by Ms. Anastasia Rebello
Revelation 2:1-2:7
Introduction: When we know about the history of Ephesus and learn something about its conditions at that time it is easy to see why it comes first in the list of the seven churches.
It was the greatest city, the greatest market of Asia & the greatest harbor. Ephesus was the Gateway of Asia, similar to Gateway of India in our Mumbai city. It’s position made it the wealthiest and greatest city in all Asia and was aptly called the Vanity Fair of the Ancient world. It had important political distinctions & was a free city. It was a seat for Pagan superstition & Pagan worship. Its Population was very mixed. Its citizens were divided into 6 descendants of the original natives of that country, one who were the direct descendants of the original colonist from Athens , three others consisted of Greeks and one probably consisted of Jews. It was very similar to our cosmopolitan Mumbai. Paul did not stay longer in any other city than Ephesus . (Acts 20:31 ). It was through Ephesus that Timothy was connected that he is called its first bishop (1Timothy 1:3). It is in Ephesus that we find Priscilla, Aquila and Apollos (Acts 18:19 ,24,26). Surely to no one was Paul ever more connected than to the Ephesians Elders, as his farewell address so beautifully shows (Acts 20:17-38). In later days John was the leading figure in church of Ephesus . There can be few places which better prove the power of Christian faith.
Now let’s come to the church of Ephesus . The enthusiasm had faded off of the religion of that Church. Much more likely this means that the first fine rapture of love the brotherhood had, is gone. All the orthodoxy in the world will never take the place of love.
Can a person be too busy doing God’s work that they are too busy for God? I believe that the answer to that question is yes, you can. There are many people who are always busy with church work, but somewhere their relationship with God is being neglected. After a while, people just begin going through the motions, without really being involved. I remember from one of my driving lessons from my father when I was in college, which as an individual, after performing a task for over a certain period of time, becomes habituated to it. It becomes a habit, without the senses being involved. Imagine just for a moment, what you went through this evening when you got behind the wheel of your car. You opened the door, sat down in the driver’s seat, inserted the key and turned on the ignition. You then placed the car in gear and began to drive to the prayer meeting. You accelerated once you got on the highway and began to drive somewhere between 45-55 kms per hour. During this time, you are watching for obstacles in the road, increasing or decreasing speed according to the road conditions. You brake for the stop signs and red lights, speed up and slow down with traffic, all the time carrying on a conversation with some one else in the car, or listening to the FM. There are many different activities and actions that went into you driving; most of which you gave very little thought. You become so familiar with driving, that you now give it little thought.
Some one once said that familiarity breeds contempt. As in every proverb, there is often an element of truth. If it is not contempt, often that which becomes familiar to us, we take for granted. This can be harmful in relationships when the passion is lost and then the relationship is basically taken for granted.
This is especially so in the most important relationship that a Christian has, the relationship with Christ. The church at Ephesus had fallen to this level in their relationship with Christ. This was not what we would classify as a "bad" church.
Christ had several commendations for this church.
Ø First, He knew their works; this was a dynamic, active church. The Greek word ergon, from which we get energy, is used for works. There were things going on in this church. I am sure that all the proper actions were going on, there were prayer meetings, Bible studies, acts of charity, and communion was offered.
Ø Second, this is what we would call a dedicated church. The word labour is used, referring to burdens and troubles which this church had suffered, but they were dedicated to continuing on.
Ø Third, this was a determined church. Christ commended them for their patience. Patience is used here with the idea of enduring whatever obstacles were before them. No doubt persecution had been thrown at them, but they endured.
Ø Fourth, they were commended for being a disciplined church, they could not tolerate evil, they believed in holiness, so you could call this a holiness church. Christ commended this church for hating deeds of the Nicolaitans (this group believed that Christ had given them such liberty, that they could continue to sin, without retribution.)
Ø Last, Christ commended them for being a discerning church. They were not an "anything goes" church, they cared about purity in the pulpit and proper Biblical doctrine. For all of these things, Christ commended them.
However, in verse 4, He levies a serious charge against this church.
Ø Yes, it was a dynamic, dedicated, determined, disciplined and a discerning church. Yet, in spite of all these positives, Jesus knew that something was seriously wrong with this church. He said, nevertheless I have something against you, because you have left your first love. To hold something against a friend or family member is a serious thing, but when the Lord of the Lords holds something against the church, it is time to tremble. The Lord Jesus is able to look beyond all the flurries of activity and look straight to the heart.
We would think that this must be a great church. I mean, to find all of this going on would lead us to think this must be the perfect church. I can just imagine what we might think, this church has a great youth program, they are involved in their community, they have a great choir, and this has got to be the place. However, Jesus looks beyond the outward appearance and goes to the heart of the matter. Despite all of their good deeds, this church had a major heart problem, and a church that does not have a healthy heart will not last long. This church no longer loved Christ as it once had. Their relationship with Christ was no longer vibrant, but now stale and taken for granted. They were going through all the right motions, but giving little thought to their relationship with Christ.
It bothers me today, for there are still many who are in the same condition. Outwardly, things look well, but inwardly, the heart no longer is filled with love for Jesus. Trying to live the Christian life without being filled with love for Him will soon cause you to wind up empty and just a shell of what Christ intends for you to have and be.
Here in this passage of scripture, Jesus gives three steps for renewing your love affair with Him. Love for Christ should grow, not diminish. If we find ourselves loosing the passion of our love affair with Christ, we need to follow these three steps.
