There are sixty-six books in the Bible. Thirty-nine books make up the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament. Of the twenty-seven in the new, twenty-one of them are what’s called Epistles, or letters to churches. Of these, there are seven letters to churches that are often forgotten about and those are the seven letters that Jesus wrote to the Churches in Revelation.
On day two, we highlighted the fact that these were very real churches to which John was writing and he would have known many of those people personally. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, died in that church. Paul and Timothy had pastored there and it is strongly suggested John personally pastored the church at Ephesus in his later years.
On day three though, we also want to apply the supernatural power of God’s Word and realise that John was instructed that all seven letters were to be read to all seven churches (vs 1:11), and that the messages, though individual to each church, make up a complete message to the whole Church and Ekklesia. Consequently, it could be understood that these letters were also written supernaturally to all churches everywhere, and for all times.
This means Jesus wrote you a letter and as we go through the seven letters, there may be instructions, commendations and possibly exhortations that could be applied to our walk with Jesus as His Church today.
The first church is Ephesus. The believers there were commended on their works and their doctrine (vs 2). They knew what they believed and rejected any false teaching that didn’t line up with that (vs 2,6). They also laboured patiently in the Lord but where Jesus gave them instruction to improve, was in the fact that they were doing all the works and belief without love (vs 4).
Faithful duty and observance of the faith are meaningless unless they are flourishing from a passionate love-filled intimacy with the Saviour. In John 14:23 Jesus, speaking about the indwelling of the Spirit said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him”.
Notice the order? Love comes first, then faithful duty and observance. This is modelled in Christ Himself on the Mount Transfiguration when Father demonstrated the correct order of ministry. He spoke over Jesus a progression and model of love centred ministry when He said, “This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of my delight. Listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5 MSG). The listening to Jesus’ ministry came after the lived reality of the Father’s love. You are first a beloved child of God, passionately in love with Jesus, then out of that experiential knowledge, we speak, minister and faithfully observe. Ephesus had gotten the order of duty and love all out of kilter.
Faithful? Yes. Theologically sound? Absolutely. Passionately filled with the love of God which in turn flowed out to the world around them? No, and for this, they were rebuked. This is because in Jesus’ mind, two out of three will never be enough, not when the one that was missing was a love-filled intimacy with Him.
Here’s what we can know from these verses:
- Jesus wrote to every believer as head of His Church. One of the images John saw was Jesus holding all seven churches in His hand (vs 1:16), depicting that Jesus not only holds them in the palm of His hand like we saw yesterday but that He also holds all of the Church age believers and leaders, (seven representing completion and perfection), past, present and future with His right hand of authority as the Head of His body.
- Obedience flows from Love, not the other way around. Martin Luther said “It is not imitation that makes sons. It is sonship that makes imitators.” If we have found ourselves living a duty-based Christianity that lacks intimacy and zeal, chances are we are trying to be like Christ through observance instead of intimacy. This will lead to our lampstand, which is our shining testimony of Jesus, growing dim to the point of removal.
- You have to nurture love. It is possible in any relationship, even with the Lord, to let our love grow cold and familiar. If this is the case, returning to the first work of our love, for lack of a better term, the dating phase where we put the most effort in, will spark any relationship back into life. This is true for marriage as much as it is true for our faith. In other words, never fail to fall in love with Jesus, over and over again.
