Love Abandoned/Love Returned
What happens when we do things because they have become habit. What is the motive behind it? If we have lost our love for it, then there is no passion behind it. God will commend the church at ephesus for doing but rebukes them for why they are doing it. On this he gives them a very stern warning.
A. The Faithful Works of This Church (2:1–3)
Like any other fundamental church, this church was busy. It had an active program and a full round of meetings.
1. It Was Standing Up to the Task (2:1–2a)
The Lord, standing in the midst of the lampstands, holding the seven stars in His right hand, acknowledged that the church was standing up to its task. He said, I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience. James would never have written to Ephesus his stinging rebuke “Faith without works is dead.” This church was full of good works. It had a magnificent program.
Suppose you had attended this church one Sunday morning as a visitor from Corinth, Jerusalem, or Rome. You have just joined, at an early morning hour, with the other believers in the Communion service. Now brother Tychicus rises to give the announcements for the week. They might go something like this: “Immediately after this service will be a prayer meeting. The sisters will meet in the annex next door, the brethren will meet on the patio outside. At eleven o’clock the family Bible hour will begin, and the Sunday School division of the family hour will meet in the school of Tyrannus across the street. The adults will meet here. The gospel will be preached this morning by our brother Alexander from Cyrene. Our aged brother is the son of the well-known Simon who carried the cross for our Lord and who joined in Paul’s original commendation to the mission field. We are privileged to have our brother Alexander with us today. He will also speak tonight at the evening service at seven p.m.
“This afternoon at @@2:30~~ there will be a street meeting to be conducted outside the Temple of Artemis. Christians in the fellowship will recall that this weekend brings many pilgrims to Ephesus to partake in the pagan festival of Artemis. We suggest that those who, like Gideons twenty-two thousand, are afraid to get involved, should stay home. We only want those who are activated by holy boldness to attend.
“The young people’s meeting will convene at @@4:30~~ p.m. Brother Simon Ben Joseph from Jerusalem will be giving an illustrated talk on the Holy Land. There will be a choir practice after the service this evening. Brother David ben Korah has written a new Christmas cantata. All choir members should make a special effort to attend since parts for this cantata are to be assigned this afternoon.
“The tract club will meet in the home of brother Hermes tomorrow night. A new tract has been received from brother Marcellus of Rome. All who can wield a pen will be needed to begin making copies of this tract for distribution. The weekly prayer meeting will be held Tuesday evening. We need to pray earnestly for the activities of this church. Last week attendance at the prayer meeting was very poor. The weekly Bible class meets one hour after sundown on Wednesday evening. We are studying the apostle Paul’s epistle to the Romans. Those who possess a copy of this scroll are requested to bring it to the meeting.
“There will be an elders’ meeting at the close of the Bible class. All elders should make a special effort to be present. We are going to have an interview with James of Antioch who claims to be an apostle. A deacons’ meeting will be held at the same time to consider the proposal that we install some new pews in the auditorium. The ladies’ Dorcas meeting will be held this week in the home of sister Phoebe. The sisters are sewing for brother Gaius and his family serving the Lord in Egypt.
“The youth challenge rally will be held Saturday near Bonfire Square. We are expecting young people to be with us from Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia. The youth challenge speaker will be our honored brother Fortunatus, who was recently condemned to die in the arena at Rome but who was reprieved at the last moment. There will be a potluck fellowship supper on Saturday. The sisters will see my wife about the food. Let us try to bring our unsaved friends and neighbors to that supper. There will be a testimony meeting after the meal.
“I think that is all the announcements. Oh, what’s that, my dear? Yes! I should have mentioned that there will be a baptism class for new Christians after the prayer meeting on Tuesday evening.”
The church at Ephesus was standing up to the task. It was busy. There was plenty of activity, but there was no blessing. When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he could commend their work of faith, their labor of love, and their patience of hope (1 Thess. 1:3). The church at Ephesus had works, labor, and patience, but it had lost the faith, the hope, and the love.
