Good morning, everyone. My name is Sean. For those of you who don't know me, I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church.
And it is my joy and a privilege to be able to preach God's Word to you on a regular basis.
This morning, our passage is from Revelation chapter 2. If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.
We'd love to bring a copy of it for you to use while you're here.
You could actually take that home with you to use.
It's a wonderful passage, and I believe God has something to say to us from this passage.
So let me pray and ask for his help.
Heavenly Father, we know that you and your son Jesus, who is the Lord over this church,
you carry a far deeper burden for this local church than I can fathom, even as a pastor.
And we are desirous of you communicating that to us this morning.
Amen.
So address us from your Word.
Reveal to us your heart, your will for us.
Challenge us, convict us, comfort us, and build us up
that we might be a faithful church
who perseveres in faith and hope and love until the very end.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
If you are willing and able, please stand with me
as I read the passage of Revelation 2, verses 1 to 7.
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write,
the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand,
who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
I know your works,
your toil,
and your patient endurance,
and how you cannot bear with those who are evil,
but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not,
and found them to be false.
I know you are enduring patiently
and bearing up for my name's sake,
and you have not grown weary.
But I have this against you,
that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Remember, therefore,
from where you have fallen,
repent,
and do the works you did at first.
If not,
I will come to you
and remove your lampstand from its place,
unless you repent.
Yet this you have.
You hate the works of the Nicolaitans,
which I also hate.
He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the one who conquers,
I will grant to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the paradise of God.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
You may be seated.
I don't normally follow celebrity news,
but I read a New York Times article
this past week
that said that 2023
has been the year of celebrity split
with dozens of notable actors,
singers,
and reality stars,
and one former mayor of New York
announcing a breakup
and separation or divorce.
I think people like...
I feel like a fraud
mentioning these names
because I haven't really listened
to any of these things,
but Ariana Grande,
Taylor Swift,
Britney Spears.
I know Britney Spears
from when I was younger.
Reese Witherspoon,
Hugh Jackman,
among others.
Apparently,
they all broke up this year.
And the author notes
that sometimes
these breakup announcements
are so relentlessly
and aggressively optimistic
and positive
that it's like
it could feel very forced.
But no matter how much,
you know,
PR spin you put on these breakups,
the long and short of it all
is that they're not lovers anymore.
The love that they had
for another has faded.
The ones so glowingly happy,
good-looking,
madly in love couple
has become...
they have become estranged
from one another.
How does that happen?
The same thing can happen
to Christians
and to churches
in their relationship with God.
Let me ask you,
do you love Jesus more today
than you did at first?
In chapters 2 to 3,
we see Jesus personally
addressing the seven churches
in Asia Minor,
modern-day Turkey,
and we're listed
in chapter 1, verse 11.
And our passage this morning
is Jesus addressing
the church in Ephesus.
And his evaluation
of that church
is that while they have
been enduring patiently,
they have abandoned
the love they had at first.
I'll unpack what that means
more later on,
but the Ephesian church,
as we'll see,
was a hard-working
and theologically discerning
and persevering
and gritty church.
But their love for God
had grown cold.
So the main point this morning
that I want to drive home
is that we must recover
the love we had at first
and shine God's light
from our lampstand.
For an outline,
I'm going to address,
to follow the structure
that these addresses take,
these seven letters
to the churches,
because each address
has the same general structure.
Do I have the other one?
There you go.
Yeah.
The recipient,
which at first,
it mentions who the recipient is,
and it always takes the form
of to the angel of the church
in blank.
And this one is in Ephesus.
Second, the author is identified.
It's Jesus.
But Jesus is described differently
in each passage.
It begins with,
thus says the one,
or these are the words of the one.
And then it takes a description
of Jesus,
a snippet from the glorious vision
we saw earlier in Revelation 1.
And it uses a part of that vision
that most directly pertains
to the current situation
of that church
that is being addressed.
So for example,
to the church in Samyrena
that's facing persecution,
intense persecution,
and need to be faithful unto death,
that's their need,
Jesus identifies himself to them
as the one who died
and came back to life.
To the church in Pergamum
that is believing in false teaching,
Jesus identifies himself
as the one who has a sharp
two-edged sword,
the sword of his word,
the word of his mouth
with which he discerns truth
and makes war against those
who deny his word.
And to the church in Thyatira
that's tolerating idolatry
and sexual immorality,
Jesus identifies himself
as the one who has eyes
like a flame of fire
to discern and to judge
and whose feet are like burnished bronze
with which he strikes down the wicked.
And so keep in mind this pattern
that the description of Jesus
that we see in the beginning
is going to be relevant
related to the situation
that the church is facing as we go.
