One day a man came home and surprised his wife with a bunch of beautiful roses! She was so thrilled. While she smelled the flowers, the man whispered to her ears, “A four-letter word is the reason why I bought these flowers.” His wife answered, “Is it L-O-V-E?” The man said, “No! It was S-A-L-E!” If you were the wife, how would you react? Would you be happy to know that your husband did things for you not because he wanted to do it but because he has to do it or because he needed to do it? Of course not!
If that is what you would feel, then imagine what the Lord would feel when we obey Him out of duty and not out of devotion, when we find worship a burden rather than a blessing, or when we serve Him out of obligation to Him and not out of passion for Him.
Let us look at one church that treated the Lord that way. Open your Bibles to Revelation 2:1-7.[1] This morning, we will see that our PASSION makes our PERFORMANCE more meaningful. Let us pray…
According to the NIV Study Bible, “Ephesus was the most important city in western Asia Minor… Because it was also at an intersection of major trade routes, Ephesus became a commercial center.” It is now modern-day Turkey. The church in Ephesus has a rich spiritual history. The apostle Paul himself planted the church and made it his ministry base for about three years. Can you imagine that? The best of the best planted that church! After that, Timothy served there as its pastor. He was Paul’s protégé. Later on, the apostle John ministered in Ephesus also.
All in all the church in Ephesus got eight books of the New Testament. Paul wrote them a letter that bore their name. Usually, whenever Paul would write to a church, it was because there was an issue. But if we read the letter to the Ephesians, there was no mention of any issues at all. When Paul sent Timothy his two letters, Timothy was in Ephesus. John sent his three letters to the church in that city and he wrote the Gospel of John there. And before he died, while the apostle John was in exile in Patmos, the Lord Jesus appeared to him with messages for seven key churches in Asia Minor. Ephesus was the first church he addressed. But even if it was a privileged church, it became a problem church. Truly, to whom much is given, much is required.
In verse 1, the Lord revealed Himself 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.’” The “stars” and the “angel” symbolize the leaders of the churches. The “lampstands” symbolize the churches. The Lord Jesus is described here as the One who has the power over the leaders and Whose presence is with the churches. He can do whatever He wants with them.
Then the Lord gave His review of the church in Ephesus. At first, He commended them. Read verse 2: “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance…” Twice, in verses 2 and 3, the Lord said, “I know”. He knew them inside and out. The word for “works” in Greek is where we got the word “energy.” The word “toil” refers to “laborious work… The word signifies not merely labor, but labor unto weariness, or to the point of exhaustion”.[2] Then the phrase “patient endurance” means “endurance under difficult circumstances”.[3] They faced a lot of challenges in serving the Lord. But they conquered those challenges. Verse 3 goes like this: “I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.” They were so energetic in laboring for the Lord. But, though they got so exhausted, they patiently endured. They were so intense! Then verse 2 continues: “I know… 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.” They were so discerning. They were exposed to real apostles such as Paul and John so they could spot a phony immediately. In fact, in verse 6, the Lord added, “Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” Whatever the Nicolaitans did wrong, the church in Ephesus was so zealous for the truth that they hated error. They were known for their commitment and their convictions.
Yet, despite all these commendations, Jesus issued a condemnation. Verse 4 starts with a strong contrast: “But I have this against you…” They were so devoted to the words and to the works of God. But still the Lord has found something against them: “that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” What was their first love? In Ephesians 1:15, Paul was so thankful to God for the church in Ephesus “because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints”. Then at the end of the letter, he blessed them: “Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.”[4] It’s a love for God and for each other that they used to have but now that love is gone.
The Contemporary English Version translated it this way: “You don’t have as much love as you used to.” It does not mean that they hate the Lord and each other. It means that they don’t love the way they used to love. It’s not something that just happened. It’s not as if they woke up one morning and discovered that they no longer love the Lord and one another as much. The word “abandoned” is in the active voice and not in the passive voice. That means they did not fall out of love. They jumped out of love. Remember that verse 1 described the Lord as the one “who holds” the churches. The word for “hold” is the exact opposite of the word “abandoned”. The Lord won’t let go but the church in Ephesus has let go. The Lord won’t give up on us but they gave up on Him and on each other.
According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary, “though they had retained purity of doctrine and life and had maintained a high level of service, they were lacking in deep devotion to Christ… [He] wants believers’ hearts as well as their hands and heads.” They performed well but they were not passionate enough. Though their performance was overflowing, the Lord found their passion lacking. It is sad when we are not passionate for the Lord we are worshipping and for the people we are serving and fellowshipping with. Our passion makes our performance more meaningful. Activity will never substitute for adoration for God and affection for one another. He is not just looking for intensity, he is looking for intimacy. Yes, God wants our hearts as well as our hands and our heads.
So, do we obey the Lord out of duty or out of devotion? Do we find worship a burden or a blessing? Do we serve the Lord out of obligation to Him or out of passion for Him? For example, I wonder why we find it hard to arrive early for our worship service. We make time for what is important to us. The way we give time reveals our priority. Also, when we worship, do we really sing from our hearts or we just sing along? I pray that the description in Matthew 15:8 does not fit us: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me”. The Good News Bible goes like this: “All of you praise me with your words, but you never really think about me.” We sing to the Lord with our lips but our minds are elsewhere. We are thinking of someone or something else. Someone suggested that it is possible that there are some people who intentionally come late to our worship service to avoid the prayer time. Another reason is that they don’t want to pray with another person. I hope it is not really true.
So, how do we rekindle our passion for God and for each other? Christ gave this recommendation in verse 5a: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” He gave three commands. “Remember… repent… do”. Note that He said, “…do the works you did at first.” He is not saying that we stop what we are doing right now. If we don’t feel romantic and we just bought flowers for our spouse out of obligation, that doesn’t mean we don’t give gifts anymore. To rekindle one’s passion, we are to remember the love we used to have. We have to ask God for forgiveness and once again do the things we used to do but this time with a renewed passion. Our passion makes our performance more meaningful.
If we fail to follow this recommendation, the Lord warned in verse 5: “If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” The loss of love would lead to the loss of light. It means that the church will no longer impact Ephesus with their words and works. If we will ask the seekers what they hate most in believers, they will all agree on hypocrisy. The world can actually see through our performance and really sense our passion or lack of it.
When we rekindle our passion, the Lord promised a reward. Verse 7 tells us, “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.” When Adam and Eve sinned, God withheld this privilege of eating of the tree of life from them. But to those who would overcome, God would extend that privilege.
Brothers and sisters, are we still passionate for God and for each other? Or are we just performing without passion? Our passion makes our performance more meaningful. God wants our hearts as well as our heads and our hands.
Let us pray…
[1]The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ©2001 Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.
[2]The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament.
[3]Ibid.
[4]Ephesians 6:24.
