Have you ever gotten a really great letter? These days, I guess I'd
have to say a really good email, but I'm not sure that's the same
thing. Because I'm not sure you can duplicate seeing the person's
handwriting on an envelope, that nice feeling of knowing what's inside.
But have you ever gotten a really great letter? When someone has
really had an insightful line or image that stuck with you? Maybe news
from home, when you were traveling, or away at school? A really good
letter is the next best thing to having the person there with you.
We're going to look at a very powerful letter this morning, from a long
time ago. But first, let me ask you another question.
Do you
have a hero? A favorite person? Someone you look up to for one reason
or another, that you want to emulate? We all have different desires,
different goals, different ways we wish we could be, so we all have
different heroes.... in fact, some of us have multiple heroes, for
different areas of their life. For example, my cycling hero is a racer
named Travis Brown. But I certainly wouldn't look to him for faith
advice. In that realm, I'd say my hero is more like Eugene Peterson, a
pastor, professor and author. When I asked Kathy who her hero is, she
told me Martin Luther King Jr. or Elizabeth Cady Stanton. But I know
for a fact that Bono, the singer of the rock band U2, is who she really
wishes she could be.
But what about if we think of our church
here? Could we ever agree on a church hero? A few weeks ago, I talked
to you about why we sometimes would like to be able to emulate the
first century church. Back then, I said that it isnÕt that there were
no problems in the church of that time, just like there are problems for
us. But the church that had the actual disciples of Jesus as its
members and pastors, those who were present at the crucifixion of
Christ, who saw him after he rose from the dead, church couldn't help
but have some insights for us to look up to.
In the next
weeks, then, we're going to look at a sermon series, not of my own
devising, but from the mind of Jesus. We're going to look at messages,
letters, to these churches Jesus delivered through a vision given to
the Apostle John, who was then imprisoned on the island of Patmos.
The part of the vision we'll look at is a series of messages that Jesus
gives to John, to deliver to these churches. The overall message is
that Jesus has been watching what they do.
Like Pastor Bob was
saying about how God wouldn't break a bent reed, or snuff out a
spark... Like I told our children, when we looked at the cowbell... God
sees the fall of every sparrow- and we're much more important to him
than sparrows.
It must have been a shock for them to receive
these messages. Even though they'd been saying in their worship that it
was true, that Jesus walked among them, this must have been a startling
proof of that. This could be bad or good news, depending on how they
really felt about Him. Does it startle us to realize that hes watching
us just the same?
Jesus hasn't written one of these letters to
us, specifically, but I know that we can learn from his messages, what
he wanted for their churches. And by extension then, what he wants from
our church.
I don't know whether any of you will remember or
not, but in the short series I preached when I was first among you here
in fairlee, I also spoke about the Revelation. And if you've done any
reading in that book of the bible, my interest in this book may come as
a surprise to you. But I guess my interest in it comes from the very
fact of the book's reputation in Christian circles. As bible believing
Christians, we believe that the whole book is the word of god, capable
of drastically improving our lives. And yet, even when I talk to people
who've been a part of the church for years, I'll bring up a passage
from say, Habbakuk, or Joel, and those folks will say, What? Is that a
book of the Bible? The Revelation to John is like that. The
revelation- one revelation. A good sign of the fact no one ever reads
it is the fact that most people call it Revelations- but yes, there's
just the one. Now you know.
So, let's turn to the book, get a
little bit of a feeling for the overall work and the context these
messages come to us in, before we dive into specifics. One of our
greatest mistakes in interpreting the Bible can come from trying to
simply flip open the Bible and receive a daily nugget of truth.
Certainly the whole Bible is inspired, but that doesn't mean that the
things it has to say don't unfold in logical ways, step by step, that
depend on one another for their meaning. In the same way, it would be a
mistake to simply begin speaking to you about these verses in the book
without putting them into their place in the overall work.
