(Message © by Rev. Larry A. Langer, First Presbyterian Church, Jasper, IN, January 23, 2011)

“7 Churches: Brickbats and Bouquets”

“1. God’s Message to Ephesus”

 Revelation 1:9-2:7 and Genesis 3:1-13, 22-24

“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers…But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the work you did at first.” (Revelation 2:2a, 4-5a)

Think with me a moment about the measuring tools we use to measure a church. We might use a collection plate to measure a church: The more in the plate, the better the church. We might use a membership role: The more people “on the roles,” the better the church. We might use the attendance count: The more people in worship, the better the church. We might use the number of children around: The more children around, the better the church. We might use how much mission money is given to projects beyond the church doors: The more that is given beyond the insider of the church, the better the church.

We might use a variety of measurers and the higher the quantities, the better the church.

However, when we look at the Book of Revelation in Scripture, and at the seven churches to which John was to send dictated letters, nowhere do we read about money, numbers, children, or mission giving. Rather, we read about the quality of the faith life of the people. The words are coming from the Lord, dictated to John, to be sent to the different churches. John wasn’t judging; God was. I propose to talk about these seven churches and what God is saying to them, and let the Holy Spirit convict us of where we might get our own “brickbats” or “bouquets.”

An important point to remember throughout our reading and learning about these seven churches is that Jesus is in the middle of them. We read in Chapter 1, verses 12 and following,

Then I (John) turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man…In his right hand he held seven stars…As for the mystery of the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Notice that the seven churches are called “lampstands.” Jesus Christ is in the middle of them, and the messengers of the churches (the angels) are in Jesus’ hand. Because of this setting, we can believe that Jesus hasn’t abandoned these churches, whatever their problems, but that all of them are still very important to Him. In fact, they are of priceless value because they are “golden lampstands” and they “give light,” much the way Jesus said that “a city set on a hill gives light all around.”

Five years ago now, we as a church of Jesus Christ, adopted our Mission Statement that includes being “a light,” “a beacon,” if we will, to Jasper and the world. This has been on every Sunday Worship bulletin and every “Church chatter” newsletter since. Here it is; hear it again:

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Those who follow me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life” (John 8:12)

Drawn by the loving light of Jesus, we choose to follow him as Lord and Savior and reflect his light to Jasper and the world. As his beacon focused by the Holy Spirit, we share his light through our caring love and actions.

Doesn’t this seem to us that it is right out of our text from Revelation today? Seems to me it is.

Now, each of the seven letters concludes with the exhortation, “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” Do we have such an ear that is attuned to the Holy Spirit? And, one more exhortation as we begin to study Revelation and this comes from Jeremiah 29:11 –

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes, says the Lord.

So, Let us listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

John is first told, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands: “I know you…””

We will see this same form used in all seven letters, especially the phrase “I know you.” To each church the messenger (angel) of the church is the one to whom the letter is sent. In each case, the people are told that Jesus Christ “knows” (discerns) who they are and where they are. In each church, there are three parts to the message: a statement about the church, an exhortation, and a promise. Toward the close of each letter is the word “overcome.” For example, “To him who overcomes…” In the context of each of these seven letters, the word “overcomes” becomes a strong expression meaning “repent.”

So, to summarize, each letter is specific to a church, contains both bouquets and brickbats, and a promise that if the church overcomes the brickbat, repents from the brickbat, there will be a blessing to the church.

Now to the church at Ephesus. The members had lost their first love, not only this, but their leaving had been total. As Dr. Earl Palmer, one of my favorite pastors and teachers, describes it,

This totality means that there was a theological, spiritual, psychological, and an ethical crisis at Ephesus. We can only wonder how this happened. Had the Ephesian Christians outgrown in their own thinking their need for God’s grace? Perhaps in their review they had gone on beyond such a primitive bedrock fact as the agape love of God, and in their “progress” they had moved on toward “deeper” theological truth.”

Of course, this is tongue-in-cheek by Dr. Palmer. There is no deeper theological truth than the agape love of God. We remember this by John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

We also remember Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

And Romans 8:35-39, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, if this is the greatness of God’s agape love toward us, who left or who leaves? The people of the Ephesus Church left and perhaps we do, too. As Dr. Palmer states it,

The “Ephesus problem” happens quietly and by gradual, imperceptible shifts of focus. Remember, the text says they have “lost their first love.” They are described as being brave, hardworking, and as people devoted to the truth over/against falsehood. They have held to the central truth about God with courage and perseverance. However, they have allowed other issues to get their attention.

I believe we see this in the Presbyterian Church as a denomination: We have allowed particular issues to get in the way of our “first love.” Our first love has always been the Great Commission of our Lord. We know it well: “Jesus said, ‘Go, therefore, into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and remember, I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth!”

Even now, we are very hard-pressed as a denomination to provide monies to support the missionaries we want to send out. We are spending far, far too much money, time and effort fighting on either side of the homosexual agenda. The denomination spends too much time and money on social agenda issues and not enough on saving souls, on telling the good news of Jesus Christ, on calling for repentance, and a Godly lifestyle. And, what we have decided to do is change the Book of Order to make it all better. Bah, humbug, is my opinion.

But it is so hard to keep our priorities in balance because tensions in “political correctness” pull us one way or another. Within the whole structures of the love of God to and through a denomination or a particular church are what has become known as “The Six Great Ends of the Church” that we still do well to follow. These are:

The proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind.

The shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the people of God.

The preservation of the truth.

The maintenance of divine worship.

The promotion of social righteousness.

The exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world.

If our first love is to be the church that God intends for us to be then we make this our aim, by keeping the Six Great Ends in tension. But what happens is that when we are first united with a church, we feel that love and warmth and a new closeness to Jesus Christ. After not too long, however, we as we get more and more involved with the church as a good worker or as an officer or as an employee, and something may happen along the way. We place our concentrated importance on “doing the job” or “getting it done” or “making sure things run right,” and we lose sight of, for whom and why we do anything we do: we lose sight of Jesus Christ. We lose sight of the reason we united with the church in the first place: The people showed the love and warmth of Jesus Christ and we wanted to do the same.

The import of the letter to the church at Ephesus is the exhortation to keep the “main thing the main thing,” and the “main thing” for every Christian Church is to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ.

The main thing is not to become totally preoccupied and fascinated by specific themes or goals or fights – shoot, no one would join a church just to fight against some cause. A church should never be concentrated on only one particular issue that it forgets all others. This becomes a serious pathology. No, we unite with the fellowship of a particular church because we feel the agape love of Jesus Christ being shared there, and we want to be part of it.

There is great reward in doing this. Verse seven concludes the letter to the Ephesus Church with, “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.”

Remember the “Tree of Life,” my friends? It is the one from which Adam and Eve were barred. They couldn’t eat of it because they would then “surely die, thus saith the Lord!” But, now, if we conquer, if we overcome, if we repent, and turn back to our first love, Jesus will give us – you and me, first of all sinners – permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord; Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it” (Isaiah 1:19-20). Amen!