Returning to Our First Love

I want us to think for, as we begin, picture Jesus observing our church.

As you think about Him observing our church, think of two things.

He looks at each one of us as individuals.

He looks at you, evaluating you, your life.

He also looks at us as a church family, together.

A body called Pickens First Baptist.

Now as you think about the Lord observing you, looking at our church collectively,

do you think of the Lord more like a policeman?

A policeman who is on a stakeout.

Watching criminals.

Do you think of Him as watching to see when you do something wrong,

so that He can turn on His blue light, pull you over, and deal with you as a criminal?

Is that how you see the Lord as you think about Him evaluating you?

Some kind of celestial policeman just waiting for you to do something wrong so He can punish you.

Or, do you think of Jesus more like being a gardener?

Do you think about Him observing us as a gardener walks around the garden He has planted?

Think about Jesus as a gardener.

He walks around and observes all the things in His garden.

And if you did that, you enjoy the variety of colors.

You take note of plants that are healthy and growing.

You take note of those that are producing fruit.

When Jesus, as a gardener, is looking through His garden, looking at our lives,

He does notice problems.

He notices insects eating away at the plants.

He notices leaves that are shriveling up.

He does notice our sins, our failures.

He knows that there's things in our life that's got to be dealt with.

Just like in a garden, if the garden's going to be healthy.

Now, which one do you, just as you think about the Lord observing your life,

is He more like a gardener?

Or is He more like the policeman?

I hope it is obvious the way I presented that,

that we should think of Jesus as a gardener,

as He observes our lives,

as He observes your life on a daily basis,

and our church family,

as we function together as one body.

That's how we need to see Jesus in the book of Revelation,

the first two chapters,

as Jesus observes the seven churches of Asia Minor.

He evaluates their strengths and weaknesses.

Now, we're not going to do a series.

We did a series years ago on this.

Today, I want to look at what Jesus said to the first church

in Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

And I want you to go ahead and turn to that

because we're not going to put the whole section.

There's seven verses there.

And I want us to read them out of the Bible.

But as you're turning,

over the past several months,

we've been looking at some of the hot-button issues

that we're having to deal with today in our country.

We've looked at the issues relating to race

and law enforcement, socialism,

moral issues related to this year's election.

All those kind of things are important.

We didn't spend from July till recently on all that

because it didn't really matter.

It's important how we think,

how we understand things,

how we interpret what's going on.

Those issues were important for every Christian to grasp.

But it's vitally important that we look at those issues

from a biblical perspective.

That's why I call that series

Thinking Biblically.

Thinking Biblically.

Now, as important as those issues are,

they must never become the priority of our lives

as individuals or as a church.

And what I want us to do this morning

is look at Revelation chapter 2

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

to help us turn our focus

to what must be the priority of our lives.

Knowing, loving, and serving Jesus

and with an emphasis this morning

on doing what we do as Christians

from a motivation of loving Jesus.

Look with me at Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

We're going to begin in verse 1.

Keep in mind the book of Revelation is highly symbolic.

You see that from the first chapter.

We're going to see that as we begin this.

2-1 of Revelation.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus,

write the words of him who holds the seven stars

in his right hand,

who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

I know your works, your toil,

and your patient endurance,

and how you cannot bear with those who are evil,

but have tested those who call themselves apostles

and are not,

and found them to be false.

I know you are enduring patiently

and bearing up for my name's sake,

and you have not grown weary.

I want you to just stop for a moment.

How the Lord commends these faithful Christians.

They're pleasing him in many ways.

Verse 4.

But I have this against you,

that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen.

Repent, and do the works you did at first.

If not, I will come to you

and remove your lampstand from its place,

unless you repent.

Yet, this you have.

You hate the work of the Nicolaitans,

which I also hate.

The first thing I want us to notice in verse 1,

the Lord has the right to evaluate us.

The Lord Jesus has every right to evaluate you and me,

the way we're living,

the way we live as people who call ourselves

Christ people, Christians.

The Lord's relationship with the church

is pictured in verse 1.

