Word of Salvation - October 2009

 

Love Lost?

 

Sermon by Rev. Dr. Steve Voorwinde on: Revelation 2:1-7

Scripture Readings: Revelation 1:9-20; 2:1-7

 

Introduction

Very often church members are happy to let you know what they think of the church. Very often the world, in no uncertain terms, will let you know what it thinks of the church. Sometimes by using surveys and questionnaires we encourage people to tell us what they think of the church. Often the results are interesting, and sometimes they can even be helpful.

 

Yet whatever the opinions of people may be, whether they are believers or unbelievers, there is one fact that we should never overlook, and that is the supremely important thing, and that is what Jesus Christ thinks of the church. People may want the church to be bigger or better organized or more visible in the community. But the real question that confronts the church in any age is simply this: What does Jesus Christ think of the church? What does Jesus Christ think of our church? What does Jesus want the church to be today? What does Jesus want our church to be today? That is always the essential issue no matter what we ourselves or anyone else might say.

 

And this is precisely the issue that is addressed in Revelation 2 & 3 together. Jesus is the Lord of the church in the 21^st century just as much as he was the Lord of the church in the first century. Jesus knows just as much what is going on in the church today as he knew what was happening in the churches back then. The principles that applied to the churches then still apply to us today. The goals and ideals and standards that Christ had for those churches are the same goals, ideals and standards that he has for our church. The principle of application of these seven letters to our lives is very simple: If the shoe fits wear it!

 

But to see whether a shoe fits, and how well it fits, we first have to know something about the background to the seven churches in general as well as the background to each church in particular. So let me put you in the picture. Now is the time to use your imagination. A great imagination is a wonderful gift to have when you’re reading the Book of Revelation.

 

1. Background:

A. General:

John is on the island of Patmos. Today it’s one of the Greek islands and a popular holiday destination. It’s in the blue and balmy Mediterranean and not too far off the coast of Turkey. Back in John’s day it was anything but a travel resort. It was a dumping ground for the undesirables of society. It was where you banished nuisances and trouble makers. At the end of the first century it seems to have been one of the convict settlements of the Roman Empire. In the overall scheme of things it was just a speck on the map of a vast empire that stretched from the Rhine River in the North to the Sahara Desert in the South, and from the Atlantic Ocean in the West almost as far as the Euphrates River in the East. When John wrote Revelation the Roman Empire was in its heyday and at the peak of its power. Rome was seen as the eternal city at the centre of the world and its emperor reigned supreme. The population of the Roman Empire at the time is estimated to have been somewhere between 70-100 million. For that day and age it was big!

 

Now I want you to imagine that John is not on the island of Patmos but on the island of Tasmania. After all there are some similarities. Both used to be penal colonies and both are great holiday destinations today. Now I want you to imagine further that the apostle John is a convict at Port Arthur. That’s about as Roman a place as you are going to get in Australia. When I lived in America the church I belonged to once held a progressive dinner. At the end of the evening all the groups came together in the church hall for dessert. But before dessert was served there was a slide show. We were all asked to contribute no more than three or four slides and when our slides came up, we were to make some brief comments. My slides were of Port Arthur – some of the remaining walls and turrets and forts. Then when the slides came up I said, “These are some of our Roman ruins in Australia.” Nobody said a word. I thought I had really pulled it off. Then just a moment before we went on to the next lot of slides a lady called out, “Roman ruins in Australia, my foot!” Oh, to think I almost had them!

 

Anyway, John is a convict at Port Arthur and he is sending letters to the seven churches on the mainland of Australia (rather than to churches on the mainland of Asia Minor). He is writing letters to the churches in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Adelaide. You will notice there are seven of them, just like in Asia Minor. They also travel in almost a complete circle, just as they did in Asia Minor. And the nearest port of call to the island of Patmos was Ephesus, just as the nearest port to Tasmania is Melbourne.

 

B. Epehesus

 

In many ways Ephesus then was like Melbourne is today. It was a port city. It had a river flowing though it. It was a busy commercial centre. And for its day it had a large population, about 200,000 – 250,000, about the population of Geelong. But there are more similarities still. It had an impressive library. It had a stadium where Olympic Games were held (its own MCG) and it had a theatre that could seat 25,000 people. Sport, culture and commerce were the mainstays of the city of Ephesus, and again the parallels with Melbourne are not hard to imagine.

