Week 15 Remembering the Storm in Peace
Where we've come from is part of how we get to where we are going
“Don’t forget where you came from, but always remember where you’re going.”
Luke Taylor
Passage
1“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
2‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
3and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.
4‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
5‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
6‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’
Revelation 2:1–7 (NASB95)
Background
Quote-Luke Taylor was born on September 17, 2001, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Taylor attended school at Garnet Valley High School where he took part in various shows and musicals. He graduated in 2020. After graduating, he joined Liberty University to study Vocal Performance.
The singer joined TikTok during the pandemic in December 2020, with his first-ever video singing Beer for My Horses by Toby Kieth. He admitted to having created the account as “a joke,” but his unique voice became a hit on the platform.
His duet video on “Shanty-tok” with @nathanevanss made him go viral on the app. The video has received over 11 million views since it was posted.
Passage-The literary genres of the book of Revelation are an Apocalypse, a Prophecy, and an Epistle (or Letter). The Disciple/Apostle John, who followed Jesus Christ and witnessed His crucifixion, authored it.
John wrote Revelation while a prisoner on the Island of Patmos, approximately 85-95 A.D. Its purpose is to give encouragement and hope for all Christians to continue watching for the return and triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ. It also is to warn of the Final Judgment that nonbelievers will endure on that Last Day.
John wrote that Revelation is special because, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (1:3).
By Jay Smith of Biblehub.com
Opening Statement
Going back to the basics, the fundamentals of faith is required. When we believe ourselves to be more mature, or carry secret wisdom, we run the risk of becoming prideful. But, there is a way out of that trap.
Ask: What does it mean to remember where we came from?
Point: It means to remember how hard it was, the struggles, and the difficulties you went through.
Ask: Why is it important to remember where we came from and recall those things?
Point: It is important to remember how it felt and what we would have liked to have had others do when they encountered us under those circumstances.
Ask: Why?
Point: Please read the following:
12“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:12–14 (NASB95)
Ask: Here endeth the lesson, right?
Point: Not according to Jesus and Today’s Passage. Please read the following:
4‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Revelation 2:4 (NASB95)
Ask: What does that mean, “You have left your first love.”?
Point: Think back to when you first became a Christian or recognized what Jesus truly meant to you and how on fire for God things were.
Ask: What do we do about our fall from zealousness for God?
Point: Please read the following:
5‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
Revelation 2:5 (NASB95)
Ask: Repent of what? What are we supposed to “turn from” or feel bad about doing (or not doing)?
Point: Please read the following:
15‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
16‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
17‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
Revelation 3:15–18 (NASB95)
Ask: How do we, “buy from Me gold refined by fire” and “white garments so that you may clothe yourself…”?
Point: Please read the following:
8But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
11For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
Romans 10:8–11 (NASB95)
Ask: How does our faith in Jesus “buy” us the white robs and gold of salvation if it is a free gift? Isn’t that works-based salvation?
Point: No because it isn’t an action before the gift is given. It is a response after we understand what we have received. Please read the following:
1My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments;
2For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you.
3Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.
5Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones.
Proverbs 3:1–8 (NASB95)
Ask: What does remembering where I’ve come from and trusting God have to do with being happy I’m not there anymore?
Point: Please read the following:
9For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
11Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:9–11 (NASB95)
Closing Statement
Life seems to always come back to hope. What gives you hope? What gives someone else hope? They may not be the same things but when we remember the storms of our life, we are in a unique place through our experience to gift hope. Our experiences give us insight into the life of someone else. In that insight we get a shadowy glimpse into someone else’s heart and truly grow closer to them. We really “know” what they are going through and through that insight we have a see what will help the most for that person. When we make that connection of shared experience with someone else, we become the light on the lampstand that gifts them the hope of Jesus Christ, and that can help someone else through their storm.
Questions for the Week
Question 1 Contemplate that time in your life when the sacrifice of Jesus first became real to you as a tangible thing.
Question 2 Consider how Jesus’ sacrifice in your life connects with the storms you’ve also moved through.
Question 3 Based on Questions 1 & 2 consider how you might be a shining light on a lampstand to uniquely give hope to someone experiencing similar circumstances.
