FIRST LOVE

INTRODUCTION

I can’t believe summer is almost over! Maybe you feel the same way, but I just feel like this summer flew by. And I know school is starting up, and there are so many things I wanted to do, that I promised myself that I’d do, that I just haven’t done—and one of those things for me is getting back into running.

I’m not much of a runner, but last winter, one of my brothers guilt tripped me into trying to train for a half marathon. And for awhile there, I was doing pretty well! I was running consistently. I was losing some weight. I was getting into better shape. I was even running in the freezing cold! I bought running clothes and hats and gloves. And I wasn’t doing the training perfectly—I would miss a run here or there, but I would make it up and get back on the horse.

But then somewhere along the way, I realized that I had double booked myself on the day of the race, and that in the end I wasn’t going to be able to make it. So now I was at this cross roads: I really enjoyed running, and it was making me feel better and sleep better and eat better… it was really going good!

But I knew I was no longer training for the half marathon; I was just running to run. And sure enough, slowly but surely, I began to pull back. I missed a run. Then I missed two runs. I began to coast on my runs rather than push myself. In short, I became complacent, and eventually, I gave it up entirely. Even though I knew it was right, and even though I knew it was a good thing, complacency killed my running.

[[And what was true for me in running is true for many in their walk with Christ]]. We know that our walk with Christ is a marathan, and not a sprint. And yet, if we’re honest, and if we’re not careful, in our own walk with Jesus, the constant temptation is to begin to coast. To begin to let up. To begin to settle in. To allow things to become overly familiar. And we get somewhere down the line and we turn back and we realize something has changed.

So, in our walk with Christ, how do we keep from coasting? What is it that keeps the Church from becoming complacent? Or to put it differently, what is it that helps the church to stand firm in its mission during the marathon of life? That’s the question that I want us to bring with us into the Scriptures this morning.

And to answer that question, I want to look back one more time at a church that was planted in the book of Acts, which we just finished studying, and that had a letter written to it called the book of Ephesians. But some people forget that there is a second, very short letter that’s written to this church in the ancient city of Ephesus, and it can be found not in Acts, not in Ephesians, but in the book of Revelation. So if you’ve got your Bibles, go ahead and start navigating to the book of Revelation, the last book in the New Testament, and find chapter 2.

The book of Revelation is an incredible book, but it’s also a book that is sometimes misunderstood. This book was written toward the end of the First Century, and one of the most important things to remember when you open up the book of Revelaion is that it was written to real believers who were in the midst of real difficult; serious trials. It was written at a time when false teaching and persecution were beginning to run rampant. All of the Apostles that we read about in the book of Acts have either died or been killed off by Rome except one—the Apostle John. And into this difficult, hopeless situation John sees this vision of Jesus, and he writes the book of Revelation—written to the Church to help them to stand firm no matter what comes their way. Written to help them stay the course.

These opening chapters of Revelation are some of my favorite in the whole book, because in them, we find seven letters that Jesus Himself dictates to the Apostle John to send to these seven churches in the Roman Province of Asia Minor, including the Church in Ephesus.

And every time I read these chapters, I always find myself wondering, “What would Jesus write to our church?” What would Jesus write to the church in Elyria? Because I may not be facing down the same things as the church in the First Century, but if you’re anything like me you know that there are difficult days. There are days where the going gets tough. And complacency is this constant temptation. And I wish in those moments that I could just hear His voice, to hear what He would say…

And yet, Jesus is still speaking today. And I believe that He has something to say to us this morning out of His Word. So if you’ve got your Bibles open to Revelation, let’s stand to honor God’s Word, and let’s read this together, and let’s listen to what the Spirit has to say to the Church starting in Revelation chapter 2, verse 1.

