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The Church At Ephesus
In this lesson I felt that a little more in
depth look, or an extended look into the last lesson having to do with
the church in Ephesus and the results of what happens when
brethren fall prey to Satan's favorite weapon; --- APATHY. We
used as a text, (Rev. 2:1-7), so you might want to go
back and review that Scripture reference.
I'm quite sure we can all agree this reading is
from what appears to be the last New Testament book or epistle, and
that it was written by the Lord's apostle, John
somewhere around 95-96 A.D. --- And whatever we find written concerning
the church in Ephesus here in this point in time
deals with the church as it existed about 62 or 63 years
after the Lord's church
was established as recorded in (Acts
2:) on the day of Pentecost following the death, burial, resurrection
and ascension of Jesus Christ back to the
heavenly Father.
Now, what I would like to do in this study is
to go back to the origin of this congregation of the Lord's saints;
---And
take a look at it from it's beginning point, --- And
then we can begin to see two or three developing stages overa period of some 60 odd years. --- Then try
and make the
comparison to the local congregation where you might attend. --- It has been said by some, that
most all
congregations of the Lord's church will invariably go through three
stages of development, --- So we'll focus our attention on
these three phases as the Ephesian church went through it.
Suffice it to say, nearly every local church
down through the ages can be measured against the progress or lack of
progress that the Ephesian
church made. --- It's most
essential that each of us take on the responsibility, of deciding just
exactly how this lesson applies to our own individual
congregation at this point in history!! --- So join with me for a
moment as we begin with what we'll call; ---
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. The
Infancy : or the "origin"of the
church at Ephesus;
And in order to learn of the
origin of this fine group of Christians, we'll need to go back to
the N.T.
History book of Acts, in (Acts 18:), where we'll be reading
about some events which transpired (I emphasize) around 53 A.D.;
or approximately 20 years after Pentecost. ---
Paul had been visiting in the city of Corinth on one of his
missionary journeys; --- And when he left that city, which
was about 51A.D., he then traveled on over to Ephesus; --- And the
Scriptures tell us in (Acts 18:19f); ---
"They came to Ephesus, and he left them there(Priscilla and Aquila).
Now
he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with
the Jews. When
they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent, but
taking leave of them and
saying, 'I will return to you again if God wills,' --- he set sail from
Ephesus."
So, when Paul visited Ephesus
he didn't stay very long for what ever reason. (Paul had his reason and
the
Holy Spirit also had His, no doubt)! --- However he
did come back on his next journey, --- And we read about this in (Acts
19:1-7) "It happened that while
Apollos was at Corinth, --- Paul passed through the upper country and
came to Ephesus, and found some disciples.
--- He said
to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?'
And they said to him, --- 'No, we have not even
heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.' --- And he said, 'Into what
then were you baptized?' --- And they
said, 'Into John's baptism.' --- Paul said, 'John baptized
with the
baptism of repentance, telling the people
to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in
Jesus.'
--- When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the
Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy
Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with
tongues and prophesying. --- There were in all about twelve
men."
I would like to suggest that
the origin of the Ephesian church was characterized by what we
might call,
EARLY ZEAL!!
Here in (acts 19:), we
can see the apostle Paul correcting some problems, or error that had
been set
in place by a great preacher by the name of Apollos; ---
You might recall back in (Acts 18:24) where Apollos came to
Ephesus and was preaching there, and we pick it up in
(Vs. 25); --- "This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and
being fervent in spirit, he was speaking
and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted
only with the baptism of John;" --- The
context goes on to indicate that when Priscilla and Aquila heard him,
they took
Apollos aside and explained the way
of God more accurately! (Vs. 26) --- Now, Apollos had been taught
and corrected of his error; --- He didn't go around
preaching the baptism of John anymore; --- but rather baptism into
Christ (or in the name of the Lord Jesus)!!
However, it seems as though
there were some people that he had erroneously taught in Ephesus that
he
couldn't get hold of, --- or somehow failed to make
contact with before he left; --- So consequently, when Paul later comes
across these individuals, he taught them and
commanded that they too be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus as stated above. --- To emphasize (Acts
19:5) again; --- "And when they heard this, they were baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus." --- So, when I say
this congregation was characterized by early zeal; --- What I mean is
that here, you have some people who had been taught
one thing; --- and they believed it and accepted it; --- And they had
no doubt began to be set in their ways!! ---
But when an apostle of Jesus Christ comes and teaches something new to them, and they recognize it as truth; ---
They don't hesitate, rationalize or emotionalize the situation; ---
They just faithfully obey what has been taught by
inspiration, --- by the authority of Jesus Christ!!
