When were in a situation, it’s really easy, and at times necessary, to be so engulfed in that moment that we loose track of all other things. I’ve seen it time after time with teenagers. They get into a relationship and begin to cut off their friends because their so enamored with that one person. If it goes on long enough, the friends tend to start dropping off, and if the relationship ends, what do they have left? A lot of apologizing and hope that they can restore those old friendships. I’ve seen in it the caring for a loved one who is passing away. Doctor visits, physical therapy, medication runs fill up all the time, and the constant watch over the person becomes everything. And when that person passes, the emptiness from their passing is all the more heavy because in those last months or years that was their life. It happens with jobs, where the job becomes everything. Making that next promotion doesn’t leave room for family, friends, and rest. And when we loose that job, because of the economy or other circumstances, who are we without it?
And when were in encompassing situations such as these, living life is put to the side. In some cases, like the teenage infatuations, it’s unnecessary; in the case of a passing loved one, it is vital. Yet coming out of both can make us forget how to function without the situation where our lives revolved around that moment. It’s hard to be around your family, friends, or just the world in general, because you haven’t been there in so long, that you have to relearn to function outside of that situation. Which, depending on the severity of the situation, can take years to adjust.
And it’s this idea of returning to a place outside of that moment that brings us back to our sermon series, where we’ll be looking at the first two churches of Revelation chapter 2 and how God calls us to have an out-look view by coming out of an all engulfing situation. That means that since there are two aspects to our relationship with God, that of loving God and loving people, a part of our relationship with God must include relationships with people. We can’t truly experience God in his fullness without loving the people that God brings around us. It’s when dealing with people that we must have this Out-look view. We must look beyond ourselves to the hurt and need of the people whom God brings into our lives. We must seek to help in whatever way we can, with the greatest help we can ever offer is sharing the Gospel.
No amount of good deeds in this life will save a person, either ourselves or another, and so the Gospel must be shared so that eternal life may be presented.
Yet, it’s hard, especially in our society, to present the Gospel. People say things like, “don’t preach at me,” “keep your religion to yourself,” or “I’ve heard it before.” Plus, we’re taught not talk about certain subjects, so it’s ingrained in us not to share. Yet, when we think on the holiness of God, how awesome and great he is, and how his holiness causes those in his presence to fall down as if dead (Revelation 1:17), we should be motivated to break through those rejections and social restraints.
If we truly believe that Jesus could return at any moment, then the sharing of the Gospel by God’s people is the only work that really matters. The jobs we hold don’t matter, because the time is short. The chance of breaking friendships over the Gospel doesn’t matter, because Christ is on the horizon. The world thinking that we are crazy does not matter, because if we have the only way in Christ, then the crazy is the world and not the followers of Jesus.
The sharing of the Gospel is what matters, and that means we need be doing a lot of prayer, a lot of work to earn the ear of those we share the Gospel with, and a clear understanding of what the Gospel is, both Christ’s work in the Scriptures, and our own personal testimony of Jesus’ triumph.
All this was what we talked about in our first week. Then last week we had Doug Haskins, from the Navajo nation, speak to us. He shared how to experience God’s grace we must endure the trials and tribulations, the hard times that God brings us into. In any Gospel work, there are going to be roadblocks and disasters. When we engage in the work of God, there is going to be slander, gossip, and loss. Yet, as we endure in the strength of the Holy Spirit, we experience the grace of God all the more.
And it’s this understanding of the promise of trials and tribulations that brings us back into God’s Word today. Lets read Revelation chapter 2, starting in verse 1.
“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 (Nick-o-lay-tens), 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.
“8 To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.
“11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death."
The seven churches of Revelation have been divided and interpreted in many different ways. Yet for our series we are going to see how these seven churches, and the praises and chastisements that they receive from Jesus, can be grouped with the first two together, the next three, and then the final two.
With the churches of Ephesus and Smyrna the issue of our response to tribulation is the main focus.
Let’s look at Ephesus first. They have gone through some sort of resistance to the Gospel work and have endured it. This resistance to God’s work has come on a theological front, with false apostles, and a group of people called the Nicolaitans (Nick-o-lay-tens). Now we don’t know a whole lot about the Nicolaitans (Nick-o-lay-tens), but what we know of their teachings is that they are a mix of Christian belief with Balak worship and sexual immorality. The Ephesus Church stood against this heresy and Jesus commends them for it.
Remember, this is the same church that Paul wrote the famous Armor of God passage. And they are standing strong against the work of Satan from people like the these Nicolaitans (Nick-o-lay-tens). Yet, Jesus has a problem with the church. They have fallen away from their first love. The word for “forsaken” or in some translations “abandon” in verse 4, means to send away. It brings to mind the idea that the Ephesus Church was so engaged in defending the Gospel work from heresy, that they let go of the fundamental aspects of loving God and loving people. Their works of standing against wrong teaching, though commendable, became the focus of the Ephesus Church’s ministry and the love for God and love for people fell to the way side.
The roadblocks and trials became more important than the God whom they served and the life giving Gospel message that they were to proclaim. And so, Jesus calls them back to their first love. He calls them back to the primary aspects of their relationship with God, loving him with everything and loving people as themselves.