And third,
after the recipient and the author,
we see the evaluation of the church
by Jesus.
And this section begins
with the phrase,
I know your dot, dot, dot.
Usually it's,
I know your works.
Jesus goes on to describe
their good works
if they have them
as well as their bad works
if they have them.
And two churches in the series,
the Smyrna and Philadelphia,
hear only commendations
because they are faithful churches.
While one church in Laodicea
hears only corrections
because they've been unfaithful.
Most churches are a mixture
of commendation and correction
in their evaluation.
Fourth,
there is an exhortation,
what Christ is commanding them to do
in light of his preceding evaluation.
And that varies with each letter.
And then fifth,
there is an invitation
to heed what Jesus has just said.
And this section is identical
in all of the letters.
He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says
to the churches.
And then finally,
sixth,
there is the promise of reward
to those who obey.
And this section begins
with the phrase,
the one who conquers,
dot, dot, dot.
The one who conquers
is offered some variation
of salvation,
of eternal life
and fellowship with God.
And sometimes those last two sections,
the invitation,
the promise are flipped in order.
And these letters,
each of them,
in a way,
is like a microcosm.
It's like an embryonic form
mirrors the entire book
because it harkens back
to chapter one,
the glorious vision of Christ.
And then it points forward
to the end,
the last three chapters
of Revelation
where the conquerors,
those who conquer are rewarded.
And it also contains
the struggles of the church
and the persecution,
the suffering,
the temptations
that the body of Revelation
deals with.
So that's the general structure.
First, let's look at the recipient
in verse one.
To the angel of the church
in Ephesus, write.
The recipient is the angelic
representative of the church
in Ephesus.
As I mentioned last week,
all of the messages
are directed to the angel
that represents
that particular church
before God.
And that means
every true church on earth
has a representative
in heaven.
It's easy for us
to lose sight
of this amazing reality
because when we look
at the churches around us
and when we look
at even our own church
and how weak we are,
how flawed we are,
and how sinful we are,
the church can seem
so earthly.
But the church
is not a mere
earthly institution.
It is an eternal,
heavenly institution.
This is why Christians
should never make light
of or be dismissive
of the church.
All earthly associations
and institutions
will fade away.
Schools, Harvard, MIT,
Boston University, Cornell,
they'll all fade away.
Companies, HubSpot,
EF, Amazon, Google,
they will all fade away.
The United States of America,
China, Russia,
they will all fade away.
They will all fade away
when the earth
as we know it
passes away,
which will certainly happen
because the Bible says so.
But the church,
which is the gathered people
of God,
is a heavenly reality.
It's an eternal reality.
And therefore,
it will endure.
This should be a stark warning
to those who would
persecute the church
or harm the church
because they'll have to answer
to God himself
because our angelic representatives
are there before God.
This particular section
of Revelation 2
is addressed to Ephesus.
And I'm going to give you
a brief historical sketch
of the city
because it's helpful
for understanding
the context,
what's going on.
Ephesus was a prominent
metropolis
and it served as
the provincial capital
of Asia Minor,
which I mentioned earlier
is modern-day Turkey.
And because of its location
at the mouth
of the Kaster River,
it was the commercial center
of the region
and the administrative center
of the region.
And it was most famous
for its temple of Artemis,
the Greek god named Artemis
or Diana,
the Romans called them.
And the worship of Artemis
was not only
the religious center
but the economical center
of that city
as we saw
when we were in
the book of Acts.
This temple was huge.
It's like,
it's bigger than
a football field,
twice the size
of the Parthenon,
which some of you guys
may have seen.
In Acts 18, 18-22,
Paul leaves Priscilla
and Aquila
to stay behind
and minister in Ephesus.
They may have been
the founders
of the church in Ephesus.
And they,
along with Apollos,
they preach the gospel there.
And later,
Paul himself comes
to minister
to the Ephesian church
for three years,
during which time
he says he faced
many adversaries
and one time
he has to move locations
because he's so intensely
being opposed
in Acts 19.
Later in his life,
Paul sends his disciple
and purdege,
Timothy,
to Ephesus
to minister
and he charges him
in 1 Timothy 1-3
to remain at Ephesus
so that he may charge
certain persons
not to teach
any different doctrines.
So it seems
that the fight
for doctrinal fidelity
that we see here
in Revelation
and they've been doing well
in that,
it continues
in the later years.
Then after that,
we see from 2 Timothy
that Onesiphorus
and Tychicus
also minister
to Ephesian church
so they've had
a string of
godly pastors
teaching them,
helping them.
