Ephesus means, "full purpose." Ephesus was one of the most strategic cities in the first century for both the Roman Empire and the church. It was also the center of worship for the goddess Diana, which represented a satanic counterpart to what the church is called to be.
It seems fitting that the Lord began His message to the seven churches in Asia with the extraordinary church at Ephesus. Paul’s letter to Ephesus is considered the most comprehensive vision in the New Testament of the church’s calling and purpose. It was, in a sense, his proclamation of our "full purpose." We will therefore do a general study of both the Lord and Paul’s messages to Ephesus in order to gain a better understanding our own "full purpose."
The first mention of Ephesus in Acts 18 seems to indicate anything but a significant beginning to the great spiritual history of this city. Paul stopped there and reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue. They asked him to stay longer, but he refused so he could keep the feast in Jerusalem. It seemed that Paul just turned his back on an open door for the gospel, but he must have sensed that its time had not yet come.
Later Paul passed back through and found some disciples there who had only been acquainted with John’s baptism. Paul acquainted them with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, prayed for them to receive it, which they did. This led to Paul staying a while, where he ended up teaching for two years in the school of Tyrannus. This must have been one of the most extraordinary schools in history. Not only did the Lord begin to do "extraordinary miracles" through Paul, but "…all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 19:10 NKJV). What a class that must have been!
We may wonder how such a thing could have happened for all of Asia to hear the word of the Lord when Paul just taught in the school for two years. But there are spiritually strategic places that have "spiritual amplifiers" or "spiritual megaphones" so when things happen there, they will be spread abroad. Some of these places are permanently strategic such as Jerusalem, and others such as Antioch and Ephesus seemed to have this anointing for a specific period of time. We can also see that when this is beginning to happen to a place, Satan will always try to use this for his own purposes, just as he did at Ephesus with the goddess Diana, trying to spread the worship of her all over the world.
The enemy will in fact try to preempt and counterfeit everything that the Lord is doing in every place. The Lord allows this for His own purposes. The conflict between the two will highlight the contrasts, and work to strengthen that which is real. If the Lord had wanted us to grow without conflict, He could have bound Satan immediately after His resurrection, and established His kingdom right then over the world. This whole church age is for our sakes—it is training for reigning. The Lord does not mean for it to be easy.
Another lesson we see with Ephesus is that this significant church had a most inconspicuous and seemingly insignificant beginning. Most of the great works of God through history have had the most humble beginnings. For this reason even Jesus was born in a stable so that the only way He could be found was by revelation. The greatest Christian movement to date (as far as numbers of people touched) was the Pentecostal renewal. It began with a handful of dirt-poor people who owned almost nothing but had a desire for God. They wanted Him more than they wanted oxygen. That tiny little group started a spiritual fire that still burns around the world touching millions and millions every year. One of the first tests of those who would be used to do significant things is to be faithful will the little, seemingly insignificant things.
The little group of disciples that Paul ran across at Ephesus was in one way a very sad thing, and in another way it was very encouraging. It was sad that they were still only acquainted with John’s baptism. John was a forerunner. He came to point the way to Jesus, but these had obviously spent many years not knowing that the one John had come to prepare the way for had also come, and gone. Throughout church history we find many similar groups who get caught up in the excitement of the forerunner movements, but fail to make the jump to the movements for which these came to prepare the way.
The encouraging thing about these disciples was that they had remained faithful for so long with so little. The period of time between John’s baptism and Paul’s visit was nearly twenty years. Today it is hard to get people to wait twenty weeks for what the Lord has promised. Because of the faithfulness of these few who had so little to stand with, the Lord sent them one of His greatest apostles to lead them to the fulfillment of what John’s ministry had prepared them for. These twelve faithful ones became a foundation for something very significant to be built upon.
In my thirty years of ministry I have watched many of those who seemingly had the most potential end up living lives of frustration, bitterness, and failure because they were lacking just one thing—patience. If we let impatience drive us we will miss our purpose in the Lord. Impatience is not a fruit of the Spirit, and the Spirit will never lead us if we allow impatience to control our actions. If we are faithful with what we have been given we can count on one thing that is as sure as the sun rising—the Lord will not forget us.
For the next few weeks we will look at the Lord’s message to Ephesus, and Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians to seek a deeper understanding of our own "full purpose" in the Lord.
