A Revelation Invitation

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: …

“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. (Revelation 2:1a,2-4 ESV)

We probably know more about the history of the church in Ephesus than we know about the other six churches combined. During its early years the apostle Paul had a significant role in its founding and growth. On his last visit to the church Paul called the elders together both to encourage and to warn. One of his admonishments concerned future danger from false teachers:

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” (Acts 20:28-30 ESV)

Years later when John penned Revelation, he observed that the church had taken Paul’s warning to heart. In his message to the angel of the church, Jesus commended them for having done what Paul had counseled them to do, that is, test and reject those who falsely call themselves apostles. The church in Ephesus was doctrinally sound. Jesus also praised them for their tireless work and patient endurance—most likely in the face of persecution. Coming from Jesus these words must have been most uplifting.

However, Jesus followed this encouragement with a huge but. They had abandoned the love they had at first. In his letter to them decades earlier, Paul had admonished the church to love each other because it was their love that held them together and set them apart as belonging to Christ:

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV)

Paul knew that the difficult task of loving each other must be constantly encouraged. Now Jesus observes that the love that had once been a strength of their fellowship was so lacking that he was about to reject them as his church. This can happen when doctrinal orthodoxy becomes one’s identity rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ. When you treat those who don’t share your views as the other rather than a brother, you are walking on an insidiously easy path to follow. Love and doctrine while held in tension are not mutually exclusive. You are faithful in both through the difficult task of speaking the truth in love as Jesus does in his Revelation message to the Ephesian church. Their hard work and perseverance were empty accomplishments without love for one another. Some of us have witnessed this lapse in our own churches.

It is both life and doctrine that attest to a healthy church. It is both love and truth that affirm Christ’s presence in the body. It may be that adherence to orthodoxy is the easier of the two to master. After all, people are messy; they have problems. Loving them anyway can be challenging. But the world will see our love (or lack of it) long before they will care about the truth of our message.

Jesus, you have always loved me even in my sin. You have loved me through my struggles with sin. You have loved me in my slowness to repent. Help me to love my brothers and sisters patiently as you have loved me. Help me always to speak the truth, and do it in love. Amen.