First Love
Revelation 2:1-7
* It’s an old story, I’ve told it before, you’ve heard it before, but here it is again; Couple was married for 50 years! Problem was, all they did was fuss. About everything!! For their 50th anniversary their kids chipped in to give them their most needed gift; a trip to the marriage counselor. They first argued about whether to accept the gift or not which was followed by ‘how they would get there.’ Their oldest child stopped that argument by announcing he would drive them. All the way to the appointment they argued about who would go first in telling about their difficulties. Arriving at the appointment and seated in front of the counselor this argument continued until the counselor dropped his pad and paper on the desk, stood up, walked around the desk, took the older lady in his arms, and planted a big-wet-Hollywood style- kiss on her lips. After the extended kiss, he gently seated the woman in her chair (she sat down with a half smile on her face) and turning to the stunned husband he said, “She needs this 3 times a week.” Without missing a beat the husband responded, “I can bring her by Monday, Wednesday, & Friday.”
* As a church family we are approaching the time we are setting aside for a series of meetings which we call, “REVIVAL.” My prayer is that God would come down and do miraculous things in our midst. Until that time I am calling us to devotion and prayer that God may be released in this place to accomplish the change He desires in each of us. Each message will be a call for us to personally prepare for revival. I begin with a question.
* What do you think when you hear the expression “First Love?” Does your mind go to that first person you dated in High School? You do remember & it would be my thought that you carried a special feeling about that ‘love’ for a long time. In fact, though not particularly romantic in nature, truth is that you two may have a special friendship that is never forgotten.
* Turn with me to our text and today let’s talk about “FIRST LOVE.” Jesus made it clear that ‘love’ is to be the center piece of our faith. Love for our Lord is to be first followed by love for each other. Over the past few weeks, as we have begun to discuss the need for spiritual renewal one of the comments which I hear in leadership meetings has to do with love or lack thereof. Our love for each other is directly related to our love for the Lord. If we love God first then live like we love God, our love for others will be the most normal & natural part of our lives. Let’s view ‘First love’ from the text.
* (READ) Hardy Sheffield is a name that will live in infamy. He is the man who dropped the Olympic Torch on the “Trevors Narrow Bridge” outside of Portland, Oregon. Onlookers thought they might have to go back to Greece, but the Committee had made contingency plans having a “Mother Fire” so the torch could be re-lighted and the journey continued.
* This perfectly symbolizes the church in Ephesus, in America, & believers today. All began right & yet, have seemingly dropped the torch allowing the flames to be blown out by the winds of hurts, conflict & disappointment.
* The message to Ephesus is this; ‘you do a lot of right things, work hard, keep on trudging along, but you have a problem. To the American church today, the same message can be given. If God would bless a church with a visitation of His Holy Spirit because of Activities, we’d be a blessed bunch. Have we, like the Ephesians Church, traded human activities for divine actions? The text is a quotation from the Lord who says, “You’re doing all these good things, but I have something against you because you have left, lost, or forgotten your first love which is THE MAIN THING. Our first love should be our best love to the point of becoming our main love.
* So let’s examine this concept of “First Love” through 3 different lenses.
1. The Meaning of First Love – What exactly does Jesus mean when He uses this thought? In our text He calls us to ‘return to our first works.’ What exactly is our Lord referring to? In order to know this, let’s return to the first days of the Ephesians church in Acts 19. After receiving the word of truth from the Apostle Paul some things happened which we can enumerate as first works. These are; baptism in order, laying on of hands, filled with the spirit, speaking in other languages, and prophesying. Additionally, the new converts were so anointed that they made the church establishment so uncomfortable that they were kicked out of the building and had to open a store front church. Miraculous healings and spiritual activity were the order of the day. There was confessing, cleansing, and sacrifice. Don’t miss this ‘First works like first love always upsets the normal order of things.” What happens when we lose this?
2. The Missing of First Love – Consider how this comes about.
a. We lose our love for the Lost – Caring for those outside of faith is not a normal, humanistic, & natural sense. If there is no “spiritual energy” in our lives we will not care whether someone is saved or not. We’ll be apathetic about the eternal destiny of others. Without Christ, the world is still dark, life is hard, and the future is bleak. Absent the grace of Christ, the entire world is sinking deep in sin! If people are not to die & go to place design for the devil & his demons, it will be because of a care & concern we express. We are God’s plan A and He hasn’t developed a plan B. If we don’t love, tell, or show the lost, they don’t get loved, told, or shown. If we have no love for them, we will have no concern for them.
b. We lose our love for the Lord – Consider this; to leave Christ out of the center of our life is to fail Him and to fail Him means we don’t want to face Him. To not want to face the one who loves us most is to be in the same spiritual condition as Peter after the denial or Adam after eating the fruit. Walking outside of God’s will for us cause us such coldness that we desire to not be forced to face Him. This plays out like this; sin creeps into our heart—giving Satan a toe hold. He prompts us to stay away from our Bible & church gathering because these serve as arrows in our heart. When we stay away from these, the embers of love fade in our heart.
a. We lose our love for each other – At this point we can move to John’s writings in 1 John 4:20-21. For the person who lives in the sin of ongoing ill-will towards a brother in Christ, this verse needs to become a ‘life-verse’ serving as a reminder of how strongly our Lord feels about love among His people. (READ) When we choose to live in the natural instead of the supernatural, we live beneath our privilege and become susceptible to the erosion which the natural man brings. These three are the spiritual steps to progression of regression in the life of a believer.
