Faithful Christian Commitment and service
in the Middle East for almost 150 years The Nazareth Trust Healing in the Name of Jesus Since 1861
in the Middle East for almost 150 years The Nazareth Trust Healing in the Name of Jesus Since 1861
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We are delighted to welcome you all again, and share some of what it means to be following our Lord with you all. We hope that these devotions are helpful and encouraging and welcome your feedback!
This last week saw the departure of Sapphire & Shanda, who have both been serving in Nazareth for one month. We pray for each of them as they head back to their homes and families that they would know God’s leading in their lives. We ask for His guidance for them as they take their next steps and wish them every blessing as they follow Him.
Devotion
This week we are looking at the church in Ephesus, which was located in present day Turkey. The population of Ephesus was approximately 250,000 in the first century, it was a large and important city. Ephesus had as its patron god, the goddess Artemis. This pagan worship brought with it a whole host of rituals and the town itself was known as a place of decadence.
The story of Paul’s arrival in Ephesus is found in Acts 18 & 19. When Paul and the apostles went to places, one of two things happened, either a great persecution broke out or a great revival. Sometimes they even saw both!
Acts 19: 1 -22
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.
Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.
Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.” He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.
In the passage we can see God working in Ephesus. Paul comes and teaches about the Holy Spirit and there are many miracles and conversions.
In verse 11 we see the “Sons of Sceva” who try to copy Paul and use his words to cast out demons. But the demons don’t recognize them and defeat them, and the possessed man overpowers them. After this occurrence the fear of the Lord falls on Ephesus and we see a great book burning – destroying specific books to do with magic and ritual. The amount of money lost by this is huge, giving us an indication of how much the Word of God was growing and changing lives.
Later we see the effect of this revival, as those who made idols could no longer make a living! The Word of God was exploding so mightily in that town, that even selling idols was not profitable anymore.
In the book of Ephesians, there are two major themes. Paul tells the church in Ephesus to guard their doctrine, but also not to forget about unity. These two concepts can pull against each other. We all know there are people who focus on doctrine to the extent that they sometimes cannot fellowship with others.
In 1 Timothy 4, there isn’t a lot about the church in Ephesus, but more little reminders. Don’t forget about the Gospel, guard your doctrine, but don’t neglect the gospel. It is easy to go astray and develop doctrine away from the gospel. This was a risk even with the dream team of leaders Ephesus had had – Paul, Apollos, John – but they are warned, “Don’t forget about love!”.
The last mention we see about the church in Ephesus is found in Revelation 2: 1- 7:
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”
Up to verse 3, everything is good. We are still talking about a church which people would like to join – they could pick out false doctrine and endure hardship with patience, not everyone can do that! But in verse 4 we see the problem. “You have forsaken the love you had at first”. They had got everything good in their heads but lost the love they had.
We see this love in Acts 19. They had lost the passion they had at first, their love for God. They had become hard hearted. This is a present day struggle too, as we can do excellent ministry but lack love for God.
In Psalm 42: 1 -2 we read “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? “
This desperation for God is not an easy picture, it is like a holy torment. One writer has written “if we want the Lord more than we want Him to do dramatic things, then the chance of Him doing great things through us is dramatically increased.”
There is a disease in evangelicalism which is practicality. We preach about practical issues, about not lying for example, but not so much about who Jesus is, His deity. We talk about stopping sin, without emphasizing that when we are intimate with Christ, the love of sin is not so strong.
In Ephesus at first, there was a rawness in their new found faith. They confessed their sins openly. How many of us confess our sins openly? We are often afraid to share things and think we have to look “clean” for everyone. God is now telling them to get back to the time when they were raw and real with each other.
The name of God was extolled and idols were destroyed. Anything which took them from God was taken out of their lives. They took the word of God seriously.
As we read this, we wish that the church had listened to this last message from John, but this is the last time we hear of them. We should have a healthy fear of the same happening to us – that we might fill our heads with knowledge and lose light in our hearts. Intimacy with God leads us to know who He really is, to fear God, be real with each other and destroy our idols. Our first priority should be our relationship with God. It is not about us but about Him.
Often we care more about formulas for effective ministry, but the fear is that we will forget our first love. Let’s deal with this tonight and put God back in His proper place.
Speaker: Matthew Altman