1. REMEMBER /RECALL
Here the writer of the book of Revelations is not talking to people outside the church; He is talking to those inside the church but have somehow lost their way. Memory can often be the first step on the way back. In a far country the prodigal son suddenly remembered his home (Luke 15:17 ). I would like to share a short story of a little boy who was brought up in a village; and in the village school sat beside a innocent sweet girl. The boy found his way into city, soon fell into bad company; became an expert pick pocket. He was on the street one day; he had just picked the pocket – a neat job, well done – he was pleased with himself. Suddenly he saw the girl he used to sit beside at school. She was still the same sweet & innocent. She did not see him & he took good care of that. But suddenly remembered what he had been & realized what he was. He rested his burning head against the cool lamp post. “God,” how I hate myself. Memory was offering him a way back. The first step to the way back to amendment is to realize that something has gone wrong. Do you remember the day that the Lord saved you? Do you remember the thrill, the joy, and the peace of mind that you received the moment you said yes to Christ? I remember the day that I said yes to Christ. I remember sitting at the retreat, burdened. I remember going to the altar and praying, and weeping for God to save me, and I remember the joy that I felt once I came up from that altar. One tendency that humans seem to share is the tendency to forget. This can be seen especially in children. Have you ever noticed the twinkle in the eyes of a child on Christmas morning when their Christmas presents are opened? They are mesmerized and filled with wonder. Yet in just a couple of days, the new toys are often left shoved under the bed or placed in the toy box, with the novelty worn off. We should never allow that to happen with our relationship with Christ. Memory can be very powerful. Memories can stir up powerful emotions.
2. REPENT
When we discover something has gone wrong there is more than one possible reaction. We may feel nothing can sustain its first luster, so we accept the inevitable. We may be filled with resentment and blame life instead of facing it. Repentance means change of heart or Metanoia as they call it in Greek. The prodigal’s reaction was “I will rise & go to my Father’s house and say I have sinned. The hardest thing of repentance is accepting personal responsibility for our failure, for once the responsibility is accepted the Godly sorrow will come. There are some who have a hard time believing that the church ever needs to repent. But Jesus spoke to this church and told them to repent. Now remember, this was a dynamic, dedicated, determined, disciplined, and discerning church. All that they had done was just lost a little of the passion that they once had for Christ. That’s just how Satan wants us to view this, as just some little petty something without any real dire consequences, but Jesus knows the danger and Jesus knows the importance of maintaining a heart full of love for Him. It is a dangerous and perilous situation to forget one’s first love for Christ for to do so is sin.
A preacher once preached a message called the Backslidden in Heart. In this message he describes those who are backslidden in heart as 1) loosing their consecration to God, 2) leaving the first love, 3) and withdrawing themselves from that state of entire and total surrender to God and coming again under the control of a self-pleasing spirit. Even though we may go through all the right motions, when we leave our first love, it doesn’t take long until all that we do becomes drudgery and a task, instead of a joy. There is a loss of spiritual enjoyment. "We always love saying and doing those things that please the one we love most." There is an outward formality in religious exercises that is emotionless and cold, and a desire for worldly amusements to attempt to fill the vacuum.
3. DO
The third thing that says is DO. The sorrow of repentance is meant to drive a man to two things. The first is to fling himself to the grace of God & the second to drive him to action in order to bring forth fruits of the Holy Spirit. No man who has truly repented can ever be the same. The proof of repentance is a changed life, changed by our effort in co-operation with the grace of God. Marriage counsellors will often tell couples who have lost the feelings of love, to do acts of kindness toward each other, much like when they were first dating. Maybe like giving each other a compliment upon greeting each other, or buying some flowers or candy for the other. The couples for Christ group follow some of these principles because what counsellors have discovered is that couples who are willing to redo the acts of first love, are often able to recapture the magic and emotions of the first love.
Jesus told this church to redo the first works. Now what could He be talking about? To truly understand this, we need to look at the origin of this church.
Go to Acts 19:1-20.
First, place an emphasis on being filled with the Spirit. Acts 19:1-7, the story of John’s disciples at Ephesus . Paul prayed that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit. We must not be ashamed of being in the Charismatic Renewal. I hunger to see people filled with the Holy Spirit. If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, you are living below your privilege as a child of God. Paul wrote to this very Ephesians church and said in Eph 5:18 , and be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; The Greek would render this as to be continually filled with the Spirit. We need that hunger every day for the Lord to anoint us with fresh oil.
Second, an emphasis through preaching and teaching on the Kingdom of God . Note verse 8, and he went into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God . There was an emphasis on the Kingdom of God . The kingdom of God is where God reigns or rules.
We can look at this twofold.
Ø First, we ought to remind one another that this world is not our home, God has something better. God’s rule or reign is God’s will. Jesus said in
Matt 6:33 seek ye first the kingdom of God , and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. This is God’s rule for your life. This means placing God first and foremost in your life, above any and all things. We need to emphasize this.
Ø Secondly, special miracles were brought by the hand of Paul, handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from Paul and people were healed. Authority was taken over the devil and demonic spirits were cast out. God was working in His church and it was being emphasized. We can talk about programs and weather, but let’s talk about what God is doing.
When we loose our first love, that’s all that’s left, just ruins of what once might have been.
How about you? Are you still in passionate love with Jesus? If not, it’s time to pray.