Who Do You Love?
Revelation 2:1-7
This past week has been full of love
Folks getting together to celebrate
With food and drink
Sharing stories of past experiences maybe
Lots of smiles and exciting times
A lot of people wearing red even
And this all started long before this week as well
People getting prepared for this special occasion
Making sure everything was just right
Things had to be perfect or else the results could be disastrous
Timing had to be exact
All the people had to be in their proper place
All leading up to that special day
And of course that day is…
Valentines day?
No, that day is today
THE DAYTONA 500!!!
Today is the 50th running of the Daytona 500
The super bowl of NASCAR
Teams spend nearly the entire off season preparing for this
Months of planning go into each and every aspect of this race
And the fans love it
They come out to watch anything that has to do with Daytona
Hey I admit it, I watched some of the qualifying the other day.
There are no more dedicated fans than NASCAR fans
They love their drivers, and hate the others
See its not even possible to like Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon
I can’t see how anyone likes Jeff Gordon, beside the point
Love NASCAR
And of course this past week was Valentines day as well
The day of love
Where every guy must prove his love to his woman with jewelry, chocolates, teddy bears, roses, and whatever else they are trying to guilt trip us into on TV
It is a good time to reflect on how much that special someone means to us.
And how much we truly love them.
And just like you might send your sweetie a love letter
John records a letter to be given to the church at Ephesus from Jesus Christ himself
But this letter is not a love letter
Rather , leaving your first love
So let’s read Rev. 2:1-7
According to legend, when pioneers came to the
mainland of Asia minor
being uncertain where to settle, they consulted an oracle which told them
that a fish and a boar would show them the place.
One night, as they were cooking fish, one fell out
of the fire pit with a live coal attached which set fire to some nearby brush.
A boar hiding in the bushes fled in fright but was pursued and killed.
Recalling the word of the oracle, the founders built the city on the spot where they killed the boar.
This was the founding of Ephesus.
Years, decades, and centuries passed and this city became plagued with paganism.
A man named Paul visited and brought hope.
Paul ministered in Ephesus for three years
And warned the Ephesians that false teachers would come
And try to draw people away from the faith
False teachers did indeed cause problems in the church
But the church resisted them
And John also spent much of his ministry in this city
And knew they had resisted false teaching as well.
The purpose of this letter and this message is so important
We need to discover the problem this church had
We need to discern if this problem exists today in our church
We need to discard this problem in pursuit of revival
I. The Position in Which This Church was Found
A. They were Tireless in Service
I know thy works, for my name’s sake you have labored and hast not fainted
Over a long period of time the church at Ephesus had refused to tolerate sin among its members
This was not easy in a city noted for immoral sexual practices associated with the worship of the goddess Artemis.
Consider the trials they endured
It was not exactly a ideal place to be ministering
And their works are mentioned, their good works
Both of ministers and the church
No evil works are mentioned no complaints save one
Christ knows all the works of His people
And He knows whether they are done in obedience to Him
And spring from a love for Him
And He knows if they are performed in His strength and by His grace
And are directed to His glory
And He takes notice of approves of and is well pleased with these works
And these early churches were very diligent in working
They were laborious
The phrase I know thy labor
Is particularly speaking of the labor of ministering the Gospel
The frequent preaching of it, in season and out
In constant administration of the ordinances
And in diligent exercise of church discipline
The work of the ministry is a laborious work to the mind in studying
And to the body in the outward discharge of it
And it becomes more so through the malice and opposition of enemies, and the weakness of friends
This is all part of the trials endured and the trouble they encountered
And such ministers deserve respect
Even double honor
And even though they do not always receive this of men
Christ takes notice of them and their labors and commends them for them
And will reward them
Tell story of lady , when getting service (Reverend)
They were tireless in their service
B. They were Theologically Sound
They knew what they believed and why they believed it
They had encountered problems within the church
“them that were evil”
Evil either in their principles or in their practices
