Do-Over: From Work to Worship

Revelation is one of the most controversial books of the NT… people want to make sense of the book because it describes the coming of Christ… OUR HOPE

What’s not controversial is that Revelation is one of the plainest books in Scripture - It’s John seeing something and writing it down - controversy comes when we try to see things in the text - decipher it - Because it’s about the return of Christ

Part of the controversy is that these 7 churches aren’t real churches, but representative of 7 ages of THE CHURCH…

But a letter to 7 churches - real churches in real cities - organized and structured - 8 scenes… 7 with 7 visions each and the final is one the new creation

Most of the letters have a similar pattern… Praise, Correction, Promise/Hope - Constructive feedback - good - needs improvement - encouragement

Ephesus a real church… group of churches in city

Ephesus was filled with love of Goddess Artimas - crazy things happened in their temple

Rev 2 1-3

Revelation 2:1–3 NIV

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

listening, you feel proud… Jesus is bragging about you… he’s applauding

You are doing the right things… you believe the right things… you discern correctly… all good things

Revelation 2:4 ESV

4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

… He moves from celebration to caution… Jesus is speaking here, not John… I have something against YOU

There’s something wrong with the way you are living out your faith… you are behaving right, you are believing right, but something is missing.

Like when someone tries to make banana pudding… it’s just not the same.

Then Jesus points it out - You’ve abandoned - word for “forgive”, forgotten it - left it behind

I have this against you… you have left your first love

In context of the letter - talking about doing things… He’s saying you are distracted.

You are doing the right things but you aren’t focused on the most important thing.

Illustrate… Distracted by good things from the most important thing

Getting distracted by the process more than the destination....

WE love our small group, love serving, we love communion, children’s ministry, we love cooking meals, leading worship, serving on leadership board, going to a prayer meeting, taking care of the church, fixing things, taking part in VBS, leading a Bible study, visiting the sick, nursing homes, calling people to sing HBD, … But something is missing

Jesus calls it our First love… not in a sense of order, but in the sense of primary or essence

You’ve got your loves out of order

The ironic part is you are loving the right stuff… The right stuff becomes the wrong stuff.

This wasn’t just a problem in Ephesus… this is a danger in every church.

It comes as a good warning to us today as we are in this season of discerning, taking a stand for sound doctrine, seeking to clarify the way and direction of our ministry here in Rock Hall… don’t forget your first love… don’t get so caught up in your love of doing church that you leave behind the more important love.

The problem is when you focus on right behavior, right thinking, right doctrine, right praxis apart from Christ… it’s becomes legalism

That’s what is happening in the church in Ephesus - they have invested so much in defending the faith that They’ve forgotten or abandoned or left what their faith is all about.

Christianity is a person… not a process

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Is this love for Jesus… or love for one another?

1 John 4:7-21

1 John 4:7–21 (NIV)

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Agape - unconditional love, true, but its much more than that… it goes beyond human comprehension… it’s the love of God that pursues, chases, finds and delivers

Wouldn’t let you go no matter what you do

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Ephesians did some vile things - temple prostitution -

they find Paul outside their temple talking about a man who conquered death and offers forgiveness for sin and Jesus changes them

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But look at them now

They forgot how desperate they were

They got proud of their faith, their theology, their righteousness

But jesus isn’t interested in condemnation… He wants to give us HOPE

So he says here’s the fix

Revelation 2:5 NIV

5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Remember, repent, redo

Remember… Recall and rehearse… not just , but go back, feel it, remember the guilt, the shame of sin, the lostness, the frustration, Jesus DID IT.

Rehearse… don’t forget it… tell yourself again regularly how much you needed him…

This rehearsing keeps gratitude fresh… it keeps your heart tender… that when you see people stuck in sin, your heart breaks for them… instead of trying to fix them, you just work to hold them up so that Jesus can fix them… just like he fixed you

Repent, change your mind, thinking, approach to God, right behavior and beliefs don’t save you… Jesus does.. think about Jesus and he’ll straighten out your thinking… if you focus on right behaviour and beliefs you’ll live like a pharisee - legalist… Jesus will resolve this

Don’t make right theology equal to the Gospel

But when you repent, it gives you a tenderness to people who see things differently

Redo … do again.. Acts 19-20… what did they do? feared God - Confessed Sin - Destroyed idols - but again not about the works… but their hearts… not to get caught up in work of love… what is the thing they are being told to do???

Go back to the affections of salvation

Illustrate joy of salvation… desperation of salvation

Revelation 2:6 NIV

6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

We’ll talk more about the Nicolaitans later, but let me explain for a minute because Jesus says he hates what they do.

WE don’t know much at all about them, so we have to do a little thinking… problem with being a Xian wasn’t the call to accept Jesus as God… but as the ONE GOD. Ephesians - many gods - syncretism

Nike - Greek Goddess of victory… Nicolaitans were the people of the victors… many theologians think this was Jesus’s way of referring to the people who worshipped the ways of Rome… the Nicolaitans were the people who were trying the religion of the world into the church.

Again… the right thing is the right thing… but it’s not the most important thing.

He says… I see you… just remember the most important thing though is and always will be LOVE

How is your love?

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Peter of John 21

Jesus at fire to forgive Peter

Jesus asked him 3 times not so He could discover something, but so Peter could come to grips with his own heart

Peter need to be encouraged that it is all about love

If you will love me there is no telling what I will do for you

Do you love the Lord?

You did… but

Cultivate that love… If you come to me and say that you are having trouble in your marriage, I’m going to ask what you are doing to build into, to invest in, to fan the flames of the love you had… what can you do to cultivate love… remember, repent, redo

Some haven’t responded to God’s grace… our agenda is that you would fall in love with Jesus…

Respond to that love

He invites b/c he loves

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