1. The place. Ephesus. Situated in a rich and extensive country, and upon the banks of a luxuriant river, it became, in all probability, celebrated for the pleasures of the chase, on which account its richest offerings were presented on the shrine of Diana. It was in its greatest glory in the apostolic age, its population at that time amounting to some hundreds of thousands. The ruins of its theatre still remain, which is computed to have accommodated twenty thousand spectators. Its commerce, its literature, its opulence, and its luxury were in similar proportion.
2. The Church of Ephesus.
(1) How great were the advantages which the Ephesian Church enjoyed! The foundation is laid during a few months’ visit from the great apostle of the Gentiles. It is sustained by the labours of Priscilla and Aquila. It is favoured with the discourses of the eloquent Apollos. It next enjoys the entire ministrations of Paul for two years and three months. He is succeeded by Timothy, of whom Paul says, he knew no man so like-minded with himself, who evidently gave the prime of his days to the Ephesians. A most instructive and encouraging letter is sent them by Paul, for their guidance both in doctrine and practice. Timothy receives full instructions from the apostle for the performance of his pastoral duties among them. And to crown all their privileges, during the apostolic age, John, the last of the apostles, gives them the benefit of the rich experience of his latter days, and the benedictions of his last breath.
(2) The chief difficulties with which the gospel had to contend in this city.
(a) The prejudices of the Jews.
(b) The pride of human learning.
(c) The influence of a popular idolatry and an interested priesthood.
(d) The effect of riches.
(e) Sensual indulgence.
(3) The gospel when faithfully preached, and accompanied by pastoral visits and fervent prayer, will surmount all opposition, and extensively prevail.
3. The angel of the Church at Ephesus.
4. The character in which Christ addresses this Church.
II. The subject of communication.
1. The Ephesians are commended here for their zealous and active performance of Christian duties; for their patience and submission under trial and persecution; and for their purity of discipline.
2. He has something against them, as well as in their favour. He does not dispute the sincerity of their love, but reproves them for its diminished fervour. It was not so pure, burning, and enkindling as at first. Diminution of love in His people is displeasing to Christ, on their account as well as His own. Love is the fruit of all other graces of the Christian combined. If this decays, the whole work of grace in the soul is on the decline.
3. The admonition:“Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen,” etc.
4. The threatening:“Or else I will come unto thee quickly,” etc. Unless the flame of love be kept bright and glowing, He will withdraw His support. He will not hold up an expiring lamp. The light of the gospel is not extinguished, but is removed from one place to another. If it has become dim, or ceased to shine in one part of the earth, it burns with brilliancy in another. While its first fervour was declining in Judaea, it burst forth in the cities of the Gentiles. The gospel seeks the hearts of men. If they are withheld in one place, it seeks them in another.
5. The closing commendation:“But this thou hast,” etc.
III. General application is appended to the address to the Church at Ephesus, and the same order is observed in the rest:“He that hath an ear, let him hear,” etc. (G. Rogers.)
Ephesus--the strenuous Church
Ephesus is the type of a strenuous Church. There is something singularly masculine in the first part of the description. “I know thy works”--that is, thine achievements; not thy desires and purposes and aspirations, not even thy doings, but thy deeds. This Church in its severe self-discipline affords a welcome contrast to the easily-excited populace amid whom they lived, rushing confusedly into the theatre and shouting for two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” The patience of the Church is twice men tioned; the second time it is patience not as a feature of the workman, but the patience of him who can suffer, and suffer in silence. And this virtue has a threefold delineation--patience, endurance, fortitude. “Thou hast patience, and thou didst bear for My name’s sake, and thou hast not grown weary.” There is another mark of the masculine character in Ephesus, a noble intolerance of evil--“thou canst not bear bad men.” And with this intolerance is the power to discriminate character, the clear judgment which cannot be deceived--“thou didst try them which call themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find them false.” There is no surer mark of a masculine nature than this keen insight into pretentiousness, and fidelity of rebuke. Then comes the exposure of the great defect of Ephesus. “I have against thee that thou hast left that love which thou hadst at the first.” It is love in its largest sense which the Church once had and now has lost; the love of God animating piety undoubtedly, but no less certainly the love of men making service sweet. Nor is it the feeling alone which has changed, it is not that love asa sentiment is lost; but love in its far reach has gone, kindliness and tender consideration and disregard of self, the grace that suffers long and is kind, that beareth all things, hopeth all things, believeth all things. The toilsomeness, the endurance, the stern self-judgment, the keen discrimination of character, are obvious; but the spirit that rises above toil or sweetens toil, the grace to woo and wed, has fled. We can understand the history only too well. Life has many sore trials, none sorer than this--that virtues which are unexercised die out, and that the circumstances which call for some virtues and give occasion for their development seem to doom others to extinction. The Christian character cannot live by severity alone. There were two demands which the Church at Ephesus had forgotten--the demand for completeness of Christian character, never more urgent than when the times are making us one-sided; the demand of God Himself for the heart. There must be impulse in His people if they are to continue His people; there must be love in all who, not contented with doing “their works,” desire to do the work of God.
I. There is an obscured, a limited perception of the grace of Christ. “These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars,” etc. A strenuous Lord for a strenuous Church; but also a Lord holding His manifold graces in reserve when He has to do with a reserved people. For the nurture of piety we need all that He will reveal to us of Himself, all that can endear Him, all that can startle us, all that can exalt His image. There is not a single channel by which Christ finds His way to the soul which should not be open to Him; a full Christ is needed for a full man and for a complete Church.