If I had the same disposition
as I read through the Bible and see something "new" that perhaps I've
never noticed before, I believe there would be a whole lot of
reformation in my life. --- And it's the same way with the public in
general. --- If every time they read what the
apostles had to say on a subject; --- And they did what the apostles
said to do, no more and no less; --- I believe there
would be a whole heap of changing in this world!! --- But most folks
have this great tendency to get set in their
ways, as sure as if they were set in concrete; --- And once they've
been taught one way about baptism, instrumental
music in worship, institutionalism, social gospel, etc.; --- Then
they're not ready to accept what the New Testament may
have to say on the matter!! --- And that's so very sad!
But these people had
been baptized by the authority of John's baptism (Or baptism of
repentance),
--- And this passage makes it clear that, THAT baptism had been
abrogated, annulled or done away with; --- And NOW, it is only lawful
to baptize in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ!! --- And these people accepted that teaching. --- They
were a zealous people; --- When they were faced
with Divine truth, they didn't hem-haw or beat around the bush, but
rather obeyed immediately from the
heart!!
In (Acts 19:18) the Bible
says; --- "Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing
and
disclosing their practices." --- Now it's one thing
to be baptized into Christ; but unfortunately, there's a lot of
people who
down through the years (and most of us have seen
some), who have been baptized into Christ (Or at least that's what
they thought); --- But they didn't keep living that
way; --- Rather than raising up to walk in newness of
life (Rom. 6:4); ---They just continue right on as they were before
baptism, walking as the Gentiles; --- "in the futility of their
sin-darkened minds"!! (Eph. 4:17) --- In
most cases, they weren't taught properly in the first place; ---
Or they
didn't learn the Bible principle of repentance;
--- Or in the case of some, they simply failed to count the cost!!
---And
friends, according to the inspired apostle Peter in
(Acts 2:38); --- If there is not within them an attitude of
reformation, or repentance, based on a real
conviction of past sins; --- that person's baptism is no good, --- it's
counterfeit and his sins still remain!! --- He may call
himself a Christian, but in reality, he's just wet and not at all
forgiven by
God!! ---
Peter's plain and precise condition was; ---
"Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins!!"
Read it again, in (Acts
19:18-20); --- "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. --- So the
word of the Lord was growing mightily and
prevailing." --- Now, these Ephesians had become Christians; ---
But
they were not satisfied to keep up
their old sins, nor their old sinful ways!! --- Now, the context is not
talking
about burning the works of Plato, Ovid, Cato or other
educational books of that time; --- We're talking about the kind of
literature
that nobody had any business with in the first
place. --- They weren't burning what might be classified as worthwhile,
sensible material; --- But rather stuff
that might pertain to black magic and the practice of false religion
contained in these books. And they burned 50,000 pieces
of silver worth!! --- I've no idea of how much that would be on
today's market; --- But even if these were just little
bitty pieces of silver, --- that's just got to be a whole lot of money!!
But the point I wish to make;
--- Here's a fellow with a whole closet full of these filthy
pornographic junk
books which sell for outlandish prices on virtually
every news stand and magazine rack in the country these days; --- And
this junk is worth a lot in terms of dollars.
--- But suppose this individual hears and obeys the gospel; --- and
he's
been peddling this stuff for a living; --- And
there's hundreds of millions of dollars worth of this filth sold around
this country every single year!! --- He obeys the
gospel and becomes a Christian; --- Then he goes home and says; ---"You
know, this stuff is not fit for me to
have anymore; --- by God's grace and mercy, now I'm a Christian!!" ---
Then he says, "I guess I'll call up
another dealer tomorrow and have him offer me a fair price!" --- But,
you
know what? --- These Ephesians had some books
that were very valuable in terms of silver; --- And when they became
Christians, they could have taken those books and sold them on the
market there in Ephesus. ---
They didn't have to lose that 50,000 pieces of silver; --- They
could have gotten at least a good portion of their money back; --- just
as the porno peddler today can very
easily get his investment back!! --- Simply because it feeds on a
sinful,
lustful, habitual (a virtual narcotic like) habit, which
brings to mind, the filthy cigarettes; --- And even though they've long
ago
banned the advertisement of them on
TV, the tobacco industry don't worry about losing money, because
the whole matter of the use of that product is a
matter of addiction, a matter of habit!! --- Same thing for booze,
gambling
etc.!!
