Revelation Sermon - 4

Revelation: First Love

Revelation 2:1-7

1. Introduction – This morning we are beginning a journey through these 7 messages to 7 churches.

a. Maybe a question to ask as we begin is, “Why 7?” There were more than 7 churches in Asia Minor – there was Colossae, Lystra, Derbe, Miletus, just to name a few – so why single out 7?

i. Because for John, and for most of the ancient world, seven was the number for completeness. We’ve already seen this number. This letter is from the sevenfold Spirit of God.

1. In other words – from the complete presence and work of the Spirit.

a. So, these messages to the seven churches – yes are directly addressing seven real churches in Asia Minor – but these letters are also addressing the complete church.

ii. By addressing 7 particular churches, Jesus is addressing the issues that will most likely arise in ALL churches.

b. As we start our journey through these 7 messages, I want you to see that they are all structured the same way.

i. All 7 of these messages, to some degree, follow this pattern.

2. Ephesus – This morning we are going to start where Jesus started, with his message to the church at Ephesus.

a. Before we look at what Jesus says in this message, here’s a little bit of background on Ephesus.

i. It was a major port city – an urban centre. It was a cosmopolitan, world class city.

1. It was a financial and business centre, but it was also a religious centre.

ii. It had temples galore. Temples to this god or that god or that goddess.

1. The 2 biggest temples in Ephesus were to the goddess of fertility, Artimis, and to the Emperor of Rome.

a. And it was here in that centre of business, politics and religious pluralism that a church was planted.

b. We actually know quite a bit about the church in Ephesus, both form the Bible itself and from Christian history.

i. The church in Ephesus was planted by the Apostle Paul on his 3rd missionary journey. Paul was helped by his friends Priscilla and Aquila. Paul ended up fleeing the city because his preaching caused riots.

1. Paul left his protégé Timothy to pastor this growing church. Paul wrote the letter Ephesians – which is specifically address to the church at Ephesus. And he also wrote two personal letters to Timothy, while he was pastoring the Ephesian church.

c. Christian tradition says that after Timothy was murdered by the Romans, the Apostle John took over as pastor.

i. And it was while he was in Ephesus or the surrounding area that he did most of his writing.

1. Seriously, think about it…what a church! What history this church has. Founded by Paul, nurtured by Priscilla and Aquila; pastored by Timothy and John. What a church!

a. What did Jesus have to say to this influential church?

3. Jesus’ Message – We’ll look at what is meant by ‘angel’ next week because the message to Smyrna is a little short than this one.

a. Jesus describes himself as holding the 7 stars. Remember the 7 stars are the 7 angels of the churches.

i. But look how the imagery of the next phrase is heightened.

1. Last week we saw that glorious phrase “standing in the middle.” Well in chapter 2, Jesus describes himself as ‘walking among the lampstands.” He is walking among the churches.

a. He intimately knows what’s going on in these churches, in his church in general, because Jesus, the risen, glorious and victorious Jesus, walks among his church.

4. Good Things – And at first, Jesus’ message is filled with good things to say about the church in Ephesus.

a. This is a buzzing church. They have all kinds of ministries going on. It’s not a comfortable social club.

i. Member are actively involved. It seems that they are diligent – pushing themselves for God’s kingdom.

1. Jesus commends them for being a discerning church. And in his last address to them in Acts 20, Paul actually commends to develop more discernment, so apparently they took that message to heart.

b. They know the truth and they rigorously defend it. Like Jesus himself, they hate the teaching of the Nicolaitans (we’ll study them more when we study Pergamum.)

i. They were committed to doing and knowing. Sounds like a bustling church. One commentator writes that this church was energetic in their service, patient in their suffering and orthodox in their faith

1. Seriously, what could possibly be wrong with a church like this?

5. Flawed – But outside appearances can be deceiving – because Jesus tells this church that they are flawed at their core.

a. And we read out of the NLT this morning because I believe it best explains what the problem in Ephesus was.

b. They had no love – no love for Jesus and no love for each other.

i. Other translations say “Lost your first love” or “failed to love as at first.” But I think the translation we read this morning best explains the objects of that failed love.

c. So, let’s think about this ‘first love’ concept. Let’s think back to the time you fell in love with your spouse.

i. Chances are, since you loved them, you thought about him or her constantly. You wanted to be together constantly. Maybe you even rearranged your schedule to make more time.

1. There were most likely grand romantic gestures.

a. First love is a love that always has time for the beloved. First love is attentive, eager, seeking to please and it’s extravagant.

d. Or think back to when you were really encountered by the love of Jesus in your life. Hopefully you were eager to spend time getting to know Jesus – you were reading the Bible with regularity, attentively listening to and for his voice in your life.

i. You were spending time in prayer talking with him and serving alongside God’s people.

e. Or think about your first love with church – eager to help, eager to serve, attentive to the needs of others.

i. But in all three of these scenarios something can happen – time passes. Time passes, and you still love your spouse, but the flame doesn’t burn quite as hot or the grand romantic gestures have stopped.

1. Time passes and the cares of this world begin to crowd out your time with God.

a. Time passes and your love for God’s people dies down and you no longer serve with joy but with drudgery.

f. And at that point we have a decision to make – we can accept the conclusion that we feel is inevitable – nothing can burn that bright for that long.

i. So, we slide into a habit or routine and we settle for what becomes the status quo.

1. We allow our passion to die down – with Jesus and with his church.

a. “I have this against you…you don’t love.” Jesus says, “My church is to be a place of vibrant love – for me and for others.

