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We’ll take a copy of the scriptures back in hand for our New Testament sermon text, that is. We continue in the book of Revelation, the book of the Revelation, starting in chapter two, very in the first seven verses, before we hear the word read and preached and receive, let’s ask the Lord’s blessing upon those very things.
Pray with me, if you will. Our gracious Heavenly Father, We pray that you would truly at this time reveal Christ to us through this, your word, by the work of your Holy Spirit, and that you would indeed work in our hearts, and that you would bury the seeds of the gospel even again, even more deep within. and that you would produce fruit therefrom, the fruit of the Spirit in our lives as a result. Lord, we do pray, anoint the lips of your servant, protect him from error, and that he would bring us the unhindered word of God, and that truly you would speak directly to us. We do ask, Lord, that you would Have the affections of our hearts and the meditations of our minds be pleasing in Your sight. Lord, we need You. We need Your work in us and upon us as we hear now from Your Word. We ask all these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, in all God’s people set together. Amen. Amen. Revelation 2, starting at verse 1, please give your full attention. This is the Word of the true and the living God.
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are evil but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake.
You have not grown weary, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have, you hate the works the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord truly endures forever.
Well, I’m so glad that we are all here together, that we are together on this Lord’s Day. to hear again of the glory of Christ, the freedom in Christ, the love of Jesus, and the certainty of a home in glory for those who’ve trusted in him for life, who’ve answered the call. and exercise that faith, the gift of faith in Him. We hear the glory of Christ and a King and a Savior who is God who walks through with us this broken, fallen world until we come to our true home where sin is no more, death is no more, no more tears, no fears, no pains or strains or sorrows. but life and joy before the face of the God who has set his love upon us because he loved us. Isn’t that glorious? Isn’t that an awesome thing?
These propositions, these truths of God’s word. Well, we continue in the book of Revelation today and in God’s word and in this passage before us, we know that Jesus Christ is the Lord of his church. He walks among the seven lampstands and holds the seven stars in his hands. He is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He is alive forevermore, and he holds in his hands the keys of death in Hades. Jesus Christ is our great high priest who loves us, we read earlier in chapter one, and has freed us from our sins through the shedding of his own blood, and he has made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father.
And that same Jesus now comes. with words of exhortation as well as rebuke in the seven letters to the churches in Asia Minor. We’re getting into this section now, Revelation 2 and 3, with these seven letters originally addressed to these seven churches to whom John sends this circular letter to be circulated, known as the Book of Revelation. These letters are part of a larger vision from Revelation 1-12 to the end of chapter 3. And it’s best to see these churches referenced as what they are, historic Christian congregations facing horrible persecution at the hands of the pagan Roman Empire, all the while dealing with heretical teaching arising from within their own body. So throughout the book of Revelation, as you likely know, the number seven represents, what, completeness, perfection. The letters to the seven churches, right, therefore, means these letters are, and the situations they speak of, are representative of all Christ’s church throughout the ages.
The issues that they faced in the first century indeed are the same issues that we will face in the 21st century. And again, remember, it’s important to keep in mind as we look at Revelation and work through these letters, the literary style of the book on the whole, the book of Revelation, as we move through John’s visions here now at this time that we’re entering into.
Each of these visions gives us what? A different camera angle, different vantage point as the redemptive drama unfolds during the course of this present evil age. Each vision focuses on a particular aspect of the struggle between Christ and Satan during the last days and the great tribulation, which is, as we’ve seen in previous weeks, the whole time between the first advent and the second coming of Christ. The last days and this tribulation indeed is this time. all that time between the first and second comings. And so throughout these visions, John uses what kind of language? It’s apocalyptic language, where symbols serve as word pictures of the cosmic struggle between Christ and his defeated but still defiant foe, Satan’s elf. And John uses symbols such as lampstands and stars and keys, as well as certain numbers, seven, to point us to what?
To the realities that these symbols represent. And so this means that symbols in apocalyptic literature should not be taken literally. It’s not their intention. We saw this, of course, in the description of Christ, which opens the vision in verses 12 to 20 of chapter one, right? And so to correctly understand the meaning of these symbols, where are we to look, right?