Getting back to my point; ---
These Ephesians could have gotten their money back out of this
proposition; --- But what did they do? --- They took every
bit of that ungodly literature and destroyed it!! --- Their attitude
apparently was; --- "If it's not fit for me to
have, --- Then I'm not going to feed it to anybody else!!!" --- Oh! But
you'll be losing a lot of money! --- "Well, I guess
I'll just have to take that loss!" --- Man. 50,000 pieces of silver
worth;
--- just think of how much good you could do with
that kind of money! --- "No! No!; --- It's not good for me to have, so
I'm not going to be responsible for poisoning
someone else's heart and mind with such trash; --- We'll take the
loss!!"
--- Besides that, what was Paul's attitude?
(Phil. 3:7-8); --- "But whatever things were gain to me, those
things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. --- More
than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing
value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so
that I may gain Christ," --- Now that
was Paul's attitude and that was the Ephesians' attitude; --- Question:
--- What's your attitude??
Again, my point is; --- When
they came up out of that water, --- everything was baptized; --- their
pocketbooks, their bank accounts, EVERYTHING!! --- They were
zealous!! --- Their attitude was; --- "You show us from God's word what
we're supposed to do in order to be
saved and go to heaven, and we'll do it!! --- And you show us what
we're supposed to get out of our lives and
we'll get those things out, and never look back! --- No hesitation and
no excuses about it!!"
Now at the same time, we read
down in (Acts 19:29); --- "The city was filled with the confusion, and
they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along
Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from
Macedonia."---We'll
not take time to go into it that much,
but suffice it to say; --- When these people were baptized they weren't
satisfied just to go on living as they had
before; --- They got rid of their sinful practices; --- And now their
attitude
was; ---"Now, the Lord has a job for me to
do!" --- And so they went out and spread the gospel through the
whole city of Ephesus; --- They just really turned the
whole town on it's ear; --- So much so that it caused a riot among
those who had rebelled against God!! ---
(Vs.20) says; --- "So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and
prevailing."
Beloved, surely we as
God's saints ought to be able to draw some kind of application
from these
zealous brethren right in our own congregations, where ever we
might worship!! --- Could it be that, perhaps some of us might still
have some sin in our lives that we need
to repent of and get rid of??? --- In the early years of the church in
Ephesus;
--- These Christians were on fire for the
Lord!! --- They were exceedingly zealous!! Next
there is what might be called:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. The Mid
- Period: (Late 50's - early
60's A.D.)
And for that we need to jump
over to (Acts 20:17); --- "From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called
to
him the elders of the church." --- Here, we find
Paul in Miletus, he wasn't going back to Ephesus anymore. --- But
notice; Now, the Ephesian church had elders; ---
They were fully and Scripturally organized. --- Down in (Vs. 28) we
read a warning from Paul to these elders;
--- "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd
the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."
As noted; --- The church now
had elders/bishops/overseers/presbyters/shepherds; --- And they're all
pastors.
---They're all called the same thing in the New Testament;
--- And they were all to do the same work. --- There was always a
plurality of elders or pastors in a
local church, having met specific qualifications as outlined in the
Scriptures. (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9; etc.) --- But this
is a whole study within itself. --- But the thing I want to bring to
your mind is
that during this Mid Period the church at
Ephesus was well organized, --- Scripturally organized.
But secondly, they were well
taught during this Mid-Period!! --- (acts 20:20) Paul tells the
Ephesian
elders; ---"I did not shrink from declaring to you
anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house
to house," --- Someone might say; ---
"You know, sometimes a congregation will get off track because it
hadn't
been very well taught!" --- That might very
well be the case, but let me remind you; --- The church in Ephesus had
been WELL TAUGHT! --- Paul said; --- "I did not
shrink back from declaring to you the WHOLE PURPOSE of God!"
Another might reason; ---
"Well, one reason they got off track was that Paul gave them all
positive
preaching and never any negative warnings." --- But
that's not true either; --- In (Acts 20:31) Paul warns; --- "Therefore
be
on the alert, --- remembering that night and day for a
period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears."
In the Mid-Period of this
congregation's existence, there was what we might call; --- MATURITY!!
--- These
brethren were well organized after the Scriptural
pattern; --- They were filled with a fervent ZEAL and had been
extremely
well taught. --- They had been warned about
apostasy, and warned about error! --- They were a sound, spiritually
healthy, fine congregation; --- The perfect
example!! --- And the text makes it clear that their attitude toward
Paul and toward truth; and his attitude toward them
was as such that we have what I believe is the only example of the
holy kiss!! --- Remember when Paul is about to
depart from them, never to see them in this life again; --- We read in
(Acts 20:36-38) --- "When he had said
these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to
weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly
kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that
they would not see his face again. --- And they
were accompanying him to the ship." --- Now, if this is not an example
of
the holy kiss; I guess we won't read about it
in the New Testament. --- But the main idea I want to get across is the
tremendous love and respect Paul had for them; ---
and the feeling was mutual!! --- But my point is, he
maintained a
deep abiding love and respect for those who loved and obeyed God
and His truth; --- and people who loved truth, loved him!! --- And
that's the kind of church these Ephesian brethren
were during this Mid-Period; --- This period of MATURITY!!