Definitions
Repent
ri-pent
verb (used without object)
1. To feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-stricken about a past action, attitude, etc. (often followed by of ):
He repented after his thoughtless act.
2. To feel such sorrow for sin or fault as to be disposed to change one's life for the better; be penitent.
Penitent
pen-i-tuhnt
adjective
1. feeling or expressing sorrow for sin or wrongdoing and disposed to atonement and amendment; repentant; contrite.
Synonyms: sorrowful, rueful, remorseful
Antonyms: unrepentant, impenitent
Haley’s Bible Handbook On the Church in Ephesus
Ephesus had a population of almost a quarter million people. It was a true metropolis and the commercial center of Asia Minor. The temple of Artemis in Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
There, 40 years before, Paul had done his most successful work (a.d. 54–57). So many people became converts to Christ that almost overnight the church became one of the most powerful influences in the city and soon one of the most famous churches in the world. It became the mother church of Asia Minor.
It is said that Timothy, after the death of Paul, spent most of his time in Ephesus and suffered martyrdom there under Domitian, in the same persecution that sent John to Patmos.
John spent his old age in Ephesus, and if he was no longer an active pastor due to his age, as the last surviving apostle of Christ he must have been a dominating influence among pastors. While in Ephesus, John wrote his Gospel, three letters, and possibly the book of Revelation (after his return from Patmos).
Three of Paul’s letters relate to Ephesus: Ephesians and 1 and 2 Timothy. And it is thought that possibly the two letters of Peter and that of Jude originated in that region.
Ephesus, about halfway between Jerusalem and Rome, was the approximate geographic center of the Roman Empire. And in John’s lifetime it had become the approximate geographic and numerical center of the Christian population of the world.
About 10 years after the death of John, the Emperor Trajan sent Pliny into the Asia Minor region to investigate whether to persecute Christians. Pliny wrote back to Trajan that Christians had become so numerous that pagan temples were almost deserted.
In many cities of the region, the Christian churches included large and influential elements of the population, and Ephesus was the queen church of them all.
It had been some 65 years since Pentecost, the birthday of the church in Jerusalem. The church everywhere had seen phenomenal growth. But signs of corruption were beginning to appear—and that, we think, is one of the things that called forth the book of Revelation.
The church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1). It was before the days of church buildings. They had to meet in halls, or homes, or wherever they could. Not one great, central First Church of Ephesus, but many, perhaps hundreds, of small congregations, each under its own pastoral leadership. Yet the letter is addressed to “the church in Ephesus.” Hundreds of congregations, yet one church.
Him who holds the seven stars in his right hand (v. 1). The seven stars are the emblem of His power. Perhaps this image is intended as a suggestive warning that the church was becoming too proud of its prestige and was glorying in what was of little use to its real mission.
The “false apostles” (v. 2). These, evidently, were men who claimed to have known Christ and to have received authority from Him for their teaching, in their effort to harmonize the immoral indulgences of idol worship with the Christian faith.
Forsaken your first love (vv. 4–5). This was their failing. Their zeal for Christ was cooling off. They no longer loved Him as they once did. They were becoming indifferent, half-hearted—not yet lukewarm, like the Laodicean church (see 3:16), but headed in that direction. This hurt Christ. They receive a stinging rebuke and are warned to repent (v. 5), else their “lampstand will be removed.” It has indeed. The site of Ephesus is deserted today.
The “Nicolaitans” (v. 6) are thought to have been a sect who advocated licentiousness as the proper way of life.
These false teachers had caused great trouble in the church. The Ephesian pastors, it seems, had as a body stood patiently and solidly against their teaching, for which they were commended (vv. 2–3).
The tree of life (v. 7). Those who overcome the allurements of false teaching and natural temptations to fleshly indulgence and worldly ease are promised access to the Tree of Life.
While the Ephesian church, as a church, has perished, the promise of the Tree of Life still holds for individuals in any church who overcome.
The Tree of Life is first mentioned as a special tree in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:2, 22, 25). This tree appears again in Revelation 22:2 as a tree which bears everlasting, health-producing fruit.