First Love Overcomes

Theme: Labor is no substitute for love, purity is no substitute for passion, and deeds are no substitute for devotion.

Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks among the seven gold lampstands says: I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. You also possess endurance and have tolerated many things because of My name and have not grown weary. But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place — unless you repent. Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the victor the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in God’s paradise.” (Revelation‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

We all think we know a little something about love. Most of us have certainly experienced it to some degree. Hopefully the love of a mother and/or father has impacted your life in some way. Maybe you’ve experienced or are experiencing the love of a spouse who has given a vow of fidelity and longevity regardless of the challenges life brings upon you – for better or worse, til death do us part. I’ve been blessed to experience that kind of love in multiple ways – through loving parents and a dedicated spouse and I have the privilege of blessing my children, grandchildren and even my great grandchildren with that kind of love. 

Unfortunately, some have truly never experienced the selfless and giving love that is being described in today’s passage and is offered to them by the one who spoke these words to this church in Ephesus. If you’ve never experienced the selfless love of God as expressed to us through His Son, Jesus, then I hope and pray that you will pay close attention to today’s focal passage and the words of Jesus to this church. They are words that flow out of a deep, deep love for the people of Ephesus and, fortunately, they also flow down through time and onto those who diligently seek God and love Him as He deserves to this very day.

Have you ever received a personal letter in the mail? Today, receiving personal mail via the postal service is a bit unusual. While we get lots of junk mail and possibly a few bills via the mail, most of our non face-to-face interpersonal communications occurs through email, text or a phone call. In fact, I often determine whether to open a piece of mail based on the sender and whether the address is hand written or typed. When I see an envelope with a hand written address, it is the first piece of mail I open. Why? Because that hand written address just screams out that this is personal and deserves my full attention. I suspect you would have a similar response to a hand addressed piece of mail, too. 

Now, lets take that idea a step further. What if that envelope with the hand written address bore the Presidential seal and address? How would you react then? Would skepticism about the authenticity of the letter be your initial response? Mine would, unless I knew and recognized the handwriting but I might still have some lingering doubts. What if the envelope was hand delivered by someone you recognized as being on staff from the President’s office? That begins to alleviate doubts, doesn’t it? It does for me. I might ask a few questions or seek some additional identification, but I’m beginning to believe it just might be real. What if the person who hand delivered it was someone you knew and implicitly trusted? In that case, my questions about why might persist but my doubts as to authenticity are gone.

That’s the setting for these “letters” to the seven churches of Asia. The words are from the holy and resurrected Lord Jesus, but they are written in the hand of and delivered by the one person these churches knew and implicitly trusted – their beloved John. While I am sure these churches had some questions about these missives and their content, they recognized, knew and trusted John to deliver God’s word of truth to them. Our job is to read, listen, discern and apply these truths to our own lives and our church.

Ephesus was an ancient port city at the mouth of the Cayster river on the southwest coast of modern Turkey. At the time, it was a fairly large city of about 250,000 people and the home of the Temple to the Greek goddess Artemis (Roman: Diana). It was also one of two primary cities in that area dedicated to the worship of the Roman emperor. As such, any Christian church would have been the subject of ridicule and persecution by those who worshiped Artemis or the Emperor. As we know, this is well documented in Acts 19 when Paul’s preaching of Christ was met with derision and rioting because it threatened the livelihood of the silversmiths who made their livings off the worship of Artemis.

Ultimately, the One who is writing to the church at Ephesus is not the Apostle John, he’s just the scribe, but it is the “One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks among the seven golden lamp stands.” Each of these seven letters will highlight one of the characteristics of Christ as found in the first chapter of Revelation and relates directly to the issues He addresses with them. This is why I referenced that letter analogy in my opening paragraphs. 

