EPHESUS Divine condemnation: Revelation 2v4.
" Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." Most of us would think that the technically correct church as described in verses 2-3 would be the ideal church, but the Lord has a different view of it; "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." (1st Samuel 16v7). The outward form at Ephesus was still there, but the heart had gone. It was a church of loveless orthodoxy. We might see it as a good church, the Lord described it as a fallen church, and more; this was the only church to whom He threatened the removal of the lampstand. External correctness, when the heart has gone is meaningless to God. "My son give me thine heart." (Proverbs 23v26) God wants our hearts; if He has our hearts he has everything, if not, He counts it as nothing. We can sing the right hymns, we can preach the right teaching, we can do many good works but if it is not from the heart it is nothing. Formal service means nothing to God. Externals are zero rated in His mind. The first and greatest commandment is "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart........" He commended them for their hatred of evil (verse 2 &6) but He condemned them for their heart departure from the Lord.
Notice it says "you have left your first love" We don't lose first love, we leave it; we decide deliberately to live our lives on a lower plane than at the first. Exodus 15v1-22 was the song of Israel's first love. Just after they left Egypt, they rejoiced in the freshness of first love, like a newly wed couple on honeymoon when pleasing the other was the only concern. It didn't take very long to leave it. The Lord refers to this in Jeremiah 2v2-13; some of it goes as follows " Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of His increase....." The passage goes on " what iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?" The passage ends like this " My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water". A patient reading of these verses will reveal that the pastors had forsaken the Lord and the prophets and the priests and the people. A comparison with (1st Thessalonians 1v3) will make this very clear. In (Revelation 2v2) the Lord says "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience." Paul writing to a church in a condition of first love said this "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and your labour of love, and your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father." The church at Ephesus were still doing work, but it was not a work of faith; they were still labouring, but it was not a labour of love; they still had endurance but it was no longer an endurance of hope. The heart had gone out of the church.
Something that appears to have escaped our attention is that the greatest commandment that Jesus gave to His disciples was that they love one another. Failure in this reveals that love for God has gone. The manifestation that I have fallen out of love with the Lord, is that I no longer love His people. One of the most fundamental tests of Christianity if found in (1st John 5v1-2) "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments." The apostle Paul writing to the Corinthian believers(chapter 13) said that if the motivation of my life is not of love, it is nothing. My preaching is vain, my understanding is nothing, my works are nothing, my sacrifices are nothing, if I have not love; and it will all profit me nothing because at the very heart of Christianity is the deep- seated motivation of love, which, if not present, renders my service to be valueless in the sight of God.
In the progressive sketch of these seven churches we can note this. Departure begins in the heart but it will lead eventually to open and outward sins as in Pergamos, acceptance of worldly doctrine; in Thyatira conformity to worldly practices; in Sardis nominal Christianity only, and finally, in Laodicea independence of the Lord altogether. Have I set up an idol in my heart instead of the Lord? Am I part of a heartless church? If so the Lord says we are fallen and are no longer worthy to bear testimony for Him. Is it possible we are proliferating services that are meaningless to Him? The Lord knows if we have left our first love, do we know? He next reveals the way to get it back.
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