To the Church in Ephesus

So with that, we want to bless James.

We're going to pray for him.

We're grateful for him.

I know he's only had less than 24 hours

since his last sermon here.

He flew out to the Philippines

with a family on Sunday afternoon.

They got back last night.

So yeah, God's sustaining him.

We're going to pray for him

that he can sustain us,

speak the word and teach the word

in the next 45 minutes.

I want to bless Christina

and the kids who are helping Vincent, Danny.

Who else is at the back?

Alex as well.

Okay, we're going to pray and bless.

So let's reach out a hand for the kids

at the back or for James.

Father God, we thank you.

We thank you for our brother.

We thank you for this brother.

We thank you for the gift of teaching

and this heart of obedience for you.

We know you love him very much.

We know you've called us

and every one of us here this morning

to hear your word.

Lord, I pray that the gospel

will be preached in every single room

from the back to the front.

The gospel that sets us free,

the gospel that is truth,

the gospel that will stand forever

and must above and amidst

every storm and every thunderstorm

and black rain.

And Lord, we pray for James.

We pray that the best, best, best sermon

he'll ever, ever preach

will always be the life that he lives.

We thank you, Lord, for his heart.

We thank you for the message

that he's prepared for us

from Revelation 2.

Lord, humble our hearts

as we open up our spiritual ears

to hear what you are saying to us.

So speak to us today, Lord.

We welcome you, Holy Spirit.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Before that, Aaron,

we're going to read the passage today,

Revelations 2, 1 to 7.

Let's all stand to read the word together.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Revelation 2, verses 1 to 7.

Revelation 2:1–7

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write,

These are the words of him

who holds the seven stars in his right hand

and walks among the seven golden lampstands.

I know your deeds,

your hard work,

and your perseverance.

I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men,

that you have tested those

who claim to be apostles but are not,

and have found them false.

You have persevered

and have endured hardships for my name.

And have not grown weary.

Yet I hold this against you.

You have forsaken your first love.

Remember the height from which you have fallen.

Repent and do the things you did at first.

If you do not repent,

I will come to you

and remove your lampstand from its place.

But you have this in your favor.

You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans,

which I also hate.

He who has an ear,

let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To him who overcomes,

I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,

which is in the paradise of God.

This is the word of God.

Praise be to God.

Thank you, Aaron.

Thank you.

Please take a seat.

Thank you, Kelly and Kuban and the team.

Thank you, Aaron.

Thank you, Joe.

Joe has a few more years of these hair jokes

before he comes to join me.

And that's going to be a good day for me.

That's going to be a good day.

Come.

I am your future.

Okay, so...

It's going to be breezy.

It's going to be breezy.

We were on a flight yesterday

coming back with the Young Life team

and one of my staff,

immature staff,

was sat behind me

and he was like blowing on my head.

Just to be funny.

But I mean,

I'm used to just having it here.

Like, hair always just on my head

so I didn't really think Aaron was saying, right?

He's like, oh,

I didn't think it was the thing.

But anyway,

he found it very humorous.

So anyway,

there we go.

Hey, good to see you all.

Good to see you all.

Week two.

We're trying to figure things out.

I told you last week,

we were like,

hey,

we don't know what's happening here

but we're going to take one step at a time.

The TV wasn't tall enough

so praise God

we managed to get a TV

that's a little bit taller.

I don't know how that was for visual at the back.

Sadly, I am still the same height.

And as I said last week,

they've told me standing and sitting,

it doesn't matter.

It's the same.

So I'm just going to sit here

and hopefully you'll be able to hear

what I have to say.

We went through the book of Revelation

where we started the book of Revelation

and there's only one revelation.

It's not revelations.

There's only one.

And what was that?

That was the revelation of Jesus Christ.

John was praying.

This is old man John.

This is the John

whom was leaning on Jesus' shoulder

at the Last Supper,

the one who was dearly loved.

And he's praying many years later.

He's on the island of Patmos

because he's been sent there

because he refused to worship Caesar.

