by Mr. Prakash Nazareth
Rev 2:1-4
Read v.1a To the messenger of the Church in Ephesus write,
Ephesus was the one of the greatest city of Asia. When John wrote the book of Revelation, Ephesus was a great harbor, a centre of trade and one of the three most influential cities in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. The population of Ephesus was very mixed. The temple of goddess, artemis was located in this city and one of the major industry was the manufacture of images of this goddess. Other than idolatry there was crime, sexual immorality, prostitution, etc. Sounds familiar to some city ….. Yes like our own city Mumbai.
Do you think Christianity would come up here? Yet contrary to the thought of people, Christianity blossomed in Ephesus. Paul ministered 3 years in Ephesus and warned the Ephesians Christians that false teachers would come and try to draw people away from the faith. False teachers indeed caused problems in the Ephesus Church, but the church resisted them, as you will see it later.
V.1
To the messenger of the Church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands.
The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand is JESUS, the seven golden lamp stands are the seven Churches of Asia, and one of them is Ephesus. The seven stars are the church leaders.
In simple words, it is Jesus himself who is speaking to the church of Ephesus. The Church leaders and the Churches are under the authority of Jesus. It is so beautiful to note that even if Jesus is in authority he is not bossing over the church but he walks among the churches, i.e. he dwells among them and is a part of the churches. So what is Jesus saying to the Ephesians Christians?
V.2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Over a long period of time, the Church in Ephesus had strongly refused to tolerate sin among its members. This was not easy for a city noted for immoral sexual practices associated with the worship of the goddess artemis. Today we too are living in times of widespread sin. It is easy to go with the crowd and be so called “broad minded”. “This is okay! “Chalta hai yaar”. But if the believers begin to tolerate sin, we are lowering the godly standards in our compromising, because people watch our witnessing. Always remember God’s approval is more important than that of the world.
And the church in Ephesus did just that and Jesus himself appreciates the qualities among the Ephesians. That they were:
Hard working
- Persevering
- That they resisted sin and were
- Intolerant to wicked men that they
- Tested the claims of false prophets and they
- Endured hardships without being weary.
These qualities each one of us should possess. The Church in Ephesus seems to have done its work well yet something had got lost in the process.
V.4 “Yet I hold this against you:” says Jesus “You have forsaken your first love.”
About twelve years ago, when I feel in love with this girl, who is today my wife, there would hardly be a day when we would not see each other. I remember, on her birthday, the first since we fell in love, I showered her with so many gifts that she was all tears. The love I showered on her was beyond her expectation.
Many young married couples speak with great excitement about the early years of their marriage. The so called ‘honey moon period’. Five, ten years down the line, if you ask them do you have the same love for each other as you did during the ‘honey moon’ period. They will tell you “what to tell you ya, the honey have become sour and the moon has faded.
Yet the love of God is not like this Jer 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” The love of God does not fade with time. Gods love is constant whereas our love for God is like ECG; it jumps to highs and lows.
When we had our first encounter with the Lord, when we made our first retreat, when we received the fire of the Spirit we were burning with love for Jesus. We were hungry for things of him. We got up early to pray, we longed to fellowship with each other at the prayer meetings. We read the Bible and we were so eager to tell people about Jesus. But slowly over months & years that passion decreased. On the first day you did not pray or did not read the Bible, you were aware of a pricking sensation in your heart. But eventually that sensation too stopped even though you might have not prayed. Even though you stopped coming for the prayer meetings for months. Your heart slowly hardened and you “LOST YOUR FIRST LOVE” for the Lord.
What has happened is that you have BACKSLIDED? Backsliding means going back to old ways, ways we once had abandoned.
The Bible gives many examples of backsliding. Israel, as a nation, constantly backslided. We come across this very clearly in the book of Judges. Each time the people of Israel sinned, when they followed other gods, God send a judge, a leader who would lead them back to Him. For sometime the people would enjoy Gods blessing under the leadership of these judges and then again Israel would return back to its old ways.
The OT has many individuals who backslided; Saul (the 1st king of Israel), David, Aaron & Miriam (when they opposed Moses & Miriam was struck with leprosy) Samson. What about the New Testament? Are there people in the New Testament who backslided
Peter, when he denied Jesus. Again when he went fishing instead of believing Jesus had risen again.
Judas, who betrayed Jesus.
