Worthy Is the Lamb: Who is Your First Love?

When the Apostle John penned this revelation of Christ to the church at Ephesus, the city was a great and thriving metropolis of 200,000 residents — the forth largest city in the Roman Empire. It was a cosmopolitan city, and a cultured city full of artisans and merchants. It was called "the light of Asia." Some historians have described it as the New York City of its era. Here was the famous Temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. A temple large enough to hold 25,000 worshipers. The city derived much of its wealth from the manufacture and sale of images of this goddess, and her Temple. And there were also three temples erected in memory of previous Roman Emperors. In Ephesus paganism was strong, seasoned and respectable.

Into this citadel of spiritual darkness and unrighteousness came the heralds of the Cross. Today, if they were Southern Baptist missionaries, we would call them "church planters." Their names were Aquila and Priscilla. A few years later, the Apostle Paul would join them, and labor in the city almost three years. Their work was extremely successful. In time the church at Ephesus became one of the strongest churches in the area and a center of evangelistic and missionary work by its members. Some scholars estimate that as many as 35,000 believers lived in the community.

Over the years many other great New Testament figures would preach and work at Ephesus. Among them was the eloquent and gifted Apollos, the young and timid Timothy, and finally the last surviving member of the original twelve apostles. John would pastor the church for three decades. This is a church with a rich spiritual pedigree. Wouldn’t you have loved to see that wall in the foyer containing all the portraits of previous pastors!

What does this passage tell us about the Church at Ephesus?

I. EPHESUS WAS A CHURCH WHICH MADE A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR COMMUNITY

“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 men, 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. ... 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” (Revelation 2:1-3, 6, NIV84)

1. the letter to the church at Ephesus comes from Christ, himself

a. He is the one who has a firm grasp upon his church and walks among those congregations who name his name

1) it’s a reminder that Jesus neither slumbers nor sleeps

2) he is constantly scrutinizing, examining, assessing, and evaluating

3) what does that mean for us?

2. every believer and every church must be busy about the task of good works and Christian ministry because Christ is always watching

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10, NASB95)

ILLUS. Sometimes it is difficult to know if we are making a difference in the lives around us. We are often plagued by the “Harry Bailey Syndrome.” You remember Harry Bailey from the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. He was the young man who grew up in Bedford Falls with great aspirations of leaving that crummy little town and making a name for himself in the world. But because of a series of events he has no control over, Harry never leaves Bedford Falls. At one point he becomes so despondent that he contemplates suicide. He feels his life has been a waste and that he has made little difference in his world. Clarence — Harry’s guardian angel — gives Harry the chance to see what life would have like it he’d never been born. Harry Bailey is amazed at the difference he has made in the lives of others without ever knowing it.

a. that’s how it is for believers, and sometimes even the local church

b. we may never know on this side of heaven the difference our presence has really made.

c. but Jesus knows!

3. and because Jesus sees all and knows all, each of us must do the good works, which God prepared beforehand for us to do

a. we must no grow weary in well doing

A. JESUS KNOWS OF THEIR WORKS

"I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary." (Revelation 2:2-3, NASB95)

1. the verb I know in this verse reflects a full and exact knowledge that comes from an absolute clearness of vision

a. Jesus knows everything about what goes on in His church; including what individual members do and don’t do (that can be a little sobering)

1) Jesus says, I know your deeds and your toil

b. Jesus is aware of how hard this congregation at Ephesus had worked for the sake of the Lord and the Gospel

ILLUS. The Gospel had come to Ephesus about A.D. 50 most likely as a result of the efforts of Priscilla and Aquila. The Apostle Paul came to the city in A.D. 52, establishing a resident ministry there for the better part of three years. The Book of Acts reports that while he was there “ ... all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:9). The influence of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus resulted in churches being planted throughout the Lycus River valley, and over the costal mountains into the hinterlands. After Paul left the city, Timothy remained to combat false teaching (1 Tim 1:3). Church tradition also says that the Apostle John settled in Ephesus around A.D. 66, and led the church for many years both before, and after his exile to the Island of Patmos. When John writes to this congregation, the church has been faithfully ministering in Ephesus forty years. (In 2020, this church will be 60 years old. Is it time for us to evaluate where we’ve been and where we want to be going)?

