How to Be a Loving Church (Rev.2:1-7)
Series: Will the Real Church Please Stand Up
September 10, 2006
I decided to do a series on the church, because I don’t know if you noticed or not, but lately, the church in our society has been getting a pretty bad rap. More and more people are wondering, “Why should I be a part of a church anyway? Why put up with the hypocrisy, the gossip, the judgmental attitudes and the constant pressure to be good, when I can find God in nature?” That attitude might be understandable coming from a non-churched person, but now even Christians are getting on the bandwagon. Recently, one popular radio & TV preacher announced that “the church age is over… leave your churches and instead give your money to my ministry!” I read about another pastor who left his position on staff at a large mega-church and now is advocating…that we design our own church. A church that fits our own individual lifestyle. Is going to church too inconvenient? No problem! Watch your favorite speaker on TiVo, or download them on your iPod… do your worship at a ‘Chris Tomlin’ concert and then get together with some friends to discuss what you heard…when you have the time. And a lot of people are doing just that!
George Barna…a respected Christian pollster in 1998 published, a book called “The Second Coming of the Church”. In it He said, “At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, I believe the Church in America has no more than five years—perhaps even less—to turn itself around and begin to affect the culture, rather than be affected by it. Because. … our central moral and spiritual trends are engulfed in a downward spiral, we have no more than a half-decade to turn things around.” In his newest book, “REVOLUTION”, He predicts ‘the decline of the local church”. Well, at the risk of sounding like a ‘doubter’… maybe he hasn’t noticed, but it’s 8 years later and the church is still here!
That’s because Jesus didn’t have that attitude about His church. In fact, He had the exact opposite attitude! In Mt.16:18, He said, “I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. –Mt.16:18 (NLT) Was Jesus ignorant of the problems and weaknesses His church, like Kenneth Lea said he was ignorant of what was going on at Enron?… or did He know that His church would have some imperfections, and face major challenges along the way? Sure He did! In fact, as we’re going to see, He knows exactly what the problems are in His church, and He’s actively involved in bringing about change. But to Jesus, the church isn’t a business venture, it’s not an experiment in social engineering No! According to the bible the church is “His eternal and beloved bride”! He’s ‘crazy in love’ with her and someday He’s going to marry her!
Again, does that mean She’s perfect? No! And neither are you! The point I’m trying to make is this…the reason the church isn’t perfect is because it’s made up of ornery 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… but in spite of all that… God still wants to use us, IF… we’ll be committed to carrying on the ministry that Christ started. We can’t do it as good as He did, but together we can do it better than anyone else can!
I mean, God could have chosen the U.N., but He didn’t…
He could have chosen a College somewhere, maybe even the U.S. Government to do His work… but He didn’t. (and if familiar with those organizations, they’re not the answer either!) But instead… He chose us! He choose His church! And if you’re looking for a perfect group of people to be a part of before you join Him in His work…you’re going to get very frustrated!
Will another church be perfect? Probably not. How about your own family? Hmmmm… Nope! Christ’s church might be flawed, His ‘bride’ might be imperfect… but He picked her, and who are we to question His wisdom? The church is God’s answer to the problems facing every human being on the planet earth! In fact, it’s the only hope the world has! And what we may not realize is that when we nit-pick or criticize different individuals in the church, and as a result end-up writing off the WHOLE church as hypocritical or gossipy…we’re messing with His bride! Know what? My job isn’t to ‘judge’ Christ’s bride. That’s His job! As we’re going to see this morning (and in the weeks ahead) He’s doing a pretty good job at it! My job is to help make sure His bride is pure, by cleaning up my own act… and then find out what He’s doing in the world, and join with other Christian brothers and sisters… to do it!
Well, that was the sermon before the sermon! Let’s move on to see what Christ is saying to His church today. And we find His words to us in the book of Revelation chapters 2:1 – 3:22. We’re not going to read all of that passage this morning, because there are actually 7 messages that Jesus wants to give His church and so in the next 7 weeks, we’re going to take them one at a time.
To give you a little background, the year is A.D. 96. John (one of Jesus’ closest disciples) is now in his mid 80’s. He was a leader in the church, and refused to worship Domitian (who was the Roman Caesar)…as Lord. He believed that only Jesus was Lord. As a result, he was arrested and banished to the island of Patmos (which is 10 miles off the coast of modern day Turkey). The Roman government ran a rock quarry there, and sent criminals and other political troublemakers to work it. Under Domitians reign over 40,000 Christians were killed, and they could have killed John… but for some unknown reason they decided to condemn him to death by hard labor.
