REVELATION 2:1-3
vs 1. Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus. Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven lampstands:
angel: The letter was written tot he church’s messenger, or angel, to pass on to the believers in the church.
Ephesus: It is touching that John’s first letter was to his home church, the Church in Ephesus. He may have taken Jesus’ mother Mary ot live there after Jesus commissioned him to care for her after his death and resurrection. It was a prosperous city on the coast, modern for its time. It had an agora, or marketplace, a port, a theater and was even home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple Artemis. The Ephesians were excellent worshippers- of their human leaders. In John’s day a number of cities had vied for the honor of constructing a temple for Julius Caesar and Ephesus had won. Ephesus’s next ruler was Vespasian and his two sons, again a temple was built to pay tribute to these evil rulers who heavily persecuted the Church. It was the son Domitian, who ultimately banned John to Patmos for his preaching after attempting to take his life.
vs 2. I know your works, your labor and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.
works: Your works are whatever you produce. What occupies you? What do you spend yourself on? What do people know you for? Is it of and for Christ? Mamie Eisenhower, president Eisenhower’s wife, claimed “Ike is my career.” Motherhood is my ministry” Elizabeth George in her classic book, A Woman After God’s Own Heart, lists five priorities that ought to be every woman’s work. And I think she’s right: 1. God. 2. Her Husband. 3. Her Children. 4. Her Home. 5. Her Ministry to Others.
labor: Your labor is what you toil or trouble yourself with. Often, serving the Lord is inconvenient. Tiring. Exhausting. Mama’s, we know better than most that labor is painful. But we also know that it leads to new life. And we know the joy that comes immediately after labor, is so immense it almost erases all the pain.
endurance: Both constant movement and heavy lifting require endurance. Many times we will want to give up, get comfortable, take it easy. Jesus surely wanted to get off the cross. But he stayed. How did he do it? He fixed his eyes on the joy set before him. He focused on the end result. Our end result is Jesus himself, and the promise of eternity with Him.
tolerate: Tolerance today is lauded as a virtue. Yet, here, Jesus would have called it a vice. Modern secularists are quick to shake their finger at Christians for being intolerant, yet Jesus praised the Ephesians for their intolerance! Why this sharp contrast? Rhetoric. My friends, it's’ the same trick Satan used to deceive Eve in the Garden - taking a little bit of truth and adding a twist. Globalists have taken an a-moral word, and twisted its meaning by repeatedly propogating with one narrow and negative context until the word assumes a whole new social conotation!
Tolerance has become notoriously synonymous with being unloving; judgmental; bigoted and hypocritical. In contrast, the Biblical definition isn’t solely negative. Tolerance, according to Strong’s Bible Dictionary, comes from the Greek word, bastadzo. It means “to bear what is burdensome,” “to take up with the hands, carry” or “to sustain.”
The Ephesian church, and every church since, has had to decide what they will bear with, take up as their own, and sustain within the church body. They did not bear with evil people.
The world tells you that you should accept every relationship, sexuality, pronoun, identity, letter and wacky doodle way of life it presents. Thats not what Jesus says. And friendly reminder - the world doesn’t do that either. Cancel culture is quick to delete anyone found intolerant any one of their agendas, yet Jesus wrote the Ephesians into the pages of history for all time for their intolerance.
Looking at other uses of this word, we learn that Christian disciples should bastadzo, or, “take up our cross” (Luke 14:27). We should bastadzo, or “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2). We should not bastazdo, or “sustain evil people” (Rev 2:2). “For do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness and lawlessness? What fellowship have light and darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14).
tested: How do we know who evil people are? Does this mean that everyone who sins gets kicked out of the church? No. The church would self-implode! Christians are just sinners who have been forgiven, right? Here’s the caveat: In order to be forgiven, you must have first been repentant. This is the message Jesus preached during his earthly ministry! Evil people are unrepentant. They will corrode and corrupt the church from the inside out.
At times, the unrepentant may be obvious. Other times, seeing an evil person for who they truly are will require discernment. These people won’t look dark and scary. Recall, Satan masquerades as an angel of light. In the church of Ephesus, some were members of the church! They appeared as pious apostles, doing good works, teaching, boldly proclaiming the Word. Until they were tested. When the Ephesians noticed someone whose words or actions were out of alignment with God’s Word, they cared enough about their congregation to spend themselves - they would work, labor and endure - in hopes of restoring the one caught in a sin. This word, test, implies putting the pressure on, trying someone. It requires a behavior change. If he repented, victory! If someone acts like an unbeliever, after making every effort to restore him, he gets treated like an unbeliever. Out he goes. Jesus praised the church for this.
The Ephesians did this well. What about our modern American church? Inversely, most modern American churches have not just allowed evil, but actually invited evil into the church. We called it the Seeker Friendly movement, a highly evangelistic church model that tried to get as many people in the doors to hear the gospel as possible. To do this, the church tried to make church entertaining rather than earnest, comfortable rather than convicting, we watered down the sermon so we didn’t offend anyone and in effect we starved everyone. Less than 50 years later, we have so many different “blends” of families God’s traditional family model looks odd; we allow homosexuals to hold places of position, instead of finding our identity in Christ, we find it in a pronoun; we apologize for white supremacy, we make excuses for why abortion should be allowed. Looking at stats, church attendance is plummeting. To no surprise. There is no need to go to church, when I can sit comfortably in the world and get the same result. There’s nothing distinctively different about us. Tolerance has become more of the problem than the solution the world told us it would be.
