Have you ever been in love? Remember back to those first dizzy days. Nothing else really mattered, did it, beyond when you would see your sweetheart next. Spending time with him or her was the most important thing in your life. Did you rush through chores to be ready earlier, or linger in front of the mirror, making sure everything was perfect? Could you think of anything else to talk about, or were you so overcome that you couldn’t talk at all?
Did you marry your first sweetheart? Even if you waited for the second or the third, there was still a time of “first love”, wasn’t there? And then you got married. And real life started to kick in. For all too many people, those bright emotional highs that made your early days together so meaningful wither away and die, instead of growing deep roots and becoming a new and different kind of plant, bearing rich and nourishing fruit, and one morning you wake up and realize you’re only going through the motions. That person you’re facing across the breakfast table - if you have time to breakfast together at all - is someone you no longer seem to know.
Nobody means for it to happen. And it almost never happens all at once. But that’s what seems to have happened in Ephesus. Remember that in Chapter One of Revelation Jesus appears in a vision to the beloved apostle, John, the last one of the 12 left alive to bear witness. But this was a vision is different from either familiar, comforting one of beloved teacher or risen Lord. This vision is
terrifying, bathed in flame and bearing stars and swords. It is a powerful figure who is, one day, going to come in judgment. Now, John has reminded the churches he is writing to that this terrifying figure is, yes, the same one who loved them enough to die for them, who has forgiven all their sins - but nonetheless, the churches that belong to Jesus will also come under scrutiny.
As Peter had said some years before, in his letter to the churches who were about to undergo the first round persecution under Nero, “...the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God... [1 Peter 4:17a] Once again, the churches were going to have to brace themselves. And the standards that would be required for them to stand up under persecution would be exactly the same the ones they needed to face the fierce, bright light of Christ on judgment day.
But they have an advantage that other people don’t have. They’ve got the key to the final exam, and they’re getting a review session to make sure they’re going to be ready for it. Or, to put it another way, they’re getting a final inspection before they get their certificate of occupancy.
Each one of these letters is an individually tailored evaluation from Jesus himself about how that particular community of saints is living up to their inheritance, the gospel. They are probably among the most-preached passages in the Bible, because as I said last week and the week before, these seven churches are not only representative of all the churches in existence at the time, to be passed around and read wherever there was a gathering of the faithful, so are they
representative of churches throughout time. The problems they face and the faults they have pretty much cover the gamut of Christian experience. And as we look at each one, we will find some things that apply to us, and some things that don’t.
But this letter to Ephesus, the first one in the list, the largest church in the largest city in the entire province of Asia Minor, is exceptionally apt for today, the day when we ordain and install our new officers for 2003. Because it’s a letter about keeping the right balance between doing and being. It’s a letter about how keeping busy is not the same as keeping faith. It’s a letter about priorities.
Can a person be so busy doing God’s work that they are too busy for God? I think we all know that the answer is yes. It happens to both clergy and laity. No one is immune. As a matter of fact, one common complaint that seminary students make is that they’re so busy studying God that they don’t have any time to worship or pray. And far too many of the most devoted church members find
themselves burned out because they want to do so much for God that they forget what God wants most.
Have you ever gotten so busy with church work that your relationship with God has gotten squeezed out? It’s really easy to do. After a while, people just begin going through the motions without even being aware that their activities have profound spiritual content. The technical term for this is habituation. It doesn’t happen just with church work, of course, and in some ways it’s a good thing.
That’s what a learning curve is, it’s putting the routine stuff on automatic pilot so that your mind can focus on what’s important. How long would it take you to load the dishwasher if you had to stop and think with each dish to decide where it should go? Or imagine yourself behind the wheel of a car, over on 55 going 60-65 MPH. If you have to keep thinking all the time about what your feet and hands are doing, you wouldn’t have time to pay attention far more important things - like the other vehicles on the road. You know the old proverb, “familiarity
breeds contempt.” That’s certainly true of driving. A hundred years ago people were terrified out of their wits at the thought of going as much as 25 miles per hour. And now we are so blase about it that some people can even talk on the phone at 65. In traffic. Although it’s probably not a good idea.
Unfortunately, for some of us, church is almost as familiar as driving, and while I don’t think we treat our spiritual lives with actual contempt, I think many of us take it for granted. Even those of us who pray and read their Bibles regularly can do so with only the surface of our minds. And the busier we are, even with good
things, useful things, necessary things, the more likely it is that we’ll rush through the bits that no one will notice if we skip. Except of course, for God.
All relationships need careful attention and tending, or they become rote, automatic. I’ll wager that every couple in this church knows what happens to their relationship when they’ve been too busy to spend time just enjoying each other’s company. When that happens, if you want to have any hope of staying married, or having more than a marriage of convenience, you’ll re-think your priorities and
build in time for each other. Without that conscious commitment, no relationship can survive. Even - or I should say especially - in the most important relationship that a Christian has, our relationship with Jesus Christ. Because Jesus isn’t going to get in your face and say, “We’ve got to start spending more time together or I’m out of here.”
Think of this letter as the fish or cut bait letter from a neglected spouse. I’m going to be sexist here and assume that the husband is the bread-winner. His way of showing his family that he loves them is by providing for them. Those long hours at the office, the overtime, the business trips - why, they’re for his family, right? But what Dick and Jane are going to remember is that Daddy wasn’t there for the
dance recital, the scouting trip, the missed ball game or birthday party.