 

But then there are also similarities with the city of Adelaide. Just as Adelaide is called a city of churches, Ephesus was a city of temples. There was the famous temple of Diana that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Originally it was built completely out of marble and it was overwhelming in its beauty. It was the largest building in the Greek world. But some of the later temples proved to be even more important. There was a temple to Julius Caesar in Ephesus. This was soon followed by a temple to the emperor Augustus. Finally, and most important of all for an understanding of the Book of Revelation, a temple was built for Emperor Domitian. It was built in the mid-80s AD just before Revelation was written. It sat on a huge foundation that measured 50 x 100 metres. Inside it housed a colossal cult statue of the emperor. The message was clear. This emperor demanded to be worshipped as a god. And why shouldn’t he be? Didn’t he have absolute power? Didn’t he rule a vast empire? And wasn’t this the greatest empire that the world had ever seen? Emperor worship was not only politically correct, it just seemed like such a sensible thing to do!

 

So you can see that by the end of the first century AD the battle lines were being clearly drawn. Who deserved to be worshipped – God or the emperor? To whom would men give their total allegiance – Christ or Caesar?

 

C. Christ

 

That’s why Jesus introduces himself the way he does in chapter 1. He is an awe-inspiring figure before whom John falls down as a dead man. His appearance is majestic and absolutely frightening. His eyes were like a blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace. His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In other words, he was more than a match for any Roman Caesar, no matter how great a megalomaniac the emperor might be. Make no mistake about it, there is theology in these images and it is a theology of power!

 

And when it comes to the letters to the seven churches, each letter introduces Jesus with one or more of the descriptions that picture him in chapter 1. To the church at Ephesus he is introduced as the one “who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.” He comes across as a powerful figure – not someone you would want to mess with. Just in one hand he holds seven stars! At the end of chapter 1 we have been told these stars are the angels of the seven churches. We are still not completely sure who these angels are. Are they literal angels? Does this mean that each church has its own “guardian angel”? Nowhere else does the Bible teach that. Or are these angels the ministers or the pastors of those churches? It would be nice to think of your minister as an angel, but again that’s not taught anywhere else in Scripture either. So the jury is still out on whether these angels are literal angels or church leaders or perhaps something else again. What we can be sure of is that whether they are angels or pastors Christ holds them in his right hand. He controls and protects the church.

 

But there is more. He also walks among the seven golden lampstands. In other words, he is present in their midst and knows their activities. Not only is he all powerful – he holds the seven stars in his right hand. He is all-knowing – he walks among the lampstands and inspects what is going on. And he knows what is happening at Ephesus. And he knows what is happening at South Barwon (name of local church). He knows not only what is happening on the surface. He is not just aware of their activities and ours. He can also see what is going on in people’s hearts and minds. He has the inside story on every church.

 

Now the way he delivers his message to the church in Ephesus is absolutely superb. Let me ask you: How do you criticize someone? Do you have a strategy? Whether you do it verbally or in writing, how do you do it? I remember watching a TV program about this years ago. It must have been years ago because we were still living in Tasmania at the time. The lady on the show said that if you criticize someone it should be like a sandwich. The criticism is like the filling in the middle. It is surrounded on either side by a compliment or something positive. So you say something nice, then you criticize, and then you say something nice again. That seems to be exactly the strategy that Jesus is using with the Ephesians. Vv. 2-3 are positive. Vv. 4-5 are negative. Then vv.6-7 are positive again.

 

II. So let’s begin with the first positive, the commendation of vv. 2-3.

A. He knows their deeds.

Of course he knows. Remember he walks among the seven golden lampstands. Christ visits his people. He dwells with them. He inspects them. He knows them. I wonder how aware of that you are. Remember too that his eyes are like a blazing fire. He sees everything and he sees through everything. To be aware of that can be deeply comforting, but it can also be deeply disturbing. Who are we out to impress? Even as Christians so much of what we do is motivated by how we look to other people. How will this impress other Christians? What will it do for my image? How will it enhance my reputation? What will others think of me? On the other hand, when we do something good and nobody notices, then what was the point of it? Then we have to go to the trouble of tooting our own horn to make sure that others are aware of just how good and virtuous we really are! But just these four words of Jesus cut through all this nonsense: “I know your deeds.” Forget about your image and kudos with other people. “I know your deeds.” Not just the public ones but also the private ones. And not just the deed itself but also the motive that drove it. That can be frightening, but it can also be liberating. People may not notice the good that we do, but who cares? Even worse, people may misconstrue and misunderstand the good that we do. But they are not the final verdict on us, Jesus is. He understands our deeds inside out and back to front like no one else. When you think about it, it’s pretty pointless trying to impress anyone else! Then why do we keep trying so hard?

