Love the Lord for victory and life.

 

Sermon for Lent 3, Oculi, March 3, 2021

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Revelation 2:1-7  To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven gold lampstands, says this:  ²I know your works, your labor, and your patient endurance, and that you are not able to tolerate evil people.  You have tested those who say they are apostles, but are not, and have found them to be liars.  ³Indeed, you do have patient endurance.  You have endured hardships on account of my name and have not become weary.  ⁴But I have this against you: You have forsaken your first love.  ⁵Remember, therefore, the state from which you have fallen!  Repent and do the works you did at first.  Otherwise I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent.  ⁶But you do have this: You hate the actions of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.  ⁷Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To the one who is victorious I will give the privilege to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (EHV)

Love the Lord for victory and life.

Dear blood-bought friends,

            What do you suppose Jesus would say if He dictated a letter to you?  In the book of the Revelation, Jesus commands St. John to write seven letters to churches in the Roman province of Asia which is in present day Turkey.  These seven letters follow a definite pattern in which the Savior expresses some point of commendation for most of the churches, but He also lists some serious faults that endanger the spiritual lives of those people involved.  He adds admonition to do right, calls the reader to hear, and makes a promise to those who are faithful.  So what would Jesus say to you?

I won’t pretend that I can answer that question for you individually, but this letter to the Ephesian congregation certainly bears important reminders about which Christian believers in our times should also be concerned, for we too suffer some of the same faults and weaknesses.  It seems best to break down this letter by passage, so we learn to Love the Lord for victory and life.

The identity of the speaker is found in the preceding chapter, and this is obviously the Lord Jesus.  To John He says, “To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven gold lampstands, says this:”  The preceding passages tell us the seven stars are the angels, or messengers, God provides to the churches.  These represent the pastors assigned to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord in those congregations.  The golden lampstands represent the Word of the Lord being proclaimed in those places.  Taken together, this is the church in the world. 

The Lord holds those preachers in His hand.  This might indicate His protection of those men, yet perhaps the best interpretation is that the Lord pictures pastors as the tools He uses to bring the light of His Word to the world.  Remember, Jesus told His disciples, “I am the Light of the World.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)  And to the believers, He says, “You are the light of the world.  A city located on a hill cannot be hidden.  People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket.  No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” (Matthew 5:14-15)  Thus, we should remember that the local congregations are not alone in the Christian faith.  The Lord Jesus is with us as we gather around the Word.  He is leading, guiding, empowering, and protecting us as we shine His light while we journey through this perilous life with the promise of forgiveness and salvation in our midst.

So, we know the who—now for the what: Jesus said, “I know your works, your labor, and your patient endurance, and that you are not able to tolerate evil people.  You have tested those who say they are apostles, but are not, and have found them to be liars.”  Here, the Lord also speaks to us.  We can and should remain faithful to God’s word, and we should test those who proclaim a message saying, “God said.”  Like the Ephesian believers, we are right to be discerning in what we teach.  We are to proclaim God’s Word without alteration, mixing, or deception, offering forgiveness and salvation through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone.  Thus, our practice of disciplining fellow believers when they fall, and of keeping ourselves separate from false teachers, and those who mix truth with falsehood, is to be commended.

Jesus also commended the congregation when He said, “Indeed, you do have patient endurance.  You have endured hardships on account of my name and have not become weary.”  By the time these letters were written, Christians in the Roman empire had endured several rounds of horrible, intense persecutions in which many Christians were tortured or killed.  In the provinces, especially, worship of idols and emperors led to Christians being hated, mocked, and abused as traitors to the empire.  If that doesn’t sound like what is happening in our times, the only thing lacking is being thrown to the lions or sword simply for our faith.  Yet, those Christian believers endured despite everything thrown against them. We, likewise, should patiently endure the troubles and opposition of this world with confidence in all Jesus has done to give us life that never ends in the glory of heaven. 