Revelation 2:1–7 “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. 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. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 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. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

SET UP

As we get into the Text today, let me just give you a little bit more background on the Church in Ephesus. And actually, if you’re following along in our Churchwide Devotions, we read about this church this week in Acts 19-20. In these chapters, Paul and his companions are rounding third during their second missionary journey, and as they start heading back to Jerusalem, along the way they come through Asia Minor, and they stop and begin to minister in that area. [[And if you read these chapters, you find out that Paul spent more time in Ephesus than he did in any other city!]] And just as a summary, we read in Acts 19:10 that this ministry that was based in Ephesus “went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” So there was this incredibly effective ministry happening in Ephesus. The Gospel was being preached! People were being saved!

But before Paul left the city, he gave the leaders of this church a warning. You can read about this in Acts 20:25-31, but he says that after he leaves, things are going to get tough. And so he says, [[“be on your guard!”]] Because persecution is coming. False teaching is coming. And I want you to stand firm.

And what was amazing to me as I read those verses this week is that, when you look back to our passage today in Revelation 2, these trials that Paul warned about are exactly what Jesus talks about in this letter to the Ephesian Church.

POINT ONE

Paul warned them that difficulty was right around the corner—and the first thing that Jesus says to the Ephesian Church after introducing Himself is, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.” So somewhere between Paul’s visit and the writing of Revelation, somewhere in that gap, things began to get difficult; and yet the Church in Ephesus persevered.

And the first thing that Jesus says to them is [[“I know.”]] Or in other words: I see your situation. I see what’s going on. And this in and of itself is a beautiful thought: That when the Church is experiencing difficulty, Jesus wants them to know that He sees them; that they have not escaped His sight. Actually, like it says in verse 1, He “walks among the seven golden lampstands,” which is a reference to these seven Churches that are shining the light of Christ into the world. So Jesus is saying, “I know what’s going on. I see you. I am not far off. I’m right in the midst of you.”

And because of this, because He is aware of their situation, the next thing we see is that [[Jesus praises them]] for what He sees going on, and [[He makes quite a list]]:

their deeds

their hard work

their perseverance

their inability to tolerate (bear) wicked people

their testing of false teachers

their perseverance

their enduring of hardships for Jesus’ name

their not growing weary

So in general, what Jesus sees is their hard work. But notice with me that [[Jesus actually talks about their perseverance twice,]] using the same word. So really, what Jesus sees in them breaks down into two categories: First, their hard work and perseverance in standing up to false teaching, in protecting the doctrine; and second, their hard work and perseverance in enduring persecution without growing weary. So you can write down: What was their hard work? Their hard work was that they kept the doctrine, and they stayed determined.

And honestly, that’s a pretty good report! If that’s the sort of thing that Jesus had said to me, and to our church, I’d be pretty pleased, especially given the circumstances!

[[But, Jesus goes on.]] The report doesn’t end there. Jesus saw their hard work, and it looked pretty good. From the outside, we all would have given them high marks. They succeeded where many, MANY other churches failed. Yet, Jesus doesn’t look at the outward appearance only; He also looks at the heart. And that’s what Jesus talks about next: Jesus sees their hard work, and He also sees their hearts.

Continuing on, we read in verse 4, Jesus says I see you, and I want you to stand firm, and I see the hard work you’ve done, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”

They had been careful to keep the doctrine. They stayed determined through persecution. But somewhere along the way, something changed in their hearts. So you can write down: In their hearts, Jesus sees that they left their first love.

They were passionate about knowing the right things. That they were willing to endure great difficulty. They had a great track record! But somewhere along the way, their hearts had grown cold toward Christ. [[Even though they were persevering outwardly, inwardly they had settled into this complacency in their walk with Christ.]] And so, in working hard to keep the faith, the church in Ephesus left the relationship behind. And so Jesus says, “You have forsaken your first love.”

This is such a powerful, and haunting phrase to me. But to make matters worse, as we keep reading, Jesus says in verse 5 that if something doesn’t change, their light is going to go out. He says “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

See, what Jesus understands is that you can know all about Him (like keeping the doctrine) and you can do things for Him (like persevering in trials), but that [[all that you know about Him and all that you do for Him are no replacement for being in a loving relationship with Him]].

