Corona Chronicles - Crown of Gold

Welcome to the next episode of Corona Chronicles. A look at the book of Revelation 10 minute devotions each day. You can see we're in a different setting. We've noted people saying you're too close together. Well, you know, we videoed those things before before that law came.

So we're trying to take sensible precautions, but here we are. We're back in the book of Revelation. We're going to read from chapter 2, but before we do, Tom's just gonna give us a bit of an introduction. So, yeah, we decided that we would we would basically trying to do all of the letters to the churches in 1 episode, which is which is quite a tall mountain to climb. But but we wanted to do it that way and to just draw out some of the key themes which appear in each 1 of the letters.

And in chapter 1, we saw towards the end of chapter 1. We saw this amazing vision of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his power and his glory. And 1 of the things that we noted about him was that he knows his churches and he loves his churches and he has got a word for each 1 of them in the situation that they're in. And so what we're actually gonna do is to read ephesus, the the letter to the church in ephesus, and we are going to kind of pick out some of the key ideas which crop up in all all of the letters. So we're gonna read chapter 2 and this is 1 to 7.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus right, These are the words of him who holds the 7 stars in his right hand and walks among the 7 golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claimed to be apostles but are not and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you.

You have forsaken of the love that you had at first. 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. But you have this in your favor.

You hate the practice of the nicolaitans which I also hate. Whoever has ears let them hear what the spirit says to the churches. To the 1 who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. So what what strikes you guys? About that letter.

And what what are some of the key ideas here which are gonna crop up in all of them? Well, there's just I mean, there's so much in here, isn't it? From chapter 1. We've got just lots of descriptions of who Jesus is. You know, you got the 7 stars in his right hand.

And he walks among the the 7 golden lampstands. And going back to what you were saying, this is this is the king of the universe. Being the king who walks among his churches, among his people. And that's just a a wonderful thing to to know and to think about -- Yeah. -- especially at this time when we're all separated.

Yeah. You know? It's it's a wonderful thing to to know. This is this is what this is what Jesus is doing right now. That whole walking thing, isn't it?

It's what God did in the garden in in Genesis in Genesis 2, you know, walks in the cooler of the God. Yeah. In the cooler days amongst trees. And and and and it actually just at the end of this letter, he's calling people to to come back really to that garden and eat of the tree of life. So there's a lot of imagery there from the old testament which is what you get in all of all of the the letters to churches, isn't it?

Mhmm. Yeah. And it's interesting how each of these letters is gonna begin with some with some description about Jesus. So he's going to apply something of who he is to them. Right at the start.

Yeah. Yeah. Chapter 1, right at the start of his letter. And there's just a little reminder there that that the church no matter where they are geographically and no matter what age they're in, the church always needs to see Jesus. First of all, doesn't it?

You know, before we think about what's good and what's bad, we just need to we just need to fix our eyes on Jesus. And that is definitely true. In the time we're in now, isn't it? You know? So he comes here in Ephesus as he does in the other churches.

He's walking amongst the lampstands. He knows this church intimately He knows what is good, what they're getting right, he knows what they're not getting right. And he doesn't come just as you know, mating power to put his arm around us and say good good good. He does do that, but he wants us to go you know, keep going for him. Yeah.

Don't don't give up. So the good things are, he comes as this inspector. He says that they're working hard They're persevering. They don't tolerate wicked people. They endure hardship.

Again, they're persevering. They don't like the nicolaitans at their practice which seems to be some kind of sort of immorality. So they seem to be pure, discerning, living according to the the truths of who Jesus is. But there's something missing. They've lost their love.

Lost lost the love at first and and we got to remember who this letter is written to Firstly, it's ephesus. And I mean, what an amazing church ephesus must have been to be involved in at the start? You know, when you know, it was Priscilla and Aquillo. They started off in there, and Paul Wintner, and preached for a couple of years. And, you know, it must have been an absolutely stonking church to be part of.

And by the time revelation's written, maybe maybe 4 40 years later, you know, they've they've lost that that edge They've lost that that first love. And and here's John, he's saying, no. Come on. Get back to where where you were. Yeah.

You know, all those years ago. Remember remember from where you've so callisto Church. You know, this is we've got to think about this. Yeah. You know, we're separated obviously, but we have got to think about this, you know.

You know, when we started, there was there was great excitement, wasn't there? And and I think there still is. But but you know, let's not lose our love now. We're we're under this pressure of separation. Let's keep loving the Lord Jesus.

Yeah. You know, 1 corinthians 13. Love is in what it's all about. Or your your sermons on a Sunday morning, you know, 1 John. Yep.

You know? Love love the Lord, love each other. You know, that's how we know. That God exists and what is is in our our loving. Yeah.

And and and maintaining a love for the lost as well. That I think there are some people who would say that this kind of forsaking the love you had at first. He's really he's really kind of disciplining them for for losing an interest in the spread of the gospel and telling people about Jesus. And that would be a temptation now, wouldn't it? Because it's easy now to think right my priority is just me.

You know, I've got to protect myself, I've got to protect my family, got to make sure I've got all my shopping, got to make sure I'm okay. And you know, those aren't insignificant concerns. But but we need to think, Lord, how how can we love the lost in this time? How can we spread the gospel and use this new strange way we're having to do things to keep to keep being passionate about salvation issues. Well, it's 1 of the things sorry.

It's 1 of the things that I I'm I'm loving about looking at Internet at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know whether it's just because I'm a Christian and I and I know lots of pastors. But isn't it wonderful that so many churches and so many good sound pastors are actually declaring the gospel.

Yeah. And you know, who knows? It could possibly be more Christian stuff on the web. Yeah. Than pornography.

Right. And that would be amazing. Yeah. And would change our world, wouldn't it? Yeah.

Mhmm. So we are to love the world. But I think the thing is that you when you love Jesus, you love what Jesus -- Yeah. -- loves. When you love God, you love what God loves.

So God so love the world that he gave. So we've got to keep give you this this gospel. Yep. That's true. Well, I mean, you know, again, we could we could spend 20, 30 minutes in here.

We're trying to keep these short, but 1 thing I wanted to just pick out was his how he ends it. And it's to the 1 who is victorious. I will give right to to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. He's going you know, he's he's thinking about, like, where the where it all began in the garden and where it's all gonna end in in paradise, in the new Jerusalem. Which which is relationship -- Yeah.

Yeah. -- love with God. Exactly. It's not just floating on clouds. It's It's 1 It's a summary of all of the bible.

Friends we love God, love people. It's to those who overcome. And, you know, kids, especially if you're listening, If you've got something with a, you know, a Nike tick on or, you know, a shoe. Nike a Max, you love them. Go get those and you know, that that word victorious is that word Nike.

You know? And so, you know, when we and whenever you look at that little Nike tip, think, look, we're down we're down at the moment, but it's you know, we're gonna go up. We're gonna go 1 day, we'll see that we'll we'll be with this king. And let that remind you, you know, be encouraged. So there we go.

We've tried we've tried to we've tried to summarize all of the letters by looking at 1 letter. Yeah. And, you know, a pretty tough job, but those are some of the things that you'll see over and over again. We would recommend just taking maybe 1 each day, you could you could read through through those other other letters as well. So don't lose your love for the Lord Jesus.

Let's keep sound, but let's keep passionate loving each other. And and we're trying we're trying to do that a cornerstone, you know, and thank God for technology where we can use Zoom, where we can ring each other up and and care for each other. It's really exciting. It really is exciting. It's exciting.

We're gonna have to go. We'll see you tomorrow.