First love

“You have left your first love”

Revelation 2:1–7 ““To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’”

What Ephesus was doing well (pleasing to the Lord)

(Vs 2)

Works - (faith with works) James 2:14-26

Labor - 1 Thessalonians 2:9 “For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.”

Patience - 1 Timothy 6:11 “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” James 1:3–4 “knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 5:10 “My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.”

Bear no evil -

Testing the spirits - Psalm 1:6 “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.” 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Vs 3

Persevered -

Not become weary - Matthew 5:11 ““Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

How Ephesus was falling short

Left their first love (vs 4)

In order to understand the situation we need to look at the beginning.

Acts 17:5–20 “But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.””

Holy Spirit received - v 6

Taught the Word of God Boldly - v 8

Reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus - v 9

Result - all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus - v 10

Unusual miracles - v 11-12

Wrestling against evil spirits - v 13-16

Fear and name of the Lord Jesus magnified - v 17

People believed and confessed sin - v 18

Repented - turned from magic, burned books - v 19

Word of the Lord - grew mightily and prevailed - v 20

This is how the church of Ephesus began. It was all possible by the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Willing to forsake their old sinful ways for the sake of Christ. It is the put off and put on. There was no hesitation mentioned at all. It is a matter of denying oneself to follow Christ.

Luke 9:23 “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

It was a heart choice to put Christ before all else. Truly, the church of Ephesus was living out Christ’s challenge:

Matthew 22:37–40 “Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.””

When you love the Lord with “ALL YOUR HEART” there no room for anything else.

That is the beginning of Ephesus, because the Scripture says they had fallen or forgot their “First Love”. Implying they had Christ as their first when they came to believe through faith.

It focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him only with every fiber of one’s being.

It is a heart that is filled to over flowing with God’s Love. Not a little, but in abundance.