And according
to 3rd century AD
Greek pastor
and historian
Eusebius,
after Apostle John
was released
from his exile
in Patmos
because Emperor
Domitian died,
John himself
went to Ephesus
and pastored there
and lived there.
And so this is
the group,
the church group
of believers
that he's writing to.
So that's the recipient.
And then in the second half
of verse 1,
we're told who the author
of the letter is,
the words of him
who holds the seven stars
in his right hand,
who walks among
the seven golden lampstands.
The phrase,
the words of him,
can be more literally
translated as
these things says he,
or thus says he,
thus says the one.
It's the Greek equivalent
of the Hebrew phrase
that the prophets
used again and again
hundreds of times
in the Old Testament.
Thus says the Lord.
So Jesus is here
asserting his divine authority
and addressing his churches
and the angelic representatives
of his churches.
When Jesus speaks,
the Lord God speaks.
He is the ancient of days,
the almighty.
Human beings often make
errors in judgment
and errors in speech.
But the following evaluations
and exhortations
of these seven churches
by Jesus
is not human,
merely.
It is divine.
It's completely accurate
and therefore needs
to be obeyed completely.
As I mentioned earlier,
the description of Jesus
here alludes back
to the vision
from chapter 1 of Jesus.
And there he explained
in verse 20,
the seven stars
are the angels
of the seven churches
and the seven lampstands
are the seven churches.
And this particular snippet
of that glorious vision
is being used
because it relates
to the situation
that the Ephesus church
was in.
And because they were
neglecting the most
important thing
of loving God
and loving one another,
they had abandoned
the love that they had first.
And so this omission
was so significant,
they're at the risk
of basically being de-churched,
ceasing to exist
as a church.
And so with the threat
of moving the lampstand,
Jesus reminds them,
I am the sovereign one
who holds the seven stars,
the seven angels
who represent
those seven lampstands
in my right hand.
when you,
the right hand
is usually the image
that people use
of strength
and control
because most people
in the world
are right-handed.
That's their dominant hand.
So when you want
to really grab something
securely,
you use your right hand,
not your weak hand.
And so Jesus says,
I have the whole
of the churches
and those angels
will represent them
in his right hand.
That's his cosmic authority
and his total sovereignty
over these churches.
And not only that,
he's reminding them
that he cares
for these churches.
He's the one
who walks
among the seven
golden lampstands.
Jesus is not
off his own world,
uninterested
in the going-ons
in Ephesus.
Jesus is intimately involved.
He's connected
and he's caring
for the believers
in the church
in Ephesus.
So that's why
he's identifying himself
in this way.
He's telling them,
I am the light
of the world.
You are my lampstands.
You're the setting
that's supposed
to support my light,
that I'm supposed
to broadcast
through the world.
And so return
to your love
and walk with me
as my lampstand.
That's Jesus' exhortation
to them.
After identifying himself,
Jesus pronounces
his evaluation
of the church.
He begins with commendations
in verses two to three.
I know your works,
your toil,
and your patient endurance,
and how you cannot bear
with those who are evil,
but have tested those
who call themselves
apostles and are not
and found them
to be false.
I know you are
enduring patiently
and bearing up
for my name's sake
and you have not
grown weary.
Jesus repeats
that phrase twice.
I know.
It's like he's
embracing us
and then patting us
on the back
and then just nodding
knowingly
as he peers
into our eyes.
I know.
And Jesus will say
this over and over again
throughout chapters
two and three.
He knows all our good works.
He knows all our bad works.
He always knows.
But in our passage today,
it's connected
to his commendations.
I know your works.
brothers and sisters,
do you ever feel like
your love,
your toil for the Lord
never gets noticed?
Do you feel alone sometimes
in standing up
against evil?
Has your endurance
been tested
living in this sinful
and broken world
that's full of temptations
and setbacks?
Have you been ridiculed
for your faith
in the Lord Jesus?
Jesus says,
I know.
I know what you
have been through.
I know how much
you have suffered.
I know what you
have endured
for my name's sake.
And there's a play
on words here.
Jesus commends
the church in Ephesus
saying you cannot bear
with those who are evil.
But then he says again,
you are bearing up
for my name's sake.
So,
they don't put up
with evildoers.
They don't bear them
at all.
But they have borne much
for the sake
of Jesus' name.
It's an amazing
commendation.
That's something
we should aspire to
as a church.
Jesus also
specifically praises them
for how they cannot
bear with those
who are evil,
but have tested
those who call themselves
apostles and are not
and found them
to be false.
It's a pretty strong
statement, right?
They cannot bear
with those who are evil.
