“A noisy gong or a clanging cymbal?”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Saturday, January 7, 2023

Revelation 2:1-7 (Forward, p. 70) CEV p. 1296

The famous love chapter, chapter 13, of First Corinthians is often read and expounded as part of a marriage ceremony, and I have done so many times myself. For this occasion, it is most appropriate. However, it may come as something of a surprise to many to discover that it was not written with this audience or occasion in mind. Rather, it was written to the whole church and was written in response to the problems of disunity and division and a loss of love and respect between believers. And, as it begins, it speaks of some exemplary behaviours, some examples of well-sought after behaviours, things like eloquence and knowledge, great faith and sacrificial actions, but then says that these things, if done or practiced without love, are absolutely useless. They are mere ‘noise’ and amounted to nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Well, might this image be applied to the congregation in Ephesus addressed in today’s passage from the Revelation of St. John the Divine. Here, however, this image would be applied to love, not as pertaining to their fellow believers per se, but towards God. There are many, many commendable things about them, but without this love towards God, they were no more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. There were three things in particular that were undoubtedly worthy of praise:

-firstly, there was their unrelenting, unstinting toil. This constituted hard work on their parts, strenuous, arduous and exhausting labour. We are not told any specifics, but given what the apostle Paul says about this local church in his letter, we can reasonably postulate that this hard work expressed itself in devoted service to both God and their fellow human beings;

-secondly, there was their patient endurance, particularly of hardships and persecution. Almost from its inception, from its planting, this church had experienced opposition and trouble. (see Acts 19:23-41). Ephesus held a veritable smorgasbord of religions, being the centre emperor worship and the occult, but most of all, being the home of Diana (Artemis), the mother goddess of Asia. Certain people who owed their livelihood to the latter felt very threatened by Paul and his preaching and so had raised an insurrection. And, as it was, the resulting ill-feeling lingered on afterwards, making it very difficult for the Christian believers. And, yet they continued on faithfully.

-and thirdly, there was their resolute, unwavering orthodoxy and their unwillingness to put up with anyone or anything that deviated from it. As the apostle Paul had warned them (see Acts 20:29-31) false teachers would arise and threaten to pull them away from the true faith. But, the Ephesians were diligent in teaching the spirits to see whether they were truly from God or not, and found wanting, decided to have nothing to do with them.

All of these were highly commendable, but, but for one thing. They lacked the necessary, underlying love for God. They had lost, had drifted away from ‘their first love’, their initial love toward God. You might well wonder how this might happen, but it is exceedingly easy:

-a church & its people might get caught up in busyness, in devoted service to the Lord and for the Lord, while ignoring or neglecting their relationship with Him. It is easy to become weary in well-doing;

-secondly, a church & its people may well be subsumed in simply getting by, surviving, which can be not only very tiring and draining but also detrimental to our faith and trust in God;

-and finally, a church & its people can be so taken up in being right, believing what is right, that the author of that faith gets overlooked.

So, somehow the ardour and devotion of the church in Ephesus had waned and lost its fervor. And so, they are called to return to it, to change their ways, return to Christ and rekindle that love.

“But”, you might well ask, “how are we to do this?” John R.W. Stott, in his little book, What Christ Thinks of the Church, suggests three ways:

a) Firstly, in reviving our worship, both private and public. They need to Involve our entire beings, our entire personalities, and be alive and exciting and stimulating. We really need to seek out Christ and seek to know Him more fully and love Him more fervently. Here we need the renewing work of the Holy Spirit;

b) Secondly, in our obedience, in doing as He says when He says it, not putting it off or stalling for time—somehow hoping that He will change His mind;

c) And finally, in loving, sacrificial love and service towards others.

This love has the effect, the consequence, of spilling over into an increased and more fervent love for God.

So, more than anything else we are to love God, want Him more than anything else in our lives, and cleave to Him with everything that we are and have. Everything else pales in contrast, indeed, if practiced or held unto without it, are nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Amen.

Forward notes: “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches” (verse 7a).

“In 2019, I managed to catch the off-Broadway musical Revelation. As the opening number unfurled, I was surprised to learn that the play wasn’t an adaptation so much as it was the entire book set to song. I loved it. Today’s reading from Revelation begins at the start of the letters to the seven churches of Asia: ‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write….’ We then move quickly through messages of admonishment and encouragement, each one dictated to John for the angels of each church.

“Ever since I saw the musical, I have not been able to shake the image of angels being assigned to each of our churches, neighborhoods, and towns. Every time we celebrate the eucharist, we believe that we join angels in praising God together. I find myself more open to the angels or ‘messengers’ around me. These include the supernatural beings we learn about in scripture as well as people or current events through which God might be speaking to us. May we listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

Moving Forward: “Who are the angels in your life? Give thanks for them.”