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5th June 2005    Pastor Colin Meadows.

· Revealing Christ the Lord: The meaning of the word ‘Revelation’ - Apocalupsis – the unveiling of that that was hidden. Only God could reveal these truths. We couldn’t have discovered them by ourselves. That is what revelation means – the unveiling of what only God knows. The focus of the revelation: Rev 1:1 "The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place." God has blessed us with the unveiling of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done. Such revelation is made available to servants, people who are living in submission to the Lord Jesus.

The book was written by the Apostle John around 90AD. Some people have commented that the book is very difficult to understand. Lehman Strauss however notes, "If the book of Revelation is closed to many believers, it is because they have not yet really submitted to Jesus as their Lord. … It was never God’s intention to hold back the meaning of the Revelation, but rather to show, to exhibit, and to make known it’s meaning. All who willingly submit to Christ will have little difficulty with this book."

We move now in our examination of this book to seven messages that were given to seven different churches scattered around central Asia. How should we view these letters? We could treat the letters as being specific to the seven historical churches at the time they were written. Christ was addressing specific issues that each church faced. It is true that Scripture often was directed to a specific people in a specific situation but the application was always much wider and had meaning for others as well.

Secondly some people see the seven churches as representing seven ages of church history from apostolic times down to the present. Each message thus applied to a different time period. Others see the messages as applying to all Christians down through the ages, no matter what their situation or time in history. I feel most comfortable with that position. In 2 Tim 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." God intends for us to listen to and respond to all parts of His Word. While these letters had specific emphasis for the people at the time they were written, these messages to the churches also apply to each of us today.

Now for a little background on the city of Ephesus back in 90AD. One cannot speak of the city without reference to its magnificent temple, dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis. It was a magnificent temple that is now a ruin. Let’s paint a picture of the city at that time.

· Resplendent temple to a ruin: The city of Ephesus was situated in what is now called Turkey. Just 3km upstream from the Aegean Sea, Ephesus was the most important city in that region. Many impressive buildings and monuments but the most important was the temple of the Greek goddess Artemis or Roman goddess Diana. This was considered at the time to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The first temple was constructed in the 7^th Century BC and over the centuries rebuilt 7 times. Artemis was seen as the goddess of fertility and was depicted as having multiple breasts, with her body draped with eggs. The temple was said to contain a sacred stone that had fallen from heaven (see Acts 19:35). This was probably a meteorite, legend says, that came from the planet Jupiter.

By 600BC Ephesus was a major seaport and a center for three major overland trade routes. The original temple was burnt down in 356BC and rebuilt at huge expense. This time it was built in marble, with inlaid ivory and precious stones. It was a huge structure, covering an area of 80m by 130m (larger than most football fields). It was thus twice the size of the Pantheon in Athens. Alexander the Great visited it in 333BC and offered to finance its completion, if his name could be included on the building. The city elders refused, politely stating "It is not fitting that one god should build a temple for another god". When completed after 120 years of building, Philon of Bysantium noted "All the other wonders of the world were put in the shade by this temple".

By 57AD when Paul visited Ephesus and preached the gospel (see Acts 1923ff) there was a huge industry attached to the temple in selling silver idols. The temple was later destroyed by the Goths in 262AD. After that the river started silting up. The temple was further desecrated in 401AD by St John Chrysostom.

In 1869 John Wood from the British Museum found the ruins after a 6-year search. They were buried under 6 metres of mud and silt, and were now 8 km from the river. Excavations have continued until today with four columns of the former temple structure now back in position.

Yes, this wonderful temple had over time become a heap of ruins. Once a wonder of the world, now buried under the mud. The message for the Ephesians was of a similar vein. They had started well but now were in danger of getting buried under the silt.

· Running well at first: Just as the temple was a magnificent creation, so God intended his people to be a shining creation for his glory. Apostle Paul had based himself in Ephesus for three years and preached the gospel with great fervor. His message to the Ephesians was to seek to lift their eyes to all that God had done for them and of how he wanted them to live. God had rescued them for a purpose, and he would empower them to live lives that honored him and to bring joy to his heart. The indwelling Holy Spirit would enable them to walk in a way that pleased God. They had been rescued to reveal God to others, saved to serve, messengers with a wonderful message.