And he's praying.

And persecution is happening.

That's what I was talking about

last week, right?

The church is experiencing

all the persecution.

And he's just praying to God.

He's in the spirit.

He's going,

God, can you help my brothers and sisters?

Can you look after the churches?

And Jesus' response isn't,

hey, I'm going to come and help you.

I'm going to overthrow the Roman Empire.

Don't worry.

The enemy is gone.

He doesn't do that.

Jesus says, you know what?

You know what's going to help you?

I'm going to peel back the curtain.

I want to show you who I am.

Because when I show you who I am,

when I show you the end,

you're going to feel better about the now.

And so I talked about Jesus

being the beginning and the end,

the Alpha and Omega,

the first and the last.

And he says, hey, I was dead,

but now I'm alive forevermore.

I hold the keys.

And this is what I look like.

And he had the white hair.

He had the fire in his eyes.

He had the sword out of his mouth.

When he spoke,

it was like,

what was the word?

When he spoke,

it was like the roar of many waters.

And then a few days later,

we got to experience the roar of many waters.

We got to see on Instagram

or maybe just near our own homes

the sheer force of water.

When you're surrounded by water.

And Jesus is almost saying here,

when I speak,

it drowns out all the empty rhetoric,

all the lies,

all the distractions.

When I speak,

no one else can stand.

And you saw the force of that this week.

And so then he carries on.

And then he actually then starts

to talk to the church.

This is why we're doing this.

Because as we start this,

the title of our series is,

we start with the end in mind.

Because I'm that kind of person.

If it's not worth going,

if it's not worth continuing and sustaining,

let's not start it.

But if we're going to start it,

let's see what Jesus says about it at the end.

Because these are some of the few words

that Jesus actually directly addresses the church

and say,

hey,

I want you to know about this.

I don't know about you,

but I want to know.

As we do church,

I want to know whether this is a kind of church

that Jesus is actually pleased with.

Because if it's not,

then it doesn't matter.

Before we even came here,

the prayer for me was,

God, what do we do?

What should we talk about?

What should we learn?

And he just says,

bring them to me.

Not the space,

not the destination.

Bring them to me.

That's the goal of church.

I don't know why you gather here today,

whether it's because the parents dragged you here,

or whether it's just part of the routine,

or because it's rainy,

so you can't go and have the fun

that you were going to have,

whatever it is.

I hope you're here,

because for the one reason

why we all should be here,

for Jesus.

Jesus says,

bring them to me.

Are you here to meet the Lord?

And he introduced himself last week.

He peeled back the curtain.

This week,

he actually speaks to us.

He speaks to John and says,

I want you to pass a message

to my church.

And this one

sends chills down my spine.

It's probably,

my guess is probably

the second most famous one.

The one towards the end

is pretty famous too.

But this one is interesting,

and I wanted to talk to you

a little bit about this one.

Now,

he starts off by saying,

actually,

so just before chapter two,

at the end of chapter one,

as for the mystery of the seven stars

that you saw in my right hand

and the seven golden lampstands,

the seven stars are the angels

of the seven churches,

and the seven lampstands

are the seven churches.

Now,

of course,

there weren't just seven churches in Asia.

There were more.

But maybe this represents

seven being the complete number.

Maybe it just represents

the complete church.

And actually,

as you see,

as we go through these seven weeks

and these seven different churches,

what you see is

the problems that these churches face

are exactly the problems

that we face now.

They're the same.

In fact,

you can say that

we are experiencing them

to such a degree now

that we need to learn

and we need to take heed

of these words

because if not,

the consequences can be dire.

And we can see it here

as Jesus is talking

to the church in Ephesus.

So let's talk a little bit

about the church in Ephesus first.

He says,

so the angel of the church

in Ephesus writes.

So he's saying,

angel of the church,

pass this message to my church.

And he's passing it

to the church in Ephesus.

Now,

the reason why Ephesus is first

is from the island of Patmos.