The pressure was on for the churches John loved, and he knew that they were confused, discouraged and afraid. He needed more than ever to have a word from God. And then it came. One Sunday morning, as he was worshipping, praying and crying out to God… God responds by giving him a powerful vision of who Jesus is. READ Rev.1:9-11. John actually heard His voice speaking to Him, giving Him hope, encouragement and a vision of the future. In vs. 12,13 He turns to face the voice behind him and sees THE central figure in all of history… the son of man… Jesus… and He’s standing in the middle of 7 lampstands.
Later on in Rev. 2:1 we discover that those lampstands represent the churches that are on Johns heart. Again, I want you to notice where Jesus is. He’s in the middle! Not above looking down, not on the outside looking in… but right smack dab in the middle of His churches! You want to know where the risen and living Jesus is right now? Same place! He’s right here… moving among his church!
You say, “Why 7 churches? Why not 6 or 10 or 220 for that matter?” Because for John, (as well as the ancient world)… ‘7’ is a number of completeness. So in a way, by speaking to these 7 specific churches, Jesus is addressing ALL the churches, the ‘complete’ church… (past, present and future). When He deals with these 7 churches issues, He’s dealing with every major issue the church will ever have to contend with. So we need to listen real carefully, because what Jesus is saying to each of these churches… He’s saying to us! Like a divine ‘quality-control inspector’… He’s walking around us (move among congregation), watching, inspecting, observing… paying close attention to every detail of our lives together.
The 1st message He wants to communicate to us, comes to the church of Ephesus, and it’s found in Rev.2:1-7.
Let’s read it together. Now, John was actually the pastor of the church in Ephesus, so I’m sure He’s all ears! (READ)
By the time Rev. was written, Ephesus was the center of the Christian movement. Ephesus was the most influential of the 7 cities, and the church of Ephesus was the most influential of the 7 churches. One of it’s long time members was Mary, the mother of Jesus. She’d moved there with John (who Jesus had asked to take care of her). Can you imagine celebrating Christmas Services with Mary in your congregation? It was a great church. A successful church. A growing, active church.
And so, Jesus starts out by giving a glowing report on the spiritual condition of this well-known, influential congregation…He says… “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance!” These people were on the job for Jesus! They were ‘worker bees’ for the kingdom! They had all kinds of ministries and programs going on. All their members were actively involved in reaching out to the unsaved of this major Roman city. And Jesus recognizes their ‘perseverance’. Even in the face of tremendous persecution they refused to bow their knees to Caesar as god. In vs. 2 he says that, “he knows that they haven’t tolerated wicked men and they’ve weeded out false teachers…”…
· they defended the faith and stood up for the truth of God.
· they were committed to staying pure and serving Jesus with all their hearts…
· They were hard at work advancing the kingdom of God.
So what’s to criticize? I mean, most of us would look at a church like this and say, “I want to be a part of THAT! Wow! They’re making a difference!”. I mean, what could possibly be wrong with this church?
But Jesus has a very sharp eye, and He saw something in them, (and He sees things in us)… that most people might pass right over. He notices something’s missing.
In all the hustle and bustle of church life…something wasn’t quite right. READ Rev. 2:4. Jesus is telling us that if we’re not careful, we can be doing everything He ever asked us to do… except the most important thing… Love Him! Do you think it’s possible to read your bible, attend church, participate in a ministry… do everything you’re supposed to do… and not love Jesus? I say it is! It’s entirely possible! People in churches all across the U.S. are doing just that! They’ve forgotten WHY they’re doing what they’re doing! If you’re a Christian this morning, it’s all too easy to go through all the right motions, say all the right things that a ‘good Christian’ says… BUT at your core… really not be in love with the person you’re supposed to doing it for!
It’s so easy to get our motives all out of whack! Eventually we’re not doing what we do because we’re in love with Jesus…we’re doing it because we don’t want to be looked down on, or because we feel ‘guilted’ into it! Or… or… or… The Christians at Ephesus had settled for a form of religion, but the power…the fuel…(being in love with Christ)…was missing! See, being madly, passionately in love with the person of Jesus Christ is at the heart of the Christian life! And if you don’t have that, (or if you NEVER had it) …you’re doing nothing more than practicing a meaningless, dead, ritualistic religion. You might stay busy at church, doing lots of good, worthy, honorable things… but if you’re not doing it because you’re in love with Jesus Christ … you’ve fallen into the same trap as the Ephesians.