We look to the Old Testament from which they come and to the first century Roman Empire, which is the historical setting that the struggles these symbols portray unfold against, right? And so what do I mean? For example, in these letters to the seven churches, John refers to the historical circumstances faced by Christians of the first century in Asia Minor. But John also sets these historical issues within a greater struggle, where apocalyptic literature and symbols point us to and beyond Asia Minor and the Roman Empire of the first century, to indeed the struggles that we face in our own age. So it’s not a book merely of historical Curiosity, it has impact and is describing the struggles that we go through even in our day.
And the Christ of the church, the Christ of the seven churches of Asia Minor is the same Christ who wins the great victory over Satan and all those united to him. The Christ of the first century church is indeed the Christ of the 21st century church. The Christ who walks amongst the lamb stands. The seven churches in Asia Minor is the same Christ who walks among us when his people are assembled for worship, even as we are right now.
And so as we look at this first letter, the letter written to the church in Ephesus, we need to keep a few things in mind about it and these letters in general, right? We have to connect the seven letters to the Christ who is ever present in his church. Remember all of those images that we saw in the introduction to this section, all those things, the ways that he was described.
For instance, in verse 12, starting there, he says, Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. In turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool, like snow, and his eyes were a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. And in his right hand, he held the seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun, shining in full strength.
Right here, all of these descriptions, all these adjectives and word pictures given of the Lord, all of these that John uses come straight from the Old Testament. So it’s pointless to try to interpret these things literally. It’s not what they’re meant to do, even though historically many have tried to do so. So when Jesus is described as being like a son of man, John’s giving what?
He’s given the true meaning of Daniel 7 and the everlasting kingdom that Daniel 7 discusses. And when he speaks of Jesus with a long robe and a golden sash, he’s telling us that Jesus is the great high priest. When he says that his head and his hair are white, we see there the reflected glory of the ancient of days. that Daniel 7 speaks of. And when he says of Jesus’ feet that they glow like a furnace, we should think of what his purifying power, his voice like that of a rushing water, means that his word is the word of God. When Christ speaks, all of creation must listen for his testimony is true.
The lampstands, of course, are symbolic of God’s Holy Spirit in the churches, who through these lampstands reminds us of Christ’s presence, yes, and the church’s function to be what? To be lightbearers to a fallen world of the glory and truth of the gospel.
This is why we read this detailed passage in Exodus regarding the lampstands, Exodus 25, right? It wasn’t just for the sake of categorizing and getting the detail of how these were made. There, what is Moses doing? He’s describing in great detail how these golden lampstands with seven lamps is to be made, right, for the tabernacle use and for later use in the temple. And even in Israel’s days in the wilderness, God was revealing what?
His presence with his people through the Holy Spirit, which the golden lampstand symbolically points to. And now in John’s vision, that same symbol appears again, but now we’re given its true significance. Where the lampstand is present, Jesus is present. And where Jesus is present, the Holy Spirit is present. And where the Holy Spirit is present, the church brings forth God’s light, right? To the world around it, which lives in darkness. In verse 19 of chapter one, John is commanded by the Lord.
He says what? To write. To write what? The things that you’ve seen, which are what? Those that are and those that are about to take place after this. And so some have argued that this text, this little phrase, statement is the interpretive key to the whole book of Revelation. dividing things into the past, which you’ve seen, the present, that is now, and the future, what will take place. It’s a very common interpretation commended by commentators. But the correct division here is actually not that, it’s actually twofold. John is commanded to what? To write about what he has seen. And what are those things that he’s seen? Things present and things future, right? It’s a two-fold division, not three.
Since John has already told us in verse one that the things about to be revealed concern events which are soon to take place, it makes a lot of sense to understand that John will discuss things that now are, right? Which, for instance, the issues facing these seven churches to which he’s writing. And then second later, beginning in chapter four, going forward, he will discuss things that are yet to take place in the future course of redemptive history until his second coming. So things that are, and things that are yet to come. But there’s something else we have to consider for our understanding here in the next letters that are to come, is that Jesus addresses these seven historical churches in these letters, and when he addresses them, he also addresses us.
We’re not disconnected and we’re not irrelevant. And he does so promising blessing for obedience and curse for disobedience. Yes, these are real commands and imperatives that we must follow. We must listen to, we must heed and do. But like all the imperatives in the New Testament, as we’ve discussed a lot, like all of them, they must be seen in light of the indicatives, the promises that come before and that come after the commands, the imperatives.