It says he holds the seven stars in his hands.

Now, the seven stars are identified

in chapter 1, verse 20.

All the symbols in Revelation are not identified.

That's what makes it such a difficult book.

Well, the stars were identified in 1.20

as the angels or messengers of the seven churches.

Each of the seven letters,

there's seven letters to seven churches

in Revelation 2 and 3,

and each one is addressed to the angel

or can be translated messenger of the church.

Here's the problem.

Who are the angels?

Who are these messengers?

Well, there may be literal angels.

There may be guardian angels

or angels who represent the church

before the Lord in heaven.

And a lot of commentators say

that's who it's talking about.

But on the other hand,

it may be human messengers.

Maybe the pastors or leaders of the church.

And that would make sense

since the leader of the church

would be the one reading this letter

to the church.

But we really don't know.

One of the reasons Jesus uses the symbol

of holding these stars in His hand,

of course, the church belongs to Him.

That's why He holds them in His hand.

But one of the things I want you to think about,

Jesus protects the church.

He owns the church.

We belong to Him.

He has bought us with His life.

But being in His hand

is designed to be a comforting thought.

It's a hand of protection if we're persecuted.

It's a hand of comfort

when we're discouraged

or when we're grieving.

But it's also a hand of correction

when we sin.

But the hand of correction

is a hand of loving correction in the Bible.

God disciplines His children

because He loves us.

Hebrews tells us in great detail

there in chapter 12.

Now, note one more thing

just to get technical issues

out of the way here at the beginning.

It says He walks among

the seven golden lampstands.

Well, back in chapter 1,

verse 20 of Revelation,

it describes these seven

or the golden lampstands.

They represent the churches.

He walks among the

seven golden lampstands.

He walks among the churches

is what He's talking about.

Jesus walks among the churches

is the point here.

He knows what's going on

in the life of this church.

He knows what's going on

in every individual

who makes up this church.

So that's why we can think about this

this morning is

the Lord has a right to evaluate us.

We belong to Him.

He's evaluating us.

I want you to look next.

He commends what is right

in our lives.

Note, there are several things

that He commends.

I paused after verse 3

when I was reading it.

Let's look at some of these quickly.

The Lord commends good works.

It says in the first part

of verse 2,

I know your works,

your toll,

and your patient endurance.

This church was evidently

actively involved

in various kinds of ministries.

These people took their

church commitment seriously.

They took their relationship

to the Lord seriously.

They didn't just show up

every now and then

for a worship service.

They were involved.

They were plugged in.

They were doing things.

Some of them probably,

like we've seen today,

people leading out,

maybe singing.

People have taken a lot of time

in putting these shoeboxes together

and coordinating this effort.

All kinds of things go on

that you see on Sunday.

Lots of things go on

that you don't see

behind the scenes

that happens during the week.

The Lord is commending

those who are serving faithfully.

What I want you to see is

you can please the Lord.

Some people have a warped sense of God

that He can never be pleased,

that He's always out to get us.

He's always looking for what's wrong

so He can punish us.

That's not the concept of God

in Scripture.

God is a holy God.

He certainly has holy standards.

God takes it seriously

when we violate them.

The ultimate punishment

is death and hell.

But the love of God is such

that He sent Jesus into this world

to die on the cross

as our substitute

and actually pay the penalty

for our sins.

So that, think of it this way,

He actually suffered

as He hung on the cross,

the wrath of God,

separation from God.

That's why He cried out,

my God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?

He took the punishment

we deserved

so that we wouldn't have to.

And when we will admit our sin,

repent of it,

and trust Jesus,

we become one with Him

by faith

and the penalty for our sin

has been paid for

through the death of Jesus.

As God's children,

we can please Him.

There are numerous passages

in the Bible

that talks about

pleasing God,

how to please God.

And Jesus is saying,

there's members of this church,

they're actively involved

using the gifts and talents

and abilities they have,

and He commends them.

I want you to know,

the Lord commends you

for your faithful service

to Him,

to other people

in and through this church.