B. Coming back to the Ephesians there are two things that Jesus knows really well. The first is their hard work. These people didn’t just work in the church, they worked hard. Their church was a beehive of activity. They were busy in the service of God and others. They entertained the lonely. They nursed the sick. They taught the young. They visited the elderly. Their toil was famous. Every member was doing something for Christ. They were diligent and conscientious. And when I read the synodical reports then it is obvious that the CRCA is a hard-working denomination. When you think of all that has been done over the past fifty years our track record looks pretty impressive. Churches are dotted around the land. A theological college was set up and has celebrated half a century of activity. The entire Christian school movement was spawned within our churches and now it has become a nation-wide Christian phenomenon. Missionaries have been sent to the Solomon Islands. Evangelists are being trained in India. We have a relief arm that supports needy people and disaster victims around the world. Of many of our churches I am sure Christ would also say, “I know your hard work . . . and that you have not grown weary.” What he said to Ephesus he might also say to us.

C. He also knew their perseverance, and that perseverance came out in a very specific way: “I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles and are not, and have found them false.” It seems that because Ephesus was such a centre of commerce and trade, it was also a Mecca for itinerant preachers. As a harbour city it was at the crossroads of East and West. It was a melting pot of ideas, philosophies and religions. In this situation the church was not immune from false teachings. But these were not people that were easily hoodwinked. This was not a church that was gullible. They knew their doctrine well. And not only did they know it, they used it as a touchstone to test the views of others. And all of that takes time and effort and perseverance. And if the teaching did not measure up, they were prepared to say something that you don’t hear too often in our own day, “This is wrong!” These people were not tolerant. They were prepared to practice the unpopular virtue of intolerance. And they took raps for it. “You have endured hardship for my name,” Jesus said.

How often have you heard it said that “THIS IS WRONG!” When was the last time that you said it yourself? A Jehovah’s Witness comes to the door and after some discussion we agree to disagree and we part friends. But when was the last time you looked a JW in the eye and told him he was wrong. It’s not the sort of thing you do nowadays. They are such nice people. We wouldn’t want to offend them. Our confessions take a rather different view. The Athanasian Creed spells out the doctrine of the Trinity. Before it does so it declares that anyone who does not believe this doctrine “will doubtless perish eternally.”

Why is that language so foreign to us today? Because we live in an age of relativism, because we live in the time of post-modernism. There are no more absolutes and your view is just as valid as my view, and one opinion is just as good as any other, and the most offensive thing you can do is to try to convert someone to your religion. In this kind of climate we can learn a lesson or two from the church at Ephesus. They would have said to the JWs and the Mormons, “You are wrong!” They would have told the health and wealth theologians where to get off. They would have told Bishop Spong that he was wrong, and sent him packing. Paul had warned the Ephesian elders long ago that after his departure fierce wolves would come and not spare the flock (Acts 20:29). They had taken his warning seriously and now Jesus commends them for it. Jesus knows them and he sincerely congratulates them for their hard work and perseverance.

III. But for all their toil and endurance, for all their hard work and orthodoxy, Jesus still has a serious complaint.

A. I wonder whether you have ever been talking to someone, or may be someone has written you a letter, they have been saying all sorts of nice things about you, they’ve been writing all this encouraging stuff about your achievements, and yet all along you feel that a “but” is coming. They are buttering you up for the big BUT. I wonder if the Ephesians could see this one coming. After all the encouragement and commendation was he going to qualify all the nice things he had just said? If they didn’t see it coming this one is just going to blow them away! And here it is: “BUT I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”

B. Now you have to believe that Jesus’ criticism of these people is absolutely devastating – “You have left your first love.” Try to imagine what that feels like. What if your wife were to say to you, “I really don’t think you love me as much as when we were engaged or when we were on our honeymoon”. Ouch! Or what if you are the young mother of a toddler and your husband says to you, “I don’t think you love Johnny as much now as when he was a baby!” That hurts too, and I am not sure I would want to be that husband if there were still a dirty nappy lying round! You have left your first love – that’s a criticism hard enough to knock the stuffing out of you!

C. When it comes to the sandwich of criticism this is the filling. This is right in the middle of the letter to the church at Ephesus. After all the positives this is the big negative. At Ephesus they are doing so much right. There is so much to commend. But the one whose eyes are like a flame of fire sees right into their hearts. For all their orthodoxy, for all their discernment, for all their hard work and perseverance, they have left their first love.