Now, by and by there came another period; ---
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. The
Golden Age: (It's dotage or feeble-minded
period)
As though this church became
like a senile old person!! --- I stress, "SENILE Old Person"!
--- You see, you can be old and not be senile; --- But to be senile, is
to be old, no matter whether your 30 or 90 years of age!!
All of a sudden now, we see
stumbling, bumbling, ill-directed and feeble-minded congregation over
in (Rev.
2:), as we talked about in our last lesson (The Fruit
of Apathy). --- And this finds the church somewhere in the 90's A.D.
---(95-96
appx.); --- And what's the problem with
the Ephsian church? --- Someone says; --- "Well, I guess they
must have gone south on the issues!" ---
No! Not hardly; --- (Rev. 2:1-2) says; --- "To the angel of the
church in Ephesus write: --- The One who holds the seven
stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden
lampstands, says this: --- I know your deeds and your toil
and perseverance,---" --- Were they doing anything? --- Jesus says,
"I know your
deeds, toil and
perseverance!!" --- These brethren were not totally lazy were they? ---
Well, maybe they were engaging in immorality! --- Again, the
Lord says; --- "that you cannot tolerate evil men!" --- and you put
to the test those who call themselves apostles, and
they are not, and you found them to be false;"
Let me tell you something;
--- If someone was to waltz into one of their assemblies claiming to be
an
apostle, and saying, "Listen to me!" --- If he was
a false apostle, they knew it right away; --- they knew how to
dis-prove what
he had to say; --- they were that mature!! ---
Well, was it perhaps because they had gone astray by adopting some
error! ---We have but to look in (Vs. 6); --- "Yet
this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I
also
hate."---Since love is the basic quality of Christians,
--- it would stand to reason that love for good would carry with it a
corresponding hatred for that which is evil!
--- Notice; --- It wasn't the Nicolaitans themselves who were hated,
---But
rather the deeds, works and doctrines in
which they were engaged. --- Nor can we stand on sound teaching and
attempt to identify exactly who the Nicolaitans
were or what they taught; --- but whatever it was, Jesus hated it and
so
did the Ephesian brethren.
Well, what was wrong with the
Ephesians? --- What was their main problem?? --- Of course you know the
answer
as well as I. (Vs. 4); --- "But I have this
against you, that you have left your first love." --- Jesus is saying
in
essence; ---"You have fallen out of love with
Me!" "And you are hollow inside!" ---If we had gotten out of bed
bright and early one Sunday morning back in the year 95 A.D. and walked
into
one of their assemblies there in Ephesus (just
visiting), what do you suppose we would have seen? --- Well, I'm
sure we
would have seen all the "forms" just
exactly as they ought to have been. --- They would have
been worshiping in
a Scriptural manner. --- By all appearances all looks
hunky-dory!! --- But what about the contents? --- What might we
see deep
inside the hearts?? --- Right there friends, lies the
crux of the problem!!
Everything would
look pure and clean as a whistle; --- As a matter of fact;
--- Many
members of the Lord's church today would say; --- "Why, that's a SOUND
church!" --- Organizationally they're correct. --- Doctrinally they
stick right to the truth, "book, chapter and
verse"! --- As far as the plan of salvation is concerned; they've got
that
right down to the approved apostolic way. --- They say;
"Why, you let anybody come in here and try to teach error; --- We'll
fix
their wagon! --- We preach the truth here, and
nothing but the truth!" (etc. , etc.) --- Okay, all that's fine and
necessary; ---But what's in your hearts?? --- Form is great,
but is there anything inside?? --- Oh,yes; we have something inside!!
---What? --- You've left your first love; ---
You're hollow inside!!
You don't feel the same
way you did back there when you first started; --- You don't feel the
same as
you did when you were baptized again, this time by the apostle
Paul in the name of the Lord Jesus!! --- You don't have that zeal the
way you did when you took 50,000 pieces of silver worth
of ungodly junk and just burned it up, and said; --- "We'll take the
loss!"And you've
completely forgotten what it was
like when you turned the whole city of Ephesus upside down in spreading
the gospel of Christ!! --- You don't have that
same solidarity; --- that combination of outward form and inward
dedication you had toward the Lord during your period of
maturity!! --- Everything looks alright on the outside; --- But
inwardly
there's precious little love left for the Lord,
for the brethren or for those lost souls out there in the world!! ---
You've certainly left your first love!!
