WHEN TECHNIQUE ECLIPSES RELATIONSHIP-III—Revelation 2:1-7
Firstless Love
Attention:
Well, it is not a pretty story.
About 200 dead crows were found near the city of Regina & there was concern for Avian Flu.
They had a Bird Pathologist examine the remains of all the crows, & he confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu, to everyone’s relief.
However, he determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with . trucks, & only 2 % were killed by cars.
The Province of Saskatchewan then hired a Ornithological Behaviorist to determine the disproportionate percentages for trucK versus car kill.
The Ornithological Behaviorist determined the cause in short order.
When crows eat road kill, they always post a "look-out Crow" in a nearby tree, to warn of impending danger.
His conclusion was that the lookout crow could say"Cah", but he could not say "Truck."
The way in which we approach anything can make those choices & actions Liableous.
Jesus reprimanded the Ephesian church because their first love for Jesus had taken second place & lapsed into technique/maintenance.
The local church must prevent her relationship with Jesus from lapsing into a technique.
What occurs when technique overshadows relationship?
9 liabilities of a relationship that is eclipsed by technique.
We have found that...
When technique eclipses relationship our...
1. LEADERSHIP is Liable(:1)
2. WORK is Liable(:2a & 3)
3. STANDARD is Liable(:2b)
4—When technique eclipses relationship
Our DRIVE is Liable(:4)
Explanation:(:4) Newness/Enamor-ment/Love/Joy
“But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
Though the above things are accomplished, there is something which contrasts this glowing activity & which colors/taints their commendable acts.
The Ephesian’s deeds, toil, perseverance, testings, & bearing up for Jesus’ name, lacked the key ingredient of—not just love(which had to be present)—but “first love”.
?What comprises First Love?
—It has to do with doing the deeds which were done at first(:5)—when we were partakers of salvation.
—This was a time of honesty about sin’s power over our flesh, joy, widened understanding, settled security...
—Zeal—Regardless of circumstances.
“Against”—kata—About/Down/According to /TowardAgainst/After/—‘Frequently denotes opposition, distribution, or intensity’.
alla ecw kata sou—‘But I hold against you’
“Left”—afihmi—‘To send away’—Intense form of ‘to go.’
“First”—prwtov—First in time place or rank.
“Love”—agaph—Beyond emotional/sentimental attachment but includes a deliberate assent of the will as a matter of priciple, duty & propriety.
Argumentation:
Ps. 51:12-13—“Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, And sinners will be converted to Thee.”
Jer. 2:2—“Go & proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, The love of your betrothals, Your following after Me in the wilderness, Through a land not sown.”
Lam. 3:22-23—“The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.”
Ps. 40:2-3—“He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see & fear, And will trust in the LORD.”
Without constant recognition of God’s goodness, His “song” is stolen from our heart...& none will be able to “see,” “fear,” or “trust” in Him.
Ps. 42:1-8—“<
Illustration:
A young family’s visits during Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years/Stress over who to visit when to visit & how long to visit/Try to make everybody happy/Attempts to see family(Technique) rob us of enjoying the visits/Our DRIVE is Liable
Application:
?Our DRIVE fallen prey to Technique rather than Relationship?
?Your Technique eclipsed your Relationship with Jesus?
5—When technique eclipses relationship
Our DISTANCE is Liable(:5a)
Explanation:(:5a) Deviation/Stray/Quality
:5a—“‘Remember therefore from where you have fallen, & repent & do the deeds you did at first;...”
Remembrance of past position & performance is key to one’s present & near future obedience.
“Repentance” is required in order to regain one’s past position & performance.
“Repentance” likewise secures for the repenter(s) an ability to visualize & act on one’s former deeds performed in the power of that first love.
It will behoove the Ephesian “angel” & church to remember their past relationship with Jesus & the energy & love it produced in them.
This is an admission by this church that they have backslidden.
“Remember”—Recollection of a former state.
“Fallen”—ekpiptw/piptw— ‘To Descend/Fall from; Fall away from a position; Lose a thing.’ Strong—To drop away; specially--Be driven out of one’s course; figuratively--To lose, become inefficient.
Heb. 2:1—“For this reason[Jesus is God in flesh] we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”
“Repent”2X—metanoew—‘To change one’s mind‘. ‘Amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.’ From meta— ‘With/after/behind’ & noiew—‘To perceive with the mind, to understand, to have understanding; To think upon, heed, ponder, consider.’ Strong—To think differently or afterwards, i.e. Reconsider(morally, feel compunction).
“Do the deeds you did at first”—
“Do”—poiew—Make, Construct, Render, Cause, Perform
?What were our first deeds?
*God did not create the gap, so we must close the gap!
Argumentation:
Isa. 59:1-2—“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you & your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.”
