Word of Salvation – Vol.32 No.32 – August 1987

 

First Love

 

Sermon by Rev. W. J. van Schie on Revelation 2:1-7

Reading: Romans 13:8-14; Acts 19:23-34

Singing: Ps.H.89; 388; 453; 440; BoW.H.811; Song 45.

 

INTRODUCTION

At the time this letter was written to the Church at Ephesus, Ephesus was a thriving commercial centre.  Business was good, the economy was strong and the city was prospering.  Even though Ephesus was a port city with all its associated vices, it was also a proud city because it was the centre of justice and athletics for the whole region.

As we read Acts chapter 19, we get a good picture of the religious life in Ephesus.  The worship of Artemis and Diana, the fertility goddess, were firmly established and dominated the whole cultural and business scene.  To threaten the established religion was to threaten the livelihood of many tradespeople who made their living in making images of the goddess and all the associated trinkets.  To threaten the tradespeople was to threaten the economy of Ephesus itself.

In this immoral, idolatrous but yet prosperous city existed the small infant Christian Church.  It was struggling against the overwhelming forces of immorality and idolatry.  It was struggling to keep its flickering light bright in a sea of darkness.  So what kind of Church was Ephesus?

I.  BUSY PURE CHURCH

We read in our text that it was a very busy church.  It had done many works and it was labouring hard to witness in this hostile community.  The Greek word describing their busy activity means to “work to exhaustion”.  They were so busy that they were close to having congregational burn-out.  They were exhausted!

We also read that they were a pure church.  They were very careful as to who was allowed to enter their pulpit to preach to the congregation.  They tested those who claimed to be apostles, and those who were not, were denied the right to preach.  There were no problems of Judaistic legalism in this church.

They were also pure as a congregation.  They were very much aware of the fact that the immorality of society could easily creep into the church so they carefully safeguarded the morals and purity of the congregation.  When a group of people called the “Nicolaitans” taught that sexual permissiveness was alright, these people were dealt with very promptly and excommunicated.  What a church!  Busy and pure!  Not just busy and pure for a little while, no, they were busy and pure consistently, persevering as a church.  Enduring all things to keep busy and to remain pure.  The sort of church you would want to be a member of if you couldn’t find a Reformed Church nearby.  I mean to say it has all the marks of the true church.  Faithful preaching, proper celebration of the sacraments and correct discipline.  What more would you want in a church?

Well, the question isn’t what we want; the question is what does the Lord Jesus, the Lord of the Church want?  What does he say about the church in Ephesus?  He says, “Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love.”  And what a first love they had!

II.  BUT LOVELESS CHURCH

Please turn with me to Ephesians 1 and we shall read from verse 3 to verse 10.  In this passage the Ephesians are told that they had “all spiritual blessings in Christ” – they were as spiritual as he is.  They were told that they were chosen, holy and blameless in Christ, forgiven and adopted in Christ, that they had received grace undeserved.  They knew that they were greatly loved by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And they responded to that love so beautifully that Paul gets excited about it.  Let’s read verses 15-16.  They believed that they had all these riches in Christ.  There was no need to seek more.  They had found it all in Christ and they rejoiced in what they had found in Him.  We read that they loved each other with a beautiful love.  They could do this because they loved their Lord so much.  What love they had for their Lord!  The Lord Jesus had done so much for them.  He had taken them out of dark pagan idolatry, loved them and adopted them as his children and heirs.  Oh how they loved the Lord!

They wanted to be busy for that Lord.  They wanted to be model Christians for the Lord.  They wanted to tell others about the Lord they loved so much.  They wanted to keep themselves pure for the Lord.  Their whole lives were dominated by wanting to express their love for the Lord who loved them so much.

But, what happened?  They were so busy in all their activities that eventually they lost sight of their Lord.  So busy organising, teaching, witnessing, that they forgot for whom they were doing it.  They were busy keeping the activities going, keeping the program going but no longer doing it for the Lord.  They strove to be pure but they were pure to keep evil away, they were pure so they wouldn’t lower the standards, but they were no longer pure for the Lord.  They were pure alright, but the kind of purity that you find in a morgue!  Sterile, cold and loveless..!  They had fallen from their first love!  Oh how they had fallen!

Well, what should the Lord do with such a church?  What would you do with such a church?  Busy but barren, pure but cold!  I suppose we would be tempted to close down the church and start somewhere else with more loving people.  Will the Lord leave Ephesus?  Will he close it down?  What does He do?

III.  STILL LOVED

Well the Lord still loves His church.  Faults and all, He loves Ephesus.  He comes to the Church and He walks in and sits in on its meetings.  He holds her preacher in his hand as he holds the stars and in love He gets involved with His Church in Ephesus.

