How Are We Leaking?
by Janet Loughry
July 28, 2002
Revelation 2:1-7

An old guy in the backwoods of Kentucky could be counted on to show up at revival meetings whenever an evangelist came to town. At the end of each service when the invitation was given, he would come down the aisle, get down on his knees, raise his arms to heaven and cry out, "Fill me, Jesus! Fill me! Fill me, Jesus!" Then, within a matter of a week or two, he would slip back into his old ways of living. But when the next round of revival meetings was held, he would once again go to the meetings, walk down the aisle, and pray the same prayer over and over.

One time, he was down on his knees yelling to the ceiling, "Fill me! Fill me, Jesus! Fill me, fill me! Fill me Jesus!" When suddenly from the back of the church some lady yelled, "Don’t do it, Lord! He leaks!"

Today we are looking at a church that leaks. Listen to what the risen Christ says to the church at Ephesus, from Revelation 2:1-7. Ephesus is about halfway between Jerusalem and Rome; and approximately the geographic center of the Roman Empire. Although the city of Pergamum, which we visited earlier this month, was the official capital of the province of Asia, Ephesus was by far its greatest city. A Roman writer called Ephesus, "The Light of Asia." That city did not have any qualms claiming its proud title, "The First and the greatest metropolis of Asia." More currently, and perhaps slightly more important to some of your children, Ephesus was one of the Bible-times cities that some of your children were a part during this past week’s Marketplace. The Ephesus flag is the only one with a cross on it.

At the time of the writing of this letter, about 66 years have passed since Pentecost - the birth of the Church - which we celebrated in May. The time period was in the days prior to church buildings. The people had to meet in halls, homes or wherever they could. They did not have one great central temple. There were many, even hundreds, of small congregations. Each one would have been under its own pastoral leadership. Still this letter is addressed to the church in Ephesus. There were hundreds of groups, yet one church.

At this time, Ephesus is also known as a center of pagan superstition and worship. People came from all over the world to buy amulets and charms that were to bring remedies for sickness, and children to the barren, and success. Crime and immorality battled to the top. Criminals knew that if they could reach the temple area they would be safe. There were also hundreds of temple priestesses, which is a nice term for sacred whores. All this combined to make Ephesus a notoriously evil place.

A more "unpromising soil for the sowing of the seed of Christianity could scarcely be imagined. Yet it was here that Christianity had some of its greatest triumphs." Between thirty-five and forty years before John wrote the Book of Revelation, the Apostle Paul had done his most successful work. Paul, on his third trip, established the church here at Ephesus. During that time, through the efforts of ordinary believers, like you and me, all the urban communities (more than 500) in the province of Asia "heard the word of the Lord" as Acts 19:10, tells us. This work included a multitude of converts to Christ that, seemingly overnight, made the Church one of the most powerful influences in the city, and soon, one of the most famous churches in the world. The church also counted among its leaders Priscilla, Aquila, Apollos, Timothy and of course John, together with, Mary the mother of Jesus. What a line up!
John later spent his old age in Ephesus. It is pretty certain that John wrote his gospel and his three letters while in Ephesus. Even if not an active pastor - because of his age he must have been a dominating influence among the many group leaders in Ephesus. It is believed that three of the Apostle Paul’s letters related to Ephesus: obviously Ephesians, plus First and Second Timothy. This is quite possibly where the letters of Peter and that of Jude were first written. But now we have before us Jesus’ letter to this church at Ephesus.
And here in verse 1 John writes that Jesus, holds the seven stars in his right hand. Christ holds the Churches - that is to say, that He is the Lord of the all the churches. If the Church submits to that control, in the control of Jesus, it will never go wrong. Further, our security lies in the fact that we are in the hand of Christ. That has not changed! Moorpark Presbyterian Church is quite secure in the hold of Christ. John also tells us that Jesus walks in the midst of the seven gold lamp stands...the lamp stands are the Churches. And the risen Christ is not standing still. Wherever His people meet to worship Him in his name, Christ is there, unweary in His full attention. The future of our church is in His control, too. He is here today and promises to be here also tomorrow. The church is not dying. And we are growing in many different ways in Christ. But we must continue to rely on Christ’s hold!

One of the first thing Jesus says, is "I know." Jesus is not an absentee God. Jesus knows all that is going on. I have a friend, Dot, from my La Canada days who has recently moved in with her son and family up in the Santa Cruz area. Dot and her husband lived in a fairly small home in La Canada when Randy was a young boy. Apparently during his boyhood, after being tucked in for the night, Randy had the habit of lying on his bed, on his back, and walking his feet up the wall. Well that wall was also the wall to the living room. I guess Dot could not stand it any more and one night, and staying right where she was in the living room, reading a book, she yelled out, "Randy, stop walking your feet up the wall and go to sleep." All went quiet - it worked. No more wall walking. Bu a few minutes later, Randy quietly peaked around the corner to the living room and asked his mother, "How did you know what I was doing?" Without missing a beat, and not looking up from her book, Dot answered, "I know, because I am your mother....." If mom knows - how much more Jesus knows.
In His knowing, we see that Jesus commends these Christians at Ephesus in three areas:

Jesus says, "I know about your toil." That is, all the programs at the church at Ephesus. They have a great Sunday School program, a terrific and growing Youth ministry. Many people are blessed through its different sorts of mission outreach programs. Jesus is pleased that the Boy Scout troops and the faith-centered Sunflowers meet and are in some way connected to His church. And Jesus knows about the creative VBS-Marketplace for the children and their families. Jesus is quick to compliment them on their spiritual and social ministries. He works through their Couples’ Garden, Singles’ ministry and other events and activities. Their toil is the kind of work that is not just the physical. Even if physical work and toil and sweat is impossible, there is still the loving labor of prayer. They have not wearied. We are not to be weary as we labor for Jesus. Jesus says, "I know about your patient or steadfast endurance." This kind of endurance is not the type of patience that is that grim, resigned acceptance of circumstances and people. Rather this is the courage which accepts suffering and hardship and turns them into grace and glory. These people know hardship and suffering. Their businesses are being boycotted; they are being belittled and harassed. They are being physically abused and even put to death. Their suffering is not for the name of any denomination or special theories. It is a suffering for Christ’s sake. For their conviction and faithfulness to Jesus they do continue to refuse to worship Ceasar and also endure persecution. We might not be called to suffer in the same ways, perhaps similar for our day and age. However, we are called to a conviction of faithfulness to Jesus in all areas of our lives.

