seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Well, here's the link to the commentary.The Ephesians were in a terrific spot. The church was located near the treasury... people had money. The area was very "religious".
Christianity was not the only game in town though. There was huge support for the fertility goddess Diana. They had a temple for Diana that was a monumental build. It was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It had huge 60' pillars. It was luxurious... and the main sermon preached was about sex. There was a lot of sexual immorality. Diana was the biggest competitor.
So... The church at Ephesus had to be careful what was preached in the church. Allowing drag queens or abortionists to get a stronghold in the church must have been a real trial. According to verse 2... the Christians at Ephesus were very good at keeping those hateful drag queens and abortionists out of their church.
Do the trials of Ephesus sound familiar?
In fact, they were so busy keeping sexual immorality and abortion out of the church... they left the original message behind.
Jesus said there were only Two Commandments. Love God and Love Each Other. That's what they left. They were so afraid of allowing sexual immorality and abortion to seep into the church, they left the Two Commandments behind. They were so interested in getting it right... They forgot "why" they were working so hard in the first place.
Well, at least they kept the Nicolaitans at bay. The Nicolaitans would allow anyone to have sex with anyone. They would take Jesus Crucified out of the sermons. They would preach love and acceptance. They were happy to let anyone join in. They would eat anything, including food sacrificed to Diana. They would have huge feasts while leaving the homeless and starving out in the street. The would demolish the Commandments altogether. Everyone was welcome as long as they brought their tithe.
The Christians at Ephesus let the Nicolaitans know they would not tolerate that kind of worship in the Christian Church. Behave!!!
BUT... The Ephesians were so busy just keeping the church going... They forgot why. They were keeping the church clean... but they weren't really being Christians.
I think the best way to explain it is .... The church at Ephesus was like the "living room' was in so many homes back in the 50's. The living room is where "guests" were invited. The furniture was all polished, the vinyl covers were clean and slick. The living room was always cleaned up and ready for guests. No one ever went in the living room except on special occasions... or to clean it.
Is your church so spiffy and clean no one can enjoy worship?
Jesus was standing by the lampstands, back in the first chapter. Jesus told Ephesus to go back to the beginning and go back to being Brothers and Sisters caring for others. He told them He would take away their lampstand. Without a lampstand... they wouldn't have to worry about showing off their light.
Ephesus was too busy keeping the riffraff out.
They lost their zest.
Ephesus kept the riffraff out.
