Revelation: The Church of Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7), Part 2/6

You can be the kind of Christian who works hard, knows sound doctrine, and can spot a counterfeit teacher from a mile away and still be in real spiritual danger. Revelation 2 doesn’t let us hide behind competence. As we walk through Jesus’ words to the Church of Ephesus, we wrestle with the uncomfortable possibility that our orthodoxy can stay sharp while our affection for Christ quietly cools.

We talk candidly about Christian discernment and false apostles, why truth must be defended, and why “they found them to be liars” is actually a compliment in a confused age. But we also slow down and ask what’s driving our zeal. When we correct bad doctrine, call out error, or debate online, are we moved by love for the Lord Jesus Christ and love for people, or are we just trying to be right? We explore how accusations like “you lack love” can be weaponized, and how Jesus still uses those moments to search his own church and expose a real loss of warmth.

Along the way we dig into perseverance “for my name’s sake,” how biblical warnings function in sanctification, and why a church can keep its outward form while losing spiritual fervor. We also touch on bigger theological battles and why we believe some popular systems distort the gospel and dull devotion. If you care about biblical doctrine, Christian apologetics, spiritual renewal, and returning to your first love, this conversation is for you.

Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who cares about truth and love, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What helps you keep your love for Christ warm when conflict gets loud?

Transcript

Why Love Must Lead Ministry

SPEAKER_04 0:00

That we ought to have and maintain. Inward affection for the Lord, for his people. A genuine love on the inside must also accompany accompany the outward administration of service, the outward administration of ministry. Because if you take away the love from the task, if you take away the love from the Lord from whom the tasks are assigned, then your orthodoxy is cold and dull and empty. Love needs to attend, and he's going to deal with this. He's going to deal with this.

Panel Reactions To Revelation 2

SPEAKER_04 0:42

Before I go to verse three, let's get people, let's get some of your opening remarks in the panel. Sister Savannah, what's your opening remarks, sister? What do you think so far?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yes, I I mean I agree with everything you're saying so far, and and I'm looking forward to this study. I'm really just mainly here to learn. Um I've read Revelations or sorry, Revelation for a couple times. And I have I have a lot of questions, so I've been looking forward to this study. And just one comment I want to make is that to prophesy just means to edify each other with the word of God.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

That's right. It does.

unknown 1:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

Absolutely. Exactly right. Exactly right, sister. Miss White, what do you think, sister? I'm gonna get you what I can because I know what we I know we don't get you very long.

SPEAKER_07 1:44

Yeah, I'm just taking it all in. I I like when you when you brought out the where does it say that that you have found them to be liars. Right. You know, I'm just like, when I when I see someone like self-proclaimed atheist or someone that comes up on the panel and just states that they don't believe, that they don't I'm not trying to say this. They'll be questioned and they honestly just don't know.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

Right, right.

SPEAKER_07 2:18

It's so refreshing to hear someone be honest when you hear so many people, you know, people on the panel just lie or just ramble about things they don't know what they're talking about. It's gotten so bad that we were talking about it the other night. It's hard to even listen to lives anymore. The more truth that you learn, the worse it looks. Yes. You know?

SPEAKER_04 2:50

Yep. You're right, sister. You're absolutely right. Absolutely right. Sister Mariah, your opening remarks, and good evening.

SPEAKER_09 3:00

Good evening, everyone. Yeah, I think that this is something, a simple truth in Revelation that I could understand and know. So we haven't gotten to the deeper heavy stuff just yet, but I I do love that the church is, as the younger generation would say, standing on business, you know. Yeah. And we should we should learn from this and take what's good from them and not allow error to be spoken of, not and not tolerated for even a second. You know, these people need to be called out and they are leading people astray. If if the title that they hold is false, imagine how much other false doctrine it is that they are seeping into the people's ears, you know? So very glad that uh we're here tonight and it's an open panel.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

It is, sister. Brother Jeffrey, opening remarks.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

I don't have too many opening remarks tonight, my brother. You want honesty? I'm gonna give it to you. Joni, I've uh uh drove about 500 miles today getting into Canada to visit Joni's family today. And we've been setting up house and everything. But Jonathan, one of the things I do want to say is that the seven churches, the seven lampstands, I want to reiterate something you said. We need to watch this very closely because we're going to see deficiencies that we find in ourselves. And here, our already in chapter two at Ephesus, he's told them, You have lost your first love. Jonathan, how many Christians today, if they're being honest, totally honest, can say, Yeah, I've lost my first love. I need to get that love back. And each one of these churches, no two of them are the same. They're gonna be seven different situations. So we're all gonna learn a lot here in the days ahead and weeks ahead of what you're gonna be bringing us, and I'm really excited about it. So it's gonna be great. Love you, man. All right, brother. Love you too, my man.

