How To Be A Loving Church Series

And so, Jesus starts out by giving a glowing report on the spiritual condition of this well-known, influential congregation…He says… “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance!” These people were on the job for Jesus! They were ‘worker bees’ for the kingdom! They had all kinds of ministries and programs going on. All their members were actively involved in reaching out to the unsaved of this major Roman city. And Jesus recognizes their ‘perseverance’. Even in the face of tremendous persecution they refused to bow their knees to Caesar as god. In vs. 2 he says that, “he knows that they haven’t tolerated wicked men and they’ve weeded out false teachers…”…

· they defended the faith and stood up for the truth of God.

· they were committed to staying pure and serving Jesus with all their hearts…

· They were hard at work advancing the kingdom of God.

So what’s to criticize? I mean, most of us would look at a church like this and say, “I want to be a part of THAT! Wow! They’re making a difference!”. I mean, what could possibly be wrong with this church?

But Jesus has a very sharp eye, and He saw something in them, (and He sees things in us)… that most people might pass right over. He notices something’s missing.

In all the hustle and bustle of church life…something wasn’t quite right. READ Rev. 2:4. Jesus is telling us that if we’re not careful, we can be doing everything He ever asked us to do… except the most important thing… Love Him! Do you think it’s possible to read your bible, attend church, participate in a ministry… do everything you’re supposed to do… and not love Jesus? I say it is! It’s entirely possible! People in churches all across the U.S. are doing just that! They’ve forgotten WHY they’re doing what they’re doing! If you’re a Christian this morning, it’s all too easy to go through all the right motions, say all the right things that a ‘good Christian’ says… BUT at your core… really not be in love with the person you’re supposed to doing it for!

It’s so easy to get our motives all out of whack! Eventually we’re not doing what we do because we’re in love with Jesus…we’re doing it because we don’t want to be looked down on, or because we feel ‘guilted’ into it! Or… or… or… The Christians at Ephesus had settled for a form of religion, but the power…the fuel…(being in love with Christ)…was missing! See, being madly, passionately in love with the person of Jesus Christ is at the heart of the Christian life! And if you don’t have that, (or if you NEVER had it) …you’re doing nothing more than practicing a meaningless, dead, ritualistic religion. You might stay busy at church, doing lots of good, worthy, honorable things… but if you’re not doing it because you’re in love with Jesus Christ … you’ve fallen into the same trap as the Ephesians.

This was eye-opening when I found this out, but have you ever noticed that the gospels (Mt.,Mk, Lk.,Jn.) are filled with instances and places where Jesus loved people, but that there are only 3 times when people said they loved him? Doesn’t that sound odd? I think it’s sad? That’s because it’s a lot easier to receive love than it is to give it! How do we know we really love Him?