He writes this letter.

John receives his vision

and starts writing.

And then as he sends

the messenger,

this is the first island.

This is the first place

he goes to.

It's just on the route.

This is the first one.

But it's more significant

than that because Ephesus

was a big deal.

Ephesus was a metropolitan.

Actually,

I wouldn't go,

I wouldn't even hesitate

to say it's maybe

the equivalent

of something like Hong Kong.

The fourth city

in the whole of the Roman Empire,

you had,

of course,

you had Rome,

you had Alexandria,

you had Antioch

where the disciples

first were dispersed

and then you have Ephesus.

It was the financial capital

because everyone

would come in

from all the different places

to deal,

to trade.

So all different kinds

of people were there.

It was also a political capital.

Now,

the official one

was Pergamum,

but actually the Roman

governor himself

lived in Ephesus.

And so you see

all these people

are centering

onto this city.

First of all,

this gives me encouragement

because actually,

discipling,

doing church,

doing missions work

in a city

is not easy.

It's not easy

because the city

is just filled

with distractions,

filled with all these things

that make it hard

to make disciples.

But yet you see here,

the book of Revelation

is almost just

a down-to-earth manual

on how to disciple,

how to be an urban disciple.

It was also a religious capital

because the goddess

that was maybe

the most prominent there

was the goddess

of Artemis,

the fertility goddess.

The Greeks

would call her Diana.

Diana.

So you know

the sexuality,

the fertility,

the lust

that was all going on there.

And actually,

that ties into

a little bit of

why this church

in Ephesus

was really struggling

because it was actually

calling people away

from all those things.

So this is a capital,

and actually,

this was a church

that was very dear

to Paul's heart.

He'd visited it once

and then he went back

and he stayed

two and a half years there.

And what happened

after that,

he passed it to a couple

called Priscilla and Aquila

and they looked after it

for a while

and then his mentee,

Timothy,

looked after the church there.

And then,

of course,

towards the end

of the first century,

Timothy was murdered.

After that,

John,

young,

beloved John,

goes back

and actually

pastors the church

there in his final years.

So this is a very

important church.

What's even more important

is Mary herself,

Jesus' mother,

actually went to this church.

So can you imagine

being the preacher

at this church

and you're staring

and Mary is there.

And she's like,

you know Jesus?

And she's like,

oh,

I know Jesus.

I know Jesus.

Do you know Jesus?

So,

the church of Ephesus

had some pretty

crazy senior pastors.

And yet,

Jesus has some

pretty damning words

for them.

And these words

actually terrify me

because as you look

at this,

now put your Chinese hat on

and look

and just rank

how this church

is doing.

What you think

is a good church

and you see it

and you see

every single part here.

And yet,

Jesus is still

threatening

to close it down.

That should scare you.

That definitely scares me.

So let's just

quickly go through it.

I know your works.

Toil.

I know your toil

and I know your patient endurance.

He says,

I know your works.

I know that you guys

run so many programs.

You guys do such a good job

with church.

You have your kids programs.

You have your youth programs.

You have your social service programs.

You have all the programs.

I know your works.

You are doing good stuff.

James says,

faith without works is dead

but you've got the works.

And he says,

I know.

It's interesting here.

At the beginning,

the words of him,

chapter 2,

verse 1,

you can follow me

or if you're taking notes,

write these down.

Who holds the seven stars

in his right hand

who walks among

the seven golden lampstands.

Jesus is saying,

I know

because I'm walking

right amongst you.

I am in your church.

I am sat right there.

I am right there.

It ties back

to what I was thinking.

Actually,

when Jesus says,

bring them to me,

when we,

well,

sorry,

when I felt the Lord

tell me that this is

what we should be doing.

We should be going

to him together.

I reckon

many of us

and sometimes myself,

I don't turn up

to church for Jesus.

I'm not really acutely aware

that he's actually there.

Sometimes

I feel as though

when I'm sat in a church service,

maybe it feels more

like a memorial service

than an actual service

where Jesus is alive

and actually there.

