Welcome to our newest series entitled: 7. Over the summer, were going to be looking at 1.5 chapters in the book of Revelations. Were not going through the whole of Revelations because there are a lot of interpretive difficulties with the book itself, which isnt reason for not preaching it, but at the same time, is enough reason not to preach it and allow faith with your imagination take root in it and bask in the assurance that when Jesus comes, He comes in power. Just a little background on the book of Revelation, it is organized in sevens, the biblical number symbolic of completeness. To understand what Im saying, when you read the Book you will notice that it starts with seven exhortations to the churches of Asia, then there are seven cycles of heavenly visions, then within those seven cycles there are seven angels, with seven trumpets and seven seals and seven symbolic orders of history, etc. Tradition tells us that this letter was written by John, the Apostle during the reign of Roman Emperor Domitian. The choice of seven churches expresses rebuke and encouragement for all audiences in the faith community. Knowing this, heres one thing you want to take away and keep in mind when we read over this book this summer and learn what it has to teach us: Gods plan and power determine the outcome. Meaning that all the struggles we have a s a church, as a people of God come to final rest when we maintain our witness and purity toward Jesus second coming and his oncoming victory over everything that is set against. And believe me, there is a lot out there that is going to work against us. Lets start, Revelations 2:1-7. 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. V1. Jesus tells John to write this exhortation to the church in Ephesus. I want you to notice that there are these sevens againseven starts, seven golden lampstands. More importantly, all these sevens are held and walked among by the being that is speaking this revelation. This is personal. John wrote this propheticallythat is very intimately. We run into trouble sometimes with our own faith because we get the idea that while Jesus is our God, he is an impersonal God that is set far apart from us. From the onset of this passage, we see that Jesus holds the seven stars, which is symbolic for all things that happen and is walking amongst the golden lampstands (just think about the city on a hill motif from his parables) and understand that there is an intimacy. Jesus is alive and moving through our churches. We know that this is for us, as Christians, if we believe Jesus is here at our church and within our lives and intimately involved with our futures, past and present. This isnt for people who believe in a figurative Jesus, or a Jesus of our linguistically symbolic makings. This isnt a religious Jesus we see on stain glass or in statuettes. When were talking about Jesus, were talking about the Son of God who became flesh to live, die and be raised from the dead. Before I get on the actual exhortation, we have to understand the historical context of the church in Ephesus. We get a lot of the historical context from the letter to the Ephesians from Paul. I also have some first person accounts of how society worked in Ephesus back in the day too. Ephesus was a city on the western shore of what is now modern day Turkey. It was originally built by the Greeks as a part of a trade route. By New Testament times Ephesus had declined somewhat because of deforestation which ruined the land and the harbor. The Romans helped to maintain Ephesus as a city for trade. But at this time they were going through an economic decline and depression. Tourism became important to them. And what was their great attraction? The temple of the female goddess Artemis, also called Diana, who was widely worshipped. She was a sort of nature-goddess and prostitution was practiced in the temple as part of the religion. I want to build a hypothesis that the people of Ephesus, just like the people of New York in the 21st century are caught up in the failing economy, or their jobs, or their schooling too much to be looking to the next life. Just like many of us Christians today, they tended to sin just like those in the society around them. In Ephesus prostitution was an accepted way of life. No doubt some found stealing from tourists as somehow being justified. Ephesus was a sort of place where you do whatever you feel your flesh wants to do. Not unlike the society we live in. In Ephesians, Paul proposes that they not act like everyone else does, but behave as children of God should. Let me read from Epehsians 4: 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ! 