Men that lived immoral lives
Held erroneous doctrines
These the church could not bear
They had a inward disgust and repugnance of them in their minds
They could not bear them in communion
They admonished them according to their offence and cast them out
They even had to deal with false apostles
This was a big problem in the early days of the church
These false apostles of Christ sprung up in several churches in Jerusalem, Corinth, Galatia and elsewhere
These were deceitful workers
Pretending to have their doctrine, call, mission, and commission
Immediately from Christ just as the true apostles had
These fakes were tried by the apostles, ministers and churches of these times
Put up against the Word of God and the fruits which they had produced
And through the discerning of spirits they found them to be liars
This churches position was strong
Strong in the faith
Strong in doctrine
But their position was no match for their condition
II. The Condition to Which the Church had Fallen
“Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”
A. The Lord was Displeased
NIV “Yet I hold this against you”
Christ has nothing against His children
His faithful ministers and true churches
In a judicial way or in their condemnation
For there is no condemnation to those who are in Him
But He often has many things to complain of in them
And to rebuke and chastise them for
And what He had against the church at Ephesus
And against the churches in the period in which that represents
THOU HAST LEFT THY FIRST LOVE
You haven’t lost your hospitality to strangers
Nor an affection care of the poor
Nor a zealous concern to feed the flock
And maintain church discipline
You haven’t lost all those Church things
You have lost the love of the saints to God
And to Christ
And one another
Which appeared at the beginning of this church’s existence
Paul had once commended the church at Ephesus for its love for God and others
But many of the church founders had died
And many of the second-generation believers had lost their zeal for God
They were a busy church, but they were acting out of the wrong motives
Work for God must be motivated by love for God or it will not last.
Jesus Christ was very displeased with this church
Because they had neglected their love for Him
He was their first love
And they left Him behind
They had got so caught up in the business of the church
They had forgotten why they did the things they do
They were like those people you see in the Dunkin Donuts commercials “Doing things is what I like to do, YES!”
They were just doing things for the sake of doing them
No true motivation behind their actions
Because the love of Jesus should be the motivator
B. Their Love had Dwindled
Just as when a man and woman fall in love so also new believers rejoice at their new found forgiveness
You know how it is when you first get married
The newness of it makes it so exciting
An 80 year old couple was having problems remembering those good times though
They were having problems remembering anything
So they went to see their doctor to get checked out
They explained and after checking the couple out
They were physically ok
Told them to write things down, make notes
Thanked doc and left
Later watching TV man got up from chair and wife asked
Where are you going?
To the kitchen
Will you get me a bowl of ice cream
Sure
Don’t you think you should write it down so you can remember it
NO I can remember that
Well I would also like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down because I know you will forget that
I can remember that you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries
Well I also would like whipped cream on top
I know you will forget that so write that down
With irritation in his voice he said
I don’t need to write that down I can remember that
He then fumes into the kitchen
After about 20 minutes he returns and hands her a plate of bacon and eggs
She stares at the plate for a moment and says angrily
I TOLD you to write it down You forgot my toast!
No wonder they couldn’t think back to how it used to be
We tend to forget as well
Our new found love, our salvation is exciting
The newness of it makes it so exciting
But when we lose sight of the seriousness of sin
We being to lose the thrill of our forgiveness
In the first steps of your Christian life
You may have had enthusiasm without knowledge
Do you now have knowledge without enthusiasm?
Both are necessary if we are to keep love for God intense and untarnished
Do you love God with the same fervor as when you were a new Christian?
Has you love dwindled?
Your love for Christ is indicated in two areas
Prayer
Personal devotions
Has you prayer life dwindled?
Had you personal devotional time dwindled?
These are ways to measure where your motivation is coming from
Is it steeped in a love for Christ?
The churches love for Christ is indicated in two areas
Decline of interest
Decline of church attendance
Has this church lost interest?
