The Message in Revelation to the Church in Ephesus

A Deeper Look Into This Letter & a Stern Warning to Present-Day Churchianity 

My Intro to the Letter to Ephesus

The older I get, the less I’m prone to judge churches, ministries, preachers. But the older I get, the more I understand the need to discern for my own self, and for those I shepherd, what I believe to be right or wrong, healthy or unhealthy, good or bad. One of the things that confused me earlier in life is how so many Christian endeavors, ministries, and churches flourished, yet I perceived practices that built their success seemed contrary to God’s principles, incongruous to Biblical wisdom, and driven by human effort. Yet these endeavors worked. Good things emerged…and so forth. The people of these practices would testify that “God lead us to do this,” or “God paved the way for this success supernaturally!” Yes, for a long time this confused me. But I believe I am a bit wiser now, and that’s where this letter to Ephesus provides a good example of God’s heart in the midst of people succeeding, doing what is right in their own eyes.

I was groomed as a pastor under the subtle message that the wider and higher your influence, the better. A big church is always a sign of God’s blessing more than a small church. Earlier in my pastoring I attended a seminar on how to break the 200 barrier. It included amazing tips, techniques, programs, and ways to take a church past the 200-attendee mark. I left the seminar questioning how much of the information shared was God’s way to build His church. But I still continually felt this pressure in my heart that more for me was also more for God.

I don’t believe that anymore. I have realized a massive chasm exists between what is good and what is God, between right and righteous, between healthy and holy. I am not against greater influence, I desire to influence more, and God gives me regular and wonderful opportunities to influence big. But if big influence becomes my goal more than simple obedience, I will have departed from the heart of God, and I will miss what is BIG to Him. I value productivity, but when productivity becomes a machine in my life, I will have ceased to be productive in the Spirit, and I will be a candidate for Jesus saying to me what He said to the church in Ephesus. Though I am careful not to rip up the tares with the wheat, I know in general, lots of what is successful in the name of Jesus and the Kingdom doesn’t merit God’s respect. Lots and lots and lots!

I won’t take the space here to bore you with my full learning curve, so I’ll skip to the conclusion before getting into the letter to Ephesus in Revelation, but I have seen how our American-faith culture commonly equates success with God-ordained. If it works, and good things are happening, it must have God’s blessing is on it. Bigger influence is better influence. Growing churches are better than churches that don’t grow. More is usually always superior to less.

No more.

I have learned that God doesn’t need big, though often He uses it. I have also learned that no matter how successful a ministry or spiritual endeavor is, if God is not its Author and Finisher, it will be judged as wood, hay, and stubble. I have spent much of my life working for the productivity machine. I’ve changed. I’m no less productive than before. In fact, I’m much, much, more productive.

But my definition of productivity has radically changed!

I’m not big enough to judge ministries, movements, and momentum—I have no clue what, or who, God is using or not using. But I’m not as easily impressed with those things that work, but seemingly defy what I know to be the pure “ways of God” and the values of the Kingdom of God.

The letter to the church in Ephesus beginning in Revelation 2:1, illustrates what I’ve just vented to you about.

God’s View of Ephesus Confused Me

What Jesus said to the church in Ephesus stumped me! It didn’t make total sense. Oh, I’ve heard the sermons on it. But many of them, to me, missed the impact of what Jesus was really saying to this church. I wanted to understand more about what believers today really need to carry away from our Lord’s challenge/rebuke/severe warning to this church. Had it not been for Jesus rebuking them, one may have come to the conclusion that the church in Ephesus was an epic example of a community of faith. They persevered in persecution, they opposed false teaching, they labored hard for the Kingdom of God. They even hated evil.

Who could ask for anything more? It seemed that way to me.

So I asked God to give me understanding of something deeper that I knew was in this passage in Revelation. Indeed, there had to be more in this passage than a common, surface interpretation, and I wanted to go deeper. The message to Ephesus was a rebuke, but more than that it was an invitation.

Where This Journey Began

This journey all started when Ruthie and I decided to study Revelation 2-3 in preparation for our trip to Turkey to teach the principles of marriage to ex-Muslim-Syrian pastors and wives on the front lines (a small group). While there we visited Ephesus, located in Turkey. It was a fascinating cultural experience to see the excavated ruins of the city, and walk the same streets on the same paths as did Paul and John, observing the heathen atmosphere the Ephesian church was opposing, recorded in ACTS 19.

