Do You Love Jesus

Do You Love Jesus?

Revelation 2:1-7

“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.’ Revelation 2:1-7 (NLT)

Let’s pay particular attention to verses 4 and 5 in this passage.

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. Revelation 2:4-5 (NLT)

Let’s look at The Message; it has an interesting translation of verses 4 and 5.

“But you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway?

Do you have any idea how far you’ve fallen? A Lucifer fall! “Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I’m well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle. Revelation 2:4-5 (The Message)

I would like to start this morning by asking you why you are here. Why did you bother to get up this morning, get dressed and come to Church? What is it that brought you here this morning? Was it the coffee and doughnuts? Was it our beautiful new facility?

In years past, it was just considered the thing to do. If you considered yourself a Christian you felt an obligation to be in Church on Sunday morning. Countless generations went to Church simply because they felt obligated to be in Church. Recent research tells us, however, that there are now many reasons to go to Church. Just a few of those reasons are: business networking, making political connections, to make new friends, to see existing friends, because overall it’s a positive experience, you like the pastor, the music is good, and so on.

There are many reasons why people go to Church. But, why did you go to Church this morning? What was the compelling reason to get out of bed early on Sunday morning, get dressed and go to Church? Whatever your reason for coming this morning, there really is only one reason to go to Church.

We go to Church to worship Jesus. We go to Church to praise Jesus. We go to Church to honor Jesus. We go to Church to thank Jesus. We go to Church in obedience to Jesus. In short, we go to Church because we love Jesus!

Did you notice the theme? Put simply, we go to Church because of Jesus. We go to Church because of who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Whatever the reason that brought you to Church this morning, there really should be only one reason that brings us to Church: and that’s Jesus. We should go to Church for one reason, and only one reason, we should go to Church simply because we love Jesus.

I wonder though, how many people go to Church simply because they love Jesus. The Church used to love Jesus. Now I think the Church just loves the church. We love our programs. We love our buildings. We love all our activity for Jesus, but do we still love Jesus?

Do you remember when we used to sing love songs to Jesus during our worship services? We still sing good songs, but are they love songs to Jesus? There is an old song that we used to sing a lot in Church when I was young. The words are:

There is a Name I love to hear,

I love to sing its worth;

It sounds like music in my ear,

The sweetest Name on earth.

Chorus

Oh, how I love Jesus,

Oh, how I love Jesus,

Oh, how I love Jesus,

Because He first loved me!

It tells me of a Savior’s love,