2. The Marks of First Love – Jesus clearly told us that we are to know by our love for one another. But what are the signs of a first love?
a. It’s Exciting – Can you remember when you made that first telephone call to that special one whom you felt like you would marry? Or better yet, you couldn’t wait to see them, talk with them, or hear their voice. You were like a kid at Christmas, excitement in the air. Couldn’t wait to be close & certainly didn’t care to put a ‘clock’ on how long your visit would be. Yet, Baptist really gets nervous when we talk about ‘excitement’ & the “Lord” in the same sentence. For many years I have heard the teaching which says, “Our relationship to God should not be emotional.” Sad to say, but the people who prompted this teaching was attempting to keep us Baptist from being confused with the Pentecostals. They didn’t prefer the celebration approach to worship so they sought to extract emotion from our worship. (NOTE: While this has almost been achieved, the law of unintended consequence has taken over. While few people have times of ‘shouting’ today they are also less weeping over sin and lostness today.) When we fall in love with our first love, we are excited, this includes with our Lord Jesus. Have we lost the excitement for who He is?
b. It’s Expressive – Make no mistake an authentic love is expressive, especially first love. When our children are growing up, one of the first things they learn to say is, “I love you.” In fact, these words are music to our ears. Years ago I heard Ron Phillips use this illustration. He said, “What would you think of me if, when I get home from this trip, I said to my wife, “My dearest wife, comest thou here to let this man placest a kiss uponst thou mouth.” He concluded with, “What I do say is this- ‘Baby, give me a kiss.’ One of the first signs of losing your first love is losing the ability to express loving feelings toward our loving Lord. How long has it been since, with our mouths, our praise, our actions, and even our schedule, we have said, “Lord, I love you”? Do you realize this is what is happening from the modern day praise & worship movement? This is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy whereby people are saying, “Lord I Love You.” It is not the Pastor’s job to keep you awake & make you receive a blessing, it is my job to deliver God’s word & your job to be ready to express your love to Him.
c. It’s Extravagant – First love will cost you much. Can you imagine getting your engagement band out of a box of cracker jacks or a ring machine? Can you imagine buying the people really love the LEAST thing you can get away with? You might feel that way, but that is not ‘First love.’ Please listen; “First Love” will cost you everything! How do I know? Because His first love cost Jesus everything! He loved us EVEN while we were sinners. He loved us enough to die for our sin. In your love & service for Christ, what is your mind set? Is it, “What do I have to do?” “What should I do?” or “What can I do?” God has called some of us to repent of some things that we really like to do – how will we respond?
3. The Mending of First Love – If you’ve lost the wonder of Jesus, the joy of salvation, and the first love toward Him, can you get it back? Sometimes in the human experience we can wound love so badly that it can be regained. Our text gives us a universal remedy or prescription for our lives;
a. Remember – To remember how far you have fallen is to remember from where you have fallen. Remember the time you met Jesus, remember what it like to walk with Him in those days, and remember the sweetness of that initial relationship. Also, remember when you began your detour.
b. Repent – This is God’s word. It means make a U-turn heading back to Him. It begins inside and your body will follow. There are many things which could have taken first place in your life. What is it for you?
c. Return – Some today will need to return to our Lord to be saved. You have never come since understanding that your sin separates your from Him. Some need to come today for ‘forgiveness.’ This week I was thinking why it is so hard to rectify a conflict & I came to this conclusion, we are more interested in who’s right than ‘what’s right.’ To clear this up, “HE’S Right, His way is right, all else is not.” Some today will need to come for commitment. God has called you to service & you’ve refused. He’ll never be your first love & you’ll never know Him intimately until you give Him your obedience. Not partial, for there is no such thing.
Seeking counsel from psychologist Dr. George W. Crain, a woman confided that she hated her husband and intended to divorce him. "I want to hurt him all I can," she said. "In that case," said the doctor, "I advise you to start showering him with all the compliments you can. Then, when you have become indispensable to him - just when he thinks you love him devotedly - then start the divorce action. That’s the way to hurt him." Some months later the wife returned to report that she had followed the suggested course. "Good," said the doctor, "Now’s the time to file for divorce." "Divorce!" exclaimed the woman indignantly. "Never! I’ve fallen in love with him."
Admit where you are & Ask for His Help.
Begin Daily Bible & prayer times
Confess your need for Him
Determine to follow & Focus on Him
Every Day tell Him you love Him with your lips & life
