THE FIRST LOVE
Revelation 2:1-7
The Apostolic Church – 33AD to 100AD
(Previous parts to this study can be found in The Bride folder)
Last time we explored the problem that existed in Ephesus; the loss of their first love and we asked the question: Is there a solution to this dilemma? This week we’ll look at the answer the Lord provided:
Solution = 2rd
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place — unless you repent.
Jesus not only points out the problem but He also provides the solution. He points to three steps that will put them back on their original journey.
1. Remember… (mneemoneue; recollect or rehearse) like the prodigal son:
Luke 15:17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Menomonee is in the present active imperative tense (immediate action); “continue” to be mindful. It’s a strong message to those who have let their love grow cold. Wake up and look at your surroundings. How are you living? Continue to remember what you had before you walked away in the pursuit of other “things.” It’s a message well put in the words of the poet and hymn writer William Cowper:
Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view
Of Jesus and his word?
The first step to correction is to realize that something has gone wrong and remember. We can see this clearly exemplified in the prodigal son (Luke 15:19-19); … when he came to himself.
2. Repent(metanoeson; change your mind) and get your mind off of whatever forbidden path you’re on that you hope will recapture your original thrill. We need to admit that the fault is ours and ours alone (the hardest part of repentance). Like the prodigal son, it is hard but when we do, godly sorrow will follow and lead us into changing both our heart and our actions. This is written in the first aorist active imperative tense; an urgent appeal to change. Consider the words of Joshua:
Josh 24:15… choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.
Matt 3:1-2 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
3. Do(poieeson; abide, bring forth, cast out, commit, execute, lighten the ship, perform, purge) – in other words, be Obedient! This is also in the first active aorist imperative tense; do it at once.
Phil 3:12-14 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Yes, we “must” fall on the mercy and grace of God, but it doesn’t stop there. We need to take the action that the repentance calls for because there is “no” repentance when you keep doing the same thing. The proof will be a changed life that can only result from yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit. Only He can restore the love that has been left behind; the love that makes us who we are:
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1Cor 13:2-3 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
“Do” what you were doing when you were first on fire for Jesus. Go back step-by-step until you come to the place where you took that first false step and recover that zeal and love for Christ that set His heart in yours; if we don’t the consequences are grave.
Solution = Remember + Repent + Do
Jesus made the consequences of failing to act very clear: I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. That meant that the church gave light in Ephesus (lit the spiritual darkness) and if Jesus were to remove the church (candlestick) it would leave the city in darkness; the church would cease to exist. After its destruction by the Goths in 262 AD it never regained its former glory. The church “did not” repent and its candlestick has been removed for centuries and in its place is a squalid Mohammedan village, which doesn’t count one Christian in its insignificant population. The temple is a mass of shapeless ruins and its harbor is just a reedy pool. The city of Ephesus has been virtually uninhabited since the 14th century. However, Jesus did not leave them on that note.
Rev 2:6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
What a strange word to associate with Jesus, but then if we love anyone passionately then we will necessarily hate (miseis; detest or love less) anything which threatens that person. But we must clearly note that it was their “deeds” that He hated, not the people.
Nicolaitans is an interesting word; nikao (consume) and laos (people). They were a sect tied to the teaching of Balaam (Num 31:15-16) who prophesized the downfall of Israel from within by marrying into and becoming part of the world around them; worshiping their gods. Sir William Ramsay described their teaching as an attempt to affect a reasonable compromise with the established traditions of the Greco-Roman society and to retain as many as possible of those traditions in the Christian life. It was the very thing that the Ephesians were so strongly toiling against. Does it sound familiar? Perhaps they are symbolic of professing Christians who are introducing a false freedom in the church — licentiousness; abusing Paul’s doctrine of the grace of God.
2Peter 2:12-16 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16
Yes, we are ever to be on guard against false teachers that would lead us astray, but at the same time we are admonished to not let it become our focus at the risk of leaving our first love. But with this warning comes a hope.
Rev 2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
Hear (akousatoo) does not mean “to listen,” rather it means “to understand.” And Jesus said it not only to the church at Ephesus but to the churches.
Prov 15:31 The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise.
In Hebrew “hears” is shama; to hear intelligently with attention and obedience. We have that ability to hear and understand the things of God because we have been given the Spirit of God; the very same Spirit that was withdrawn from Adam and Eve in The Garden. It is the voice of the Spirit that reminds believers that those who overcome (repent) will eat from the Tree of Life that Adam and Eve failed to do.
It is interesting that Jesus puts this right down into language that they would clearly understand. Jewish tradition taught that The Tree gave man life and one day when the Messiah came and the new age dawned the Tree of Life would be in the midst of men and those who had been faithful would eat of it.
