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Jesus and His Message to the Church at Ephesus
September 13, 2014

Last week we reviewed teachings about righteousness. Righteousness is what we pursue as we also pursue the Kingdom of God, and the King of Kings had a message to share with the churches in Revelation. Each message has similar thoughts, and yet each touches different issues. Today we will focus on the first message to the Church at Ephesus.

Revelation 2:1-4
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

The church at Ephesus was busy doing the work and for them doing the work of God required great exertion and patience. We don't know exactly why the church at Ephesus faced this situation; we just know that they did. They had the ability to see those who were evil and put them at arm's length and had the spiritual knowledge to consider the teachings of others and to determine if what was being taught was the truth or a lie. In all that they did showing much patience through hard work, not once did they permit the challenges they faced to give them an excuse to give up. It sounds like the church at Ephesus had a lot going for it, yet it also had a concern brought to its attention.

Revelation 2:5
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

The church had expended much energy to do the work of God, and somewhere along the way, the hard work became fatigue and fatigue caused them to grow tired of and if you will, had fallen out of love with the truth. The verse does not say that the church at Ephesus abandoned the truth; they just grew tired of the truth, and for this they needed to repent.

Revelation 2:6-7
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Even though they had grown tired of the truth they continued to hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. It is hard to tell what the connection is between growing tired of the truth and hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Perhaps hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans became the big area of focus instead of doing the work of God, and the Church at Ephesus developed a focus on what we should NOT be doing as Christians instead of what we should be doing. Even with all of this, Jesus assures the Church at Ephesus that those who overcome will eat of the tree of life.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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