The Church in Ephesus

Order of Service

• Hymn — Give to Our God Immortal Praise
• Call to Worship — Romans 11:33-36
• Hymn — Give to Our God Immortal Praise (continued)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith (Belgic Confession)
• Scripture Reading — Ezra 1:1-11
• Hymn — God Moves in a Mysterious Way
• Prayer of Confession and Intercession
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn of Preparation — Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder
• Sermon
• Hymn of Dedication — More Love to Thee, O Christ
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26
• Gloria Patri

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Sermon Title: The Church in Ephesus

Scripture: Revelation 2:1-7

I. The Exclusivity of the Church — The Call to Holiness

A. Christ commends the Ephesian church for guarding sound doctrine

1. They tested false teachers claiming to be apostles and found them to be false, following the instruction of 1 John 4:1
2. They hated the works of the Nicolaitans, a sect linked to eating food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality — the hallmarks of pagan religion

B. The historical context of Ephesus heightens the significance of this faithfulness

1. Ephesus was the crown jewel of Asia Minor, seat of the Roman proconsul, and home to the Temple of Artemis — one of the seven wonders of the ancient world
2. The city's economy was intertwined with pagan religion, as seen in Acts 19 when Demetrius the silversmith stirred up a riot against Paul's preaching
3. Paul had warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:29-30 that fierce wolves would come; the church heeded that warning

C. Doctrinal faithfulness and love are not opposites — Christ commends both together

1. The church that bows to relativism will become irrelevant; the church that bows to Christ and his Word will always be relevant
2. J. Gresham Machen: the religion that shrinks from controversy will never stand amid the shocks of life — the really important things are the things about which men will fight

II. The Love of the Church — The Call to Live in the Love of Christ

A. Christ's charge against Ephesus: they have abandoned their first love (Revelation 2:4-5)

1. The love spoken of is left without a specific object because all Christian love has been lost — love for Christ, for his church, and for lost humanity
2. This is the love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3: without love, even flawless orthodoxy amounts to nothing

B. The Ephesians suffer from what may be called the Pharisee syndrome

1. The Pharisees (meaning "the separated ones") rightly separated from Hellenistic corruption but ended by not loving their Messiah, his people, or humanity
2. Constant doctrinal vigilance without love causes everyone to become suspect; charity and trust erode until one is isolated and exhausted

C. The diagnostic question every church must ask

1. Is right doctrine drawing us out of ourselves and into Christ — softening our hearts toward him, his church, and lost humanity?
2. Or is right doctrine turning us inward — hardening our hearts and closing us off from Christ and the world that needs the gospel?
3. Love without doctrine leads to universalism; doctrine without love leads to Pharisaic isolation — Christ must be known as a person, not merely a set of propositions

III. The Desire of the Church — The Promise of the Tree of Life

A. The conquering call at the close of the letter (Revelation 2:7)

1. Christ the conquering king calls his church to conquer — to fight sin both within and without, and to live toward the tree of life
2. The word paradise is the Greek Old Testament word for the Garden of Eden; notably, a grove outside Ephesus called Paradisos was a site of Artemis pilgrimage and feasting — Christ invites Ephesus to a different pilgrimage and a better feast

B. The tree of life points back to the garden and forward to the new creation

1. The golden lampstand in the tabernacle was designed to resemble a tree and represented the tree of life and light — God's life-giving presence among his people
2. Christ walking among the lampstands (Revelation 2:1) echoes God walking with Adam and Eve in paradise — a foretaste now by the Spirit, awaiting the full reality face to face
3. Revelation 22:1-5: the river of life, the tree of life, the healing of the nations, the throne of God and the Lamb, no more night — the Lord God himself is the light of his people forever

C. The chief aim and desire of the church

1. The tree of life is the sign and seal of the permanent, life-giving presence of God
2. The church's supreme longing must be to glorify and enjoy the Lord forever — to bask in the life and light of Christ
3. Until that day, the church is called to fight the good fight with soft hearts, in the love of Christ