pray with me Father we just want to be amazed at that truth that you invite us to call you Father though we are apart though we were your enemies Jesus has made it so that we are drawn in we are loved we not only see that you’re holy we love that you’re holy but we desire by your grace and your spirit to be holy thank you Lord that in Jesus we’re sons and daughters in Jesus we’re made brand new Lord so we want to grow up more in what it means to be yours to be like Jesus call you Father we pray for just this time that your word would speak to us you’d have your way in us

we pray for our tithe our offering Lord we pray that you would bless what we give sacrificially what we give joyfully God remembering that you are our provider alone Lord we just thank you for your grace in all things we pray it in Jesus name Amen

Well good evening it’s good to be with you we’re going to be in Revelation chapter 2 continue on in the book of Revelation Revelation chapter 2

and John records the words of Jesus here to the angel of the church in Ephesus write the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks among the seven golden lampstands I know your works your toil and your patience and your patience and your 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’ve not grown weary but I have this against you that you’ve abandoned the love you had at first remember therefore from where you have fallen and repent and repent and repent and repent and repent and do the works you did at first if not I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent yet this you have you hate the works of the Nicolaitans which I also hate he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of the tree of life of God if you’ve ever maybe watched a movie kind of in the time period of the industrial revolution or maybe read about it you know you know the industrial revolution was really an awful time to try to make a living to take care of a family in the industrial revolution there were zero regulations on you know what you had to pay so people were paid the absolute bare minimum conditions were extremely dangerous you had children working work days were 14 to 16 hours a day all just to barely scrap by and I think that they had a mindset we didn’t have because for the songs and the hymns of the church in that period they’re more about heaven they were looking forward to some kind of end to life and I think we can get ourselves in that place in the Christian life where it feels like we’re laboring to no end you know we tend to get tunnel vision we tend to not be able to see past the end of our noses and the Christian life just ends up feeling like what I’m supposed to be doing it just feels like labor for labor’s sake but Jesus talks to the church at Ephesus who’s kind of gotten into some mode and he’s talking to them about kingdom labor kingdom labor remember John said in the first chapter he was their brother he was their brother he was their partner in the kingdom in the kingdom so I think Jesus takes our eyes and he helps us see both the value the preciousness of laboring for his kingdom and the great end to which we work for his kingdom kingdom labor is what he talks about and in verse 1 he says something that he’s already said in a description related to Jesus and each of us each time John talks to one of these seven churches it’ll be a reference back to a description related to Jesus and what you see here in verse 1 is he says these are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks among the seven golden lampstands now remember Jesus told us the seven stars are the angels of the churches now we now we had to kind of talk about okay what does that mean what it does mean is some kind of heavenly representation of the churches so some commentators have believed that when he says that refers to the angels of the churches that’s an actual angel in heaven and they’re kind of in a spiritual sense kind of over that church kind of messengers for what’s going on in these churches fighting spiritual warfare if you will and so we see angels doing a lot of things on God’s behalf throughout the book of Revelation so is that what Jesus means when he says he’s got seven stars in his hand which represents these angels in heaven which stand over these churches or does it mean it’s commonly believed that it’s just kind of the persona of the church kind of the character of that church so Jesus is saying I’ve got you know each church I know their personality I know who they are in my hand I know their faults I know where they’re winning I know where they need to go either way if it’s an angel receiving this message or it’s just a more metaphorical way for saying it Jesus is making this clear what’s going on with you is in the palm of my hand alright the leadership you need it’s in my hand I have the churches in my right hand and he reminds us he’s standing among the lampstands now remember Jesus said the lampstands are the churches so who is it that has every church in the palm of his hand who is it that stands among the churches it’s Jesus that’s what that’s what Jesus wants the church at Ephesus to know up front this is to the church at Ephesus and he says to them I know your works your toil your patient endurance you can’t bear with people that are evil you’ve tested those who call themselves apostles and are not you found them to be false you’re enduring patiently you’re bearing up for my name’s sake and you’ve not grown weary in any of it so they get this they get this huge commendation from Jesus and that’s saying a lot I think when you think about