The Ephesians could not miss His intent. To the citizens of Ephesus the Tree of Life was a sign in another way. Their coins contained an engraving of a sacred tree used in the worship of nature and Jesus reminded them that the source of life originates from a deeper reality than that which the cultic nature goddess images of their city offered. He offers the true reward – eating from the Tree of Life in heaven. What did the Ephesians lack? Love. What would they get if they changed their ways? The fruit of the Tree of Life; the fruit of the Spirit; Love. They would have their greatest need satisfied.
The word “overcomes” is nikoonti and it is actually translated “overcometh;” the one who “does” overcome. And that person John clearly identifies in his first letter and it is not done by works; past tense or future tense:
1John 5:4-5 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The church at Ephesus is the first step down the slippery slope that ultimately leads to the church at Laodicea; the apostate church. It is a step that we do not want to take and yet it is a step that here in the 21st century is very easy to take. We in America are surrounded by cities like Ephesus with every form of distraction and enticement. Many in the church are drawn by those enticements and many labor and toil against them, and in both cases the very love that brought them to Jesus is put in jeopardy.
1Tim 4:1-3 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
There are many in the body of Christ that find themselves in that very place. The years of toil and demands of life have stripped them of that first love. Oh they believe and have not “lost” their first love, it has just been replaced with other things; often things built upon “good intentions” to accomplish something for the Lord. Can that love be rekindled? Certainly or Jesus would never have bothered to address this letter to the church.
1John 4:10-11 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
If you find yourself identifying with those sitting in the pews in Ephesus you can still take heart. God still strives with you, still loves you and still waits to be gracious to you. You just need to take courage and start out fresh. If your love for Jesus is not what it was in the beginning and has grown cold toward others, stop and remember that first love:
1John 4:10-11 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
It is that fervent, personal, uninhibited, excited, openly displayed honeymoon love. It is that same love between a husband and wife that begins to dissipate when they begin to take each other for granted and life becomes routine. Is that where you are in your walk with Jesus?
There are many in the body of Christ that find themselves in that very place. The years of toil and demands of life have stripped them of that first love. The answer is to begin by remembering, repenting and going back and doing your first works. Remember the words of Jeremiah:
Jer 2:2 “Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown.
Remember is zakar in Hebrew and it means “still think on;” God still thinks on us and remembers how we first loved Him. Don’t forget, you are the bride of Christ; the virgin who watches and waits. God told Israel that He remembered the love of their betrothal; that first wonderful and exciting love. For us today it is exactly the same — that first love we had at the moment Jesus made us His betrothed. You can return to that place.
Read the Bible like you did then
Pray like you did then
Serve like you did then
Teach others like you did then
Open your heart like you did then
Love like you did then
Virtues that are not used die out, just like a sword becomes rusty when it’s not used. But it becomes shinny again when it’s put back into use. The virtue of your first love is its simplicity and as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, it is a fragile thing that needs to be cared for:
2Cor 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Cor 11:3 But I am frightened, fearing that in some way you will be led away from your pure and simple devotion to our Lord, just as Eve was deceived by Satan in the Garden of Eden. (TLB)
2 Cor 11:3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. (NLT)
If we shift from the simplicity of loving Jesus to working for Jesus we will surely suffer. The Ephesians had drifted slowly, imperceptibly into a relationship measured by their zeal for action against the enemy. The result was emptiness in their soul that no amount of work and good deeds could fill; a state that, sadly, went unnoticed. They had slipped so far down that slippery slope through their “good works” that Jesus had to come and threaten to remove their church.
Are we any different than the believers in Ephesus? If we move away from our first love it is usually fueled by the desire to fulfill the soul. Instead of building a relationship with Jesus that meets those needs we move out to gratify the need and cover it with His name; works. Contrast this with “love led works.” As Jesus instructed in this message — turn back to me again and work as you did before with love as your foundation. The difference between the two is subtle and dangerous.
Self-led works lead to
Self-satisfaction
Misapplication of the “gifts” and prostitution of the anointing
Robbing the body of Christ of your needed gift
The draining of your strength; burnout
Frustration
Emptiness
Separation
Christ-led works lead to
Inner peace
Strength of character
Direction
Excitement
Fulfillment
Satisfaction
Joy
Wholeness
Success
We need to all take the lesson of the church at Ephesus to heart. We must be ever vigilant because this first step down the slippery slope to apostasy is a subtle one. It is one that is most often taken without any knowledge of the path it is on or the danger involved. In fact it is a path that is never seen because that first step is almost always taken with the best intentions in the world. But it is a step that begins the process of trading the love of God for the works of the flesh; the love of God for the efforts of a “dead man.”
Jesus will not stay in a church where there is not “true love;”nothing else matters.
1Cor 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Ephesus had great zeal for “truth” and “right,” but they had a love that was in fatal decline. We can’t afford to let that happen to us.
1John 4:10-11 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
First Love Is The Abandonment Of All
For A Love That Has Abandoned All
It’s our choice!
Next time we’ll make our second stop along the old Roman postal route and read our second letter.