The Ephesian church is receiving a letter directly from their resurrected LORD and it is in John’s handwriting. They need to hear His words because He holds their star (pastor) in His right hand as He walks among the seven lamps (churches). This isn’t their church. It isn’t even John’s church. This is HIS church and they need to pay close attention because He is speaking directly to them about issues among them that are concerning to Him. We need to pay close attention to His words, too. If the issues that existed among them also exist in our lives then His words are also directed at us. 

The ONE who walks among them also knows their works, labor, endurance and their intolerance of evil. He doesn’t just know about them, He KNOWS them. He hasn’t just seen what they’re doing, He knows what motivates them into action – their works. He knows the sweat and exhaustion they feel when they do it and grow weary – their labor. He knows their dogged determination to finish the job they’ve started – their endurance. He even knows the clenching of their jaws, the white-knuckled flexing of their angered fists, and the steely-eyed glare of their eyes as they face off against false teachers and preachers – their intolerance of evil. He KNOWS these things because He walks among them, each moment of their day.

Let that sink in a moment. Even as I wrote those words, they began to settle into my soul. I was reminded of the struggles I faced as pastor a few years ago during the pandemic. I felt the work, the weariness, the determination and even the anger and I was just reminded by His Spirit that I didn’t walk that path alone – He walked it with me! There are things we know because we’ve experienced them – experiential knowledge. Then there are things that progress from just experience into a settled and confident conviction – deep, heart-felt knowing. Experiential knowledge is shallow and subject to change due to our changing experiences. But when you know something down deep in your soul, nothing you experience can or will ever change it. 

He knows us that way, do we know Him that way?

This church had been faced with false teachers and preachers but they had a settled knowledge of God in their hearts. They listened to John’s admonition (1 Jn 4:1-3) and they applied these truths to their lives. They didn’t believe every spirit, they tested them to determine if they were of God. When they found these teachers and preachers to be liars, they stood firm on God’s word and endured the onslaught from them. When they resisted the evil that their culture was embracing, they faced the cultural rejection and tolerated the hatred without growing weary. Why? Because they KNEW Him in a way that went deeper than just their physical experiences. Their faith had settled deep into their soul and these experiences wouldn’t, couldn’t change that.

“But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.”

Man, those words cut deep but they’re meant to. You can have an orthodox faith that has settled deep into your soul and yet still fall away from the love you had at first. It is possible to believe the right things (orthodoxy) and even do the right things (orthopraxy) and yet fail to love God the way He deserves to be loved. You just might find that statement shocking. How is it possible to believe and do the right things and not love God fully? We often get personal satisfaction and fulfillment from knowledge, belief and actions. The Pharisees of the New Testament are the perfect example of this very thing. They possessed orthodox Jewish beliefs about God, but failed to love God. They kept the details of the Mosaic law, but failed to believe God. We often take pride in having the right beliefs and doing the right things while missing the “weightier matters” of loving God and our neighbors as commanded. We’ve abandoned our first or primary love.

If Jesus’ words above cut deep, then the next phrase is fully intended to bring healing to that wound: “Remember then how far you’ve fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” Remember, repent and return; it really is that easy. Unlike the Pharisees mentioned above, these folks knew love of God and faith in Jesus and they needed to remember how far they’ve fallen from that. It is possible to fall back into our old habits and beliefs. It is obviously possible to forget the grace we’ve experienced in Christ. I think there are times when we all forget the grace we’ve experienced in Christ. We forget just how broken we were and begin to think we were deserving of God’s love and blessing. Honestly, we forget just how broken we still are and we begin to think we are deserving of God’s love and blessing. Remember…

Mercy and Grace, two sides of the same coin. Mercy is when we don’t get what we do deserve and grace is when we do get what we don’t deserve. Mercy is the withholding of God’s just and deserved wrath and grace is the outpouring of His undeserved love. I need to break this up into two groups of people, those who’ve never known God’s mercy and grace and those who have but have fallen away and forgotten. You need to determine which group you’re in…

Some of you have never known or experienced God’s mercy and grace. You might know about God and even believe He exists, but you have never come to the place where you recognize your need for a savior. Sin is not just the things you do, it is also the way you feel about God. Scripture says that the greatest command we have from God is to love Him in the way He deserves, above anyone or anything else in life (see Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). Our sinful souls tells us we deserve to be loved that way, but God tells us He is the only One deserving of that first and greatest of loves. Then He says that the second greatest command is that we must love others in the way that we love ourselves. Love God more than we love ourselves and love others the way we love ourselves. None of us are really successful at keeping those two commands. 