There are churches
nowadays
that condone
all manners of sin
within the body
of Christ
in the name
of tolerance.
But tolerance
for evil
is not a virtue.
Condoning
what God's word
condemns
is not compassion.
It's compromise.
I'm not saying
that we should
separate ourselves
completely from the world,
from the evildoers,
because then we'd have
to leave the world.
But as 1 Corinthians 5
tells us,
it is our responsibility
to judge those
who are inside the church,
to make sure
that the church
remains holy,
make sure that there's
no unrepentant sin
in our midst.
sin adulterates
our worship
and damages
our fellowship
and it discredits
our witness
to the world.
Therefore,
sin must be purged
from our midst.
And of course,
I'm not saying
that Christians
never sin,
we do.
But I am saying
that true Christians
always repent
of their sin.
They acknowledge it,
they confess it,
they try to turn
away from it.
And for those
who do repent,
there's always mercy.
Even for those
who have committed
the most heinous sins
that even our sinful world
will not tolerate,
there's mercy
if you repent.
However,
the church must not
tolerate unrepentant sinners.
Can verse 2
be said of our church?
Will Jesus commend us
in this way,
saying you cannot bear
with those who are evil?
More specifically,
Jesus says,
they have tested
those who call themselves
apostles and are not
and found them
to be false.
You may remember
from Acts 20
when Paul is addressing
the elders
in the church in Ephesus,
he warns them
specifically,
predicting that
the fierce wolves,
false teachers
will come in among them
and try to lead them astray.
And that prediction
came true.
False apostles
did come
to the church in Ephesus.
By apostle,
they're probably
not trying to claim
to be one of the
twelve apostles
because that's a
very clearly defined
and well-known
and closed group
of people.
So that would not
have flown.
But they're probably
claiming to be
either the second tier apostles,
those who have
witnessed the risen Jesus
and were commissioned
to proclaim the gospel
and lead the foundation
for the church,
or maybe even
a third tier apostle
who are basically
just generic messengers
sent up by local churches
to other local churches
to provide aid
or to convey some message
or some decision
or teaching
that was made.
And it could be used
in all those senses
throughout the New Testament.
And there were benefits
to claiming
to be an apostle
because it was lucrative.
If you claim
to be an apostle,
you automatically
get free room
and board
from the church
that you are a part of
and trying to convey
the message to.
And also,
it brought prestige.
People listen to you.
They let you talk.
And so,
there were people
doing this
and we have evidences
in scripture itself
and from other documents
in history
that there were
false apostles
as there are today.
And the Ephesian church
knew how to discern that.
They had theological discernment.
They were able
to separate them out
and they didn't listen
to the false apostles
which we also must do.
We can see their discernment
also in verse 6
after his criticism
of the church
in verses 45.
He brings another commendation
saying,
Yet this you have.
You hate the work
of the Nicolaitans
which I also hate.
As we'll see later
in this chapter,
the teaching of the Nicolaitans
in the New Testament
was akin to the teaching
of Balaam
in the Old Testament.
And essentially,
they put a stumbling block
in front of the believers
saying that they could
eat food sacrificed
to idols
and practice
sexual immorality.
So it was a permissive
heretical teaching.
They were saying,
Jesus has freed you
from your sins.
You can go participate
in that idol sacrifice.
That's okay.
You know that those idols
are nothing.
Go.
Enjoy your freedom in Christ.
Go have those relationships.
Go have those sexual relationships
with people.
God has freed you.
He's forgiven you
of your sin.
Who cares what we do
with our bodies anyway?
Be free.
That was the message
of the Nicolaitans.
And Jesus says here,
I hate the teachings
of the Nicolaitans.
Pretty strong words.
Jesus hates false teaching
because it profanes
the glory and holiness
of God
and incubates sin
which when fully grown
causes death
to those whom he loves.
if we want to hear
this commendation
from Christ
then we also need
to hate
what God hates.
But Jesus' evaluation
of the church
doesn't end
with those commendations.
He also brings
a devastating critique
in verse 4.
But I have this
against you
that you have abandoned
the love you had
at first.
It's heart-wrenching.
Jesus is telling them,
you don't love me
like you used to.
This kind of correction
has Old Testament precedent
in Jeremiah 2.2
when it says,
thus says the Lord,
I remember the devotion
of your youth,
your love,
as a bride,
how you followed me
in the wilderness
in a land not sown.
Israel was once
so devoted to the Lord
that they were willing
to follow him everywhere
even to a wilderness
where you cannot sow seeds,
where there would be no food.
They were saying,
I will go.
