Quick Note – Revelation 2:2-3

Revelation 2:2 – “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 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.”

When people think of the book of Revelation, they think fire, brimstone, and judgment; but Revelation is a lot richer than that, having wise counsel for many churches to follow if they desire to grow.  This wise counsel is mostly found in chapters 2 and 3.  They are written in the form of letters to seven churches, commending them for the good that they did and rebuking them for the bad.  By studying the exhortations and rebukes given to these churches, churches today can learn a lot about how to become a healthy church.  One of these letters written by John was sent to the church in Ephesus, the same church that received the letter from Paul which is now the book of Ephesians.  Most people when looking at this letter only focus on the rebuke that God gave them for forgetting their first love Christ and focusing more on doctrines, works, and other “Christian” things.  This was a rightly given rebuke, for Christians should never get so engrossed with “Christian work” that they forget what is most important – their relationship with Christ.  But we must not ignore the fact that the church in Ephesus was also commended for their commitment to the truth of the Gospel.  They never once wanted it to be polluted by strange doctrines or false teachings; they acted as sentinels, guarding the truth with careful study and consideration.  They tested those who claimed to be apostles and when they found them false, exposed and removed them.  They were not afraid to offend them, to be marked as intolerant, or to be persecuted. All they wanted to do was make sure that the Gospel was never sullied by false doctrines.  In our society today, Christianity is constantly being attacked not only by atheists and those who want to silence the Christian voice but also by those who are inserting incorrect doctrines into the church.  We have pastors and teachers who are not sharing Jesus Christ and Him crucified but a prosperity gospel of “If you believe it, you can have it.”  We have others who are starting to compromise the Gospel truths of the Virgin birth, Christ’s divinity, and the Resurrection and replacing it with more “sensible ideas.”  There are those who are defaming the name of Christ by teaching false doctrines of multiple ways to heaven, as well as, becoming your own god.  We have cults popping up using the name of Christ, when they are clearly teaching a different Gospel (like Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses).  There is so much filth that we have allowed to pass through our filters that unbelievers easily confuse these false teachings for the actual Christian faith.  We, as disciples of Jesus Christ, must take a stand like the Ephesians and prevent these cults, these deceitful doctrines, and these false teachers from ever taking root into our faith.  We must not even let them have a foothold but must combat them right up front.  Let us, of course, do so with love and grace but also with strength and devotion to the truth.  Like the church in Ephesus, we must study and prove that what they are teaching is false and then remove it immediately.  Let us hate anything that sullies the name of Christ, defending the truth with our last breath, never growing weary in doing good.

A Gift for God

Ephesians 5:1 – “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” 

During Christmas time, just like when attending a birthday party as a child, we seek to give the best gifts possible to our family and friends.  We want them to remember our gift amidst all the other presents that are sitting underneath the Christmas tree.  While pondering on some of the best gifts I have ever given to people, even outside of Christmas, I was brought back to a story that my dad has used as an illustration in many of his messages.  He says that when I was a kid I wrote an essay for school about who I looked to as a hero, basically, an essay on who I wanted to be like when I got older.  Being a comic book junkie today, if I guessed, I would probably say that I wrote about Mr. Fantastic, the genius brain behind the Fantastic Four, or Spider-Man; but what I found out I wrote was that I wanted to be like my dad.  He says that that is one of the greatest gifts he ever received, even though it may not have actually been a gift for any specific occasion.  That had to be one of the greatest gifts I have ever given.

But the big question is “What gift can we bring to our God this Christmas?”  We worship the Lord of all Creation, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.  How can we offer the One who holds the whole world in the palms of His hands a gift worthy enough for Him?  The honest truth is we really can’t give Him something worthy of Him, but we can give Him something He wants – our lives.  For those who have yet to give their hearts and lives over to Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior, the greatest thing you can give Him is the child-like faith in Him as your Savior and LORD.  But for those of us who are already disciples of Jesus Christ, who have chosen to commit our lives to living for Him each day, our greatest gift would be the daily laying down of our lives as we pick up our crosses.  This can best be put into action through the highest form of flattery – imitation.

Paul splits his letter to the Ephesians in two parts – doctrine in the first three chapters and practical action in the last three.  In the middle of this section on practical living for Christ, he begins chapter 5 by reminding the disciples at Ephesus to be imitators of God, which basically sums up how we as disciples of Jesus Christ should live every day, for when we imitate Him, we cannot help but fulfill every command that He set before us.  For example, if you imitated Christ in love, you would fulfill His command to love one another as Christ loved us (John 13:34-35).  How can you have a greater love than His – a love that placed Himself on a cross to die for those who were still His enemies?  If you imitated Christ in obedience, there could be no sin in your life, for Christ was the perfect Son of God, who obeyed every will of His Father in heaven.  If you imitated His character, you could not help but show His humility, His hospitality, and His grace, mercy, and forgiveness of others, completing the Beatitudes.   By imitating God, you would best fulfill His will for your life.

But Paul does not stop there; he goes on to further describe how they should imitate God – “as beloved children.”  Just like a child desires to be like his parents (if they are good ones), we should desire to be like our Heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Comforter – the Holy Spirit.  Children can’t help but want to be like their parents, such was I, when I wrote that essay about wanting to be like my dad.  Children in child-like faith never set restraints to how much they want to imitate their parents, for they at the time picture their mother or father to be the most perfect person they know.  As we grow older though, we realize our parents are flawed and begin to set boundaries to how much we want to be like them and how much we want to improve; but with God, we get nothing but perfection.  He is the Perfect Father, and we can imitate Him with that same child-like faith and commitment.  No boundaries, no limits, no improvements.  Just complete full imitation.

The greatest gift we can give to our Lord and Savior this Christmas as well as every day of our lives is a humble heart that will lay our lives down before Him, take up our cross, and follow Him.  The best way to do this is to imitate Him in character, deed, and heart.  Let us make the commitment to imitate our God from this time forth and throughout the new year, for this is how we as disciples tangibly give Him our lives and serve Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

*We will be going over more topics on gifts for Christmas so stay tuned.