From these examples, we see that there are those like David & Peter who backslided momentarily but strengthened by Gods mercy and grace they bounced back and were again used mightily by God. Whist there are others like king Saul & Samson who backslided and never really recovered from their struggle. Lastly, there was Judas who totally backslided and never returned to the Lord.
So we see that backsliding can be very dangerous if we do not check and correct it, lest we become like humpty-dumpty who had a great fall and no one could put him back again.
As humans each one of us has our own weakness. In fact, the weaker we are, the better God can use us and achieve his purpose.
2 Cor 4:7 says “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.
As long as we acknowledge and surrender our weakness to him, God can use us powerfully.
David and Samson both had the same weakness, woman. Yet David was used mightily by God and Samson was a failure.
Peter’s weakness was that he relied too much on his strength. He told Jesus even though everyone deserts you, I will never desert you. I will give my life for you. That was his strength speaking. But later he did give his life for Jesus. They crucified him upside down. He could do it then, because now he did it with Gods strength.
Do you understand what I am saying? Now listen to this carefully. Backsliding begins when we instead of surrendering our weaknesses to God, start feeding our weaknesses. Instead of receiving grace from God we begin to give into our weaknesses.
For e.g. If your weakness is alcohol, acknowledge it to God, resist even that one peck and God will strengthen you with a Spirit greater than alcohol. But if you give in and consume peck after peck thinking you can handle it yourself then be assured the devil will use your weakness to bring your spiritual downfall.
The right thing of course is to resist temptation and the smart thing is to ask for Gods help. Now I want each one of you to think of your weakness. May be you have a weakness which you have not taken seriously. You are feeding it again & again, thinking it won’t harm you. But be alert, one day it could destroy you, if you do not acknowledge it and surrender it to the Lord.
Let us quickly go through some of the weakness which could lead to backsliding:-
1. Laziness (putting things for later)
Once in hell, satan called a meeting. He yelled at all his evil spirits at their lack of commitment because many people were going to heaven. So they had a brain-storming session. One demon said “let’s lure humans with money & riches”. The others said this had already been tried and failed as man eventually realized that wealth didn’t give him satisfaction. Another said “lets offer them fame & power”. Even this didn`t get the approval. After much debate & argument, satan said lets tell these Christians that they should pray, read the Bible, go to Church and do all they could to please God. All the demons were surprised “But”, satan continued, “tell them there’s no hurry, they can do it later or postpone it for tomorrow. And so it followed that many people started coming to hell. Isn’t there some truth in this story? Aren’t these words familiar “let me sleep a little more”, I’ll read the Bible after I watch “Kyon ki Saas bi kabhi bhahu thi”. “I am too tired today to go for intercession, I’ll go next week. I will join this ministry, soon.” When I first came to the Lord, my thirst for Gods word was so strong. It was like the larvae stage in the life cycle of a butterfly where it becomes a voracious eater. I read the first five books within three months and I wasn’t sitting at home and reading. I was working also. I’ve never been able to keep that pace again.
2. Worldly attractions (W.W.W)
Have I started leading a worldly life rather than a spirit filled life? Do I have practically no time for God?
In the parable of the sower, Mk 4:18,
Jesus says “That the one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is like the man who hears the word, gets excited about it, grows, but what hinders him? The worries of life, deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in & choke the Word”. Have we ever stopped and thought why we are running with this world.
You see that www that’s not World Wide Web that stands for “wine, woman and wealth”. Do we have excess desire for these things and with the pleasures of these comes one ‘w’ free (3 ke saat ek free) --- a feeling of worthlessness. Once you feel worthless you slowly you begin to hate yourself and start being bitter with people around you. Then you start doubting Gods forgiveness and your own salvation.
Other areas of weakness could be
--------- Anger, Envy, jealously, gossip
--------- Unnecessary worries, fear, anxiety.
--------- Self dependance, lack of faith,
----------The other extreme is spiritual Pride.
3. Spiritual Pride
This is one area that satan will not pull you down, but he will in fact lift you up, so high that your fall will be great! Prov 18:12. Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud. (But humility comes before honour)
In 1Sam 13 we find King Saul was ready for war against the Philistines. He was waiting for Samuel, the prophet, to come and offer the sacrifice, which was offered before a crucial battle. But since Samuel did not arrive by the set time, Saul went ahead and offered the sacrifice himself.
