Revelation Part 2: Ephesus

So John starts with Ephesus. Why, you might ask? We'll it's simple actually. Have a look at the map again: here and have a guess.

From the island of Patmos, Ephesus is the first stop, so the decision is pretty straightforward. From there, Postman Pat* (*names have been changed to protect identities) heads in a nice horseshoe north, looping round and heading back down to end in Laodicea for a nice cup of tea.

Ephesus is the only city to already have a starring role in the New Testament. Challenge 3 of the series is to read Ephesians - a very good book. The good thing here is you get two perspectives - Paul and John (speaking for Jesus). In actual fact, Revelation is the fourth book in the New Testament to have been a letter sent to Ephesus…prize of nothing if you can guess the other two…

Well done! 1 & 2 Timothy were written by Paul, who founded the Ephesian church in 52 AD, to Timothy, who was boss man at the time.

As well as having an established church, Ephesus was the light of Asia - its great and famous city. But it was also a wicked and infamous city.

How easy is it to not be so nice to people when they're horrible characters? VERY!!! I know that all too well, and it's certainly true here. In Ephesus, Jesus says, the church has lost its love. Its love for Jesus, but also for the people of the city.

How do you think the two are linked, if at all? I would say there is basically no difference. Jesus isn't sat on the next park bench - we show we love him by loving others…think of what he says in Matthew 25:40, "Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me."

So what does it mean to lose our first love? Just think of the love you had for something new - boyfriend, girlfriend, baby brother / sister, phone…there's plenty of things I can think of. But over time your interest can wane. It doesn't mean you don't love that person / thing anymore. Just that once it gets a little tarnished - the grass can look greener somewhere else.

And how do we get it back? The key phrase for you is: "Beholding is becoming". Sounds very Mark Elder, but what it means is, by looking into the face of Jesus (beholding), we become more like him. How do we do that exactly? Intentional, communal worship is a good start, and we also see Christ in the Bible.

This is an immediate and an ongoing process. Look at verse 5: "Think about where you have fallen from, and then turn back and do as you did at first." To 'think about' is an ongoing thing, 'turn[ing] back' is immediate.

So if losing your first love is a problem for you, you can choose to do something about it right now, and also every day for the rest of your life!

Dead easy!

Up next…Smyrna, the resurrection city.

Revelation Part 1: Introduction

We've recently looked at Revelation in Youth Lifegroup, and having heard a Bible Reading series at Keswick, I thought it a good excuse to do a blog series on the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 & 3.

First challenge…can you remember the names of the seven churches?
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No? The first letters are E, S, P, T, S, P, L.
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Still not got them all? Go on then - they're Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
Check out a map of the area here:

The letters were a series of transcriptions, John the author having been inspired (told what to say) by the Spirit. Rev. 1:13 says Jesus is there speaking to him, and much of the description of Jesus here is repeated in the letters.
The most likely time of writing was ~90AD, at a time of intense persecution of not only Christians, but also other faiths & philosophies deemed dangerous to the rule of Emperor Domitian. Even astrologers were expelled from Rome, in case they predicted the downfall of Domitian. Funnily enough he died in the end…like the rest of us.

As is clear if you have a quick read through chapters 2 & 3 (go on…I double-dare you!), there's a lot of things Jesus has to say to all the churches (and by inference all Christians). Everything he says is said in love - even the bad stuff.
Second challenge…how can you say negative things in love? We aren't called to be soppy, cheerful, never saying anything types - there is plenty of room for discipline and challenging in the church - the difference is how we do it. Why not read through again and make a note of all the negative things said, and see how they are said, and what accompanies them?
Also common throughout is Jesus saying 'I know where you are at'. I don't know about you, but empathy can sometimes be hard; especially when you haven't chosen to be nice to that person…sometimes you just get a load of emotions dumped on you and all you want to do is run away…Jesus never runs away.

Now to look at the way Jesus speaks to his church. Do you remember what relationship there is between Christ and the Church?
That's right - the church is the bride of Christ, and Jesus speaks to it as a broken-hearted lover. As we'll see, parts of the church were denying Christ in their lives; think for a minute how you'd feel if your boyfriend / girlfriend / parents / sibling(s) denied knowledge of you and completely blanked you…ouch.

Finally, here's a great analogy for who is welcome in Christ's church - a rugby team.
Unlike a football team where everyone looks the same (except Peter Crouch) - no porkers trotting around next to Wayne in the England team - a rugby team has such a variety of people. From the wide-boy front row props, to the beanpole second rowers, slippery scrum half and runt-like winger and full back, there's probably more variety there than anywhere on the planet (except for women, but they don't really count, do they…), and that's a great picture of the church - all are welcome. Unless you play Rugby League.

So there's an introduction for you - keep your eyes peeled for the next seven parts appearing here over the next few weeks.