what Ephesus is as a city where they were Ephesus was the most important trade commercial city in Asia Minor at the time so the convergence of many rivers were there it had a lot of engineering feats to be able to protect the harbor from silting and the drudge that would come up which was a common problem for cities in that time this was a city of a quarter of a million people so that’s a big city even by today’s standards you’ve got 250,000 people living there Ephesus enjoyed the freedom to kind of do their own judicial work so cases in legal matters even though they’re under Rome Rome allowed Ephesus to kind of do its own business in judicial matters because it’s such a big metropolis there’s a huge mix of people groups from all over the known world constantly moving there coming into Ephesus and most of them from all over the world about Ephesus Ephesus had the temple of Artemis or the Greeks would call her Diana and this was one of the ancient seven wonders of the world it was a magnificent temple all to hail Diana or Artemis the goddess of fertility so pagan worship was highly valued in Ephesus they were known as the protectors the keepers of Artemis and it was a huge trade people would come there and they would buy shrines to Artemis it’s in that context of a plurality of beliefs a plurality of people groups paganism material wealth it’s in this place that screams worldliness that Jesus gives this really high commendation to them good job you’ve remained separate you’ve been zealous for Christ for Jesus while they’ve been zealous for their God Artemis and for business and for material gain and it points out something about kingdom labor here for us and it’s this the only kind of kingdom labor there is is tireless kingdom labor tireless kingdom labor how often do the scriptures give us those kind of encouragements to press on run the race right Jesus says if something’s causing you to sin what do you do cut that body part out rip that eye out don’t look at it don’t touch it everyone who names the name of the Lord does what Paul says departs from iniquity so it’s very staunch in that way don’t blur the lines in the midst of a world opposite and hostile you’ve got to be tireless in your commitment or definitely you will get swept up you will compromise you will get swept up and I think there’s that okay Jesus knows it’s that hard because sometimes it feels like really hard and tiring and Jesus to say I know it’s hard he says man I know I know your toil and that word toil it doesn’t just mean work it means work and labor that’s really difficult it’s hard to keep doing it it’s hard to do it once it’s hard to do it a ton Jesus says I know it’s that way so I think it’s important for us to ask if kingdom labor is so important and it’s so important that we tirelessly labor for Jesus our king and his kingdom not our kingdoms not the kingdom of the world around us what are those things for which we toil specifically because I don’t want to waste my time laboring on the wrong thing well the first thing I think we have to say the scriptures teach us we need to remain tireless in our toil and labors is self your own self you think well that’s selfish to think about myself Christianity is about others right not initially not first it kind of goes to the whole you know if the plane’s going down and the masks fall out of the ceiling don’t help somebody else help yourself first because if you can’t breathe you’re not good to anybody else following Christ regardless of the era in which you live the city you live it’s fraught with temptation though we’re Christians we have the spirit until we’re in glory friends you and I are endlessly susceptible to sin and sin is out of control ever present trying to get us so if you’re going to labor and toil for the king you’ve got to guard your heart it’s a labor that you must be tireless in it’s guarding your own heart now it’s easy is it not in the church especially if you grew up in a church you know how to look like you’re guarding your heart you know how to put on the right face you know the right words to say you know the right words to say good morning brother God bless you right you seem like oh there goes a model Christian it’s kind of like the same thing with a house you know you might be able to keep your grass cut low enough and you know your flower bed doesn’t have too many weeds and as long as people drive by on the street they don’t get up to your house they don’t see like what you know disarray it’s in like oh wow there’s weeds everywhere and you go inside and there’s holes in the wall and there’s crack in the foundation right and there’s some musty smell and the ceiling is leaking and there’s pipes coming through and all this stuff and it’s in like horrible disrepair but nobody knows it because you know how to make the outside look just barely good enough but friend remember this that Jesus stands among the lampstands which means not just in every church but he knows every heart Jesus can see inside the home of your heart and Jesus would have you take care for your own soul because your soul is a precious eternal thing and for it you will give an account to God someday what is the state of your heart and in fact I would say how well you keep your soul says a lot about how precious you think your soul is and how much you think it’s precious that God would think it’s so precious to send his son Jesus to bleed and die for it so we are in a lot of ways talking about spiritual disciplines spiritual disciplines what things are you doing or are you not doing to keep yourself healthy or unhealthy

