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WEEKLY
Volume 2 Number 1
3 June 2007
Thou Hast Left Thy First Love
(Message delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service,
2 pm, May 27, 2007)
Text:
Rev 2:1-7
The first love of a bride and a bridegroom is beautiful and full of zeal, enthusiasm, passion, fervency, and intensity. This first love is expressed by their strong desire to be together, to love each other, please each other, care for each other, serve each other, etc. The Bible likens the relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church to that of the Bridegroom and the Bride (Matt 25:1-13), and that of the Husband and the Wife (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:23-25; Rev 19:7). Truly, the Lord Jesus Christ “loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Eph 5:25), and His love for her is always so great, intense, fervent, and ardent that He cannot stand it when her love for Him cools off, grows cold or dies down. That is what our Lord Jesus warns and rebukes the church in Ephesus as well as the churches in all ages, even our church and each one of us today, as the verb tenses are in the present tense and the Holy Spirit is still speaking to each
one of us and to all churches, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
The Church in Ephesus
Although Pergamum was the capital of the province of Asia in Roman times, Ephesus was the largest city in the province, and it bore the title of “the first and greatest metropolis of Asia.”
Paul first visited Ephesus at the close of his second missionary journey with Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:18-21). Priscilla and Aquila continued staying in Ephesus and helped Apollos know “the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:24-26). In his third missionary journey, Paul visited Ephesus and tarried there for about three years
(Acts 20:31). Paul faithfully did his preaching, teaching and training “in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10), the seven churches in Asia Minor (today Turkey) were founded, not only by Paul’s labour, but also by believers whom he might have sent out from Ephesus, and by the influence of converts returning to their homes.
On his return from his third journey, Paul stopped by Miletus (Acts 20:15), and sent for the elders of Ephesus to meet him there, and delivered to them his touching farewell charge (Acts 20:18–35).
Later, Timothy was exhorted to stay in Ephesus to deal with false doctrines (1 Tim 1:3), and traditions say that the apostle John spent his last years there.
When Paul was imprisoned in Rome, he wrote his letter to the Ephesians, reminding them of the blessed marriage relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church, whom He loved and gave Himself for (Eph 5:23-25) and exhorted them to “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Eph 5:2), with his final words, “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen” (Eph 6:24).
Jesus’ Words to the Church in Ephesus
Recipient: Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus. The term “angel” is from the Greek word,
angelos, which means “messenger,” one sent to announce or proclaim (Matt 11:10; Luke 7:24), and also means “angel” as God’s messenger (Matt 1:20; 18:10), or as Satan’s messenger (Matt 25:41). Here our Lord Jesus asks John to write to the messenger or the pastor of the church of Ephesus, who is responsible for proclaiming Jesus’ words to the church. And this letter is also to all churches and to any one who has an ear to hear (v 7).
Author: To the church of Ephesus, our Lord Jesus manifests Himself as
“he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks”
(v 1). The verbs are in the present tense, in the active voice, denoting that our Lord and Saviour is living and active. The term “hold” means “hold fast, have in one’s power, not to let go.” The seven stars are the seven angels or messengers of the churches, and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches (Rev 1:20). Here, they are the local, visible and imperfect churches. Our Lord Jesus is holding fast his servants and is walking and working in His churches. This means our Lord Jesus is the Head and is sovereign over His churches. He has authority to establish or remove the churches, “I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent” (v 5). Then let us submit ourselves to the Lord Jesus and His Word, trust in Him and His sovereignty, and love Him and be faithful to Him until death.
Jesus’ Words of Praise, Rebuke & Warning
To the believers in Ephesus, the Lord Jesus has words of praise as well as of warning and rebuke in His absolute omniscience,
“I (perfectly) know thy
works.” My friends, what we have done and are doing cannot be hidden from our Lord, even our motives and love for Him, as He knows all things and everything in minute details clearly and perfectly.
Words of Praise: “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. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (vv 2, 3, 6). The believers are praised for their labour for the Lord and His Name without being faint or weary, for their patience or endurance (hupomene) without giving up their faith, for their godly attitude and discernment against false apostles and for their separatist stand and godly hatred against the deeds of the Nicolaitans. According to early church fathers, the Nicolaitans are those who, while professing themselves to be Christians, live in ungodliness and immorality, disregarding God’s words and godly rules. Then, my friends, it is good for us to labour for the Lord, to endure all things, and to keep ourselves pure and separate from false teachers and from professing, disobedient and ungodly believers. However, it is not enough if we leave or forsake our first love for the Lord.
Words of Rebuke: Our Lord Jesus says, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (v 4). The verb “leave” literally means “give up, abandon, quit, desert, forsake, stop.” The first love is expressed by a strong desire to be together, to love each other, please each other, care for each other, and serve each other.