SPEAKER_04 5:18

Sister May, your opening remarks, sister. Good evening.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Good evening. In the church in Ephesus, like Paul was Paul spent a lot of time here, as well as other people did. So what I find interesting is in Acts 20, Paul warned this church and said, After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you. And so he warned them that these type of people were gonna come in. So they were ready. They held to doctrine, they did not, you know, let go, they didn't stop anything, they heeded the warning, which was is phenomenal to me. So many people don't heed warnings when they're given. And so it really benefited the Church of Ephesus during this time. But what's what's also interesting is that while we think we're strong in one area, this this chapter here is like teaching me balance, even even to to not be too much to understand if you have this, but also don't forget your first love. This is the reason why you defend this doctrine. This is the reason why you do these things, is because you have the love for God first, and that is what motivates the body of Christ to not let this stuff go, to continue to exalt him and have high Christology. And that is the reason love should have been behind all of this, not fighting the doctrine first. It should have been love first and then combating the

How Warnings Shape Holy Living

SPEAKER_01 6:50

doctrine.

SPEAKER_04 6:50

That's right, sister. Amen. That's a good that's a good point. And and to add to what you said about heeding warnings, because you get a lot of people that say that there are a lot of folks who will argue that the warnings that God give us infer that it is an obedience to law that we need to abide by, because if it wasn't true, then why would Christ warn us about things? But what we what they don't understand is that it is the warnings that Christ gives that he uses as the impetus to inspire a righteous and holy movement on our part. We know that from Romans 1 7 16, 1 6 16, that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. Well, how does the power of God of salvation be how is it effectual in the believer? Through the communication of the word, the word, the gospel of Christ to repent and believe. It's by what he says that motivates us to do what he requires. And so the same thing when he gives a warning, he's it it perks the ears of the believer and it motivates them. So this is how he keeps us moving toward him. The threatenings are God or what he uses, they become the impetus to keep us walking in line with him. If you're in the military, you are always reminded by your sergeants and generals or whatever what your job is. You are always reminded this is what you need to do. This is your role. And sometimes when they have to remind you, listen, if you don't do this, this is the outcome. Our ship sinks, our platoon gets bombed, or whatever it may be. So we are often reminded of what we need to, of what we already know, so that we can be reinvigorated with the desire to make sure that we comply with those processes that have been prescribed by our leaders. And in this case, it is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The threatenings that the Lord gives to us, they're good. They're good because they move us in the way that sanctifies us more so than we are before we heard his threatenings. And we always have to be reminded. We always have to be reminded. Sister May, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yeah, so you know, in that when you were talking about that, when you're talking about warnings, warnings don't necessitate action. Warnings necessitate thought. And so when you think about these things, it's like, okay, I don't need to do that. If you put your hand on that stove, it's gonna burn you. Okay. It doesn't mean that you're trying it. You're you have it in your mind, all right. If I put my hand there, it's gonna burn it. Same thing. We heed these warnings. And so when the time comes, then we're able to enact those things, but first and foremost through love. And it's the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, is why we defend not only the word of God, but the gospel itself. That is the first motivator of all things, the love that we have for him because he first loved us. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

Right.

SPEAKER_06 10:14

I just wanted to, you was, you know, when you were reading in the second verse there and talking about Paul. He said in 2 Corinthians 11, 13 through 15, he says the same thing. He says, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministries, ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Right.

SPEAKER_06 10:58

I just thought that that went so well with that, and I just thought I, you know, before we moved on, I wanted to say that because Paul was telling them the same thing that Jesus is telling John. Right. And so I just, you know, I just thought it went together really well.