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. This idea was not accepted by all Christians. Lets talk about fundamentalism, thats the real issue were going to tackle today. Were going to tackle it because we need to all get back to the fundamentals. I know you were all thinking that I was going to pejoratively attack the idea of fundamentalism as we see so negatively in the broader spectrum of the news, but were not. I want to talk about the fundamentals. And I will call that fundamentalism. We are so sophisticated these days that we dont know what the fundamentals are. As a result, I believe that our faith has become watered down and washed out. Let me give you an example: people are so educated these days, and dont get me wrong, I have more degrees and I care to have letters trailing the end of my name, but all that edumacation is half baked. In the name of God we say we studied and earned, but really, what use are we putting towards God? What purpose does it serve? Moreover, I want to know what is the point of nuancing a nuance, when in reality all it does is mask the unnuanced ugliness of reality? Heres what Im saying, you cant cover up ugly no matter how much make up you put on. You may be able to photoshop it, but we all know thats its photoshopped. Likewise, we think were airbrushing religion and the ends of airbrushing that religion is silliness. Lets call it what it is. You cant call a horse a beauty queen. Therefore, lets not call the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ anything short of an act of God for the mercy of undeserving rejects like us. You all know what Im saying? Revelations 2:2, lets get started. 2 I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. Do you see how this statement starts? It starts with: I know. This is the reason we need to start getting to the fundamentals of what we believe: because fundamentally, we should know that Jesus knows, that God knows, that were not walking alone. But we go around believing, even though we wont say it, that some type of cosmic karma will come and kick in on behalf of God. If youre not in that camp, youre in this other camp that is sitting on wits end because turning the other cheek is starting to hurt. I mean, you asked yourself: is it worth it? I know you have, because I have. And if you havent you live in candy land and I want to congratulate you because youre living in a place, in game, that you cant lose, but youll never win. How many people have claimed to you to have a word from God? If I had a nickel for every man of God having a word of God for me, I would be a millionaire in nickels. However, its easy to get caught up in nonsense like that. Its so easy. Its the church fad of the week, month and year. I know, theyre all worthless and they all offer something fantastic, like losing 30 pounds in a month, but its a joke. Lets keep going, verse 4. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. I wrote this week, at some point in my quiet time blog that some of us hate religion because the people who are invested in it hold its mythology over the heads of people who are converting to it. Having grown up heavily instituted in the religion of Christianity, Ive seen hundreds, if not thousands of people either: a) been turned off by Christianity because of the unreasonable mythologies; or b) been the antagonizer holding this mythology in more importance than the life, death and resurrection of our Jesus. Im sure, if youre reading this now, youve sat in one side of that boat, or both, and made that same realization. Our love at first is Jesus Christ. It will always be Jesus. Everything we do at church, the programs, the services, the offerings, the time, the dedication, the eating, it has to be about Jesus. Take VBS for example, can we wholeheartedly say it was for Jesus? Or do we have to concede that some parts were about me, or you, or each other. Im sure we started off saying that it was for Jesus, but perhaps there was even a sliver of thinking and intention that wasnt. Thats when it becomes clear that were guilty (because none of us are purely intentful, no matter how hard we try) so we repent of it and work at going back and praying and looking at Jesus the source and reason we do what we do at church and for living life. The moment we walk away from this fundamental belief and motive, is the moment we fail church, is the moment our church stops being relevant. I dont know about you, but I dont want to be irrelevant. I know you dont either. Now there is another camp that you may fall into, lets read verse 6. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Nicolatian Christians lived in self-indulgence and the church in Ephesus hated them. Heres how we become irrelevant fast. Heres how the church stops being the church that exists for Jesus: we become self-absorbed. The moment we become self-absorbed, or allow ourselves to be self-absorbed, is the moment that we stop being Christian. Some Christians, lets not lie, are in this for their benefit and their benefit only. Its all about how the church feeds you and how much spirituality or wealth or benefit in terms of status the church offersIll tell you this much about that: Im not too spiritual, nor do I care to spoon feed anybody, so if thats what youre expecting or if thats what youre doing, then lets stop the charade. Fundamentally, we need to get back to our first love, we have to show people who they should first love. This is the message to the Church of Ephesus and also to us. Lets pray.
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