2. It Was Standing Up for the Truth (2:2b)
The believers at Ephesus repudiated moral evil. The Lord wrote, I know … how thou canst not bear them which are evil. The kind of thing that took place at Corinth would not have been tolerated at Ephesus. No man who was unscrupulous in business, impure in his conversation, known to be living in immorality, habitually intoxicated, given to fits of rage, unfaithful to his pledges, or convicted of lying would have lasted in the Ephesian fellowship. He would have been judged and excommunicated with due dispatch. True, there would be a certain hardness in the procedure, but high standards of discipline would be maintained.
The believers at Ephesus repudiated ministerial evil. The Lord said, I know … thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars. People showing up at Ephesus with high-sounding claims to ministerial position met with short shrift. Even Paul would have needed a letter of commendation to be received at Ephesus! False doctrine, at least along certain lines, did not dare to rear its head.
3. It Was Standing in the Test (2:3)
The Lord has one more thing to commend. He says, Thou … hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. It was not at all easy going at Ephesus. The believers came in for their share of opposition and criticism from the world. But they did not give up easily. They kept on year after year, despite lack of fruit and poor results. They may not have been very fruitful, but they were certainly faithful. They struggled on, and God commended them for it.
B. The Fatal Weakness of This Church (2:4–5a)
When Paul wrote to Ephesus, he reminded the believers of their exalted position in Christ. “You are risen,” he said. Quickened together with Christ! Raised with Christ! Seated in the heavenlies in Christ! That was their position. John simply says, “Thou art fallen.”
1. The Vitality of Their Passion Was Gone (2:4)
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love, says the Lord. With eyes aflame, the Lord says that one large debit consumed all their credit. The spiritual coin of poor insolvent Ephesus never saw the mint of love. It is possible to serve the Lord for a variety of motives—for the praise of men, for prestige or position, for the sake of reputation, because it is simply the thing to do. because of a sense of duty. If service for God is not born of a devoted passion for the Lord Jesus it is worthless.
2. The Validity of Their Profession Was Gone (2:5a)
Thou art fallen. Thus, in one terse, tragic statement, the Lord sums up the problem. When Rehoboam came to the throne of Israel, he acted like the fool he was. To humble him, God allowed the Egyptians to invade Judea and to carry away as spoil the golden shields that Solomon had provided for the Temple guard. Rehoboam took the loss in his stride. He made shields of brass instead. They would do! They looked like gold. The shields would shine in the sun just the same (1 Kings 14:25–27). That is what had happened at Ephesus and what has happened to many a fundamental church. The enemy has made off with the gold of devotion, and we make do with the brass instead. “Sounding brass and tinkling cymbal” is the way Paul describes Christian duty devoid of love (1 Cor. 13:1).
“The love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope, it can outlast anything.… In this life we have three great lasting qualities—faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love” (1 Cor. 13:4–13, Phillips[*]).
C. The Forceful Warning to the Church (2:5b–7)
Apart from repentance there can be only one end. The testimony of the church will have to be extinguished. The lamp will be allowed to go out.
1. Love Must Be Absolutely Paramount (2:5b)
The Lord warns the Ephesian church, Repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. No love, no light is the rule. Love is to be paramount: nothing less will do. If there is no real love for the Lord Jesus, the reason for the assembly’s existence has vanished. A local church that is functioning without love for the Lord is worse than useless. It gives a wrong impression of what Christianity is all about, and it is best removed.
2. Love Must Be Absolutely Positive (2:6)
The Lord, even while reproving, has a further commendation to make. This thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. Love must be a positive emotion; theirs was a negative emotion at best. Their love for the Lord, such as it was, manifested itself in a hatred of evil. All too often those who have forgotten how to love specialize in hating error. Error must be hated, of course, but there is something wrong when the Lord has to endorse the negative because he cannot find the positive. Even the endorsement He does give comes almost as an afterthought.
3. Love Must Be Absolutely Personal (2:7)
The Lord saw the corporate Ephesian church in a fallen condition. He appeals to the individual, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Love is a personal matter. We are saved one by one; we must be restored one by one. No hint is given that the entire Ephesian church would respond to this letter, but the hope is that individuals would. When Adam fell, he lost Paradise, and he lost access to the tree of life. Here is a fallen church. It too has lost the paradise of bliss that comes from walking with God. The Lord’s call here is a call to individual believers to get back to the daily quiet time with Himself. There is no other way to restore a lost love and a lost life. It is tragically possible to have a saved soul and a lost life.