Matt Chandler - Evangelism

If you have a Bible, let’s go ahead and grab that. Revelation chapter 2 is where we’re going to be. If you don’t have a Bible, there should be a hardback black one somewhere around you. Let me just kind of let you know where we’re going. I plan on spending about 20 minutes, maybe 25, answering the question: What kind of church will we be? Then, from there, I’m going to have David and Carrie Campbell, who are back from Berlin with us for the month of July. They are going to come up, and we’re just going to have a little bit of a conversation because I think they so well embody what I want to talk about. Now, what I’m saying today is not new; we’ve said this for years. It’s just a reminder of the kind of church we want to be.

So, what’s happening in Revelation chapter 2 is that Jesus, through the hand of John, is writing a series of letters to seven churches in the ancient world. These seven churches were kind of missionary hubs that served as a base where the gospel was pushing back darkness all over the Roman Empire. We’re going to see in Revelation chapter 2, verses 1 through 7, that Jesus is looking at the Church of Ephesus, and He likes some of the things that He sees.

Right out of the gate, if it pleases Jesus, we kind of want to be about that, right? If Jesus looks at it and goes, «I like that; that makes my heart happy,» then we want to say, «Okay, we’re going to do that.» We want to be a church that makes the heart of Christ happy, not that His heart could ever be lacking, but that He would see it and be pleased. So, let’s dive in because He sees some really good things, and He also sees some things that we need to be concerned about.

Again, this isn’t new; it’s just a reminder, refreshing the kind of church that we want to be. Revelation chapter 2, starting in verse 1: To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands. This is apocalyptic language; it’s Jesus, right? Red-letter. It’s Jesus who’s holding these stars and walking among these lampstands. Not a secret; it’s Jesus. Here’s what He says: I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for My name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the paradise of God.

Now, I think we’re seeing—no, I don’t think—we are seeing three things in this text that we, as the village church, want to emulate. So, I want to kind of list out those things. The first thing we see, starting right at the beginning of verse 2, is that this is a church that has patient endurance. It’s not only in verse 2, but it’s also in verse 3. He says in verse 2: I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance. Then, he repeats in verse 3, except he flips the words: I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for My name’s sake.

Now, when we’re talking about patient endurance, here’s all we’re saying: that we are sure of ultimate victory, and you and I are living in the space between the already and the not yet. That ultimate victory has been secured in Christ, and so we wait patiently, enduring in the age that we are in until final victory has been established. So, there’s a deep-rooted confidence in the church at Ephesus, and Jesus is looking at it and saying, «I like that.» What they are enduring through is not being marginalized by the media. I mean, that’s not what they’re impatiently enduring through. They’re being arrested, they’re being killed, their stuff is being confiscated, and they are patiently enduring. We want to be a church that patiently endures.

But that’s not the only thing we see happening here. We see that they can spot false teaching. Look at the second half of verse 2. We read the first half: I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance. But look at this: and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but you have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be false. So, the picture is one where false apostles show up, and they begin to preach a gospel that’s different from the gospel of Jesus Christ. They know the Word; they are theologically rooted and able to spot that it’s not true. They can hear this teaching and say this teaching is inconsistent with the Word of God, and so they reject that teaching. This is a place that’s got good doctrine. Right now, I want my daughter to join this church. I mean, they patiently endure, and they…