Look next,

the Lord commends

sound doctrine,

the last part of verse 2,

the rest of verse 2,

and how you cannot bear

with those who are evil,

but have tested those

who call themselves apostles

and are not

and found to be false.

And then in verse 6,

after He condemns them

for their forsaking

their first love,

as we'll see in a moment,

He comes back

before He ends this letter

to commend them,

yet this you have,

you hate the works

of the Nicolaitans,

which I also hate.

This church was not like

some liberal churches today

that have exchanged

biblical truth

for social action.

There are some churches

that never mention the gospel.

There are churches

throughout this country,

they never focus on

the actual teaching

of God's Word

concerning any issue.

They're more,

they're more like

just a social agency

than they are a church.

Well, this church at Ephesus

that Jesus is commending,

they were doctrinally sound

in addition to being involved

in practical ministry.

No doubt they helped people

in need in Ephesus

that they knew

and were aware of.

No doubt they were involved

in what some people

would refer to as

social ministries,

but that's not who

they were defined as.

They were the people of God

who truly believed

in the Word of God

being right and true

and without error.

They worked at

maintaining their faithfulness

to the teaching

of God's Word

and one of the ways,

they were careful

about who they allowed

to teach in their church.

They had been visited

by some false teachers.

There was in that day

false teachers showed up,

we're the real deal,

but they were wicked men

and false apostles,

the Scripture says here.

This church evaluated them

by what they had been taught,

by things they knew

of the Old Testament

and by the teaching

of the Apostle Paul

who founded this church,

who spent a lot of time

in this church

teaching them.

The Apostle John,

the writer of Revelation,

he was a powerful influence

in the church at Ephesus.

Timothy, Paul's understudy,

Paul's disciple,

Paul left him in Ephesus

to teach in this church.

This church was solid theologically.

They knew the truth.

They could hear the people

talking, preaching,

and they could evaluate it

by what they knew

was right and wrong.

And when they found

a false teacher,

they kicked him out.

They weren't worried

about hurting someone's feelings.

They did not allow

anything that would be contrary

to the clear truth

of God's Word

to happen,

to find root in their midst.

They were zealous for the truth.

They hated

what was contrary to the truth.

Now this helps us.

This helps us understand

that we individually

as Christians,

we need to be discerning

as we listen

to people teach

like me here right now.

Your Sunday school teachers,

what you hear anywhere,

what you read anywhere.

You need to be discerning.

You need to evaluate

what you hear

in light of what the Bible

clearly teaches.

Whoever teaches

what is contrary

to the truth of Scripture

is a false teacher.

I don't care

if they're in a church,

if they're on TV,

if they've got a website,

or whatever.

And that includes

people who ignore

the Scripture

or take it out of context

to present their messages

of positive feeling

and feel good living.

living.

Like, say,

Joel Osteen.

Joel Osteen

wouldn't last 30 seconds

in the church at Ephesus

because he's shallow

as a cookie sheet,

because he does not

truly teach

the Word of God

in its entirety

or even in a little bit.

Today,

serious-minded Christians

look for resources

to help them

better understand the Bible.

I know a lot of you do

because we have some conversations

from time to time.

I want to encourage you,

when you run across

a book

or a website

and you're not familiar

with the author especially,

it applies to anybody,

take what they say

and evaluate it

by what you know

is true about God's Word.

And if they are

distorting it,

ignoring it,

contradicting it,

throw the book away.

Never go back

to that website.

Don't allow someone

who is not

doctrinally sound,

who is not faithful

to the Scripture

to have any kind

of influence

in the way that you think

and the way that you live.

The Lord commends

sound doctrine.

And then third,

the Lord commends

faithful endurance.

Look at verse 3.

I know you are

enduring patiently

and bearing up

for my name's sake

and you have not

grown weary.

They were living

under a time

of real persecution,

most likely

under the Roman

Emperor Domitian.

They also experienced

local oppositions

from pagan

religious leaders.

You can read about

that in Acts 19.

It had been going

on for years.

But they remained

faithful.