And so with these things in mind, let’s go to our text, Revelation 2, starting at verse 1, and Christ’s letter to the church. in Ephesus. And as we do so, remember also what we said about the city of Ephesus and the church there that was founded in the early 50s of the first century. That city, just by way of reminder, is famous throughout the ancient world for its temple dedicated to Diana, Artemis in Greek. And in fact, we read about this in Acts 19, remember there, where Paul spent two years in the city. which came to an end after, do you remember the event that ended this stay for him there?
There were certain Jews who tried to exorcise a demon in the name of Christ, only to have that demon-possessed man do what? He turns on them, and he badly beats them. And as a result, there were so many occultists in the area coming to faith in Christ, that it was not long before those who made a living selling religious trinkets statues and so forth associated with Diana worship in the temple, they began to see their business dry up because the demand was no longer there. And Acts tells us that a near riot ensued where the local theater was filled with merchants and worshipers of Diana shouting, shouting, great is Diana of Ephesus, great is Diana of the Ephesians. And they sought to do great bodily harm to the Apostle Paul.
And even archaeological evidence shows that the temple drew pilgrims from the surrounding areas, making it a quite outstanding tourist attraction. And we also see from this archaeological evidence that the temple had much land and controlled much of the local banking interest in that place.
And so Ephesus was also the home of one of the world’s largest libraries. as well as being a center for the occult. That’s the place where the church of Ephesus was. That’s the Ephesians church, and that’s the church that this letter is addressed to. All of the seven letters, we’ll notice as we go through, begin with the same formula, the same command from Christ to the angel of the church in Ephesus, in Smyrna, and so forth.
So what does that mean? Some think that that term angel, which in Greek just means messenger, is a reference to the ministers of the church or to the messengers who brought John’s letter to that particular congregation. The more likely it’s a reference to those angels assigned by Christ to each of the churches mentioned. And indeed, we see corroboration of this. Daniel 10, starting verse 12, speak of heavenly princes ruling over earthly nations. And so it might mean that God has assigned angels to particular congregations to rule them and to protect them. part of the invisible realm, the spiritual realm that we can’t see with our physical eyes.
And so the letter to the Ephesians begins with a reminder of the authority of the one speaking to them through the pen, the Apostle John, where he says, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Again, Jesus is the Lord of his church. who now comes to the Ephesian congregation with the word of blessing and a warning of curse, because he holds the seven stars in his hand and walks among the lampstands.
He is uniquely aware of the circumstances of this particular congregation of his. He’s aware of the circumstances of all his congregations. He’s not absent. He’s not indifferent. He’s not dismissive to the predicaments of his people. And he knows full well what is happening to his people and what his people have endured. He knows their struggles that they have faced. He also knows the sins and their failures.
And as Lord of the church who walks in their midst, he has this to say to his people here again, Revelation two. He says, I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false. I know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake and you have not grown weary.
And so in the midst of this very hostile pagan environment that Ephesus was, the Ephesians Christians have faithfully persevered. They have not tolerated wicked, lying men, which is perhaps a reference to the church’s removal of those who embraced this pagan immorality all around them. The Ephesians have, what, tested all those who claimed to be apostles and found them to be false.
It’s likely a reference to the common problem that we see in the first century. People who claim to be associated with the apostles or that circle of apostles, those men close to Jesus. But these people had no such association. It was a pretended attempt to have credibility for them and for the lies that they told. But they used this connection of this apostolic circle as a means to gather support for these false teachings.
And after examining them, What do we read? The Ephesians found their claims to be false. They exposed their evil ways. They protected the church, and they removed them from the church. And indeed, the Ephesians have persevered in rooting out this evil. And for this, Christ commends them. He commends them.
But how exactly this rooting out of false teachers is connected to the Declaration in verse 6? where he says, yet this you have, you hate the work of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. How this is connected, we’re not sure. The Nicolaitans are mentioned again in the letter to the Church of Pergamum, and we’ll look at that when we get to that letter. But the teaching of the Nicolaitans is compared to what? This we know, it’s compared to these Old Testament figures you remember of Balaam and Jezebel.
What did they do? They sought to lure Israel away from Yahweh. The purity of worship prescribed for them by tempting the people to adopt pagan practices in addition to worshiping Yahweh. Right? Synergism, bringing these things in to the purity of what was commanded for them.
