REVELATION PART 3 (LOVE LOST)

REVELATION PART 3

"LOVE LOST!"

Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and 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.

Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Rev 2:7 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.

INTRODUCTION

(have a salt shaker full of salt)

How many know what this is?... SALT! We use it to spice up our food, to add flavor to it, to preserve, to help in healing, to cleanse, etc.

Salt is a necessity in our diet, we would die without it! In antiquity it was considered so important that at times it was more valuable than gold and was used sometimes as hard currency!

Salt is made up of only 2 elements: SODIUM & CHLORINE (thus Sodium Chloride). Like Christianity … made up of 2 elements, TRUTH & LOVE.

Combined they are wonderful ... but either existing alone brings death!

Truth without Love is like Chlorine ... chlorine without sodium is a poisonous gas, it is what gives bleach its distinctive offensive odor.

Chlorine is used to purify, but alone it is a killer! Love is like Sodium, sodium almost never is found in nature without combining itself to some other element, it is an extremely active agent.

If Chlorine isn't available it will combine with something else ... love is like this.

IT IS NOT ENOUGH to JUST love, without truth love will combines with all kinds of things and can produce strange substances!

THE CHURCH MUST COMBINE BOTH TRUTH & LOVE ... like salt, in order to be useful!

The Church in Ephesus was missing LOVE ... though they maintained truth, they had lost an important element.

The passion of their faith and service was missing, it can happen!

2 Tim 1:6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.

Here Paul is referencing the spiritual gift is like a fire and when not fan or stirred up and more fuel added, it will go out. So it is a remind to us that if we neglect as Paul warn here:

1 Tim 4:14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you.

1 Tim 4:15 Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress.

1 Tim 4:16 Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.

If we do not replenish with continued grace and power from the Holy Spirit anointing then we will become useless. This is why we need a continuous supply of the Spirit of God flowing in and thru our lives.

We will lose our first love.

The Bible teaches us that if we lose our "first love" for Christ, our service will become weary, and the results will be just another institution attempting to create another product!

God calls us to have passion in our service for Him, and when we do our ministry becomes a joy rather than just a job!

Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

The church of Ephesus was a Church of workers!. These were not lazy Christians ... God even states this clearly!

How many Churches today would pass this same test!? How many churches today have a reputation of being hard workers?

They were not every once an while Christians ... they were hard workers all the time, this was their reputation!

The City: Ephesus, This was a unique city, a population of 250,000 people!!!

It was also very religious having dozens of temples to various gods and goddesses.

One of the 7 wonders of the world was in Ephesus ... the temple to "Diana".

The temple was 425 feet long, adorned with gold, marble, and all kinds of jewels, and about 1,000 prostitutes in the temple ... Diana was the "goddess of LOVE!"

Even the city name reflects this: "EPHESUS" means "Desirable" or "Maiden of Choice"

The Church: probably the largest Church in its day!

This Church had entered it's second generation! It was established by Paul around 50-60 AD.

It was a well established Church, a reputation of high degree ... but the Church was at a spiritual crossroads as far as God was concerned, and how ironic that its problem was that of LOVE!

In the very town where the "love goddess" was strongest!

There was nothing wrong with their service and works, but they were losing their passion for God.

This so critical because if their ministry was duty alone the people of the town would fail to see a difference between REAL LOVE.

Duty--That which a person is bound by moral obligation to do, or refrain from doing; that which one ought to do; service morally obligatory. 2. the social force that binds you to your obligations and the courses of action demanded by that force.

Agape Love—undying, unselfish and unconditional love.

They had the perfect opportunity to show the Ephesians the difference between passion for the right God and passion that turned to lust for a false god!

But to do this they would have to recapture their lost love for God!

God wasn't asking them for more work ... just motivation based on loving God as they once had!

This is where the church head the wrong direction. In these last days we find that love just like the church of EPHESUS in Christian will lack.

Matt 24:10 And many will turn away from Me and betray and hate each other.

Matt 24:11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people.

Matt 24:12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.

When we start losing our passion, our love for God and His ministry then something is wrong. And this is what is amazing to me, look at verse 12: Sin will be rampant everywhere.

I always know when my heart is not plugged in, my life has been unplugged because of sin or temptation that pulling me away.

Rev 2:2 "I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars.

Look at this, They were hard workers, they were not quitters, They endured, they kept up their ministry no matter the odds that were against them.

They were not easily sidetracked by opposition, they were strong in doctrine and sound teaching, They did not become weary in the battle.

God commends them for this stability, being a second generation church. But yet there was still something missing.

It was so important that there was danger of losing their lampstand.

What was missing their passion, their love.

Rev 2:4 "But I have this complaint against you. You don't love Me or each other as you did at first!

Rev 2:5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to Me and do the works you did at first. If you don't repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.

They were not far from being just like the Temple of Diana !!

You see at the Temple of Diana there was all kinds of activity but no REAL LOVE! (just lust! )

The Church of Ephesus had lost their love and they were doing all kinds of activity but no real love.

When that happens the world will only see the Church as nothing more than just another social institution! (HOW PROPHETIC OF MANY CHURCHES TODAY)

They could have all the outward appearances of worship and service and still be empty but sooner or later it would show!

The Church in Ephesus was in danger of being without the passion needed in their service of God and they were not influencing the people of Ephesus!

Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

This would be a reckless mistake because it didn't have to be!

There was no cost involved ... no resources not already available!

For them to ignore this need would be a reckless error in the midst of a town of people whose means of support and recreation were founded on a goddess of love!

The lampstand for the Ephesus was the Church which existed for this city so that these people could know the difference between LUST and LOVE!

For them to ignore LOVE would leave the people without a way to know the difference!

To this city, they were watching the church go thru their duties just to fulfill their need to feel right.

Luke 1:9 According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

This was the duty of the priest,being Zechariah every morning he would get up and go thru this routine.

But on this day something was difference! And angel appeared. Tell the story. The end results was: The angel told Zechariah that he was going to have a son, and his name was to be John.

Luke 1:14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,

John the Baptist was the end results, the forerunner for Christ. A miracle was perform.

Many times we are going thru the motion, it is routine for us and we lose our passion,our love.

We do it because we are suppose to, not be we want to, because it just the right thing to do.

For instant: our giving, Tell the story of Connie and the electron-giving.

2 Cor 9:7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully."

Think about this, if we have to beg you to come to church, to be volunteer, you are not doing it out of love and passion then it might be that you have loss your first love.

Or if it just I have to pray because that what we do, or I have to study the Word because that what I am told to do, or I got to witness and list go on and on.

If it a “I have to” and not “I want to” then you are on the verge of losing your first love.

If I have to love this person then we got troubles.

This is true today of the Church: IF WE DON'T LOVE GOD AND ONE ANOTHER our society will fall into a society based on LUST ... never knowing the difference between the two!

You see lust is satisfying the flesh right, get this when we are just going thru the motion because it a duty then we are just satisfying the flesh. It make us feel good. right.

This would be horrible for the church and our families and our friends, this city.

If we fail to really love God properly? If we fail to really love one another properly?

What kind of model will the world have if we don't become that model, that in love and passionate about God!!!?

A loveless Church or Christian is a serious offense to God!

It is possible for both the believer and the Church to be active in God's work and yet be dead spiritually!

Life without love is not righteousness, just ritual!

JOY is replaced by JOB when God's love is absent in our hearts.

Over time, passion can be lost to programs ... we need to renew our first love for God if we hope to escape empty rituals!