Don’t miss this. The point I want you to see here is that Jesus was glad that they kept the doctrine; that He was proud of their perseverence, but that Jesus recognizes that if this church is going to stand firm, if this church is going to continue to shine His light, if they’re going to carry on in the mission, then [[knowing true things about Jesus and doing good things for Jesus simply will not be enough.]] While those things are important, they aren’t the whole picture. Jesus is saying that you can have correct doctrine, and you can have sheer determination, but in the end they’re empty without love. They’re like a lamp and oil with no spark for the flame. Or, as Charles Spurgeon writes, “A church has no reason for being a church when she has no love within her heart, or when that love grows cold. Lose love, lose all.”

And this means that it’s possible to look SO GOOD on the outside, to be doing things so well, and yet inwardly to have slipped into a dangerous complacency in your walk with Jesus. See, back when I was training for that half marathon, outwardly nothing had changed. The runs were still hard, but I was finishing them. I still had all the right gear. I still knew the running regimine. And yet I got complacent because I lost the thing that I was headed toward. I lost sight of the goal. I lost my [[PURSUIT]].

And I think that the same thing happened to this church in Ephesus, and so often to so many Christians today. They get into the Christian life, and they realize that it’s a marathon and not a sprint, and so we settle for knowing about Jesus and doing things for Jesus rather than continuing to pursue that relationship with Jesus. Rather than seeking His face. Rather than pursuing His presence. Rather than longing to be with Him.

But as I’ve said, the problem is that [[doing things for someone and knowing things about them are simply no substitute for being with them]]. And I think I can prove it to you!

See, everybody loves a good chocolate chip cookie. And I know that there are many people who make good chocolate chip cookies, but there is only one person who makes the best chocolate chip cookies that I’ve ever had, and his name is Larry Russ.

So over the weekend, I asked Larry if he would bake some cookies for me. The good news is that he said yes; but the bad news is that there is not enough for everyone to participate in this illustration! So here’s the deal: As I eat this cookie—as I experience it, as I taste it in all of its glory, I could describe the cookie to you. I could tell you all about the recipe, and all about the methods. I could tell you Larry Russ’ life story. I could tell you fun facts about cookies. I could teach you about the complex chemical reactions that take place with the egg and the baking soda to make the cookie what it is... But at the end of the day, every single one of us would rather just have the cookie.

See, [[the beauty is in the partaking!]] And it’s just the same when it comes to our walk with Christ. God’s desire is not for us merely to know about Him! His desire is not merely for us to live for Him! His desire is for us to be WITH Him!

And friends, this is a message that must be heard in the American Church. And it may be a message that some of you need to hear today. That the point of Christianity is not to gain knowledge. The point of Christianity is not to do hard things. Because according to our Text, you can have those things and still be in danger of the lights going out. The point of Christianity is to have a living, intimate relationship with the Eternal God through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

[[But if all of that is true,]] then what happened back in that Church in Ephesus? How did they get so far off track?

Did they just wake up one day and feel differently about Jesus? Did they “fall out of love” with Christ?

Let’s go back to the Text. Because when we talk about forsaking our first love, we aren’t talking about losing feelings for something. This first love that Jesus is referring to is not something that we fall out of. If you look back at verse 4, what we find is that Jesus says “you have forsaken the love that you had at first.” We don’t “lose” love like this; at some point, we “leave” it behind. And in my studies, I read that it literally means “to give up, abandon (in pursuit of something else)” and it’s actually a word that’s used in the Bible to describe divorce. So the picture that Jesus is painting is that the Church, His bride, at some point “gave up” the relationship. She “abandoned” the relationship, and she went off and pursued something else.