This was eye-opening when I found this out, but have you ever noticed that the gospels (Mt.,Mk, Lk.,Jn.) are filled with instances and places where Jesus loved people, but that there are only 3 times when people said they loved him? Doesn’t that sound odd? I think it’s sad? That’s because it’s a lot easier to receive love than it is to give it! How do we know we really love Him?
What will be the result of a true and legitimate love? Well, one of the best illustrations to me of how love is supposed to work is in my relationship with my wife. I love my wife! Do those of you who are married love your spouse? How do you show it? The signs of true love are self-evident, and they’re no different when you say you love God. Let me give you “4 Signs of a True Love” and I’ll let you gauge for yourself whether you really love Jesus or not.
The 1st sign I think of when I see people in love is that they love to spend time with each other…
1. True Lover’s SPEND TIME with each other.
I’ve yet to meet a person, who said they were in love…that didn’t want to spend time with their lover. In fact, the more they’re in love, the more time they want to spend with them! I mean, you wouldn’t think of constantly watching the clock, anticipating the moment you’re free to escape from their presence, would you? No! Fact is it’s exactly the opposite, isn’t it? My wife would be offended if when I wanted to talk to her, I spouted a few memorized, unfeeling, unemotional words at her and said a quick AMEN…just to get it over with! “Rudonna, I love you… now I lay me down to sleep, pray you won’t wake with your need to speak. If I die before I wake, I’ll know my life you did take! AMEN.”
So why do we do that with God? Why do we watch the clock, waiting for our few minutes of prayer time to end? Why is it we can hardly wait for the worship service to be over, so we can go home and do what we want to do? In some cases we don’t really have any desire whatsoever to spend time with Jesus… and we don’t even miss Him! Is that love? I don’t know about you, but the reason I spend time in prayer, the reason I read my bible, the reason I go to church on Sunday’s isn’t because I HAVE to…it’s not because I want to learn more bible trivia so I can impress my friends… NO! The reason is… I’m head over hills in love with Jesus and all of those things are ways for me to spend more time with Him! That should be our motive! And if it isn’t, can we really say we’re in love with Him?
Another thing I know about true love is that…
2. True Lover’s DON’T KNOWINGLY hurt each other
I’ve been in marriage counseling situations before where one person couldn’t wait for the other person to shut up long enough for them to say something that they knew would hurt them. Is that love? No way! If you’re in love with someone, you’ll do everything you can to AVOID knowingly hurting the one you love. You watch your words, you watch your actions, you’re faithful to them, because you know that having an affair would destroy them! So what about Jesus?
Lovers of God surrender their sinful, selfish ways, because they understand that every sin is a personal affront on the one who paid to have those sins forgiven. They know that when they give into a sinful habit, or selfishly seek to have their own needs met… in reality they’re pounding another nail into his already piercded hand. Heb. 6:6 says that we’re lit. crucifying Christ all over again! READ According to that vs. when you fall away from God through sin… you’re crucifying the Son of God all over again!
One of the greatest motivators I have against sin in my life… whether it be a sinful habit, immorality, pornography, jealousy, gossip, you name it… is to remember how it will hurt the person I love! In Steve Deneff’s book, “More than Forgiveness”, he says that “the greatest difference between having a relationship based on loving God, and a religion (based on duty), is the deep and abiding ache that results when we sin and cut ourselves off from Him.”
When you have religion, you’re not all that upset about your sin. You figure you can go through some ritual, offer some penance and then go on your merry way… even do it again. But when you’re in a relationship… you don’t want to hurt your Savior anymore! So, which one do you have? A religion or a relationship? In a loving relationship… you’ll do everything you can to please the one you love. And if you fall, you’ll submit yourself totally to His will, so you can to change your ways in keep from falling again.
The 3rd thing that shows you really love someone is that…
3. True Lover’s SHARE EVERYTHING
Selfishness and love don’t mix! People I know who are in love share everything! Money, cars, drinks, food… toothbrushes… ( you’ve really got to love somebody to share your toothbrush!)…you name it. Now I have a confession to make, I love my wife, but I was raised in a home where eating off the same plate or drinking out of the same cup… just wasn’t done! That included your spouse. I know, it doesn’t make any sense, because when you kiss you share the same germs. But that’s the way it was at our house. It was ‘hard-wired’ into me! Realizing that true lover’s share everything… honey… from this point on, I give you permission to drink out of my cup!
