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

Revelation 2 

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:

² ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; ³ and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. ⁶ Yet this you do 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 grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:

⁹ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death

These messages to the churches, 7 all together, are part of the vision John recieved concerning the future return of Christ. As mentioned yesterday these churches are actual churches that existed at that time, approximately 60 years after Jesus resurrection. Again as mentioned yesterday even though these letters were written to these specific churches regarding things that were going on in the church, we can look at these messages today and see revelation and application for our lives, as well as for  the church today. The fact that the events that John see prophetically have not yet taken place to this day and the fact that as we look at all scripture we see in the accounts of and the messages to those who lived before us that the tendencies, weaknesses, trials, temptations and the sins of men really have not changed. So the same problems that existed in these early churches exist today in the lives of individuals and in the church. These messages are a warning and an exhortation to get right, to get ready.

As we look at the message to the church at Ephesus we see that there is a lot that they are doing well. I would say that that is also true in many churches today, in spite of some of the things that may be wrong there is a lot of good going on. The church at Ephesus is commended for their deeds, their perserverance and holding fast to truth. They did not tolerate false apostles and they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitians, which Jesus says He also hates. The Nicolaitians were a sect or cult that had broken away from the truth. They basically lived in the error that because of grace sinful living was permissable. Certainly we can see this spirit active today. Many churches and individuals have so far moved toward a message of grace that they have abandoned the truth of the matter, that while it is true that God forgives our sins and Jesus finished work on the cross paid the price for all sin. There is sin that the cross can't take away, unconfessed, unrepented sin. 1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jesus says throughout His preaching "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."(Matthew 4:17) To live assuming and presuming that the grace of God and the God of grace  will look past the sin we hold on to is a grave mistake. Jesus says He hates the deeds of the Nicolaitians.

The rebuke that the church at Ephesus received was that they had lost their first love. It is possible to do a lot of the right things for the wrong reasons. Even the toil and the perserverance of ministry, outreach and missions is not enough if it is done with the wrong motives. Jesus says “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”(Matthew 22). Our first love is to be our love for God. A love that is from our whole heart, soul and mind. It is this love of God that leads us to our love for others and our work and service for God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 

Jesus says repent, return to your first love. All the good that we do is meaningless if we do it for any reason other than our first love, our love of God. We need to take time, to make time to simply love and worship God.

The message to the church at Smyrna is the only one of the 7 that included no rebuke or call to repentance. Smyrna was a small church which was under much persecution, they were encouraged to hold fast and endure. While there may be a church that has nothing left to change I don't know of one. What I do see in this message is encouragement for individuals who are going through various trials and difficulties. Whether health problems, poverty or persecution for faith. Jesus does not neccessarily say He will deliver us from the difficulties, but He will surely deliver us through them. He says  "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."

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