II. The warning of the fifth verse must have been very surprising to the angel of the Ephesian Church. The Church seemed to be so efficient. Its works had been so hard, and yet they had been done. Its achieve-merits were patent. Especially its service in the cause of truth was conspicuous; the Church had not lost its zeal, its candour, its piercing vision. Ephesus warns us against the perils of the Puritan temper; it warns us also against the stoical temper, with its tendency to a not ignoble cynicism, of which some of our gravest leaders in literature have been the exponents. Puritanism plus love ham accomplished great things, and will do yet more; for a masculine tenderness is God’s noblest gift to men. But Puritanism, when the first love is lost, drags on a sorrowful existence, uninfluential and unhappy; its only hope being the capacity for repentance, which, God be praised, has never failed it. Perhaps the most solemn part of the message is that in which the Lord Himself declares--“I am coming; I will shake thy candlestick out of its place.” The Lord can do without our achievements, but not without love. He can supply gifts unendingly, can make the feeble as David; but if love be wanting He will shake the noblest into destruction, and remove them out of the way. There is one striking word immediately following this warning, a word of commendation; it is the only one of the messages in which a word of commendation does come in after the warning has been uttered, and it is a commendation of feeling. “But this thou hast, that thou hatest,” etc. Hatred is hardly the feeling we should have expected to be commended:but it is feeling, and any feeling is better than apathy or stolidity. Where men can feel hatred, other feeling may come; love may come where men have not reduced themselves to machines.
III. An altogether unexpected thing in the message to the Church at Ephesus is the promise with which it ends--“To him that overcometh,” etc. In only two promises of the New Testament does this word “paradise” appear, with its suggestion of the primeval garden, where the father and mother of men wandered innocent and happy:in the promise made by the dying Jesus to the penitent thief, and here. The faithful men of Ephesus, stern-featured, with drawn brows, fighting on, knowing that their hearts are withering in the conflict, and yet not seeing how they can relax, are caught with a word. An image is presented to them which may break down even their self-control, and set them longing for the wondrous things God hath prepared for them that love Him. And this was exactly what Ephesus needed, although it was the one thing it had schooled itself to do without. Ephesus had too little of what so many have too much of--sensibility, passiveness, willingness to receive, to be made something of, to be quiet and let the Blessed One save them who had long been striving, and of late so ineffectually, to serve Him. Good as strenuousness is--and of human virtues it is among the chief--even better is the responsive spirit. When God is thegiver, it is well for us to receive rather than to give. (A. Mackennal,D. D.)
Letter to Ephesus
I. The Head of the Church has a minute knowledge of all the services of His people.
1. There is distinguished labour. “I know thy works, and thy labour.” The Church at Ephesus had been a working Church. It had been operating on the sat rounding regions of depravity, darkness, and death. In its early life it was eminently an aggressive Church. I would have Christ’s Church as ambitious as Alexander. As he waved his battle-flag over a conquered world, so would I that the Church might unfurl the banner of a nobler conquest over every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue.
2. There is distinguished patience. This patience may be understood as indicating long-suffering in relation to those by whom the saints in Ephesus were surrounded--long-suffering both in waiting for the germination of the seed which they had sown in many tears, and in the meek endurance of fiery trials. The point to be noted here is, that Christ is mindful, not only of the outward manifestations of the spiritual life--such as many labours andmany offerings--but also of the hidden graces which cluster round the heart. He sees not only the moral warrior brandishing his sword in the thickest of the battle, hut also the wounded and suffering soldier; and sweetly says to such, “I know thy patience.” How few can tone themselves to the high strength of doing everything by doing nothing! Patience is undervalued by an excited world; but Jesus notes it in its long vigils, marks it trimming its dim lamp in the solemn midnight, and sweetly,whispers His word of commendation, which is always invigorating as the breath of immortality.
3. There is distinguished jealousy for the right. “Thou canst not bear them which are evil,” etc. It must ever be remembered that there is a spurious charity. It is morally impossible that Christians and anti-Christians can have any sympathetic fellowship. Woe unto the Church when moral distinctions are lightly regarded! To confound light with darkness, sweetness with bitterness, is to mock the first principles of holy government, and to destroy for ever the possibility of holy brotherhood. While, therefore, we would not presumptuously ascend the judgment-seat, we believe it is impossible to burn in too deeply the line which separates the sympathy of compassion from the sympathy of complacency.
3. There was distinguished persistence in the right course. “And hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.” The eulogium might be read thus:“I know thy labour, and yet thou dost not labour, i.e., thou dost not make a labour of thy duties”:in such case duty was not a hard taskmaster. There was such a sunny joyousness and musical cordiality about these saints, that they came to their work--work so hard--with the freshness of morning, and under their touch duty was transformed into privilege. There is a lesson here for Christian workers through all time. When work is done with the hand only, it is invariably attended with much constraint and difficulty; but when the heart is engaged, the circle of duty is run with a vigour that never wearies and a gladness which never saddens. Not only so, the Ephesian saints eminently succeeded in uniting patience with perseverance. They were not only patient in suffering, but patient in labour. They did not expect the morning to be spring and the evening to be autumn, but, having due regard to the plan of Divine procedure, combined in wise proportions the excitement of war with the patience of hope. The Ephesians were right:they blended persistence with patience, and were extolled by Him who knew the hardest toil, and exemplified the most unmurmuring endurance. The fundamental point is, that Christ knew all this. “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience.” There is not a toiler in the vineyard on whose bent form the Master looks not with approbation. He sees the sufferer also. All that He observes influences His mediation, so that in every age “He tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb.”
II. The Head of the Church marks every declension of piety. “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee.” This method of reproof is eminently suggestive. It gives a lesson to parents. Would you be successful in reproving your children? Let commendation precede rebuke; let your “nevertheless” be winged with love and hope, and it will fly to the farthest boundary of your child’s intellectual and moral nature, and showers ofblessings will be shaken from those heavenly wings. It gives a lesson to pastors also. Our words of remonstrance or rebuke will be more successful as they are preceded by every acknowledgment which justice and generosity can suggest. When the Master is compelled, so to speak, to rebuke His Church, He proceeds as though He would gladly turn. The rebuke comes with a hesitation which did not mark the eulogy. He resorts to a negative form of statement--“Thou hast left thy first love.” Look at the declension spoken of.