Isn’t that silly? For two people to love each other, but refuse to share, is ridiculous! But again, many times we do that with God. We say, “Jesus, these are my possessions, this is my money, my time… and you can’t have it!” Is that love? See, you can tell how much a person loves another person, by their reaction when they have to give. If you balk…do you really love them? Do you really love God?
Then 4thly, a sure fire way to tell that two people are in love is this…
4. True Lover’s SURRENDER THEMSELVES to each other.
Have you ever noticed that ex-lovers make lousy friends? Why is that? I think it’s because once they’ve given themselves totally over to each other, anything less than that is unsatisfying. Once you say, “I love you”, (and mean it) you’re at a point of no return and…you can’t go back. Now I’ve had girlfriends in the past, and I told them I loved them…but now I realize, I didn’t really mean it. I thought I loved them, but when it came right down to it, I wasn’t willing to make the sacrifices neccesary to honor those words.
But when I said, “I love you” to Rudonna, for the 1st time… I really meant it! I was ready to back it up with actions! I’ll never forget that moment… it was night-time, we’d just take a romantic moonlight stroll in the college rose garden, we were behind the white Spanish Mansion that was used as an administration building. I took her in my arms, kissed her and laid it all on the line… I said, “Rudonna, I love you”. Now when you do that, what do you want to hear more than anything else? Sure! “I love you too!” But to my surprise, do you know what she did? She started to cry! And they weren’t tears of joy! “Ohhh, I thought… I think I just struck out!” (actually what I didn’t know is that she had a divided heart. She was confused because of another relationship she just broken off.)
Here, I was ready for the commitment that followed those words… but she wasn’t! She couldn’t say it, because those words meant something profound and real. And the same is true with Christ! When you say you love Him…”Jesus, I love you!”… you’d better be ready to sacrifice and surrender everything for that relationship. If you’re not, then your actions betray your true heart! The Ephesian church had said to Jesus… “We love you! “ But their motives spoke louder than their words!
The problem I think a lot of people have, is that even though they may go to church…and even though the look like on the outside that they’re doing all the right things… they’ve never really experienced that decisive turning point, where they give up living for themselves and start living for Him out of love.
This passage we read in Rev. 2 assumes that you love Him in the first place. After-all you can’t ‘fall’ from a love you really never had! When Jesus tells us that “We’ve forsaken our 1st love”, He’s assuming we’ve responded to His words of love to with a mutual love. That we don’t have another lover on the side! Have you? Unfortunately a lot of people call themselves Christians, but really have never developed a genuine love for God! Maybe they were made to feel guilty about their sin… but they never learned to love the person who took that sin away!
True lovers’ are willing to sacrifice anything for that other person. Jesus showed that He was willing to do that for us… are we willing to do that for Him? I know people who grew up Christians. Because they’re parents were Christians, and because they can’t ever remember a time when they weren’t in church… they just assume they’re Christians, but they’re really not in love with Jesus! Are you falling in love with Christ? If so… how do you show it?
Personally, I think a love for God and a passion to know Jesus Christ solves a lot of problems in the church and in our personal lives…
· People who love Jesus don’t have a problem reading their bibles and spending time in prayer… because they can’t wait to spend more time with the one they love.
· They overcome sin in their lives because they don’t want to disappoint the one they love and realize that sin is a personal attack against their lover.
· Giving isn’t a problem… because you don’t withhold from people you love.
· People who love God with a pure love, don’t forsake God when they go through trials or don’t get their prayers answered the way they want to… because you can’t just walk away from somebody you really love… even when they disappoint you.
So the question becomes… do you love Jesus? Have you ever told him so? If you’ve come to the conclusion that you really don’t love Him, but you want to… or… that you once loved Him, but have let other motives creep into your heart… don’t despair because Jesus provides a cure for His diagnosis in vs. 5 and it consists of 3 steps…
How to Regain Your 1st Love…
1. Remember
2. Repent
3. Re-do
Read Rev.2:5 The bible teaches that either your marriage is growing together… or it’s drifting apart. It’s one or the other. It doesn’t stand still. The same is true of your relationship with Christ. If your relationship with Christ has lost it’s fizz and gone flat. Maybe it’s stable, but there’s no more sparkle! The 1st thing you need to do is…
1. REMEMBER …
Jesus says, “Remember the height from which you’ve fallen!” vs.5a
In marriage, you remember the good times, you re-live the great experiences, those joyous feelings you had for one another when you 1st fell in love. And you do the same thing in your relationship with Christ. You begin to think back on when you were filled with the joy and the awe of knowing Jesus. You remember that moment you came up out of the water after being baptized. You remember the peace you had in the middle of your greatest trials. The great times when you sat in a bible study or in a church service and God really spoke to your heart.
