TWO STEPS FORWARD,
THREE STEPS BACKWARD
Revelation 2.1-7
S: First Love
C: Love God, Love Others
Th: God Speaks to the Church
Pr: LOVE JESUS AND LOVE WHAT HE LOVES.
CV: “We wholeheartedly worship the everlasting God.”
Outline borrowed from John MacArthur
I. THE CORRESPONDENT
II. THE CHURCH
III. THE COMMENDATION
IV. THE CONCERN
V. THE COMMAND
VI. THE COUNSEL
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Possess a passion for God.
• Repent and remove what keeps you from Jesus.
• Love what Jesus loves.
Version: ESV
RMBC 25 January 09 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Christians (S)
Former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan once said this:
"It is odd that some Christians see themselves as the media do, as bland guys in gray suits with gray buzz cuts. They ought to see themselves as young Mar¬lon Brando on a Harley, for they are the true anti-establishment, the true rebels, and with a cause."
That’s an interesting assessment, isn’t it?
It makes me ask the question…
What does it mean to be a Christian ?
Quickly, I want to role out some essentials.
Being a Christian means you have a…
• Savior
You have faith in Jesus as your Savior, knowing that He died for you.
You realize that you cannot earn your salvation.
It is not a matter of works.
It is a matter of grace.
Being a Christian means you recognize that Jesus is…
• Lord
He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when you experience His salvation, you are no longer in charge.
He is now in charge.
Being a Christian also means that you know about…
• Repentance
We repent of our sin.
Out of gratefulness for the salvation we have been given, we express a determination and a will to not live that way anymore.
Being a Christian also means you are…
• Forgiven
When we confess our sin, something really exciting happens.
We are forgiven.
We experience forgiveness.
Because of this, we also experience…
• Transformation
A change takes place inside of us.
We become a new creation.
Not by our own power, but because we are…
• Indwelt
The Holy Spirit comes into us.
He sets up His home inside of us and teaches us about our purpose and mission.
And do you know where that purpose and mission starts?
It starts with…
The primary command – Love God!
Jesus put it this way…
“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.”
OUR STUDY:
You put this all together, and you start multiplying it with other people, you get what we call in the Greek, ekklesia – church.
As we come to our text of the day, we are going to discover that…
God speaks to the church…
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.
One of the aspects we need to realize as we study the churches in Revelation 2-3 is that Jesus looks at churches differently than we typically do from our individualistic American perspective.
Jesus sees individual behaviors as corporate actions.
In other words, individual members recede and He sees a single body.
This means that what one does affects the whole.
There is never any such thing as individual sin.
There is always a greater impact.
So much so, God expects the church to deal with it.
THE CORRESPONDENT (1)
We see this in verse 1 as…
Jesus scrutinizes and assesses His people.
Jesus is visiting the church in Ephesus and He is inspecting it.
It will be a thorough examination.
He will be evaluating whether it is the kind of church that is worth His connection.
For as we have already heard in the text, He is willing to remove the lampstand.
He is willing to remove His Presence.
THE CHURCH (2)
Ephesus, as you can see on the map, was a seaport and a major city.
It has a theater that overlooked the harbor that could seat 25,000 people.
In this theater, they had athletic games that rivaled the Olympic games in Greece.
Ephesus was the center of worship for the Roman goddess Diana, the goddess of fertility and nature.
The temple built in her honor was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
It was 60 feet high with 127 pillars.
Annually, it had a festival that was attended by priests, eunuchs and prostitutes.
It was nothing less than a chaotic free for all.
But in the midst of this metropolis was a church, and…
The church in Ephesus had quality leaders.
It was founded by Aquila and Priscilla.
We know that the apostle Paul spent quality time there.
He sent Timothy to pastor there.
Other coworkers of Paul, Onesiphorus and Tychichus, were sent to minister there.
Finally, the apostle John pastors the church there.
Ephesus had the best of the best serving the Lord in their midst.
They had the “stars.”
So, you think this would be a healthy church.
THE COMMENDATION (2-3, 6)
And at first glance, they are.
Jesus does commend them.
They do have a lot right.
One of which is that…
They were no spectators.
The Ephesian church was full of hard workers.
The Greek word here speaks of sweat and exhaustion.
This was an active church.
This was not one of those places where 20% of the people do 80% of the ministry.
Also…
They were patient in trying times.
They were not like…
ILL Work (H)
A handyman an elderly woman hired to do some odd jobs around the house. Every time she looked for him he was taking a break.
Exasperated she finally asked him, “You are so slow, don’t you do anything fast?”
He thought for a moment and said, “Well, I get tired fast.”
This was not the Ephesian church.
They were resolute.
They were determined.
They were faithful, even when times were hard.
They kept going when the going got tough.
And…
They had doctrinal orthodoxy.
The people in this church had a holy intolerance for doctrinal impurity.
They had high standards, and they could sniff out the wolves among the sheep.
They knew the difference between the Da Vinci Code, the Gospel of Judas, and the truth of God’s word (that’s a contemporary analogy).
Jesus also commended them for hating the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
We are not sure what this group taught, but we suspect they taught that the way to win the battle over morals was to give yourself completely over to sin.
The Ephesian church rejected it outright.
