Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Last week, we were introduced to the magnificent vision of Christ which John saw, which left him as though he were dead.

This was similar to the vision that several of the Old Testament prophets had seen with a similar feeling of being undone.

However, in this vision, it was more than a vision as John felt the touch of the hand of Jesus.

Several parts of Jesus’ appearance were described and which will find themselves again at various points of the text, including today’s passage.

Today, we will look at the portion of the letter which is addressed to the city of Ephesus.

Ephesus was considered the crown jewel of Asia Minor (modern Turkey).

Even though it was not the capital of the Roman province of Asia which was Pergamum, it was the greatest city in Asian Minor.

It boasted one of the largest populations of any city in the Roman Empire.

It had magnificent buildings, and all the amenities of what was then modern Rome.

There was running water, baths, indoor toilets for the rich, anyway, a library, a school and library complex, as well as a large theatre which could seat 25,000 people.

The city was a free city which the Romans granted the right of self-governance.

This was an esteemed privilege which was granted and defended against anything which would disturb the peace.

This is why the clerk of the city (mayor) in Acts 19:35 was quick to calm the disturbance which broke out as a result of Paul’s preaching there.

This was a real threat.

We can see that this happened to Judaea and Jerusalem who had been self-governed under the Herods.

But when the peace was disturbed there, Rome took control and appointed a Roman governor.

The same could have happened here.

There were several temples in the city dedicated to various gods.

The biggest of these was the Temple of Artemis (Diana) which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It was the cause of much of the cities wealth, and many entrusted their valuables to her safekeeping in the Temple.

Loans were made on these deposits, making the Temple serve as a bank.

The tourists of the Artemis trade was a major boost to the economy, just as the Temple in Jerusalem was to Palestine.

When Paul arrived there, his preaching there disturbed the business of selling souvenir shrines as well as those who sold magic charms.

This led to the aforementioned disturbance that caused the pople of the town to riot and rush to the theatre shouting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.”

There was also a large Jewish community there as well.

The preaching of John the Baptist had arrived there which led to speculation that the Messiah was at hand.

Apollos, a Jew from another great city of the Roman Empire, Alexandria, had come there with his great knowledge of the Scripture and probably the Alexandrian Jewish theology as well.

So Paul and his companions had found fertile ground to expound Jesus to.

And apparently, the well-educated Jews gave Paul a little more time to make his case before rising up against him.

It was one of these Ephesian Jews who led to Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem.

Ephesus became a great center of Christianity.

Paul spent three years there preaching.

At some later time, John himself came there.

Timothy was there.

It became the source of missionary activity to Asia Minor, including the seven churches or Revelation.

We don’t have any Scriptural evidence of the interactions between the Christians which Paul evangelized, and those which John had charge over.

As churches were usually house churches, it is possible that Ephesus was large enough for Paul and John, especially if Ephesus was considered to be the city with its surrounding suburbs.

This does not mean, of course, that there was not some degree of contact between their churches.

However, the only other church of the seven in Revelation that Paul makes mention of in Colossians is a now lost letter to the Laodicieans.

Many of the New Testament seem to focus around Ephesus.

Of these, Revelation, Acts, and Ephesians make direct mention of Ephesus.

In addition, we can add 1 and 2 Timothy, probably 1 John, the Gospel of John, and possibly Hebrews.

From these, we can come up with some idea of the churches of Ephesus.

Paul had prophetically warned the elders of the church to guard the church’s teaching against grevious wolves who would attempt to scatter the flock.

There is strong evidence that these travelling false teachers had tried to infiltrate the churches with their heresies.

We see this in 1 and 2 Timothy and 1 John.

From Revelation, we learn that they had passed that test.

We also learn from the other sources that Ephesus struggled with Christian love, which is also evidenced here.

Finally, Emperor Worship was firmly established in Ephesus.

The guardians of Emperor Worship in Ephesus were called Asiarchs and are mentioned in Acts as warning Paul not to venture to the theatre to defend himself.

Eventually this cult would demand worship from everyone.

In order to buy anything in the market, one had to offer incense to Caesar as a god in order to enter.

