I Know You
( Rev 2:1~7 )
When a friends comes to us and says, 'I know you!' we are both consoled and concerned. Jesus letter was sent to the church in Ephesus, the biggest city in Asia at the time, the economic, cultural, and political center where the idolatry of Artemis was widespread. Jesus saw the deeds of the church, which deserved both his praise and reproach, and said 'I know your deeds.' What did he know of this church?
He knew the first love of the Church in Ephesus. Jesus praised many good deeds of the church in Ephesus before reproaching it. The church showed its hard work of love and faith by denouncing the worship of Artemis and by burning sorcery scrolls worth fifty thousand drachmas. A woman, whose daughter was in a vegetative state, used to have no more than 3 hours sleep a day for 8 years, turning over her daughters body more than 80 thousand times to prevent bedsores for three years. A moms hard work of love made this possible. The Church in Ephesus produced fruits of salvation even in the midst of trials and persecution through its hard work of love and perseverance. It listened to the Holy Spirit and didnt accept evil power, discerning true apostles from deceivers. It didnt fall into spiritual laziness and kept its faith even in the midst of unprecedented persecution during Domitians reign. In Wooridle Church, its really a blessing to see our Sunday school teachers serve their problem children even though they have their own problem family. This is definitely the hard work of love and faith, endurance, discernment, and perseverance. I hope that the one thing we can boast about will be our perseverance in trials.
He knew that the church had lost its first love. Without love, all our hard work and perseverance are nothing but tough labor. Man cannot make or produce love on his own. Without Gods love, however, he takes the credit. The Church in Ephesus, in spite of itself, began to be judgmental, assuming Gods role, after eradicating heresies and raising up many great pastors. It showed its pride and self-righteousness through its right prescriptions. It became a church of human tradition rather than the gospel. God knows our heart, inside and out, no matter how nice we look in our faith. Because many Christians are caught in Christian mannerism today, God commands us to restore our first love at all costs. Or, he warned, he would remove our lampstand from its place. How then can we restore our first love?
We should repent and restore our first love. We should remember the height from which we have fallen. Augustine said that the best repentance is opening ourselves up and confessing our sins. We need to be verified in church community by confessing our sins. In order to restore our first love, we need to confess how we are weak and unfaithful in our Mokjang community. We are truly able to repent when we confess. Jesus praised the church in Ephesus about its denouncing the practices of the Nicolaitans, who followed Nicolas, one of the seven deacons of the church in Ephesus. This was the hope that Jesus held for the church. Only those who have an ear inspired by the Holy Spirit can understand this. Those caught in the ruler of right and wrong can not understand this. They bear no fruit. We need to pray that we will eat the fruit of the tree of life, remembering that we are saved not by our deeds but by our faith.
Heres the confession of a deaconess who came to our community, suffering from depression and the impulse to commit suicide because of her tough married life. After coming to our community, Jesus became her first love. As if yearning for her lover, she blissfully enjoyed the time of worship, wondering what next grace she would receive from the Word. However, this passion of her fist love withered when she began to minister to her small group or do her QT with mannerism. Despite her many deeds of patience and hard work, she had no pleasure because she had no love. She didnt mourn when her husband didnt go to church and secretly wished her siblings’ well-to-do family would be bankrupt. She confessed that her having lost her first love for God and passion for salvation reflected the Nicolaitans within her. Through her honest sharing like this, God will help the deaconess recover her first love for the Lord. I pray in the name of Jesus that we will be able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and have many spiritual heirs under all circumstances.
'I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.'(Rev 2:2)
