Outline: Seven Churches – Ephesus
Text: Revelation 2:1-7
Discussion audio (44 minutes)
The first scene of Revelation has been introduced and now the action begins. I feel that in the past, these seven letters were sometimes glossed over as not being terribly relevant for our times (except the one to Laodicea). As we will begin to see, each letter was meant to be read by every other church, and by extension is applicable in some way to us today.
We spent the first part of this session discussing the general format of each of the letters. By understanding the format it can help us discover what is important in each letter.
We also discussed the chiastic nature of the seven letters in that the main point of the series of letters is likely to be found in the middle letter (to Thyatira) rather than at the end (to Laodicea). Looking forward to future sessions we will be comparing the last three letters to the first three letters (in reverse order, respectively, to correspond with the chiastic nature). We will also look at the letters as a whole at the end of Act One.
The main issue with the church in Ephesus is its preoccupation with doctrinal purity at the expense of love. The exhortation to this church is to return to the middle where one has both discernment between truth and error while loving one another. It seems like a very relevant exhortation for churches today.
This letter once again emphasizes that Jesus is already here – is come – rather than is coming exclusively in the future. It is an important point for us to recognize because if we do not live with his presence today, there is no point in us looking for him to appear physically at some future day.
(I’ve begun recording our discussions. I’ve also gone back and recorded my side of the “discussions” for the first four sessions.)
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