But I got stuck on the letter to Ephesus in Revelation, and that’s why I asked Jesus to give me insight and wisdom into the deeper meaning of this harsh and scary warning to a church that seemingly was alive and well. It seemed obvious to me that this warning to Ephesus was critically relevant to present-day churchianity, and I wanted to know how.

In Revelation 2:4-5, after listing all the great things they were doing Jesus said to Ephesus, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp-stand from its place—unless you repent.”

A couple of things stood out to me in this passage—For one, Jesus does not want to commune with fluffy, lifeless churches surrounding a routine service on Sunday. Also, I believe this passage reveals our Lord’s lack of affirmation to churches that are successfully doing amazing things for the Kingdom of God, even promoting the gospel—while a certain kind of motivation—love—is absent from their labors.

But what does “first love” refer to?

Before answering this question, one must first answer…

What in John’s day did the word church mean to believers? Church was something totally different to them than what it is to present-day Christianity. We cannot uncover what first love means if we don’t know what the early church believed about church, and it’s purpose.

The Biblical Greek word for church is ekklesia. At the time of Revelation, churches didn’t have building, budgets, bylaws. They had no salaried professionals. There was only one church. Church was people—people living in community. It was NOT an organization like most churches are today. What I believe is the best translation, as translated in most version, is “to…the church IN Ephesus,” not “to…the church OF Ephesus.” John’s writings were not directed to different churches such as we have today, but to one church in different locations. Also, ekklesia didn’t center around Sunday-morning services filled with worship and a sermon. Though they probably had corporate get-togethers possibly on the Sabbath (Saturday), or maybe Sunday or mid-week, the emphasis of ekklesia centered around spiritual family and committed relationships, specifically koinonea—another critical Greek word.

The Glory of Koinonea

Embellishing in the concept of ekklesia is the concept of koinonea. Koinonea is a key to what Jesus meant when He accused Ephesus of leaving their first love. Koinonea is often translated fellowship in English translations because English has no exact word for the concept of koinonea, but it is far more than just fellowship. It is intimate, interpersonal, spiritual connecting. Koinonea and ekklesia are best understood through the many one-anothers of the New Testament—encourage one another, provoke one another to love and good works, speaking among yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, bear one another’s burdens, accept one another, don’t bite, devour and consume one another, confess your sins to one another, serve one another, tolerate one another, be devoted to one another, give preference to one another, treat one another as more important than yourself, submit yourself to one another, don’t judge one another, pray for one another, and many, many more! (Oh, yes, and, “Greet one another with a holy kiss. Ha!)

I Corinthians 10:16 may give you a better understanding of koinonea, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” The word communion in this verse—the word for partaking of the body and blood of Jesus, is the word koinonea. This reveals a deep, intimate, understanding of the heart of koinonea. And, again, the early church was focused on koinonea with God and koinonea with each other, as expressed in these two verses:

II Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion (koinonea) of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”

I John 1:3, That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship (koinonea) with us: and truly our fellowship (koinonea) is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Without koinonea there was no ekklesia.

The Real Meaning of Agape

Also, to understand what Jesus was saying to Ephesus, you MUST understand what the church in Ephesus understood by the word love. It is NOT what the mainline church of today understands. Our western, American culture perceives the word love as a feeling of attraction to something or someone. Countless spiritual tragedies occur because of how our culture perceives love. For example, somebody in our present-day culture can be mistreating somebody—a spouse, a leader, a child, and simultaneously confess that they love them. A man could be frequenting pornography, and simultaneously say he loves his wife. That’s because we all have been groomed in the idea that love is a feeling. But this is NOT how the early church perceived love, and that is not how the Bible speaks of love.

The Greek word for love in this passage is agape. I would never deny that feelings are a part of agape, but agape is not based on how you feel. Otherwise how would we agape our enemies in obedience to the command of Jesus. Agape has literally nothing to do with feelings. I love (agape) Ruthie with a passion, but my love (agape) for her is not gauged on how strong my feelings are for her, but by how I treat her. Agape is actions, words, and influences that build up another. Agape is your life imparting goodness to somebody else. Though feelings can follow and even motivate agape, agape is only gauged by how my life affects somebody else’s life. How did Jesus qualify love for Him?

John 14:15 Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

John writes in I John 5:2-3, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”

What Jesus Did NOT Say to Ephesus!