1. This declension is described as having begun in the heart. Christ does not charge the saints at Ephesus with having changed their doctrinal views; but, placing His finger on the heart, says, “There isa change here.” You know the enthusiasm of “first love.” If any work is to be done in the Church--if any difficulties are to be surmounted--if any icebergs are to be dissolved--if any cape, where savage seas revel in ungovernable madness, isto be rounded, send out men and women in whose hearts this “ first love” burns and sings, and their brows will be girt with garlands of conquest. Our business, then, is to watch our heart-fires. When the temperature of our love lowers, there iscause for terror. It is instructive to mark the many and insidious influences by which the gush and swell of affection are modified. Take the case of one who has been distinguished for much service in the cause of God, and see how the fires pale. He becomes prosperous in business. His oblations on the altar of Mammon are costlier than ever. He toils in the service of self until his energies are nearly exhausted, and then his class in the school is neglected; the grass grows on his tract district; his nature has become so perverted that he almost longs for an occasion of offence, that he may retire from the duties of the religious life. Could you have heard him in the hour of his new-born joy, when he first placed his foot in God’s kingdom, you would not have thought that he ever could have been reduced to so low a moral temperature. What holy vows escaped him! How rich he was in promise! But look at him now; turn the leaves over, and with eager eyes search for fruit, and say, Is the promise of spring redeemed in autumn? Innumerable influences are continually in operation, which would cool the ardour of our first enthusiasm for Christ. Satan plies us with his treacherous arts; the world allures us with its transitory charms; our inborn depravity reveals itself in ever-varying manifestations; pride and selfishness, ambition and luxury, appeal to us in many voices, and beckon us with a thousand hands.
2. This declension may be accompanied by an inveterate hatred of theological heresy--“But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.” The head may be right while the heart is going in a wrong direction. I am indeed anxious that we should maintain a Scriptural theology, that we should “hold fast the form of sound words”; at the same time we must remember that a technical theology will never save a soul; and that a mere verbal creed will never protect and increase our love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. This declension evoked the most solemn warnings and exhortations.
(1) The Church in its collective capacity may incur the Divine displeasure. There may be good individuals in the fellowship, yet the community as a whole may be under the frown of Him who “walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.”
(2) The Church in its collective capacity must betake itself to repentance. This is evident when we remember that there is certain work properly denominated Church work. Take, for example, either home or foreign evangelisation. It is not my work solely as an individual to “go up and possess the land” of heathenism:but it is our work as a Church to carry the light of heaven into “the dark places of the earth.” It can only be done by individuals, in so far as they are atoms in a fabric--parts of a whole. If, therefore, we have neglected to enter the door of opportunity as a Church, the cry of the angry Saviour is, “Repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly.”
(3) Jesus will unchurch every organisation that is unfaithful to His name; lie threatens to “remove thy candlestick out of his place.” Such language may well make us pause. Organisation is not spiritual brotherhood. Tell me not of gorgeous temples, of skilful arrangements, of complete machinery; I tell you that you may have all these in an unparalleled degree, and yet “Ichabod” may be written on your temple doors! What is your spiritual life? Is your ecclesiastical mechanism the expression of your love?
III. The Head of the Church has the richest blessings in reserve for all who overcome their spiritual enemies. “Overcometh”--the word tells of battle and victory. There is intimation here of an enemy. There is a hell in this word, and in it there is a devil. That your spiritual life is a fight you need not be reminded:every day you are in the battle-field; you live by strife. “Eat”--the word tells of appetite. Desire is in this word, and desire satisfied. Our desire for more of God shall increase as the ages of our immortality expire, and yet increasing desire is but another way of saying increasing satisfaction. “The tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” It is but little we can say concerning such a tree:no worm is gnawing at its root, no serpent coils around its stem, no sere leaf trembles upon it as the prophet a coming winter; its every leaf is jewelled with purer dew than ever sparkled on the eyelids of the morning. A tree! ‘Tis but another word for beauty, for beauty walks forth in ever-varying manifestations. A tree! ‘Tis but another name for progress, for the circling sap bears through every fibre life and fruitfulness. A tree! Shall we assemble around that central tree? We cannot do so until we have assembled around the Cross. (J. Parker,D. D.)
The words of Christ to the congregation at Ephesus
I. Those which concern himself.
1. His relation to the Church.
2. His knowledge of the Church. He knows not merely overt acts, but inner motives.
II. Those which concern the congregation.
1. He credits them with the good they possess.
(1) Their repugnance to wrong.
(2) Their patience in toil.
(3) Their insight into character.
(4) Their hostility to error.
2. He reproves them for the declension they manifest.
3. He urges them to reform.
III. Those which concern the divine spirit.
1. The Divine Spirit makes communication to all the Churches.
2. Proper attention to these communications requires a certain ear.
IV. Those which concern moral conquerors.
1. Life is a battle.
2. Life is a battle that may be won
3. The winning of the battle is glorious. (D. Thomas,D. D.)
Peculiarities of this Ephesian letter
I. Opposition to error.
1. The origin of religious error is often involved in great obscurity.
2. The manifestation of religious error is in deeds as well as doctrines. There are those, alas l who are orthodox in doctrine, but corrupt in character. Why is this?
(1) Because the sound doctrine remains in the head, and never enters the heart, and the heart is the spring of action.
(2) Because sometimes the tempting spirit suddenly excites impulses which for a time bury the beliefs.
3. The defence of religious error is generally by an appeal to Divine authority. The men who set themselves up as “apostles” are more likely to be apostates.
4. The dissemination of religious error is often very rapid.
(1) Because human nature in its depraved state has a greater affinity for it than for truth.
(2) Because religious errorists are generally zealous propagandists.
5. The very existence of religious error should be hated by Christians. Nothing is more damning to the intellect, heart, soul.
II. Patient endurance. It needed patience--
1. Because it had to disseminate truth. The stupidity, prejudices, and indifferentism of men call for this.
2. Because it has to encounter opposition.
3. Because patience is necessary to wait. The results of Christian labour are not reached at once, and are seldom so manifest as to compensate the labour expended.
