Sermon Cloud

Much of our life is governed by routines; we have a pattern to the way we do things; the way we get up in the morning, go to the bathroom, eat breakfast and so on. We all have our own routines which we find helpful. The Bible too has its inbuilt patterns

Observe the patterns

Look at the pattern in the letters to the 7 churches: each has an angel; each is written from the Living Lord of the churches. The angel may be the Pastor/church leader, or the one who receives this message and reads it out.

In each letter, the Lord Jesus says he knows about them. The middle letter of the 7, Thyatira is the longest; numbers 2 & 5 record no faults in the churches. Each letter has a promise at the end eg 7: the right to eat from the tree of life or 11 will not be hurt by the 2^nd death.  These are actual churches, showing church life as we know it. Each letter addresses an issue specific in that church, as the Lord rebukes them for their shortcomings.

It’s a bit like the way we write e-mails. We want to tell a number of people certain things. We use a template or a pattern in what we say. We are brief, leaving out formal greetings and making only a couple of points. Most of us remember better with patterns

Here’s the summary:

• God knows, 2 and God will judge, he will remove your lampstand, 5 (God judges)
• He wants to help the churches clean up their act and repent of wrong practices, 5 (clean up)
• He wants to encourage them to keep going in the midst of difficulty, with a promise, 7 (keep going)

All through the years the church has been on the brink of extinction. A church lives on the knife edge of truth and love. It’s dead easy to blow up a church - not with a bomb (that would only drive us together) - but with internal squabbles and divisions. Many of the heresies we face are not new, they relate to OT people of the past, Balaam, Jezebel. The danger is that the lampstand will be removed from its place, 2:5. Look at Turkey today; these 7 churches are not shining brightly for the living God – they have virtually been wiped out!

Ephesus: the nearest of the churches to Patmos, John’s isle of exile, a pop. of ¼ m. and nearby port - an ideal location for a bustling commercial city. But over the years the estuary silted up, stranding the city from the sea…. Today it is a fantastic ruin – the ancient amphitheatre & library still standing

We marvel at how this prophesy came true

Yes, God knows all about the church, and he will judge us for acting incorrectly. We have a daily duty to clean up our act, & keep going. We ALL have a duty to ensure that the gospel is being made clear. Leaders have that duty, and so do members as we see from Galatians We don’t go just to enjoy, to merely soak in the truth for ourselves; we go to bring our friends to hear the good news. Is it heard clearly? Is it taught well?

But however bad a church is, there is always a promise to the individual, to him who overcomes.

Each letter then is warning and encouragement, stick and carrot.

1^st: Good things the Lord commends

• Hard work

Here is the perfect Lord surveying his church. It’s 40 yrs since Paul went there, and the Lord Jesus commends them for their hard work and perseverance, 2 repeated in 3. Are you determined to keep going in your faith?

• Discernment

Here is a church which had discernment – they tested out apostolic claims, and found them wanting. They also detected some false practices – those of the Nicolatians, 6 (of which we know hardly anything!). The word Nicolatian came to mean a heretic, and Christians filled in the blank about the heresies of their own day

Clearly this church knew truth from error. They could tell false practice and wrong behaviour, from true truth and godly living. They had the same agenda as their Lord – they hated what He hated.  And that’s what we need! Scripture tells us what God loves and hates – we are called to love and hate the same things.

2^nd: Bad things the Lord finds fault with

Take a look in your garage: can you see the old bike you used to ride, now with a flat tyre. Or the first skateboard you had, propped against the wall, wheel broken. Or that disbandoned fishing rod. They were all loves of the past – now discarded. The Ephesians had forsaken/lost their first love, 4. They did really well at first.

But now trouble has set in: Remember the height from which you have fallen, 5.  Their initial joy, their enthusiasm, their first rush of finding freedom in Christ had taken its toll. They were beginning to wane; the gospel wasn’t such fun to them; their faith was a bit of a bind. The Christian life had now become just a matter of a grim duty! The early love has been abandoned. This is a backsliding church.

You know the difference between a backslider and an apostate? (Lloyd-Jones “rule of thumb”). The backslider – who has slipped back into worldly ways of living and thinking is unhappy – neither happy with believers, nor with unbelievers – they are trying to straddle both sides of the divide.

            But the apostate – the person who was never truly converted is a reasonable happy soul – for they have returned to where they belong.  Our duty is the same to both people – it is to teach them the gospel again and help them bite on the truth

Loss of first love doesn’t usually happen in one go, its gradual:

1^st we lose our central focus on God.  Then we allow our trust in Jesus to move off centre; we begin to think hard thoughts of God; our faith is now a bind rather than a joy. An odd slip up here and there - doesn’t matter any more... We feel a bit awkward meeting other Christians. Of course we stand up for Christianity when challenged, but we start to wonder why it’s all so important .In reality, we don’t think its worth it.

Have you ever felt like that?  At one time - really enthusiastic - now its all a bit dull and mundane. Or maybe you’ve NEVER been excited by the gospel!  How can you capture that love for God again?

It doesn’t happen by magic formula, or a divine zap. It happens by a determination to put Christ first in everything; by saying to yourself: God is God – he runs the world; he calls the shots, 

I will read my Bible regularly, and start to plan out my prayer time.  I’ll make it a top priority to meet with other Christians at least once on Sundays, if not twice. Since I am accountable to God, I will do all I can to please him, after all he sent his son for my rescue so how can I let him down?

You see, if these Ephesian believers’ do nothing – then the Lord Jesus will take his presence elsewhere; he will remove the lampstand, 5. They will become a religious museum piece.

3^rd: The promise the Lord gives

..to enjoy him for ever

If they will listen properly - 7: he who has an ear – and if they will remain repentant, to him who overcomes, then the Lord Jesus will give them the right to eat from the tree of life, 7.  The tree of life takes us back to Genesis and the tree of life in the garden. Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden cos of their rebelliousness, here are those who “overcome” sin and are restored to their eternal place.  It is therefore a ref. to paradise, specifically mentioned at end of 7.

How do we ensure that we will receive the promise of paradise?  … make sure we overcome.

How do we ensure we overcome? … make sure we are on Christ’s winning side,

… deal with all temptation that comes our way by remaining loyal to Jesus Christ. That’s how we regain our first love.  We listen to God – he who has an ear... Thus our Bibles are our food store. Our confidence is in God, not in ourselves. We stand on his truth; not on ours. We base our lives on the way HE has dictated – not merely on what WE think.

In other words, develop a pattern for our lives: We root out untruth, and recapture true love. It doesn’t “just happen”; it has to be worked on. But slipping away just happens; pay no attention to growth and decline is inevitable. God has promised eternal enjoyment; how foolish we would be to throw it all away.

~~ end

Pray: Dear Heavenly Father we thank you that you have made us in your image; and that in Christ the restoration process begins.  Please help us to be more discerning, to work hard at our walk with you, to determine that Jesus comes into our mind much more. How splendid of you to give us your word, and the ability to read it in our own tongue. May we make good use of your truth; may we remember that first enthusiastic love we had for you when we first started with you. Rekindle it again this evening we pray as we take our stand on the great promises of the Scriptures: to him who overcomes I will give the right to eat from the tree of life.

In the all-powerful name of the Lord of the church we pray, Amen