The Christians at Ephesus were hard workers and full of patient endurance. They were faithful, indefatigable, and doctrinally sound. They did not tolerate wicked men. They tested the false apostles and spied out false teaching. A few years after Revelation was written, the church father Ignatius wrote to Ephesus and again praised them because he heard the report that no heresy or sect or false teaching could even gain an audience in the Ephesian church-they were taught so well.
The church at Ephesus was also ethically sound. Its members hated the practice of the Nicolaitians- the anything-goes crowd of the day. The Nicolaitans were the ones who said, "You're free in Christ. Live like you're free and get rid of these rules. Go with the flow. Accommodate the culture. Jesus was the great sexual liberator. God's grace is wide and inclusive. Live as you like." The Ephesians were not drawn away by such notions. In fact, Jesus commended them for two virtues scarcely mentioned in the church: intolerance (of false teaching) and hatred (of immorality). For all the talk in circles about the supremely inclusive kingdom of God, it should not escape out notice that Ephesus was not praised for their inclusion, but for their exclusion.
Jesus might say to an Ephesus church today, "You are very faithful people. You declare the truth in an age of error. You can spot false teaching and wrong living and do not follow it. You are hardworking, truth-defending, immorality-hating Christians. I commend you for that." If Revelation 2:1-7 is any model, Jesus wouldn't chastise contemporary Ephesus churches for being fastidious about doctrine and morals. Those are genuinely good things. The problem is, as the contemporary culture is quick to point out, those are not the only things.
The church at Ephesus was your exemplary fundamentalist, evangelical church with a good Protestant work ethic and a close eye on theological orthodoxy. This was good, but these aren't the only things that matter in a church. Ephesus had one big, cancerous problem. They didn't love.
At one time, there was great love in this church (Eph. 1:15-16), but it had been lost. At first glance it seems that their love for God had grown cold, but in the OT whenever God's people are said to forsake their love for God they are pictured as adulterous and idolatrous (Jer. 2 and Hos. 4), which dosen't fit Ephesus. No, It wasn't the loving feeling they had lost. They had stopped doing something they used to do (which is why Jesus tells them to do the works they did at first). Their fault wasn't with the first great commandment, but with the second. They loved God, but they did not love their neighbors as themselves.
They stopped loving one another in the church. They had keen minds and busy hands, but shriveled hearts. They were a classic case of 1 Corinthians 13- "If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knoledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." (v.2) The church at Ephesus was strong in some areas, but with out practical, tangible love for one another, they were in danger of becoming worthless as a church. The people care about being right, but they no longer cared about one another. My guess is their precise, careful eye for theological and moral error become a precise, careful eye for finding fault in one another.
This is the great danger for doctrinally sound churches. They can be quick to judge and slow to forgive. They analyze everything and everyone. They are so used to fighting against the world that when they get bored with that they turn and fight among themselves. They always need to be against something, always purifying something, always looking for error or inconsistency. This is why many denominations that split end up splitting again. Fighting gets in their blood.
It doesn't matter if you are up against all the things you should be against, if you aren't for anything. That's the Lord's point to Ephesus. "You hate what I hate. That's good. But you do not love what I love." I can tell in my own spirit when I am arguing a poing to be right and when I am arguing a point out of love. There is a big difference between the two. Do I want to be right because "I know this is right, moron, and why can't you see it?" Or am I arguing my point because "I love you and I know this will be good for you and honor Christ"?
Ephesus' lovelessness manifested itself in another kind of sin, not just a lack of life-giving fellowship but a lack of life-giving witness. The followers of Christ were so busy battling and protecting and defending that they had turned inward t self-protection and suspicion. They were navel-gazers, with no vision or purpose outside themselves. They were great at keeping the world out of the church, but they were terrible at taking the church out into the world.
Ephesus' lovelessness manifested itself in another kind of sin, not just a lack of life-giving fellowship but a lack of life-giving witness. The followers of Christ were so busy battling and protecting and defending that they had turned inward t self-protection and suspicion. They were navel-gazers, with no vision or purpose outside themselves. They were great at keeping the world out of the church, but they were terrible at taking the church out into the world.
Consequently, Jesus, He who walks among the lampstands, threatened to take away their lampstand that was failing to give light- even though they were to be the light of the world. Jesus calls all followers to "let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16).
The light at Ephesus had grown dim. They had good deeds, but not in love for one another. They defended the light, but they were not shining it into the dark places of the world. They were not bearing witness to Jesus Christ in their love or in their testimony. And as a result, Jesus says, "I will come and take away your ight if it does not shine." And, sadly, He did. There is no church at Ephesus. This is not the reason every church closes its doors. But certainly it has been true many times and continues to be true that churches which refuse to live and shine and bear witness in the world will die. Let this be a warning to all Ephesus churches: Give the gospel away or lose it.
It is sad but true. Theologically astute churches and theologically minded pastors sometimes die of dead orthodoxy. Some grow sterile and cold, petrified as the frozen chosen, not compromising with the world, but not engaging it either. We may think right, live right, and do right, but if we do it off in a corner, shining our lights at one another to probe our brother's sins instead of pointing our light out into the world, we will, as a church, grow dim, and eventually our light will be extinguished.
Taken from: Why we aren't emergent by two guys who should be. By. Kevin Deyoung
No comments:
Post a Comment