Wherever you go,
through fire
and through water,
I will go.
That was their devotion
of youth
but they had long
forsaken that.
That's Jeremiah's indictment
and this is mirroring that.
Do you remember
the devotion
of your youth,
the love you had
at first?
I got my first cell phone
when I went to college
and I probably spent
on average
about 30 minutes
on calls
like every two weeks
or so.
I didn't use the phone
very much.
That was the case
until my junior year
in college
when I met
a woman named Hannah
who's now my wife.
I started spending
three hours a day
on the phone
and then my mom
called me
at the end of the month
asking me
about the exorbitant
overage charges
on our family
cell phone plan
and that's how
they learned
that I was interested
in a woman.
That's what
my love for Hannah
was like at first.
It was consuming.
Do you remember
the love you had
for Jesus
at first?
Do you remember
how you used to
devour
the scriptures?
Do you remember
how zealous
you used to be
to tell people
about Jesus
and what you have
found
in Jesus
do you remember
the passion
and feeling
with which you
used to sing
praises to him
and pray to him?
Do you remember
the abandon
with which you
said to him
here I am
send me
I will go
wherever you
tell me to go.
I think we
can be like
the church
in Ephesus
in many ways.
We're in a
cosmopolitan
hub
surrounded by
idolatries
and heresies
and by and large
we are a
theologically
sound
and theologically
discerning church.
We know how to
spot false
teachers.
We're also
full of gritty
hardworking people
you guys are
doers and go-getters.
We're toiling
for the Lord
with patient
endurance
but do we
love Jesus
like we did
at first?
I think sometimes
we can chalk
this up
to misguided
youthful
exuberance.
Say oh I was
immature and
legalistic back
then.
I had zeal
without knowledge
back then
but now that
I have grown
in knowledge
my zeal
is more
tempered.
But the
Bible's
solution to
zeal without
knowledge
is not
knowledge
without zeal.
It's zeal
with
knowledge.
Could it be
that we have
abandoned
the love
we had
at first?
the church
in Ephesus
was like
a wife
who cooks
for her
husband
who sleeps
on the
same bed
as her
husband
raises the
kids
with her
husband
and wears
the wedding
ring that her
husband gave
her but who
has lost
her love
for her
husband.
She's a
dutiful wife
but not a
devoted
wife.
The church
in Ephesus
was like
that.
They were
dutifully going
through the
motions but
their devotion
to the
Lord had
waned.
They had
abandoned
the love
they had
at first.
I want
us to sit
with that
for a little
bit but I
do want to
qualify it
because I
don't want
you to hear
what I'm
not saying
and you
can hear
that.
I'm not
saying look
at the
Ephesian
church.
Oh,
all that
doctrinal
stuff is
unimportant.
Just focus
on love.
All you
need is
love.
I am
not saying
that because
Jesus doesn't
say that in
this passage.
As human
beings we
gravitate toward
these either
or scenarios.
The
psychologists
call false
dilemma
fallacy.
We tend
to think of
things as
either or even
when they are
not mutually
exclusive.
We must
not pit
theological
fidelity
against
Christian
love.
Jesus
commands the
church in
Ephesus for
their doctrinal
fidelity.
Theological
accuracy is
important.
Obedience
even to the
minutia of
the law is
important.
Matthew 5,
17-19,
Jesus says
that he
didn't come
to abolish
the law
but to
fulfill
them and
he says
that not
an iota,
that's one
of the
smallest
letters in
the Greek
alphabet,
or not
a dot,
or that
would probably
be Hebrew,
will pass
away from
the scriptures
until heaven
and earth
pass away.
He warns
us,
therefore whoever
relaxes one
of the least
of these
commandments
and teaches
others to do
the same
will be called
least in the
kingdom of
heaven.
But whoever
does them
and teaches
them will be
called great
in the
kingdom of
heaven.
So no,
Jesus is not
downplaying
theological
faithfulness.
Scripture
never makes
light of
obedience.
Even in
Matthew 23
when Jesus
is criticizing
the Pharisees
for fastidiously
tithing the
smallest herbs,
giving a tenth
of the smallest
herbs of their
produce to God,
tithing mint
and dill
and cumin.
But while
they were
doing that,
they were
neglecting the
weightier matters
of the law,
justice,
mercy,
and faithfulness.
And so Jesus
rebukes them.
But even as
he's rebuking
them,
Jesus never
tells them
not to worry
about tithing
the mint
and the
dill
and the
cumin.
No,
he says
instead,
these you
ought to
have done
without
neglecting
the others.
The Pharisees
were legalistic
and hypocritical
not because
they obeyed
the least
of these
commandments,
but because
they obeyed
the least
of these
commandments
while
neglecting
and disobeying
the greater
commandments.
the solution
is not
just obey
these things
and neglect
the rest.
The solution
is obedience
to all
of the
commands
from the
least
to the
greatest.
With that
qualification
aside,
I want to
return to
the main
exhortation
of this
passage
because
some
commands
are
greater
than
others.
What is
the greatest
commandment
for us
as Christians?
Jesus
once answered
that question
directly in
Matthew 22,
37 to 39.
You shall
love the
Lord your
God with
all your
heart and
with all
your soul
and with
all your
mind.
This
is the
great
and first
commandment.
And a
second is
like it.
You shall
love your
neighbor as
yourself.
Sometimes
pastors and
theologians
debate the
phrase
abandoning the
love you
had at
first.
What does
that mean?
Is it
love for
God?
Is it
love for
the church,
one another?
Or is it
love for
your
neighbors?
I think
the answer
is all
of the
above.
Because
Jesus
connects
those two
loves when
he gives
the greatest
commandment.
Love for
God,
love for
one another,
love for
our
neighbors.
And
all that
we do
as
Christians
are
supposed
to be
done
in
love.
In
1 John
4,
20-21,
it tells
us that
we cannot
love God
while hating
our brothers
and sisters
in Christ.
So love
for God
and love
for one
another
also go
hand in
hand.
So if
you're
neglecting
one,
you're
neglecting
them all.
The
love for
God is
the
foundation,
the fountain
from which
all our
other loves
for one
another and
for our
neighbors
flow.
1 Corinthians
13 says
this,
if I speak
in the
tongues of
men and
of angels
but have
not love,
I'm a
noisy gong
or a
clanging
cymbal.
And if I
have prophetic
powers and
understand all
mysteries and
all knowledge
and if I
have all
faith so
as to
remove
mountains but
have not
love,
I am
nothing.
If I give
away all
I have and
if I deliver
up my body
to be burned
but have
not love,
I gain
nothing.
And at the
end of that
chapter he
says,
so now
faith,
hope,
and love
abide,
these three,
but the
greatest of
these is
love.
Love is
the greatest
command.
I want
all of us
to speak
in the
tongues of
angels.
I want
all of us
to have
prophetic
powers.
I want
all of us
to understand
all mysteries
and knowledge.
I want
all of us
to have
faith that
can move
mountains.
And I
want
all of us
to be
radically
generous
and sacrificial
in our
giving.
I want
all of us
to be
willing to
lay down
our lives
for Christ
and even
go through
fire for
him.
But all
of these
things are
meaningless
if we
have not
love.
Most of
you have
probably heard
me quote
this at
least once.
C.S.
Lewis puts
it this
way,
a perfect
man would
never act
from the
sense of
duty.
He
would always
want the
right thing
more than
the wrong
one.
Duty is
only a
substitute
for love
of God
and of
other people
like a
crutch
which is
a substitute
for a
leg.
Most of
us need
the crutch
at times
but of
course it
is idiotic
to use
the crutch
when our
own legs,
our own
loves,
tastes,
habits,
etc.
can do
the journey
on their
own.
Brothers and
sisters,
God wants
more than
our
dutiful
obedience.
Yes,
He wants
your toil
and He
wants your
patient
endurance
but He's
also for
your joy.
He's also
for your
love.
If you think
that God
merely wants
you for
the services
and ministries
that you can
perform on
His behalf,
then you
are badly
mistaken.
God wants
to draw you
into a
loving
relationship
with Him.
He wants
you to
share
in His
everlasting
love for
you and
for you
to love
Him in
return.
He wants
you to
be forever
enveloped by
the triune
love of
God.
So yes,
let's be
patiently
enduring
Christians
but let's
also be
joyfully
exuberant
Christians.
Let's be
hardworking
Christians
but let's
also be
deeply
loving
Christians.
Notice
also the
contrast
between
love
and
hate
in this
passage.
The church
in Ephesus
hate the
works of
the Nicolaitans
which Jesus
also hates.
That's a good
thing.
To hate
what God
hates is
good.
But their
failure was
in the
absence of
love.
They didn't
love what
Jesus
loved.
They
abandoned
the love
they had
at first.
It's not
enough to
hate what
is false
and evil.
We also
must love
God and
love one
another and
love our
neighbors.
sometimes
Christians
get
caricatured
in the
media as
people who
are only
against
this and
against
that.
Most of
the time
it's not
fair but
for some
Christians that
caricature hits
a little too
close to
home.