Now you put those commendations together, you have the kind of church that a pastor would give almost anything to have.
Well, maybe…
Because Jesus now communicates…
THE CONCERN (4)
This was a church that was losing ground.
It was two steps forward and three steps backward.
Jesus saw through all the pious façade and saw that the Ephesian church had real heart trouble.
What we do for the Lord is important, but so is why we do it.
It is clear that Jesus wants hearts as well as hands and heads.
He wants it all.
You see…
The church had lost its passion.
ILL Romance (H)
There was a couple who was driving home on their 25th wedding anniversary after a celebration at a fine restaurant. She was sitting over on the passenger side. He was behind the wheel as she began to lament, “Oh, honey, remember when we were so close? I mean, I remember when we first got married. We sat so close that you could hardly shift the gears. And look at us now.”
To which he responded with a shrug, “Well, I never moved…”
Similarly, the Ephesian church had let the relationship with their Savior and Lord go.
They had moved.
And now they were going through the motions.
What they had ended up with is religion, and not a vibrant relationship.
You know…
When you’re in love, nothing you do for your loved one is a burden.
When you lose that love, a simple task becomes a chore.
When the passion is lost, it does not take long to become critical and self-indulgent, because we want things the way we want them.
CHALLENGE:
So Jesus helps the Ephesian church out.
And he is helping Randall church as well.
For frankly, do you think God could be speaking to us through His message to the Ephesians?
Absolutely!
I believe there are plenty of similarities that should make us sit up and listen.
If it is true that we, as Randall, have lost our first love, the good news is that it does not have to stay this way.
There is a way out.
THE COMMAND (5)
First…
Don’t forget !
Jesus says that we are to keep remembering.
We need to constantly remind ourselves.
This is essential, because as we get busy, we forget.
We fail to keep and possess a passion for God.
This means that we must attend to the relationship.
It is more than knowing stuff.
It is more than doing stuff.
It is first and foremost a relationship with Jesus, and if we don’t take time to experience God in our daily life, we pretty much got nothing.
Second…
Reject and remove what keeps you from Jesus.
Jesus uses the word repent.
In other words, if anything is keeping you from having a relationship with Jesus, get rid of it.
If you are being held back, it’s time to let go.
It is time to reject that which holds us back.
This is true as individuals and as a church.
Then Jesus says to do the things you did at first.
Do the acts of love.
Demonstrate the passion, even if you do not feel it.
Because, when you do it, the feelings will follow.
Not only that, go the step further and…
LOVE WHAT JESUS LOVES.
Let’s return to that text I shared earlier, except this time I am going to finish it (Matthew 22:36-40)…
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “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. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
It comes down to this very simple formula.
Love God.
Love people.
Love God.
Love people.
THE COUNSEL (7)
There was a warning in the text in Revelation.
If we don’t get back to our first love, Jesus says’ “I’ll be gone.”
I don’t view this as a threat.
Instead, I think this is a statement of the logical consequences when a love for God is lacking in the midst of the church.
Do you know that in America eight churches close their doors every day?
Isn’t that a startling statistic?
You see, a church can have all kinds of structure, beautiful buildings and smooth organization, but no power.
A church can have all kinds of history, but no future.
So note this…
We all need to hear and respond to the message.
Look, we all know that the church is not perfect.
Randall is not perfect.
And the reason Randall isn’t perfect is because it’s made up of ornery and ugly people like you and me!
It’s made up of people who are immature, flawed, who many times misunderstand or judge others, people who have a lot of their own ‘baggage’ from the past that they’re working on.
In spite of all that, God still wants to use us, as long as we keep to our first love.
Consider Peggy Noonan’s quote at the beginning of this message.
Let’s be anti-establishment and the true rebels.
For we do have a cause…
Love God.
Love people.
For Further Study: Proverbs 4.23; Jeremiah 2.2, 6.16; Hosea 14.1-4; Matthew 10.37-38, 22.36-38; John 8.42, 21.15-17; Acts 19.1-41, 20.28-31; I Corinthians 5.6-7, 13.1-3; Ephesians 1.15-16, 4.11-16, 27; Revelation 1.20, 22.2
BENEDICTION:
Now may your love abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best;
and may you be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
“The LORD bless you and keep you…
the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you…
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
(ESV)
Amen!
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
Beaman, Brad Rekindle the Flame
Brincefield, Larry Ephesus
Crane, Christopher Digging in the Couch
Kelly, Chris How to Be a Loving Church
Massey, Robert Rediscovering Your First Love
Parker, Matthew Rekindling Your First Love
Peak, Ben Rekindling the Passion
Scudder, David Ephesus: Laboring Without Love
Other:
Clegg, Tom, and Warren Bird. Missing in America: Making an Eternal Difference in the World Next Door. Loveland, CO: Group, 2008.
Jeremiah, David, and Carole C. Carlson. Escape the Coming Night. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1990.
Keener, Craig S. The Ivp Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Mounce, Robert H. The Book of Revelation. The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977.
Quick, Kenneth. Healing the Heart of Your Church. Wheaton, IL: ChurchSmart Resources, 2003.
Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament. Colorado Springs: ChariotVictor Publishing, 1989.