There is so much positive noted here about how this church, and this is outlined in Rev 2. The Ephesians were commended for their deeds and their perseverance. They were commended for their stand against evil. They were commended for testing the so-called ‘apostles’ as they came and taught. They took their stand against false teaching. They persevered and endured hardship for the name of Christ and did not give up.

This would not have been easy, living as they did in such a pagan city. Immorality was rife, especially in religious practices. Sexual license was seen as the norm and given a spiritual veneer. Worship in the temple Artemis was of the worst kind, with both male and female prostitutes available for worshippers. Sex was glorified as being the way to enter into deeper spiritual realities. The Christians however took a determined stand against such practices.

This positive example is highlighted through their stand against the Nicholatians. This false sect taught that you should adjust and compromise your faith to better fit in with the local pagan society. They thus mixed idolatry and immoral practices with Christian faith, claiming that Christians were free to live how they pleased. The believers at Ephesus stood firm against this corrupting influence and thus were given Christ’s words of affirmation for their stand.

We can learn much from their example. Are we people who persevere and who do not give up? Do we speak out against false teaching when it comes into our churches? Are we people who take a stand against immorality in its various forms? In 1996, for example, in the US, 471 general release movies came out of Hollywood. In the same year, 7,852 new pornographic films were released. What stand has the Christian church made against such a situation?

That is the pressure that we face today. It is like living in the temple of Artemis, daily having to withstand the sexual pressures that flow over us. Are we people of integrity and truthfulness in the light of such influences? It is interesting to note that criminals were given sanctuary in the temple of Artemis. As long as they remained within one bowshot of the temple, they were free from prosecution. Thus the temple in a sense protected the guilty as well as being a center of immorality.

In Eph 2:20 Paul reminded the Christians that they were being joined together into a holy temple, not like the pagan temple of Artemis. They were being built together by God to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. The Christians at that time thus stood firm. What about us today? They stood firm against false teaching and immoral living. What about us? Do we check what we hear preached and taught to see if it is consistent with the Word of God?

Yes, there was much to commend those Christians at Ephesus. They were orthodox but it was a dead orthodoxy. They had fallen short. They had left their first love. Now they needed to remember, to repent and return.

· Remember your first love: While they had started well and had so much going for them, somehow things had gone astray. Thus in Rev 2:4 we find "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." Powerful words of rebuke are found here.

The people of God in that city were so caught up in service that they had allowed their activity for God to become detached from their love for Him. There is an interesting contrast with the people of the city of Thessalonica. Paul in 1 Thess 1:3 commends the people there: "We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." They responded to God’s love and mercy shown to them by giving themselves to him. All that they did was bathed in faith, love and hope, the essential lubricant of Christian living.

John on the other hand when writing to the church in Ephesus spoke of their works, their labor and their endurance. It was almost a mechanical response that they had. They were going through the motions of religious endeavor, devoid of a passionate response to all that God had done for them. There was no mention of faith, love and hope. It was like they had read the Bible as a book of instructions and saw how they should live and were now trying to live that way. Their religious experience was just a shell with nothing of substance inside. It was a cloak that they put on at certain times, a superficial veneer of religiosity.

We refer to such religious activity today by the term ‘nominalism’. Nominalism is a religious faith that exists in name only. There was no heart to their faith, for it is just a shell. One can detect nominalism in the local church by some of the following indications: when people have a preference for the social over the spiritual, a liking for the formal over the spontaneous and relational, when people have little appetite to share their faith with others, by people having a casual attitude to visitors, an attitude that says ‘I’m OK, my needs are being met and that is all that matters’, of being content with the status quo, of being passive and not willing to commit to personal growth. Nominal Christians lack evidence of a real and current experience of Jesus. For some of us, we have stepped back from allowing Christ to be Lord of their lives. For others, we have never really submitted to him in a conversion experience. Like Nicodemus of long ago, we need to be born again.