They would receive a stamp on their hand (mark of the beast?) which cleared them to enter the market.

They were also to obtain yearly certificates indicating they had made the proper sacrifices.

We cannot be sure how far along the worship of the Emperor had progressed at the time of Revelation, but Caesar wanted to be called King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The fact that both Revelation and 1 Timothy claim this title for Jesus indicates that a showdown was starting between those who would worship Caesar and those who would worship Christ.

Exposition of the Text

The messages to all seven churches begin with “Unto the church in __________, write” and an admonition that those who have ears need to head this message which comes from the Holy Spirit.

This introduction to the church is followed by a “Thus says”.

This reminds us of the Old Testament prophets introducing their oracles with a statement like “Thus saith the LORD.

These messages which are coming by the pen of John are actually coming from God Himself.

Each message to the individual church picks up something which John has already written in the Apocalypse about Jesus.

To the church at Ephesus, he reminds them that Jesus holds the seven stars firmly in His right hand.

This means that He is Lord and has authority over them.

It also means that it is also He who protects Him.

As we noted last week, the “right hand” is a metaphor of strength.

This should produce a mixture or reverent fear as well as comfort to the church.

In addition, Jesus reminds them that He is walking in the middle of the seven churches.

If the image of Jesus in a long white robe and golden sash is that of a priest, then Jesus is portrayed as one who maintains the oil in the lamps and walks back and forth between them, then here we see that Jesus is taking an active role in maintaining discipline in the church that the light of the seven churches may not go out.

And if the lamp is din, then these admonitions which He brings to the seven churches are for the purpose of the lights shining even brighter.

Even though this is directed at Ephesus, all of the other churches will be hearing this message as well and need to take heed.

In verse two, Jesus begins by letting the Ephesians know that he is aware of what is going on for good or ill in Ephesus as well as the other churches as well.

He knows their works, and nothing is hidden.

He relates what the church is doing well at Ephesus.

This is true of the messages to all the churches except Sardis and Laodicea.

The Ephesian church had many things going for it.

First of all, the church is commended for its perseverance under difficult conditions.

They had been patient and deliberate in their undertakings.

This was demonstrated in their thorough investigation of claims of those who came, claiming that they were sent by God.

They showed no tolerance for those whose claims were not consistent to what Jesus had taught and what had been transmitted by the true Apostles, They were the inside threat to the purity of the church.

These “liars” are mentioned before the outside threat because they actually represent a greater threat to the church than any amount of persecution from outside.

The northern tribes were not destroyed by the Assyrian army.

Many captives were taken and assimilated into the world culture.

But they had lost their identity as Israel.

God said this was the result of rot from the inside which resulted in their removal as the people of God.

Verse three seems to mention the outside pressure brought to bear under the Ephesian church.

Under some degree of external opposition, they had remained faithful to Christ and had borne up well from the reproaches which had been cast at them.

They had not fainted in their witness to them.

It is interesting that the word “fainted” or in some translations “become tired” is a verb which is used to describe Jesus’ condition at the Samaritan well in John 4 as well as used with the noun “labor” twice in John 4:38 to describe the labor that the Old Testament Prophets and Jesus underwent to sow the seeds of the Gospel.

Their labor was unto death.

John uses the verb here and these three times in the perfect tense in Greek which indicates an ongoing condition.

If the meaning carries over here, it might be similar to the admonition to the church in Hebrews 12:4 that they had not yet resisted unto blood.

Ralph Bass seems to think that Hebrews was written during the same time period as Revelation, that is not long before the destruction of Jerusalem and was dealing with a immanent persecution of the church, as does Revelation.

I also seem to think that Hebrews has Ephesus or the general area as either the source or destination of the letter.

This would then serve as a warning to Ephesus that they had held up well from external pressure; however, these pressures were about to increase.

The church needed to remain faithful under these deteriorating conditions.

If the reader wishes to know more about the use of “tired” in John 4, he/she might want to reference my sermons “She Finally Found a Good Man” and “Sole Food” which are available in this sermon archive.

Verse four begins with a strong “BUT”.

The Greek has a weaker and stronger word that are translated “but” in English.