Text: Revelation 1:19 - 2:7
Open:
This church at Ephesus was planted by the Apostle Paul (you can read the account of it in the 19th chapter of Acts). When Paul came to Ephesus he found a number of disciples who had been led to some knowledge of truth by Apollos, the great orator of the early church. But they knew nothing but the ministry of John the Baptist. When Paul asked them whether they had received the Holy Spirit, they confessed that they did not know that the Holy Spirit had been given. So Paul preached Jesus to them, they believed and were baptized by the Spirit and so the church in Ephesus came into existence.
Some time later Paul himself labored there for over two years, and many years later he sent Timothy to this church. (The two letters to Timothy are addressed to him while he is working there). Tradition tells us that after John had written the book of Revelation he also went to Ephesus and spent the closing years of his life there. In our passage, the Church in Ephesus, so prominent in the New Testament was in serious danger but didn’t know it.
We are in tremendous spiritual danger when the religious routine of our lives replaces our central passion for the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, we are in danger when religious activity or anything else is allowed to edge Jesus Christ out from being the central passion of our existence.
I. THE LORD COMMENDS CHRISTIAN SERVICE (vv.2-3).
"I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary."
Each of these letters consists of a searching appraisal, of both good and bad, which our Lord makes of the condition of that church; and also an appeal for repentance on the part of those who had fallen away and plea for a return to faith, with a spiritual promise to those who hold fast.
The Lord sees three commendable things about this church:
1. First, he says they were hard, committed workers: "I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance."
These Christians were activists; they were not 'couch potatoes.'
They took their faith seriously and they put it to work.
They witnessed; they labored; they ministered to human needs. They helped the downcast and ministered to the homeless and outcasts of society.
They were busy people, continually working, and our Lord commends them for that.
2. Second, their doctrine was orthodox. Jesus commends them highly for this: "I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false."
Their faith was well defined and well defended.
They did not run after every theological fad that came along. They examined them as to whether or not they were true. They checked up on what was being taught and they strongly opposed some of the teaching that was being presented by some of the itinerant speakers of that day.
Here, the Lord Jesus recognizes how well they had followed the apostle's advice. They had checked up on speakers, and had refused the teaching of many. They had tested those who claimed to be apostles and found them to be false.
3. The third thing reason he commends them is found in Verse 3: "You are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary."
They had persisted in their teaching and their work despite much discouragement and hardship.
They were not quitters. They were sturdy, determined disciples, faithfully working and witnessing and not deviating from the truth they had received.
II. THE LORD CONDEMNS HEARTLESS RELIGION (v.4)
"But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”
Now we can see that this is a church in serious trouble. Something was seriously wrong at the First Church of Ephesus! Our Lord puts it in one brief phrase, "You have abandoned your first love." That is the problem. So serious is the problem that Jesus says, "If you do not correct it, I will remove your lampstand from its place." This indicates this is a very serious matter.
The removal of the lampstand does not mean that the individual members of the church would be lost or condemned to hell.
What it means is the church would lose its ability to shed the light of truth. The light from this church would stop shining. They would become a church with no influence or impact spiritually upon the community around.
1. What caused the condition in the Ephesian Church? Our Lord says it is because they left their first love.
1) They abandoned it.
The word translated here as "abandoned" is aphekas, which holds two meanings:
It is used of willful abandonment, a deliberate giving up;
It also includes the meaning of long neglect.
2. When we ask, "What is first love?" the answer is almost obvious:
"Love" here is the same word used in 1 Corinthians 13, agape.
It is the love you felt for Jesus when you first came to know him.
It is that wonderful sense of discovery that he loved you, and had delivered you, and freed you from your sins. Your heart went out to him in gratitude and thanksgiving; you had eyes for no one but him.
So it is with a Christian when he first comes to Christ. Her heart is filled with gratitude. What an amazing thing it is to him that he has been forgiven! He can hardly believe it. This is why new Christians often break into tears when they give their testimony. I have seen strong men break down completely and are unable to tell their story because it means so much that Jesus has come into their heart. Their home, their family is different. They are forgiven of their sins. The love of Christ seems almost incredible to them.