That’s precisely where mercy and grace come into play. Because we fail to love God and others the way He commands and demands, we are deserving of His judgment and punishment. But God had mercy on us and made a way for us to be forgiven, avoiding His judgment and punishment and to experience His love by grace. We don’t get what we deserve – judgment and punishment – but we do get what we don’t deserve – God’s love and blessing. 

Paul actually wrote these words to the members of this very church in Ephesus that John is addressing: “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭HCSB‬‬) You don’t deserve this, it is God’s gift to you. Will you love Him like He deserves? Will you believe that Jesus is God’s promised savior? Will you confess your sin, repent – turn away from sin and to God – and trust Him by faith to forgive and save you? If so, you will receive His mercy and grace and experience His undeserved love and blessing.

Now, some of you have experienced God’s mercy and grace but you’ve forgotten how far you’ve fallen. You’ve experienced God’s mercy, you’ve admitted your sin, repented and received His grace and forgiveness. But somewhere along the way, you’ve forgotten all that. You think you’re deserving of God’s love and you’ve forgotten your sin. Like the prodigal in Luke 15, you have your inheritance and you’re blowing it on things that don’t last – wasted living. You’re thinking, “I deserve this!” You’ve forgotten all about that “first love” of the One who makes life even possible. When you remember that and realize just how far you’ve fallen, then you have taken the first step in the process of returning to Him. You must remember your sin and be fully confronted by His divine wrath and just judgment. You will never take that first step towards Him and home until you remember just how far you’ve fallen.

The second step is to repent. Repentance is not a word we readily embrace but it is absolutely necessary. To repent means to make a 180 degree turn, turning away from sin and towards God. At the heart of repentance is your soul saying, “I am wrong, God is right – this stuff is destroying me.” Until we are willing to admit we’re wrong, we will never repent. Remember first, then repent… then we return to doing the things (works) we did at the first. We return to loving God the way He deserves, seeing our sin as the destructive thing it is and seeking to please and obey the One who died to save us. 

(Note: We’ll deal with the Nicolaitans in two weeks with the letter to Pergamum.)

Finally, sin always has consequences and sin in the church is no different. Jesus declares that if Ephesus fails to repent then He will come and remove their lamp stand from its place. Sin has a way of destroying lives and destroying churches. While Jesus made a promise that the “gates of Hell” will not overcome the church, He never said He wouldn’t judge sinful and unrepentant churches. Simply put, sinful and unrepentant churches need to be removed. They hinder and destroy the work of Christ. Paul says, “each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire.” (1 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭HCSB‬‬) You may be saved, but you’ll smell like smoke.

Listen to Jesus’ closing promise: “I will give to the victor (each one who overcomes) the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in God’s paradise.” The key here is for the Ephesian believers to “stick with” Christ no matter what happens. This letter starts out by telling them that Jesus knows their works, their labor, their endurance, and that they cannot tolerate evil. At first glance, you might expect that to be enough but it isn’t. He doesn’t just want them to do the right things, He wants them to do the right things for the right reasons. To be an overcomer or victor in this fight we must do the right things for the right reasons – we must do these things for the greatest love of all, love of God.

There it is, did you see it. When we love God first and foremost, as He deserves, and we remain faithful to Him despite the circumstances of our lives then He gives us what we’ve been truly seeking all of our lives – real life in a perfect paradise.