A Message to the Church #1: Have You Left Your First Love?

As I finished up my reading and study of Revelation at the end of 2012, I was particularly impacted by the letters to the churches that Jesus dictated and John was commanded to write down. Maybe it was because my husband and I had recently been through the process of finding a new church home and had visited several churches to observe and be a part of things.



Just a quick side note before I get to the meat of this post: A very wise Sunday School teacher of mine once said, "Don't go looking for the perfect church, because you'll mess it up when you join." Though the words were spoken somewhat tongue-in-cheek, they also hold truth. In reality there are no perfect churches because they're made of imperfect people...including us!



So that said, these letters in Revelation have been studied by theologians for years, and there are several views on how the letters are to be interpreted. Although these were actual churches in John's day, some think the letters also refer to different historical ages of the church or different types of churches. But in my study, I saw bits and pieces of lots of different churches. I think it's possible for a church to exhibit several of the negative AND positive behaviors of these churches. In that light, I think it would be wise for the body of Christ--which is the church--to read these verses with a contrite heart, absorbing the words of commendation, warning, and possible reward spoken by our Lord.



“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’ ~Revelation 2:1-7 (NASB)



Symbolism

In studying the Bible, I find it's always a good idea to remember the time in which a book was written and the context in which it's written. In this case, the book of Revelation was given by God to the apostle John--in exile on the isle of Patmos--for the purpose of revealing Christ and showing His servants what would "soon take place." (Revelation 1:1)



Most theologians believe the book to be written during the Roman empire, possibly under the rule of Nero or Domitian--both of whom persecuted Christians for their beliefs, often to the point of death. Because of that, much of the book is written in symbols to speak only to those who were followers of Christ and confuse the world powers who might intercept the letters.



When the first verse of chapter two mentions the One who held seven stars and walked among seven lampstands, it refers to Christ (Revelation 1:12-16). The seven stars are the angels of these particular churches, and they are in Christ's right hand, which indicates a position of power (Revelation 1:20). The lampstands are the seven churches. This makes sense, because earlier in the New Testament, Christ calls us the light of the world and tells us not to hide our light.



What They're Doing Right


Deeds
Hard work
Perseverance
Not tolerating wicked men
Testing and exposing false messengers
Enduring hardships for the name (character and essence) of Christ
Not growing weary
They hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which Christ also hated (Based on my study, this seems to be a group much like the Pharisees of Jesus' day. They were "leaders" in the church who lorded it over the church rather than being the example, and did so for dishonest gain and power. See 1 Peter 5:1-3.)

All of the things mentioned are commendable qualities. At many other places in the Bible, the necessity and goodness of these same qualities are expounded. But in and of themselves they are not enough, and that is what Christ addresses next.



What He Has Against Them

Plain and simple, they've left their first love.



The word "first" implies importance and priority. God (including Jesus and the Spirit) is to be
our first love. When Jesus asked a man to tell Him the most important
commandment, he answered correctly: "To love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength"--in other words, with all that we
are.



We also need to possess a good Biblical
grip on what true love is. The best explanation of God's type of love is
found in 1 Corinthians 13, where qualities of patience, kindness,
humility, right actions, forgiveness, self-denial, endurance, and hope
are mentioned. These are attributes of God, and this perfect love of His
was demonstrated by sending His only Son to die on the cross in our
place.



If our deeds are not motivated by this same kind of
self-sacrificing love of Christ, then we are like a clanging noise, a
nothing, and our deeds are unprofitable.When a church leaves its first love of Christ as the motivation for
all it does and is, they've basically lost their significance. So it
comes as no surprise when we next hear what Jesus' warning is.



What They Need To Do


Remember - It's always important when we find ourselves on the wrong track to look back and see where we went wrong. In this case, the church at Ephesus needed to remember the height of love from which they'd fallen.
Repent - If ever a word in the Bible has gotten a bad rap, it's this one (maybe because so many preachers use it like they're the Holy Spirit and a person's conviction is their job). Repentance, though difficult because of our pride, is actually a good thing. It simply involves us stopping in our tracks and making a u-turn--away from our sin, rebellion, and running--and back toward God.
Return - They needed to return to the deeds they did at first. Notice that the church were commended for their deeds in verse two. They weren't without deeds in their fallen state. The problem was the lack of a proper motivation and catalyst behind their deeds . . . which is God's love and our undivided love for Him.

The Warning

The warning for the church, should they decide not to repent, is the removal of their lampstand. I've already mentioned above that the lampstand represented the church's light-bearing capacity. If we stop to give this careful consideration, the warning is more than understandable. Without that first love, we don't have light. He is the light of the world and the church is to reflect that light. Christ would rather us have no testimony to the world than a fake light built on our prideful deeds instead of His all-consuming and all-gracious love. In other words, He won't tolerate cheap substitutes.



The Reward

I personally love the fact that another person in the trinity is revealed at work in this passage. Though He was certainly enough, Jesus wasn't the only One speaking. The Spirit of God, who convicts us of sin, often through God's Word, was also there. The church would do well to remember that God's Holy Spirit is speaking this message to them. We also need to remember that the word "hear" as used in the Bible, always indicates not only listening and hearing, but also obeying.



If the church hears and obeys, the reward is the right to eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God. Genesis 3:22-24 talks about this tree of life in the Garden of Eden. Many people might see God expelling Adam and Eve from the garden as punishment, and perhaps it was. But it was also a gracious act. He didn't want man to live eternally in a fallen and cursed state.



This reward is the promise of eternal life in God's paradise.



Application

Lest we all--me included--get high and mighty and start listing churches we know that have this problem, it's important to remember what "church" is. It is NOT a building. Instead it is made up of God's people. So this message is to us individually as well as corporately.



The question for us to ponder and pray over is this:




Have we left our first love?


Father God, thank You for Your Word, which is Christ, and for Your Holy Spirit, which indwells us as Your followers. Enable us to repent from losing our first love--our true motivation for everything that we do for You. Motivate us as individuals and as the bride of Christ to turn back to that first all-consuming, all-passionate love for You and for Your mission in this world. Thank You that You haven't left us to wander about on our own, wondering if we're on the right track. Instead, the Bible is Your message to us--the revelation of who You are--and how we are to live our lives in light of You. Thank You that it's not too late for us as Your church to return to what You want us to be. If we submit to You in obedience to Your Word, You will accomplish Your mission to bring light to the world through us. Thank You for the promise of eternal life in the paradise You created from the beginning of time. Amen.