And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples:
and he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed? And they said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was given.
And he said, Into what then were ye baptized? And they said, Into John’s baptism.
And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on Him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus.
And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
And they were in all about twelve men.
And he entered into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, reasoning and persuading as to the things concerning the kingdom of God.
But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
And this continued for the space of two years; so that all they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church.
And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time, serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind, and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews;
how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
save that the Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, shall see my face no more.
Wherefore I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God.
Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock;
and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Wherefore watch ye, remembering that by the space of three years I ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears.
And now I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified.
I coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.
Ye yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Let us commit the word to the Lord.
Dear Lord, our hearts do bow in Thy worship. We praise and thank Thee that Thou lovest us so much as to give Thy own self to us, and in such a way.
We just pray that Thy love will hold us fast toward Thee, even to the very end. Lord, as we consider together Thy word, we pray that Thy Spirit will open Thy word and open our understanding, that Thy word will really enter into our hearts and bring forth fruit unto Thyself.
We commit this time into Thy hands, trusting in Thee that Thou shalt be glorified. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We have been considering the life of the church, the body of Christ, since Pentecost. The risen Lord has taken upon Himself a mystical body on this earth, and this mystical body is the church. In this corporate body, He continues to do and to teach.
We find the record of the early churches given to us in the word of God, and we believe that these records are kept for our sake. We may be admonished, and we may learn lessons from the life of these early churches.
In some places, we need to be encouraged by seeing what the Spirit of God was able to do in the midst of His people. In other places, we are to be warned as to how we can fail what the Lord is after. In the past, we have covered a number of these early churches, and our emphasis has really been on the life of these churches.
This morning, we would like to share together on the life of the church in Ephesus.
First of all, we would like to mention that in the work of God, it is the Holy Spirit who guides and directs the work.
We remember how, in the beginning, when the Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost, one hundred and twenty were baptized into one body. That was the beginning of the church on earth. In the church in Jerusalem, we find that God added many. There were probably, at one time, over twenty thousand believers there.
But they all persevered. They continued, occupied themselves with the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, with the breaking of bread and prayers.
Yet we find that the Spirit of God made a new move. He made a second new move in Antioch. The reason, probably, is because the church in Jerusalem was located where the temple was. It was the center of Judaism, and because of this, the church in Jerusalem seemed never to be able to become completely free from the influence of Judaism.
So the Spirit of God made a new move, a new start, in Antioch. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
Now, we call ourselves Christians, and we consider that a very honorable name. But at that time, “Christian” was a nickname given to them by the world, because the world did not know how to identify them. They were not Jews, yet they believed that Jesus was the Messiah. They were so occupied, so completely taken up, with the Lord Jesus that they were called Christians—Christ-men.
To us, that name is an honor. Oftentimes, I think whether we are worthy of that name.
Here we find the Holy Spirit again making another new move, and that is in Ephesus. The church in Jerusalem was too much tied up with Judaism. The church in Antioch was mainly Gentile. But in the church in Ephesus, we find both Jews and Gentiles, and God had made them one new man.
Thus, in Ephesus, we find another move of the Holy Spirit.
During the second missionary journey of the apostle Paul, after he had gone through the Galatian country, he was thinking of going to Asia. Asia, at that time, was a Roman province, highly populated, and Paul had the idea of going there to preach the word of God.
But in Acts 16:6, we find that he was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go to Asia. We may not understand this. We may think that Asia, being close by and highly populated, would have been the natural place to go. Human reasoning and human strategy would say that the people there should hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But the Holy Spirit forbade Paul to go to Asia because the Holy Spirit had something else in His mind. Thank God, Paul and his companions were sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit. Instead, the Holy Spirit led them into Europe. That was when the gospel began to cross over from Asia into Europe.
We have already had fellowship together on the different churches in Europe. But on the way back during that second missionary journey, if you read Acts 18, you will find that Paul actually came to Ephesus.
He came to Ephesus, but he spent only one Sabbath there. During that Sabbath, he went into the synagogue and preached the word of God. Evidently, the Holy Spirit was working, because the people asked him to stay. But he felt urged to go to Jerusalem, and he promised them that, if the Lord willed, he would come back.
