Returning to your First Love
Notes
Transcript
Love is a word that gets thrown around alot.
It has lots of different meanings and nuances.
Love a pet. Love Chocolate. Love food. Love a child. Love a football team .
It has been pointed out that even in the Greek language of Bible days there were multiple words that conveyed some idea of love.
There were three major words in Bible days
Eros- sensual love (not used in the Bible anywhere)
Phileo- brotherly love (Used frequently)
Agape- this is a word strongly used by the Scripture and the early church to talk about God’s love toward us, and by extension how we as follower of Jesus are to love God and others.
Today we are going to talk about Returning to your FIRST LOVE. OR the love you HAD at first.
1 “Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks among the seven gold lampstands says:
2 I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.
3 You also possess endurance and have tolerated many things because of My name and have not grown weary.
4 But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.
5 Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
6 Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the victor the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in God’s paradise.
Before we dig too deep into today’s message, let me make a few points by way of introduction.
The seven churches were real churches. Some were doing better than others. Most had strong points and weak points. A few have either nothing to brag about or nothing to complain about.
Some believe that these church represent ages or eras of church history. For instance, they would say that the church of the Apostolic Age is the Ephesian church, and the last church, the Laodician church represent the modern church.
I reject that idea for three reasons.
Nowhere does any biblical text teach such a thing.
The church were listed in geographical order for a circuit. In otherwords, the listing of the churches in the order they are is more pragmatic than having some deep hidden message.
Just like in John’s day those 7 churches with all their good points and bad points existed AT THE SAME TIME. Today you can find similar type churches to each of those 7.
The letter to each “messenger” of each church follows a similar basic format.
Tell who the letter is to.
Use a description of Jesus (most of which come from chapter 1)
brag on the good points.
Point out the error.
Call for a change.
Explain the consequence for continuing in the error.
Explain the blessing of being victorious in the Lord.
The Ephesian Church
The Ephesian Church
1 “Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks among the seven gold lampstands says:
Church at Ephesus: 3rd largest city in Roman Empire.
Temple of Artemas or Diana- one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. She was the goddess of fertility and twin sister of Appollo.
Paul has spent 3 years in Ephesus 45 years earlier, and many people were converted. So much so that the craftsmen who made little Artemis idols feared loss of their income and incited a riot against him.
Revivals over time had closed bars (ironic that these days some pastors host events in bars), caused farmers to have to retrain the plow animals because the farmers stopped cussing at the animals when they got right with God. When Jimmy Dean was pastor at West Hartselle, football coach was concerned over the sway the church had over his team.
Description of Jesus
Description of Jesus
1 “Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks among the seven gold lampstands says:
Holding the stars in his hand (pastors)
Among the lampstands (churches)
What comfort it is to know that Jesus had this pastor in His hand, AND that He is with the church. No matter what is happening in the world, the culture, and what election is being held. No matter how dark the darkness gets. HE IS WITH US!
Good Qualities
Good Qualities
2 I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.
3 You also possess endurance and have tolerated many things because of My name and have not grown weary.
6 Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Work hard
labor- toil to weariness
They stay at it are willing to take a stand for Christ even if they suffer persecution for it.
No tolerance for evil. (Strong Moral compass)
No tolerance for false teachers (Strong biblical theology)
They stay in it.
They “hate” the practices of the Nicolaitans. We will talk more about this group in another sermon, but there is little known about them or what they practiced that had Jesus and the Ephesian church so concerned.
In other words they had continued in faithful, orthodox service and theology to the Lord for over 40 years.
Negative Quality
Negative Quality
4 But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.
The word order of this goes like this:
YOUR FIRST LOVE YOU HAVE LEFT
YOUR FIRST LOVE YOU HAVE LEFT
We can be busy, but without deep devotion to Christ.
We can be theologically sound, but without deep devotion to Christ.
Paul had written to the Ephesian church 35 years earlier giving thanks for their love.
35 years later they still believe the same, they still are hard at work, but their white hot passion for the Lord had waned.
I think its fair to say that the church as a whole were involved with their heads (right teaching) and the hands (good works), but not their hearts.
1 If I speak human or angelic languages but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
All the usages for love in these verses is Agapeo- A deep sacrificial, God kind of love.
The Remedy
The Remedy
5 Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Remember.... As you look back over your Christian life, are there times that you loved Jesus more than you do now? Were there times when you were more devoted to the Lord than you are now? Remember
Repent.... Turn around. A change of mind that leads to a change of action.
Return… notice the evidence that you have remembered and repented is that you DO what you used to do. (With the same passion and devotion). You can do “Christian service” without devotion, but you can’t be devoted without doing Christian Service.
Do you need to return to your first love today?
Promise of Judgment
Promise of Judgment
5 Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
remove your lampstand.
The light of the witness of this local church would be extinguished.
Jesus says that if they don’t return to their first love (their passion and devotion to Him) he will shut the whole thing down. Eventually this happened.
Churches are made up of individual Christians, and each one of us has to decide to let our light shine.
Local Baptist Churches are closing at an alarming rate, and COVID has put many others on their death bed. We can lament the advent of the multi-campus mega church siphoning members away, or we can heed the words of Jesus to the Ephesian Church, and realize that we may need to return to our first love.
Promise of Blessing
Promise of Blessing
7 “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the victor the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in God’s paradise.
Right to eat from the tree should be seen as a promise from God that in the new heaven and new earth you will live forever.
This is promised to the Victor- the conquerer- the NIKE