Jesus came into the home of your heart what would he see what would Jesus see would he see a lot of neglect in prayer would Jesus see someone who is very unfamiliar with the word of God someone who is very unfamiliar with the word of God someone who is very unfamiliar with the word of God someone who neglects sharing Christ with others someone who is very careless in the influences and the media that you allow in your eyes and ears friends you and I often need spiritual checkups in our heart because I know this with having kids and toddlers and you do too that house can get messy real quick and spiritually speaking I can make my house messy real quick I need a constant checkup or there will be spiritual cobwebs if you will all over the place which leads us to the next thing for which you must toil and that’s one another we have to toil for one another and I hope I’m a broken record on this I think I’ve said that before I hope I’m a broken record on this the only way that God cleans the cobwebs out of our hearts sometimes is through the faithful friendship witness of brothers and sisters in the church so if you are not meaningfully connected in the church I’m not talking about just showing up on Sunday but you’re not meaningfully connected you are bypassing the spirit’s method of helping you grow in sanctification of helping to make you holy we can’t say no to God’s methods of how he’s keeping and growing us I can’t say no to that I can’t give reasons for that and it’s vice versa other people don’t say no to that other people need me in their life and guess what I need them in my life it’s a body right the house of God is made up of people it’s multiple people Paul says in Ephesians you’re like a body right and you’re growing up together all of your parts

and you know I’ll be the first to say it’s a toil to bear with the people of God you know why because anytime you put one more than one cent in your life together bad things can happen toil will be present people have monetary struggles people have spiritual you know warfare to fight and they need help sometimes people need correction and they just don’t you know they’re not where they are owning one another is often the labor that needs to be done but we don’t want to do it it’s why you get that phrase church hopping they’re a church hopper right because what we do is we say that’s hard I don’t like those people it’d be easier for me to just move on but what does what does the word teach us it teaches us to toil and labor and bear with one another Jesus says here bear up for my name and more than that he says you should love the church so much you can’t bear if there’s evil present in it so he’s not talking about here just evil in general like oh there’s evil in the world like we know that we know there’s evil in the world specifically in context he’s praising the Ephesians because they’re not letting worldliness immorality false doctrine inside the walls of the church think about what Paul says in 1 Corinthians we just walked through 1 Corinthians Paul says don’t even associate with someone who says they’re a brother yet they’re guilty of sexual immorality Paul says judge one another inside the church so it’s just as much a toil and a challenge to guard doctrine to guard behavior inside the walls of the church today as it was for them thousands of years ago think about how tempted many would have been to fuse pagan worship you know what they had done their whole life in worshipping the Greek goddess Artemis right with Christianity maybe we can have a little bit of that maybe we can kind of fuse it people would like us more our doctrine would be easy to swallow if it wasn’t just Jesus crucified as our doctrine maybe a little bit of immorality is okay maybe a little bit of drunkenness maybe a little bit of sexual morality right and that’s going on today as much as it was then you know it’s interesting you get Ephesians here but you get Ephesians twice in Acts right Paul in his missionary journey when he’s leaving and it says they’re tearful what does Paul say to the Ephesian elders he says when I leave wolves and sheep clothing are going to come in and they’re going to try to lead you off so it’s a big problem false teachers false apostles in their time and friend I don’t need to stand here and talk to you about well I guess I should and assume nothing how much just the basics of life are under attack things as simple as gender you know it’s amazing we live in a world where it’s a hostile thing to say a man is a man and a woman is a woman and then you want to dare tie that back to your God and your Bible teaches us that you dare tell someone who they can and can’t love you know social justice that’s kind of hijacking biblical justice for a lot of people you know prosperity self-help all these things swirl around in our time and you don’t have a church holding its chest up and saying no you have a lot of churches and a lot of denominations going well maybe we could give a little bit here well maybe we could give a little bit there well maybe we could just a little bit there much less to be a faithful witness because what do we also see in Acts we see when Paul and Barnabas go to Ephesians all the silversmiths they get together and formulate a plan to throw Paul and Barnabas out of town because it says that they would make these little silver shrines of Artemis and they would sell these but he says so many people in all the known world are turning to Christ it’s ruining their business so it wasn’t just an offensive message it was messing with their pockets but Paul faithfully preaches Christ crucifies in a hostile culture it’s only by patient endurance that we can toil like this continue on in it together preach it to the world and not grow weary

