The letter to the loveless church in Ephesus in Revelation

And so it begins.  The first of the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation. The Letter to the church in Ephesus.  Jesus had some good things to say to them.  And some bad things.  But then another positive statement.  The Ephesian church certainly wasn't in the worst condition of the seven.  But then, it wasn't the best either.  So there's plenty to look at. Both for the church in Ephesus at the time and for us today.

The letter to the loveless church in Ephesus in Revelation is article #1 in the series: Seven Letters to Seven Churches. Click button to view titles for entire series

The title - The letter to the loveless church in Ephesus - is taken from the section titles in two different translations.  I chose to do that because I think it gives a direction to start with while examining this letter.  Not that it's the only direction.  But it's one that people who did the New King James Version thought was important enough to include, as opposed to the NIV usage of just the location in their section title.

First - Blessings in the Seven Letters

The Book of Revelation starts with these verses:

Rev 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. 

We learn something of the importance of each of the letters from this passage.  Of course, we get a modern-day evidence chain of sorts, to let us know this is from God.  And while John is the recipient of the vision, we saw:

3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it ...

Just like when Jesus spoke of things like love and believe, He was also saying that the love and belief should be so strong as to bring about action on our part.  Not our action alone - and not action to gain love or to have stronger belief.  No - it's about faith and love that are stronger than anything we could ever have ourselves, because it's God's meaning of faith and love that we can only achieve with the Holy Spirit.

Then the action follows from having the Holy Spirit.  And with the Holy Spirit working through us, the actions that we carry out will come from God and be effective the way He intends them to be.  In short - it's not about us.  It's about God.

When we see Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, all of that involves action as a result of having read or heard the prophecy.  It takes the Holy Spirit to understand the words, to take them to heart.  And once we do that - we should have a desire, also coming from the Holy Spirit, to act on the words.  Both for ourselves and for others.

It's a message that God wants us to hear/read - and then do something with it.  As we'll see, each letter speaks to what Jesus has for and against each of the churches.  He lets us know very clearly where we stand in relation to what He wants.  To what He taught.  Our goal is to be more Christ-like, and when we read this, we can look for ourselves in the letters and know just where we are.

Praying about the Seven Letters and ourselves

We'll start with praying portions of Psalm 139. Remember that these letters are for us today, as much as for those at the time John put pen to scroll and everyone in between. One really good way for us to ask God to let us know which parts of these letters apply to us as individuals, families, small groups, churches, Etc. is to literally ask Him! And to listen for a response.

As such, let's begin by praying the verses below, from David to God.

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

Ps 139:1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.