Focus: Forsaken Love

Text: Rev.2:5

"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy FIRST LOVE."

The church of Ephesus is the first of seven churches in Asia Minor that John writes to by the order of Christ.

The seven churches are facing the crucial judgment of Christ. Before the passing away of Peter, he wrote, "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (1Pet.4:17). That time of judgment has come for the seven churches. Evil must be judged and wrongs corrected in the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has come in His capacity as the Judge. As the head of the church, He has to set things right and ensure that she is free of all impurities.

In every letter he begins by introducing or revealing himself to his own people, for it is by seeing Christ for who He is, that we can begin to see ourselves for what we are. Transformation is made possible by revelation. We behold to become and see in order to seize.

To the church in Ephesus, Jesus says, "These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks" (Rev.2:1). Jesus holds and walks. The angels of the churches are right in His palm and He freely walks in the center of the seven churches. The circumference cannot stand without its center. The rightful place of Christ is at the center. Every activity of the church must be centered around Him. Nothing we do as God's people is of real value if Christ is not its center. He is the mobile Christ; He is not static. As He walks through our midst He sees everything. The church must know that she does not own herself; Christ owns her. We cannot do things as we please, but as He pleases. He decides everything and supervises our actions.

In His judgment of the first church, the church in Ephesus, He commends, condemns, commands, and challenge.

*His commendation

He says to them, "I know thy WORKS, and thy LABOUR, and thy PATIENCE, and how thou CANST NOT BEAR them which are evil: and thou hast TRIED them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast BORNE, and hast PATIENCE, and for my name's sake hast LABOURED, and hast NOT FAINTED" (Rev.2:2,3).

This church is a church marked by works and remarkable in her dedication and devotion. She is dutiful and diligent, doctrinally sound, disciplined, and discerning. She is intolerant of evil men and false brethren. Jesus says, "I know." He knows all we do for Him. He keeps records. We must live our lives knowing that He knows.

*His condemnation

He says, "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy FIRST LOVE." This church is spiritually sick. Love is missing from her life. She is active without love. She is busy without love. It is not a lost love, but love consciously forsaken, abandoned, relegated, neglected, and omitted. It is love left to die. She is no longer fanning the flames of love, nor doing anything to rekindle its fire. Love unattended to, fizzles out. C. S. Lewis says that "a man's spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God." 

It is possible to worship, work, preach, prophesy, pray, give, pass pleasantries, or do anything in the name of Christ, but without love, and that is very dangerous.

We must watch it. Nothing we do without love is profitable. Paul admits that we are nothing without love (1Cor.13:1-3). Nothing we do amounts to anything without love. Jesus says, "YOU have abandoned your FIRST love." That is love that is intense and personal - fervent love, love on fire, love at the center, wholehearted love, pure and true love.

*His command

Jesus says, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and REPENT, and DO the FIRST WORKS; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou REPENT" (Rev.2:5). The command is for the church to repent and do the first works. It takes first love to do first works. The Lord Jesus Christ only approves of first works, and first works are done by first love. Love produces its own works. Paul talks about the 'labor of love and the work of faith.' People of faith must be people of love, but it is possible to do faith without love. And it is important to know that real faith works by love.

*His challenge

Jesus Christ challenges the church to repent and do the first works. He says, failing to repent and do the first works, "I will come unto thee quickly, and will REMOVE thy candlestick out of his place…" This is serious. What Jesus is saying is that for lack of love the church's continued existence makes no sense. In other words, the church's life is connected to her love. Our love is our life. 

No love, no life! A loveless church is a lifeless church.

A church that is loveless ceases to exist in the sight of Christ. It means that her existence is of no consequence. Her loveless activities are baseless. Her entertainment and choreography are a waste of time. Her loveless music is of no good.

Our only remedy is repentance. We must have a change of mind. The church, every now and then, must be repenting of something that does not agree with the Spirit of Christ and of something that is inconsistent with His character.

How we view God, people and things determines how we value them.

For God, love is a priority. We tell truth in love. All we do must stem from love. It was for love that Christ died. If we are not prepared to love, and love intensely, intentionally, persistently, and personally, then let's close the church. The church exists by loving, the same way that fire exists by burning. Love differentiates us from and distinguishes us in the world - our love for each other. Our strength and point of difference is in our love.

Let's go for the love we have forsaken and recapture our original fire, for our existence means nothing without the love of God.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter