Sermon Tone Analysis

February 17,2012

By John Barnett

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There was a church in the New Testament world that was doing all the right things for the Lord; but there was one problem: they were doing all the right things for the wrong reasons.

Jesus addresses that problem in His first letter to the Churches in Revelation 2.

If you were arriving into the harbor to visit that church of Revelation 2 in Ephesus today, there is only one sight that would catch your eyes.

Not the bustling harbor teeming with boats, not the roads lined with the exotic spices and goods from the east.

No: it would be the lustrous golden gleam of the Temple of Diana.

The largest building ever built in the ancient world, the size of a city block, 10 stories high and covered with gold.

It was the center of the worship of Artemis (Greek), or Diana (Roman), whose temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

To this cosmopolitan, world renowned city, Jesus sent this letter.

Let’s hear His Voice:

Revelation 2:1-7 /“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.

And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.

4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”/’

*POINT #1: CHRIST HAD A POWERFUL TESTIMONY AT EPHESUS*

*JESUS ADDRESSES EACH ASSEMBLY 2:1a: “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write”*

The word “angel” literally means “messenger.”

Although it can mean angel—and does throughout the book—it cannot refer to angels here because angels are never leaders in the church.

Most likely, these messengers are the seven key elders representing each of those churches.

Ephesus was an inland city 3 miles from the sea, but the broad mouth of the Cayster River allowed access and provided the greatest harbor in Asia Minor.

Four great trade roads went through Ephesus; therefore, it became known as the gateway to Asia.

• Powerful Founding: The saints at Ephesus were heirs to the greatest days of Paul’s earthly ministry; and the longest.

• Godly Nurturing: Paul sent Timothy who stayed until church history records a mob killed him for his strong preaching against sin.

John the Apostle lived there until his exile in Patmos; and then returned from Patmos to continue in ministry there.

• Tremendous History: Paul ministered there for three years (Acts 20:31), and later met with the Ephesian elders on his way to Jerusalem (Acts 20).

Timothy, Tychicus, and the apostle John all served this church.

John was in Ephesus when he was arrested by Domitian and exiled 50 miles southwest to Patmos.

Mary the mother of our Lord lived and died there.

*POINT #2: EPHESUS WAS AN ASSEMBLY IN A VERY STRATEGIC PLACE*

JESUS ADDRESSES EACH WITH AUTHORITY 2:1b /‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands”/

These seven stars are the messengers who represent the seven churches.

Christ holds them in his hand, which means that he controls the church and its leaders.

The sharp two-edged sword pictures the Roman, two-edged broad sword.

It signifies judgment (cf.

2:16; 19:15) on those who defile His Temple, attack His people, or try to destroy His church.

*POINT #3: JESUS APPROVED THEIR PURITY IN THE MIDST OF A WICKED CULTURE*

JESUS ADDRESSES EACH WITH AN APPROVAL 2:2-3, 6: /“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.

And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.

4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate/.

There are 10 specific commendations from Christ, more than for any other church.

In v. 2 Christ points out these elements of obedience in the Church at Ephesus:

(1) “I know your works”;

(2) “your labor”: beyond work kopos to exhaustion;

(3) “your patience” = Not passive ‘remain under’ but active, with great weight lifting and bearing;

(4) “you cannot bear those who are evil”: living in purity in the shadow of the magnificent palace to gross immorality, the temple of Diana;

(5) “And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars”: means they were orthodox and strong, and exercised spiritual discernment.

In v. 3 He continues pointing out their commendable spiritual qualities as a church:

(6) “and you have persevered”;

(7) “and have patience”;

(8) “and have labored for My name’s sake”;

(9) “and have not become weary”: For over 40 years, since its founding, this church had remained faithful to the word and the Lord.

Through difficulty and persecution, the members had endured, always driven by the right motive.

(10) Finally in v. 6 Jesus gives them another high honor: “you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate”.

A problem in Pergamum also (vv.

12–15), this heresy was similar to the teaching of Balaam (vv.

14–15).

Nicolas means “one who conquers the people.”

Irenaeus (c.

130-202) writes that Nicolas, who was made a deacon in Acts 6, was a false believer who later became apostate; like Balaam, he led the people into immorality and wickedness.

Their teaching perverted grace and replaced liberty with license.

What a great church: planted by Paul, nurtured by Priscilla, Aquilla, Apollos, Timothy, Mary, and John.

The Bible devotes one of the most amazing chapters in the New Testament as a biographical explanation of why this church got such high marks, the highest of any of the seven churches.

Now turn with me to:

*The Acts 19 Biography of The Church at Ephesus*

Acts 19 is the biography of the saints at Ephesus, a phenomenal grace-energized church, and in that account we find the timeless keys to a church God can use greatly.

God's Word explains to us what makes Christ's church powerful in any culture.

It is when:

• God’s Son is magnified, and

• God’s People are consecrated, then

• God's Word prevailed.

Jesus was magnified and God's Word prevailed in this group of consecrated people in the New Testament church at Ephesus.

The saints of Ephesus overcame the same pressures facing us as believers today: a pleasure-seeking culture, a mind-assaulting media, and a materialism-dominated way of life.

God's Word always has an answer for how to walk in the Spirit, abide in Christ, and see Christ's church prevail in an ever-darkening world.

The struggle is always against our flesh and the Devil; and resisting both is what we are charged with as an imperative from God's Word.

*When God's Word Prevailed in Dark Ephesus*

Acts 19 records one of the greatest revivals in Biblical history.

Paul went to the godless heart of the Eastern Roman Empire called Ephesus.

There he confronted the evils of culture that godlessness begets: materialism, pride, occultism, and sensuality—each of which is still a constant enemy of our walk with Christ.

The kingdom of darkness was left shaken to the core, confused and fighting against itself.

Then, God called out a group of believers that would form one of the greatest churches of the New Testament era.

By their zenith they numbered as many as 50,000 and were the home church of Paul, Mary, John, and Timothy.

Before we study through Acts 19 for a look at this incredible revival that swept through the church at Ephesus, remember the facts about this place.

Ephesus was a coastal seaport along the commercial trade route linking east to west.

For hundreds of years the worship of Diana (or Artemis) had made Ephesus a thriving, and safe commercial center.

The Temple was dedicated to Artemis a sex goddess, worshipped by unbridled immorality was at the center of everything done in that city.

Hundreds of prostitutes were always on the grounds to promote this unrestrained indulgence of the flesh.

Ephesus was a magnet for not just the sexually enslaved; it was also the center of the promotion of the black arts, witchcraft, superstition, and all the powers of Satan.

That helps us understand why Paul would tell these Ephesians that there was so much more than the physical world to contend with these words in Ephesians 6:12:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

So in this very dark, very worldly, very alluring place of sin—Christ's church was born.

And Acts 19:8-20 records that amazing birth.

Please turn with me and listen to what God can do when His Son is magnified, His Word unleashed, and His children are consecrated for His Glory.

*Facing the Darkness Acts 19:8-10*

In Acts 19:8-10 we find the plan God laid on Paul’s heart for reaching a society so much like ours.

Paul faced off against the powers of darkness in Ephesus by one of the longest recorded times he ever got to spend teaching God's Word in a synagogue.