Good job Ephesus

"To the angel of the church of Ephesus write…"I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have laboured for My name's sake and have not become weary. – Revelation 2v1-3

The first church that we get to meet of the seven Jesus writes to is the church at Ephesus. I am not going to enter the fray about whether or not this were ‘just’ seven local churches of the time, symbolic of seven church ages, or some kind of mixture of the two. I am just going to see what Jesus said to these churches and apply lessons from those churches to us today.

As a general rule each church is praised for something and corrected for something. The things that Ephesus did right were good things. They worked hard and laboured well, they were patient, they dealt with false teachers, they persevered, their work was in His name, and they did not become weary of the work.

What more could you ask from a church - hard working, diligent, patient, fighting false doctrine and staying at the stuff? It sounds like a great place to be. In a lot of ways it was. If we saw this church today most of us on the conservative side of evangelicalism would be impressed and encouraged.

At the same time, this kind of focus has a danger. It can lead to an imbalance and a weakness if not kept under control. More about that tomorrow.