When he left Ephesus, he did one thing: he left Aquila and Priscilla behind.
When Paul was in Corinth, he stayed with Aquila and Priscilla because they were of the same trade, tentmaking. When he left Europe, he came back with Aquila and Priscilla. But when he left Ephesus, he left this couple behind.
This is the wonderful providence of God. This couple was used by God wherever they were.
During that period, a man came from Alexandria. His name was Apollos. He was very eloquent, well acquainted with the Scriptures, and he knew the way of the Lord. But he knew only the baptism of John. In other words, he knew repentance. He knew that people should believe on the One who was coming, but that was all he knew.
He came to Ephesus and boldly proclaimed the word of God in the synagogue. Aquila and Priscilla listened to this mighty preacher, as it were, and they sensed that something was missing. So they took him home and instructed him more exactly in the way of the Lord.
Then the Bible says that Apollos desired to go to Achaia, and the brethren wrote him a letter of recommendation. Thus, in Ephesus, there were already brethren there besides Aquila and Priscilla.
Most likely, even though Paul had been there only one Sabbath, the Lord had won some to Himself. During Aquila and Priscilla’s stay there, the Lord continued to work. So the church in Ephesus first met in the house of Aquila and Priscilla.
During Paul’s third missionary journey, he came to Ephesus, and Ephesus became the center of his ministry in the province of Asia.
When he arrived there, he found twelve men. As he talked with these men, he sensed that something was missing. These men were disciples, yet during their conversation he could discover that something was not quite right.
So he asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said, “We did not even know whether the Holy Spirit had come.”
Paul asked, “What baptism did you receive?” They said, “We received the baptism of John.” Paul explained that John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, telling people to believe in the One who came afterward, and that One was Jesus.
Paul began to share with them that the Messiah, Jesus, had already come; that the Lord had died upon the cross; and that the whole plan of salvation had been fulfilled. The plan of salvation was opened to these twelve, and they truly believed. They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus—the baptism of believers.
Now, brothers and sisters, these people believed, but their faith was very objective. In other words, they believed that the Messiah would come and that, when He came, He would redeem them. They had that knowledge, but they did not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
They had heard about the Lord Jesus, but they did not know the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior. They did not have the subjective experience of the Lord.
Today, we find many people like that. There are many people in Christianity who profess that they are Christians and that they believe, yet they do not have a living relationship with the Lord Jesus.
That living relationship comes only through the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who gives our spirit new birth. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ Jesus in us. It is the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, and by His indwelling, the Lord Jesus dwells in us. We have a living relationship with the Lord Himself.
How important it is that we have a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Himself.
We do not know whether these twelve disciples of John had been disciples of John before Apollos came, or whether they had become disciples of John through Apollos before Apollos himself knew better. But, in any case, these people were added to the church in Ephesus.
After that, Paul went to the synagogue every Sabbath for three months. He reasoned and persuaded them concerning the things of the kingdom of God.
This was very unusual, because usually Paul would go to a synagogue a few times and then be put out. But here, he was able to go to the synagogue in Ephesus for about three months and present the word of God.
After about three months, some of the Jews began to speak evil of the Way. In the beginning, people usually referred to those who believed in the Lord Jesus as people of the Way, because they had a way of life completely different from the way of life of the Jews, the Gentiles, or any other nation. They had a different way—the Christian way, as it were.
When some of the Jews began to speak evil of the Way, Paul left the synagogue and separated the disciples. Here we find a clear separation.
In the beginning, even when Jews believed in the Lord Jesus, they still went to the synagogues. Probably they met together on the first day of the week—the Lord’s Day—to remember the resurrection of the Lord, but they also went to the synagogue. In Jerusalem, they even went to the temple at the hour of prayer.
In other words, there was not yet a clear separation between Judaism and Christianity. But here in Ephesus, the separation came. Paul separated the disciples, and instead of going back to the synagogue, they began to meet separately.
So far as we can gather, the church at that time met in the house of Aquila and Priscilla. But, so far as Paul’s work was concerned, he used the school of Tyrannus.
