Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21
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The most nerve-wracking part of playing varsity sports in high school were the tryouts. I’ll never forget the first time I went out for the soccer team, and the coach came up to me after practice and said, “Thanks for coming out, but I think we’re all set with the roster for this year.” It was the one time I got cut, and it didn’t feel good. I wanted a place on the team. I wanted to wear the jersey, but there just wasn’t room. I wasn’t good enough to make the cut. I felt rejected.
As we have talked about, the seven lampstands (the seven branch menorahs) that John sees in Revelation 1 represent the churches. In Leviticus we learn that the menorah was the light of the Holy Place of God’s Tabernacle and His Temple. Each branch was to remain lit to represent the perpetual presence of God.
In Revelation 2, Ephesus, the church that failed to love God, is given a very severe warning. “Repent, or I will remove your lampstand.”
Notice two things. First, God does not threaten to extinguish the flame. The flame represents the presence of God. As long as there are believers, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit exists, and God is present. But He does threaten to remove the lampstand entirely.
In looking at Revelation 1, I imagine that the imagery of the Heavenly Tabernacle is adorned with many menorahs (as numerous as the stars), each representing a church. Every one of those churches has a purpose, a part in God’s Kingdom, and in His plan for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So what does it mean if He says, “I’ll remove your lampstand?” It means that the lampstand has become so useless, it is not fit to bear the light of God. Yikes, what a frightening warning! Imagine the fear with which John wrote this letter to Ephesus. “Dear Ephesus, Unless you change, the all-powerful God can’t use you for His plan.”
But the inability to be useful doesn’t reflect on God but on the motivation of Ephesus. They left their first love. They forgot what it meant to be a people of God. The love of God was no longer their purpose. Throughout history, God used foreign nations to judge Israel for their lack of love. Each time, the armies invaded and stole the menorah from the Temple. In a similar way, Ephesus was just going through the motions, and it was stealing their joy and their place in God’s Kingdom.
In our efforts to be relevant to the world, the most important thing we must be first is relevant to our Lord Jesus. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13, we may do all sorts of wonderful things, but without love, we accomplish nothing.
As we will see throughout this series, some of these seven churches had little to offer God in the way of ability. Some were just holding on. If this were a soccer team, they would appear quite feeble and weak in the arena of professionals. But God’s Kingdom works a little different than a high school varsity sports team. The criteria for making the team isn’t what we can do, it is about a relationship with Jesus – a reciprocated love between us and the only Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth.