Over the next week we will be taking a closer look at the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. The Christian movement had spread rapidly in the first decades after Christ and was now in its second generation. John was the last remaining apostle. The honeymoon period was over and now the churches were established enough to be a target for both persecution by authorities and exploitation by false teachers. The church in Ephesus had done well on both fronts. They had persevered through persecution and had not tolerated false teachers. The latter, strangely enough, would prove the greatest threat to the Christian church of all ages. As we will see many of the other churches were far too tolerant of false teachers, but the Ephesians are commended here for their discernment and intolerance. Their intolerance was not towards those outside the church, but to those who came into the church claiming some kind of apostolic authority. In our pluralistic society a certain kind of tolerance is vital for enabling diverse groups of people to live together. However, while as Christians we should be tolerant with those who don’t share our beliefs, we should not tolerate those who seek to distort our beliefs. The world is full of false apostles still and we shouldn’t be afraid to ‘call a spade a spade’. But we should also apply this personally. To decry falsehood in others and yet to tolerate it in oneself is worst of all. Always search first within yourself for hypocrisy and dishonesty. It’s amazing how easily we drift into falsehood.
Ask God to show you where you might have gone astray in action or attitude.
Read Revelation 2:1-3
