The Church in Ephesus
1.Read Revelation 2:1.
2.How does Christ appear to the church in Ephesus?
He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, and who walks in
the midst of the seven golden lampstands.
3.What are the "stars"?
The angels of the churches.
4.What does the "right hand" signify?
The authority and strength of Christ.
5.What are the "seven golden lampstands"?
The ability of the churches to testify, through means of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, of the atoning death, resurrection, return to earth, and supreme lordship of Christ.
6.Is Christ subject to the churches and limited by the sins and frailties of the churches?
No.
7.Does the conqueror adore the churches and the ways and things of the churches?
No.
8.Does the conqueror submit to and serve the churches out of obedience to and love for his Lord Jesus Christ?
Yes.
9.What is necessary for the growth to maturity of the believer in Christ?
If the believer in Christ is to grow to maturity he must partake of the ministries of the churches. He must obey the elders. He must listen to instruction and partake of the corporate life of the assembly. He must serve in the churches as the Lord provides the opportunity.
10.What is Christ’ position in the assemblings?
He is Lord of the assemblies.
11.Whom have many Christian people never met?
The God of the house of God.
12.With whom does the conqueror come face to face?
The Lord of the churches.
13.From what source does the conqueror receive his wisdom and power for living?
The Lord of the churches.
14.Read Revelation 2:2.
15.What did the church in Ephesus maintain?
Good Christian works.
16.What did the church in Ephesus do when someone claimed to be an apostle of Christ?
It put him to the test.
17.What did the church in Ephesus discover about many persons who claimed to be ministers of Christ?
It found them to be liars.
18.What is true of every apostle of Christ?
Any individual who has been sent to the churches by the Lord Jesus will demonstrate in himself or herself both the moral fruit and the gifts of the Spirit of God. There must be signs following the preaching of the Word of God. There must be a witness of the Spirit, an awareness of the power of the Kingdom of God.
19.What must accompany an apostle’s teaching?
The power of the Kingdom of God.
20.What must the churches do with any teaching that is contrary to the Scriptures?
They must reject it.
21.What must be true of the moral behavior of the minister of Christ?
The moral behavior of the minister of the Gospel must be above reproach.
22.Concerning whom have both Christ and Paul warned us clearly?
The teacher who is seeking his own gain.
23.Of what must we beware?
Insisting on being amused and entertained.
24.Read Revelation 2:3-4.
25.What was the blemish of the church in Ephesus?
The church in Ephesus had left its first love.
26.What does it mean to leave our first love?
To become so occupied with the work of the Kingdom of God that we lose sight of Him who holds the stars in His right hand. We no longer love Christ. We are serving Him but not loving Him. We are working for Christ but not in Him and with Him.
27.Where does the victorious saint keep his eyes fastened?
On Christ.
28.Why is the conqueror continually renewed and refreshed?
Because he is not working for Christ, attempting to do the
work of the Kingdom. He is working in and with Christ.
29.What can working for Christ lead to?
Spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion, to nervousness, self-pity, unbelief, bitterness, the blaming of others.
30.What does working in and with the Lord of the churches lead to?
Continual renewal, joy, peace, love of the brothers and sisters and of all people, confidence, health of mind, emotions, nerves, and body.
31.What is our proper relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ?
We love Him.
32.What does the name Ephesus mean?
Desirable.
33.What does Christ desire?
A pure and beautiful bride.
34.Read Song of Solomon 4:7; 6:9; Psalms 45:10,11.
35.What is the continuing attitude of the conqueror?
Forgetting the past and pressing toward the horizon of the Day of the Lord.
36.Read Ephesians 5:27.
37.What should the Christian discipleship be?
A romance.
38.Read Revelation 2:5.
39.What are the "first works" of the Church of Christ?
Praise, prayer, fellowship, and intense sharing of thoughts and feelings with Christ.
40.What happens to a church when it becomes occupied with human-oriented tasks and forgets fervent prayer and praise?
The testimony of that church grows ever weaker.
41.What takes place when the church returns to prayer and to holiness before the Lord?
The light of the testimony, the light of the Lampstand of God, shines in blazing power to the ends of the earth.
42.What has been true of the revivals of church history?
They have been characterized by repentance, confession of sin on the part of God’s people, prayer, praise, and strict obedience to the Holy Spirit. Soon there was given authority and power to testify of the atoning death and resurrection of the Saviour.
43.What does the victorious saint learn?
If he will put prayer, worship, holiness, and obedience in first place in his life, the Lord will begin to work alongside him with signs following.
44.Who performs the work of the Kingdom of God?
The Spirit of God.
45.Read Revelation 2:6.
