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Well, Nathaniel is, like I said, back east, so he’s not with us today. So you’re going to have to put up with me for the next four weeks. So sorry, but we’ll do what we can. All right. Um, so when I, when he told me what time frame he was going to be gone, I knew we were going to be in the middle of this remodeling project. And in case you’re wondering why it still looks like a construction site is because it still is. Uh, we intentionally took this week off. So the guys that have been working on the project could spend some time with their families, have a little bit of a break. So this week though we will be getting started back with that. So hopefully next week we won’t have as much of a construction site, if not any. Um, but I knew we’d be in the middle of this expansion, and I wanted to try and think of a series or a topic that would be very applicable to our church where we are. And as I thought about it, I thought about the Book of Revelation And, um, some of you might have just got excited. Some of you might have just taken a deep sigh because I said we were going to be in revelation. But don’t worry, we’re not going to be talking about the apocalypse or the end of the world, or the tribulation or anything like that.
If you are excited about that kind of stuff, see Russ, he’ll talk to you for probably longer than you thought possible about it. He loves it. So if you want to talk about that kind of stuff, talk to Russ. We’re not going to focus about the end times and the end of the world and things like that. What we want to focus on is in the beginning of revelation, if you look at revelation chapter two, we’re going to look and there’s seven mini letters that John writes within the Book of Revelation to seven different churches. And he, um, encourages some and says, good job, you’re doing good. And others he says, what in the world are you doing? And so we’re going to look at both of those. And this next four weeks, we’re going to look at church, the right and the wrong way to do it. Um, there is like with everything, a right and a wrong way to do church. Okay. Church isn’t just coming and showing up. Uh, it’s it’s more than that. And we want to see what that is. What? What makes church more than just showing up on a Sunday? Uh, so the first church we’re going to look at, there’s seven of them. Like I said, we’re not going to go straight through them. We’re going to kind of jump around because some of them grouped together a little better than others. So the first one we’re going to look at, though, is found in revelation chapter two, verses one through seven.
It’s the church at Ephesus. I don’t know if you can read that. It’s a little small, if not in the Bible. In the back of your chair. It’s on page 190. Uh, that we’re going to be looking at. So it says to the angel of the church in Ephesus, write, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men. And you put to test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not. And you found them to be false, and you have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first. Or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. Yet this you do have that you hate the deeds of the nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God. So before we look at the church, specifically in Ephesus, we want to look at what where Ephesus was, what kind of city was it? What kind of history background did it have? Because culturally it does make a difference.
Uh, different churches, based on where they’re at will do different things, different ways, and it’s all on the basis of culture. So Ephesus, at its peak, at its highest point, was around 250,000 people. So for that day is a very large city for today’s standards. It’s still pretty big. So it was a large metropolis. Lots going on, people. It was a major port. So you had people from all over the world stopping in. A lot of wealthy business people would have probably had a second home there to manage their finances in that area. It was most famous for its temple to the goddess Artemis or Diana. If you actually look it up the temple to Diana, there was one of the seven Wonders of the ancient world. So it’s a very prominent place wealthy, extravagant. It was pretty much the central location in the Roman Empire at that time. It was about dead center, with Rome as a, um, as a center point. It was a very important city. And Paul actually is the one that started the church in Ephesus. And you can read that in acts chapter 19, and we’ll be there in just a second. But the church grew really rapidly. Paul, on his missionary journey there, started the church, and it saw explosive growth and really quickly grew to the point that even the silversmiths that worked in Ephesus started to riot because of it.
The silversmiths trade their monetary um. Their living was based on making and selling shrines and mini idols of Diana and these other gods to people. And Paul starts this church and says, those aren’t. That’s not God. That’s just a chunk of metal. It’s not worth anything. And people started to listen and they started to walk away from these false gods. And God was doing great things here, so much so that the silversmiths are running out of business, and one silversmith in particular gathers everybody together at a union meeting and says, hey, we got to get rid of this guy because he’s going to run us out of business. And that’s no good. So the church was very prominent. It was a strong church. It had rapid growth. And if you actually will go ahead and read that account in acts chapter 19, and we’ll see this exchange between Demetrius and the other silversmiths. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines to Artemis, he was bringing no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, men, you know that our our prosperity depends on this business. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia.
This Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great Goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless, and that she she whom all of Asia and the and the whole world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence. When they heard this, they were filled with rage. If you want to change the economy of a city, you got to be really influential, okay? If you have to threaten the entire livelihood of a whole trade industry, that’s that’s pretty big. And the church at Ephesus, was that okay when Paul came? The people that were being converted and following Christ weren’t just everyday blue collar kind of people. There were politicians. They were white collar. They were higher ups. And because of that, this church saw, like I said, rapid growth and great influence in the city. So how how does a church go from driving all of the idol worshippers and the idol makers out to here in revelation? They’re being reprimanded because they left their first love. How does that happen? How do you go from being so powerful that you influence an entire city, and thus a nation to what are you guys doing? How does that transition happen? Something like that doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. And by the time revelation is written, when this letter gets to Ephesus, most of the believers in Ephesus that Paul had converted and talked to the founders of the church in Ephesus had either passed away or had moved on or had left, um, moved away, whatever.
And most of the Christians in this church were second generation Christians. And when it says they left their first love, they forgot why it was they did what they did. You see, to them, church was what Mom and Dad did. So that’s what we do. Well, Mom and dad went to church on Sundays, and they sat there and they sang the songs, and they even helped out every now and then on extra days. And they might even make it to a Wednesday night service. So that’s what we’ll do. And so that’s what they did. But they didn’t know why they did those things. They just did it. It became tradition. It’s like the story of the lady who always cut the ends off of her ham before she she baked it. So finally her husband, wondering why she would waste that portion of the meat, asked her, why do you cut the ends off the ham before you bake it? I don’t know, that’s what my mom did. So that’s just the way I make ham. He’s like, okay, all right. What? Not settled with that at Christmas? Then? Going to his in-laws, he asks his mother in law, you know, so why do you cut the ends off the ham? You know, I noticed that my wife always does it.
She said she learned it from you. Why do you do it? I don’t know. My mom always did it. So that’s just the way that. That’s the way I make ham. So finally he gets to the grandmother and says, all right, so they don’t know why I got to know, because it’s just driving me nuts. Why do you cut the ends off the ham? Well, we didn’t have a whole lot of money in my roaster. Pan. Wasn’t big enough to fit a whole ham, so I had to cut the ends off to make it fit. So they didn’t. They were doing this to make this ham, and it was pointless. It was just because she couldn’t get it to fit in the pan. But they saw her do it that way. So that’s the way they did it. And these believers in Ephesus were the same way. They saw Mom and Dad do this stuff and it was good things. It wasn’t mom and dad doing bad things. So we’ll do good things too. And I mean, if you read the passage, they do a lot of good things two through three and then even again in six, they’re doing good stuff. It’s not that they’re doing bad things, but the thing that they weren’t doing is they left their first love.
One of the things I really enjoy about youth ministry, um, I love you guys, but I take a room full of teens any day. Um, it’s it’s fun. And one of the things that I really enjoy about youth ministry is to watch when they’re in a relationship for, like, the first time or something. And I don’t encourage youth to date. If you’ve ever been to youth group or any youth function, I typically recommend waiting till at least college to date. It’s a better way. That way. Um, but they they typically don’t listen to me on that advice. So when they’re in a relationship, you get to just kind of sit back and watch the way they interact, and you’ll see the kid that at the last youth party, you had to break up a fistfight because somebody cut in front of him in line for food. All of a sudden he’s waiting patiently and carrying a plate of food to his new girlfriend who showed up to youth party or whatever. And he’s he’s sitting there quietly with his napkin on his lap and eating nicely while his friends are, you know, in the corner, seeing who can fit more pepperoni rolls in their mouth, you know. And last week he was doing the same thing, but now he’s he’s sitting there listening to her stories and her friends talk while his friends are, you know, trying to burp their name the fastest or whatever.
