Show a video title "Who Is God?" (i have this so email me if you want to use it.)
Reading of the Text: Revealtion 2:2-5
In the scripture text, Jesus is telling the church of Ephesus that they are doing a lot of great things. They have worked hard, and have perservered. They have a hard time tolerating the wicked, and have tested those that have claimed to be apostles but weren’t. They had endured many hardships for Jesus’ sake. Yet there was one thing that was held against them; they had forgotten their first love.
It is hard to say what had caused them to lose their first love. It could have been that they had just gotten so wrapped up in their rituals, that they had lost touch with why they were really doing the things they were doing.
As a preacher, I have found three things that I believe have caused us to lose our first love.
Reason #1 Pride
As a society we are to proud to admit that we need anything. We have the mentality that we can do it alone, we are all that we need. We have taken Philipians 4:13 and have just used the first of the scripture in which it says, "I can do all things," and we have left out the most important part in which it says "through Christ who gives me strenght." We are the most powerful country in the world, yet we have forgotten how we brought us to where we are. We have got to check our pride at the door.
Proverbs 16:18 tells us "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."
Reason #2 Fear
I think this is the area of my life in which I need to improve. I am to afraid of what others think of me. Sure we could go and witness to a lost family member, but we don’t because we are to afraid of being uncomfortable. We could do make a more solid commitment to God and do more to build up His kingdom, but with a larger commitment comes more responsiblity and the possiblity of being labeled as a religous fanatic. The church as a whole could do so much if we would just stop being afraid of offending someone or being afraid that they will think badly of us.
Isaiah 51:7 tells us "Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.
Reason #3 Selfishness
The third main reason we have lost our first love is selfishness. It is simple, we could be doing more for God, but I just don’t want to. If we did that we would have to step outside of our routine, we may have to miss a ball game once in a while, we may have to get to bed a little later than normal or wake a few minutes earlier. We live in a ME first society, but we are told repeatedly in God’s word that we are to be servants. The greatest act of unselfishness is when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples.
In Mark 9:35 scripture tells us, Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
Jesus made it pretty cut and dry there by telling his disciples to serve others and to basically leave their egos at home. What a concept for the church today. At the church where I serve Globe Christian Church our slogan is "We serve God by Serving Others."
We have got to become last in order to become first.
As the video shows, we live in a world that is confused about who God really is. They have preconceived notions that God either is some grandfatherly figure that is setting on a cloud or just something that we have made up just to have something to feel good about. People watch a video like this and ask themselves "Why has this happened?"
We need to take a long look in the mirror, because we are the reason that people are so confused about God. We have gotten away from finding joy in God, from finding hope in him. We are finding it so many other things, we feel good because we tithe, or we serve on a church board or committe. People see us feeling good about the things that we are doing, yet for the most part they are seeing us as hypocrites, or people who are phony. We have got to get to a point where we are doing the things that we do because we love God, and because we honestly yearn to please him, not so that others will pat us on the back.
I feel that there are four keys that can help us get back to our first love.
Key #1 Putting God first
We can make this step to regaining our first love by simply making a decision that we are going to put God first, and decide that the world is going to come second. If he calls us to go to a foreign country to be a missionary, we have to go. If he calls us to go and witness to a lost family member, we have to go. We have to answer his call and follow him regardless of the circumstances.
Romans 6:22-"But now you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."
Hebrews 12:2 "let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith."
Key #2 Attend Church Faithfully
We can get back to our first love is by simply attending church faithfully. Not just coming to church when it is convenient for us. Attending church each time the doors are open is our reasonable service, and when we fail to come we are putting other things before God. We are forsaking our first love. When we miss church we are also doing some serious damage to our witness. In doing this we are showing that we aren’t excited about serving God and therefore it will be hard for us to get anyone else excited about it.
Hebrews 10:22-25 "let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the day approaching."
Key #3 Prayer
WE need to go to prayer to ask God to give us guidance, wisdom and His will for our lives. This is the one thing that we neglect so often until we are truly in need.
Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
Numbers 11:17 "I will come down and speak to you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone."
Key #4 Read your Bible
The bible is the truly inspired word of God, yet we look for answers in other venues, self help books, radio call in shows, etc. Yet when we look in his word we find the answers to problems, and guidance in how to grow closer to God, how to serve and how to be in his will.
Romans 10:17 "consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Summary- There are so many parallels between the church of Ephesus and the Church today. We are doing more than we have ever done before, yet we aren’t doing it for the right reason. We aren’t doing these things because we love God, we are doing them because we love being praised.
You may be setting here in service and you just haven’t been faithful to God, maybe you need to examine your lives and find your first love again.
Or you may be here today and you have never had a relationship with Christ, today would be the perfect day to ask Christ into your life.
We need to stop putting God’s power in a box, we need to let him have complete control over our lives, we will be amazed at what he will do.
Nehemiah 1:8-9 Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying ’If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.’