First of all, who wrote this book? The author identifies himself as
John. According to things I read, the evidence overwhelmingly points to
this being John, the son of Zebedee and one of the twelve disciples of
Jesus. It was written in his later years. The same piece of
scholarship suggests that most scholars put the date around 90AD- or
about 60 years after Christ's resurrection.
The verses we are
going to look at both today and in the immediate future, occur fairly
early in the book. They are the first of many Sevens in the book.
Letters to the seven churches, followed by the opening of seven seals,
the blowing of seven trumpets, and the pouring of seven bowls.
The reason this may sound strange to you, indeed, the reason the
Revelation has always been viewed as somewhat strange, revolves around
the fact that it is a type of literature called Apocalyptic.
Apocalypse can also mean unveiling. This form of writing is not
literal, but in fact is highly symbolic.. or veiled. It's a little bit
like algebra. X is not the letter itself, or algebra would be a mixing
of letters and math. No, the X stands for a concept, for a number to
be determined, and has to be conceived that way. The Revelation to John
is the same way.
The book begins: The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take
place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who
testifies to everything he saw That is, the word of God and the
testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of
this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what
is written in it, because the time is near.
So it is a
revealing, unveiled by Jesus, given to Him by God the Father. He made
it known by sending an angel to John, his disciple.
John says
quite plainly the circumstances into which this revelation came a little
later, in verse 9: I, John, your brother and companion in the
suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was
o n the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony
of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind
me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: Write on a scroll what you
see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. I turned around to see the
voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lamp
stands, and among the lamp stands was someone like a son of man,
dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash
around his chest.
The book is in the first person,
which is odd to begin with, and John tells us that he was on the island
of Patmos, because of the word and the testimony. He was in fact
imprisoned on the island, which was a Roman prison. This island is
about 50 miles off the coast of what is now Turkey. John was eventually
released from Patmos, around 96AD. These verses are important not only
because of the context they give us, explaining what John is doing on
the island, but also because they introduce the major themes of the
whole book: The suffering Christians undergo, the coming kingdom of
God, and the rewards that patient endurance in the faith will bring.
Secondly, from these verses we're given the list of the churches to
whom this revelation will be sent. These places are all about fifty
miles apart and occur in a clockwise circle starting with Ephesus. All
of this takes place in what is called Asia in the book and would now be
called Western Turkey.
And then John's revelation begins. He
has told us that it was the Lords day, and he was in the spirit. He is
worshiping God on the sabbath, and the fact that he is In the spirit
tells us that this was a vision he had, not a dream that he had during
normal sleep. He heard a voice speaking, turned around, and saw an
angel, walking among seven lamp stands. These lamp stands represent the
churches he is writing this for.
Well, this book is simply
dense with things to explain, and if you're like me, you live for
unraveling the symbols, but we'd be here all month looking at them all.
Suffice to say, it is not simply an angel that comes to him, but the
risen Christ himself. He tells John the interpretation of what hes seen
so far. These lamp stands are churches, which he oversees, via seven
angels which guard them. And he has a message for each of them.
It is these messages which we'll be looking at, this week, and in the
coming weeks. Today, we begin with the message to the church in
Ephesus. Yes, the same Ephesus, to whom Paul wrote the letter that is
known to us as simply Ephesians-- one of the books of the Bible.
Ephesus, one of the great cities of the ancient world. By far the
largest city mentioned in these seven letters. Ephesus was known as the
Temple Warden, a reference to the large temple to the goddess Artemis,
also known as Diana. You'll remember that in the letter of Paul, he was
nearly killed in a riot, when the silversmiths of Ephesus thought he
was ruining their trade. A huge mob shouted Great is Artemis of the
Ephesians in the 19th chapter of Acts. The center of this Temple of
Artemis was something known as the Tree of Artemis. We don't need to
get too worried about what this tree stood for in their religion, but as
we'll see at the end of the passage, Jesus was well aware of the
tree.