And as it concerns the Ephesians congregation, either the false apostles were Nicolaitans, teaching that it’s acceptable to worship Christ and pagan deities, or else they were what? The Nicolaitans were represented another threat in addition to whatever the false apostles were bringing. In either case, Christ commends the congregation for their faithfulness to truth, their doctrinal faithfulness and perseverance in removing these false teachers from their midst and their corrosive cancerous impact and influence amongst the people of God. And he commends them because like him, they too hate the teaching, the lying words of the Nicolaitans. But in addition to this word of condemnation, we also hear what? A word of rebuke from the Lord Jesus of the church.
We have this in verse four where he says, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned your first love or the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and I will remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. a word of rebuke, following a word of concomendation. This congregation, it says, lost its first love.
And because of this, Jesus says it has fallen from its earlier lofty heights. And in fact, they have fallen so far that Jesus has to give this, threaten this curse in a very drastic way, the removal of his blessing and his presence from the congregation. So when he threatens the removal of this lampstand, he’s referring to the fact that the lampstand is what a symbol of his presence and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment of this congregation, again, to be light bearers, to be a light in the unbelieving world around it. And he exhorts this congregation to go back and do the things that did at first, or else he says his blessing will be removed and the congregation will cease to be a light bearer to the unbelievers around it.
And so what does this mean when he says losing our first love? What is he referring to? Many have taught that this refers to losing our love for Christ. That it’s a reference to their waning love for Jesus. This is the symptom of which is that a relationship with God grows cold. We cease from praying. We’re no longer concerned about seeing unbelievers come to Christ and so forth. But this probably misses the point. This is probably not what he’s referring to, right? Why?
Because he, Jesus has just commended this congregation for persevering in the faith and pursuing sound doctrine. And although many Believers in the broader evangelical world believe this to be the case. We have to see that the Ephesians stress on the purity of doctrine, the purity of truth, the protecting of the truth that’s been handed to them has not lessened their love for Christ. Quite the contrary is true. Christ commends them for being faithful to him as evidenced by their discernment of false teaching.
And therefore the loss of this first love, this love they had at first, is much more likely a reference to the fact that all of the doctrinal infighting this congregation has experienced has produced something. It’s produced judgment, a judgmental attitude and bitterness amongst them within this congregation. The problem is not that the desire for sound doctrine has dried up their love for Christ. Rather, these struggles over sound doctrine have produced an atmosphere that’s poisonous in which believers have lost their love for each other as a result. Given what they have been taught, they suspect other false teachers to come, others of teaching false doctrine. They become overly critical, questioning not only doctrine but motive, for instance. They become contentious and they argue about theological minutia unnecessarily.
Indeed, they have stopped doing what they did at the beginning. They’ve lost the love they had at first, their first love. And so the solution, Jesus says, is what? Is to do the deeds that they did at first, right? That is when the congregation was first formed.
But the Lord’s rebuke, His word of rebuke and His warning about the removal of His lampstand is not the final word to that church, to the church in Ephesus. He reminds the Ephesians that it’s not too late and that repentance is still possible. He who has an ear, he says, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. The church can indeed go back to what they did at the beginning and not come under the judgment that Christ is threatening.
This is clear from that final promise of blessing. In verse seven, where he says to the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. And so the command to repent is followed by the promise of the gospel. There’s also an amazing irony here, which is easy to be lost, but we shouldn’t lose it.
And that is the Temple of Diana was built upon the site of an ancient tree shrine, a shrine in the form of and related to a tree, a tree-shine shrine of Diana. And in fact, the symbol of the temple, when you look at the symbolism of this cult of Diana, The symbol of the temple and the worship of Diana was a date palm, which was represented and reproduced on many of the religious trinkets and items sold in the city. And the irony is this, if you can, I’m sure you’re sensing, that Jesus, the Lord of his church, will crush all the idols of such pagan worship. And he offers access to what? A far better tree than a mere palm, than the palm of the Diane of Worshiping cult. He offers not a palm, but the tree of life he offers us, which yields endless delight and internal life.
And since the letter to the church of the Ephesus is written to Christ’s church in all ages, what should we learn from our Lord in his word of commendation and rebuke to this congregation? What are we to grasp from this if it’s true, and it is, that it’s a word, yes, locally considered, but universally applied?