Was offering a sacrifice a good thing? But Saul was the wrong person; he did something that only a priest could do. His pride permitted him to act even as a priest. His pride and disobedience God to reject him as king and leader of Israel. Spiritual pride can strip off the glory that God has ordained on you. In Gods kingdom, humility is power. Jesus was most powerful, when he was hanging dead upon the cross. He was in fact triumphing over Satan. His brokenness on the cross was the secret of power.
In the book of Judges we find the story of Samson. Samson’s strength was not his own. His strength was in the anointing of God upon him. We find that in Judges 14:6, “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power so he tore the lion apart ………….,
But Samson had a weakness. Samson fell for women spontaneously. On one occasion Samson was seduced by a woman named Delilah. Samson’s enemies, the Philistines, offered a large sum of money to Delilah to know the secret of Samson’s strength. Samson however kept lying to Delilah, but she kept on pestering him.
Judges 16:16f, “With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death”. So he told her everything, “No razor has ever been used on my head, “he said, “because I have been a Nazirite, set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me.”
Samson told her the truth, at least he said what he felt was the truth. But here I want to ask you a question “Was his strength in his hair?” We will soon find out. So Delilah called someone to shave off Samson’s hair as he lay asleep on her lap.
V.20, Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’II go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Samson’s strength was not in his hair. Samson was born anointed but now because of his constant refusal to obey God, the anointing which was his strength left him. And look what happened when the Lord left Samson. The Philistines gouged out his eyes and he became slave under them.
God loves each one of us. But God is God- we should never forget that! Don’t ever take God for granted. In the past God might have used us, even though we might have lived in sin, never prayed or did any kind of bible reading. But that was his grace. But just because he did it in the past, it does not mean he will do it always, no matter how we live.
Jer 2:19 says: “Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then & realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord almighty”.
If the question in your mind now is, what do I do to take an about turn from my backslide, lets go back to Rev2 and read V.5. Remember the height from which you have fallen!
1. Remember
Memory can often be first step on the way back. Lk 15:17, the prodigal son remembered his father’s home and how his father’s servants had plenty, while he starved in a far off country.
A story is being said of a village boy who went to the school in that village. He had a friend, an innocent and sweet girl. He spend much of his time in school with this friend of his. As he grew up he left the village and found his way to the city. In the city, he fell into bad company & became a pick pocketer. Soon he became a professional pick pocketer. One day, on the street, he suddenly came across a familiar face. Soon he realized that it was the same innocent and sweet village girl. He wanted to rush to her and hello her. But he stopped, even as he pictured his happy past, he realised what he was now! He cried out, “Oh God! How I hate myself? But memory was offering him a chance, a chance to return.
In the same way, let us REMEMBER, the excitement we had for Jesus, the thirst we had for him. The hunger we had for his presence and the peace we had within.
2. Repent (v.5b)
When we remember the past and realize how much we have drifted, there are two options we have. One, feel that nothing can regain the first luster and so accept that nothing can be done now? We may get upset and blame life, people, and situation and never face our self. Or second, we acknowledge that we have given to our weakness and sinned. Admit that the fault is ours and Repent!
What did the prodigal son say, “I will arise and go to my father and say I have sinned!” (Lk 15:18)
The hardest part of repentance is to accept personal responsibility for our sin and the godly sorrow will follow.
3. V.5b and do the things you first did.
After we have accepted our mistake and repented Jesus tells us to do what we did formerly.
If you have a marriage problem then what do you do? You try all the ways possible to restore that relationship. You start giving your spouse gifts, flowers, cards, etc. which you once did. May be you come home early from work and surprise your wife. Or you turn up at your husband’s office. You start doing things together, go out on weekends. You recall all the things you did once and you see if you can do it now. Basically you start spending quality time with your spouse. In the same way, our relationship with God is based on love. You make a fresh start by spending time daily with him in personal prayer and never ever compromise on that.
Jn 15:5 says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me, you can do nothing”.
Many of us are attracted by the fruit only. This person is so powerful. That person he is so gifted. We only look at the fruit but what we fail to see is that the person that bears fruit is strongly connected to the vine. You too can bear much fruit if you remain in Jesus and strongly connected to him.
If you have backslided from your FIRST LOVE Jesus is saying come back, slide back to your first love.