The applications of losing your first love that I often heard in sermons indicated that the meaning was, You left your first love FOR ME? Though that may be accurate in many senses, Jesus simply said, You left your first love (agape). He basically said, You have replaced the primary motivation for everything in the Kingdom of God with a sterile package of do-good behaviors. Jesus commended Ephesus on all the good that they were doing, but somewhere in their journey they learned how to DO all the right things, but the virtue that drives ekklesia—agape, had waned in favor of doing good ON THE OUTSIDE. They adopted a form of doing the right things without the passion of agape, and therefore they were missing the point.

I Corinthians 13

I personally think I Corinthians 13 is the most important chapter in the Bible. It reveals something about the church of Ephesus. This chapter clearly says that, If I have the glorious gift of tongues, if I give everything I own to feed the poor, if I have faith—enough to move a literal mountain, but it is done without the motivating power of agape, it is not what God is after (“I am nothing!”) Isn’t it something that people can do amazing things, outwardly associated with love, but without love?

I Corinthians 13, obviously, was an indictment to the church in Ephesus. They knew how to do the right things, but their original passion had waned in favor of “doing.” The one-anothers—the core of what ekklesia-church means—what love for one another means—was lowered in priority in favor of outward, obligational good works.

Jesus didn’t say, that if they don’t repent he will destroy their church, he said that he would remove their lamp. He would write Ichabod—the glory has departed—over this church. They would continue to do all the good things they were doing, but their light would be quenched. His light, the light of Jesus, would depart from the church, and they probably wouldn’t even notice, as in the profound but sad quote by A.W. Tozer, If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on, and no one would know the difference. Ouch!

Acts 19 Reveals a Huge Part of the First Love of Ephesus

We cannot fail to mention in our interpretation of this letter in Revelation 2, what the Bible tells us about the first love of Ephesus in Acts 19 and 20. In Ephesus, Paul encountered 12 men who had only experienced the baptism of John. He baptized them in the name of Jesus and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. He stayed there, in Ephesus, and taught passionately hungry disciples for two years, and during that time there was a spirit among these disciples that set an atmosphere for the power of God to move mightily among them, especially through Paul’s ministry: “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them” (v. 11).

You can read the in-between parts of this chapter, but the passion of the believers in Ephesus was evident: “…many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed” (v. 18-20).

Read Paul’s discourse to the Ephesian elders in chapter 20: 28-35, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified… I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

It was through the passion of the church in Ephesus that the gospel spread throughout the world. But decades later they had lost this passion of love—reduced to doing the right outward stuff, but neglecting that in between the lines is always and only the power of agape, and without it, nothing else much matters.

A Few Questions for You to Ponder?

In your church, how is ekklesia going? How about koinonea, and the main focus of the scores of one-anothers that define ekklesia? Remember, if you don’t have koinonea, you don’t have ekklesia! Does church revolve around Sunday-morning services? Is the intimate community absent, failing to bond with each other, neglecting to lift up one another? Is your church indicted by II Timothy 3:5, describing the latter-day churches as “…having a form of godliness, but denying the power?” If this describes you, then you are not actively believing God for miracles, prophetic revelations, healings, and the moving of the Spirit in your midst. Is your ekklesia-culture marked by believers challenging and encouraging fellow believers to be the fulness of a new creation in Christ Jesus. Leaders, are you dedicated to helping the sheep you shepherd to be the best they can be? Or is their assignment to serve you and perpetuate your vision? Are there opportunities for you to use your gifts among your community, or is your value quenched by the common practice of a professional hierarchy who does almost everything, (which is basically the gist of the Nicolaitans—authority that quenches people?)

I could ask many questions that may affirm or accuse your experience, but I am not aiming to judge or discourage. My purpose in this is to encourage you to understand what Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, and look inside your hearts. If repentance is needed, turn back and begin doing what God deserves. If not, then continue abiding in your first love.

Jesus severely challenged the church in Ephesus, but then gave a merciful, loving, opportunity to simply change their motive, and return to the heart of the gospel, and the spiritual motivation behind His ekklesia.

A Powerful Passage

I’ll close this writing with a passage from the Bible that applies to what Jesus said to Ephesus. When I Googled Matthew 25: 31-46 to copy and paste the NKJV version of the passage into this document, up came the parable of the sheep and goats. This passage is NOT a parable. Jesus used the metaphor of sheep and goats to foretell exactly what is going to happen some day in the future. That’s not a parable!

I’ll sign off now, but as you read these closing verses, think about the heart of God and the passion for true agape that He requires for His one, true church. This is just one passage. The story of the Good Samaritan is another. The parable of the ten virgins, also in Matthew 25. There are many more. I’ll leave it up to your to search out. May God grant you a heart that is glued to agape in everything you do.

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”