lawn, they labor when they dig out a stump
- This word labour is repeated again in v. 3-this was a characteristic of this church
- They were working themselves to the bone for God and accomplishing a lot
- We see this idea even further in the word borne in v. 3
- This one has the idea of picking something up to carry it
- Again the idea is carrying something with great strain
- They had taken the hard work of God on their shoulders and were carrying it
- Did you know that God wants this church to do the same thing?
- Jesus commended this church for this thing
- He liked the fact that they were carrying the load, employed about the right things, working themselves to the bone with much trouble
- He wants that kind of commitment from you too
- He wants you to be employed about His work
- He wants you to carry the load of His work everyday
- He wants you to weary yourself to the bone
- The idea that you can do too much in the church for God, is a worldly idea
- We find these early Christians and missionaries working sun up to sun down in the service of the Lord
- You should always be looking for opportunities to do more for God
- To make yourself tired doing the work of God
- Labor to spread the gospel, labor to help the poor, labor to train new Christians
- Be a working individual so that God can have a working church at Pleasant Hill
- ENDURING CHURCH (VS. 2-3)
- Along with the back breaking work that they were doing, they had patience
- Again Jesus is commending them for this
- The same word is in v. 2 and v. 3
- It means to endure through hardship
- The work was hard, in Ephesus at this time there was great persecution of Christians
- But they were working through it, never stopping, never giving up
- In v. 3 Jesus commends them for not having fainted
- Fainted means to grow weary to the point of quitting
- The idea is falling by the wayside from exhaustion
- These Ephesians didn’t do that
- They would just keep on keeping on
- Eyes straight ahead, doing the work, no matter how hard it became
- They would never quit
- God would have your church to be the same way
- Sure there are discouragements in God’s work
- Sure people will refuse to be saved
- Sure people will cause you all kinds of troubles
- Sometimes you might be the only one doing anything
- The work is supposed to be hard, look what we just talked about a point ago
- But you never quit, you keep on going no matter what
- You are doing the work of God, and there will be time for rest when Jesus comes back
- But right now you keep doing the work, never stop
- Keep winning people for Jesus, keep helping others, keep training new Christians to be just like you
- Never, ever stop or give up
- DISCERNING CHURCH (V. 2)
- Not only was this church working hard, they were standing for the truth
- There were a group of people at the time that were calling themselves apostles
- Apostles are those that were sent out by Jesus with His message
- In the early church they held a lot of authority and rightfully so
- They were the ones who had learned directly from Jesus and they were sharing the truth with the churches
- But these imposters were claiming to have the same authority, but they were not real apostles
- They were false teachers, claiming to speak for God
- These people were evil, the scriptures says here
- And the church at Ephesus wasn’t putting up with it
- They knew the truth and drove out the false teachers
- They could tell who the bad one’s were and who the good one’s were
- We call that being able to discern between teachers from God and teachers from the devil
- This same writer had encouraged the churches to try the spirits in I John
- They were not to believe every teacher and teaching that came along
- They were to test, to see if the things people told them were true
- They would do that with the Old Testament scriptures
- They would do that by writing down what the true apostles that walked with Jesus said
- That is why the true apostles were so important
- But this church at Ephesus could spot a fake, far off
- That meant that they knew the truth through and through
- And would not put up with any falsehood
- Your church too, should be doctrinally sound
- That just means that your church should know the truth of the Bible and stand on it
- It is very important that we look out for false teachers
- The Bible mentions two kinds
- Those that stand up publically and teach things that are not true
- And those that sneak in quietly and lead one or two astray at a time
- You as a member of this church, need to be on the lookout for those people
- Study your Bible, know the truth, so that when the fakes show up, you can make sure that they don’t influence your church
- You can call their teaching out as fake, before they lead anybody astray
- Do not put up with false teaching, don’t stand for it, don’t allow it in any way, stamp out all compromise
- HUMBLE CHURCH (V. 6)
- One of the false groups that they stood against here in v. 6 was the Nicolaitans
- They hate the works of this group
- And Jesus says, I also hate the works of that group