Are you growing in your walk with God? Do you have a sense of excitement and expectancy about what He is doing in your life? Or are you just going through the motions, cranking the handle of your religious experience? There is much more that God wants to do in our lives and it can begin tonight.

· Remedy for nominalism: Are you tired of just going through the motions? Do you want to break out of nominalism? How do we begin to correct this situation? Firstly we remember what God has already done for us. The Ephesians needed to reflect again on the incredible love of God towards them. In Eph 2:4 "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you are saved." Begin with the love of God.

They also needed to remember how they had been rescued. Eph 2:8-10 reminds us "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." God was the one who had rescued them. It was not through their own efforts. Rather it was through the work of Christ on the cross, they had been set free.

When you and I remind ourselves of this, it puts a new light on our faith. God has done all this for us. Amazing! But there is more. He has not only rescued us but he now wishes to empower us to be his people. He wants to empower us to live lives of good works. He will provide the energy source to accomplish this.

As children of the light, we are to live lives worthy of the calling we have received. Paul spells it out in his letter to the Ephesians. Thus in Ephesians 3:16 "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."

Paul outlines the outcomes of such Spirit-dependent living. The believers would be humble and gentle, patient, bearing with each other in love. They would strive for unity in the Spirit of God, speaking the truth in love. As Paul summed this lifestyle up he commented in Eph 4:32 "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Love was to be the glue that held everything together, a love that came through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling their hearts. The same will be true for us.

How are we traveling this evening? Is nominalism an issue in your life? Is your religious experience a shell? Do you help others because that is what you feel is expected of you? Or do you seek to live in a way that honors God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, in response to all that God has done for you? Is your heart so full of gratitude for what God has done in Christ that they only response you can make is one of obedience? That is what is being spoken of here. The Ephesians had once responded that way, but now their worship was mechanical and hollow. What did they need to do?

· Repent and return: Repent; change the way they were thinking, set out on a new pathway of faith, a pathway motivated by love. To repent is to turn back in heart and purpose. Repent and return to your first love. Set aside time to be with God and in the quietness, open your heart again to him. Allow the Holy Spirit to refresh you with his presence.

King David found himself in such a position. He had drifted away from God’s presence. In Ps 51 he came to a crisis in his life where he needed to stop and call out to God. He cried out with a deeply repentant heart and exclaimed in Ps 51:10 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me." He had repented and wished now to return to a close walk with God. That must be our response to God also. Repent and return. Let’s stop kidding ourselves that there is another way. There is not. Rather let us get down on our knees before God, submitting again to his lordship in our lives and asking for his cleansing and forgiveness. Then we can get up and through the power of his Spirit move on in faithful living.

· Repentance will bring reward: This letter closes with a wonderful promise. In Rev 2:7 "…To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." To walk close with God is the pathway to joy and purpose. We will soon embark on the program ‘40 Days of Purpose’. At the heart of this program are the very issues we are exploring tonight. Are we walking in God’s ways? Do we have a sense of purpose in our lives right now? Have we a sense of excitement about what lies ahead? Do we have a joyful expectation as we awake each day, asking God as to what He wants us to do. The challenge before us is to commit our lives into his hands and to respond in joyful obedience. That is what the believers at Ephesus were being challenged to do. Then they could eat again from the tree of life.

Where are you tonight with these truths? If you are having trouble digesting this, it may be that you have not yet submitted to Christ as Lord, to ask him to forgive and to cleanse you, to make you a new person, from the inside out. Perhaps you are a Christian, but you have not been walking close with Christ. You feel like an outward shell of religious activity with nothing inside. Why not tonight submit to Jesus as Lord and master of your life. Allow him full control over the day-to-day affairs of living, seeking his will and not your own. Allow Christ to be Christ in your life! Allow the Holy Spirit to invade every part of your being and empower you to live for God!

©Pastor Colin Meadows  June 5^th 2005

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