Revelation 2:1-7

Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; ² 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: ³ And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. ⁴ Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. ⁵ 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. ⁶ But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. ⁷ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

If Jesus were going to send to a letter to your church, what do you think He would say? What about if He sent you a letter assessing your Christian life and service to Him? The seven letters that were written to the seven churches of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) in the book of Revelation provide us an understanding of what Jesus values, commends, and hates in local churches and in the lives of His people. John received and wrote the book of Revelation in the late first century from Roman exile on the island of Patmos. It was there that John would have likely been subjected to hard labor all for the sake of his witness for Jesus. While the book of Revelation reveals God’s plans for bringing all things into subjection to Christ in the fullness of time, the letter begins with John’s vision of the Lord in His glory and authority in chapter one and follows with seven letters written to seven churches found in seven cities of the Roman province of Asia (Asia Minor). The cities form a natural postal route for the first century and follow in order from the island John was on, Patmos in the Aegean Sea, inland to Ephesus, before circling around and concluding with Laodicea.

The first of the churches was the church at Ephesus, one that the rest of the New Testament says much about. Paul spent three years there (Acts 19-20) and wrote the letters of Ephesians and then 1 and 2 Timothy (while Timothy pastored there) to the same church. The Apostle John served as pastor there and likely wrote 1 John to that congregation initially. There may be evidence that Onesimus (Philemon’s runaway slave from the letter of Philemon) pastored there eventually as well. The city itself boasted great things from a worldly perspective. It was known for its idolatry, particularly one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the temple of Artemis. Its location provided it great wealth and prominence, but it had a big problem. In time, the city would die and be moved because of silt that would clog up a critical channel of the Cayster River. Like the city, it was a church that had much going for it, but also had one glaring, fatal flaw. The church had “left” its “first love.” What happened and what does this mean? This week, we will learn about the importance of proper motivation in serving the Lord and the importance of love for Christ. There are four things we can draw out about love for the Lord that we can learn from Jesus’s letter to the Ephesian church.

First, we learn that love is directed to the Lord. Each of the letters begins with an address to the “angel” (likely the pastor or messenger carrying the letter) of each church and highlights some aspect of Jesus’s deity and authority as the Lord of His Church.  Here, He is identified as the one who “holdeth the seven stars in His right hand” and “who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.” The “seven stars” are the “angels” (pastors) of the seven churches and it shows His authority to direct them in obedience to His will. The “seven golden candlesticks” are the seven churches themselves and this shows His authority over those churches and also His awareness and involvement in all that they do. This opening verse of address serves as a reminder that the church exists because of and for the Lord. He is “the head” of the church (Colossians 1:18) and the church belongs to Him. We exist for Him and because of Him and therefore all of our love and devotion is not to be directed to ourselves, our activities, or our ambitions, but to the One who died for us and to whom we belong. Love is directed to the Lord.

Second, we learn that love is demonstrated in obedience. Jesus commended the church in verses 2-3 for their faithfulness to His Word and His will. “I know thy works” is a sobering statement that tells us that Jesus knows all that we do and why we do it. This was a church that demonstrated “patience” and endured difficulty and opposition from the world around them. They did not tolerate “evil” and they exercised great discernment in pointing out false “apostles.” This was a church that demonstrated a dedication to the Lord as the strived to obey Him in all that they did. They zealously stood for the truth despite a culture and city that would have opposed them. They kept their church pure of all outward defilement and evil influence. In John 14:15 Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” They were a church that did that. By all appearances and if the letter to the Ephesian church ended there, Ephesus would seem like the perfect church. Love is demonstrated in obedience. However, this church had begun to drift, not outwardly in obedience, but inwardly in motive and devotion.

We also learn from Ephesus that love is driven by devotion. In verses 4-6, we see Jesus’s most sobering word of the letter, “Nevertheless” or “But.” Despite all of the good that they were doing, they had one extremely fatal problem. They had “left” their “first love.” The phrase “first love” is actually a concept found in Scripture in Jeremiah 2:1-13. God reminisced of Israel’s “kindness of…youth” and “the love of thine espousals” when He first redeemed them and brought them to Himself. There, Jeremiah describes the type of love shared between a newly married bride and groom. It is what we would label as “honeymoon love.” It described the excitement that newly married couples experience for each other early in the marriage. That level of love and devotion had faded in the Ephesian church. They had drifted, not in obedience for they believed rightly and acted according to truth, not in zeal or will for they did everything they were supposed to do, but they drifted in devotion and motive. Their problem was a lack of passion, motive, and devotion. It was a problem that resided in their hearts. It is possible to serve the Lord rightly outwardly, but inwardly do so for some selfish or empty reason. It happens all of the time. This was the sin of the Pharisees. They obeyed the law and had a great zeal to do what it said, but their motive was off. Likewise, this church had a righteous hatred of evil found in groups like the Nicolaitans who taught a Christian tolerance of sin. The church hated what Jesus hates. However, He called on the church to “repent” and go back to “the first works.” They were to return to doing what they did out of love for Him. The warning He gave was that they would lose their lampstand. Their church would cease to exist. Like the city that was fading and shifting because of the silt build up, the church had its own fatal flaw that would inevitably lead to its doom if it did not repent. The question here for us is why do we do what we do? It is not just about doing right things, but doing what Christ wants because we love Him. The difference is all of the difference in the world.

Fourth, we learn that love is derived from eternal life. Jesus’s promise to the church in verse 7 is to supply what they need to love Him as He desires them to. He points forward to the promise of “the tree of life” that will show up at the end of Revelation for all who believe. It represents God’s own eternal life given to His people. It is promised “to him that overcometh.” Overcomers are those who trust in Christ (1 John 5:4-5). It is only by humbling ourselves and submitting to the One who supplies all that we need that we can love like He has called us to.

“We love Him, because He first loved us (John 4:19) were words written by the Apostle John, perhaps to the same church of this letter. Our “first love” for Christ is only found in and derived from what He has done for us. Churches forget that Christianity is not about outward conformity, but inward transformation through the gospel. When churches forget this, we drift in motive from love for the Lord to Pharisaic legalism and we substitute behavior reform for gospel transformation. A key test of whether we have drifted in motive or from love for Christ in what we do is what we prioritize. Do we prioritize conformity to standards or obedience from love? Pride is a powerful evil in our lives. It will prevent us from a great many good things. For a church that had so much right, it would be hard to acknowledge and turn back to where it started. It is much easier to clean up wrong actions than wrong motives. One is admitting a peripheral flaw. The other is admitting a permeating flaw. In other words, admitting that we have wrong motives makes us look bad and forces us to admit that what we have done, although right, is tainted, so we don’t want to do it. At some point the city and church of Ephesus from the first century ceased to exist. That stands as a perpetual warning and reminder to any church of the importance of love for Christ as its motive. Have we left love? Why do you do what you do? These questions carry an enormous weight. Let it be said of us when asked why we do what we do, may we echo Paul’s words, “For the love of Christ constraineth us” (1 Corinthians 15:14).