Download 2008-05-11_The Fallen Church- Ephesus

Oak Grove Baptist Church
David Hall, Senior Minister
www.oakgrovebaptist.com
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Casual Christianity Series
“The Fallen Church: Ephesus”
Revelation
2:1-7
Introduction:.
In the 1988 Olympics, the world assumed that the United States
would be victorious in the 400-meter relay. They simply were the best. In prior races
they had blown away the competition. The gun cracked and they were off and running.
After the last curve the US team was ahead by 10 meters with the other teams fading.
No one was going to be able to overcome that lead. And then the unthinkable
happened. The dropped the baton. The thousands in the stands gasped in disbelief.
The US team — sleek, muscular, and fast as leopards, lost the race. Why? Someone
dropped the baton.
We study a church today that dropped the baton. In so many ways they were the
church. Busy, hard-working, enduring – all of those things and more and yet something
crucial was missing. Let’s read about the church at Ephesus.
Focal Scripture:
Rev 2:1-7
2:1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks
among the seven golden lampstands: 2 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. 3 You have
persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 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 lampstand from its place. 6 But you have
this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 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.
(from New International Version)
BKG - this church was located in a city that was once the chief port of Asia Minor. Its
harbor was given to change because of its continual silting. What was water became
land; what was land became water. The character of these church members had
changed as well. What was once a group of concerned and compassionate followers of
Christ had now become a group of complacent admirers.
1. Jesus Examines________ Their Reputation______.
He Commends their Service_________ v. 2 - I know your deeds, your
hard work.... James would have never written to Ephesus his stinging rebuke, “Faith
without works is dead.” This church was full of good works. It had a magnificent
program. The church at Ephesus was standing up to the task. It was busy – but there
was no blessing. When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he could commend their work
of faith, their labor of love, and their patience of hope (1 Thess. 1:3). The church at
Ephesus had works, labor, and patience, but it had los the faith, the hope, and the love.
He Commends their Standards_______ “I know you cannot tolerate
wicked men... These people were living a separated lifestyle. The immorality and evil
that defined their world was not a part of their lives. The took a stand on the side of
morality and they lived a differently than the world around them. They held fast to
correct doctrine. They are commended for their stand against the Nicolaitans. These
were people who were power-hungry and wanted to run the affairs of the church. They
wanted to keep the people under control.
He Commends their Steadfastness___ This is a church that has been
carrying the load, enduring much affliction and opposition, laboring to the point of
exhaustion and they have done so without any signs of weariness. The people in the
church were strong in endurance. They did not give up easily. They kept on year after
year, despite lack of fruit and poor results. They may not have been very fruitufl, but
they were certainly faithful.
((Aubrey Stewart getting pulled over right outside the church on a Sunday night. The
lights of the police car were flashing in the darkness as church members were arriving
for an event and all of them were staring at Aubrey. Finally he had about as much of
that embarrassment as he could stand and he jumped out of the car and said to the
officer, “I will pay you whatever you want if you will please turn-off those flashing lights.))
The last ticket I got was in 1981. I did a pause and go at a four-way stop and the
policeman was there to get me. I deserved to be got. I had broken the law. He wrote
me out the ticket and told me how I needed to go about satisfying the fine. I had to go
to the police station to pay my fine. I remember walking in and handing the ticket to the
gentleman behind the counter. As I was paying the fine, he asked, “Where do you
work?” The Hill Baptist Church. He said, “You are a minister?” And I said, “yes.” He
said to me what I already knew - “You should have known better.”
2. Jesus Exposes________ The Reality_________.
His Disappointment____ While they look good on the surface, there
are problems in the heart that must be dealt with. Jesus let them know that this is a
personal matter. It seems that He is grieved by the problems He sees in this church.