William Carey the pioneer missionary he’s said something that gosh I feel like it’s so good to hear because I think I can identify with it but you can’t too William Carey said something like this William Carey says if he being the Lord if he give me credit for being a plotter he will describe me justly anything beyond that will be too much I can plot I can persevere in any definite pursuit to this I owe everything and that’s what the Christian life is I know we’re told to run the race we’re told to go but let’s be honest it’s just hard sometimes and it’s a toilsome thing to resist sin it’s a toilsome thing to be on top of my schedule so I don’t let my prayer life suffer it’s a toilsome thing to be present in the life of other people when I don’t want to it’s a toilsome hard thing but by God’s grace if I can just take a couple steps today and keep going if by God’s grace I can take a couple more steps today and keep going I can plot I can keep moving

Jesus is looking at the inside of your heart and mind what’s his description of it what’s his description of it what’s his description of providence here does he say you’ve got some cobwebs in there and surely we’ve got some cobwebs and you know some dirty dishes in our sink but by God’s grace we say Lord show us these things so we can repent and we can turn and we can pursue you we can be a faithful light in the world let me give my best energy my best efforts to the only thing that deserves them and that’s Christ and that’s God and that’s his church and that’s his great commission and that’s his glory Lord don’t let me live for something small I don’t want to live for anything smaller have you given your best to the kingdom and the king

but it’s on the turn of a dime Jesus gives them this wonderful commendation but then he reprimands them he reprimands them for their labor look at it in verse 4 Jesus says but I have this against you

you’ve abandoned the love you had at first remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the works you did at first if not I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent so imagine you’re you know in Ephesus and somebody shows up hey the apostle John got a vision from Jesus and he got like a specific letter for us like Jesus in heaven came down in a vision and gave us a letter like us the church in Ephesus and you’re probably freaked out like oh my gosh what’s it going to say and Jesus keeps going on about oh y’all don’t grow weary and you’re bearing up you can’t stand evil and so you’re like oh this is a good letter from Jesus okay keep reading it but then you get this but you’re like uh oh Jesus says but I got this against you you don’t you don’t do the things that you do for me from a place of love anymore that’s like what do you want Jesus like we’re waking up at 5am and praying we’re studying the Bible we’re going to you know Bible study with other people I’m giving my money away I’m looking for ways to have you know Jesus conversations with people I’m keeping up with cultural trends so you know I don’t fall into error and it’s like what do you want from me what do you want me to do for you then Jesus and this is such an important truth such an important truth here’s what God wants you to do for him nothing because there’s nothing that a sinner like you or a sinner like me could possibly give the one true God to make him happy is there something you could do for God to make him happy to satisfy him what we’re saying then there is something I could do better than Jesus has already done for the Father you cannot maybe if I do this that would make God happy friend Jesus has already made the Father happy there’s nothing that you and I can quote unquote do to make God happy that’s the beauty of the gospel the beauty of the gospel is that you and I could do nothing to please to satisfy God we’re all equally under the weight and the burden of God’s law that we broke and yet God sent his son born of a woman and that God man satisfied the law’s requirements for holiness that son spilled his blood to wash over your sins so that you wouldn’t be under the wrath of God that son was resurrected from the dead and filled you with his spirit there’s nothing you can do to make God happy that’s what you call religion and that’s the hell that a lot of people live in if I can keep those rules good enough if I can just keep those rules good enough if I can obey it just good enough friends the gospel preaches something far better to us it preaches Jesus crucified on your behalf