2. Jesus looks at the church at Ephesus and sees the difference that their presence in that city has made

a. Jesus knows the changes which have been wrought in the hearts of individuals whom have had the gospel preached unto them

b. Jesus knows of the shattered and broken lives that they have helped put back together

c. Jesus knows of those who lived in despair, but who now have hope

d. Jesus knows of those who's lives were characterized by hate, but who are now full of love

3. the effectiveness of this church and its evangelism of the city had been so great that their successfulness led to a riot within the city which was led by the silversmiths who fashioned and sold statues of the goddess Diana

a. so many people had come to Christ and thrown away their images of the goddess that the craftsmen became alarmed at the great drop off in their business

1) that story can be found in the Book of Acts, chpt. 19

b. here was a church making a difference in their community

ILLUS. One way to know if the church is maintaining it’s witness is if it makes the purveyors of sin and vice and depravity mad or upset. One of my favorite stories is about Jack Eckerd, owner of the Eckerd drug store chain. Back in 1986 through the witness of Chuck Colson, Jack Eckerd became a Christian. The very next day after being born again, Eckerd was walking through one of his drug stores and saw copies of Playboy and Penthouse on the magazine rack. He’d seen them there before, and they had never bothered him, but now he saw them with new eyes. Eckerd called his company’s president and told him to take Playboy and Penthouse out of all his stores. The President was shocked because their sale brought in $3 million dollars a year. Eckerd said, “Take ‘em out of my stores.” By one man’s decision Playboy and Penthouse were taken out of 1700 stores. When Chuck Colson asked why he did it. Eckerd responded, “God wouldn’t let me off the hook.” But that’s not all the story. Jack Eckerd began writing and calling the owners of all the other national drug store chains encouraging them to do the same. People’s, Dart Drugs, Revco, and 7-11 all removed the magazines. In a period of 12 months, 11,000 retail outlets in America removed Playboy and Penthouse, not because somebody passed a law, but because God wouldn't let one of his disciples off the hook.

4. God’s people can make a difference!

a. but making a difference costs

5. this was a church which paid the price to make a difference in their community

"I know ... your hard work ... "

a. Jesus knew of the effort, sacrifices and the struggles that had been necessary in order for this church to accomplish the good works it had done

b. the church at Ephesus did not dream its way to great achievements

1) their accomplishments had come at the price of strenuous and sacrificial effort

2) they were able to bless because they were willing to bleed

3) nothing worth while is accomplished in any field except at the price of hard work

B. JESUS KNOWS OF THEIR PERSEVERANCE

1. the word perseverance in this passage is a word indicating hopeful endurance even when one is under the strain

a. these Christians were having to persevere against evil men, both from without, and from within the church

1) the Church has always had to deal with evil men on the outside of the church who hate our Christ, and who hate his Gospel

a) they are easy to deal with because they are obvious

2) the Church has also always had to deal with evil men on the inside of the church, who pretend to love our Christ, and his Gospel, but who are ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing

“For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” (Jude 4, NIV84)

ILLUS. Just this last week, Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner, pastor of the second largest congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA), told the 5,500-member Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago that there are numerous ways to heaven. She told her congregation “For me, the Christian tradition is the way to understand God and my relationship with the world and other humans and it's for the way for me to move into that relationship but I'm not about to say what God can and cannot do in other ways and with other spiritual experiences." Rev. Kershner is not the only Christian, nor the only pastor in America to believe that. The problem is that God really doesn’t give us any other choice but Jesus. God really didn’t leave that one open to debate. Rev. Kershner is one of the ravenous wolves, the Scriptures warn us about.

2. the church at Ephesus refused to put up with evil men; namely those who would pervert the Gospel, and propagate false teaching

a. they tested those who claimed some sort of apostolic authority

b. there are many today who claim to speak for God who need to be tested

3. the Church of Ephesus tested those who claimed some kind of spiritual authority over them

a. the church at Ephesus was evidently blessed with members who had the spiritual gift of discernment

b. they had the ability to "weed out" those self-proclaimed spiritual leaders who used the title "apostle" for selfish purposes rather then for the edifying of the church

4. defending the faith is hard theological work

a. in spite of it all the tiring work and stress the church did not become weary

b. the verb not grown weary is in the perfect tense and indicates they had not become weary and still did not give up

ILLUS. Twenty years after John records this message for the Church at Ephesus, Ignatius of Antioch would write to the Church at Ephesus telling them how his pastor, Onesimus, had praised them because, “you all live according to the truth, and no heresy dwells among you, in fact you will not even listen to anyone who does not speak about Jesus Christ in truth.”