Now, I believe the Greek term
"protos", or first in first love is
not chronological (the Greek translation "foremost", doesn't help
much. --- I don't believe that
Jesus was the first person they ever loved; --- but rather "first" in
terms of importance. --- For instance, if you were to
ask me; --- "Earl, what is the single most important thing to you as
far
as this life is concerned? --- Car, money, job,
prestige, health ??" --- I believe I could look you square in the eye
and without any
hesitation; --- In this life as far
as physical things go; --- nothing would ever be anywhere near as
important as my dear wife, Betty!! --- She's number one
with me; --- She's my first love!! --- Not all husbands can say that,
and mean it, I would bet. (If I were a betting man)
Now, in the spiritual realm,
--- I might emphasize that the spiritual realm must always take
precedence
over the physical,
carnal, material and earthly realm! ---
Why? --- Because the spiritual is eternal in nature!! --- Isn't it
amazing
though what people are prone to give up their eternal souls
for so easily?? --- Jesus put it thusly; --- "For what will it profit a
man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
--- Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mt. 16:26)
When the Lord said; ---
"You have left your first love." --- What was He talking about? ---
What did He mean? ---He's saying in effect; --- "You have
forgotten who's number one in your lives!" --- "You seem to have your
priorities all mixed up!" --- "You've completely
lost track of your ultimate goal!" --- "Do you not remember My words;
--- 'Seek first
My kingdom and righteousness and all these
things shall be provided for you?" (Mt. 6:33)
And dear friends, therein
lies our lesson!! --- The question is; --- What stage would you
classify your
congregation to be in right now (individually and
collectively)?? --- Is it in the Early Zeal stage? --- You might say,
---
"Well, it couldn't be, because where I worship, we've been
established for a good many years!" --- Every day of every year of the
calendar can be
that period of early zeal. --- You see,
these things are not tied to dates on the calendar; --- it generally
works out that way, but beloved, you can't tie
zeal to terms of time on the calendar; --- but rather to a
disposition or
attitude!! ---Every day of yours and your congregation's life
can be that period of ZEAL and EXCITEMENT!!! --- It all depend on how
we treat the situation, brethren.
On the other hand, the period
can exist where there is that maturity, that mellow solidarity that
demonstrates clearly that your congregation stands as a
pillar in the Lord's kingdom!!
OR at almost any time a
church can slip into that period of early senility, that dotage
period;
--- When all of a sudden you wake up one day and everything looks
alright; ---
everybody's still filling the pews; --- Still giving pretty liberally;
---Still singing, reading and even praying like
we've always done; --- But something is missing!! --- Nobody recognizes
exactly what's missing; --- But you can tell
it; --- you can sense it; --- It's starting to get away from us!! ---
And it
gets to where we're just "keeping house"
for the Lord; --- And then, after a little while; --- WE DIE!! --- Our
lampstand is gone!!
Where is the church in
Ephesus today? --- There isn't any! --- Ten years from now where will
your
congregation be? ---You say; --- "We've been through a lot;
--- We've overcome so many problems and heartbreaks, but we remain
strong!" Or
another may say; --- "We are few in number,
but we're a very strong church, we'll still be here ten years from now or until the Lord comes!" --- Is that
right? --- I truly and whole heartedly hope so; --- But the truth be
known; ---
You could be gone TWO years from now; --- And you
know that as well as I!!
Beloved, don't let yourselves
fall for the Devil's tricks; --- Don't fall into his wicked trap!! ---
Satan
doesn't necessarily want us to be engaged in the vilest sort of
sin; --- He will be completely satisfied to get us to the point of
indifference
to God's grace and mercy; --- And if he can get us
not to care; --- HE'S GOT US!!!
Let us all take heed to God's
solemn warning; --- Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and
repent
and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming
to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you
repent.
The Lord pleads; ---
"Don't leave your first love! --- Let Me be number one with you for as
long as you're on this earth; ---And then, you will be number one with Me when
the Judgment Day comes!!" --- The loving Savior also pleads; --- "He
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says
to the churches. --- To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of
the tree
of life which is in the Paradise of God." (Rev.
2:7)
Submitted in humility and love,
Earl Wilburn Any
questions or comments most welcomed: ewilburn@austin.rr.com
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