- This was the right thing to do, hate the works of these people
- The word Nicolaitans, means followers of Nicolas
- And the name Nicolas means ruler of people
- The general consensus is that these people were putting themselves in charge of churches
- Many believe that this thinking and work started the Catholic idea of clergy v. laity
- The idea that there are some that are to be in charge
- Some that hold the keys to the Bible and put rules on the others who they say cannot understand
- Jesus taught against this kind of thinking in Matt. 20:25-26
- But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
- The Lord’s churches are not a place for even the pastor to be the boss
- The ones who want to be great in churches, should be the ones that are serving everyone
- And nobody has a greater understanding of scripture than anyone else who applies themselves
- John taught in the book of I John that anyone with the Spirit of God in their life (every saved person) can understand the scriptures
- You and me are no different, I may have studied a bit longer than you this week
- In this church, there is not supposed to be anybody that runs the church
- We are all equal, in fact you should strive to be under everybody else
- 2:3 in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
- In Proverbs 6:16 There are seven things that God hates, the very first one on the list is a proud look
- Humility is what Jesus approves of here in church at Ephesus, they would not put up with anybody becoming the boss
- In your church, nobody rules over anybody else, everyone should have an equal say in all matters, and there is nobody that has some God token to interpret the Bible, with study we should all come to the same conclusions about the Bible-I encourage you to study and learn the scriptures
- LOVING CHURCH (VS. 4-5)
- But Jesus had one thing against this church at Ephesus
- They were hard workers, working themselves to the bone for God and never quitting
- They stood for the truth and did not tolerate anything else
- Jesus problem with them, is that they had left their first love
- This church was not motivated by the right thing
- They were working hard, accomplishing a lot, but they were not loving people
- They were all about the truth, but they were not loving people
- They probably were not even what they were doing out of love for God
- Whether it was obligation, or pride, or whatever their motivation was for doing all of this it was not love
- This word for love is agape
- We have talked about it many times
- It is the love that Jesus showed when He died on the cross
- It is a love that is shown by action
- It is a commitment, not a feeling
- It is a willingness to sacrifice your good for the good of someone else
- And you know what Jesus said without that kind of love to back it all up it, it is all worthless
- Look what He said in v. 5 (read it)
- If you don’t get back to love for God and for other people
- I will remove your candlestick
- Jesus said, You cannot be my church anymore if you don’t get right and start loving
- You see Jesus established this church on that principle as well-love should be the prime motivator for everything that you do
- Love for each other, love for neighbors, love for enemies, and most of all love for God
- Stand for the truth, but stand for the truth with love
- Share the gospel of Jesus but share it in love
- Work yourself to the bone, not because you feel like you have to but because you love God and you love people
- Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said in Matt. 22:37-40 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
- Paul wrote in I Cor. 13:1-2 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.
- Without love, everything else you do is worthless
- All your works are for nothing without love behind them
- Love, or you are not fit to be a church of the Lord Jesus Christ
- Love, or you will no longer be a church of the Lord Jesus Christ
CONCLUSION: Jesus concludes with a phrase that you will hear time and again in Revelation. He that hath and ear let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. The idea here is that God’s Spirit is speaking to the spiritual ears or the hearts of His people. A spiritual person will understand the message and apply it to their lives. Are you that kind of spiritual person that will take this message from Jesus into your heart and change your life? If we all will do that, then we will change our church to be what Jesus would have it to be. Then Jesus offers us a glimmer of hope as we do His work on earth. He that overcometh refers to Christian people, I John 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? He says, Christian people will eat of the tree of life and live eternally. That is what awaits us! Meanwhile let’s be what Jesus thinks the church should be! We need to be a working church, we need to be an enduring church, we need to be a discerning church, we need to be a humble church, and above all we need to be a church that is motivated by godly love!