Again it's
good to
hate what
God hates
and to be
against what
God is
against but
if you're
only an
against this
and against
that Christian
and not
for this
love
Christian
for that
love
Christian
then there
is an
imbalance.
So now
let's return
to the
exhortation
verse 5
that we've
seen the
evaluation
and we go
to the
exhortation
in verse
5.
Remember
therefore
from where
you have
fallen
repent
and do
the works
you did
at first.
If not
I will
come to
you and
remove
your
lampstand
from its
place
unless
you
repent.
I think
this
exhortation
has a
particular
emphasis
on loving
God
in the
way we
witness
to others.
You're
going to
ask me
where
you're
getting
that
in the
text
I'm
going to
show
you.
There's
three
R's
here
to help
we
summarize.
Remember
repent
and then
if you
don't
you're
going to
be
removed
to
remove
the
lampstand
from
its
place.
The
church
in
Ephesus
needs
to repent
of abandoning
their
first love
and that's
going to
be seen
in doing
the
works
they did
at first.
So there's
something
that they're
not doing
and that's
an evidence
that they
abandoned
their
first love.
So what
are these
works?
I think
those works
are connected
to the
recurring
image
of the
lampstand.
A
lampstand
is supposed
to be
a stand
for the
lamp.
It's
supposed
to give
light
and Jesus
himself
is the
one who
walks
among
the
seven
golden
lampstands.
Jesus
is making
sure that
the light
of the
gospel
does not
go out
from
these
churches.
And so
the fitting
judgment
for a
church
that does
not
shine
its
light
is to
remove
the
lampstand
from
its
place.
As
Jesus
said
in
Matthew
5,
14-16,
you are
the
light
of the
world.
A
city
set
on
a
hill
cannot
be
hidden
nor
do
people
light
a
lamp
and
put
it
under
a
bowl
or
a
basket.
Instead
they
put
it
on
its
stand
so
that
it
gives
light
to
everyone
in
the
house.
In
the
same
way
let
your
light
shine
before
men
so
that
they
might
see
your
good
works
and
praise
your
Father
in
heaven.
The
recovery
of the
first
love
for
the
church
in
Ephesus
will
have
been
evidenced
in
the
works
that
they
did
at
first
in
giving
glory
to
God
and
shining
the
light
of
Jesus
Christ.
I
think
that
connection
between
first
love
and
bearing
witness
4,
9-14
where
Jesus
prophesies
that
Christians
will face
tribulation
and persecution
and that
many false
prophets
will rise
and lead
them astray
kind of
like the
situation
in
Ephesus
and that
as
those
things
are
happening
Jesus
warns
the
love
of
many
will
grow
cold
just
like
Ephesus
but
says
Jesus
the
one
who
endures
to
the
end
will
be
saved
and
this
gospel
of
the
kingdom
will
be
proclaimed
throughout
the
whole
world
as a
testimony
to
all
nations
and
then
the
end
will
come
so
instead
of
letting
our
love
grow
cold
we're
supposed
to
endure
to
the
end
and
what
does
enduring
to
the
end
entail
according
to
Jesus
in
Matthew
24
it
entails
proclaiming
the
gospel
of
the
kingdom
throughout
the
whole
world
as
a
testimony
to
all
nations
enduring
to
the
end
without
letting
our
love
grow
cold
means
proclaiming
the
gospel
bearing
witness
to
Jesus
so
are
we
doing
that
as
a
church
are
we
being
faithful
to
our
God
given
commission
as
a
lamp
stand
to
shine
the
light
of
the
gospel
of
Jesus
Christ
are
we
bearing
witness
to
our
neighbors
that
Jesus
is
the
Christ
who
saves
us
by
dying
on
the
cross
for
our
sins
and
being
raised
from
the
dead
are
we
bearing
testimony
to
all
nations
concerning
Jesus
are
we
sending
and
supporting
missionaries
that
go
to
the
nations
and
don't
miss
the
fearful
verdict
in
verse
five
should
they
fail
to
repent
if
not
I
will
come
to
you
and
remove
your
lampstand
from
its
place
unless
you
repent
this
is
not
a
if
you
don't
do
this
you
know
you're
not
going
to
get
your
bonus
points
for
the
assignment
this
is
if
you
don't
do
this
you're
going
to
fail
the
class
being
a
witness
for
Jesus
Christ
is
not
an
extra
credit
assignment
for
super
Christians
it
is
the
task
for
you
and
me
ordinary
Christians
the
lampstand
this
is
our
very