And remember, it was His church. We need to understand that Jesus sees what we do,
but He also sees what we are. He is able to look beneath the surface of our lives and
see the condition of our hearts. ((principle of an X Ray )) When Jesus X Rays our heart
and He finds error and sin there, it grieves Him and it hinders our ability to enjoy His
fellowship and His blessings. When we allow the wrong kind of things to linger in our
hearts, it grieves Him (Eph. 4:30)
His Diagnosis_________
Their Passion______ had Passed_______ Jesus looks at these
people whom He loves and for whom He died and tells them that they simply do not
love Him like they used to. When Paul wrote to Ephesus, it was the climactic church of
the day. There are two notable prayers in the epistle. In the chp 5 listen to what Paul
prays for them: ...Live as children of light and in Chp 3:17 he prays this:
Eph 3:17-19
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together
with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the
measure of all the fullness of God.
The honeymoon was definitely over now. The furnace was still there, but the fire
had gone out. There was still a measure of warmth, but the coals no longer had a
bright, red luster; they had merely a dull and dying glow.
When Rehoboam came to
the throne of Israel, he acted like the fool he was. To humble him, God allowed the
Egyptians to invade Judea and to carry away as spoil or “trophies,” the golden shields
that Solomon had provided for the Temple guard. Rehoboam took the loss in stride.
He made shields of brass instead. They would do! They looked like gold. The shields
would shine in the sun just same (1 Kings 14:25-27). That is what had happened at
Ephesus and is happening today in many churches. The enemy has made off with the
gold of devotion and we make do with brass instead. How did Paul describe Christian
duty devoid of love? 1 Cor. 13:1 - “Sounding brass or clanging symbol.”
They did not Possess_______ what they Professed_______
They were good at talking about their devotion and love but they fell short in
demonstrated it and giving evidence.
John and Mary were sitting on the beach. When it came to showing affection, John
talked a good talk. “Mary, if you wasn’t what you is, what would you like to be?” Mary If I wasn’t what I is, I would like to be a rose because they are so beautiful.” “John, if
you wasn’t what you is, what would you like to be?” He looked at Mary and said, “If I
wasn’t what I is, I would like to be an octopus with a thousand arms.” Mary - “John, if
you were an octopus and had a 1000 arms, what would you do with those arms?” John
- “Mary, I’d wrap every one of those arms around you and squeeze you tight.” Mary “John, you ain’t using the two you got!”
3. Jesus Explains______ The Remedy__________.
He speaks about Remembering______ Look back to the day you trusted me as
Savior and Lord. Remember the excitement and the emotion? He wants them to look
back to a time when their love for Him motivated everything they did.
He speaks about Repenting________ “A change of mind that leads to a
change of action.” Folks, time is running out for this world, and it is definitely running
out for us. In Psalm 90:12, we are counseled to “number our days.” If you were to do
that, number your days, you would come up with a number somewhere around 27,375.
That’s assuming you reach 75 years of age—which census statistics tell us is about the
average life span now for both men and women—then you will live for 27,375. Let me
put that in perspective for you. If you are 10 - you have 23,725 days left // 30 - 16,425
days left//
50 - 9,125 days left/// 60 - 5,475 days left, 70 - 1,825 days left!
He speaks about Returning________ Jesus lived 12,045 days on this
earth, and yet historians and theologians agree that he was the most influential person
who ever lived. He redeemed the time and He did the Father’s will.
Love must be Paramount______ If there is no real love for Jesus,
then shut the doors because it is a contradiction of terms, Positive_______ hate the
problem but don’t hate the person. Some of us are quick to hate something about
someone, but we wind up hating the person. We will not talk to them, we avoid them,
gossip about them, etc., Personal_______ this is a word to every church member.
He speaks about Removing_________ Jesus says, “If you do not
remember who you are and whose you are, and return to loving me with all of your
heart, soul, mind, and strength, I will remove your lampstand.”
In Melbourne, Florida, firefighters got so consumed with an emergency that they forget
to turn off a fryer in their kitchen and started a fire in their own station. A neighbor living
right next door saw smoke coming from the fire station and called it in to 911. “I think
the fire station is on fire!” the neighbor said. And sure enough it was. The firefighters
from Station 72 then returned to fight the fire at their own station. The church at
Ephesus was so consumed with programs and events that they couldn’t see the fire of
complacency, callousness, and apathy that was threatening to ruin them.
What do you need to do this morning to rekindle the fire of absolute love and devotion
for the Lord? What in your heart and life needs to go on the altar this morning? Anger,
disunity, unforgiveness, a negative - critical spirit, complacency?