Revelation Chapter Two, Laboring

Revelation 2:2b I know…your labor,

The Greek term for “labor,” is, “kopos.” It means, “toil (as reducing the strength), pains, or a striking beating, toil resulting in weariness.” Jesus knew the labor of the Ephesians. Paul knew a little something about labor, too.

He wrote to the Galatian church, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,” Galatians 6:17. This verse has been ridiculously abused to infer what is known in Roman Catholicism as stigmata, or the bleeding of the hands that mirror the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Perhaps one day I will discuss stigmata in more detail, but suffice to say that it is not Biblical. There is no precedent for stigmata in the Bible, by implication, exhortation, or demonstration. What is being said by Paul, then? We turn to Corinthians for a more detailed understanding of what he briefly mentions in Galatians.

We can connect what Paul is saying, and what Jesus says of the Ephesian Christians, in 2 Corinthians. He writes of his credentials as a minister of Christ, “in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned,” 2 Corinthians 11:23-25. Paul’s ministry was exhaustive and exhausting. It cost him much physically, and when push came to shove, Paul began his credentials (speaking as a fool) with abundant labors. His love of Christ brought him into conflict, peril, and death. The Lord was with him, never leading him into such danger for danger’s sake, but using that danger to bring Paul closer to Him, so the apostle could be further refined and used to greater effect for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God. What follows his mention of abundant labors is a list of the consequences of being a dutiful, faithful minister of the undiluted word of God. Each scar Paul sported was mute testimony to the labor he performed in Christ.

A good verse to help define the nature of labor is found further in Revelation. “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” First the Lord praised Ephesus for its works, and then its labors. It takes wearisome labor to arrive at a good work. Not because the work is hard of itself, per se; rather, a good work runs contrary to the world system we live in, since its inception and origination are found in Christ and His gospel, and the world hates Christ, see John 7:7. The dead who die during the Tribulation period experience great labor in the performance of their works, being killed for their association with Jesus. Ancient Rome in the first several centuries persecuted Christians for their faith, and their good works–the greatest of these being the proclamation of the gospel–could often seal their fate. In Islamic countries like Iran or Afghanistan, being a Christian and doing good works in Jesus’ name can have serious and potentially fatal consequences. The wearisome toil Ephesus endured had to do with false teachers infiltrating the church, which is discussed further in this verse, and revisited with various other outcomes in several of the remaining six churches.

To labor for Christ implies struggle. It is easy for us to construe struggle as something evil or undesirable. Struggle suggests conflict, and since we are soldiers in Christ we are expected to put on our armor and fight the fight of faith. Looking back to Paul one final time, he writes to the Colossian church, “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily,” Colossians 1:28, 29. Paul labored to raise up every saint to spiritual maturity in Christ without exception. He strove–made great effort to attain achievement–not in his own strength, but in Christ’s. This is what it means to labor. There is effort, there is potential danger, there is bodily fatigue even. But there is God, and His strength makes perfect our fallibility and weakness. The Ephesian church excelled at works, which was itself a mute testimony of their labor.