identity
witnesses
of
the
light
of
the
gospel
a
church
that
does
not
give
away
the
gospel
will
lose
the
gospel
eventually
a
church
that
does
not
carry
out
its
mission
will
lose
its
place
in
the
mission
a
church
that
does
not
bear
witness
to
Christ
is
a
church
that
is
on
the
verge
of
losing
its
lampstand
in
its
place
because
a
church
that
does
not
bear
witness
to
Jesus
is
a
church
that
does
not
know
a
church
that
does
not
love
Christ
and
a
church
that
does
not
love
Christ
is
a
church
that
does
not
know
the
love
of
Christ
so
if
you
don't
love
Jesus
like
you
used
to
then
you
need
to
repent
but
in
order
for
us
to
truly
repent
from
our
lovelessness
we
need
to
do
something
else
first
it
says
in
verse
five
remember
therefore
from
where
you
have
fallen
we
need
to
remember
the
love
we
had
at
first
do
you
remember
how
you
used
to
proclaim
the
excellencies
of
him
who
called
you
out
of
darkness
into
his
marvelous
light
do
you
remember
that
do
you
remember
what
darkness
you
were
delivered
from
do
you
remember
what
wrath
and
justice
you
were
saved
from
we
are
on
the
verge
on
the
precipice
of
the
fires
of
hell
and
we
would
have
deserved
every
minute
of
it
we
had
sinned
against
the
holy
god
and
Jesus
took
your
place
he
died
for
your
sins
do
you
remember
1
John
4
says
anyone
who does
not
love
does
not
know
God
because
God
is
love
in
this
the
love
of
God
was
made
manifest
among
us
that
God
sent
his
only
son
into
the
world
so that
we
might
live
through
him
in
this
is
love
not
that
we
have
loved
God
but
that
he
loved
us
and
sent
his
son
to be
the
propitiation
for
our
sins
we
love
because
he
first
loved
us
if
we
want
to
repent
of our
lovelessness
we need
to
remember
how
we
have
ever
love
him
verse
seven
we
get
the
final
two
sections
of
this
letter
the
invitation
and
the
promise
the
invitation
is
the
same
in
all
seven
letters
and
I'll
talk
more
about
that
in
the
coming
weeks
but
the
promise
is
wonderful
it says
in
verse
seven
to
the
one
who
conquers
I
will
grant
to
eat
of
the
tree
of
life
which
is
in
the
paradise
of
God
this
is
an
illusion
to
the
garden
of
Eden
where
the
tree
of
life
was
in
the
garden
but
human
beings
because
they
sinned
against
God
were
exiled
from
the
garden
of
Eden
and
their
access
to
the
tree
of
life
was
cut
off
and
the
rest
of
the
Bible
is
a
story
of
and
questions
of
can
we
ever
return
to
that
place
of
fellowship
with
God
and
eternal
life
again
and
Jesus
is
promising
that
very
thing
eternal
life
to
the
one
who
conquers
to
the
one
who
endures
in
faith
and
hope
and
love
and
shines
the
light
of
Christ
till
the
end
and
there's
also
connection
here
to
the
image
of
the
lamp
stand
remember
when
I
preached
through
the
furnishings
within
tabernacle
in
Exodus
25
I
told
you
that
the
lamp
stand
was
designed
to
look
like
a
tree
in
part
to
resemble
the
tree
of
life
that
was
in
the
garden
of
Eden
because
now
this
is
the
abode
the
dwelling
place
of
God
the
stand
and
it
are
the
branches
that
are
coming
out
of
it
and
the
light
on
it
were
the
fruit
and
so
that
connected
to
our
call
as
believers
if
we
are
lamp
stands
we
are
living
symbols
and
signs
to
the
world
you
can
have
eternal
life
again
you
can
get
back
to
the
tree
of
life
you
can
have
fellowship
with
God
again
you
can
be
in
the
paradise
where
God
walked
among
us
again
because
Jesus
is
the
one
who
walks
among
the
seven
lamp
stands
so
let us
recover
the
love
we
had
at
first
and
shine
God's
light
and
let's
tell
the
world
that
they
can
eat
the
fruit
of
eternal
life
that
hangs
from
the
tree
of
death
on
our
behalf
let's
pray
Lord
Jesus
we
love
you
but
we
don't
love
you
enough
and
we
want
to
love
you
more
because
you
are
worthy
of
all
our
affection
you
are
worthy
of
our
undivided
hearts
you
are
worthy
of
our
total
allegiance
so
Lord
forgive
us
help
us
to
remember
the
height
from
which
we
have
fallen
help
us
remember
your
love
for
us
so
that
we
might
recover
that
love
we
had
at
first
in
Jesus
name
we
pray
amen