For about two years, he preached the word of God in the school of Tyrannus. So far as we know, there were five such gymnasiums in Ephesus at that time. They were places where people went after work for recreation, teaching, and lectures.
We are told—I do not know how accurate it is—that in Ephesus, from eleven o’clock in the morning to four o’clock in the afternoon was leisure time. Usually, people would go to the gymnasium for recreation or to listen to lectures.
For about two years, Paul lectured daily in the school of Tyrannus.
Today, we may think our meetings are too much. We meet on Sunday, we meet on Wednesday, and every other Friday we meet. Probably we feel that this is already a little too much. But Paul lectured daily in the school of Tyrannus for about two years.
In Acts 20, Paul said that he was in Ephesus for three years altogether. During those three years, he faithfully preached the word of God, not only in public but also in private homes. He withheld nothing from them that would be profitable.
In other words, he preached to the people in Ephesus the whole counsel of God.
No wonder the work of the Holy Spirit was most evident in Ephesus. During those three years, Paul not only preached the word of God, but he was also working as a tentmaker. He said, “Behold these hands.” These hands supplied his own needs and the needs of his fellow workers during those three years.
He was working full-time, as it were, at tentmaking, and yet every day he went to the school of Tyrannus and taught the word of God there. Brothers and sisters, that is something to consider—the way the apostle Paul labored for the Lord.
Through his faithful preaching, and through his own example among the believers, the church in Ephesus was greatly blessed by the Lord.
If you consider the life of the church in Ephesus, you will find two things that stood out: the word and love.
When Paul was in Corinth, he was there for a year and a half. But, as he told us in 1 Corinthians, he was not able to share with them the whole counsel of God. There was nothing more precious to the apostle Paul than the whole counsel of God, the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ—what God had revealed to him in such a special way.
But when he was in Corinth, he was able to share only the basics, the fundamentals: Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Beyond that, he was not able to share with them the wisdom of God in a mystery.
Why? Because the believers in Corinth remained babes. They did not grow up. Since they remained babes, all Paul could do was feed them with milk. They could not digest solid food.
But with the church in Ephesus, it was different. Paul was able to share with the believers there the whole counsel of God, the eternal purpose of God, and the mystery of God. He did not withhold anything from them.
Why was this so? The Corinthians were not less intelligent than the Ephesians. Probably they were more intelligent. Yet Paul was able to share with the Ephesian believers what he could not share with the Corinthian believers.
The reason is not a matter of how intelligent you are. It is a matter of the heart.
The Ephesian believers had such a heart for the Lord. They had such love for the Lord, and because of this Paul was able to share with them without restraint. The Corinthian believers were highly intelligent, but their hearts were divided. They did not have that love for the Lord.
Because of this, Paul was not able to share with them the whole counsel of God. Dear brothers and sisters, to know the full purpose of God in a real way is not a matter of how intelligent we are. It is a matter of where our heart is.
If we really love the Lord with our whole heart, the Lord will share His whole heart with us. Otherwise, we may know the Lord, but our knowledge of the Lord will be incomplete.
When Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians, he ended it by saying:
If any man loveth not the Lord, let him be anathema. Maranatha.
But when he ended the letter to the Ephesians, he said:
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible.
Here we find a great difference. Brothers and sisters, the two things that stood out in the church in Ephesus were the word and love.
The word was preached faithfully, spiritually, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. The word was received into the heart, and the word of God worked in them in such a way that the Ephesian believers burned their books of magic.
Ephesus at that time was a great city: wealthy, commercial, and famous for its temple. We are told that the temple there was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It took one hundred and twenty years to build that temple, and it was a place of immorality.
That was Ephesus. Yet in Ephesus, the word worked in such power that people who had been occupied with magic, spiritism, and such things believed in the Lord Jesus. The word worked in their hearts, and they brought out their magic books and burned them—fifty thousand pieces of silver in value.
Brothers and sisters, here you find how powerful the word was in their midst, and how there was love in the hearts of these believers. That was the life of the church in Ephesus.