This is then followed by Jesus’ address to the church of Smyrna. Smyrna was north of Ephesus and was a center of commerce and Emperor worship. Jesus speaks to the church as being poor, yet rich. This could be taken one of two ways: It could mean that the church is poor in spirit yet rich in finances, or it could mean that the church is poor in finances yet rich in Christ. Only one of these interpretations could be right, because they are opposites of each other. To me, in the context of what follows, I believe it is the latter, that they are poor in finances yet rich in Christ.
The reason for this is because the church has already experienced tribulation in the form of confrontation from the Jewish community. Most likely the majority of these early Christians were Jews who would have been ostracized from their community and therefore would be suffering financially because of it. The same would go for the Gentile believers, though not to the extreme as it would be in later years.
Yet Jesus doesn’t bring a reprieve to the tribulation, instead he brings a message of more to come. This would be immediate and future. We know that eventually John’s, the writer of Revelation, disciple Polycarp, who became Bishop of Smyrna, would be martyred in the city. Eventually the city would become a focal point of persecution for the church with many Christians losing their wealth and status in society.
Yet with each of these two churches, Jesus gives them hope. To Ephesus Jesus states, “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 (v.7).”
And to the Smyrna church Jesus states, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death (v11).”
Jesus calls each church to remember the reward that awaits them if they endure to the end. Jesus puts eternity into focus for the believers, as they are being called to return to loving God and people in the case of Ephesus, and to endure the tribulation in the case of Smyrna.
So how are these two churches connected, other than the focus on eternity, if they are being called two different circumstances of endurances?
Let’s step back and first look at Ephesus. The Ephesian Church is lauded for standing their ground against heresy, yet they are admonished for losing sight of loving God and people. In their tribulation against the Nicolaitans (Nick-o-lay-tens) and false apostles, they failed to keep their eyes on the eternal purposes of why they were standing against these people. They fell into the trap of the debating becoming more important than God. It seems they let the fight become more important than what they were fighting for.
I’ve fallen into this trap in my own life, where winning the argument is more important than pointing a person back to Christ. Where being right means beating another down with knowledge, without a care for how my actions and words reflect back on Jesus.
When we fall into this trap, the battle means everything and the reason for the battle means nothing. We become conditioned to winning at all costs. Like the Ephesians, we can lose sight of why we’re standing against the heresy in the first place, which is to love God and love people. We stand against heresy, not because we’re right, but because we want people to know Jesus as Savior, and we must correct those that would warp who he says he is.
The Ephesian Church did not handle this tribulation correctly, and so is seems like Jesus is calling the Smyrna Church to handle their tribulation in the right way. Jesus speaks to them to let them know they may feel poor because they lost the physical things they once had, but they are still rich in Jesus, so it was worth. Though Jesus informs them that even more tribulation is coming, their focus needs to be on him and the eternity that they have through his sacrifice. The two churches are connected by one being a learning example for the other. And both need to face tribulation with a focus on eternity with God.
This puts the reason to stand against heresy into perspective. This puts tribulation that is to come, into perspective. When we put the momentary things into eternal perspective, then we’re not winning the argument to win the argument, but to point others to Christ. We’re not facing tribulation with sorrow over losing our earthly riches, but with joy, because people may see my life following Christ and seek him because of it.
We are called to these very same things today. There is so much heresy permeating the Church, we could spend a year of Sundays talking about it, and there would be more creeping in and added to the pile. We must face these and answer them, but we must keep in focus eternity. We stand against these things, so that people would know the path Christ has laid out for them to follow. We must point them to Jesus, the only way, truth and life, to which no one goes to the Father except through him (John 14:6).
And as tribulation comes, we must not allow ourselves to be bogged down with the tribulation itself, becoming callous to God’s purpose for allowing us into this tribulation. This is why James writes in the opening to his letter, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (1:2-4).”
Trials and tribulations are to bring our focus on the eternal reality of God. To help us become more loving of him and more loving of the people around us. Therefore let us take seriously Jesus’ call to the Ephesus church to always return to our first love, and his call to the Smyrna Church to be ready for the tribulation that is to come. And when we engage in God’s Gospel work, there will be many tribulations, both large and small that follow. Yet this was promised by Jesus. He sates in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We can walk in the tribulations God has for us, by trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit and focusing on the work of Jesus in our lives.
My challenge for you this week then, is to do a little leg work. The town of Quartzsite is basically divided into four quadrants. Northwest of 95 and I-10, Northeast of 95 and I-10, Southeast of 95 and I-10, and Southwest of 95 and I-10. I want to challenge you to pick one of these quadrants and either drive or walk, maybe when visiting the vendors, and pray for the people you encounter, and the town itself. Pray that the all these people, from all these different places, would encounter the Gospel. Whether that be by you or another believer. But take this week and walk or drive all over one of these quadrants praying for the work of the Gospel to be active and while you do, pray also that you would keep the focus of the reason why we engage in Gospel work. We do not do it to make money, or to win arguments, we do it because eternity is ahead, and there’s only two locations a person will spend it. Either in the joy of the Lord, or the sorrow of the lake of fire.
Let us be a people who’s hearts are broken for the lost of this world, as our God’s heart breaks for them. Amen.
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