And you’re like, wait a minute. You were just. How’d you get over here if you were there? What happened in a week? How did that change? And it’s because he’s got that puppy. Like, I don’t call it puppy love because I don’t know how much love is really involved, but it’s that puppy like syndrome where it’s just. I’ll do anything to make her happy. And I mean, you can even think of the relationship that you’re in now. Husbands and wives, you know, you have that honeymoon period, and then all of a sudden, this toilet seat might stop getting left down and, you know, stuff like that, little things start to creep up, and then all of a sudden you’re like, what in the world happened? Okay, well, that’s what happened in Ephesus. That’s what happened with their relationship with Christ. It lost that special relationship, that special feeling and the things that they once did because they loved Christ and were passionate for him. They just did because that’s what they were supposed to do. And that’s not what church is about. Church is about that love, that special relationship. And when you think about that special relationship. If it’s really special, if you truly are dedicated, you think back about those things, about that person that made that relationship so special, that made you willing to do the things that you wouldn’t normally do, whether it be the kid in youth group who now eats politely and uses a napkin to wipe his face, or whether it be the husband that does the dishes even though he hates it.
You do those things that are special because you remember why you’re in that relationship, and it’s that love that you have for that person. And in church, it’s the same way. The reason that we continue to do the things we do isn’t because it’s tradition. It shouldn’t be because it’s tradition. It’s because we love Christ, and we remember what it is that Christ did for each and every one of us that makes that relationship special. And if you don’t remember what Christ did, take a minute and think about it. Okay, Ephesians. You were dead in your sin and your trespasses. Dead no life. But he made you alive because of the sacrifice that he made on the cross. He gave up heaven where all Jesus had to do is sit back and listen to angels. How awesome he is. And he gave it up. Came as a little baby who couldn’t even help himself, lived a perfect life and died for you. Even though at that time the Bible tells us you were enemies with God. He died for you. That’s what makes a relationship with Jesus so special. We’re all the way over here doing our own thing, ignoring anything that God wants, even if we’re living a good life. And God says, look, I know you hate me right now, and I know you’re not following me, but I died for you.
That’s love. That’s agape love in the Greek. Self-sacrificing love. Even if I don’t get anything in return, I’m going to love you. That’s the relationship that Jesus has towards us. And that’s what makes that relationship special. And so we come to church on Sundays not just to sing songs and see friends and, you know, get a free cup of coffee or something. We come to church because we love Christ, and we want other people to see that we love Christ, and we want to let them know that man this week, this is what God did. And it was awesome what happened for you this week. And we encourage each other. Somebody might come in and say, you know, it’s been a rough week. You know, a lot of stuff happened. I got laid off. You know, me and the wife have been fighting more. And you say, man, that’s awful, but let’s go through this together. Let’s pray together. Let’s let’s worship Christ together. And we come to church on Sunday to build each other up. And we do these things not because that’s what we’re supposed to do. We do it because ultimately we love Christ. When you think about this attitude of just doing the right thing, exteriorly and interiorly, you’re indifferent or hardened or, um, just don’t care. It’s the Pharisees, man, the Pharisees in the New Testament.
That’s what they did. And Jesus, if you read any of the New Testament, any time he has an encounter with the Pharisees, he tells them, it’s not that you live out the letter of the law. It’s your intentions in doing that. Okay. If you read in Matthew he has the woes to the Pharisees and he says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. You’re like whitewashed tombs outwardly look clean and full of life, but inside you’re full of death and disease. Are we coming to church because it’s what we’re supposed to do and expect it to do? Are we even coming and maybe helping out with a remodel or going and and making balloon animals for three hours until your fingers bleed? Because we love Jesus? Or are we doing it because that’s what somebody expects you to do? It’s not about what people expect of us. It’s about that love and that relationship that we have with Christ. That’s what motivates us. And when you see that relationship and you remember what it is that Christ did for you that made you love him. That’s when you avoid this situation of becoming a routine. You come to church and you sit in the same seat. You sing same songs. You just come and you do routine and okay, now church is done. Now I’m going to go home, watch some football, take a nap. That’s Sunday and it’s routine.