Later in the letter, Jesus also commended the congregation saying, “But you do have this: You hate the actions of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”  We don’t know a lot about the Nicolaitans, but they appear to have followed the teaching that since Jesus died for all sins, and by grace we are freed from sin, we are completely free to do anything we desire, so they become notorious for their extreme immorality and passioned indulgence of intoxicants and wicked acts. 

We would like to think that we hate such things too.  However, as the society we live in becomes ever more polluted with various immoralities: lust, greed, polygamy, polyamory, gambling, drunkenness, sexual ambiguity, self-indulgence, open hostility to authority, and vices too numerous to mention, do we even notice wickedness, anymore?

This all sounded like so much faithfulness in the congregation, but then comes the damning rebuke: “But I have this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”  How sad and terrifying this is to hear.  A congregation that was doing so much that is good had forgotten its first love.  And what would be the first love of the Church but the Bridegroom Himself?  The church at Ephesus was so busy doing all that they should that they forgot why they were doing it.  No longer was the love of Christ, their Savior, the motivating power.  No longer was their love for God driving their behaviors, so no longer loving Christ, they could not love their neighbors either.  Now, they were just following the rules or traditions.

The First and chief Commandment is this: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)  This love was no longer there, but without Christ at the center of everything we do, there is no longer saving faith, and without faith we are still in our sins, which is why the Lord says He will remove the light of His Word and salvation from their midst if repentance doesn’t take them back to believing and trusting and loving the Lord Jesus.  As Jesus taught while encouraging persistent prayer, “Will not God give justice to his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night?  Will he put off helping them?  I tell you that he will give them justice quickly.  However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7-8)  Will Jesus find faith among us when He returns?  That is the question, isn’t it?

Jesus said, “Remember, therefore, the state from which you have fallen!  Repent and do the works you did at first.  Otherwise I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent.”  Like with the Ephesians, Jesus calls for us to repent and do the works we once did.  Repentance means turning away from anything that doesn’t trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.  That includes pleading for forgiveness of all our sins, but also means trusting that we are forgiven for Jesus’ sake.  It means forgetting about earning any part of our salvation but firmly holding to the truth that Jesus has accomplished everything needed to reconcile us with His Father.  It means that we no longer seek after the things of this world but find our treasure in the things above, especially in the love and forgiveness of our God.

Jesus closes this brief letter with the encouragement, “Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To the one who is victorious I will give the privilege to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”  The Lord who lived, died, and rose again for you and me wants all people to be saved.  He wants us to listen to every word of saving truth He has provided in the Bible.  He wants us to trust that He has paid for all our sins, every weakness, and every shortcoming found in us.  Jesus wants us to know, to remember, and to cherish that we have life everlasting through faith in Him, because God the Father loves you and intentionally gave His beloved Son into death so that your sins are removed from you forever.  The Light of our Savior reveals the one way to heaven which is Jesus Himself, because He has already lived a perfect life in your place.  Jesus has already suffered the full punishment for your guilt.  Jesus has conquered the old evil foe on your behalf, and the Father has counted all of Jesus’ perfect, successful work as yours, so there is nothing to keep you from His Father’s mansion above.

As we all confess, there is much in each of our hearts that would have condemned us before God.  Our thoughts, actions, and desires are never pure.  Our faith is often far too weak.  Yet, for you and me, Jesus was never short of the perfect holiness we need.  Indeed, through faith, for Jesus’ sake, His Father has counted all of us as righteous, perfectly faithful, and completely pure and holy.  St. Paul wrote to the Roman congregation, “What will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)

Dear friends, return to your first love every moment of every day.  Love the Lord who lived for you, died for you, and rose again so that He could reign for you forever.  Love the one Man who could never betray or hurt you, the Son of God and Man who has opened the riches of heaven for you and for all.  Love the Lord for victory and life.  Amen.

May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our fathers.  May he never leave us or abandon us.  May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways.  Amen.