And this is an idea that shows up over and over again throughout the Bible. Just one example of this is in the book of Jeremiah chapter 2, where God says to Israel, “I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness” (Jer 2:2). In other words, He’s saying “I remember your first love!” But then if you jump forward a couple of verses, God says, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

And so what He’s saying is that somewhere along the way, Israel left God behind and started pursuing other things that could never satisfy. God was inviting Israel into this covenant relationship, but over and over again they turned away and pursued something else. The problem is NOT that they lost the feeling; the problem is that they gave up the pursuit.

See, in every marriage, feelings of love will wax and wane; but the best marriages are those that remember that love is not just a feeling, but also a decision. And so the best kind of marriage isn’t one where you rely on feelings to keep the relationship going; rather, the best kind of marriage happens when a husband and a wife never stop pursuing one another, regardless of the feelings, and regardless of the circumstance. And that’s what God wants from us! Not for us to chase after a feeling; not for us to chase after the broken cisterns that are anything other than Jesus and can never satisfy, but for us to chase after Him.

[[[And yet so often, even as believers, the offer is there to live life in loving relationship WITH God, but we live as though it isn’t. We are so easily [[distracted]]. We are so easily led astray. We go about our day, and [[we settle for other, lesser pursuits]]. But at the end of the day, we find over and over again that our pursuit to know about God cannot replace our pursuit of God Himself. Our pursuit to do things for God cannot replace our pursuit of God Himself. Our pursuit to perform for God and earn His love can’t replace it. Our pursuit to feel a certain way toward God or about God cannot replace it. And our pursuit of other idols to fill our hearts, our pursuit of pleasure, and wealth, and power, and prestige, and comfort—nothing else can replace this need that we have at the center of our being! They’re all just broken cisterns—they look like they are going to satisfy, but when you go to get water you realize they’re totally bankrupt.]]]

And when we realize this, we begin—maybe for the first time—to realize what it is that the Psalmist is getting at when he writes, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). When we realize that we’re walking around in a dry and parched land that can never satisfy, we realize that nothing else will do. God is the One that we need.

So the question I want to lay before you today before we move on, as we think about how the Church can stand firm, is [[“What are you pursuing?”]] What are you pursuing?

Jesus is commending the Church for their hard work, he’s praising them for keeping the doctrine, and for suffering well, but he’s saying that unless you continue to pursue a loving relationship with me, you will never make it. The light is gonna go out. So what about you?

What is it that has captured your heart? Does your whole being long for God, as though He were the only thing that could satisfy?

POINT TWO

Because this is what Jesus wants for His Church. Not cold knowledge. Not perfect performance. What Christ wants for the Church in Ephesus, and for us, is for us to return to our first loving pursuit. And so back in our Text, He says to the Church in Ephesus in verse 5, “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” See, Jesus doesn’t leave them without direction. He points out what’s going on in their hearts, but He also shows them the way back.

So how do we return to our first love? Well, according to Jesus, it’s actually pretty simple. First, “consider how far you’ve fallen.” In other words, remember. Think back. What was it like at first? Go back to where you started with Jesus. Imagine it again.

In the beginning of your walk with Christ, you may have started with love, but without knowledge. And yet after all these years of reading, and sitting in church, and attending Bible study, do you now look back and realize that you have knowledge, but not love?

In the beginning of your walk with Christ, you may have had love, but without performance—without getting everything right. You may have had a long way to go. And yet after all these years of trying so hard to be good, trying so hard to win, trying so hard to get it right, do you now look back and realize you have performance without love?

If you’ve been walking with Christ, then there was a time when He first captured your heart. Remember that time. Call it back to mind. Because in the beginning, when our heart was first captured by Christ, notice with me that it wasn’t about all these other things. [[There was a time that you realized that all you wanted was Jesus.]] So think back. Remember.

