Sermon Title: The Loveless Church
Sermon Text: Revelation 2:1-7
Sermon Purpose: To call the hearer to be serious about love, light, and life that is reflective of intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ.
Sermon Proposition: There are 5 exhortations given to the loveless church.
1 "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place-unless you repent. 6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds 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 to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."’ Revelation 2:1-7 (NKJV)
Introduction: The Church
The Church in Ephesus: Perhaps no church in history had as rich a heritage as the congregation at Ephesus. The gospel was introduced to that city by Paul's close friends and partners ministry, Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:18-19). They were soon joined by the eloquent preacher and powerful debater Apollos (Acts 18:24-26). Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos laid the groundwork for Paul's ministry in Ephesus.
The apostle Paul stopped briefly in Ephesus near the end of his second missionary journey (Acts 18:19-21), but his real ministry in that key city took place on his third missionary journey. Arriving in Ephesus, he first encountered a group of Old Testament saints, followers of John the Baptist (Acts 19:1-7). After preaching the gospel to them, he baptized them in the name of of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 19:5). That began Paul's work of building the church at Ephesus - a work that would last for three years (Acts 20:31). Later, on his way to Jerusalem near the end of his third missionary journey, he taught the elders of the Ephesian church the essential principles of church leadership (Acts 20:17-38), the gist of which he later expanded in his pastoral epistles. Paul's protégé Timothy served as pastor of the church at Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3). Onesiphorus (2 Tim 1:16,18) and Tychicus (2 Tim 4:12), two more of Paul's fellow laborers, also ministered at Ephesus. Finally, according to the testimony of the early church, the apostle John spent the last decades of his life at Ephesus, from which he likely wrote his three epistles in which he calls himself "the elder" (cf. 2 John 1; 3 John 1). He was no doubt leading the Ephesian church when he was arrested and exiled to Patmos.
Dramatic and remarkable events accompanied the birth of the Ephesian church. Paul's ministry profoundly affected not only the city of Ephesus, but also the entire province of Asia (Acts 19:10). As previously noted, it was undoubtedly during this time that the rest of the seven churches were founded. God supernaturally affirmed Paul as His spokesman through a series of spectacular miracles (Acts 19:11-12). Attempting to emulate Paul's success, a group of Jewish would-be exorcists were beaten and humiliated by a demon-possessed individual (Acts 19:13-16). Their debacle spread consternation and fear throughout the city, causing "the name of the Lord Jesus [to be] magnified" (Acts 19:17). Shocked into realizing the futility of trusting in pagan practices, "many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver" (vv.18-19). That staggering sum, equivalent to 50,000 days of workers' wages, reveals the magnitude of Ephesus's involvement in the magic arts.
The striking conversions of large numbers of Ephesians posed a severe economic threat to the city's pagan craftsmen. Ephesus was the center of the worship of the goddess Artemis (known to the Romans as Diana), whose ornate temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. At the instigation of a silversmith named Demetrius the craftsmen, who saw their lucrative business endangered, reacted violently. The ensuing riot threw Ephesus into chaos (Acts 19:23-41).
By the time of this letter, four decades had passed since the Ephesian church's tumultuous birth. The apostle Paul was gone, as were many of the first generation of believers converted under his ministry. A new situation called for another inspired letter to the Ephesians, this one from the Lord Himself, penned by the apostle John.
The City
Ephesus (2:1b)
Although not its captial (Pergamum was the province's official capital), Ephesus was the most important city in Asia Minor. (Since the Roman governor resided there, it could be argued that Ephesus was the de facto capital.) Its population in New Testament times has been estimated at between 250,000 and 500,000 people. The city's theater, visible today, into which the frenzied rioters dragged Paul's companions Gauis and Aristarchus (Act 19:29), held an estimated 25,000 people. Ephesus was a free city (i.e., self-governing, within limits), and no Roman troops were garrisoned there. The city hosted athletic events, rivaling the Olympic games.
Ephesus was the primary harbor in the province of Asia. (By law incoming Roman governors had to enter Asia through Ephesus.) The city was located on the Cayster River, about three miles upriver from where it flowed into the sea. Those disembarking at the harbor traveled along a magnificent, wide, column-lined road (the Arcadian Way) that led to the center of the city. In John's day silt deposited by the Cayster River was slowly filling up the harbor, forcing the city to fight to keep a channel open. That battle would ultimately be lost, and today the ruins of Ephesus are located some six miles inland from the sea.
Ephesus was also strategically located at the junction of four of the most important Roman roads in Asia Minor. That, along with its harbor, prompted the geographer Strabo (a contemporary of Christ) to describe Ephesus as the market of Asia.
But Ephesus was most famous as the center of the worship of the goddess Artemis (Diana) - a point of great civic pride (Acts 19:27, 35). The temple of Artemis was Ephesus's most prominent landmark. Because its inner shrine was supposedly inviolable, the temple served as one of the most important banks in the Mediterranean world. The temple and its environs also provided sanctuary for criminals. Further, the sale of items used in the worship of Artemis provided an important source of income for the city (cf Acts 19:24). Every spring a month-long festival was held in honor of the goddess, complete with athletic, dramatic, and musical events. Paul may have anticipated this annual event as a unique evangelistic opportunity and have been waiting for it when he wrote the Corinthians that he intended to ramain in Ephesus (1 Cor. 16:8).
The worship of Artemis was unspeakably vile. Her idol was a gross, many-breasted monstrosity, popularly believed to have fallen from heaven (Acts 19:35). The temple was attended by numerous priests, eunuchs, and slaves. Thousands of priestesses, who were little more than ritual prostitutes, played a major role in the worship of Artemis. The temple grounds were a chaotic cacophony of priests, prostitutes, bankers, criminals, musicians, dancers, and frenzied, hysterical worshipers. The philospher Heraclitus was called the weeping philospher because no one, he declared, could live in Ephesus and not weep over its immorality (see William Barclay, The Revelation of John [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975], 1:60).
Huddled in the midst of such pagan idolatry that characterized Ephesus was a faithful group of Christians. It was to them that Christ addressed this first of the seven letters.
-Information taken from "The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Revelation 1-11