“You do all kinds of good things,” says Jesus to his church at Ephesus, “but you’ve got your priorities backward.” Notice that this isn’t a bad church. And Jesus starts by complimenting them on what they’ve gotten right.
First, he knew their works. Here Jesus uses the Greek word ergon,, from which we get our word energy. This was an active church. What sort of things might have been going on? Choir practice, small groups, Bible studies, pot-luck suppers, committee meetings, mission speakers come to mind.
Next he uses the word toil, or labor, kopos, and that doesn’t only mean physical effort; it also implies hardships, burdens or struggles. It could be the church as a whole which had suffered - perhaps their building had been torched, or they were struggling to find funds to pay the rent, or they’d lost important members. Or maybe individuals had been ill, or gotten fired, or been imprisoned falsely, or lost a child. Bad things had happened and yet they were determined to carry on, even if it meant more work. They were willing to do whatever it took.
Third, they were committed for the long haul. Jesus commended them for their patience. No doubt there had already been some persecution, the routine hardships and insults that a despised minority can be expected to have to swallow, but they had endured.
Finally, they had stayed pure. They were a disciplined church. They insisted on sound Biblical preaching, rejecting false teachers. We don’t know exactly what kind of teaching it had been; maybe they were questioning the divinity of Christ, teaching that Jesus hadn’t been raised from the dead, that they had to follow the Jewish dietary laws or that it was all right to worship the emperor or consult the stars. Most scholars believe that the Nicolaitans were a group who believed that freedom in Christ meant that they could sin without fear of any consequence. But whoever they were, the Ephesians were having none of them. So you see, the Ephesians hadn’t let either their moral or theological standards lapse. And you know what? I think that in many ways we can recognize ourselves in this description. Maybe even pat ourselves on the back - just a bit - for getting so many things right. But wait. There’s more. There’s bad news, as well.
In spite of all these positive qualities, something was seriously wrong with this congregation. Jesus said, “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”
What is it that Jesus is referring to? Is Jesus criticizing them for no longer enjoying the kind of breathless rapture that we call “falling in love?” I don’t think so. “Love” here does not refer to the feeling, but to the object of the feeling. That is, he is saying "you have forgotten the one you used to put first." Now, scholars are divided over whether he’s talking about love for him, or love for one another. The evidence is mixed. My opinion is that they’d fallen out of love with`Jesus. Because as important as loving one another is, if love for Jesus doesn’t come first, our love for people will get tangled and confused and result, often, in failure and disappointment.
So I believe that Jesus is telling the members of the church at Ephesus that they had taken their attention off of God and focused it, instead, on the church. Their first love had been Jesus himself, but`they had replaced him with a less demanding lover, one that only asked for their time or their money but made no claim on their hearts. It’s a whole lot easier, isn’t it, to give time or money than your heart.
Just the same way, in a marriage, you can take your focus off your partner and give it, instead, to the children or the house or the job... when you do that, you have lost your “first love.” And then the marriage stops working the way it should. Most of you know, I think, that the best gift a couple can give their children is to love one another. And as far as job and house go, as the proverb says,
“Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it.” [Pro 15:17] Or indifference. If you love each other, you can cope with just about anything. If you don’t, nothing at all can make up for it.
Do I mean that you have to choose between loving Jesus and doing work for the church? As Paul himself would say, “May it never be!” Of course that’s not what I mean. We wouldn’t be calling people into ordained service if the price were the losing love of God. You don’t have to choose between loving and serving any more than you have to choose between loving your husband or wife and getting up
at 2:00 in the morning to feed the baby. Or at 5:00 to go to work. Do you choose between loving your teenager and driving him to soccer practice? Of course not! The work is an integral part of the love. If you forget the love, the work becomes drudgery, a chore, a burden. But without the work, the love is only words.
What needs to be done is to put the pieces back together in the right order. “Remember then from what you have fallen,” says Jesus. “Repent, and do the works you did at first.” Jesus calls us to do all kinds of things in his name. But they are FOR HIM. We have to lift our eyes up from the task to the one in whose name and for whose sake we are doing it. The counseling center board meeting this afternoon is FOR JESUS. The potluck supper is FOR JESUS. The blood drive is FOR JESUS. Brother Lawrence, in his wonderful book Practicing the Presence of God, has taught generations of Christians that washing floors is just as spiritual as singing anthems - or even more so, if you come to it with the right attitude. You may remember that Ruth Graham has kept a sign over her kitchen sink for years which says “Divine service performed here daily.” As Paul told the
Colossians,“ whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” [Col 3:17]
The good things - the activity, the dedication, the commitment, the sound doctrine, all do sound a bit like us. But the criticism... does that apply to us as well? I don’t want to think so. But on this one each person has to search his or her own heart.
If you can’t do your church work for the glory of God, with gratitude (since the work itself is a gift) and humility (since without God it won’t do any good) it’s not worth doing at all. If you need to, take the time to step back and rebuild that relationship. It’s why the officers go on retreat every year, to make sure we’re coming to our work with the right balance, under the power of the Holy Spirit, and not trying to build the kingdom of God with human strength.
But keeping that relationship strong is what Sunday worship is intended to do, to re-center us so that the week’s labor can also belong to God.
And that is the key. Worship is the measure, the expression, and the restorer of love. How do you see worship? Do you come with anticipation of joy, expecting to meet with the beloved? Or is it just another chore? If you don’t love, you can’t worship. If you don’t worship, you can’t love. And if you don’t love, if you don’t worship, the work and the world will consume you until there is nothing left at all.
Love comes first. Jesus comes first.