46.What is Christ’s attitude toward attempts to please the world?
He hates them.
47.What were the "deeds of the Nicolaitans"?
It is believed that the Nicolaitans were the followers of Nicholas of Antioch, who attempted to find ways in which the Christian churches could be harmonized with paganism ;with the local community and the surrounding culture of the Roman Empire. Other scholars are of the opinion that Nicolaitanism was antinomian Gnosticism, the turning of Paul’s teaching of grace into an excuse for immorality. Another viewpoint is that the deeds of the Nicolaitans were those of worshiping and finding security in the activities of the churches rather than the Lord Jesus. Yet another interpretation has to do with the division of the one Body of Christ into priests and people, clergy and laity.
48.What temptation faces each local church?
To attempt to make the church acceptable to the local citizenry, gaining members and support and avoiding the rejection and persecution that come upon any group of people who are separate and different.
49.What must we do if we are to gain acceptance by worldly people?
In order to make the church understandable and attractive to the unsaved community, with a view to the gaining of members and support, we must quench the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and modify the written Word of God.
50.What is the local church?
The prophet of God among men.
51.What is the local church’s first responsibility, after it has rendered love and worship to Christ?
To reveal God’s will in Christ to mankind and to beseech all persons to be reconciled to God
52.In what way and to what extent is the Christian church not of this world?
The Church is not of the world in the same way and to the same extent Christ is not of the world. When the churches follow Christ with singleness of heart they will be hated by the world, because they are a perpetual rebuke to all that the world is and practices.
53.What attitude will worldly people take toward the churches when they are following Christ with singleness of heart?
They will hate the churches.
54.How much help does the Christian church need from the world?
The Church is not to seek help from the worldly community. There are times when the Lord will use the people of the world to help the saints, and He will direct the believers when such is the case.
55.Read Genesis 14:22-23.
56.Why do the saints not need the assistance of the world?
Because God supplies all our needs through His riches in glory by Christ.
57.What two things are never in order in the household of God?
Worldly attractiveness and soulish endeavour.
58.What are the main purposes of our assemblings?
To worship and bless God, and to obey the Holy Spirit as He builds the Church of Christ, the Body of Christ.
59.What does the fear of man bring?
A snare.
60.Are we suggesting that we demonstrate rudeness and a lack of sensitivity to the needs of weak Christians or the unsaved?
No.
61.What will happen to man-pleasing efforts to build the Kingdom of God?
Their results will be washed away by the trials that are coming.
62.What will be missing from the churches on the earth during the reign of Antichrist?
The testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of prophecy, the eternal rebuke to Antichrist.
63.Where will the anointing of God be in the days of Antichrist?
Abiding in and resting on the saints, the remnant, who have been hidden away by the Lord until His return.
64.What is the Spirit of God exhorting us to do today?
To cease attempting to appeal to the understanding and desires of the world and to commence seeking the mind of the Spirit concerning the building of the Body of Christ.
65.What did the Philistines have to do in order to conquer Samson?
In order to conquer Samson, the Philistines had to remove his separation to God as a Nazirite.
66.What can conquer the saint?
The attempt to become understandable and pleasing to the world. In that moment he loses his ability to overcome the devil.
67.What happens when the world comes into the church?
Christ leaves.
68.What leaves the church along with Christ?
The ability to conquer.
69.Read Revelation 2:7.
70.What is the first reward to the overcomer?
To be permitted to eat of the tree of life.
71.Do the Scriptures teach us that we are to keep on seeking more eternal life after we are saved?
Yes.
72.Read Galatians 6:8; I Timothy 6:12; Romans 8:13.
73.What happens to us the moment we receive Christ as our Lord and Saviour?
We are touched with eternal life. We pass from death to life.
74.What must we do in order to conquer the world, Satan, and our sinful, self-centered nature?
Continue to partake daily of the "tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." This tree is Christ Himself.
75.What was Paul seeking to know and experience?
The power of Christ’s resurrection.
76.What two powers are struggling for mastery over each believer?
Eternal life and eternal death.
77.What will happen to the believer who chooses to live in the lusts of his flesh?
The Divine Life that is in him will be shoved aside. The Divine Life eventually will leave, and the new creation that has begun in him will die because of the loss of life.
78.How does the saint attain to the first resurrection from the dead?
The conqueror overcomes, through Christ, all opposition from the world, from his fleshly nature, and from Satan, in his pursuit of eternal life. In so doing he attains the first resurrection from the dead. The Divine Life of Jesus, who Himself is the Resurrection and the Life, is formed in him.
79.What will happen to us if we become filled with Christ in this life?
When He appears we will shine as part of the brightness of His appearing.