Jesus in the Midst of the Church - The Church at Ephesus

The last two Mondays I have written about the book of Revelation.  I'm going to continue as I want to reveal some wonderful truths about the seven churches of Revelation as written about in chapters 2-3.

I want to take seven Mondays to share a truth about Jesus in each of the seven churches.  I want to give credit to Jack Hayford for planting the seed of this in 2001.  I will attempt to show you there is a unique part of the revelation of Jesus as seen in chapter one the angel takes to highlight to each church. And I believe what the angel is saying is had you known Jesus (the head of the church) in this way, your problem would not have existed.  And the answer to your problem is to know Jesus in this way.

Look at Revelation 2: 1-7 and the church at Ephesus.

Jesus is seen as holding and walking in the midst of the church.  This is a present activity.  Jesus is not dead or distant.  He holds meaning to have power over, to grasp, not with a partial grasp, but he has the whole in His hand.  He has complete control over the church.

He walks in the midst of the church.  Wherever the church is, there is Jesus.  He moves freely among His church without barriers or obstacles.  

The church was commended for some great things, but one thing was missing.  In verse 4, they had walked away from their first love.  Unthinkable.  Tragic.

They were still active as a church, just without love.  They were still serving, going, and doing, but in their own energy.  

So what are we to do?  Remember by going back to the place of departure, take personal responsibility for walking away, and start doing again what you once did.  Don't treat Jesus as an absent dignity that you have to please, but rather know Him intimately and closely - He is as close as the grip of your hand.  He walks among us, He knows us, He loves us....

If we don't, He says in verse 5 "He will remove the lampstand."  He will remove His presence from us.  He is the lamp, not us.  And the only reason we have a light to share with a dark world is Him burning through us.  Return to the intimacy with Christ.  That closeness with Him.  If so, He promises (verse 7) that there will be a day when we will be together forever enjoying His presence with no possibility of any distance between us.