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Discussion Forum : Revivals And Church History : Ephesus: The terrifying consequences of a dead form of godliness

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 Ephesus: The terrifying consequences of a dead form of godliness

The church in Ephesus is typical of the big, growing churches of modern times where many activities are offered such as bazaars, seminars, youth programmes and weekend camps. They labour tirelessly in the name of Christ (Rev. 2:3). These churches have clear Christian confessions, in terms of which cults and false prophets can easily be identified and rejected (Rev. 2:2,6). In this way a false sense of spiritual security is instilled in members.

But churches of this nature have a very big problem of being man-centred rather than Christ-centred. Their most important driving force is a humanistic love for the cause of the Lord and all the benefits which it offers for personal happiness and the Christian management of societies, rather than a divine love which leads to greater holiness in our relationship with the Lord Jesus, and the proclaiming of the message of salvation to a dying world.

Positive Christian values are proclaimed and also promoted through programmes for the development of self-esteem, without attending to the dark side of human problems, namely sin. For this reason the cross of Christ where He bore the penalty for our sins does not prominently feature in such churches. The heart of the Christian gospel is cut out by merely ignoring it, leaving believers with only a form of godliness. This approach practically leads to the denial or negation of God’s agape love, which moved Him to send His Son to earth to pay the ransom for our sins. Forgetting this important fact and making the church a human institution in which only good human relations and positive values are pursued, effectively renders the church powerless and dead.

The Lord Jesus strongly denounces these people for their wrong perception of divine love, and calls them to repentance out of their confused and apostatised state: “I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent” (Rev. 2:4-5).

A true church of Christ is depicted as a lampstand (Rev. 1:12-20) in which the oil is to be poured, symbolically referring to the Holy Spirit, so the seven small lamps can burn and make their light shine in a dark world. Should the church (or an individual) depart from cardinal aspects of the gospel truth the Lord will withdraw His Spirit from such a church or person. They will then have to repent from their apostatised state.

From the history of the church in Ephesus it is evident that a serious falling away had occurred among them. The teachings of false prophets (“savage wolves”) were heeded, accepted and further proclaimed by themselves. The pastor and elders propagated these distorted perspectives and false gospel in the church, thereby undermining the faith of members. After Paul had extensively instructed this congregation in the full counsel of God for a long time, he realised that problems were brooding nevertheless. In his farewell address he gave the following warning to them:

“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He has purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (Acts 20:28-31).

It is obvious that the gospel of the blood and the cross was rejected by the church and replaced by a gospel of good works, Old Testament law observation and church rituals. Paul instructed Timothy to confront the guilty persons in the church of Ephesus by warning them not to change the gospel of Christ’s grace by becoming teachers of the law (1 Tim. 1:3-7). Because of their actions the faith of certain members was completely destroyed. Paul exhorted Timothy to have “faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander” (1 Tim. 1:19-20). These false teachers said, among others, that the resurrection is already past (2 Tim. 2:17-18).

But there were also a few faithful ones in Ephesus and they are encouraged to stand firm in the truth and to overcome (Rev. 2:7). They were an unpopular minority group. Church history confirms that doctrinal errors which stealthily crept into congregations often enjoyed huge popular support and had completely distorted the theology of many churches. Even false teachers who deny the gospel of the cross often have “many” followers (2 Pet. 2:1-2) as can clearly be seen today.

 2010/10/20 2:11





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