SPEAKER_04 11:15

It's great because it also showed the consistency amongst the apostles. So it's an important point to make. And I'm glad you brought it up. Glad you brought it up, absolutely. So uh sister Lisa, your thoughts. And good evening.

SPEAKER_08 11:29

Good evening.

Endurance Under Pressure For Christ

SPEAKER_08 11:31

Yeah, I uh this teaching is super timely for me. You know, yesterday I got I I got openly rebuked from a brother in Christ, who I know is a brother in Christ, who you know kind of said I lack love. I and I I I think that was in my presentation. I mean, I'm I'm I'm really thinking about this because, as you said, these I mean, he commends the church in Ephesus for calling out falsehood. And when you call out falsehood, people don't like it. And the falsehood wants to come back and argue with you, and then you get passionate, you get maybe a little bit zealous for the truth, and then you get you know, and then it's suddenly someone sees you as unloving, and that I might do more harm than than good. And my goodness, maybe this is what Christ is trying to say here. I I don't know. I keep praying about it because I do pray to him every day about giving me the eyes to see as he sees and feel what he feels, and uh I want to be aligned with him in those ways. So, man, it's difficult when you see these people, they will go toe-to-toe with you with the lie, toe-to-toe with the lie, and when you come back toe-to-toe with the truth, you lack love. And I'm I'm I'm kind of I need I I I need to learn that balance.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

Um man, it's well let me let me let me let me say something to that, okay? Because not to say that this is not something that may be true for you, if you know that's something that you have to understand between you and the Lord. But let me make something very clear, and this is going to be in your favor. And that is this Christ is not condemning the person who says you're unloving because you're telling the truth. He condemns the person that is exposing the lie who is a believer. So he wants to deal with you. He wants to deal with his church. He's dealing with Ephesus. And he's and he's he is recognizing that there's a loss of love in them when it comes to them communicating his truths and whatnot. But this love also has to do with a fervent burning love that they use that they started out having toward him. Toward him. And so, but but but the first thing I want to say to you, not to say, not to excuse you, because you may look at this and go, I am having this problem. And if that is so, that's the point he wants to make as well. But notice this, he's speaking to his church and saying that I see this problem in you. But he doesn't, he's not talking about you are unloving because they say so, because they feel you are being unloving. It may even be another brother that's telling you you're coming off. Look, if I heard that I was coming off, that if I heard that that like I can't tell you how many times somebody has told me something that it is that I'm being unloving it, unloving, or discompassionate, not compassionate. And I notice one familiar skewer that sort of holds all of these accusations together when they don't like hearing the truth. When they don't like hearing the truth, which Church of Ephesus was good at giving. So don't beat yourself up, sister, unless you know it is a problem with you. But it starts with a lack of love for the Lord.

SPEAKER_08 15:30

Oh, I don't how I I love the Lord more than anything. I love the Lord when you know that.

unknown 15:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:36

It starts there. And so, because when we get to the when we get to the particular verses, you're gonna see later on, he talks about their first love. What is their first love when they came to him?

unknown 15:47

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_04 15:49

Okay. So we need to like, but again, you know your own heart, because I believe, you know, I mean, like for me, I can't say for everybody else. I believe that in general, whatever I say is one, because I love the Lord, number two, because I love his word, and number two, number three, I love his people, and number four, I love those who I am telling it to because the goal is for them to be numbered amongst his faithful.

SPEAKER_08 16:18

And you have to we have to know that.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

We have to know that. But the love part has a lot to do with with losing that that that affection that motivates us to move out of love for the Lord and not moving for just being right. See, he's telling the church of Ephesians, you have been right. There's not a problem with you being wrong about the doctrine, about the truth, about orthodoxy. That's not the issue. The issue is that you have lost your first love. And that first love has to do with respect to him. And without him, whatever it is you're preaching, it is just cold and dull and and rote and icy. It's not out of a genuine love for the Lord. And if it's not a love for him, it can't be a love for the for the persons you're talking to. And you can't possibly love them without loving him. So it all it always starts with the Lord. It always starts there. And so that's important to remember. Sister Meg, you have something you wanted to say?