6. Two Fronts – Jesus said Ephesus lacked love on two fronts. First, they didn’t love him the way they did at first.

a. Oh sure, they were busy doing for him. They were busy defending the truth of their faith – but they did it in a loveless way.

i. I’ve lived in this world. Sometimes in the world of academia, at Bible college or in seminary – it’s really easy to treat the Bible as a textbook – something that needs to be read and studied in order to get grades.

1. But that’s not the point. That leads to a loveless defense of the faith. Where the knowledge accumulated makes a difference in the brain – but it doesn’t make a difference in the heart.

a. That’s the Ephesian problem. They didn’t have a love relationship with Jesus – the knew about him, but they didn’t know him.

b. And the spiritual fervor of the church suffered. And when spiritual fervor suffers and love for Jesus declines – it will quickly be followed by a lack of love for God’s people.

i. A passionate love for Jesus should result in a love for God’s people. But if we lack love for God’s people – it leads to a lack of fellowship.

1. But on the other hand – a passionate love for Jesus should result in a love for those who don’t even know Jesus yet.

a. So, a lack of love for Jesus can lead to a lack of evangelism.

c. Evangelism and fellowship – 2 vitally important aspects of church life, right?

i. If the church at Ephesus lacked love for Jesus and each other, if their evangelism morphed into bull-headed heresy hunting; if their fellowship turned into loveless social hour…

1. No wonder Jesus threatens to extinguish their light.

a. The church described as a lampstand goes right along with Jesus exhortation that Christians are the light of the world – a city on a hill.

d. And Jesus says that any church that ceases to love him the way they ought to, or any church that ceases to love others the way they should – he will no longer recognize that group of people as a church.

i. The one who walks among the lampstands, who walks among the churches – won’t walk at that one any more.

e. That’s a stark warning that as individual Christians and as a corporate body we need to take seriously.

i. We must make sure our love for Jesus is burning as hot if not hotter than on the first day we met him.

1. And we must make sure that our love for God’s people is as strong as the day we first came here.

7. Rekindle the Flame – And what I love about this message to Ephesus, and what the Bible does it general – is that it always gives us practical advice on how to get to where we need to go. It never leaves us hanging.

a. Jesus heartbreakingly says, “You don’t love me or each other…” but here’s how you can fix that. And look at how Jesus says we can reclaim lost love.

b. Step 1 is to remember. Look how far you have fallen. Other translations say, “Remember from where you have fallen.” Remember.

i. Remember where you were. Jesus doesn’t call us to beat ourselves up over this or work ourselves into an emotional state.

1. The first step is to remember. Remember what you did and what it felt like when you first experienced Jesus.

a. Remember the joy you had reading and studying his word, spending time in prayer and being around God’s people.

2. Remember. Memory can be a powerful trigger for us to change our ways. Remember what ‘first love’ felt like.

c. Step 2, after we remember, after recognizing that something isn’t right, the next step is to repent.

i. Repentance means to stop and make a change in direction. Like a U turn. It has the sense of a radical and vigorous change of direction.

1. So in the context of this message to the church at Ephesus, repentance means changing our schedules, our habits, our commitments in order to shift our focus back on Jesus.

ii. For the Ephesians, and for us today, if we have lost our first love, we must repent and admit that we are worshipping work or financial security – we have to admit that there are things in our lives that we are loving more than Jesus.

d. And when we are faced with a dwindling light of love, we are faced with either accepting what we think is inevitable – or, we can admit our own personal failings and responsibility and actually do something about it.

i. And that’s exactly what Jesus says. He doesn’t say, “Your love is failing, but hey, maintain the status quo!”

1. No Jesus gets after his people and says, “Your love is failing, you are in real danger here. Recognize that fact and DO something about it.

e. Which brings us to step 3. Jesus says redo. Do the things you did at first.

i. Repentance is meant to do 2 things in our lives. First, repentance drives us to fling ourselves on God’s grace.

1. And repentance drives us to take action and change the course and direction of where we’re heading.

f. Jesus says to the church in Ephesus, “Do the things you did when you were first in love – with me and with each other.

i. Remember what you used to do? Remember those times you spend devouring my word? Remember the times we used to spend together in prayer?

1. Remember the joy you used to have in being around and serving God’s people?

a. Jesus says, “Do whatever it takes to restore those first love feelings.

8. Conclusion – This message to Ephesus is practical to us to two levels. As individual Christians, we should all take this message to heart.

a. Do you love Jesus like you did at first? Do you love him more? The longer you serve him the sweeter he grows???

i. Or have the cares and rush and hurry of this world taken priority over Jesus? Have you allowed your love for something else drown out the flame of passion that once burned bright for Jesus?

1. Are you, as and individual Christian, loving God’s people as you should? Are you seeking to edify and build up and encourage the body of believers? Or do you gossip about and slander your Christian brothers and sisters?

a. If you assess where you are and find that things need to change in your life, hear the words of Jesus again – remember, repent and redo.

b. And corporately as a church – is the praise and honour and spread of Jesus’ name our highest priority?

i. And do we love each other, and do we love those who aren’t part of our church yet?

1. If we are displaying that kind of live – we can’t let anything or anyone diminish or extinguish that flame.

ii. But if we aren’t, then we must remember what it was like when we were loving each other deeply, we must repent for our failings, and we must redo the things we once did.

c. If we do those things – Jesus promises victory. But it’s not a momentary or fleeting victory – Jesus promises an everlasting victory in the Paradise that God will bring with him in the new creation.

i. What an incredible promise. What an incredible and practical message for us today.

d. Next week, we’ll look at Jesus’ message to the church in Smyrna. It was a suffering church that was in desperate need of encouragement. Read 2:8-11 ask “What leaps out at me?” and “what puzzles me?”