1) two decades later, the Church at Ephesus has still not grown weary in defending the Gospel, once delivered

2) Jesus was happy about their stand against false doctrine; something he would chastise the church at Thyatira and Pergamum for failing to do

C. JESUS KNOWS OF THEIR DOCTRINAL INTEGRITY

1. these believers were gate-keepers of truth

"Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." (Revelation 2:6, NASB95)

a. here was a church which zealously guarded doctrinal integrity and theological orthodoxy

2. these people had been instructed by some of the greatest teachers of the early church

a. they knew what they believed and why

3. they vigorously opposed a group of false teachers known as the "Nicolaitanes"

a. of this group we know very little

b. Iranaeus — Bishop of Lyons in southern France — was one of the most important Christian writers of the second century

1) he identified the Nicolaitans as a Gnostic group who practiced what we call antinomianism

2) this is a heresy based upon a misrepresentation of God’s mercy

3) it teaches that men can freely participate in sin, and that the deeds of the flesh has no effect upon the health of the soul

c. it’s easy to understand the danger this teaching can have upon the spiritual health of a congregation

ILLUS. Iranaeus wrote of them: “They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence.”

d. Christ affirms the church at Ephesus for resisting their influence among them

4. here is a church which seemingly has it all together

"and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary." (Revelation 2:3, NASB95)

a. the Church at Ephesus is sound in doctrine and active in evangelism, missions and local ministry

b. but there is a problem ...

II. EPHESUS WAS A CHURCH WHICH HAD LOST ITS "FIRST LOVE"

v. 4 "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love."

1. the church's struggle with and vigilance against false teachers and teachings had a serious side-effect

a. their efforts at maintaining doctrinal integrity, and theological orthodoxy had left them spiritually cold

b. they had "lost their first love"

2. only years before the Apostle Paul had praised them for their "love unto all the saints" (Eph. 1:15)

a. now they are losing their glow

b. the children and grandchildren of these people opposed heresy and demonstrated persistence in fulfilling the needs of the church, but they fell short of genuine enthusiasm for the Lord

1) it’s relatively easy to keep the programs of the church growing

2) it’s harder to keep our passion for Jesus growing

3. the love of Christ, shed abroad in our hearts, is the very foundation of the Christian's life and the life of the church

a. Jesus himself taught that mutual love was to be the hallmark of Christian fellowship

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NASB95)

ILLUS. According to the early Church historian, Irenaeus, the Apostle John was eventually released from his Patmos exile and came back to Ephesus. He was very old and too feeble to walk. He would be carried into his church’s assembly and would repeatedly admonish the members to love one another.

4. but according to Christ’s admonishment, the Church at Ephesus had forsaken their first love

a. it was not that they didn’t love Him at all

1) they had walked away from the passionate devotion to Christ that characterized the church at the beginning

2) forty years after their founding, the church is made up of second and even third generation Christians who did not demonstrate the passionate love for Jesus that had marked their predecessors

3. how to they rectify their error?

A. 1st, REMEMBER

1. think back about when you first committed your life to Christ

a. some need to think back if they ever had a “first love”

b. many of you can remember when these characteristics were true of your relationship with Christ

1) you spent time with Him

2) you did what pleased Him

3) you gave to Him

4) you sacrificed for Him

5) you talked about Him

c. now? ... not so much

2. failure to demonstrate a first love, according to Jesus, is like falling

a. Jesus calls us to continually keep in our mind from where we have fallen

1) fallen in verse 5 is a perfect tense verb indicating a time when we dropped to the ground and we are still there

ILLUS. It took a trip to the pig pen for the prodigal son to realize from where he had fallen. Up to that point, he had been “out of his senses.” He had stopped thinking properly. His perception had become twisted. When he came to his senses, he remembered how much better off he had been under his father’s care and he made a decision to return.

B. 2nd, REPENT

1. the verb here means to reconsider and change your thinking

2. repentance has more to do with thinking than feeling

a. it is a change of mind; a change of thinking

b. our thinking has become messed up about what it means to loving Jesus

3. we think that loving Jesus is all about our feelings

a. loving Jesus is actually all about our obedience

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." (John 14:15, NASB95)

C. 3RD, RETURN

1. in order to return to a “first love” we must go back to doing “first deeds” — Jesus says, “do the things you did at first”

2. what does that mean?

a. Be with Jesus

1) how much of your day has been set aside to spend talking with Christ?

b. Do for Jesus

1) what kind of service and ministry are you involved in?

2) what do you do for Him?

3) how much of your day is devoted to doing the things that please Him?

c. Give to Jesus

1) have you committed to regular giving of your money?