so following Jesus is not about what I can do for God it’s about rejoicing in what God has done for me the Christian life is not firstly about serving God the Christian life is firstly about knowing and being known by God I read it sparingly because I think it’s one of those verses that is so serious you know it’s so serious you don’t want to read it too much and lose the force of it but in Matthew 7 Jesus says not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the work of God the will of my Father who is in heaven on that day many will say to me Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name cast out demons in your name do many mighty works in your name and then I will declare to them you didn’t do enough you didn’t work hard enough you know what it says I never knew you depart from me you worker of lawlessness for an outside of Jesus there’s nothing we can do for God you go forward in Matthew to chapter 10 Judas just with the rest of the disciples cast out demons Judas had some measure of the spirit but did Judas know Jesus no he didn’t

what’s the will of the Father what’s the will of the Father then the will of the Father is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved man that’s the will of the Father and that’s good news because it’s not about me it’s about trusting in God and what God has done for me in John chapter 17 verse 3 it’s probably my favorite verse I like to give favorite verses right the whole Bible is a good verse but it had to be I think this would be my favorite verse Jesus says this is eternal life what is it what is it this is eternal life that they know you the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent that’s life is to know and be known by God because Jesus gave his all for me I get to grow in holiness see there’s a difference when it’s from a place of love or just duty right I get to suffer for his name I get to share his truth I get to fellowship with his people I get to lose this world and gain his love and gain the one to come friends we only have that get to mentality in the drudgery in the toil when we see it through the lens of the love of God seen in the cross of Christ and it really comes to this question do you think as much about God’s love as God thinks about his own love God thinks his own love is pretty spectacular because if you look in verse 5 Jesus says remember therefore from where you have fallen or you could say translate it remember that high state from which you have fallen it’s the height of the human experience in Jesus’ opinions it’s the summit of being a human to know that God loves me and there’s nothing I can do to make God love me anymore there’s nothing I can do to make God love me any less Jesus says go back to that place remember that place go back there that’s a good place to be not in just doing what you gotta do because you gotta do it in drudgery every day that’s not love that’s not in the spirit that’s not full of Christ you know who you can’t really tame and calm down a new Christian a new convert right they’re ready to my pastor going up would always say take on hell with a water pistol right you’re ready to just preach it and you want to live it and you want to know it man is there a Bible study I’m showing up if somebody needs prayer is there somebody we can serve there’s somebody that I can witness to at work they’re so keen and aware of what God has done in Christ Jesus like they’re just there like I’m there I’m on fire I’m there on that summit but it’s as we go onward in the Christian life we lose vision of that love and so Jesus gives us really the prescription here doesn’t he he says do these two things remember from where you’ve fallen remember the preciousness of the gospel and then repent and then repent and go back there go back there Paul in Romans chapter 5 says it like this we rejoice in our sufferings knowing suffering produces endurance endurance produces character character produces hope hope doesn’t put us to shame so how do I then in Paul’s words keep that going like how is it possible to do all that he ends up by saying because God’s love has been poured into us into your heart that’s how and note what Jesus says after that he says yet this you have you hate the work of the Nicolaitans which I also hate the Bible’s strangely silent on who they are they’re mentioned once again in the letter to Pergamum but given the cult worship of the time given the sexual immorality that Jesus is addressing with Pergamum we can imagine this was some kind of cult and they were doing that very thing they were allowing immorality they were allowing false doctrine so Jesus isn’t down on loving truth he’s not down on loving truth and doctrine the Bible just teaches don’t love truth without a hard love right because then you’re going to be the doctrine behavior police right and you’re just you’re just there to tell everybody why they’re doing things wrong and Jesus has said no it’s the truth of the gospel lived out in what the love that comes from embracing the gospel