Lack Desire to Be Together: The couple in first love always think of, remember, and miss each other and find it a sweet, happy and blessed time to be together. My friends, how about our love for the Lord? Do we still have fervent zeal and passion to seek the Lord, and keep a close fellowship with Him in His light? Do we find it a sweet, happy and blessed time to worship Him, hear His Word from the Scripture and talk to Him in our prayers? While living in the world, do we desire “to be with Christ” (Phil 1:23) and “love His appearing” (2 Tim 4:8)? If we are doing our devotion and worship and service as our duties, routines or rituals while our heart is far from the Lord without any ardent love for Him, we have left our first love! It is worse if we think we have no time to come near to the Lord in prayer and worship!
Lack Love for Each Other: The couple in first love do love each other and love the names and words of each other. They are not ashamed to introduce or mention each other’s name to others, and every time they receive each other’s letter, they read it again and again with joy. They feel hurt when each of them is being criticised or despised. My friends, do you and I love our Lord’s Name and His Word? (Ps 5:11; 119:97, 119, 127, 132, 159). Do you and I feel hurt and angry when our Lord’s Name and Word are being criticised and blasphemed? If you and I feel ashamed to let others know His Name and His Word, we have left our first love for the Lord!
Lack Care for Each Other: The couple in first love are willing to sacrifice their self-will and interest to please and care for each other. Then do you and I try and seek to please the Lord first and alone or to please men? (Gal 1:10). To please the Lord, we cannot be a servant of two masters (Matt 6:24). We must be servants of the Lord alone, who has authority over our lives. The Lord Jesus confirms that he who loves Him must keep His commandments and His words (John 14:21, 23). Sadly, many are compromising their pure love for the Lord and His Word for the sake of being accepted, recognized, accredited, or
popular! And if you and I do not seek to please the Lord nor care for His cause, His work, His kingdom, and His salvation for others, we have left our first love for Him!
Lack Love in Serving Each Other: The couple in first love are willing to serve each other. We can serve without love, but we cannot be in love without serving. Love will prompt us to serve with willingness, zeal and sacrifice. It is vital for us to be constrained by Christ’s love to live for Him and serve Him (2 Cor 5:14). The Bible tells us that “Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her” (Gen 29:20). Our Lord Jesus says, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John 12:26), and to serve Him faithfully, fruitfully and meaningfully, He is still asking you and me individually as He asked Peter, “lovest thou me more than these?” (John 21:15). Do you and I love the Lord above all? The believers in Ephesus serve the Lord and labour hard but without their ardent love for Him, so our Lord Jesus, out of His love, has to rebuke them to bring them back to Himself, their spiritual Life, or else they cannot be faithful to Him until the end.
Words of Warning: Our Lord 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” (v 5). There are three things our Lord requires you and me to do if we have left our first love:
(1) Remember from whence thou art fallen. Remember when we lacked our desire to be with Him, lacked our love for Him, for His Name and His Word, lacked our care for His cause and our desire to please Him and obey Him, lacked our love in serving Him, and lacked our zeal to share His salvation to others.
(2) Repent. Come back to the Lord in sorrow and repentance for knowing that we have failed to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength (Luke 10:27), that we have failed to do all things with love (1 Cor 16:14), and that we will be cursed if we do not love the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 16:22) and our church will be removed except we repent.
(3) Do the first works. Pray that Christ’s love will constrain us to love Him with our ardent desire to be with Him, seek Him and please Him, to love Him and His Name and His Word, to care for His cause and His work and His kingdom, and to serve Him out of our love.
Jesus’ Words of Promise and Reward
Our Lord Jesus says, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (v 7). After Adam and Eve failed to obey God, they were cursed and cast out of the garden of Eden, and God placed “at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen 3:24). In heaven, there is “the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:2) and “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Rev 22:14). My friends, do you and I desire to partake of
the tree of life? That blessed reward is only for those who overcome and do God’s commandments. Satan does not want any one to be saved and enjoy God’s blessings, so he uses temptations, persecutions, worldly lusts, pleasures, riches or pride of life to draw many away from the Lord. Knowing that we are fighting against Satan, we will need the Lord, His Word and His whole armour to overcome Satan and get the reward when our Lord Jesus comes.
Conclusion
My friends, our Lord is still speaking to all the churches and to each one of us today, “I know thy works… I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” May the Lord help us see our failure, repent, and do the first works with our ardent desire to be with the Lord, to love Him, His Name, His Word and His coming, to please Him, to care for His cause, His work, His kingdom, and His salvation to the lost, and to serve Him with love. Satan is still working hard to cool off our love for the Lord. We have to overcome Satan to partake of the tree of life. May the Lord graciously help us love Him and overcome Satan always. Amen.
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