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First, Love
Revelation 2:1-7
October 6, 2019
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
The sermon starts at 17:30 in the audio file.
Or, The Proper Order of Obedience and Orthodoxy
You can learn a lot from other people’s problems. Of course it’s possible to become more proud when you see someone else’s issues, especially if you think those aren’t your issues. But it can be really beneficial to see what sort of damage comes from another person who is failing in a way you could also fail.
In my testimony, as I look back at the churches I’ve been most involved with over the last 25 years, I’d say that most of them are very similar to the church in Ephesus. We’re starting our study of Christ’s messages to the seven churches, and, all but two of the seven have serious problems. There will be other applications to make as we hear the Spirit’s exhortation to the churches, and there is good that the Lord commends among the Ephesians. But their problem was dire: they had fallen from the heights of first love.
As we saw in the last half of Revelation 1, Jesus revealed Himself to John in a vision and commissioned John to write what he was seeing. Revelation chapters 2 and 3 are seven letters, or at least seven parts of one letter, to the churches named in seven cities in 1:11. The descriptions that John gave of the one whose voice he heard will return in the addresses to the churches.
Before we hear Christ’s word to the Ephesian church, there are some interpreters who take these seven messages to churches in seven cities not as messages to actual first century churches in the named locations. Idealists say that the whole of Revelation is symbolic, including these chapters, so that the application is universal. Historicists, and apparently some Dispensational Futurists, believe that the seven churches represent seven eras of the church (for example, the Dispensationalists Chafer and Walvoord, as mentioned in the commentaries by by Mounce, Osborne, and Thomas). Ephesus, as the first era, for example, would be the church from Jesus’ ministry through the time of the apostles. That would place us in the Laodicean era of lukewarmness.
But each of these cities was known, and the historical and geographical background for the various cities fits with the messages to them. We, along with churches in all places in all generations, can still ask what we can learn and apply. We are not limited because the letter wasn’t addressed to us, it just means we have to “hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
The Ephesians are commended before and after Christ warns them and calls them to repent. They were known for their patient obedience and their committed orthodoxy. But those qualities had gotten out of proper order. The Ephesians needed to first, love.
A Powerful Presence
Each letter–not technically a separate letter, more like individual messages in a larger letter–follows a similar structure. Every one begins with a reminder of who it is addressing the church. It’s always Jesus, but a different characteristic from John’s vision in chapter 1 is referenced.
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
I mentioned last week that I lean toward understanding angel as an angel, that is, a heavenly being, not as a human “messenger.” If it is a human, that human being has some connection to and responsibility for the church, and needs to pass on this message from Jesus. If it is an angel, this being also has some identification with and responsibility for the church, and it emphasizes the supernatural sphere in which each church exists.
I don’t usually mention textual variants, but it is interesting that, “Instead of ‘to the angel of the (τῆς) church in Ephesus,’ some manuscripts read “to the angel of the church who (τω) [is][...]
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By Trinity Evangel ChurchRevelation 2:1-7
October 6, 2019
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
The sermon starts at 17:30 in the audio file.
Or, The Proper Order of Obedience and Orthodoxy
You can learn a lot from other people’s problems. Of course it’s possible to become more proud when you see someone else’s issues, especially if you think those aren’t your issues. But it can be really beneficial to see what sort of damage comes from another person who is failing in a way you could also fail.
In my testimony, as I look back at the churches I’ve been most involved with over the last 25 years, I’d say that most of them are very similar to the church in Ephesus. We’re starting our study of Christ’s messages to the seven churches, and, all but two of the seven have serious problems. There will be other applications to make as we hear the Spirit’s exhortation to the churches, and there is good that the Lord commends among the Ephesians. But their problem was dire: they had fallen from the heights of first love.
As we saw in the last half of Revelation 1, Jesus revealed Himself to John in a vision and commissioned John to write what he was seeing. Revelation chapters 2 and 3 are seven letters, or at least seven parts of one letter, to the churches named in seven cities in 1:11. The descriptions that John gave of the one whose voice he heard will return in the addresses to the churches.
Before we hear Christ’s word to the Ephesian church, there are some interpreters who take these seven messages to churches in seven cities not as messages to actual first century churches in the named locations. Idealists say that the whole of Revelation is symbolic, including these chapters, so that the application is universal. Historicists, and apparently some Dispensational Futurists, believe that the seven churches represent seven eras of the church (for example, the Dispensationalists Chafer and Walvoord, as mentioned in the commentaries by by Mounce, Osborne, and Thomas). Ephesus, as the first era, for example, would be the church from Jesus’ ministry through the time of the apostles. That would place us in the Laodicean era of lukewarmness.
But each of these cities was known, and the historical and geographical background for the various cities fits with the messages to them. We, along with churches in all places in all generations, can still ask what we can learn and apply. We are not limited because the letter wasn’t addressed to us, it just means we have to “hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
The Ephesians are commended before and after Christ warns them and calls them to repent. They were known for their patient obedience and their committed orthodoxy. But those qualities had gotten out of proper order. The Ephesians needed to first, love.
A Powerful Presence
Each letter–not technically a separate letter, more like individual messages in a larger letter–follows a similar structure. Every one begins with a reminder of who it is addressing the church. It’s always Jesus, but a different characteristic from John’s vision in chapter 1 is referenced.
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
I mentioned last week that I lean toward understanding angel as an angel, that is, a heavenly being, not as a human “messenger.” If it is a human, that human being has some connection to and responsibility for the church, and needs to pass on this message from Jesus. If it is an angel, this being also has some identification with and responsibility for the church, and it emphasizes the supernatural sphere in which each church exists.
I don’t usually mention textual variants, but it is interesting that, “Instead of ‘to the angel of the (τῆς) church in Ephesus,’ some manuscripts read “to the angel of the church who (τω) [is][...]