Here again, then, is what Jesus has to say to them:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand
and walks among the seven golden lamp stands: I know your deeds, your
hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked
men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not,
and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured
hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this
against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height
from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.
If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from
its place.
But you have this in your favor: You hate the
practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
The first thing we notice is the introduction, the way Jesus prefaces
what he is about to say. He describes himself as the one who holds the
seven stars in his right hand, and walks among the seven gold lamp
stands. The stars represent the angels leading the seven churches. The
lamp stands represent the churches themselves. Scholars are divided as
to whether these Angels are actual angels who watch over the churches,
whether this is just a way of describing the earthly leaders, the
pastors, of the churches, or whether these Angels are simply a
personification of the prevailing spirit of each church. Going on the
assumption of the first two, then, what hes doing is reminding them that
HE in fact, holds the leaders of the churches close to him. As well as
reminding them that he is walking amongst their seven churches. As I
said earlier, a reminder that he is indeed intimately acquainted with
the church, both theirs and ours.
It is with that reminder,
then, that he transitions to the message he has for them: I know your
deeds, your hard work, your perseverance. He begins by noticing
positives, and we can learn from even that. He mentions their
intolerance of false teachers, and commends that as well. But this
message isn't what we used to call in college a ÔSunshine NoteÕ. He
isn't just writing to tell them this, but to correct their errors. I
hold this against you, he says, ÔYou have forsaken your first love.
Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things
you did at first.Õ They don't pursue their faith in the way they did
at first. Is this love their love for one another? For the church?
For him? We aren't told, but we can assume that the Ephesians know what
he meant! These things that they did in the earlier days of the church
were a Height, from which they've now fallen.
I think I can
understand what Jesus is telling them. And IÕd like to share that
thought with you: As I look around at many traditional churches, I see
the church used more like an attic than like a holy place. I see
traditions that aren't being passed down, so that in some churches they
don't even know what some of the parts of the church are for. I've told
you before, my feelings about tradition: I think rituals-- and by that
I simply mean things that we do each week- are a wonderful thing,
provided they are alive and vibrant.
Some churches have a
building like ours and history like ours, and just wish that they could
trade it in. They wish they could just meet in a brand new building-
and maybe for them, that works.
But I think a better option, I
think the option Jesus calls us to here in Fairlee, is for us to strive
to revitalize those traditional ways of doing things that have fallen
into disuse. To strive to make them our own. Some of them got dusty
because they didnÕt work, and weÕll just have to thank them for their
service and leave them to the sands of time. But other traditions
simply became forgotten because of circumstances, and those we should
dust off, and enjoy.
IÕve noticed in talking to various people
since I arrived here in Fairlee, even before, in fact, that there were a
lot of things this church did in the past. Whether this meant dinners
we once had, or plants that once grew at the church, they said something
like Ò Òwe used to do that, but lately....Ó and they sort of became
lost in thought.
What they mean by that nonverbal
communication, of course, is that they donÕt understand why that has
happened. Why the church doesn't do these things anymore. And why
should they? It shouldnÕt have happened!
But hindsight is 20/20, they say. And of course, there ARE reasons why these things have fallen into dis-use.
But as in JesusÕ message to the Ephesians, I say that this year, we
make it our goal to remember our first love, the things we did at first.
To not be an attic of old times, of what they used to do. Instead,
letÕs each live this year to proudly carry on being the church those
people once envisioned. The church they worked to carry into the
future.
So that next year, we donÕt look back on times ten,
twenty, or fifty years ago, but on 2005, as the year when big things
happened here, as the year when the biggest events in our churchÕs
history unfolded.
Now, we canÕt do that right away, I donÕt
think. But we can make it a goal. To not be Ògood for nowÓ or Ògood
under the circumstancesÓ, but GOOD.
So thatÕs my description
of what Jesus is saying here. My description of what many churches
might call REVIVAL. And isnÕt that what God is in the business of
doing? Of giving second chances, of restoring fresh spring where there
once was the finality of winter?