In spite of the

hardship,

some of them

no doubt

would have been

arrested.

They would have

had church members

killed.

They would have

people who

lost their jobs

because of what

they believed

in that community.

We cannot compare

ourselves with

them because we

don't face that

kind of intense

persecution for our

faith.

At least we don't

yet in this country

and we need to

thank God for that.

But we do

face situations

where we get

under stress,

where we're

tempted,

maybe not to

compromise our

faith, but we're

tempted maybe to

just sort of

ignore the

Lord.

How do you deal

with difficulty in

your life?

How do you deal

with stress?

Do you let those

kind of things draw

you closer to the

Lord, drive you

deeper into His

Word, or do you

just retreat from

Him, ignore Him?

You don't really

deny the faith,

it's just, Lord,

like you forget

the faith.

We, where we

live, right

now, in our

own personal

difficulties, in

our own times of

stress, we've got

to focus on being

faithful, living

faithful Christian

lives, maintaining,

even growing in our

relationship with the

Lord, no matter

what's happening to

us or around us.

The church at

Ephesus had a lot

going for it.

It was filled with

Christians who truly

were serious about

their relationship with

the Lord in many

ways, but there

was something missing.

There was something

that made a

difference in their

relationship with the

Lord that was

missing.

Let's look at that

next.

The Lord condemns

what is wrong in

their lives.

They lacked one

thing.

Look at verse 4.

But I have this

against you, that

you have abandoned

the love you had at

first.

Now, Jesus doesn't

explain what that

love was, but it

should be obvious.

It had to be their

love for Him, their

love for God.

The greatest

commandment, Jesus

said, is to love the

Lord your God with all

your heart, soul, mind,

and strength.

Now, think about it.

This is what we would

call a good church.

The Lord commends

them for their good

works, their dedication

to the faith, the

defense of the faith.

They didn't give in to

persecution.

But somewhere along

the way in all this

good, their love for

the Lord had grown

cold.

Maybe they lost

sight of why they

were doing what they

were doing, or who

they were doing it

for.

Perhaps their zeal for

the truth of God's

Word turned into an

academic, or just an

intellectual exercise.

Maybe they believed

right.

They defended the

truth.

Maybe they just went

too far and actually

just hated and wanted

to really hurt those

who were false

teachers.

They lost their love,

their first love.

Now, these were not

rebels.

I want you to know

that.

I think the church at

Ephesus, it was a

good church.

A lot of good

things going on.

You couldn't

criticize them for

their statement of

faith or anything.

But somewhere along

the line, it took

place over time.

Not everyone in the

church for sure, but

as a whole, they sort

of drifted away from

their close, personal

relationship with the

Lord.

They drifted away from

a true, do what we

do because we love

Jesus.

We want to please

Him.

We want to bring a

smile to His face.

I think the best way to

illustrate this, the

best way, what most

common way, is what

happened in this church

is similar to what

happens sometimes in a

marriage.

Do you remember the

first time you

started getting

serious about the

person you're married

to right now?

Do you remember what

it was like when you

first got married?

You remember how you

wanted to be together

all the time?

I mean, you couldn't

get enough of each

other.

When you were apart,

you actually missed

one another.

Some of you are of an

age and a time frame

that you wrote love

letters when you were

apart.

And some of you

right now at home,

you've got put away,

maybe can't even find

them right now, a few

or maybe a stack of

love letters that your

spouse wrote to you.

Now, if you've got love

letters of somebody

before your spouse, you

better throw them away

before you get in

trouble.

Don't save everything.

There's people in this

room that you spent time

on the phone, maybe even

hours when you all were

apart, just chit-chatting,

talking about everything

under the sun.

Nothing really serious.

You just wanted to hear

each other's voice.

Do you remember when you

were truly in love,

close?

You did special things for

your spouse?

Cooked a special meal?

Gave her a special gift?

Took getaway weekends

because you wanted to be

alone and together with

each other?

Do you remember when you

used to look at your

spouse and actually carry on

a conversation about

something other than your

children?

And you actually listened

to your spouse because

your love was such you

cared.

