The Church At Ephesus - C. R. Oliver (to read list txt) 📗

the silversmiths propelled him toward his original goal. Heading toward Jerusalem, he called for the elders of the Ephesian church to come to him for a final convocation. Paul knew this would be a final meeting. He knew he would never see them again, so what was said to them was of most importance. (Man's final words, though spoken in brevity, carry great weight.)

Acts 20:17 The Ephesian Elders were Exhorted
From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. 18 And when they had come to him, he said to them: "You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, 19 serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; 20 how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." 

... Acts 20:25-38

(Regard these verses carefully for they are reflected in Revelation 2.).

"And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. 28 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 purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. 

32 "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34 Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. 35 I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" 

36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, 38 sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

(Author's Note: It is time to kiss the saints that have blessed you. In these perilous hours ahead, don't let the opportunity pass to bless and show affection for those who have guarded your soul!)

 

Paul taught against savage wolves among the sheep ... the elders listened and they watched and prayed and stayed faithful and Jesus rewarded them in Revelation 2.

 

Ephesus in the Corinthian Passages

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The Corinthian letters were written by Paul while facing opposition in Ephesus. Here are a couple of passages found in I Corinthians related to his ordeals in that city. Countering false teachings in Corinth, he cites his battle against untruth in Ephesus.

1 Corinthians 15:32
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?

Who were these wild or savage beasts? Perhaps it was Demetrius and the wild crowd in the theater. It could have been savage personal attacks fomented by the unbelieving Jews. It could have been local authorities. We do know that "Heraclitus, of Ephesus, had termed his countrymen 'wild beasts' 400 years before." (Christians in America are about to face "wild beasts." )

Paul again mentions Ephesus.

1 Corinthians 16:8-9
8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

(Author's Note: I have had the privilege of knowing many missionaries. Every last one of the worthwhile ones talk just as Paul did in this passage. They count the open door greater than the opposition against them, and I know of absolutely none who do not have great forces working against them. I have heard many accounts. [Being escorted out of Catholic dominated countries by Jesuits, being tortured and killed by Communists, being daily threatened by military forces, being intimidated by government officials and thugs, loved ones targeted and killed by Islamists-all during my lifetime.]

This very morning a skillful man of God said in conversation, "A great door is opening, one that will include Asia and ultimately the world, I am laying all my resources and life into this project." [How can a church with all its many millions of resources withhold them for themselves or their sainted few, while this man labors secularly to fund that which God has endorsed?])

 

Ephesus in I Timothy

Once again, in his writing to Timothy, the great heart of Paul is concerned about the work in Ephesus. He commissioned Timothy to go there and minister the true gospel and to expel that which would corrupt it. (Jesus commended the church for expelling evil and testing for false doctrine and false apostles and prophets. Paul and Timothy did a great job with their assignments.)

1 Timothy 1:3-11

3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may commandcertain men not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work-which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. 

8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. 

(Barnes was correct when he said , "One of the most successful arts of the adversary of souls has been to mingle fable with truth; and when the evil one cannot overthrow the truth by direct opposition, he seeks to neutralize it by mingling with it much that is false and frivolous." [Is your ear as heavy as mine in listening to frivolity? While sounding like gospel, it saps the soul of its vigor and power.] They looked inward and not outward. They listened to the voice of man's reason instead of the Holy Ghost, but they had the opportunity to repent and so do we.)

Personally, I like the word "swerved" that Paul used to describe to young Timothy those who pursued error.

1 Tim 1:6
... Some having swerved have turned aside unto vain talking;
Swerved:(NT:795 astocheo (as-tokh-eh'-o); from a compound of NT:1 (as a negative particle) and stoichos (an aim); to miss the mark, i.e. (figuratively) deviate from truth: KJV - err, swerve.

Some might have started out right and been faithful to the truth, but then they swerved. That about describes the apostasy we hear today.

(I even like the phrase, "vain tangling" translated "vain talking." Vain jangling means vain talk, empty declamation, discourses without sense. )

So much of what one hears from today's clergy is best catalogued as "swerved minded vain jangling." Many saints are hard pressed to find a congregation that teaches the full gospel in purity and power because of the off course vain jangling.

(Clarke sums it succinctly:
After describing the conditions that would arise from false Apostles and upstart lawyers trying to capture the limelight and then be dispossessed, he states:
"In this state of distraction, it is a high proof of God's love to his heritage, if one be found who, possessing the true apostolic doctrine and spirit, rises up to call men back to the primitive truth, and restore the primitive discipline. How soon the grievous wolves and perverse teachers arose in the churches of Asia Minor, the first chapters of the Apocalypse inform us. The Nicolaitans had nearly ruined the church of Ephesus, Rev 2:2, 6. The same sect, with other false teachers, infested the church of Pergamos, and preached there the doctrine of Balaam. A false prophetess seduced the church of Thyatira."

The Epistle to the Ephesians

 

Now it will be rather simple to cruise through the Epistle to Ephesus and locate passages which address the issues found in Revelation 2 and the other references. After preaching the wondrous gospel, where he reached back to the foundation of the world in chapters 1-3, Paul uses the "knowledge and wisdom" prayed for in chapter one. Upon declaring the position of the saint in Christ, he moves to the "thorns in his flesh (the issues which attack his very being)."

Ephesians 4:11-15 
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head - Christ. 

Ephesians 4:17-19:
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 

Ephesians 5:3-7 3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. 

Author's Note: Bully for this Baptist Pastor, Robert Jeffries:
Dallas News.com, Jan.31, 2013,

First Baptist Dallas pastor changing ways he addresses homosexuality (Headline)

"It would be the height of hypocrisy to condemn homosexuality and not adultery or unbiblical divorce," he said, explaining that the Bible allows divorce only in cases of adultery or desertion. He also includes premarital sex on that list.

Ephesians 5:15-16
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but