LetÕs return, though,
back to JohnÕs time. Back to this message that Jesus is giving the
Ephesians: He has prefaced his remarks, he has told them what good he
has seen, and he has told them the bad. But lest they only remember the
bad, he continues: ÒBut you have this in your favor: You hate the
practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.Ó Whoa. The
nico-what? who is that?
The Nicolatians are a sect of the
early church which was found to be heretical. They had worked out a
compromise with pagan society. They taught that spiritual liberty gave
them enough wiggle room to practice idolatry and immorality. These
then, mightÕve been those that Paul referred to when he wrote the famous
question to the Roman church, ÒShould we go on sinning that grace may
increase?Ó
The people of Ephesus seem to have had no problem
condemning false teachers and sects. Their problem wasnÕt that, but the
fact that theyÕd lost their first love. They may have become more
interested in judging others than in examining their own souls. More
excited to find fault than to find the freedom Christ gave from their
own sin. This seems to be the reason for the words commanding them to
Ôdo the things they did at firstÕ. Christian acts neccesarily relate to
people, usually. Certainly the lesson is clear to us: condemn what
Jesus condemns. But leave the judging to him, and instead, spend
your energy on your own relationship with Him!
I told you that
Jesus prefaced this message. In fact, he will go on to preface each
message, with an introduction appropriate to that church. He will also
end in a similar formula. LetÕs look at it: ÒHe who has an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I
will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the
paradise of God.Ó In each of these messages, he will repeat that first
sentence, and change what he offers to be appropriate to each church.
In this case, He offers the right to eat from the tree of life. The
tree of Artemis, the symbol of Ephesus, is referred to in JesusÕ words
here. If they continue to choose Jehovah God over Artemis and all she
represents about secular society, then they will be privy to an even
greater tree-- the tree of life in heaven.
So thatÕs the first
of these 7 letters. I think we can learn quite a bit from each of
them, about Bible times, about the beginnings of the Chris ÿtian
church, and then, the most important thing, how those first two can
change our life here and now.
From ChristÕs message to the
Ephesians, we learn that we all have things we must endure. Because of
our fallenness, we all must overcome the world around us. Life is not
easy when we try to be more like Christ. He had to carry a cross, and
he tells us that we will, as well. Probably not physically, but in
spirit.
For the Ephesians, that meant loving others, in spite
of their sin. It meant that they needed to be less concerned with how
others did or didnÕt follow God, less concerned with judging, and more
concerned with their own walk with Christ... more concerned with loving.
What does this message mean to us? Are we like the people Jesus is
talki ~ng to here? More interested in how weÕre different from
unchurched people we know, than how weÕre similar? Do we find ourselves
impatient with their spiritual life? If so, Jesus has a message for
us: return to your first love, to the things you did before. When
weÕd just come to faith ourselves. When we were anxious to share what
weÕd found. When we considered ourselves just like them, except for
this one thing weÕd discovered.
If weÕll do this, if weÕll
overcome, as Christ says, weÕll have our life, but more abundantly than
we ever imagined. For the Ephesians, he phrased it that theyÕd have a
holy tree all right- the tree of life, in Heaven. What would he say to
us? What is our choice?
I pray that each of us, in his or her
quiet time today, will be able to consider that question for
themselves. Am I judging them? Or loving them and leaving the judging
to God? Am I Üchoosing the Tree of Artemis, or the tree of life?
Because, when you sit down and think about it, maybe the choice is that simple. Pray with me.....
Lord God, show us which we choose, the tree of artemis, or the tree of life.
Show
us whether we go along with societyÕs whims, or choose to take up our
cross- the overcoming, enduring way which means following you.
Help us to choose rightly, Lord.
Like
the father in MarkÕs Gospel, we declare Lord, that we do believe, as
much as we can, but we ask you to help us to always be shrinking our
Unbelief.
We desire to be yours, Lord. Help us.
modern ancient ruins in Ephesus...