III. The decay of love.
1. “Remember.” Review the past, and call to mind the sweet, delicate, blooming affection of thy first love, with all the fresh joys and hopes it awakened.
2. “Repent.” This does not mean crying, weeping, confessing, and throwing yourself into ecstasies, but a change in the spirit and purpose of life.
3. “Reproduce”--“do thy first work.” Go over thy past life, reproduce the old feeling, and re-attempt old effort.
4. “Tremble.” Let declension go on, and ruin is inevitable. (CalebMorris.)
Phases of Church life; the Church declining in moral enthusiasm
I. That the Church which is declining in moral enthusiasm may be characterised by many commendable excellences.
1. This Church was active in work. Ministerial and Church work ought to be labour--so earnest in its spirit and determined in its effort that it shall not be mere occupation, but a moral anxiety.
2. This Church was patient in suffering. The Church, in our own time, has great need of this virtue, to prayerfully await the culmination of all its purposes, when its victory shall be complete and its enthronement final. We have far too many impatient men in the Christian community who cannot bear reproach or impediment.
3. This Church was keen and true in moral sensibility. The world delights in calling the Church intolerant, how can it be otherwise of evil? It cannot smile upon moral wrong.
4. It was judicious in the selection of its officials. Who these false apostles were we cannot determine; suffice it to say that their credentials were examined and found defective. Such deceivers have existed in all ages of the Church, and have become the authors of innumerable heresies. Christians should always test the conduct and doctrine of those whose pretences are great, and who seek to obtain authority amongst them; as men will even lie in reference to the most sacred things of life, and as zeal is not the only qualification for moral service.
5. It was inspired by the name of Christ. His name is influential with the pious soul, because it is the source of all its good andhope.
II. That the Church which is declining in moral enthusiasm is in a most serious condition, and invites the Divine rebuke.
1. In what may the first love, or moral enthusiasm of the Church, be said to consist? It is, indeed, sad when the Church is beautiful in the face but cold at the heart.
2. What is it for a Church to decline in first love or moral enthusiasm?
3. What is it that occasions a decline in first love or moral enthusiasm?
4. What is it that Christ has against theChurch which declines in first love or moral enthusiasm? He regards such a Church as neglectful of great privileges; as guilty of sad ingratitude; as inexcusable in its conduct; and earnestly calls upon it to repent and do its first works.
III. That the Church declining, in moral enthusiasm must earnestly seek the renewal of its fervour.
1. A Church in such a condition must have a vivid remembrance of its past glory.
2. A Church in such a condition must have deep contrition of soul.
3. A Church in such a condition must repeat the loving activities of its new and early life.
IV. That the Church neglecting to regain the moral enthusiasm of its early life will meet with terrible retribution.
1. The retribution of such a Church will consist in the solemn visitation of Christ. It means affliction--it may be judgment.
2. The retribution of such a Church will consist in woful obliteration.
V. That the Church declining in moral enthusiasm should give timely heed to the threatened retributions of God. Lessons:
1. That the Church is surrounded by many hostile influences.
2. That the Church should, above all things, seek to retain its moral enthusiasm.
3. That the discipline of heaven toward the Church is for its moral welfare, but, if not attended to, will issue in great dejection. (J. S. Exell,M. A.)
These things saith He who holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
Christ’s care in glory for His Church’s good on earth
I. Why is the Church called a candlestick?
1. A. candlestick hath no light in it of itself, but light must be put into it:and therefore in thecase of the candlestick under the law, to which this here is an allusion, the priests were to light the candles.
2. The use of a candlestick is for no other end than to hold up and hold out the light, and to this very end the Lord hath instituted Churches.
3. A candlestick is a thing movable, and with the removing of the candlestick you carry away the light; the Lord removes the candlestick from place to place; though the land remain, the Church is gone, that is a dangerous judgment:not only an immediate removing of the ordinances, but of the Church, for which all ordinances were appointed; the kingdom of God shall be taken from them.
4. It is an allusion unto the candlestick under the law in the tabernacle, in Exo_25:31, which was a type of the Church of God.
II. Why is the Church called a golden candlestick?
1. Because gold is the purest metal, and the Lord will have His Church such; they shall differ as much from other men as gold doth from the common clay in the streets.
2. Because gold of all metals is the most precious, and of the highest esteem; there is as much difference between the Church of God and other men as there is between gold and dirt in the street; as between diamonds and pebbles in the Lord’s esteem.
III. How is Christ said to walk in the midst of the golden candlestick? It denotes a promise of especial presence and fellowship; this is the promise that the Lord made unto the Jews (Lev_26:12).
1. There is a gracious presence of Christ with His Church in all Church administrations.
2. There is the great glory of God to be seen in heaven; and you shall find that there is a great resemblance between His presence in His Church and in glory (Heb_12:22-23).
(1) Christ in heaven is present in majesty and glory; it is called the throne of His glory, and such is His presence in His Church too, and therefore observe it, He is said to sit upon a high throne in the midst of His Churches (Rev_4:8).
(2) In heaven the Lord is present as revealing His mind and will unto His people; there we shall know as we are known (1Co_13:12), and so He is present in the midst of His people (Deu_23:3).
(3) In heaven there shall be a glorious and full communication of all grace; as your communion shall then be perfect with Him, so shall the communication of all His grace be to you.
(4) In heaven the soul is wholly as it were resolved into God, that is, God wholly takes up the whole soul.
(5) In heaven there is the presence of His saints and angels. Application:
1. How should this command reverence in every soul of you when you come to have to do with any Church administrations!
2. Is there such a gracious presence of Christ in Gospel administrations, labour to see it there, labour to have your souls affected with the spiritual presence or absence of Christ there.
3. Remember Christ is present, but He is present in holiness.
4. Take notice He is present in jealousy.
(1) If you come at an adventure with God in Church administrations, the greatest temporal judgments shall be inflicted upon yon (Eze_10:2).