Here was a church that had activities – it was a busy church. Here was a church that had standards – it was a disciplined church. But it had lost its first love. It was not a loveless church, but it had less love now than it used to have. It was not a cold church, but it was cooler now than it used to be. As Leon Morris has said: “They had completely forsaken their first fine flush of enthusiastic love. They had yielded to the temptation, ever present with Christians, to put all their emphasis on sound teaching. In the process they had lost love, without which all else is nothing.” (p.60).

D. But now let me ask the bold question: How is it with us? Could Jesus say the same thing to the Christian Reformed Church of South Barwon (name of local church), “You have left your first love?” Or let me make it sharper still – What about you personally? Have you perhaps forsaken your “first fine flush of enthusiastic love”? Do you have as much love now as when you first became a Christian? How do answer questions like this?

Do you remember when we first started meeting as a church? Do you remember how enthusiastically we began? [Here mention some of the early work of the church as appropriate.]

 

Have we lost something since those early days? What happened to all those activities? As I came up with those questions I began to realize how wrong they were. Do you see what I was doing? I was beginning to equate love with activity and busy-ness and hard work! And that was precisely what the Ephesians were good at! These are not really the questions to ask.

E. For me the right questions came from a rather unexpected source – a Synod report. It was a ROAD report (ROAD = Resources, Outreach, Aid and Development). They included a section called “Evidences of a backslidden condition”. In other words, how can you tell when you have left your first love? They had sixteen points. I was going to be selective, but in fairness to the report I am going to read all sixteen. Here goes; it’s quite a test. When you have left your first love, what do you look like spiritually?

1. Prayer ceases to be a vital part of your life.

2. The quest for biblical truth ceases; you are content in your current knowledge.

3. Biblical knowledge is no longer applied inwardly.

4. Pointed spiritual discussions are embarrassing.

5. Sport, recreation and entertainment are a large and necessary part of your life.

6. Aspirations for holiness cease to dominate your life.

7. Acquisition of money and goods becomes dominant in your thinking.

8. You can mouth religious songs and words but do it without heart.

9. You can hear God abused and not take action.

10. Breaches of the peace in the congregation are of no concern to you.

11. The slightest excuse is sufficient to keep you from spiritual duty or opportunity.

12. You are content with your lack of spiritual power.

13. You pardon your own sin and sloth.

14. Injustice and human misery exist and you don’t care.

15. The Word is no longer preached and you are content.

16. You cannot detect spiritual decline.

May God give us tender consciences as we apply these insights to our own lives!

F. And what if you discover this does describe you, what if you conclude that you have backslidden, that you have left your first love, what then? What are you supposed to do? Jesus tells you exactly what to do. He brings you back to the three Rs of verse 5 – remember, repent and resume:

1. “Remember the height from which you have fallen!” Maybe in your Christian life there are some “good old days” to which you need to return. Nostalgia isn’t all bad! Some of us who are older may indulge in memories. We just get emotionally fat on pleasant memories of the past. We get all sentimental about the years that have gone. Obviously that is not what Jesus is talking about. If we have backslidden we are to remember our earlier spiritual state. We are to think long and hard about it. Remember when you were closer to the Lord. Remember when you had far sweeter fellowship with your fellow-Christians. Remember when you looked forward to your daily times of prayer and Bible reading. Bring those times back and reflect on them. Recall what it used to be like.

2. When you have remembered then repent. Usually we think of repentance as having to do with activities. I must repent of my addiction to pornography. I must repent of verbally abusing my wife. I must repent of cheating on my taxes. And if we are guilty of those sins, then of course we must repent. But here Christ is telling us to repent not so much of sinful activities as of a sinful state of heart. And how do you do that?

3. You resume. You do the things you did at first. Get up to study the Scriptures again. Get up early to pray. Start witnessing again to your friends. Be generous with your money. Seek out fellowship with other Christians. Do those things that made you such a loving Christian to begin with. And let’s not just do it as individuals. Let’s do it as a church. Let’s pray for greater love among us, deeper love for the Lord, a growing love for the lost.