Now compare that with where you are now. Let me ask you, if you feel distant from God this morning… who moved? I guarantee you…He didn’t! If there’s a difference between your motives now and your motives then. If they’ve become twisted, perverted, stained. If you long for the ‘good ole days’ with God… then it’s time to take the 2nd step back…
2. REPENT.
To repent means to stop going one direction and start going in another. In marriage it means to deliberately change your attitude towards your mate. You choose to ACT in a romantic way, even though you don’t feel particularly romantic. In your love relationship with Christ, you do the same thing. You do a U-turn, no matter what that involves. It may mean you have to change a habit, your schedule, your priorities and your time commitments. You confess to God that you’ve been in love with other gods, and you want to make Him 1st again.
3rdly, Jesus says in 5c… “Repent and then… do the things you did at first…” in otherwords…You…
2. RE-DO!
You do the things you did at first. In otherwords, you act the same way towards your lover as you used to. What I’m saying is this… what you did to FALL in love, you need to “continue” to do… to STAY in love! How many of you would agree that it’s easier to “fall in love” than it is to “stay in love”? It is, isn’t it? Because we get complacent & we stop doing the things that we did when we 1st fell in love.
Listen to the lover of you soul calling you back to Him…
· You used to listen for my voice…
· You used to just be still in my presence to seek my face and enjoy my company.
· You used to open my Word and read about me daily.
· You used to weep for those who don’t know me.
· You used to be concerned about the things that concern me.
Jesus is calling us to do whatever it takes to restore our first love, because nothing else will really satisfy us. Don’t forget, Jesus isn’t only saying this to us as individuals, but to us as a church. If as a church, we don’t renew our passion and love for Him there are some dire consequences. Jesus isn’t saying this stuff just to hear himself speak. He looks into our eyes in vs. 5d with love and says… If you do not change, I will come to you and will take away your lampstand from its place.” – 2:5d (NCV)
The lampstand is your light. It’s what gives you spiritual sight. Without it, you’re as blind as you were before you came to Christ. Remember, He’s the Lord of the church, and He has the authority to do whatever He wants to do! How many churches have had their lampstand taken away? They’re just shells of their former selves. There’s no life in them anymore. Just endless monotony and drudgery. Without ‘first love’ the Christian life is reduced to a boring religion.
READ vs. 7… Are you listening to what Jesus is saying to you this morning. Are you listening to what Jesus is saying to our church? If we’ll listen, remember, repent and re-do, Jesus has a great promise in vs. 7… He’ll allow us to eat from the tree of life! Where was the last time we heard about the tree of life? Wasn’t it in Genesis? Remember? Adam and Eve ate from it! It represented all the goodness of life that the Lord of life want to share with those who love him.
But they were blocked from eating from it. Why? Because of sin! Sin blocks the way to true life! We see the tree of life the 1st pages of the bible, and now we see it again in the last pages of the bible! What a coincidence! Not really. Jesus is promising that the way has been opened to us again… if we’ll allow Him to take away our sin… we can eat of all the fulfillment and joy that true lovers enjoy. Jesus stands before us right now… He’s walking the aisles. He’s speaking to you. Are you listening? What is He saying to you? How will you respond?
Before you leave here this morning… every person needs to answer 3 questions…
1. Do I love Jesus Christ? Have you told Him lately and meant it?
2. What are you doing to show that love?
3. Why are you doing it? (what’s your motive? Earn heaven?
Guilt? Habit? Fill up your week? )
If you don’t love Jesus Christ, then I’ll just tell you bluntly…it’s because you don’t know Him well enough! Because every person who takes the time to really know Him, and what He’s done for them… can’t resist loving Him! Maybe one time you loved Him…but now you’re not so sure. Other priorities, maybe some bitterness has crept in and stole that 1st love you once had. You need to do whatever it takes to get it back!
As a church, we need to do whatever it takes to regain our passion for Christ, and serving Him.