(2) If the Lord spare you in temporal judgments, He will pour out spiritual judgments. (Wm. Strong.)
The seven stars and the seven candlesticks
I. The Churches and their servants. I see in the relations between these men and the little communities to which they belonged, an example of what should be found existing between all congregations of faithful men and the officers whom they have chosen, be the form of their polity what it may.
1. The messengers are rulers. They are described in a double manner--by a name which expresses subordination, and by a figure which expresses authority. The higher are exalted that they may serve the lower. Dignity and authority mean liberty for more and more self-forgetting work. Power binds its possessor to toil. Wisdom is stored in one, that from him it may flow to the foolish; strength is given that by its holder feeble hands may be stayed. Noblesseoblige. The King Himself has obeyed the law. We are redeemed because He came to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. He is among us “as He that serveth.” God Himself has obeyed the law. He is above all that He may bless all. He, the highest, stoops the most deeply. His dominion is built on love, and stands in giving. And that law which makes the throne of God the refuge of all the weak, and the treasury of all the poor, is given for our guidance in our humble measure. But to be servant of all does not mean to do the bidding of all. The service which imitates Christ is helpfulness, not subjection. Neither the Church is to lord it over the messenger nor the messenger overthe Church. All alike are by love to serve one another; counting every possession, material, intellectual, and spiritual, as given for the general good. The one guiding principle is, “He that is chiefest among you, let him be your servant,” and the other, which guards this from misconstruction and abuse from either side, “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.”
2. The messengers and the Churches have at bottom the same work to do. Stars shine, so do lamps. Light comes from both, in different fashion indeed, and of a different quality, but still both are lights. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for the same purpose,--to do good with. And we have all one office and function to be discharged by each in his own fashion--namely, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
3. The Churches and their messengers are alike in their religious condition and character. The successive letters treat his strength or weakness, his fervour or coldness, his sin or victory over evil, as being theirs. He represents them completely. Is it not true that the religious condition of a Church, and that of its leaders, teachers, pastors, ever tend to be the same, as that of the level of water in two connected vessels? Thank God for the many instances in which one glowing soul, all aflame with love ofGod, has sufficed to kindle a whole heap of dead matter, and send it leaping skyward in ruddy brightness! Alas! for the many instances in which the wet green wood has been too strong for the little spark, and has not only obstinately resisted, but has ignominiously quenched its ineffectual fire!
II. The Churches and their work.
1. The Church is to be light.
(1) “Light is light, which circulates.” The substance which is lit cannot but shins; and if we have any real possession of the truth, we cannot but impart it; and if we have any real illumination from the Lord, who is the light, we cannot but give it forth.
(2) Then think again how silent and gentle, though so mighty, is the action of the light. So should we live and work, clothing all our power in tenderness, doing our work in quietness, disturbing nothing but the darkness, and with silent increase of beneficent power filling and flooding the dark earth with healing beams.
(3) Then think again that heaven’s light itself invisible, and revealing all things, reveals not itself. The source you can see, but not the beams. So we are to shine, not showing ourselves but our master.
2. The Church’s light is derived light. Two things are needed for the burning of a lamp:that it should be lit, and that it should be fed. In both respects the light with which we shine is derived. We are not suns, we are moons; reflected, not self-originated, is all our radiance. That is true in all senses of the figure: it is truest in the highest. In ourselves we are darkness, and only as we hold fellowship with Christ do we become capable of giving forth any rays of light. He is the source, we are but reservoirs. He the fountain, we only cisterns. He must walk amidst the candlesticks, or they will never shine. Their lamps had gone out, and their end was darkness. Oh! let us beware lest by any sloth andsin we choke the golden pipes through which there steals into our tiny lamps the soft flow of that Divine oil which alone can keep up the flame.
3. The Church’s light is blended or clustered light. Union of heart, union of effort is commended to us by this symbol of our text. The great law is, work together if you would work with strength. To separate ourselves from our brethren is to lose power. Why, half dead brands heaped close will kindle one another, and flame will sparkle beneath the film of white ashes on their edges. Fling them apart and they go out. Rake them together and they glow.
III. The Churches and their Lord. He it is who holds the stars in His right hand, and walks among the candlesticks. The symbols ere but the pictorial equivalent of His own parting promise, “Lo, I am with you always”! That presence is a plain literal fact, however feebly we lay hold of it. It is not to be watered down into a strong expression for the abiding influence of Christ’s teaching or example, nor even to mean the constant benefits which flow to us from His work, nor the presence of His loving thoughts with us. The presence of Christ with His Church is analogous to the Divine presence in the material universe. As in it, the presence of God is the condition of all life; and if He were not here, there were no beings and no “here”: so in the Church, Christ’s presence constitutes and sustains it, and without Him it would cease. So St. Augustine says, “Where Christ, there the Church.” For what purpose is He there with His Churches? The text assures us that it is to hold up and to bless. His unwearied hand sustains, His unceasing activity moves among them. But beyond these purposes, or rather included in them, the vision of which the text is the interpretation brings into great prominence the thought that He is with us to observe, to judge, and, if need be, to punish. Thank God for the chastising presence of Christ. He loves us too well not to smite us when we need it. He will not be so cruelly kind, so foolishly fond, as in any wise to suffer sin upon us. Better the eye of fire than the averted face. He loves us still, and has not cast us away from His presence. Nor let us forget how much of hope and encouragement lies in the examples, which these seven Churches afford, of His long-suffering patience. That presence was granted to them all, the best and the worst,--the decaying love of Ephesus, the licentious heresies of Pergamos and Thyatira, the all but total deadness of Sardis, and the self-satisfied indifference of Laodicea, concerning which even He could say nothing that was good. All had Him with them as really as the faithful Smyrna and the steadfast Philadelphia. We have no right to say with how much of theoretical error and practical sin the lingering presence of that patient pitying Lord may consist. For others our dutyis the widest charity,--for ourselves the most careful watchfulness. For these seven Churches teach us another lesson--the possibility of quenched lamps and ruined shrines. (A. Maclaren,D. D.)