You wanted to know.

You wanted to share.

That's how most of us are,

at least at the beginning.

Hopefully it never changes,

but let's be real.

After you're married for a

while, things do change.

Life happens.

We get in a routine.

You have to get in a

routine.

Children come along and

take a lot of time, a lot

of attention.

Work, as you go on in life,

and especially if you get

serious about your work,

it takes a lot of time.

And with work and being

involved in church and being

involved with your children,

there's all kinds of

activities.

And you know life is just

stressful.

More so at times than

others, but life is

stressful.

If we're not careful, we

can live life in such a

way that we'll wake up one

morning and we never

intended it, but we'll wake

up one morning and we're

married to a stranger

because we've drifted apart.

We have not intentionally,

and we may not want to

admit it, we still love our

spouse, but not like we used

to.

The warmth is no longer

there.

There's a familiar old story

that sums this up.

Most of you have heard it, but

I want to say it anyway because

it just sums it up.

An older couple was riding

down the road one day.

The wife was sitting, you

know, on the far right of her

side of the car up next to her

door.

Her husband, far left, sitting

behind the wheel driving.

The wife said, honey, do you

remember when we used to sit

close together and you'd drive

with one arm around me and one

arm on the steering wheel?

That was before seatbelts.

Before they started enforcing

that, people like me and some

of these guys in here, you

stuck those seatbelts down under

the seat where they couldn't even

be seen.

And when you were dating,

especially when you got serious,

you wanted the girl to sit right

beside you.

How many of you guys, don't raise

your hand, how many of you guys

ever been asked, does it take two

people to drive that car?

You know what I'm talking about.

Well, the wife asked him, why don't

we do that anymore?

The wife said, you remember we used to

do that?

He said, uh-huh.

The wife said, why don't we do that

anymore?

And the husband looked at her and

replied, well, don't look at me.

I ain't moved.

You've heard that story.

Here's the point.

If there's any separation between

you and the Lord, understand,

Jesus has not moved.

What would Jesus say about you

right now?

What would he say about us as a

church right now?

Have we moved away from him?

Has our love

grown cold

or at least

nowhere near the warmth

it used to have?

The only thing you can do

is look at yourself.

Have you drifted away from him?

Is the love for him

zealous?

Is it truly operational

in your life right now?

If the Lord's showing you that

you've moved away from him,

listen to what he says next in

verse five.

The Lord warns us to correct what

is wrong.

He says, remember therefore from

where you have fallen, repent and do

the works you did at first.

How do you make changes?

It's real simple here.

Number one, remember.

Remember what it was like when you

first came to the Lord

or remember what it was like when

you were really serious

about your relationship with him.

About just knowing him and loving

him and serving him because you

loved him.

Remember what that was like.

Number two, repent.

If you've fallen away, come back.

Change your mind.

Do an about face.

Change your direction.

Turn from whatever has led you

or caused you

to drift away from him.

You've got to identify it.

If it's your work,

if it's just laziness,

if it's some other person,

if it's just hobbies,

ask him to help you to understand

what it is and repent.

Change your mind.

Turn from it and then return.

Return to doing what you did

when you did love him.

Return to spending time with him,

uninterrupted time in prayer

and in his word.

Return to a time when your love

for the Lord was real.

And it made a difference

in how you lived.

I want to add here,

this is the key to correcting

a lack of love in your marriage.

For some of you,

this is the message.

Remember how it used to be?

Remember how you once

kept the fire going?

If it's not that way anymore,

repent.

Turn from being so selfish,

being so involved in everything

but your spouse's life.

One error that some couples make,

never let your children

take the place of your spouse

as the number one person

in your life.

Your children are important.

Love them.

Invest in them.

Give yourself to them.

But don't ever let them

take the place

of your spouse.

Remember, repent,

and return

to doing the things

you used to do

to rekindle that love

with your spouse.

But know what will happen

if we don't respond

in our relationship with the Lord.

Verse five,

if not,

I will come to you

and remove your lampstand

from its place

unless you repent.