2) there is a very close relationship to devotion to God and giving in the Bible

3) if you aren’t faithful in managing worldly riches God says He will not trust with spiritual riches

d. Sacrifice for Jesus

1) what personal pleasures and ambitions have you given up in order to further the kingdom?

2) where have you sacrificed your own comfort and pleasure in order to please God?

e. Talk about Jesus

1) how much time do we spend talking about God?

2) how often do we tell others about what He is doing and has done and how great He is?

D. REMEMBER, REPENT, RETURN — OR BE REMOVED

ILLUS. We live in an era in the West where so many Christians, so many churches, andeven entire denominations have apostatized, that God is in the process of removing their Lampstand. Currently there are about seven Oldline — also called Mainline — Protestant denominations is America. At one time they were the stay of American Protestantism. They were a majority of all Christians in the United States until the mid-20th century. What happened? Every single one of them has abandoned the inerrancy and authority of the Scriptures. They’ve abandoned central doctrines that were deemed “offensive” to the surrounding culture. Today these seven Oldline denominations now constitute a minority among Protestants, and continue to shrink by one million members a year.

ILLUS. Church researcher, Ed Stetzer writes: “If current trends continue, mainline Protestantism has about 23 Easters left.”

III. APPLICATION

1. Ephesus was a church which teaches today's church some important lessons

A. THE CHURCH IS NOT ON ITS OWN

1. this will be an oft-repeated story as we look at the seven churches of Revelation

a. the Church has been bought with a price, we are not our own

b. our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands

1) he indwells his church through His Holy Spirit

2. that presence is the dynamic force which makes the church a divine entity rather than an earthly institution

B. GOOD WORKS TAKE HARD WORK

1. it is important for churches to dream of "what can be"

a. "dreaming" is important

b. the Psalmist reminds us that "where there is no vision, the people perish."

2. but there is a time when we stop dreaming and roll up our sleeves and go to work

ILLUS. We experienced this early in the summer when our “mission trip” only went as far as our own back yard. Four local families were ministered to, and it was hard, physical labor. Beginning at the end of August a series of Hurricanes hit American costal areas displacing hundreds of thousands of Americans. Within hours of those disasters Southern Baptists from all over the country were mobilizing and headed to those communities. They feed people, they clean up derbies, they mud-out homes and business. And they tell the hurting and displaced about Jesus. For the Christian community every national disaster is an opportunity to step up and be Christ’s love in action.

C. DOCTRINAL INTEGRITY AND THEOLOGICAL ORTHODOXY MUST NOT BE SACRIFICED FOR THE SAKE OF INCLUSIVENESS

1. it is important what you believe!

a. there are some doctrines that are absolutely necessary to the Christian faith

ILLUS. On Wednesday evening, we just finished a study of the Apostles’ Creed. It is a statement of faith that outlines the fundamental beliefs of our faith ...

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit

and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the grave.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended to heaven

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy universal church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

To deny any of those statements is to deny the faith delivered to the Church. We can debate about the mode of baptism, and we can debate about church polity, and we can debate about eschatological timing, and still walk in fellowship with each other. But there are some doctrines so essential, that to deny them precludes our fellowship with those who deny them.

2. it is important that churches stand for something or they will fall for anything

D. LOVE MUST NOT BECOME A CASUALTY OF DOCTRINAL INTEGRITY AND THEOLOGICAL ORTHODOXY

1. like the Ephesian church, we can easily fall prey to a cold, mechanical observance of religion

a. it is something we must constantly guard against in our life, and in our congregation

b. believers must earnestly contend fro the faith, but cannot do so to the exclusion of love for Christ, and love for each other

2. a loveless church will cease to be an attractive church

a. when a church grows cold and unattractive it will soon cease to be active for Christ and will ultimately die

b. I believe that's what Jesus means when he tells them he will "remove your lampstand"

3. Jesus appreciates doctrinal purity but also want devotional passion

a. Doctrine must be accompanied by devotion

b. Perseverance must be accompanied by passion

c. Faith must be accompanied by fervor

d. Creed must be accompanied by commitment

e. Orthodoxy must be accompanied by adoration

There are times when we all feel like Lucy in the comic strip "Peanuts." There she stood, shaking her little fist in defiance, proclaiming: "I know everybody in this family hates me. I'm gonna go where I'm appreciated! There must be a place in the world where I'd be appreciated." She turns to leave, then stops and sheepishly says, "Give me a hint." That's what we're all looking for: A place where we'll be loved and appreciated. That's what the church can be and ought to be.

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