And remember that somewhere along the line, there was something that hindered you. There was a sin entangled you. There was something else that you began to pursue. And so the next thing that Jesus says is simply “repent.” And like I’ve said before, what this means is to turn around. To change directions. To turn away from these other pursuits, and to turn back to Christ. Begin to pursue Him once again, even right now. And ask Him to begin to walk with you again starting today. Because in the end, we will stand firm only when we are walking with Christ in loving pursuit of Christ. In this marathon of life, HE is the One who sustains us. HE is the One who holds us up. And HE is the only one that we need. Not to know about Him. Not to perform for Him. Just to pursue Him, and to walk with Him.

CONCLUSION

Now as I get ready to close, I’m going to invite the band back up so they can start getting ready. But I want to leave you with one more thought.

Because I don’t want you to walk away from this sermon feeling like what you need is to somehow conjure up a feeling about Jesus in order to live as a good Christian.

Friends, love is not a feeling; it’s a choice. It’s a direction. It’s a pursuit. And yet, it can be shallow or deep. It can be warm or cold. And if you’re listening to me and your finding that your love for Jesus has grown cold, then what I want to say to you is that our love for Christ is warmed at the fire of His love for us. Or, as John puts it in one of his letters, “we love because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). When our love has grown cold, what we need to do is point ourselves back in the direction of Christ, and to remember His love.

The thing that will melt your heart today is the very same thing that melted it in the first place—it’s nothing less than the Good News of Jesus Christ. And the good news is this: That we are more lost and dead in our sin than we ever dared to realize, and yet we are at the very same time more loved and accepted in Christ than we could ever dare to hope.

And that means that He doesn’t want what I can do FOR Him. It means that there is no gift that I could give Him on this altar that He doesn’t already own. He loved me when I was dead in the hospital bed of my sin. He loved me befor I took my first breath. He loved me before He had spoken matter into existence. And He loved me when I was His enemy. He didn’t love me knowing what I would do for Him; there’s nothing I could do to earn His love; He just loved me.

And because of His love, He sees you today. As human beings, we all have this thing where we desperately, desperately need to know someone is watching, that someone sees, that someone knows, that someone cares. And in an ultimate sense that person is God. He has been watching every step of the way. He has seen every step, every tear, every failure, every struggle, every triumph, every sleepless night, and long before we began our pursuit of Him, He has been pursuing each one of us. This is why Jesus writes the letter in the first place! Don’t miss this: If you boil it all down, here’s what this letter is saying. I see you. You left me behind. Turn back. This is the only way for you to continue to shine my light! You are a lamp stand that shines the light of the Gospel in a dark world, but unless you return to your first love, you will just be a shell of doctrine and good deeds, but hollow on the inside. Come, back, home.

And [[I just wonder]] if there’s anyone here today who wants to go back to that first love. I just wonder if there’s a generation who is willing to press up against the glass, and even though we see through a glass darkly, to say “you have said ‘seek my face,’ and so your face, O Lord, do I seek.” I wonder if there’s anybody here today who is courageous enough to really remember—to think back. To look from what a high place you’ve fallen, and to say, “Lord, it’s time. TODAY IS THE DAY THAT I RENEW MY PURSUIT. I’m tired of the distractions. I’m tired of the compromise. I’m tired of being tired. But most importantly, I’m tired of trying to live my whole life for you instead of living my life with you by my side.” And I wonder if there’s anyone today who is willing to repent—to re-turn, to come home, to come back to that uncompromising, genuine pursuit of Christ.

I believe that for some of you, today is the day. If Jesus is speaking to you, if the Holy Spirit is working in your heart, he’s saying “come home.”

We’re going to have a time right now to do business with the Lord. And if God is calling you home today, this altar is open to you. Come on down. We’ve got folks on the prayer team who would love to pray with you. The band is going to play a song. And I invite you to sing the song if you know it. But more importantly, I want to invite you to turn to Christ. To recieve His love.

And if nothing else, to turn to Jesus and to tell Him once again that He is the only you need.

Let’s pray.