Do you know what I mean?

Has anyone been to

a memorial service

or a funeral?

The way we talk

about that person,

we speak fondly of them,

whether it's true or not

doesn't matter

because he's gone now.

So we say,

oh,

that was such a nice person.

And we talk about him,

we sing songs,

encourage each other.

Aren't you scared

that that's how we treat

these services?

Jesus says,

I'm alive

and I walk among

the church.

I am here.

It's not a memorial service.

If that doesn't kind of

straighten your back,

I don't know what will.

But the Lord is here

right now.

And he says,

I am here

and I know your works.

I'm sitting through

your announcements

about the prison ministry

and I know

that you have a good heart,

that you are doing

good things here.

I know that.

I know your toil.

I know it's hard work.

I know discipling

in an urban city

is hard.

I know trying

to earn money

and still run a business

but still be upright

and still be righteous

is not easy.

I know it's hard.

I know that you are

causing such a stir

that people are starting

to persecute you,

that you're starting

to be afraid of your life.

I know.

I know your patient endurance.

I know your resilience

in all of this.

Can you imagine

this group of people

as he starts to draw

this picture

of what this group

were like?

These people were

just committed

committed to works,

committed to running things,

doing things.

These are good Christians.

So we say,

I know your toil.

I know that you are

pushing through.

It's much easier

to do other stuff

but you are here

and you are patiently enduring.

I know all that.

Even more so,

I know how you can't bear

with those who are evil

but test those

who call themselves apostles

and are not

and found them to be false.

Not only are you good

at your works,

not only are you hardworking

and you're resilient,

you also know the truth.

You are committed

to the truth.

That means not only

do you have

great outreach programs,

you have great discipleship

going on as well.

You have a good BSF group

where you know scripture,

where you know doctrine

to the point where

you are so weary

of the people outside

teaching false doctrine,

you have the systems in place

where you test

and that's incredible

and that's good.

You are so committed

to the truth

and then he says,

I know that you are

enduring patiently,

how you are bearing up

for my namesake

and you have not

grown weary.

Man, I would love

to hear Jesus say that to me.

James, I know everything

that you're doing

and I know how

you have not grown tired.

You've just kept going.

Isn't that a great compliment

that you would receive

from your Lord?

You've just been,

you're such a hard worker.

I mean, that definitely

appeals to the Chinese culture.

You have not grown weary.

You're so good

at doing what you're doing.

And so this church,

in my eyes,

is really doing everything.

It's doing it,

it's an A-star church.

It's doing everything

it should.

It's loving,

it's reaching,

it's defending,

it's serving,

it's doing everything

that the church

really should be doing.

It's what we should be doing.

But,

and this is a huge but,

but I have this

against you.

You have abandoned

your first love.

Abandoned.

So you may be

an A-star pupil,

but you've forgotten

what course you were studying.

You may be getting

the best grades

and doing everything

that you need to do,

but actually you've missed

the point completely.

You've abandoned

your first love.

And this word is strong.

I mean,

the one that Aaron read

I think was forsaken.

Not only have you

just forgotten it,

you've deliberately

left it behind.

You've been so caught up

in doctrine

that you've left

the main point

of all of it.

You've been so caught up

in looking out

and serving,

you've lost sight of me.

You've abandoned

your first love.

We know that's possible

because we know churches,

we know we are susceptible

to abandoning

our first love.

Why do we know that?

We know that we can

abandon first love

in our marriages.

If you're a married couple,

look over at each other

right now

and go,

do you remember

when you first fell in love

with your spouse?

Those of you who are dating,

wearing matching T-shirts.

Cute.

We used to wear

matching T-shirts too.

Then I got big.

I couldn't fit them anymore.

Okay,

are my children here?

My children are not here.

So Christina and I,

I was 12

and she was 13.

Yeah,

it was bad.

It was bad.

It's not good.

I could see the judging eyes

from the parents already.

