Daily Bread 2010 - Revelation 2
Daily Bread 2010 – Revelation 2
To the Church in Ephesus
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
The first church that is addressed out of the seven is the church at Ephesus. We know this church was a strategic church in the early church, and the apostle Paul did a lot of his work out of this church. Ephesus was a major city located on the west coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and was major commercial center for trade and traffic in ancient times. It also became a major outpost of Christianity.
But it appears in their zeal and religious fervor, they had forgotten something, their first love. It appears in the desire to root out evil they had forgotten the Main Thing. They too were evil and needed to repent as well. The message is so strong that John writes that if they do not repent, their lampstand will be removed. While we don’t know exactly what this means, one can assume that at the very least God’s blessing and the Spirit power would be greatly limited.
And how can we relate today? There is a saying that sometimes we can become so heavenly minded we are no earthly good. Another saying is to be careful to not just be about what you are against! The fundamental message of the Gospel is Good News, that God is for us and sent His Son to show us how much God loves us. It is God’s love that transforms not human judgment or hellfire damnation preaching.
Most people know that they need to “shape up”, they just lack the power to do so. The message of repentance is not just shape up or clean up your act, but realize God’s kingdom is at hand. And at the heart of God’s kingdom is a God who loves us as evidenced by how Jesus lived, loved and died on a cross for us. Have you forsaken your first love? Has your/our church? If so let us remember the love that first brought us to Christ and remember that will be the most effective way to reach others as well.
Jesus thank you for showing us how deep the Father’s love for us that we might be called sons and daughters of God. While you call us to avoid evil things, maybe we not get so caught up in what we are against that we forget the God who is for us in all things. Amen.
To the Church in Ephesus
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
The first church that is addressed out of the seven is the church at Ephesus. We know this church was a strategic church in the early church, and the apostle Paul did a lot of his work out of this church. Ephesus was a major city located on the west coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and was major commercial center for trade and traffic in ancient times. It also became a major outpost of Christianity.
But it appears in their zeal and religious fervor, they had forgotten something, their first love. It appears in the desire to root out evil they had forgotten the Main Thing. They too were evil and needed to repent as well. The message is so strong that John writes that if they do not repent, their lampstand will be removed. While we don’t know exactly what this means, one can assume that at the very least God’s blessing and the Spirit power would be greatly limited.
And how can we relate today? There is a saying that sometimes we can become so heavenly minded we are no earthly good. Another saying is to be careful to not just be about what you are against! The fundamental message of the Gospel is Good News, that God is for us and sent His Son to show us how much God loves us. It is God’s love that transforms not human judgment or hellfire damnation preaching.
Most people know that they need to “shape up”, they just lack the power to do so. The message of repentance is not just shape up or clean up your act, but realize God’s kingdom is at hand. And at the heart of God’s kingdom is a God who loves us as evidenced by how Jesus lived, loved and died on a cross for us. Have you forsaken your first love? Has your/our church? If so let us remember the love that first brought us to Christ and remember that will be the most effective way to reach others as well.
Jesus thank you for showing us how deep the Father’s love for us that we might be called sons and daughters of God. While you call us to avoid evil things, maybe we not get so caught up in what we are against that we forget the God who is for us in all things. Amen.
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