Jesus says, "I know you do not tolerate the evil doers." That is they are a spiritually strong church. They have a deeply rooted theology in the scriptures. Jesus tells them how He knows they are not carried away by theological fads by referring to their strong stand against a group called the Nicolaitans. This is the group we met a couple of weeks ago in Pergamum. They are the ones who try to teach the believers to sin, to fall back into idol worship and sexual wrong doing. The church as a whole stands firm against this teaching. We are to stand firm in our firm foundation of Jesus, and not fall into sin, into which the world is constantly trying to pull us.

Only after He has found and pointed out all He can approve and praise, Jesus notes the short coming of the believers of this church at Ephesus. And it’s a whopper!!! Even after receiving an A to an A+, they still get the book thrown at them! Jesus says, "But, I have this against you...that you have left the love you had at first. When we lose something, we feel we have misplaced it. We are disappointed. We look for the item, even frantically search for it. Some of us even turn the house or office upside down in our search. Perhaps that item is constantly in our thinking, and search mode, until that item is found. If never found, we grieve that loss.

Lost, in this case, is more to the point of left or abandoned. The church at Ephesus has abandoned, that is, purposely left behind, and turned away from, their first love. They made a choice. And what is their first love. That first love is the love they have received from Jesus.

This abandoned love of Jesus shows up in two ways. First, they no longer love Jesus as they once did. They are becoming indifferent, half-hearted. These Christians have lost that starry eye of first love. That first blush of "I am loved by this most Special Person" is way gone. There are no more tears when they realize "I am forgiven!" There is no longer any wonder and amazement to think, "Jesus loves ME! ME!" They have become so "mature" in their faith they no longer rely on Jesus day-by-day like they once did. They have forgotten how badly they still need the basic gospel of gracious love and forgiveness. This means the result of leaving their first love for Jesus, is that they also have gotten over the cross of Jesus. They have gotten over the love of Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. I don’t think it is a mistake that the flag of the City of Ephesus is the only one with a cross on it.

The second way they have abandoned their love of Jesus, is these believers at Ephesus have also abandoned their love for one another....their brothers and sisters in, and because of, Christ. When we first loved Jesus, we read our Bibles very regularly - absorbing all the truths and teachings. We prayed to God constantly, actually trusting God with each and every issue of our lives - the big, the small, the ugly and the beautiful... everything. We began to respond to others self-lessly and compassionately. We also praised God from the bottom of our hearts that we should be filled with gratitude for all He had done in our lives. We could not stop sharing with others about Jesus and what He was doing in our lives. We were leaking all over for Jesus and for Jesus’ sake. How are we leaking today? Are we still leaking this good way?
When we lose our love, but go through all the religious motions, our life becomes spiritually blah. We are doing what is right, but not out of love. We do it out of obligation. The I Corinthians 13 passage makes that clear for us and tells us what our focus need be. In this we are given a choice by our Lord. We can drift along in this condition to the point that we will ultimately walk away from Jesus and His church altogether (even though Jesus will not walk away from us). Or we can look at what happened, turn around, return and begin again with Jesus, and His people.

The city of Ephesus is today once again a tourist attraction. It is visited because of its fine ruins...some of the best of the ancient world, including the remains of the arena where the people rioted against Paul, and the remnant of the Temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, four times the size of the Parthenon.

And what of the church of Ephesus? Where is it today? One traveler forty or so years ago, reported finding three Christians in the whole place, "...and those so sunk in ignorance and apathy as scarcely to have heard the names of St. Paul or St. John. (Trench)" The Ephesians had the word of God from the hand of Paul, the hand of John and from the very mouth of Jesus Himself. BUT, having the word is not enough. LIFE comes from doing the word. And above all, we are not to forget to love!

When we have it in our heart to love, and do not forget to love others, then, we may, in a spiritual way, experience what some of you may remember what Larry and Janet Krusinski experienced romantically in 1982. Larry Krusinski, age 28, left the hospital in Chicago after a year’s stay. He went home to a wife he couldn’t remember marrying, but to a woman who cared so deeply for him that he fell in love with her all over again.

Larry suffers from amnesia...the aftermath of head injuries suffered when his car crashed into a tree. A priest had given him the last rites of the church. But Janet, age 25, didn’t think he would die. She stayed by his side for ten days while he was in a coma. When his eyes opened, he didn’t recognize her. He remembered the rest of his family. He could recall when he was a little kid. He could even remember his first date. But, as Janet related, "He was real honest. He didn’t remember me. But he seemed to like me."

Then one special day, after she again told him she loved him, he told her that he loved her, too. He was still amnesic. But after months of faithful visits, this woman whom he had once loved but forgotten, was his fresh, new love. Janet said, "Yes, I do think he fell in love with me all over again."

I invite you this morning to look at yourself. If you have left your first love of Jesus in any way, or if you are not sure you ever have loved, Jesus offers you the opportunity to begin again or just to begin. As John wrote in his first letter, "WE love, because HE first loved us." And above all, we are not to forget to love Jesus and others.