Under the impact of “first love”, the new Christian eagerly takes on various ministries. It is a delight to serve, to sing, to help, to reach out to others. It seems the least he can do for such a wonderful Lord. That is first love. But gradually there comes an almost imperceptible shift of focus. We get busy, and what we do for Christ begins to loom more and more important to us. Gradually our position, our status, the longing for approval by others, begins to take first place. We go on doing the same things but not from the same drive or motive. We drift into the loss of first love.
3. There are always symptoms, signs, of this happening. Here are three of them:
1) The first one, visible at first only to the individual, is the loss of the joy and glow of Christian life.
It soon becomes humdrum and routine. You begin to feel like you have heard it all already.
Even the church service loses its impact. It seems mechanical, routine, dull and drab. That is a sign you are beginning to lose your first love.
2) Second, you lose your ability to love others.
One of the great revelations of the Scripture is that the reason we love others is because we have first been loved ourselves. When we lose that consciousness of the wonder of Jesus' love we also lose our awareness of others and find our love for them fading.
It is difficult to love. We become critical, censorious, complaining. We begin to choose our friends more closely and only associate with those we like. We lose the compassion that reached out to everyone at first.
3) Third, we lose a healthy perspective of ourselves.
We become more and more important in our thinking. Instead of what the Lord wants and what will please him we begin to think of what we want and what will please us.
Gradually, we become sensitive and touchy, unable to bear criticism.
This begins to make divisions and often schisms in a congregation. Individuals in the church are no longer interested in evangelism. They are no longer concerned about those around them without Christ, but are focused on themselves, their own comfort, their own pleasure. Self-centeredness sets in.
Those are the marks of the loss of first love, and this is what was happening at Ephesus. I am fully aware that we have all done this at times. I have. You have. We have all felt the debilitating symptoms of a loss of first love. When a whole congregation begins to reflect that atmosphere it soon loses its influence. Its light goes out. Its lampstand has been removed.
III. WE MUST MAKE RADICAL CHANGES WHEN WE DISCOVER THIS CONDITION (v. 5)
"Remember then from what 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."
What do you do when that happens? How do you recover from this? Our Lord gives three clear, specific steps to take: Remember, Repent, and Return!
1. Remember.
There it is. "Remember that from which you have fallen." Look back to a Person (Jesus Christ).
Remember what it was like when you first came to Jesus.
Remember the joy you had in the Lord. Remember the closeness you felt to him and him to you. (If you can’t remember, was it real?)
Remember the inner support you leaned upon in times of pressure and trouble.
Remember the ease with which you prayed.
Remember the delight you took in other Christians, in the reading of the Word and in the hearing of it.
Remember how you could hardly bear to miss a service because you were learning so much of the truth about life. Remember that?
Look back. Think back. NIV translates this: "Remember the height from which you have fallen."
2. Repent.
Change your mind. That is what repentance means.
Change your mind about what has taken the place of Jesus in your life.
Renounce that ambition, that pride of position, that longing for approval that has become all-important to you and is motivating your work.
Give up your critical spirit, your complaining attitude, your reliance on your knowledge or your training to make an impact in life.
Put the Lord back in the center and focus of all your endeavors. Repent. Change your mind.
3. Return.
Literally: "The first works do." What are those things?
Well, you read your Bible with eager eyes. You could not get enough of it. You longed to find out what the Word of God said.
And you prayed about everything -- even finding a parking place!
You responded to the hurts and the needs around you with compassion and with love, and you did not count it an imposition.
Above all, you praised God from your heart. You loved to sing praises to his name and to think about his grace to you. Now, do that again, Jesus says. Start there.
*Don’t give up what remains. But don’t rest until you go back and regain the single-minded passion for Christ that once ruled your life!
CLOSE:
Some of us are in grave danger and don’t even know it. We can’t see it, we can’t hear it, we can’t feel it. We are so familiar with Christianity that we’ve anesthetized ourselves against the penetrating Christ.
Verse 7 contains our Lord's appeal/invitation to this church:
"Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God."
"Anyone who has an ear," i.e., to the one who recognizes the voice of the Lord.
This is the same appeal/invitation He gives to you today.
Do you recognize the real condition of your heart right now?
(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)
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