I found a a poem that goes along with this you know I like good poems and the poem says well the poem’s entitled Love Makes Obedience Love makes obedience a thing of joy to do the will of one we like to please is never hardship though it tacks our strength each privilege of service love will seize love makes us loyal glad to do or go and eager to defend and name or cause love makes the drudgery from common work takes the drudgery from common work and asks no rich reward or great applause love gives us satisfaction in our task and wealth and learning lessons of the heart love sheds a light of glory on our toil and makes us humbly glad to have a part love makes us choose to do the will of God love makes us choose to do the will of God to run his errands and proclaim his truth it gives our hearts an eager lilting song our feet are shod with tireless wings of youth

what does Jesus say do he says yeah you need a tire labor you know tirelessly labor for the kingdom but Jesus teaches us only when it’s a labor of love that’s the only way the only kind of labor that counts is a labor in the name of Jesus for the name of Jesus and Jesus says this is how much I think about my love Jesus says if you don’t repent I’m going to take my lamp stand away you know what’s the point of a lamp stand give light right so Jesus says you can’t carry the name church you can’t carry the name Jesus and be just a piece of metal with no light the only light that the church has is the love of the gospel so if we don’t have the love of the gospel we got no light and Jesus says forget that I’m taking my lamp stand back that’s all you’re going to do with it friends we have the we have the joy we have the privilege of shining the light of the gospel laboring in the light and love of the gospel that we were freely given

verse 7 he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God the paradise of God think back all the way to Genesis and remember what what God said is we’ve got to take Adam and Eve out of the garden because they can’t eat of the tree of life because they’ve sinned and Adam and Eve gave up eternal life yet we get a better picture of a better garden don’t we and this better picture of this better paradise it’s this paradise in which you and I set free from the fall of man and sin are with God again in this eternal new heaven and new earth and Jesus says it’s for the one who conquers it’s for the one who conquers Jesus says toil and labor for your own soul don’t think it a small thing toil labor for those people that God puts in your life those believers toil and labor for one another’s holiness toil and labor to help one another get home toil and labor to preach the gospel to a world that doesn’t know it and toil in that love toil in that love and it’s like well what if I don’t love God enough what if I can’t love God good enough if love’s the engine if love’s the engine to keep the car of my obedience going what if I run out of fuel what do I do

well you know Paul says this in Romans chapter 8 verse 37 he says and all these things were more than conquerors through him who loved us

see it’s not about how well you can love God it’s about believing that God has perfectly loved you in Jesus and because God loved you first what’s the Bible say I can love him back so friends it’s never dependent on how good my love is it’s always dependent on believing man God loves me perfectly because in seeing the love and the grace of God and the cross of Jesus I’m filled with the love of God and that love drives me on in drudgery and toil and grace guide days and everything to be faithful and to conquer so that I may do that thing that Jesus calls me to do inherit eternal life I don’t know where you are maybe you’re Christian maybe you’re Christian life feels stale and maybe you just feel like you’re stuck Jesus says look to him look to him and see how he has loved you perfectly look to the very end that’s the amazing thing about us walking through the book of Revelation Jesus is like look here’s the end and it works out great it works out really great for him and his people so he says come on home keep going there’s joy in the midst of the toil because there’s a promise of life everlasting it’s what God has done for us not what we can do for him amen let’s pray

Father often times as wonderful as a gift that your love is we are so prone to look at other things things we think deserve our attention things that we think are

problems trials that are bigger than we are issues that we think are that are going to be our undoing where we look at seasons of life or we don’t so much feel you’re right here or we just feel like we’re failures in the Christian life

Lord just turn our eyes to Jesus God that we may see it’s not about us it’s not about how well we can perform for God it’s about believing and receiving Jesus who has done all these things perfectly it’s about surrendering to the spirit of Christ so that Christ lives in and through us and that Christ does his work in our hearts and lives Father let us see how small and how frail and how helpless we are and then rejoice in it because it’s only in our weaknesses that you’re strong it’s in seeing how much we need you that you show up so Lord let us put our hand to the plow and work hard for the kingdom not waste these few precious moments of life that we have and Lord live with us live for the eternity that’s to come let it all be God we pray for your glory it’s in Christ’s name Amen