For the uninitiated, the game of Baseball is a rather boring sport. It seems time just moves very methodically & slowly as if it was created by lazy people who wanted to play a lazy sport with no action. And yet that seeming perception that it is a lazy man’s sport empty of visceral action misses the true value of the sport that first, & foremost, it is a team game. It is true a singular player on a Baseball team can manufacture runs all by himself. Yet, he will be unable to win any games by himself. Perhaps, you’re reading this, & you think to yourself, how is that any different to other sports — Football, Hockey, Soccer, & Basketball? Well, unlike those other sports, Baseball, is the only sport in which the defense takes possession of the ball to initiate the game. And it is the only sport in which the offense is generated by the matchup of only two players — the pitcher & the batter.
The point is not to change your opinion that Baseball is not a boring sport. Rather, to at least convince you that it is as compelling in the high drama of sport as the other sports I have mentioned. In my opinion, with the game on the line, that decides between winning & losing the game, the singular matchup between the pitcher & the batter creates such dramatic tension unsurpassed in most of the sporting world. But, you see, it takes all Nine players of a Baseball team to win the game.
If the Ephesian Church is a Baseball Team, they have ‘abandoned’ their primary source of power in their lineup —
Revelation 2:4-5
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
He commands them to return to the love that they had at first & to do the works that they did at first — to repent & return to Christ. In essence, The Christ is calling them to action but not in a way that we would expect — pray more, read the Scripture more, & devote themselves to spiritual singing. Rather than a call to action, it is a call to remembrance — to remember & embrace their original salvation, which is empty in all that they are currently doing. Because to do the work of Christ absent Christ Himself, is both meaningless & powerless. At that point, the work is being done for our glory & for our benefit; not for His glory & His Presence.
We are never to neglect & throw off (abandon) the Christ in all the works of Faith but to indulge ourselves in the Christ in order to refine our Faith in genuine & authentic lives that glorify the Savior.
The Beauty of this passage is that the basic refrain is repeated seven (7) times, to all seven churches : Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, & Laodicea — He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers [blank], I will grant [blank].
Revelation 2:7,
7 He who has an EAR, let him HEAR what the SPIRIT says to the CHURCHES. To the one who CONQUERS I will grant to EAT of the Tree Of Life, which is in the PARADISE OF GOD.
In order to hear the Spirit, one must be endowed by the fundamental listening device, a spiritual ear. And how does one come to possession of such a spiritual quality? Faith in Christ Jesus through His blood. To listen to what the Spirit says, who is the Holy Spirit, we would understand that this is the 3rd Person of the Trinity & the Spirit of Christ indwelt of Believers. That power is always present in the life-blood of Believers & as such, that power comes because of Faith & not anything else. ‘To the one who conquers,’ is not in contradiction to the Faith that Believers are endowed. If anything, it is to assure Believers that their Faith is not a wasted faith nor a powerless one. It is a Faith that can only conquer. It can only but assume its rightful place in the Paradise of God.
As Baseball has an element of the game called the ‘sacrifice,’ where a player performs a selfless act for the good of the team by making an ‘out’ so that the team would be placed in a more advantageous position. Christ Jesus, becomes our sacrifice in order that He would dwell in the hearts of His people, thereby strengthening us & enabling us into His conformity. It is that conformity that allows us to work & do all things for His glory & righteousness.
We come to bat everyday of our lives facing off against the stress & rigor of life — sometimes it is like a fastball we can see coming but we are too slow to react; other times it curves or slides away from us at the last second in such a way that we lose control of our bearings & flail aimlessly at the wind.
The empowerment of Christ; the enabling Spirit of Christ; the endowment we possess by the Spirit of Christ, will never allow us to portray ourselves as abject failures. In this Nine-Inning Game of Life, we know that the outcome will be for our Salvation & Eternity with Christ even as we do not know nor fully understand what the intervening Innings will bring until we reach the final culmination & climax of this Game.
