Slices
Prepare
What challenges are before you today as a new working week begins? Remind yourself that, even if you feel overwhelmed, God is there to help you carry the load.
Bible passage
To the church in Ephesus
2 ‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favour: you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Explore
Perseverance is one of the great Bible words, and a key characteristic of Christian discipleship (v 3). It is the ability to keep going in the midst of difficulty and hardship, not quitting because life is hard but choosing, with God’s help, to make it through to the end. ‘Resilience’ is a more modern word, with the connotation of bouncing back after setbacks or difficulties.
The church in Ephesus figures prominently in the New Testament, having been founded by the apostle Paul and then cared for by his young protégé, Timothy. One of the things that Jesus, as Lord of the church, appreciates about this congregation is their consistency – they have worked hard and not given up, despite being troubled by false apostles (v 2). They have endured hardship and not grown weary.
How is this possible? Only when we look to God for daily strength. This means taking time as you are doing today to be still in God’s presence, in order to receive his strength through prayer and the Scriptures. Worship also plays its part, as does the encouragement of fellowship with other believers.
Respond
As you look back on your life, can you remember times when God brought you through difficult times? Take encouragement from such memories, as you look to God now to help you through today’s challenges.
Deeper Bible study
Grant us the ability to hear what the Spirit said to the churches then – and what the same Spirit wants us to hear now. Amen.
If one major source of John’s struggle to maintain hope in the coming of the reign of Christ was the dominance and power of the Roman Empire, another was the condition of the congregations of believers scattered across Asia Minor. Towards the end of the first century, these churches faced enormous pressures, internally from travelling preachers who advocated some kind of compromise with Roman idolatry and externally in the shape of growing social and political pressures to ascribe honour to both Christ and Caesar.
These pressures are evident throughout the seven letters to the churches which, taken as a whole, suggest that the condition of the Christian movement gave John much cause for concern. The believing community in the great port city of Ephesus features prominently in the history of early Christianity1 and the message sent to it now indicates that it had remained firm in its defence of the truth but had forsaken its ‘first love’ (v 4, AV). This seems to refer to the failure of love within the believing community, a problem which exactly mirrors the concern which troubled Paul with regard to the Corinthian church. The Ephesian believers may have been known personally to John, so this warning concerning a loveless orthodoxy would have affected him deeply. The same problem has, alas, persisted across the ages and ‘we too may be tempted to set so much store on our correct theology and proper process of church government that we risk forgetting that a church without love is already dead’.2
According to John’s Gospel, Jesus was ‘full of grace and truth’.3 How can we retain both these qualities and avoid focusing on one to the detriment of the other?
1 Acts 19; 20:17–38; Eph 1:15–17; 1 Tim 1:3–7 2 Catherine and Justo Gonzalez, Revelation, Westminster John Knox Press, 1997, p24 3 John 1:14
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Leviticus 1–3; Acts 5
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks for those who faithfully served Scripture Union as staff members and are now retired. Many maintain an active interest in the work and meet annually to pray. During the pandemic this has not been possible, although they have met twice on Zoom. Pray that ways may be found to meet in person later this year.