Even when Paul was in prison in Rome, probably less than ten years later, he was still able to share with the Ephesians the whole counsel of God, the mystery of Christ, because the love was still there.
Probably in A.D. 62 or 63, Paul was released from Roman prison. He was able to travel again and revisit some of the old places. Most likely, he went to Spain during those few years after his first release.
When he came to Ephesus, his stay was very short. But he realized that the situation in Ephesus had changed.
At the end of his third missionary journey, Paul had bypassed Ephesus but stopped nearby at Miletus. He called the elders of the church to come to him, and he shared with them his last words. He told them how he had labored in their midst and how he might not see them again.
He exhorted them to watch over the flock, because people would come in like wolves and bring in other doctrines. Even from among themselves, there would arise people who would teach things that drew believers away from Christ unto themselves.
Sure enough, after Paul’s release, when he revisited them, he found that something was different. Probably the first group of elders had passed away, just as he had said. He left Timothy there to see to the situation, including the qualifications of elders and other matters.
The believers did not keep strictly to the word of God. Instead, there were people teaching other doctrines—things that did not contribute to faith. They had deviated from love, which is the purpose of the word of God.
The word of God should produce love. But instead, they began to talk about fables and genealogies. Judaistic influence began to come in, and they began to teach the law.
Paul discovered that other doctrines and other teachers had come in to squeeze out the truth, the word of the Lord.
When this happens, love usually begins to grow cold. The word and love cannot be separated. Where there is truth, it should produce love. Where there is love, you will love the truth.
But when the truth begins to be diluted, love begins to grow cold. That was the situation in the church in Ephesus.
Usually, you will find that the strongest thing in a person or in a church becomes the concentrated target of the enemy. In history, oftentimes it is where you are strongest that you fail. Where the church is strongest, that is where the church will fall. That is the work of the enemy.
The strongest points in the church in Ephesus were the solid word of God, the full word of God, and love for the Lord and for one another. But these were the very two points upon which the enemy attacked.
The enemy drew them away from the word of God into genealogies, traditions, the law, other doctrines, philosophy, and speculation. At the same time, love began to grow cold. That is what you find in 1 Timothy.
In A.D. 64, Nero burned the city of Rome and used the Christians as scapegoats. He said that the Christians had done it. From that time, a great persecution began, not only in Rome but spreading outward.
The apostle Paul was arrested a second time and sent to Rome. Probably in A.D. 67 or 68, Paul was martyred. But before he died, he wrote his last letter to his beloved son Timothy.
Timothy was in Ephesus at that time, and Paul mentioned that all Asia had forsaken him. Asia was the place where Paul had spent three years, yet in Paul’s last days all Asia had left him.
Of course, there were exceptions. Onesiphorus must have been an exception. Also, in 2 Timothy, you find that Aquila and Priscilla had moved back from Rome to Ephesus. So they were again in Ephesus.
Probably there was still a small group of people who were standing for the testimony. In 2 Timothy, Paul says that the church was like a great house, containing vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor—vessels of gold and silver, and vessels of wood and earth.
He who separates himself and purifies himself from vessels of dishonor shall be a vessel of honor, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use. Paul also says to seek the Lord with those who seek the Lord with a pure heart.
Evidently, when the church in Ephesus began to decline, there was still a small group there standing for the Lord. Timothy was among them. Paul encouraged him to be courageous, to stand firm for the testimony of the Lord, not to be afraid, and to suffer for the Lord’s sake.
That was the situation in Ephesus. Then we do not hear anything more about the church in Ephesus until about thirty years later.
From tradition, we know that after the apostle Paul was martyred, the apostle John probably moved into Asia and began to work there. During the reign of Domitian, he was exiled to the island of Patmos.
Patmos was a deserted island where there were mines, and probably John was sent there to work in the mines. But on the Lord’s Day, perhaps as he was looking across the sea toward the coastline of Asia, he may have been thinking of the churches he had served before he was exiled.
It was at that time that he heard a voice behind him, commanding him to write what he had seen and heard. That was the book of Revelation.