Christ’s
care over Churches and ministers:--
I. What is meant by our Lord’s holding the stars, His ministers, in His hand.
1. It implies that it is He who appoints them to their office.
2. It is He who imparts the qualifications which are necessary for the effectual discharge of their office.
3. They are, with all their concerns, at His absolute disposal.
II. The import of His walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks.
1. It imports an accurate impression of the state, both as a society and as individuals.
2. It implies that His business, so to speak, lies in the management of His Churches. It is His “building,” His “husbandry.”
3. It denotes the complacency He takes in them. (R. Hall,M. A.)
Watchman, what of the night?
The mention made of “stars” and “candlesticks” (or rather “lamp-stands”) shows that it is night. It is the world’s night; it is the Church’s night. Day needs no lamps nor stars; night does both, for the outside earth and the inside chamber.
I. Who is He that thus walketh? It is as Priest and King that He appears in the midst of His Churches:as such they are to acknowledge Him. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we see Him specially as Priest; in the Book of Revelation as King.
II. Where does He walk? Among the seven golden candlesticks.
III. What does this walking mean?
1. He is near. A present Christ is specially taught us here--Jesus in the midst of His saints and His Churches. He is near to all of them, even the backsliding; as near to Laodicea and Sardis as to Ephesus and Philadelphia.
2. He watches over them. “I know thy works.” His eye, the eye of the watchful Priest and King, the eye of thewatchful Saviour and Shepherd, is upon them. He inspects them, oversees them, cares for them, values them, delights in them, takes all interest in their welfare.
3. He supplies their need. All His fulness is at hand for each of them.
4. He mourns over their sins. His holy eye detects the sin; His loving heart mourns over it. There is no anger, no fury here. All is gentleness and grace.
5. He cheers them with the promise of victory and recompense. As if He would say to each, “Fight on, for I am with you; faint not, for I, with all My fulness, am near. Shine on, for I delight in your brightness, and will enable you to shine. And My reward is with Me:to him that overcometh!” (H. Bonar,D. D.)
I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience.--
False apostles
1. Christ would have us always walking in the sense of His Omniscience.
2. Christ is an unprejudged witness, as Its taketh notice of their good as well as their evil.
3. Such as Christ never called, may take on them highest titles in the Church, as itseemeth these had who called themselves apostles.
4. That diligence in duty, and difficulty in the performance of it, often go together:to do and to bear are often joined.
5. Patience in suffering, and impatience against corruptions and corrupt men, can well stand together.
6. There is no name, privilege, or title that should scare people, especially the ministers of God, from searching or trying corrupt men, that bring corrupt doctrine, though they should have the pretext of apostles, and had never so great gifts.
7. If folks will put to proof many things and persons that have fair names, they will be found very unlike the names they take.
8. The censuring of corrupt unsent ministers is a most difficult task, what from their nature, and sometimes from their parts; what from the addictedness of many unto them, yet it is a special duty:yet that it is acceptable before Jesus Christ may appear from these considerations.
(1) That the Scripture holdeth forth no kind of persons as more abominable in themselves and more hateful to Him (Isa_56:10).
(2) There is no kind of persons that prove more dishonourable to our Lord Jesus and to His gospel than such:these make the law to be despised.
(3) The scandalous unfaithfulness of ministers brings a special blot upon all religion, as if it were but mere hypocrisy.
(4) There is no such contempt done to our Lord Jesus, as for one to pretend to have commission from Him; and yet to be running unsent by Him; or, having gotten commission, to miscarry by unfaithfulness in it.
(5) As there is a suitableness in the censuring of such Church-officers to Christ’s mind, so there doth appear in the same a tenderness of and zeal unto His glory. Hence it is, that His most zealous servants, as Elias, Paul, didset themselves most against that generation.
(6) There is no sort of men more hurtful to the Church.
(7) Not only is there an obstruction to godliness by such, but they have a main influence upon the advancing of profanity. (JamesDurham.)
What Christ likes to see in a Church
1. Jesus likes to see a Church at work. He does not like to see a Church standing still, doing nothing to lengthen its cords and strengthen its stakes. It is our duty to ask ourselves, Does our work as a Church come up to the standard of what a Christian Church ought to be?
2. He likes also to see His people patient. He likes to see them labouring and not fainting, not becoming weary in well-doing. He likes to see them continuing instant in prayer, depending on Him to send the answer in His own good time.
3. Then, also, He likes to see within His Church a zeal for truth. “Thou canst not bear them which are evil.” The dread of being thought narrow-minded, or of giving offence to the godless, makes the Church become far too tolerant of sin. No society of men is considered strict or narrow-minded if it has certain rules of membership, and if it expels those who violate its rules. Why should the Christian Church be afraid or ashamed to maintain a discipline which even the societies of the world will carry out? Let us try to imitate the Church of Ephesus in this--and let us not be afraid of the charge of intolerance in doing so--that we cannot bear them who are evil. (C. H. Irwin,M. A.)
Religion active
The new creature is not a marble statue ora transparent piece of crystal, which has purity but not life. It is a living spirit, and therefore active. (S. Charnock.)
Unwearied patience
Patience must not be an inch shorter than affliction. If the bridge reach but half way over the brook, we shall have but an ill-favoured passage. (T. Adams.)
