First Love

Introduction

Read Scripture

Revelation 2:1–7 ESV

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

The Seven churches are all in Asia Minor. This letter was meant to be circulated.

Ephesus is our first stop and it lies at the mouth of a harbor that was considered the gateway between Greece and Asia. Much of the worlds major commercial travel and trade would travel to and through this port.

It had a population of 250,000 people.

It was a great city, it had culture, sports and business.

If you were to enter the city from the port you would see a marble paved road with marble pillars flanking each side, scattered with businesses and home. But as you walked more in road it would jut off to the side and at the end of the street was a 25,000 seat ampi-theater.

Artemis

At the top of the hill stood one of the seven wonders of the world. A temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis. The goddess of erotic love and sex.

this temple was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world because is was over 4 football fields long and almost a football field wide.

Its roof was held up with 127 Pillars made of Parian marble that stretched some 18 meter high.

Everything was tied to the worship of Artemis. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt 3 times and the third time, the temple during the existence of the church there, the people of Ephesus funded the temple project themselves. She was their god, she belonged uniqely to them. They had rejected the money from Alexander to rebuild the temple and did it themselves for the second rebuilding. The theatre, the games, the marketplace were centered around this worshipped deity. Their loyalty to her was almost unbreakable.

Jesus says

Revelation 2:2–3 ESV

2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

You are in a religiously stubborn community. They have tried to bring their teaching in and some have even been enticing,

You have tested (You know the scriptures)

You have endured (You have fought the good fight)

You have not grown weary. (you will continue to fight)

BUT.....

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

First Love knows the least but loves the most

You fall in love when you are young and dumb.

All you have to do is get to know me and you know how much worse it could be when i was younger.

My wife was dumb......she was dating me.

We hopped in my freshly stolen Acura integra that had just come back from the impound.

I had cash in my pocket.

Maybe you have a story like that but a person can have many first loves.

When I held my little girl for the time.

THE CHURCH

They had gotten the book right. They have believed the right things, they had fought the good fight.

First Love Operates from "Want To" not "Have To"

Jesus wants them to remember how things were at the beginning.

Jeremiah 2:2 ESV

2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

Everything (literally) was trying to steal their affection for Christ. This is what Jesus points them back to. He doesn’t point them to the goddess of Ephesus but to the love of Christ which they first encountered.

Agape love is central to the Christian Life

This is the mark of a true believer. Their love is strong.

Love - agape the quality of warm regard for and interest in another, esteem, affection, regard, love (without limitation to very intimate relationships, but never it regards to a sexual relationship)

In Ephesians 5 - Paul tells husbands to Agapeo their wives.

John 17:20–21 ESV

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:23 ESV

23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Do you see what Jesus does here?!

He prays for us to be united and one as the heavenly father and Christ are one.

These people are not Christ but they are attached to Christ. This is the evidence to the world. YOU ARE GODS GREATEST EVIDENCE TO THE WORLD.

Notice what holds it together. “Agape”

First Love attaches itself to a Person not just an Idea

Love has to attach itself to something tangible.

John 15:12 ESV

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Jesus always attaches his commands to his person. Jesus gives out rules.

Jesus knew I would need to be commanded to love you guys…otherwise....

If my wife asks me to take out the garbage...... I do it, why because the command is attached to a person I view it differently.

When you get irritated because your spouse asks you to do something, that is a cue you have wandered away from Agape.

This place is to be a place of AGAPE.

When strangers can walk through our doors and feel a love that surprises them, when they think, man they really care about me. This isn’t just a show but they seem like they genuinely want to know me and talk with me.

You know whats happening there. You’re getting a taste of agape. You are getting a taste of something that didn’t originate in us. It is a foreign concept to us but we have expereinced it ourselves.

Elsie Story

I was having a tender moment. Tears were welling up in my eyes. I was seeing how big she was getting and remembering the good ol days.

She sees me in my emotional state. My daughter feels deeply, she knows when someone is going to cry.

She looks at me with a cute little smile plugs my nose with her fingers and says, “Say Something”

She then takes out the fingers of death from her hair.

When love is attached to a person, you can simply love.

Isn’t that what everyone wants.

To simply be loves and to simply love another.

First Love is Vulnerable

Agape is a foreign love we do not know.

It is best seen on the cross.

Rev 2:7 - “To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is the paradise of God.”

This was the tree that humanity had access to but lost it.

Our grandparents became vulnerable to death. (Capable of physical or emotional wounding)

They were filled with shame and covered themselves.

Love has the potential to do great harm,