Here’s why this is so dangerous for our children: until the age of about 10, kids live by the Law of Association: whatever Mom and Dad do, say, drink, buy, wear, go, whoever we hang out with- is registered in their little brains as good. Safe. Familiar. They do not have the wisdom, knowledge and discernment to descry that The Good and The Evil cross enemy lines. If I take my kids to a church that allows unrepentant, habitual, lifestyle sin to dwell in the halls, the nursery or even in the pulpit, my child subconsciously becomes familial with that sin, and even associates it with godliness. And we wonder why the church is in a culture crisis!?! As a Mama, I want an intolerant church, like the Ephesians. The world gets to influence my kids all week long. From ads on the radio, commercials that pop up on YouTube, wackadoodles hanging out on the street corner, or just walking through Target and seeing advertisements for Satan! Can I get a break?!?! I live my life for these children. My every waking moment is consumed caring for their physical safety, educating their minds, encouraging their emotional security and forming their spiritual destiny! Even when Im not with them, Im thinking of them, talking about them, praying for them. I want my home and my church to be a safe place. A sacred shelter, where I don’t have to be on the defense against the devil, but can rest in the shelter of the Almighty- and know that my children can too.
Some might object,'‘ But God is love!” Friends, God’s pre-iminate characteristic is not love, but holiness. The angels around his throne sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” It means “a sacred separateness.” Holiness is the spout from which all of God’s life giving attributes flow. Holiness effectuates truth. Truth effectuates righteousness. Righteousness effectuates justice. And justice effectuates love. Love can not be truly given or received if justice has not first been administered. Justice requires resistance against evil- it requires intolerance.
My Littles and I once made up a game. My daughter told me I was mean for not letting her eat a lollipop in the car. I explained to her how it could be dangerous for her if I had to stop fast or got in a crash. I finished with the line, “Sometimes, the most loving thing you can do, is to say No.” I gave another example. If she wanted to play in the street, I say ‘No’, so she wouldn’t get hit by a car, finishing again with my tag line, “Sometimes, the most loving thing you can do, is to say No.” She gave it a try. It eventually turned into everyone suggesting their most ridiculous safety measures, like “If I ask Mom to let me play with a crocodile on the roof a 200 story building, and she tells me No.” “Sometimes, the most loving thing you can do, is to say No.” This line has become a cliche in our family and we use it for more serious topics these days. Friends, we need to apply this to the Church - “sometimes the most loving thing you can do is be intolerant.”
vs 3. and you have endured and tolerated for my names sake and you have not grown weary.
endured: Jesus gives us this next line as a warning and encouragement. The Ephesians endured. They had persecution threatening them from the government and heresy infiltrating them from inside the church walls. These were tough times. But the Ephesians didn’t fail or falter - they endured.
tolerated: What a brilliant play on words! God just commended the Ephesians for what they didn’t tolerate, evil people spreading evil doctrine, and now he commends them for what they did tolerate - evil deeds against them! The Ephesians stood firm against the lies and heresy, which resulted in retaliation. Whatever that looked like specifically- maybe it was division in the church, maybe it loss of tithe money or the reputation of the Pastor, maybe it was even violence- they tolerated it for the honor of Jesus’s name. “For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”
weary: Nor did they grow weary, which implies this persecution happened again and again. Ironically, the backlash backfired! It only made them stronger -personally and corporately. The Ephesians aren’t a one-off. Throughout history and around the world, when Christian’s undergo persecution it usually sparks unprecedented growth. Not surprisingly, it mimics Jesus’ model. One man suffered so the world might have life. Church, don’t be tolerant towards evil ideas and people, stand firm against them. Tolerate the persecution that comes from that resistance to sin. You never know how God is using it for eternity.
Mama, we cannot allow ourselves to fall prey to the deceptive schemes of the world that wants to conform us into its image- because if we do, our children fall with us. Instead we need to be transforming ourselves, our children, our family and friends, further and further into the glorious image of God that you, and they and I were made to bear. How? By the renewing of our minds. This is where it happens. Here are a few ideas on how If you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation, here are a few key points to share: A few key points not to miss:
First, adopt a biblical definition. Train your brain to ask yourself in each situation, “Am I willing to bear, take up with my own hands, or sustain, this idea?” What are the long term outcomes and effects this will have? On me? My kids? My household?” Then make a judgment call.
Second, challenge the assumption: The assumption that tolerance is good and intolerance is bad, is wrong. Tolerance against the right thing, isn’t a bad thing. I’m intolerant of child molestors, rapists, wife beaters, murderers. As I should be. As we all should be. I’ll say it again, Tolerance against the right thing, isn’t a bad thing.
Third, level the playing field - no one is tolerant of everything. Even those who claim to be tolerant are only tolerant up to a certain point. When they find something outside their realm of Tolerance, they too become intolerant.
Maybe its you! If your faith in action sets someone off and they are accusing you of being intolerant, they are actually being intolerant of you in that very accusation.
If you’re able, truthfully and tactfully share these points with your accuser. It might diffuse any argument! The truth is that anyone who shakes their fist at Jesus, usually does so to guard their own broken heart. Maybe a little reason will open the doors to the deeper conversation that could result in a life and eternity changed!
Lastly, protect your little kids. Prepare your big kids. With your Littles, start laying the framework in an unintimidating way. Maybe you start playing “The Most Loving Thing You Can Do Is Say No” game. With your big kids, point out situations where tolerance is good, ask them questions about what they think, or how they would act. Play Devil’s Advocate and let them defend their position!
Do you have other ideas! Please share your situation and solution on my website at glo4god.squarespace.com. Click the Holiness tab and Revelation 2 to leave your comment.
I hope this has helped shine truth on the Tolerance agenda, and may the truth set - and keep - you and your precious kids free! Go Glo4God!
