The Vigilant Christians
Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)
The Vigilant Christians
Rev 2: 2,3 "I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and
that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who
call themselves apostles and they are not, and you found them false;
and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and
have not grown weary.
Jesus commends the Ephesians for being vigilant Christians. Later on
He also says "Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the
Nicolaitains, which I also hate." So we see the unusual phenomenon
of Jesus commending a church not for what they love but for who they
hate! Jesus commends the Ephesians for not enduring evil men, for
sifting out false apostles and for hating the Nicolaitans. True
Christianity is not marshmallow nice, it has a stern side which
exposes deception and rebukes evil.
The Ephesians seem to have majored on apologetics and minored on love
for which they are later corrected. Some conservative evangelical
congregations today have similar tendencies. It is good to major on
apologetics if we also major on love. Its "both and" not "either or".
Vigilant Christianity is a good thing and we should be careful to
rebuke that which is immoral or heretical in our midst. Outsiders are
best left to God. (see 1 Corinthians 5:9-13) I think "niceness" is a
dangerous thing because it leads to sin not being rebuked but being
seen as weakness or being "accepted" . Acceptance can undermine
holiness and the balance is shown in Hebrews 12:14 which says "Pursue
peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will
see the Lord.". We are to seek peace - but holiness is an ultimate
priority.
Two final points. Jesus says that the Ephesians "put to the test
those who called themselves apostles and are not". Many people now
are tentatively claiming they have an "apostolic ministry" and some
may well have such a ministry. I do believe that some lesser form of
the apostolic gift survives today. See
http://www.eternitymag.com/apostle.htm for an article on this.
However those claiming apostolic giftings should be tested by their
church/denomination before their ministry is accepted. It is a high
and rare calling. The other thing the Ephesians were commended for
was endurance and perseverance. In fact they are twice commended
for their perseverance. Right from the start being a Christian in
Ephesus was risky. With its enthusiastic worship of Artemis, its
multitudinous magicians and sorcerers it was about as "dark" a place
spiritually as you could imagine. The Ephesian church had always had
to be a light in a dark world and it was. From it the whole of the
province of Asia heard the gospel. Now under the persecutions of
Diocletian it was suffering again. It is a commendable example to
the modern believer of a vigilant church that endured the fire.
Prayer:
Lord give us the grace to be vigilant and awake to spiritual things
exposing deception and rebuking sin. Let not our love grow cold in
the process though! And please give us the strength to persevere in a
world that seems to be getting darker each day. Amen.
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John Edmiston ([email protected])
Editor - Eternity Online Magazine http://www.eternitymag.com/
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