The church in Ephesus: Forsaken the love you had at first

 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.

The letters are intended to meet the needs of real churches at Ephesus and in the surrounding area, but they also deal with topics that have relevance to God's people at all times and in all places. They follow a set pattern. The greeting is followed by a particular description of Chris. His'I knows...' commends what is good about the church. In five out of the seven cases, this is followed by criticism and warning. Each letter closes with a plea - if you have ears, then listen... - and a promise. In the first three letters, the plea comes first, in the last four the promise.

The church at Ephesus was firmly established and spiritually discerning. It had endurance, but their love (whether for Christ, for one another, or for humanity) is not what it had been. They need to repent, for a church without love is no church.

Why?

Church in Ephesus endure hardship for God's name and test those who claim to be apostles but are not. But they lost their love, for a church without love is not a church of Jesus. Love is the basic spirit of a Church.

Acts 6:5 tells us that this Nicolas was “a proselyte of Antioch.” The fact that he was a proselyte tells us that he was not born a Jew but had converted from paganism to Judaism. Then he experienced a second conversion, this time turning from Judaism to Christianity. From this information, we know these facts about Nicolas of Antioch。 According to the writings of the Early Church leaders, Nicolas taught a doctrine of compromise, implying that total separation between Christianity and the practice of occult paganism was not essential. From Early Church records, it seems apparent that this Nicolas of Antioch was so immersed in occultism, Judaism, and Christianity that he had a stomach for all of it. He had no problem intermingling these belief systems in various concoctions and saw no reason why believers couldn’t continue to fellowship with those still immersed in the black magic of the Roman empire and its countless mystery cults.

尼哥拉一黨(「尼哥拉」nikolaiton字意「管轄人民」)，非指教會中弄權派人士妄自尊大，導致教會分裂；而是指生活放蕩、信仰混亂的人(巴蘭的教訓就是尼哥拉的教訓)，這些人是拜偶像、行邪淫的外邦信徒，約翰在此處以古喻今。故有人説，尼哥拉(希臘字)的教訓就是巴蘭 (希伯來字)教訓的希臘副本，因這「尼哥拉」及「巴蘭」二字同義(「管轄人民」)。

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七個教會的問題也是每個教會的問題。

以弗所教會位在羅馬最繁華的4個城市之一。面臨異教的影響。知識水準也高的城市。有豐富知識，卻沒有愛心的教會。

提列基督的不同特性，指出教會優缺點及應對之道。

基督是掌握教會的頭，只有耶穌基督有至高無上的主權。辛苦勞碌不以為苦，分辨真假使徒、教導很好。推到極至，變成冷酷無情的裁判者，審判者。以顯出自己的義。

沒有愛在其中。失去基督徒的美德。指出別人的錯如果不是因為愛，就是反而是拆毀教會。燈臺是照亮人的道路，不是變成刺眼的光。

以弗所教會只有知識沒有愛，變成只有驕傲。謙卑下來才有得勝的果子。愛才能成全律法！

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How?

Keeping the right thing aware of falling to the false teaching or human's mind, but focus on the Lord and fully obey the word of the Lord with Holy Spirit guidence.