The Error of the Church of Ephesus

As we begin our study of the 7 churches of Revelation-it only seems fitting that we would begin with Ephesus. Rather than treating each of the 7 churches as representative of 7 church ages (which may or may not have validity as speculative material) I'm going to write these articles from the perspective that they were indeed seven literal-actual churches in Asia minor at the time John received the revelation. With that in mind, let's look at the good, the bad, and the ugly (yes, almost all of these 7 churches had problems except for two). I'm going to go verse by verse through each section providing commentary alternatively. I encourage you to follow along with me and your bible turned to Revelation chapter 2. Let us now consider and learn from the "Error of Ephesus."

Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

First off, we are well aware that these words are written by Jesus Himself to the "angel" (the word is also translated as messenger/minister) of the church at Ephesus. We know that angels desire to look into the mystery aspects of salvation by grace, but only human beings will sing the song of the redeemed. With that in mind, we must understand that this letter's intended audience is not angelic in nature but human. The leader or messenger of the church of Ephesus is the addressee of the letter. It is also important to note how Jesus describes Himself to each of the seven churches. To Ephesus he announces Himself as the one who "holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." I believe everything in the Word of God is there for a reason-and this is no different. Now earlier Jesus had explained what the seven stars and the seven golden candlesticks represent. Let's take a brief look at that now:

Rev 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

So essentially when Christ says that He holds the seven stars in his right hand, He is stating that His ministers are indeed in the palm of His hand. Satan has his ministers as well, and they try their best to imitate the ministers of righteousness and even the devil has transformed himself as an angel of light.

II Corinthians 11:14And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

But God knows the true from the false-He knows the wheat from the tare-He knows the children of the Kingdom, from the children of the wicked one. His ministers are indeed in His right hand and He knows them all intimately. Christ also stated that He "walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks." We know from reading earlier that the candlesticks are the churches. It is important for me to note here that when Christ speaks of the "church"-He is not talking about a building with a steeple on top of it. That is a modern concept of what "church" is. However, the bible says that you and I are the church. We are the temple of the living God. He walks in us and dwells with us and it's in Him we move and have our being. I wanted to make that point clear from the outset because (believe it or not) some people falsely think that "church" is a building. Church comes from the greek word "Ekklesia" meaning "called out ones." We as a church are called out of darkness and into His marvelous light. We are called out of the world and into His kingdom! When Jesus states that He is walking in the midst of the candlesticks, we can be assured that He knows exactly what is going on in the churches. He is intimately acquainted with His church. He walks in the midst of His church with eyes as a flame of fire-discerning between what is good and what is evil, shining the light of His Word and making manifest the thoughts and intents of every heart. What an awesome image that He gives the church of Ephesus (and all of us who read!).

Revelation 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

This illustrates one of the great things about our Lord. With human beings it's usually an all or nothing proposition. In other words, rather than understanding that every person has strengths and weaknesses, we tend to categorize people and stereotype them as "good" or "bad." But Christ is able to discern between the good and the bad, and here He commends the Ephesian church for their good points. I think this is something that every minister of the gospel should take heed to. In order to be an effective leader, you must realize that every human being needs some positive affirmation. That doesn't mean ear-tickling, but it does mean that when a job is well done, we should let them know. As with every church, Christ makes the statement "I know thy works." Remember in Hebrews chapter 4 it says that "all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Jesus sees everything (the good, the bad, and the ugly). We often worry that our good deeds will go unnoticed by our employers, or those who are over us in the Lord. But we don't have to worry about God losing track of our efforts for His cause. He will reward every good work done in His Name- Halleleujah!

I want to make a very- very- very important point here. Note that in above passage that Christ commends the church for exposing false doctrine and phony "apostles." It is not sinful to prove all things, and to examine the doctrines that men preach. Some say we should never "judge"- but there is a spiritual mandate to renounce false doctrine (of course there is a right way and a wrong way to do this, but I digress...). Having said that however, we will soon see that having "the right doctrine" is not enough. We must be morally pure as well as doctrinally pure-but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Let's look at the next verse:

Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted

Here He commends the church for their endurance (the KJV uses the term "borne"), for their patience, and for their labor of love. There is much to be said for a church like this. As we get closer to the end of the age, I am noticing a trend- people are giving up! The race is not to the swift-but to the one who endures. This Christian race that we are running is not a sprint-it is a marathon. Important to note about the verse above is that there is no quitting, sitting, or giving-up for these faithful in Ephesus, and that there is no lack of religious activity (i.e. "for my name's sake hast labored"). Everything sounds pretty good so far, and then we get to the next verse.....

Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love

Maybe it's because we don't speak in the King's English very much anymore, or maybe it's because we have pre-conceived notions and biases-but when we see and hear Christ say that he has "somewhat" against this church- the temptation is to think it's some "little" thing that Christ doesn't like. The "somewhat" that He has against this church is not a little problem- it is a H-U-G-E issue! And here we come to what I have coined as "the error of Ephesus." And we would do well to learn from their mistake, lest we fall after the same example. Much is made about the Laodicean church and their lukewarm attitude, but Ephesus was in just as much peril!

I don't know if this had the same affect on you as it did for me when I first grasped the concept, but let's do a brief review. First we see Christ walking in the midst of the candlesticks, then we hear wonderful things about what is happening at Ephesus. They are perservering, they are working for the Master, they are "trying the spirits" and exposing false apostles, they are against evil, and they are not giving up. We would take one look at that church and say "man, that church has it all together!" Herein lies one of the greatest problems with us humans. We tend to look at the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart (remember little King David?). It is easy to look at religious activity, doctrinal fervor, righteous indignation against sin, continued church attendance/growth, and use those criteria as a barometer for spiritual health. Again, I have little doubt that most of us would look at Ephesus and call it a healthy, vibrant church. But the one with "eyes as a flame of fire" looked at the church and saw something different. Instead of a healthy church, He saw sickness lying inside. The church had left their first love. Their hearts were no longer on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ.

What I'm about to say may seem absurd at first glance, but I honestly believe that one of the greatest causes of spiritual apathy among God's people can be religious activity. There is something that happens when we get into a routine. If we're not careful, we will find ourselves "going through the motions" and doing things without ever engaging our hearts. If you will remember, God often makes the statement in His Word that the people "honored Him with their lips, but their heart was far from Him." God is more interested in our devotion to Him than He is in what we are doing for Him. Listen to me pastor friend-from one pastor to another-God is just as interested in what kind of person you are as he is in how successful your ministry is. Church worker- don't ever let your duty get in the way of your devotion to God. I have often said it, and I believe it to be true that there are two types of apostacy- doctrinal and personal/moral. While those who are morally apostate typically also believe false doctrines, there is another variety of apostate-that is one who believes and teaches/preaches the right "stuff" but doesn't live it! These are the ones that Christ referred to in His famous "sermon on the mount." They are hearers of the Word, but not doers of the Word. They are like those who build on the sand, and the winds and the storms come and blow the house down. These are the ones that say "but Lord we cast out devils in thy name, we did many WONDERFUL works in thy name." Dear friend, it is not enough just to believe the right stuff, or to preach the right stuff, or to be involved in good work for the kingdom. That is essential of course-but it's not enough! We must have a love and personal devotion for Christ that is greater than our desire for service and activity. We must fight against the attitude of Martha who always wants to be busy busy busy, and understand the need to be like Mary and sit at the Master's feet!

If we were left with this as the end of the story, we would be in bad shape. But thankfully, Christ gives us the cure for the spiritual disease of apathy and indifference.

Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent

Here we find one of the greatest principles of spiritual renewal.....remembrance! It is so easy to forget where we came from and what great things the Lord has done for us. We also see that one of the most important keys to restoration with the Lord is to be honest with ourselves. Until we are willing to admit that we have fallen, then we can begin the restoration process. I have found that it's not as difficult to get an unbeliever to admit that his lifestyle is not pleasing to God. But is almost impossible to get a church person convinced that their spiritual fervor has waned. Notice the three step process outlined by Jesus.-remember-repent-and do the first works. We must remember the love that we once had for Jesus. We must remember how wonderful it was to know that our sins had been forgiven. We need to remember how much we loved opening the pages of the bible, and hearing the very words of God penetrate our being. We need to remember the love and joy that we felt when we first met the Savior! But it's not enough to repent. Some people fall short there-they are willing to admit there's a problem-but not willing to go the next step-repentance. Repentance is more than just saying "I'm sorry" or "Lord forgive me." Repentance is a change of the heart and the mind, which will be worked out in obedience to God's command. Only when we despise the sin that so easily besets us will we be ready to get free from it. And then once we have repented, we must "do the first works." Get back to what we were doing when we first got saved. Praying, reading the Word of God, sharing our faith through evangelism, saturating ourselves in the presence of God, laying aside weights and sins which stain our spirits. These are all things that we did when we first met the Lord. That is what restoration is all about- remember-repent-and do! It is not enough just to make resolutions to do better- we must follow through.

As with many statements in the bible-there is a flip-side to the coin. Most people don't like conditional statements in the bible, because we have been brainwashed into believing that God only demonstrates love, and that judgment is not one of His attributes. Nothing could be further from the truth. He warns the church at Ephesus that a failure to remember, repent, and do the first works, will result in a judgment. Christ says that He will remove the candlestick out of it's place unless repentance happens. There are various opinions as to what it actually means for a candlestick to be removed, but remember that the candlestick represents the church. Do you want your place in the church removed? The church is the bride of Christ- if you're not in the church-you're not part of the bride. These are sobering words indeed.

Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate

Again, we see that Christ commends the church for something good that they had done. It is always wonderful after hearing a somber warning of judgment, to know that Christ does love us and that His desire is that we repent and not die the death of the wicked. This word of encouragement in essense says that it was not a hopeless cause in Ephesus. There was good work going on there, and the Lord wants it to continue. But something that is often lost in this passage is that there are certain teachings that Christ hates. One such doctrine is that of the Nicolaitanes. There is much speculation as to the origin of the Nicolaitanes and what exactly there doctrine was. But without knowing the exact origin and details of their dogma-we can however safely assume some basic tenets of their teaching(s). The first century church was engaged in a huge battle with Gnosticism, which basically taught that it didn't really matter what the body did, as long as the spirit/mind was saved. In other words, it doesn't really matter how I live as long as I believe the right stuff. We have such a doctrine today- it goes by several names, but one of the most popular is unconditional eternal security. Lord willing, I will deal more in-depth with the doctrines of Jezebel, Baalam, and the Nicolaitans in a future article. The Doctrine of the Nicolaitans The three doctrines are similar in that they all teach that idolatry and sexual immorality have no bearing on the eternal destiny of a child of God. We know this to be false because Paul taught that the sexually immoral would not inherit the kingdom of God, and in Hebrews we are warned that "adulterers and whoremongers God will judge." Suffice it to say that Jesus hates any doctrine that says holiness and obedience to the commands of God are optional.

Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

As with each church, there is a promise given to the "overcomers." The very nature of the word "overcome" indicates that there is a struggle going on. The apostle Paul said "I die daily", "for thy sake we are killed all the day long", Jesus said that we must deny ourselves "take up our cross" and follow Him. There is a war going on between the Spirit and the flesh and we will wage that war as long as we are in these bodies. But to those who overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the grace of God, there awaits a great reward. I mentioned this earlier, but just for reinforcement let me say once again that Jesus is speaking to the "church" (not the world). I think it's interesting that man lost his innocence in a garden and here we see Jesus giving us access once more into the paradise of God where the tree of life is. What Adam and other humans could not do in that we are weak through the flesh, God sent His Son into the world to destroy sin and grant us access once more into communion with the Heavenly Father! Praise His Wonderful and Holy Name!

There are volumes of articles written about the seven churches, and Ephesus in particular. But as we will see with every church, there are lessons to be learned, behaviors to imitate, and those to shun. There are promises for the faithful, and fearful expectation of judgment for the unrepentant. Let us all hear what the "Spirit saith unto the churches" and learn from the error of Ephesus.

May God richly bless you as you study His Word!

Next-the church of Smyrna