Probably the book of Revelation was written about A.D. 95. There, the risen Lord, through the apostle John, wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus. The church in Ephesus was still there. The lampstand was still there.
If you read Revelation 2, you will find that they seemed able to keep on going.
I know thy works, and thy toil and patience, and that thou canst not bear evil men, and didst try them that call themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find them false;
and thou hast patience and didst bear for My name’s sake, and hast not grown weary.
They also hated the works of the Nicolaitans, which the Lord also hated. In other words, they seemed still to be keeping the word.
It was through the word that they were able to discern false teachers and false apostles. It was the word that taught them to reject the Nicolaitan teaching—the distinction between clergy and laity.
Evidently, the church in Ephesus seemed able to continue with the word of God, but in a very different way. The word of God was kept as a tradition instead of as a living faith.
They still had knowledge, but without love. It was purely objective. It did not affect their life.
This was the situation in the church in Ephesus at that time. They still had much labor and endurance. They still had discernment through the word of God, and they rejected the distinction between clergy and laity. Outwardly speaking, the church in Ephesus went on well.
But the Lord said:
But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love.
Brothers and sisters, it is very easy for this to happen. The church in Ephesus was already in its second or third generation.
In the first generation, there was revelation. The Holy Spirit revealed Christ in them. There was the revelation of the whole counsel of God. That revelation was so powerful that these people really did not count the cost and were willing to let everything go for the Lord.
But in the second generation, there was gradual decline, as you find in 1 Timothy. By the third generation, the word was kept outwardly, perhaps exactly and correctly, yet life was not there.
They were in such a condition that the Lord was so displeased that He said:
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.
Brothers and sisters, how sad this is. Yet it happens again and again in church history.
It is easy to keep the word as a tradition, to be zealous for it, and even to contend for it. Yet the word has not produced the right love in the heart.
Brothers and sisters, what the Lord is looking for is love. What is the use of labor if there is no love?
Where there is no love, truth becomes tradition. But where there is love, you have living faith.
The whole Bible—or we may put it differently, what God requires of us—is only one thing: that we love Him with all our heart, and that we love one another. That is the testimony, because God is love.
Here you find that the church in Ephesus had fallen so far. Outwardly, they were correct, but inwardly, they had fallen. The Lord called for repentance.
I believe the Lord is calling His people today to repent. Brothers and sisters, time is a great testing.
When we first believe in the Lord, when we are first constrained by His love, how we love with first love—with fervor, with an undivided heart, and with absolute obedience. There is no consideration of ourselves.
But time begins to work on us. Gradually, either we are led away from the word into other doctrines, or we keep the word as a tradition and not as a living faith. Then our love begins to fall away.
Is it not time, brothers and sisters, that we wake up? Is it not time that we go to the Lord and repent?
Where are we now? Is the word of God living in our midst? Can we say that we love Him and do not count the cost anymore? Or are we beginning to count what it costs, especially in these last days?
Just as with the church at that time, they were under persecution. It was very costly. But if there is love, love overcomes. Love never fails.
May our prayer be: “Lord, restore our first love.”
We know that after Domitian died, the apostle John was released under the reign of Nerva. Evidently, he went back to Ephesus.
All we know today is by tradition. It is said that when John was very old, toward the end of the first century, the brothers carried him to the meeting. They wanted to hear from him.
He said, “Little children, love one another.” That was all he said.
They asked him, “Do you have anything more to say?” He said, “If you love one another, that is all.”
No wonder John is called the apostle of love. His ministry was a ministry of recovery. Whether through him the church in Ephesus was recovered, at least at that time, we do not know. But hopefully it was so.
So then, brothers and sisters, what do we learn from the church in Ephesus? I feel that we have much to learn from that church, especially in these two areas:
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for giving us the story of the church in Ephesus.
We see through this history how Thou dost encourage us and how Thou dost warn us. Lord, we pray that we may take heed to Thy word.
O Lord, do examine us whether we have departed from the first love, whether we are keeping Thy word not as a living revelation but as a tradition.
O Lord, we pray that Thou wilt restore us. We want to repent. We want to do the first works. We want to please Thee. We want Thee to be all and in all to us.
We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.