Isa. 64:6—“...Our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Isa. 53:6—“All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”
Lk. 15:4 & 7—“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep & has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, & go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?...I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
Rom. 11:30-32—“For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.”
Eph. 2:11-13—“Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel & strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope & without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Titus 3:1-7—“Remind them to be subject to rulers & authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts & pleasures, living in malice & envy, hateful & hating one another. But when the kindness & the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration & renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
2Chr. 7:14—““if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, & pray & seek My face, & turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, & will forgive their sin & heal their land.”
Jer. 29:13—“And you will seek Me & find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Deut. 4:29—““But from there you will seek the LORD your God, & you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart & with all your soul.”
Our Distance is liable...& we should want to return to our past when we lived without Christ!
Illustration:
Family Recipe/Unintentional & Subtle changes creep in thru years—originator dead/Not same taste/Distance from original obvious/Our Originator(Jesus) ‘dies’ when our communication & repentance dies/DISTANCE increased/Our DISTANCE is Liable
Married bliss soon becomes lost in monotony of self-instilled responsibility/We allow responsibilities to rob us of our ability to be attractive, romantic, caring—loving/DISTANCEd from our first love/Our DISTANCE is Liable
My call to pastoral ministry/First love is Jesus/If family had held me back, where would we all be?/DISTANCEd from Jesus Our DISTANCE is Liable
Driving/Map determines proximity to destination/Always in focus/Strange territory/Our DISTANCE is Liable
Application:
?Our DISTANCE fallen prey to Technique rather than Relationship?
?Your Technique eclipsed your Relationship with Jesus?
6—When technique eclipses relationship...
Our INFLUENCE is Liable(:5b)
Explanation:(:5b) Consequence/Placement/Position
:5b—“...or else I will come to you quickly, & remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent.”
Jesus’ “coming” is in direct response to an “angel’s” performance & should result in personal humility. Jesus’ “coming” is also humbling due to the fact that the entire “lampstand”(church(:1:20)) is effected by the one man’s sin.
What an awesome responsibility for the “angel” of each church...
Heb. 13:17—“Obey those who rule over you, & be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy & not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”
Js. 3:1—“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”
“I will come to you”—Purpose for Judgment
Jesus reiterates that fact that repentance is what removes the potential for negative consequences.
“Quickly”—tacov—Adv.—1) quickly, speedily (without delay). Strong—Shortly, i.e. Without delay, soon, or by surprise--Suddenly, or by implication, of ease--Readily.
“Remove”—kinew— 1)To cause to go; to move, set in motion—1a) To be moved, move: of that motion which is evident in life, 1b) To move from a place, to remove; 2) metaph.—2a) To move excite, 2b) A riot, disturbance, 2c) To throw into commotion. Strong—To stir (transitively), literally or figuratively. Used 8X.
Either Direct or Indirect removal....Immediate or Gradual removal.
Argumentation:
Ex. 32:9-14—[following the golden calf incident]—“And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, & indeed it is a stiff-necked people! “Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them & I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, & said: “LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power & with a mighty hand? “Why should the Egyptians speak, & say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, & to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, & relent from this harm to Your people. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, & Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, & said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; & all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, & they shall inherit it forever.’” So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.”
*Ps. 51:11-13—“Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.”
*Mat. 5:13-16—“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out & trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. “Nor do men light a lamp, & put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; & it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, & glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Php. 2:14-16—“Do all things without complaining & disputing, that you may become blameless & harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked & perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
*1Pet. 2:12—“Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Illustration:
Smell of grilled steak/Immediately makes my mouth water/Its INFLUENCE is Liable to make it eaten!
Likewise, The smell of ‘overripe’ trash makes me nauseous/Over Christmas, we had all of our kids, plus a son-in-law, & 2 grandkids(3 & 5 yrs.)visiting/Not the usual 3-person garbage/But we missed the window for having our trash picked up(We were also too cheap to go to the dump)/We ‘stored’ 7 extra bags of trash in the garage, waiting for the next pickup day!/Its INFLUENCE is Liable to keep it separated from our noses.
Application:
?Our INFLUENCE/Position fallen prey to Technique rather than Relationship?
?Your Technique eclipsed your Relationship with Jesus?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
The lookout crow could say"Cah", but he could not say "Truck."
Action:
When technique eclipses relationship our...
4. DRIVE is Liable(:4)
5. DISTANCE is Liable(:5a)
6. INFLUENCE is Liable(:5b)
1. LEADERSHIP is Liable(:1)
2. WORK is Liable(:2a & 3)
3. STANDARD is Liable(:2b)
Presented 01/06/2013pm to:
Needmore Baptist Church
1620 Mt. Vernon Rd.
Woodleaf, NC 27054
Points 1-3 Presented 02/24/02pm to:
Providence Baptist Church
975 Providence Road
Whigham, GA 31797