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Yes. You know, I want to remind you of something that you said to me a while back, which really has stuck with me the entire time. You said, Remember, Meg about Elijah and Elisha. Elijah had was very zealous for the Lord. He had all of these things, but Elisha got a double portion of what Elijah got. And so, with that, he it made him different. He was he was meeker, he was different in the way that he handled the double portion that Elijah had. And so I think it's very significant when we're talking about this that when we are given these things, it's the gifts and the calling that he gives us and where and how we use that for his glory, his purpose, and the love that we have for him. That's right. It's it makes a really big difference. That stuck with me forever.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

It does. I'm glad, sister. I'm glad. Because you're gonna see a lot more, you're gonna see a lot more things with that scenario, to which that scenario is analogous. You're gonna see many things about that throughout your Christian journey, as I continue to to this very day. So that's good, that's a good thing to to remember. So in Christ, in verse 3, he tells the Ephesian church that they have borne, because well, let me finish, let me read what he says at the last part again, to just continue. You have tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars, and have borne, and had patience, and for my name's sake, you have labored and you have not fainted. So the Ephesian church they had endured much hardship for Christ's name. They did. Their perseverance was not just a natural stubbornness, nor was it a an institutional kind of church pride, like my denomination. It wasn't that kind of a thing. But it was connected to the cause of Christ and the cause of truth. They stood for that. And they had borne burdens, as he says, they resisted every manner of falsehood, they continued in service, and they did not collapse under the weight of opposition, as so many Christians do. So many Christians today, the slightest opposition, they fall apart and crumble and get into the fetus position and have rendered themselves ineffectual. So many Christians today do this. The slightest opposition, they start questioning, am I really a Christian? Because he said something mean back to me. The guy or the woman is not even a Christian. And yet they have caused you to be subdued by their own hypocrisy. When they can't refute the truth, what do they do? They attack you. You're not loving, you're not showing compassion. This is not an exhibition of the love of God. You call yourself a Christian and you speak like this? This is what they do. But the Ephesian church, they didn't take it. They did not take it. They're not the kind of people that will make you crawl back into your home, your closet, close the door, and close yourself off in the war world and be this anonymous invisible being because you are afraid to face opposition. How many of you are like that? Ask yourself this. And I can assure you, if you are God's true child, there is no aspect of any one of these seven churches that is not going to affect you. One of them, all of them are going to affect you in some way, and they should. And they should. We should be cautious when we hear these things and be cognizant of where and when and how it might be affecting the way we have served or the lack of how we have served. But Christ here is teaching steadfastness. This is showing that Christ values our steadfastness. Do not change. Hold fast. Stand on that watchtower. And know that what you're defending is for the only good cause that there actually is, which is the cause of God in truth. Brother Jeffrey, go ahead.

Fighting False Religion And Dispensationalism

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Jonathan, it's truly amazing how people who are defending something other than the truth can defend that lie with more ferocity, with more anger, with more resentment, with more whatever, than you and I will defending the truth. I'm not putting anybody down here, brother. I'm just saying that the religion of Islam. I mean, look how fiercely they defend that. And they go after anybody that says anything, even remotely against what they believe. They go after them with blood in their eyes. So my question here is why aren't we doing more to defend the truth that we know in our hearts and in our minds is the word of God?

SPEAKER_04 23:31

Right. That's true. Absolutely true, brother. Absolute truth is there. Absolute. So in verse three here, Christ sees within his church every burden that every one of us who stands for him that we carry for his name's sake. He sees every labor that we do for his name's sake. For his name's sake, this is the important part. For his name's sake. And for his glory. And for his glory. To combat against. It's a big deal. Wicked faith. Same thing with Mormonism. JWs. Catholicism. Hinduism. Baha'ism. Christian science. You know the one religion that the majority of the Christians avoid, like the plague, which is the worst one of them all. Judaism. Judaism. And I'll say this because Christians are always siding with them, and they hate Jesus. They hate the Lord Jesus Christ. They will tell you. I'm not saying anything that is contrary to them. They will tell you. And yet it is the Christian church that gives them all their strength and all their vigilance and all of their vigor. It is you, not you individually, but that unbelieving sector, which is massive, of Christianity today, you are the one that fuels the most false and the most egregious religion on earth. The one that denies that their messiah is not the messiah. I want to hear more Christians speak about them.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Amen.

