Wednesday after Oculi - Revelation 2:1-7 - March 2, 2016
Office of Matins - pg. 32
Hymn #387 Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice St.1-5
Readings
Revelation 2:1-7
John 8:42-51
We beseech Thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of Thy humble servants and stretch forth the right hand of Thy majesty to be our defense against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Sermon on the New Testament Lesson
Grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1) The glorified Lord Jesus has much
praise for the church at Ephesus. He says, “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear
those who are evil. You have tested those who say they are apostles and are
not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and
have labored for my name’s sake and have not become weary.” This is quite a
commendation in and of itself. It is even more so when we consider that it came
from the mouth of the Lord Jesus, the one who knows the hearts of men and sees
their thoughts and motivations. The church at Ephesus, in these things for
which the Lord commends them, is a oilmodel for our own congregation. We can
break down Jesus’ words into three chief works. First, the Ephesian church has
worked and toiled for the sake of the Gospel. They had labored in the vineyard
of the Church strenuously and vigorously. Christ calls their labor ko,pon, meaning ‘hard work.”
Second, the church at Ephesus was filled with incredible patience in trials and
crosses. This patience is was more than simple waiting on the Lord. Christ
calls it u`pomonh,n, endurance under
great weight and trial. Being church in a pagan culture, working for the spread
of the Gospel in a hostile culture is not a cake-walk. Endurance is needed
because the work of the vineyard is not easily accomplished. As you well know,
often it takes years of cultivation to see growth in the souls of men. Yet the
Ephesians endure patiently, trusting the Lord to work when and where it pleases
Him, according to His good and gracious will. They endured all the scorn and
shame heaped upon them by pagan society and did so without complaining and
grumbling, waiting patiently for the Lord to end their tribulation. Third,
the congregation strove earnestly for purity of doctrine. St. John received the
revelation while exiled on the prison colony on the island of Patmos. Ephesus
was his congregation. In his absence his congregation did not disappoint. For
they “tested those who say that are
apostle and are not, and found them liars.” In their shepherd’s absence
many false shepherds, hirelings, and wolves in sheep’s clothing must have tried
to enter the sheepfold to devour St. John’s flock. Yet they resisted, testing
each one’s doctrine according to John’s apostolic doctrine which he received
from Christ.
2) In
these three attributes the Ephesian church is one for us to emulate. We too
labor in the vineyard of the Church. We too strive for the spread of the Gospel
among our family and friends, not simply to make our congregation grow in
number, but so that those in our lives might enjoy the joy of the forgiveness
of sins through faith in Christ. And you know that this is work. It is often ko,pon, labor and hard
work. Toiling in the vineyard of the church requires patience. It requires
resilience in the face of rejection. It is hard work, even spreading the seed
of the divine Word among our friends and family. In fact, it seems like it is
the most difficult with friends and family. As the Ephesian church endured the
scorn and shame of the world for their confession of the Gospel, so too our
congregation must do the same in this age. It would be so much easier for us if
we allowed anybody that wanted to kneel at our altar and enter into communion
with us, even though their doctrine was different from the apostles’ and
Christ’s doctrine. It would be so much easier if we catered to the felt needs
of the masses and hid the Gospel and under a bushel basket. As the Ephesian
church had to strive against false teachers and false gospels in their
community, so do we. We fight against a culture which grows exceedingly more
pagan with each passing day. We also fight against a church culture which tells
people that all churches basically teach the same thing in order to reduce us
all to the lowest common denominator. In doing so they cast aside precious
treasures of Christ, especially the Sacraments. We live in a world of paganism,
syncretism, and indifferentism and daily these isms try to worm their way into
the church and into our own hearts to weaken the confession of the Gospel and
our own faith in Christ. Yet Christ commends the Ephesian church for these
three things. So we ought to strive to work and toil all the more in the
vineyard. This commendation from the Lord Himself should strengthen our resolve
to endure the contempt of the world. These approving words of should urge us on
all the more boldly confess the pure doctrine of Christ inside these walls and
in our lives, not fearing anything. For these three things Christ commends in
them: their labors, their endurance, and their zeal for the apostolic doctrine,
the clear and pure fountain of Israel.