After hearing Christ’s commendation of the Ephesian church for their perseverance, their commitment in sound doctrine, and his rebuke of them for losing their first love, I don’t think it’s like incidental or accidental if you are thinking to yourself that the Ephesian church of the first century sounds very much like many churches in the 21st century, even perhaps churches in our tradition. and the bent and the characteristics that can come from such a passionate commitment to the truth of God’s word.
And while it’s certainly an overstatement to say that this letter describes all Presbyterian Reformed churches, the fact of the matter is this, that since the thought probably occurred to some of us, and since so many other Christians accuse people like us in our tradition of stressing doctrine without love, I had a friend once who, he said, you Reform people have the gift of argumentism. And I said, yeah, because it’s important to us, the truth of God. But this is the stigma, right? And since that is the case, we would lose something if we didn’t consider the importance of listening very carefully to what the Spirit says to us through this letter, right?
And one of the things that we should say is that the resolution of the problem of believers losing the love they had at first is not to give up stress upon sound doctrine in order to become more loving. Jesus commends this church for sound doctrine, but He rebukes them for not loving each other. And it seems to me that to sacrifice doctrine for love is just as bad as sacrificing love of the brethren for sound doctrine, right?
And he talks about this, this same author, the same Apostle John in 1 John. And indeed, what did the first letter to the Ephesians, the book of Ephesians say in chapter four? What is that phrase that Paul uses? Speaking the truth in love, right? It’s not one or the other. It’s not an either or.
It’s required of us both to be truthful and to be loving and not to forego one of the other or one for the other Christ Church must continue to drive out false apostles and hate false teaching the teaching of the Nicolaitans and It’s a sound doctrine which comes to us in the words of John again from 1st John 4 where he says we love because he first loved us and Sound doctrine, understanding that Christ loved us before we loved Him, is the prerequisite for loving our brothers and our sisters in Christ.
We cannot truly love others as we ought, apart from understanding what? Christ’s prior love for us. And therefore, in order to love others, we must start by reflecting upon just that, Christ’s love for us, love which we do not deserve. Love which is not earned or conditioned, but is an action.
So that’s the first thing. The second thing we must be clear about here, that the command to return to our first love carries with it no promise of fulfilling it, right? We go back to like first principles, right? The law does not give the power to do, right? So when Jesus commands us to love our neighbor or to return to our first love, in one sense, he’s condemning us. How can I love someone I don’t even like? Commanding me to love someone doesn’t make me able to love them.
So the key here is a twofold key. On the one hand, we need to see others in terms of our mutual relation to Christ. Christ has died for others, redeemed others, he’s loved others, even as he has done these things for me, died for me, redeemed me, and loved me, even when I am undeserving of them. And on the other hand, we need to make sure that we have a proper meaning of what it means for Christians to love each other like they did at the beginning.
What does that mean? It doesn’t mean, you know, the caricature of, you know, Arm in arm, group hug, singing kumbaya. That’s not the trick. Indeed, what often passes for loving the brethren is often what? A superficial show of emotion. And that’s not what is being talked about here.
Whenever the churches were founded in the New Testament, what happens? There was concrete signs, actions of love amongst the brethren. within these congregations, right? And we see that as we analyze what happened. And what is that that we find? No one went without the essentials of life, right? They bonded together and cared for one another. Widows, orphans were cared for. Christians shared their burdens, material and spiritual, with one another. We read that they prayed for one another and they supported one another with food and clothing, right?
The material things, as well as the praying, the spiritual thing. And this is the kind of thing associated with loving the brethren in the scriptures. And so in our present context, such a love will manifest itself in some of the following ways, right? Things that gloriously and delightfully, I see all the time in this congregation, right?
When somebody loses a loved one, they are cared for, they are checked in upon, their needs are met, right? the meals when a baby is born or when someone is infirmed, right? Caring for them, for their food needs, for their children’s needs when they’re sick and so forth.
And when someone loses a job, people rally around and offer help for them to try to find another job. And when someone stops coming to church, when somebody goes out and disappears, they are pursued. Their brothers and sisters in the congregation are concerned for them, and they pursue them, and they call them, and they try to find what’s going on with the individual. These are the kinds of things that Christ is talking about when he speaks of doing the things you did at first in the church, not letting go of those authentic through true, genuine instincts and reflexes and actions fall away.
It’s an active love. It’s a love that they had at the beginning. And he’s saying, don’t stop that. Return to this. I know you’ve struggled through this onslaught of false teaching and this lying, corrupting realities in the life of the church. Don’t let that go.
