Love Lost (Revelation 2:1-7)

Intro

Illustration: On the last day of Thanksgiving break last year (2022) I was super stretched by homework for a class. I was sitting at my dining room table trying to get all the reading I needed when I realized that I was supposed to be having dinner with my friend in Greenville (which is about 3 hours away). Realizing that I needed to hurry if I was gonna make it on time. I packed my book bag really quickly and rushed to get my clothes in the car, and I was off. Two hours into my car ride, my mom calls me and says, “he Trey, I just walked into the dining room and saw you left your book bag at the table.” I assured her that that couldn’t be my book bag because I was sure I had it. How could I forgot my book bag!? I am literally driving back to Bob Jones because I was a student. Sure enough, she opened it and told me it was definitely mine. I was so frustrated. In the rush to make sure I made it on time. I forgot what was most important to being a student. Often we can all be forgetful of the main thing when we get lost in the details or focus on the wrong thing.

Today, we are going to be looking at Christ’s message to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7. In this text, Christ is going to commend the Ephesians for many things, but remind them that they must remember the most important thing.

Main Idea: It is not enough to stand for the truth, we must love the One who is Himself truth.

Summarize Revelation Chapter 1.

Background: There are three letters written by Paul to the church in Ephesus (Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy), and the most reliable church fathers claim that the Apostle John lived in Ephesus in the later part of his life. So it is no coincidence that the first church John is instructed to write to is Ephesus.

I. The Commendation for Orthodoxy (v.1-3)

(V.1) Holds the stars in His right hand. This imagery of the stars and lampstands is explained at the end of chapter 1. The stars represent the messengers of the 7 churches. While it is unclear whether this is a human messenger or an angelic messenger (as the Word here is αγγελος), the text is clear that these messengers belong to Christ and are in His hand. Christ is reminding them that He has authority in His church and control over the messengers who carry His Word.

Christ is also depicted as walking in the midst of the lampstands, i.e. His churches. The imagery of Christ standing in the midst of the lampstands is drawn from the role of a priest in the OT, who would stand in the midst of the candles to make sure they were oiled and burning.

Christ is reminding the Ephesians that He is constantly in the midst of His churches. He sees all of their deeds, He knows all of their works and the motives behind them.

(V.2) This is clear as we move to verse 2, because Christ states that He knows their deeds. He has been watching them.

The Lord then begins to commend the Ephesian believers for several things

Perseverance in His work.

First, He says that He knows there toil and their patient endurance. This has the idea of hard work for the Gospel. In the midst of a pagan society, the believers in Ephesus were faithful in the ministry the Lord had given to them. In moments when their gospel labor would be considered too hard, they did not give up. Rather, they had a patient endurance. They didn’t throw in the towel. They did not forsake the responsibility that came with belonging to Christ Jesus.

Paul had written to Timothy, who was pastoring in Ephesus, many years earlier and said that they were to be good soldiers, disciplined athletes, and hard-working farmers for Jesus Christ. We see here that the church at Ephesus had taken on this identity.

Throughout Paul’s epistles to Timothy, the Lord commands that His church be both pure morally and doctrinally. This point was driven by the Inspiration of the Spirit because He knew what the church at Ephesus was up against.

2. Purity of Practice

Here it is clear that the church at Ephesus had answered this call. The toil that Christ is commending here is that they could not bear with those who were evil, and they rebuked false teachers. They would not tolerate those in the church who continued in practice of sin or preaching of error. They labored to ensure that there was no open immorality in the midst of the church.

3. Purity of Preaching

They also labored to ensure there was no false doctrine in their church. Paul wrote to Timothy warning of those who taught the resurrection had already come. More current to when John was writing, there were people who were falsely claiming to be apostles. This is a serious offense because these false teachers where trying to put their teaching on par with Lord’s apostles. This was not tolerated in the Ephesian church. This church stood for the truth. They grounded themselves on proper doctrine, and none of their doctrine is corrected here. They persevered to keep their church pure in practice and preaching in a way that would honor Christ.

But this message to the church at Ephesus is more than a pat on the back. Christ makes it clear that He requires more than rigid, going through the motion orthodoxy.

II. The Correction to Remember (v.4-5)

“But I have this against you” - Christ specifically states that while the church was laboring for Him and enduring in pure doctrine and lifestyle. They had left their first love. While the church appeared to be anchored in the truth, they had begun to grow cold in their hearts. The Lord is making evident here that He not only walks in the midst of the candlesticks. He not only sees His people when they assemble together. Our Lord sees the heart, and knows the heart of His people. Notice the wording of the passage “I have this against you”. Christ is not giving the believers at Ephesus a pass just because they were outwardly conformed to the truth of because they went through the motions. They needed to rekindle their first love. The Lord makes it clear in this passage that a cold heart is unacceptable, and that action must be taken immediately.

