The People that Forgot

Have you ever forgotten something? I mean something important … like a birthday or an anniversary or an important meeting. And maybe you had a good excuse.

My daughter was telling me last night about an over-the-top birthday yesterday up in Roches Point. It was for a 2 year old child and it was being held at the home of her well-off grandparents. The home is massive and you can only imagine how long the guest list was. Aly’s job was quite simple … she had to blow-up and deliver 101 white, pink and clear balloons. So imagine this for a moment …

The parents put the baby down at about noon for a nap because she’s getting cranky and quite frankly, they had some last minute preparations. At 1pm, the guests begin to arrive. Fifty or sixty of their closest friends. Everyone is bringing in gifts and the gifts are addressed to each other in the house. The kids are a bit noisy so they are asked to go outside to play. Before long, the huge BBQ feast is ready and everyone comes to the well-spread feast beneath the 100 x 40 foot tent. There is singing and drinking and games and dancing … everyone has a wonderful time. But it’s now getting late … almost midnight. So the guests begin to leave. Everyone agrees that they had a wonderful time and they promise each other that they will do this again same time next year.

Mom and dad are very tired and they decide they ought to go to bed. Because the maids and servants are cleaning the dishes in the main house, the parents opt to spend the night at the Briars Resort in one of their luxury suites. Finally, the last dish is washed and the servants have all gone off to bed in their quarters. But listen carefully …

There is a faint sound coming from upstairs … at least faint from where you are. You go to investigate only to notice that it is the sound of a terrified little baby coming from the bedroom quarters of this massive estate. You go up the stairs to find out that someone left their little baby behind. And to your amazement, you find the birthday girl … the child of honour … scared and all alone. Everyone had a great time … and everyone FORGOT about the birthday girl

How absurd right? Who would do something so horrible and so forgetful? << PAUSE >>

As I was considering what to preach this week, I really wanted to encourage you as a congregation. For those of you who do not know, 25 of you participated in a church clean-up day two Saturdays ago. And last Saturday, another large group came together at Carrotfest … over 1400 New Testaments were given out. WAY TO GO! I was so please to hear how you served!

So I wanted to find an encouraging passage of scripture to read to you … and my mind kept going back to the book of Revelation and the seven letter’s written to seven different churches … so today, I want to look at the church in Ephesus … and as we do this, my prayer even now is that we would hear what Jesus is saying to us … and that we would obey! << PRAY >>

Jesus’ Commendation of the Church (Revelation 2:1-3)

Let’s read the first three verses. The Lord commends (praises, or He makes honourable mention) these believers for their good works.

The hard work and devotion of these people was not lost on Jesus. He gives the Ephesians the thumbs up for all of their hard work

And when the Lord looks at us, He does the same for us. He notices our work and our diligence in serving and participating in many things here at BAC

Now remember, we are not saved … we do not come into relationship with Jesus because of the things that we do. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we are rescued from our sin by God thru believing in Jesus and it is not by our works. And yet verse 10 says that we are rescued in order to serve Him … to do good works.

Back to verse 2 and 3 … they were praised for their perseverance and patience. Jesus said that He knew that they could not tolerate wicked men and false teachers. And he appreciated the fact that they could not stand false teachers. Jesus noticed all of these good things!

What good things are you doing that you know Jesus will notice? Perhaps you serve in Sunday School or on the worship team. Maybe you volunteer at Mercy House or some other great service group. These things are not lost on Jesus. He sees them. He has taken note of your hard work and commitment

But as much as hard work and commitment are good things, they are not the most important thing. Remember the party in the story earlier. There were plenty of gifts, lots of food … even singing and dancing. But they FORGOT the baby! So what is the most important things for us with God. Let’s look back at the passage

Jesus’ Criticism of the Church (Revelation 2:4-6)

Let’s read verses 4-6. Listen to what Jesus is saying to them. “There’s something wrong with you!” OUCH! I don’t know about you but I don’t like the idea of Jesus saying that there is something wrong with me.

Jesus said, “You have forgotten your first love! FORSAKEN is the work the NIV uses. The word literally means “TO ABANDON”!

I don’t know about you, but if I was the Ephesians, I would take great offence to this. After all, they worked hard and did not put up with wicked men. They were patient and the persevered through all kinds of difficulties. When the Church numbers were down, they all worked hard and pulled things together as normal as they could. And when criticism came, they stuck it out. How could Jesus say such a tough thing about them … that they had Abandoned Jesus?

I don’t know about you but a question immediately comes to mind here: if I’m a busy, serving Christian, how do I FORGET … FORSAKE … even ABANDON Jesus?

One answer came strongly to my mind … HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND WITH ME ANDREW? How much time do you pray?

This isn’t even fair … I’m always doing stuff for you Lord. I’m here for lots of hours each week. I love to tell people about you. I’m in your word more than lots of people and I even preach here at BAC. How could I FORGET you Lord?

Perhaps I’m a lot like the parents who abandoned their beautiful child on her birthday. I did all of the stuff right … I love to talk about Jesus … I love to hear about Him, I love to spend time with His people … BUT PERHAPS I FORGOT TO PRAY! Perhaps we forget to pray!
<< PAUSE >>

Jesus Cure for Our Forgetfulness He gives us three words:

REMEMBER: Can you remember when you first believed in Jesus. You wanted to spend time with Him and talk to Him. It almost seemed like He talked to you too. And when you prayed, and read His word, it was almost as though He spoke to you.

Jesus tells us to remember the height from which we had fallen

REPENT: What does it mean to repent? I have caught myself with this several times lately. I know it’s hard to believe, but one MY kids did something to hurt the feelings of another one of my kids … hard to believe eh? I told the one to tell his sister that he was sorry … so he did … SORRY! But I think you know as well as Rhonda and I know that the words meant nothing. They had become a duty and not a heart felt apology and turning from the hurtful act.

Is this how I repent now … with just words of duty … or am I heart broken over my sin and broken to the point of no return and change?

REDO: Jesus is telling us not only to remember and repent, he is also telling us to REDO the things we did when we first believed. Jesus is calling us to come back to PRAY … yes to PRAY … to spend time with God, to CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD. TO WAIT ON HIM until He tells us what to do next. Literally, to return to loving Jesus and spending time with Him in prayer.

I read a book this week by Jim Cymbala called, FRESH WIND, FRESH FIRE. In it he makes a powerful quote:

You can tell the popularity of the preacher by the Sunday morning attendance.

You can tell the popularity of the evangelist by the Sunday evening service.

And you can tell the popularity of Jesus by the attendance at prayer meetings.

Let’s read verse 7: For him who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Holy Spirit says. And to him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.

LET’S PRAY