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.