And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.--
The false apostle tried and discovered
What a dangerous and mischievous people false teachers and false apostles are. They do deceive men in the matter of their souls; they are called deceivers and seducers (Joh_2:7; 2Ti_3:13), and deceitful workers (2Co_11:13; 2Co_11:6). Now a man loves not to be deceived in anything, no, not in a small matter. If I had spent or given away much more, it would never have grieved me, you say; but I cannot endure to be cheated and deceived. And if a man cannot endure to be deceived in lesser things, what an evil thing is it then to be deceived in the matters of his soul? Such are the things that these false teachers do deceive men in; yea, they will and do subvert men’s faith, and spoil them of the very fundamentals of their religion. Though they be a dangerous and mischievous people, yet it is an hard thing to discover them, for they walk in the dark, and transform themselves into ministers of light; they creep, and they privily creep into houses, saith the apostle; and they will come to you, saith our Saviour, in sheep’s clothing (Mat_7:15). That is, look whatever garb the true prophet was or is found in, that will they be found in also. Did the true apostles preach Christ? so did the false apostles also (Php_1:15-16). Did the true apostles and prophets declare the deepthings of God? (1Co_2:10), so did the false prophets also (chap. 2:24). Look what that is which the true preachers do, that will false teachers in appearance do. The same crow of iron, the same scripture that is in the hand of a friend, is made use of by a heretic, one that is a thief, who comes to make a prey of your faith. All teachers are to be tried three ways. By their call; their doctrine; their fruits or lives. And thus you see how those that are false apostles, or false teachers, may be tried and discovered. And is it a commendable thing in the eyes of Christ to make discovery of them? That it is the special work of Church officers to try and discover false teachers; for this epistle is directed to the angel of the Church of Ephesus. But though it is their work especially, yet it is a work incumbent upon all the saints and Churches. Therefore, yet more practically, go to God for wisdom and the spirit of discerning; it is Christ alone that doth see men’s fruit under all their leaves: beg this discerning spirit, therefore, at the hands of Christ. Take heed that you do not lie in any sin or error, for all sin and error blinds. How shall you see the error of another, if you be blinded with your own sin and error? Be sure that you keep to the Scripture, and take heed that you do not judge of doctrines by impressions. Take heed that you have not too great a charity towards, and opinion of, those that are suspected to be false teachers. And if you would be sure to make up a right judgment in this great discovery, then stay your time, and wait long before you close with any of their opinions; for saith Christ, Ye shall know them by their fruit. Now the fruit of a tree is not presently seen; an ill tree in winter may seem to be as good as the best:stay therefore your time. (W. Bridge,M. A.)
Hatred of evil essential to love
This hate (of evil) in asessential to true love as shade to light, ever deepening with the intensity of it. (IsaacWilliams.)
For My name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.--
Labouring and not fainting
I. The positive and negative good here combined.
1. “Thou hast laboured.” To labour means hard work, vigorous action. Men may work, but yet not labour, and I fear there are many who claim to be working men who do not often trouble themselves with anything approaching to “labour.” There are also working Christians who do not approach to labouring; yet a lifetime of such work astheirs would not exhaust a butterfly. Now, when a man works for Christ he should work with all his might. If any master is to be served badly, let it not be our Master who is in heaven:we owe Him too much to wish to be eyeservants towards Him. If anywhere a dilatory servant may be excused, certainly it cannot be in the service of Him who redeemed us with His most precious blood. If I may use the figure, we ought to employ every particle of our steam power:we should drive the engine at high pressure; we have no force that can be allowed to escape in waste. But labour implies not merely strong effort, but a continuance of it, for a man might take up a workman’s tool and for a few minutes make a mighty show of effort, and yet be no labourer, unless he kept on working until his task was done. He merely plays at labour, that is all. So have we known too many whose service for God has been occasional; fits and starts of effort they have, but they are soon over; their spasmodic zeal is to-day so hot as to be well nigh fanatical, and to-morrow itwill be succeeded by an indifference far more astounding. If the Church is said to labour, it means that she puts forth all her strength as a regular thing. Like the sun and moon she continues in her orbit of duty. She keeps at her life-work; with all her might she continues in well-doing, and is not weary. There is the positive good.
2. The negative crowns the positive--“And hast not fainted.” Now, there are different degrees of fainting. Some may be said to faint comparatively when they flag in exertion. They drop from running to walking, from diligence to indolence. They did run well; what did hinder them? Many continue to do as much as ever they did outwardly, yet their heart is not in it, and so they faint. Some flag by growing weak in all they do. They do put forth such force as they have, but they are essentially feeble. The power of God has departed from them, and, though they may not know it, Ichabod is written upon their works. Too many go further than this; they renounce all or a large part of the Christian work they were accustomed to do. Content with the efforts of other days they surrender to the sluggard’s vice. And some go even further than that, for after retiring from labour themselves, they cease to have any care about the Lord’s work.
II. Excuses for fainting.
1. There are some who faint in the work of God because the work itself has proved very tedious to them. When they first undertook it and the novelty was upon it they did not tire, but now the freshness is gone, and they have come into the real wear and tear of it, they do not enjoy it quite so much as they thought they should. They hoped for an office in which the chief labour should be to gather lilies, or lie upon beds of roses. The service of the Crucified is far less romantic, and far more laborious. There is no royal road to eminence in anything, it is always uphill work and rough climbing; and certainly there is no such road in the service of God.
2. Other excuses, however, will be sure to come, and amongst them this, that we havebeen disappointed up till now in the success of what we have attempted. We have sown, but the most of the seed has fallen upon the wayside, or upon the rocks. We must not give up the war because we have not conquered yet, but fight on till we can seize the victory. Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
3. Another set of excuses I must mention. They are little, pettish, pitiful, proud excuses, but they are very common. Here is one. “I shall leave the work, for I am sure I am not appreciated as I ought to be.” Do you mean to give way to such pettiness and silliness? If so, I have done with you, for you will never do any good in this world. The slave of such a mean feeling is incapable of being free. “Ah,” cries another, “my complaint is more reasonable, for I am discouraged because no one aids me in my work.” Oh, my brother, does your life after all depend upon the breath of other men’s nostrils? Has it come to this, that you cannot live upon the approbation of your master unless you gain also the smile of your fellow-servants?