Interest in reaching a lost world
Interest in sacrificing our time and efforts for others
Interest in growing
Had this church grown to your satisfaction?
Is this church become stagnant in its growth?
Are people coming or leaving?
Where is our first love?
This leads us to the last point
Their position verses their condition forces a decision
III. The Decision With Which the Church was Faced
A. They Had to Remember
Verse 5
Look at your past state
They had to look back and remember how they used to serve God
Believers cannot totally fall away from the grace which they have received
But they may fall into sin
And from a degree of grace, and the exercise of it
As these first churches did
From some degree of their love of God, and Christ and one another
And therefore are called upon to remember
From what degree of it they were fallen
And in order to bring them under a conviction and acknowledgement of their evil
And a sense of their present state of sin
And to quicken the desire of restoration
They must repent
Repent of their coldness
Their lukewarm ness as we read in Rev 3:16 God hates that lukewarm ness
So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
It makes God want to throw up
That is how God feels about those who do not do His work with the proper motivation
Love of Him
And He challenges them and us to do the first works
Of faith and love, with a zeal and fervor
Which will show this repentance to be sincere and genuine
B. They had to repent
They had to come back to their first love
The young woman was married and had 2 beautiful children
But one day as she was standing over the sink, washing dishes, she thought
‘There must be more to life than this.’
When her husband came home, he found a note she’d written and began to weep.
She would call him once every week to check on the children, and he would always tell her of his great love for her and beg her to come home.
She would always say no and hang up.
Finally he hired a private investigator to find her and he went to the apartment where she was staying, nervously holding flowers in his hand as he stood at the door.
He had rehearsed over and over again what he would say and he finally got up the nerve to knock on the door.
She opened the door and he started to speak, but she suddenly began to cry and fell into his arms.
Through her tears she said, ‘Let’s go home.”
Months after, when things were starting to heal, he finally asked her something that had been bothering him:
‘All those times I talked to you on the phone; I asked you to come back and you refused.
Why did you come back now?’ ‘Before,’ she said, ‘you were just telling me that you loved me.
When you came, you showed me
They had to show Christ they loved Him
They had to repent
Because of their coldness
Because of their callousness
And Christ told them why they had to
He said or else
Or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick
Not come in a spiritual way to pay a love visit
Nor in a judicial way to take vengeance
But in a providential way to rebuke and chastise
And remove the candlestick
Or the pastor, or the church
If this church was to continue on its current path
A path of doing strong tireless work
Lots of good things being done in and around this church
But without the love of Christ
Is this was to continue
God was going to shut the church down
Close the doors
Remove their leadership
Either by persecution or even death
See God takes matters of His church seriously
And a church that would go on doing things to the detriment of His Holy name can not be tolerated
It’s a sad day the day a church’s doors are closed.
But God has His reasons
And that was in the future of this church if they didn’t remember and repent
A young woman in England many years ago always wore a golden locket that she would not allow anyone to open or look into
And everyone thought there must be some romance connected with that locket and that in that locket must be the picture of the one she loved.
The young woman died at an early age, and after her death the locket was opened, everyone wondering whose face he would find within.
And in the locket was found simply a little slip of paper with these words written upon it,
"Whom having not seen, I love."
Her Lord Jesus was the lover she longed for.
Her locket reminded her of that.
We discovered the problem this church had
Does this problem exist today in our church?
Are we just going through the motions?
Are we just playing church?
Or are we motivated by our love for Him?
Are we actively working for His Glory
To bring others to Him?
And is this problem hindering a revival?
Do we need to discard this sin of leaving behind our first love?
And when we do, God can and will revive this church
Grow this church
Expand His church more than we can imagine.
I hope we can do that
I pray we can return to our first love
That we can love our Savior more than we love our favorite NASCAR driver
NASCAR fans, some of the most loyal.
I want to be that kind of fan
A loyal fan of Christ.
Who do you love?