But when you remember that love that Christ showed you and that relationship, it helps Sunday from becoming routine and becoming an awesome experience. I look forward to coming to church more now than I ever have in my entire life. Okay, and I grew up in church. I was born in church pretty much. I was like two weeks old and I was already going on Bible retreats with my mom. Okay, so I mean, I’ve done church my whole life, literally, and I’ve never been more excited about coming to church until I moved here, even when we were in that little if you guys remember the little corner, those of us that were there in Swift Printing when you had to smell the ink fumes and you always got a headache when you came to church. I even look forward to church then, because of the body of believers that were there, knew why they were there. And it wasn’t just routine, and it was because they loved Christ that they made the sacrifice to go sit in a cramped, hot, air conditioned, less room that was like ten by 20 with 40 other people and sing and pray together. That’s awesome. You don’t do that if you don’t love Jesus. If it’s uncomfortable, you just quit. And that’s why I love coming to church here. I always, whenever I’m gone, I always text Nathaniel after whatever service I’ve been to. If I. If I made it to church while I was away, just text him and say, man, our church is the best church and it is man, I love this church.
It’s awesome. And it’s that reason. It’s because we still have that focus of who Christ is. But what happens is one individual loses that focus, then another individual loses that focus, and then another individual loses that focus and it’s not on me. It’s not on you to control everybody else’s focus. It’s on you to take care of you and your focus. So when you come to church, when you when you live life, don’t live it for other people, live it for you and live in that relationship. And other people are going to see that you’re living that relationship in light of who Christ is and that love that he showed you. And they’re going to realize if they’re not living that way, they’re going to want to start living that way. And if they are already living that way, you’re going to encourage them to keep doing that. But as for a church as a whole, for us to do that, us as individuals first have to do that in our lives. And the second church we’re going to look at, we’re going to see a lot of the same things happening here. The second church, you’re going to have to flip to chapter three, and we’re going to be in verse one, and it’s the church in Sardis.
Now Sardis is very similar to Ephesus. Proximity wise, they weren’t that far apart either. They they were a major trade center. They were known for the worship of Artemis or Diana. They they were centrally located in Lydia, in the country of Lydia. So they had a major trade route that connected the eastern part of the country and the western part of the country. So they were they were very wealthy. Sardis was such a wealthy city, in fact, that the kings from Sardis, the name of their last king before they were conquered, was synonymous with wealth. Um, that’s how wealthy this place was. They were there was a major gold and silver mint there, so they would make gold and silver coins. But spiritually they had a lot of the similar problems too. In revelation three one through three says to the angel of the church in Sardis write, he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this I know your deeds, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die. For I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. So remember what you have received and heard, and keep it and repent. Therefore, if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.
So it’s the same thing. You have the reputation of being alive, but you’re dead to the. To the rest of the world. You look like you’re a healthy, functioning church. You’re doing the right things. You’re. You’re reaching out to the to the needy. You’re ministering to those in your body. You’re reaching out in the community and and trying to see converts. But you’re just doing that because that’s what you’re supposed to do. Jesus doesn’t want our actions. He wants our hearts. A lot of the sermon on the Mount that Jesus preaches in Matthew is don’t live out the letter of the law. Live out the intent of the law. Okay? It’s not about following the rules. One, two, three. It’s about why you’re following the rules. One, two and three. And yeah, you might have messed up on rule number two, but your heart’s in the right place and you’re going to try and do better. And God knows that. And God loves you for that. When you mess up, he’s not angry at you. He’s not. He’s not disappointed. He still loves you, and he still wants you to keep trying and pursuing that, but he doesn’t want you to pursue it. So you can say, look at me. I followed all the rules. He wants you to do that so you can say, look, this is where I was. I was a sinner that hated God. And now look what God’s done in my life.
Okay. One of the things I love about our church is the background of everybody here is so different. And I love Mark Because, um, Mark came into work the other day and, uh, and he came in and I talked to him for a little bit, and he left, and one of the guys was like, who’s that? I was like, oh, that’s, uh, he’s a friend of mine from church. He’s one of the leaders at our church. And they were like, he’s a leader at your church, but he’s got gauged ears and tattoos. You can’t do that. And I’m like, no, man, I’m telling you, he’s awesome. And so it was it blows because we have this background. People can see, look where I was in my relationship to God, not caring, doing what I wanted to do. And now look where I am. And the reason that I’m here doing these things isn’t so I can say, look at me now. I’m saying, look at where God took me from, and look where God is putting me. Amen. So if this is a problem that is obviously repetitive, not just in one church, but it’s a problem that you fall into all over. And if you go back east, I can take you where me and Nathaniel used to live in West Virginia. There’s a church every quarter of a mile, and I can take you into church after church after church after church.