He's talking about

he's going to dissolve the church.

This church will cease to be,

or let's put it this way,

it'll cease to be

the Lord's church.

It'll cease to be

a vibrant church.

They may meet,

but the Lord won't be with them.

We've got to avoid this

at all costs.

We as a church,

we must always keep

our focus on Jesus.

Our focus is not

on shoeboxes.

Our focus is not

on the preacher.

Our focus is not

on the music.

Our focus is not

even on the Bible.

Our focus has got to be

on Jesus Christ

and God our Father.

We do what we do

because we know Him

and love Him

and we want to please Him.

It's that simple.

And then when we do that,

the shoeboxes

can be a real ministry.

Music can be a real ministry.

Preaching and teaching

God's Word

can be a real ministry.

Look at the final word

from the Lord this morning.

The Lord promises blessings

to those who overcome

their lack of love.

Verse 7,

to the one who conquers,

I will grant to eat

of the tree of life

which is in the paradise

of God.

Listen to the Lord's promise.

To eat of the tree of life

which is in the paradise

of God.

He's talking about

eternal life in heaven.

This is a promise

of final,

eternal victory

for those who truly

love the Lord.

You may not think

too much about

the end of your life,

especially if you're young,

but I've found

the older you get

the more you do

think about that.

It's coming.

Where are you

going to spend eternity?

This is a promise

that those who truly

have a relationship

with Jesus,

a love relationship

with Him,

are going to spend

eternity with Him.

and He expresses

this symbolically here,

eating of the tree

of life in paradise.

But I want you

to listen to the opposite.

Those who do not

love Him

will not share

in this promise

because they don't

belong to Christ.

You see,

love is the

essential,

essential

characteristic

of God's people.

If you went

into your kitchen

this afternoon

and followed

a recipe

where you mixed

together butter,

shortening,

eggs,

milk,

flour,

salt,

cocoa,

and vanilla,

placed it in a cake pan,

baked it for one hour

and 15 minutes,

it would come out

of the oven

looking and smelling

like a chocolate pound cake

that you couldn't

wait to eat.

But when you took

your first bite,

you would immediately

realize it was missing

one ingredient,

sugar.

Even though it had

all the other ingredients

and looked and smelled

like a chocolate pound cake,

it wasn't.

It wouldn't be.

Sometimes one ingredient

makes all the difference.

And when it comes

to living the Christian life,

love is that one

essential,

key ingredient.

To paraphrase Paul

in 1 Corinthians 13,

if you don't have love,

you have nothing.

Let's go home

with this thought.

The most important thing

I can ever do

is love the Lord Jesus Christ

as my Savior and Lord.

And let my love for Him

be the motivation

for everything I do

for Him.

Let's pray together.

Father,

we are busy people.

So much is going on

in life today

for most families.

Many of the things

we're involved in,

we know You want us to be.

They're good.

They're right.

They're important.

But some are very essential.

We as a church father,

for the last several months,

we've been focusing on

important biblical matters

relevant to what's going on

around about us

in today's American culture.

But Lord,

help us

in the midst of

studying good things

and doing good things.

Help us, dear God,

to not allow

our love for You,

our love for Jesus,

to grow cold.

Father,

so work in us

right now

to rekindle this love

if it's

not hot.

Work, Father,

to call that man

or woman

or boy or girl

to faith in Jesus

if they don't understand

what this love

is all about.

And help us, dear God,

as individual Christians,

as the church,

to do everything we do

for a motivation

of love for You

and even love for people.

help us, Father,

to be strong

in our faith

and do good works

and be doctrinally sound.

Help us, Lord,

in the coming days

when persecution comes

to hang in there

and be faithful.

But help us, Father,

in the midst of it all

to love

and begin with You

in Jesus.

Lord, show us

how we need to respond.

And now,

with heads bowed

and eyes closed,

let's respond to the Lord

as He speaks.

Do what you know

you need to do

to leave here

as a Christian

motivated by love

or

to leave here

as a new Christian

trusting in Jesus.

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