The Church at Ephesus

(Revelation 2:1-7) "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.  But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."  The congregation of Ephesus was established by the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey, and a description of the church can be found in Acts 18-20.  This church was deeply spiritual and pure when it started.  This church had great zeal and love for the Lord.  They worked diligently and they tried everything to see if it was true and good, as can be seen from the fact they tried those people who said they were apostles, but under scrutiny, they were found to be liars. 

Ephesus was known throughout the world of that time for worship of Diana or Artemis, who was considered to be the mother goddess of the earth.  The myth that prevailed in that day was that the image of Diana had fallen from the sky and as such much of the Ephesian economy centered around this, ie., the selling of silver shrines of Artemis (Acts 19:24).  In this letter God commends the Ephesian church for their hard work and perseverance, and that they "tested those who claim to be apostles but are not" and "found them false."  In the book of Acts Paul told them that false prophets would arise in their church and try to distort the true gospel.  God commends the Ephesian church for hating the "deeds of the Nicolaitanes" which God also hates.  Who are the Nicolaitanes?  The term Nicolaitanes come from two Greeek words which are (1) Niko which means to conquer or overthrow and (2) Laso which means the people or the laity.  When both words are combined the definition is "victory over the people (laity) or to conquer the laity."  Nicolaitism sought to establish an ecclesiastical order that would rule the people, to have a ruling class in the church that dominated the people or "the laity."  This is what the Holy Spirit had in mind when he told the church elders through Peter to be examples to the flock of God, and not lording it over them (I Peter 5:3). 

God's only condemnation to this church was that they "lost their first love", meaning, even though they were doing many of the right things, their true love for the LORD was beginning to grow cold.  Remember when Jesus was asked "what is the greatest commandment?".  He replied "To love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength".  Even though doing much of the right things, it appears this church still lost its true love for the Lord. 

When one reads about the growth of the church from the very beginning to it's present times, one of the websites noted that what God wrote to the Ephesians, fits very closely to what happened in the church during the time frame of 33 A.D. to 100 A.D.  After Jesus left his disciples, they began to carry out his commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  They established churches all over the Roman Empire.  By 100 A.D., all the original apostles had died and gone on to be with the Lord.  But the churches they established and the leaders they built up continued the work of the Lord.  Early church manuscripts document that even from its inception, the church  struggled with false teachers and false doctrines trying to infiltrate, but that the church held true and continued to grow in spite of the confusion and persecution.  Manuscripts even identify that as churches grew, some in leadership attempted to gain more authority and control, much like the Nicolaitanes at Ephesus. 

It is very important that a church places a great emphasis upon orthodoxy.  We should follow what the Word of God says.  It's important to read the Bible's pages to know how we should live and how a church should function.  However, as important as correct doctrine is, it's also important that our motives for doing what we do be pure.  The Apostle Paul makes much emphasis of charity in I Corinthians 13.  Paul states in I Corinthians 13:3 "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."  All the works we perform and all the correct Bible doctrine that's preached in the church won't go very far if we don't possess charity.  God not only wants the church to empashize correct doctrine and perform good works, we're also to love the Lord.  If we don't have a walk with the Lord and love him like we should, then our orthodoxy will be dry.  We must have a personal relationship with God and then in turn exhibit charity in our Christian lives.