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The church in Ephesus – Acts 20
The church in Ephesus – Acts 20
It began in Acts 19 with Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos teaching the way of God. Then in Acts 20 we see that Paul came and worked there. Of his work there he could say: “…I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:20-21). He continued: “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27). Luke adds that “This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10).
Paul then writes the letter to the church there in Ephesus (read it!) Paul left Timothy to Ephesus to work in teaching, appointing elders, providing encouragement and admonition (1Tim. 1:3). All of this before Paul is martyred somewhere in the latter part of the 60’s A.D.
With all of this, how did the church do? How faithful were they to following the teaching?
Then, we read the letter from the LORD to this church as written by John! By the time of John’s writing they had ‘left their first love’! They were not wrong about everything! They hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans. They ‘tested the spirits’ and claims of false apostles and rejected them. They had persevered and endured and not grown weary.
Sometimes the MOTIVE of our work and service gets changed. We don’t intend for it to, but it happens. One can be motivated by many things, but the greatest motivation needs to be our love of the Lord. This is the greatest commandment – loving the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and strength.
This is not an ‘either – or’ situation, but rather a ‘both -and’. We are to love right teaching and godly behavior. We are to test the spirits. But all of this must be motivated by our Love for the Lord. This will take constant self-searching and examining. This is an area where we can easily be mistaken, thinking that our love of correct teaching and hatred of certain ungodly deeds is the same as our love of the Lord.
What motivates your service to the Lord?
Hugh DeLong