“Remember”- The first imperative that is given in verse 5 is to remember where they have fallen from. They are to remember what the first love what like when it was conceived.

Illustration: For those of you who are here and are married, engaged, or seriously dating. Do you remember what it was like when you first began to love your significant other? As you got to know them, you wanted to know more and more, and the more you learned, the enamored you became. It was not like spending time with them was an option in your heart, it was a willful and joyful delight to spend as much time with them as you can. It is often a blissful thing to think back on those times, but as the relationship wears on, there is the temptation to let the excitement for love fade.

As Paul wrote to Timothy and the Ephesian church, He knew that the persecution and opposition would only grow from bad to worse. That is why in 2 Timothy chapter 2 after telling them to labor hard for the gospel, Paul tells them to remember Jesus Christ.

Do you remember what it was like when you met the Lord. When you realized who He was and how worthy He was of all our affection, devotion, and meditation. I still remember when I first began to read the Scripture and I was so enthusiastic to spend real time in the Word everyday. But what happens? We begin to go through the motions. We become distracted with lesser lights and fleeting shadows and we forget to gaze into the beauty of the Light of the World.

So what must we do if this describes us brothers and sisters? What do we do if we are people who live daily standing for the truth, but aren’t loving the Lord as we should?

“Repent”- the text is clear. We are to remember where we have fallen from and we are to repent. We are to turn from this normalized cold heartedness. Often we recognize that we are not where we ought to be. Often we feel conviction and say that we want to do better. That we want to love Christ more fervently.

While Conviction is a work of the Holy Spirit, and is a good thing. It is not in and of itself repentance. We must act on the conviction the Spirit brings on us through the Word in order for it to be beneficial to us.

“Do”- We must repent and love like we once did. It is a simple command. The Lord is asking us to remember the love we once had, to turn, and to love like that again.

But why does the text say that they need to do the works they did at first? Isn’t love supposed to be an act of the heart or will?

Christ makes it clear that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. True love for the Lord is the motivating factor to obeying His commands. Christ said that others should know that we belong to Him by the way that we love one another, not by the amount of Bible we know.

We must be careful not to evaluate the godliness of our church based off of how much doctrine we know, but rather how we love the Lord and His people.

This is a real command with a real warning attached to it. The Lord will says that if they will not repent. He will remove their church. The Lord is patient and merciful, but He also will build His church and commands holiness and true love of His people.

If there is any cold-heartedness in us as a congregation or individually, we must remember our first love, repent, and return to doing the most important things.

(Reiterate) Main Idea: It is not enough to stand for the truth, we must love the One who is Himself truth.

III. The Call to Conquer (v.6-7)

Just as the Lord transitioned from His commendation to correction, He transitions here from His correction to a call to conquer.

“Yet this you have”- The Lord reiterates that He appreciates the firm stance on truth against the false teachers in Ephesus. These people are identified as the Nicolaitans. The deeds that the Lord hated are not specified here, but we can be sure that they are connected to the evil and false teaching that Ephesus was clearly stated to be against here.

To love Christ preeminently is our first love. This however does not stop us from standing for the truth and opposing heresy, but rather it is the proper motivation. The things that the Lord mentions in verses 2-3 are affirmed here in verse 6 as good things, but they must come from love.

“He who has ears to hear”- Christ calls His people to listen to His Word. Those who have ears to hear are clearly those who the Son has revealed the Father to (Matthew 11:25-27).

Christ is calling His people to conquer, and they do this through loving Him preeminently and obeying His Word. Why should we desire to persevere in truth and love Christ chiefly?

Because He gives eternal hope to those who will be persevere in faith in Him.

He promises that those who remain faithful and heed His call to overcome will receive that which was forfeited in the Fall, the ability to live forever in the paradise of God.

Conclusion: Application

We must examine our lives to make sure we are loving the Lord with the love we had at first.

We must work this out in our families and church.

We must make sure that we are persevering in purity in our lives and beliefs.

We must continually remind ourselves of the eternal inheritance we have in the paradise of God, and let this motivate our love and holiness now.

(Reiterate) Main Idea: It is not enough to stand for the truth, we must love the One who is Himself truth.