He’s not asking us to make superficial demonstrations of emotion. He’s asking and he’s talking about genuine love that manifests itself in action the feet and the hands of Christ through the love of his people and by doing these things the church is able to what to fight against false teachers as well as the poisonous cloud of suspicion and judgmentalism animosity We’ll be wonderfully dissipated by the acts of mercy and charity. We don’t have to sacrifice one for the other. We speak the truth in love always.
As we consider these commands and rebukes given to this Ephesian congregation, May we truly, brothers and sisters, pray that God will grant to us to hear what the Spirit says to this church and to us. And may we, as a church, be faithful to our Lord’s call to persevere in the face of false teaching of error and false apostles. May we be faithful, dear Christian, to our Lord’s command to love one another, to love the brethren. For the Lord, if his church comes to us, this morning with the promise that if we are his people through faith in Christ, together we will overcome. And one day together we will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God. Brothers and sisters, Christ indeed has purchased us with his own blood and made us all a kingdom of priests to serve our Heavenly Father.
Jesus is ever faithful even when we are not. And when we lay our head on the pillow and we think about and we lament of all the remaining darkness in our hearts and all of our failings and all of our unworthiness, The Word is here to remind us. He loved us because He loved us. And He cares for those things. And we cannot out-sin God’s mercy and love. If you are His, you are His. And He works in you through His Spirit to change you, to grow you, to throw off, to put sin to death and be made alive to righteousness as we respond to His working in us through the means of grace. in truth and love, and it manifests itself even in our actions, not foregoing the truth or the love, but loving the truth and loving one another with a commitment to that truth. And we love our brothers. He is faithful, even when we are not. And we love our brothers and sisters in Christ only because why? Because Jesus first loved us.
What a glorious Savior we have. What a beautiful picture and a promise that he will truly change us in this life. And he will change us as we are bound together stronger and stronger. And we truly are, because He is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth. Because that is our Savior, and that is the one to which we are united. We will reflect and be effective in this life as ambassadors of that truth, remaining lightbearers in a dark world and dying world, so in need of the truth. May we praise him, brothers and sisters, and may we go forth from here, truly changed, back into the world to which we belong as co-citizens. This is not our eternal home. May we live for him, this one who died for us. Let’s pray.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank you and we praise you for this, your word, We thank you, Lord, for this sure word. We praise you that though we are feeble and foolish at times and so forgetful, that you are mighty, that you are strong, and that you remember, that you are wise. You have told us all that we need for life in Godliness in your word and your condescending to us, lisping to us as though children. Lord, we praise you for that. We pray that you would continue to work in us to believe the truths that you tell us. We would continue to believe.
Lord, help our unbelief, the truth that we have died to sin and been raised to walk in newness of life. Lord, we pray help us to throw off the crippling things that we believe about ourselves. Lord, help us to trust you when you tell us that the shackles of sin have been broken. Help us to no longer sit in a cell of our sin when the door is open. Lord, help us to pursue you in truth. We thank you that you walk with us through this life and the promise to do so.
Help us to know, Lord, whether in sustenance, in plenty, or want, whatever it is, to know the presence of our Savior and his love as your beloved children. We pray for this congregation, this small outpost, this colony of heaven. Continue to bless us and protect us. Continue, Lord, to keep alive the spirit of love and unity that we have, Lord, through your providential working. We pray that you would grow us, continue to grow us as you walk us along this world, not only our minds, but in our hearts.
Help us truly to be committed to the truth in love. And for those that are suffering amongst us in unique ways, Lord, you know each one. Help us all to know that though we struggle, and that though we plead for relief, and we do plead for relief, Lord, help us to know that overriding and above all of that, that we would trust You, that You are our Heavenly Father, and that You work all things for our good, that You care and love, care for and love us, and help us to know that You are the God of the resurrection of the dead, and that one day we will be made new and complete and whole, and all of these things that we limp through this life will be eradicated forever as we behold our Savior Jesus for eternity. Lord, what an incredible thing.
Help us, Lord, for the remainder of this service that we would worship and love you and that we would receive from you. our work in our lives, work in our hearts, in all that we do. We commit ourselves once again, confessing our sins, embracing, receiving your love and forgiveness in this life. We do it all in Christ’s name. Amen.