The Actively Militant but Loveless Church

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Revelation 2:2-3

2 "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;  3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary.

NKJV

The first church addressed by John in the Book of Revelation is the Church at Ephesus.  Paul addressed this same church in the Book of Ephesians.  In Paul’s letter to this church he told them to put on the whole armor of God because our enemy is not a flesh and blood enemy but the spiritual hosts of wickedness (Ephesians6:12-13). 

As the site of the ancient Temple of Artemis, (1) life for Christians in Ephesus was not easy.  Acts 19 records Paul’s trip to Ephesus.  Upon arriving in Ephesus Paul met some disciples and discovered the Holy Spirit had not yet baptized them.  Perhaps familiar with the pagan worship in the city Paul knew they would need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to effectively minister. 

After the believers in the city received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Paul began to teach.  Paul's teaching began first at the synagogue for three months but when he encountered resistance, he withdrew the disciples to the school of Tyrannus and continued teaching there for two years.  During this period, God performed many miracles of healing and cast out demons. 

However, this presented a threat to those profiting from the worship of Artemis.  This threat prompted Demetrius, a silversmith who profited greatly from the worship of Artemis to stir up others profiting from pagan worship and a riot ensued (Acts19:28).  No doubt, this animosity between the Christians in the city and those profiting from the worship of Artemis continued and is why Paul taught them to put on the full armor of God to battle the spiritual powers behind the pagan worship of Artemis in the city. 

In the Book of Revelation, John commends this church for their stand against the evil of their city but he also has something against them.  They may have been a strong militant church when it came to spiritual warfare but they were also a loveless church that had left its first love, Jesus Christ. 

The church today also finds itself in the middle of a spiritual battle.  We may not be battling a pagan religion worshiping a pagan god but we are battling the ungodly philosophy of post-modernism that does not adhere to any absolute truth such as the Word of God.  (2)  Secular society’s adherence to this ungodly philosophy has led to the acceptance as normal sinful lifestyles like gay marriage and sins like abortion.  Like Christians in Ephesus, Christians today face persecution such as loss of their business or job because of their beliefs.  It has also led to the acceptance of the barbarian harvesting of organs from living babies in the interest of medical research.  Like the Ephesian church, today’s church must stand strong against these ungodly practices but we must also heed God’s warning and not abandon our first love Jesus Christ.

In our busy society, it is easy to get so busy we neglect daily devotional time with our Lord.  As persecution of Christians in our society increases, as I believe it will, we must maintain a strong connection with our Lord and fellow believers in order to remain strong.  We as believers must,

1)      Be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  Just as Jesus warned his disciples to wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit prior to beginning their ministries (Acts 1:4), we too need this empowerment to battle the spiritual battles facing us today.

2)      Spend time daily with the Lord in prayer and study of the Bible.  God speaks to us through His Word, the Bible.  As our first love, we should have a desire to hear from our Lord.  If Jesus is our first love, we should also want to hear from Him daily and not just once or twice a week at church.  Prayer is how we speak to God.  God loved us so much that he sent His Son to save us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8).  Just as our love for God should cause us to want to hear from Him, God also wants to hear from us.

3)      Gather regularly with other believers.  When we experience persecution, we begin to feel isolated, thinking we are the only ones experiencing this persecution.  However, as we gather with other believers, we will discover that we all suffer some form or persecution for our beliefs.  Gathering together to worship and study the Word allows God to strengthen us and when we gather together and pray for each other, we strengthen each other. 

Let us learn from the church in Ephesus and become a strong militant church that is connected and empowered by its first love, Jesus Christ. 

Next Saturday, we will look at God’s message to the Church at Smyrna. 

1. Starkweather, Helen. Exploring Ancient Ephesus. www.smithsonianmag.com. [Online] Smithsonian.com, January 2008. [Cited: September 25, 2015.] www.smithsonianmag.com/lifelists/exploring-ancient-ephesus-11753958/.

2. PhD., Louis Hoffman.  Premodernism, Modernism, & Postmodernism:. www.postmodernpsychology.com. [Online] [Cited: September 7, 2013.] http://www.postmodernpsychology.com/Philosophical_Systems/Overview.htm.