That’s just in a routine of church. And they’ve they’ve forgotten why they’re doing what they’re doing. And they might look alive because the parking lot is full on Sunday, but inwardly they’re dead. So this is an epidemic. This is a serious problem that we’re not immune to. So if it’s a problem that we as believers might face, we need to find out how we can prevent that from happening. And to answer that question, we’re going to flip back a little bit in your Bible to the book of Philippians. Um, and in the book of Philippians, there are tons of passages that I love, but one of my favorites is in Philippians three. And we’re going to start in verse four, and we’re going to see Paul and how he deals with keeping his focus on Christ and not losing sight and letting life become a routine for him. Philippians three four through six. About halfway through verse four, it says, if anyone has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness. Which righteousness? Which? Let’s try that again. As to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness which is in the law found blameless. There we go.
So, Paul, basically what he’s saying. I’m the man here. Okay. If you want to pick an area of your life that you can be proud of, I’m better. All right. My family tree. Yeah. Tribe of Benjamin. Israelite. Hebrew of Hebrews. Got that one. Okay. Well, you think you’re more religious than me? I trained under the high priest. I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. Everybody wanted to be like me. I got you there. Okay. What else do you want to talk about? Did I obey the law? I obeyed the law. All right. Nobody was. Nobody was better at that than me. Okay, so what does he say about all this? I was I was doing all the right things. And outwardly, you would look at me and think. He’s got it. That’s. That’s the guy right there. Paul’s got it. But he was doing these things and they’re not bad things. It’s not a bad thing to be a good person, okay? It’s not a bad thing to live a moral life. That’s good. But what Paul is saying, if you look in three through 14 then or seven through 14, sorry, it says whatever things were gain to me. Those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Those things. And those aren’t even bad things, okay? Those are good things that Paul’s saying there loss for the sake of knowing Christ. These good things that I was doing aren’t as good as knowing who Christ is.
More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul says, look guys, I lived that life where I lived externally so people would think I was a good person and I followed all the rules for that reason. But now that I’ve met Jesus and I know who he is, and I know what he’s done in my life, and he’s given me a righteousness that I can’t earn, that I can’t deserve, and he’s given that to me.
All I want is Jesus. Everything else in this world, all these things that I had, all these things that I could have, it’s lost. It’s rubbish. The word for rubbish is dung. Okay? It’s nothing compared to knowing Christ. And Paul was so focused on that that he says, I press on toward the goal, I press on, I endure, I persevere, I strive. Okay. Pressing on doesn’t. The Greek word doesn’t imply a leisurely stroll. It’s a struggle. It’s a fight. It’s a violent struggle. And Paul says that that’s what I want. I want to keep pushing towards Jesus. I want to keep pushing towards Christ. By the time Paul wrote this in Philippians, he had already started numerous churches. He had been on multiple journeys. He had already written a majority of the books that you have in the New Testament today. And still he says, that’s nothing. Okay. That’s fine that I did all that. I just want Jesus. Okay. And in my pursuit of Jesus, if these good things are happening, awesome. But if the bad things are happening. Because by this time, he’s already been beaten, thrown in jail, shipwrecked, been on trial numerous times for things he didn’t do, tortured. And he’s still I press on whether it’s good things are happening or bad things are happening, I press on to Jesus the only way we can’t do it on our own, the only way we can keep from losing sight of that relationship and letting that relationship that we have grow old and become routine, is our focus on Christ and our passion for him.
Paul knew that this life was temporary, that Christ was eternal, and he wouldn’t settle just for mediocrity or just for following the steps. And he didn’t want to just go through the routine because his sole focus was on Christ. Christ was his first love. It was his only love. And it was because he knew that he didn’t have a righteousness of his own, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Paul knew where he was and where he is now, and he knew that it was nothing that he could have done, but all because of Christ. That’s how Paul was able to stay focused to the point of being martyred and being beheaded for the sake of Christ, because he knew what Christ did for him. So when you think about church becoming routine or becoming apathetic towards church or indifferent, when we focus on Christ, the actions that we do as a church, as an individual, won’t just become routine. Those actions are going to be empowered and motivated by the sovereign, all powerful God of the universe who died for you.