3) But all is not well in Ephesus. Jesus then says, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first
love.” They have continued in labor, endurance, and zeal for doctrine while
slowly losing their ardent love for Christ. While it doesn’t seem possible that
the Ephesians can continue in these things while simultaneously letting their
love for God grow cold shouldn’t surprise us. The temptation is an ever present
reality to get so wrapped up in the things of the church while at the same time
forgetting the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. How easily love for the
Triune God slips from our hearts because of our labors, our endurance, and even
our zeal for the truth. The Ephesian church had not kept the main thing the
main thing. All of their work for which the Lord commended them should have
flowed out of their love for God. Instead it flowed from other places. We see
this often among pastors who strive with great labors for the sake of the
kingdom, yet are extinguish their own faith in the process by losing sight of
their own faith toward God, by losing sight of their own forgiveness. What
Christ calls the Ephesian church to is repentance. “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first
works.” Before all else, confess your sins daily, contemplate the precious
gift of the forgiveness of sins. Do the first works of tending to your own
faith by reading and contemplating the Word, praying for your own needs and the
needs of others, and praising the Lord for all His benefits which are new every
morning. The Lord’s admonition is for the church to not get so wrapped up in
her work, her endurance, and her doctrine that she loses her fervent love for
Christ.
4) I have in my possession a sermon preached on this text by a Lutheran pastor
from 1931. I perused it while preparing for my sermon. At one point the
preacher wrote: “How seasonable, then, the appeal that comes just on this
Sunday introductory to Lent! Has any one in this assembly to-night been neglecting his prayer, his Bible, the services of the
Sanctuary, the Sacraments, or any of the known duties of a child of God? Has
anyone been living in unbelief, worshiping at the shrine of Mammon and vanity;
living in malice, envy, hatred profanity, or any crooked ways contrary to his
conscience, the laws of God, and better knowledge? Has any one taken the vows
of discipleship, but as yet has attended more to the things of this earth that
to those pertaining to God, his soul’s welfare, and eternity? Has he felt more
at home in the society of those who do not confess Christ in their gatherings
than in the fellowship of believers? This sort of thing must be remedied, or
safety is out of the question, and the Lord will ‘remove your candlestick out
of this place,’ and darkness shall come upon your soul.” So far the Lutheran
preacher from 1931. I couldn’t have written it better myself. All of these
things, all of these sins that burden our hearts, their goal is dampen the
flame of love for God in our heart. All the sins which entangle the conscience,
their goal is to cool the warmth of our love for God by taking our eyes off His
gracious gifts in Christ and placing our gaze onto things of this earth so that
we love them more than Christ. If we allow this to run its course, it will be
as Christ told the Ephesian church, “I
will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand form its place – unless your
repent.”
5) But Christ ends this letter to the Ephesians with wonderful gospel, for it
is not His desire to cast our and damn. He desires our repentance so that He
can offer to us a great treasure. He says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the seven
churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the Tree of Life, which
is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Again the Lord Jesus shows His
great love for us. He does not want to leave us with the message of repentance
so that we despair our salvation. It is His alien, His foreign work to condemn
sinners. But He must do it so that He can do His proper work. He condemns so
that He may forgive. He wounds so that He can heal. He kills so that He can
make alive. So He calls the Ephesian church, and the church gathered around the
Word today, to hear this word so that it profits them. Do not hear it in vain
but overcome. How does one overcome? Not by rooting out all sin. Not by living
a completely transformed life. But by faith. St. John writes in 1
John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith.” Repentance and faith in the promise of the Gospel is how we
conquer sin in this life. Then we strive against the sin that burdens our
hearts and entangles our consciences. We strive against sin by faith in Christ
and trust in His Word that those sins are forgiven and as His baptized we ought
to flee them and fight them with the aid of the Holy Ghost. To all who repent
and believe the promise of the Gospel Christ offers to eat of the Tree of Life,
paradise restored. To all who possess Christ’s righteousness by faith alone,
Christ promises everlasting life beyond the reach of sin, death, and the
devil’s powerful temptations and accusations. Christ desires that we repent
because He desires to give us the fruit of that tree, eternal life for all who
overcome in victory and this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Amen.
May
the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.