III. The real causes of fainting.
1. The first is an actual decline in spiritual strength. It is not merely that you do not do so much, it is that you are not so much; you have not the amount of life in you which you once had. And is not this a sad thing? Oh, to be dead to these spiritual realities in any degree is a dreadful death, and to be callous to holy things is a terrible hardness. May God keep us from spiritual insensibility, and may we be sensitive to the faintest motion of the Holy Spirit.
2. It is to be feared, also, that those who faint have lost their reliance upon Divine power, at least in a degree. Confidence in God makes us strong, but by turning away from our great unseen Helper, we straightway begin to faint.
3. Moreover, I am afraid that we forget that the Lord requires of us an unselfish dedication to His service, and that we do not serve Him at all unless His glory is our chief object. You must feel that you would have the Lord use you just as in His infinite wisdom He sees fit to do. You should be a pieceof iron on the Almighty’s anvil:to be welded into a sceptre, if He chooses with you to break the potter’s vessels; to be beaten into a ploughshare and plunged into the earth, if by you He means to turn up the furrows of the fallow ground; or fashioned into a spear-point, if by you He intends to smite His enemies.
IV. I have a little medical business to do in closing. Four sorts of persons are very common among us. To each of these four I desire to administer a little medicine.
1. There are some who neither labour nor faint.
2. The next sort of persons to be dealt with are those who faint but do not labour.
3. Our third patient is one who did labour once, buthas fainted.
4. But there are some who labour and are ready to faint. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Endurance
To lift up some heavy weight from the ground argues some strength; but to carry it for an hour, or all day, is a more perfect thing. (Thomas Manton.)
Thou hast left thy first love.--
Inward deterioration
Does it not often happen in the Christian life that the soul retains earnestness, patience, truth, endurance, a hatred of evil, long after it has left its first love; that its religious service is continued, apparently unaltered, while the spirit that prompted that service is changed for the worse? But though love is altered, there may yet remain the sense of duty. None without can detect the difference. The soul itself is perhaps hardly conscious of it. Or if conscious of anything, it is that prayer is not so easy and pleasant as it used to be, that the thoughts are more wandering, that temptation is more attractive, and thanksgiving is irksome, unreal, and unblessed. The whole tendency of our being is to deteriorate. Most of us can remember a time at which we think we were more fit to die than we are now. Our self-examination has told us that we are not now what we were; and perhaps self-examination was hardly necessary for the acquirement of this knowledge. It is forced upon us continually throughout the day as we feel and act so coldly towards good, so readily and kindly towards evil. Now if it be really that we have fallen back only one step in faith and love, if we have left our first love, what must we do? We must struggle against the languor which threatens to benumb us. We must struggle with all our might, not giving up any one duty merely because it is irksome. This may not indeed be restoration, but it will at least maintain that communication with the Source of all strength by which restoration may be looked for. When we have realised what we once were, and reflect that by God’s grace we might have lived the rest of our lives according to that beginning, and neared the goal in the heavenward race, then we may be able to measure our decline, and, weeping over what we have lost, pray for grace to regain it. “And repent.” Yes I this must be, We will not trust in that which remains, in our hatred of the worst sins, in sympathy with Him, not in our works, or our labour, or our patience, our distrust of false teachers, our perseverance under trial. These are nothing without love. We will confess that other lords besides Him have had dominion over us. We will confess that we have left our first love, and implore Him to recover us, and turn our hearts. (W. Mitchell,M. A.)
The enthusiasm of the first love
I. What is it? Most of us can probably remember an early enthusiastic preference or affection for some one. It was like nothing else in our lives. It stirred in us as the spring stirs in the earth when the green shoots appear. New capacities of working, enjoying, suffering, began to reveal themselves. Now, the same thing happens when Christ and His love are first revealed to us, and we rise up and meet them. It is an absolutely new experience. We feel an intense interest and a strong drawing of the heart. Spiritual things which seemed far off have suddenly come near. Life has become of meaning and value, not so much for what it brings to us, as for what it is; because it has become so full of love and of God. And we feel within us the working of a new passion--a yearning to do good, to sacrifice ourselves in some way, to make some return to that wonderful Divine love which seems to surround us like an atmosphere and lift us like an inspiration. It is so easy to do right; it seems shameful, almost impossible, to do wrong; we could not be so disloyal as to think of any forbidden thing, and a keen remorse seizes us if we appear to swerve by a hairbreadth from the straight path. In this first love, where vividly experienced, there are these three elements--an awakening, an enthusiasm, and a jealous preference. We realise God; we realise life; we realise the claims of men, the beauty of goodness, the baseness of sin, the triumphant power of righteousness, and the wide, deep meaning of eternity. But this love is not mere contemplation. We are eager to act in the light of this revelation, because all these beliefs are full of conviction and impulse, and we must do something for the Christ who has made all things new--who has given us a possession in all things, and, above all, a possession in Himself. That is the enthusiasm of the first love. But love is not love unless itis jealous--jealous not in a mean, but in a high sense--jealous of any interference with its course. Nothing can be tolerated which takes the edge off the soul, that keen edge which ensures success in work and conflict and prayer.
II. Losing it, or rather leaving it. Sometimes a man looks back on the first love he felt to Christ with philosophic indifference:“Yes, I was rather interested in these things at one time--enthusiastic even after a fashion. Very curious, you know, how the mind works; I can scarcely credit it now. Oh, one of those passing phases of feeling, of course.” Sometimes a man looks back to it scoffingly or contemptuously:“I believe I did once rather make a fool of myself about religion. I have got more important things now to attend to.” Others assume a tone of self-congratulation. They narrate how they threw themselves into this piece of work or that; how there was nothing they would not do. A man plumes himself on the fact that, though, of course, he would never think of making sacrifices and exerting himself in Christ’s cause now, that at one time he was just as active and self-denying as any ardent young Christian. Others I have known look back despairingly:“Yes, I once had these experiences you speak of--hopes bright beyond expression, and feelings fresh as the dawn. But the light is gone; the tide has ebbed, and won’t flow again. I would that these feelings could come back, but we don’t look for mirac