G. And if we don’t do it there’s a very stern warning. Listen to the rest of verse 5: “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

Now why is this so urgent, so stern and so severe? Unless they repent their church will cease to exist. Why? Remember what they were to repent of – a loss of love! A church may have the greatest facilities and all the latest technology, but if it has no love it will cease to exist. A church may have the most gifted membership, the most talented people you could hope for, but if it has no love it will cease to exist. A church may have all the right doctrine, and watch all of its theological p’s and q’s, but if it has no love it will cease to exist. It is as simple as that.

In case we needed to be reminded our continued existence is not guaranteed. A colleague of mine in the ministry did some research into all the Reformed Churches in Australia that had closed down over the years. His conclusion was sobering. They all had one thing in common – unresolved conflict. Sometimes it went back years. But in the end all these churches paid the same price. They closed down. “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

H. The threat of closure – that’s bad news for any church. But this does bring this negative section to an end. There was the criticism – they had left their first love. That was followed by the command with the three R’s – to remember, to repent and to resume. Then after the command came the warning – disobedience means death, the church will cease to exist. But now comes another positive part. Remember what the lady said on the TV show about the sandwich of criticism! The letter ends on a positive note, or rather on three positive notes. There is a commendation, a command and a promise.

IV. So here are the glorious positives of vv. 6-7:

A. Again there is a commendation, but what a strange commendation it is. They have just been criticized for their lack of love, and now they are being commended for their hatred: “But you have this in your favour: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans which I also hate.” In some ways this seems like such a strange letter. You have cooled in your love, but at least you still have one thing going for you – You hate well! This is really different. It sounds like a really harsh statement, and the only feature that softens it is the reminder that Jesus hates the practices of the Nicolaitans too!

For some readers that might make things even worse. How can Jesus hate? Wasn’t he a teacher and preacher of love? Wasn’t his whole life defined by love? Wasn’t his death the greatest expression of God’s love? Absolutely, we can only answer with a resounding yes. So for a group to draw out Jesus’ hatred they must be up to something pretty nasty. What these Nicolaitans were doing must have been terrible.

The trouble is that we don’t even know who the Nicolaitans were, let alone what they were doing. Ask the greatest scholars and all they can do is give you an educated guess. But the latest research shows that whatever else these Nicolaitans may have taught, they were prepared to make a compromise with the non-Christian world. “Does the emperor want to be worshipped. That’s okay. We’ll work something out.” They were devising clever strategies to destroy the church’s distinctiveness. Her very identity was at stake. Christianity could just blend in with all the other religions.

Make a deal with emperor worship and the church would compromise away its very existence. It was a compromise that was obnoxious to the Ephesian church. The compromise was also obnoxious to Jesus. He hated the idea and so did they. Let me tell you, there is such a thing as Christian hatred, and today there probably needs to be more of it.

B. This is a hard message. So once again it’s followed up by a command: “He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” What Christ says, the Spirit says, and vice versa, and they are both speaking to all the churches. The Ephesians are not only to listen to their letter, but to the others as well. And the other churches cannot read the letter to Ephesus without applying it to themselves as well.

Do we have the spiritual discernment to apply these messages to our own situation? Will the Spirit enlighten us to see the relevance of these messages to our lives? Are we in danger of compromise? Are there any Nicolaitans in our midst? Are we sometimes too eager to make deals with the non-Christian world? It’s all been done before and often at a very high price. There are two sins that will equally kill the church. Lovelessness will kill our community and compromise will kill our identity. Will we notice these problems when they arise? Will we have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches?

C. If we do then we can claim the closing promise: “To him who overcomes I will give the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” The tree of life from which man was banished in Eden will again yield her fruit. The tree at the beginning of the Bible reappears again at the end of the Bible. What we were barred from then we are welcomed to now. How come? Notice who is speaking? Who is making the promise? It is none other than Jesus who died on the tree of death, the cross of Calvary.

Here you have the message of the Bible in a nutshell. At the beginning of the Bible you have the tree of life. At the end of the Bible you again have the tree of life. In the middle of the Bible you have the tree of death. Do you want to eat of the tree of life? Then come to him who died on the tree of death!

Conclusion

In closing let me say this: Think of who you are! The church of Jesus! What brought you into existence? His suffering and death. If that is so, let’s remember three things:

1. Let’s be like the church at Ephesus and work hard and persevere, and let’s dare to tell people if they are wrong.
2. But let’s not be like the Ephesians and let our love grow cold.
3. And again let’s be like them and not compromise with the world.

Hard work, warm love and a clear stand – may that be the way the Lord sees us both now and till he comes again. In the meantime let’s listen carefully to what the Spirit says to the churches.

Amen