SPEAKER_04 26:26

But all of them, Judaism, Islam, all of them, none of them belong to Christ. And yet, you have the greater part of Christianity today that embraces Judaism and says that all the blessings of God belong to them and that you're going to get brownie points in heaven if you support them. If you are a Christian that holds to that, something is wrong with your theology. And that's why dispensationalism, in my mind, is the most wicked invader of the Christian truth. Dispensationalism is the most wicked doctrine ever taught and intermingled within the Christian church. And I hope all of them or many of them who are here will hear this at some point. Because I stand on this 150% and beyond. And so should you. Dispensationalism is heretical, it is false, and it is wicked. And to support it is to deny your Lord.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Amen, brother.

SPEAKER_04 27:58

Every dispensationalist needs to know this. And I'm telling you, Christians who know better, don't let them get away with talking that madness around you. Correct them. Sister Terry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 28:15

I didn't know I was a dispensationalist. I didn't even understand that until I started listening to you. And then I realized that I had been taught that without really understanding that I had been taught that. I don't know if you understand what I mean.

SPEAKER_04 28:34

I do.

SPEAKER_05 28:36

I just wanted to say that it's so nice to realize that I can take that blinder off and see a little more clearly.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

That's right, sister. Amen. And listen.

SPEAKER_05 28:47

And I thank you for it.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

Well, thank you, sister. I appreciate that. Listen, that's a tough, that's a tough one because this has been promulgated in this in this country, especially, for over 200 years. And we in this America gave the strength to that. And it was politicians who knew having some variet some modicum of Christian understanding about things that this made sense to. And they found this to be a way to, like brother, like Brother Joseph said, to infiltrate Christianity.

SPEAKER_05 29:34

I look back on it and I have been especially paying attention to it because it's so new to me to understand. And I I think it's possibly intentional, a part of a larger plan.

SPEAKER_04 29:48

It is. It really is. There's nowhere around it. That's where it starts. And so the thing about it is as long as Christians, the true believers, stay silent about it, they get away with it. But I I have made it my lifelong goal as a Christian to never let them rest easy.

SPEAKER_05 30:14

I respect you so much for that.

SPEAKER_04 30:16

Thank you, sister. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_05 30:18

And I hope it spreads. I I think it's a positive influence on me for sure.

SPEAKER_04 30:22

Absolutely, sister. Thank you for that. I appreciate that.

The Real Motive Behind Defending Truth

SPEAKER_04 30:26

So Christ, in spite of the church's outward endurance here, the Church of Ephesians, he didn't dismiss their influence as being worthless and useless. He doesn't do that. And so a church can continue working even when his heart has sort of begun to dry up a little bit. It can still defend. So it may preserve the Ephesian church, while a church may preserve form, it is not impossible that they decline in spiritual fervor. In other words, there are some among us, and there are some churches among us who, despite a declining warmth of love toward Christ, they continue to soldier on in his battles. Because you know you started there for a reason you lost sight of why. And this is a good thing to be cognizant of, especially when you're dealing in these other formats where we do or where we engage with other people who oppose the truth. When you are engaged in these other lives that you may be in, is your heart heated in love for the Lord when you are debating this person who is contrary to you and opposing you, or is your heat directed at your disdain for them? This is what we need to understand. What is your primary inward spiritual motive? Is it out of a love for the Lord that you're doing this at this point? Or is it just to be right? Is it just to correct bad orthodoxy? Bad doctrine. Is it just to cook somebody? Or are you doing it because you love the Lord Jesus Christ? This is what we have to look at. And in verse four, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, he says in verse four to the church at Ephesus, nevertheless, I have somewhat against you. Because you have left your first love. Because you have left your first love. Nevertheless, he gives us great or commendation. He gives him a great commendation, a solemn commendation. But now he says, but nevertheless, which expresses a pending concern for the quality of their diminishing sanctified stance. Sanctified meaning their earned their internal sanctification. They're somewhat, they are declining. They're drawing back. What are they drawing back from? He says it, their first love. Their first love. And he points out that after all of their labor, after all of their patience and discipline, and their zeal and doctrine, and so many Christians have this tremendous great zeal and doctrine. You're always a praise, you're always praised highly.