In love He comes and warns her.  He says, “If you continue to be busy for the sake of being busy, to keep the program going, and you keep yourselves pure for the sake of keeping yourselves pure, then I will come and take your lampstand away from you.”

And congregation, nothing could be worse for a church than to have her lampstand taken away.  A lampstand was what held up the light.  It was not the light itself, it held up the light.  Well, the lampstand is symbolic of the Church that holds up the light of the gospel in a dark world.  What Jesus is saying here is that if they continue on as they are, then he will come in and take away the right of the church to bear his light in the world.  And you know what happens then?  The Church itself is left in darkness and has no message of light to proclaim to the world, and therefore it has no reason to exist.  And in time it will die.

In love, Jesus says to his Church, “Remember the joy you had at first when you first believed.  Remember how you loved me when you discovered how rich you were in me.  Remember your first love.  Repent of how you have lost sight of me.  Repent of how you have hurt me, and return to what you were before.  Being busy, but, for me.  Being pure, but for me!”

No, Jesus doesn’t abandon His Church in Ephesus.  In love he comes again and warns her and in love He encourages her to return to her first love.  What love the Lord has for his Church.  Not only does He die for her and give her so many riches in his victory.  Even when we would have given up, He returns to her in love and warns her and encourages her.  What love the Lord has for his Church.

IV.  APPLICATION

This is very relevant for us isn’t it?  We are also in so many ways busy in the Church.  We have so many organisations and clubs in our Church.  Session, Ladies Guild, Board of Management, Cadets, Calvinettes, Sunday School, Youthclubs, Outreach Committees, etc.  We are involved in teaching, visiting, witnessing, helping, counselling.

We are so busy as a Church.

So it is good for us to stop and ask ourselves, WHY?  Why are we so busy?  Why am I teaching?  Why am I visiting?  Why am I organising?  Why am I going to so many meetings?  Am I teaching because the children have to be taught?  Am I visiting because people need to be visited?  Am I going to meetings because we have to be organised and efficient in the Church?  Are we doing what we are doing just to keep the program going?  To keep the church activities going?

The question is, ARE WE DOING IT FOR THE LORD?  Are we teaching FOR THE LORD?  Are we meeting FOR THE LORD?  Are we visiting FOR THE LORD FIRST OF ALL?  If we are not doing it for the Lord Jesus then we are wasting our time!

Do you find your work in the church a drag?  To get that lesson ready, to get ready for another visit when you are tired and want to stay home.  Is the work you are doing more and more of a burden?  Then what are you doing it for?  For the Church in order to maintain the system and to keep the program going, or are you doing it for the Lord?  If you are doing it for the Lord whom you love, then you do it with willingness and joy!  When did you last say in prayer to the Lord, “Lord I love you!”  “Lord I am doing this task for you!”  “Lord I want to show you how much I love you by the way I do this for you!”?

Parents, when you are concerned about the morals of your children; when your children fail to adopt the values you want them to adopt; when you have to correct and discipline them because you want them to grow up purely then do you discipline them because it is right?  Do you instruct your children in what is right because that is what you should do?  Do you keep yourself pure and try to keep your children pure because your standards shouldn’t slip?

Or do you explain to your children that what they do hurts the Lord?  That they should adopt Christian values to please the Lord who loves them so much.  Do you keep yourself pure because you are keeping yourself pure for the Lord?

It is so easy, it is so human to have a purity of the morgue.
Pure but sterile, cold, loveless and dead.
That is not the purity that the Lord wants.
He wants us to be busy, He wants us to be pure, but because we love Him!

CONCLUSION

You know what I find so amazing about this letter to the Church of Ephesus?  No, not that they had fallen from their first love and were busy for busy’s sake and pure for purity’s sake.  No, that is so understandable and human.  What I find so amazing about this letter is that the Lord could be bothered to send it at all.  What I find so amazing is that the Lord loved the Church of Ephesus so much that He was willing to write to her and warn and encourage her.

And you know what I find so amazing today?  That in spite of all her failures, (and there are many) in spite of all her faults (and there are many of those too) the Lord of the Church still loves us.  Loves us enough to admonish us.  Loves us enough to encourage us!  Oh how much He loves us!

Congregation let us be a busy church!
Let us be a pure church!
But let us be busy and pure FOR THE LORD!

Look at how much He loves us!

He loved us enough not only to die for us to pay for our sins, He still loves us today, enough to warn us and to encourage us!

Blessed is he, who listens to what the Spirit says to the Church!  Blessed is the Church that lives in love for her Lord.

AMEN.