More emphatically,

I was in Sunday school

and she was in youth group.

And I remember

I was out in my Sunday school class

and I was just leaning back

because I'm cool

and I know all the Bible study

and then the youth group kids

walk past

and I'm just like,

what's up?

What's up?

And this tiny little girl,

Christina,

was like,

I'll see you.

I need to finish my coloring here

and then I'll come over.

Oh dear.

Do you remember the butterflies?

Come on,

who's been married here

for more than 10 years?

Come on,

put your hand up.

More than 10 years,

more than 20.

We are getting exposed

to more than 30,

40.

Wow.

Do you remember

like,

Agnes,

do you remember

butterflies for Vincent?

Was that a thing?

Agnes is like,

no,

I do not remember that at all.

Do you remember the butterflies?

We were,

we started dating

when it was like

you had to drag

the dial-up cable

to connect to the internet

and then

you dial up

and then you send an email

or you write texts

but the texts

were only 160 characters,

kind of like Twitter.

but then

because they cost money

each text

so Christina

wouldn't use spaces.

She would just like,

she would differentiate

each word

with a capital letter

so it was so hard to read

and of course

every word is shortened

as well

so as I'm reading

I'm like,

oh,

but I've got butterflies.

Oh,

you write so well,

baby.

TTYL,

BRB.

Oh dear,

the butterflies

and then she'd call

and I was like,

oh,

that's so cute

and then of course

we did have a few years

in the middle

where we were not dating

and then we started dating

and back again

in university

and even then

it was kind of like,

where are you going?

Oh,

let me walk you.

Oh,

but you're really far away.

That's like an hour bus ride

to come hang out with me

just to walk me to.

I'm like,

it's okay,

I'll do it for you.

Like that Adele song,

make you feel my love.

I'm going to do anything

I need to do

to be for you

and now she's like,

hey,

can you go and get me

some milk?

I'm like,

Rebecca's like,

oh,

Aaron,

we need to talk.

The things you do,

like,

you hang up.

No,

you hang up.

Good night.

I love you.

I love you more.

I love you more.

I love you infinity.

All those things.

What was I talking about?

I would say,

side note,

as I was preparing this

and praying over this,

I was like,

man,

maybe there should be

just a word for married couples here.

Just for a second.

It's not exactly what Jesus

was talking about,

but it really does remind me.

It's talking about that.

Hey,

if you've been married

for a long time,

you've been dating

for a long time,

look at your spouse

in like,

a loving,

mildly sexy kind of way.

Like,

take them out for a date.

Like,

don't,

don't take it for granted

because I know

that the church can do this

because I know

that marriages do this.

And before you know it,

you're like,

you're just co-partners in life.

You've forgotten

why you loved that person

in the first place.

You're like,

oh man,

now you're just annoying.

Like,

my kids were saying,

oh,

what were you like

when we started dating you?

This was 18,

of course.

We did not tell them

about the prequel.

Well,

I was still playing

a lot of sports

in the university's team,

so I was going to the gym

all the time with my friends.

I looked a little bit like Uday.

Had just about as much hair

as Uday did.

And then she started dating me

and then we got married

and then it was a bait and switch.

Now,

no working out

and no hair.

So Christina was like,

yeah,

that's the person

that I fell in love with.

But somewhere along the line

as married couples,

you kind of just drift off.

You just kind of just

take each other for granted.

You don't date.

We were just with a couple

who had been married

for 40 years

and they were like,

no,

that's the one thing

we kept on to,

just dating.

Every week,

just spending time together.

Just whether,

through whatever season it was,

we spent that day together,

we go out

and we just spend that time.

Talk to each other.

Talk to each other

like we talk to other people.

That's how bad it gets.

Sometimes,

right?

Because with the people

that we are so comfortable with,

we don't bother talking

to them anymore.

We know.

We've been around for so long.

We've been together for so long.

But to other people,

we're asking questions.

We're intrigued

in their lives

and making sure

that we do that.

So those images,

those memories

of first love

is what Jesus

is talking about here.

He's saying,

you have abandoned

your first love.

You have left it behind.

You've forgotten

why this gathering

is happening

in the first place.

You've abandoned

your first love.

You see,

he's writing to the church

in Ephesus.

So if we actually go

to the book of Ephesians,

Paul actually talks about this.

If you go to Ephesians chapter 1,

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

so now it's not John

or Jesus talking

to the church in Ephesus,

it's Paul.

Okay?

So this is a few years before.

And Paul's saying,

chapter 1, verse 15,

for this reason,

because I've heard

of your faith

in the Lord Jesus

and your love

toward all the saints.

This was a church of love

at the beginning.

The founding fathers

of the church of Ephesus

had love

and so much

that Paul had heard

about the love

that they had

for each other.

Isn't that incredible?

That this church

was known,

was heard,

had a reputation

of love,

but many years later now,

Jesus says,

but you have abandoned

that first love.

So maybe the first generation,

the founding fathers,

loved the people

that were in their church.

But as the second generation came,

as the third generation came,

it completely dwindles.

And what started off with love

now ends up being

just a program.

What started off

with compassion

and faith in the Lord

is now just routine.

And Jesus comes and says,

hey,

you have abandoned

your first love.

I have this against you.

You see,

we all forget.

We all forget.

We all lose our way.

And I think Jesus

writes this

as the first letter

to all the churches

because I think

this is the biggest thing.

This is the most important thing.

And then he gives us

some solutions

as to what he needs

to do about it.

Now,

each time he writes

a letter to a church,

he comes out with

what he knows.

I'm walking among you.

I know this is what you are.

I know,

I know,

I'm not a distant God

just dropping down bombs.

I know because

I'm walking amongst you.

I know you've got good stuff.

But then it's got,

you've got some bad stuff.

And now I want to tell you

how to overcome it.

So here he says,

hey,

you've abandoned

your love at first.

And then verse 5,

chapter 2,

verse 5,

revelation.

Remember,

therefore,

from where you have fallen,

repent

and do the works

you did at first.

First of all,

remember.

So whether this is

your marriage or not,

but for church,

we definitely need to do this

is we need to remember

every week

why we gather here.

We need to remember

what it is for.

And the reason what it is for

is for love.

It says,

remember from where

you have fallen.

So it's saying,

hey,

remember

what you were like

at the beginning.

Those of us

who have been Christians

for a long time,

I think Albert

won the prize last week.

Do you remember

that first moment

you fell in love

of Jesus?

Do you remember

that first moment

where he peeled back

the curtains to you?

Do you?

It seems to me

that we need to

actively

make sure

we remember.

Remember

from where

you have fallen.

Remember where

you came from.

The love

that you had.

Because just like

marriages,

just like friendships,

it's so easy

to forget.

And before you know it,

you forgot why

you're here.

You're just doing life,

following the routine,

and there's no love.

Remember

from where

you have fallen.

Actually,

in the book of Ephesians,

Paul talks about this too.

So he says,

hey,

I've heard about your love

to all the saints.

Chapter 2,

and then he says,

remember

that you were

at that time

separated from Christ,

alienated from the

commonwealth of Israel,

estranged to the

covenant of promise,

having no hope,

and without God

in the world.

Hey,

church in Ephesus,

remember that you

were once like this too,

that you were once lost.

And you have to keep

that front and center

because somewhere

along the line,

you get married

to the church,

you start doing

Jesus stuff,

you start doing

Bible studies,

you start doing

BSF,

you start doing

all these things,

and you forget

that actually

the original reason

why you came

in the first place.

so he says,

remember.

Whatever you need

to do to remember,

you need to remember

from where you

have fallen.

Because the more

you do church,

the more you forget

what it was like

to have no hope.

The more you forget

what it's like,

actually,

to not have a God

that you trust

despite anything

and everything.

do you know

what happens then?

When you forget

what it's like

to have no God,

you then start

becoming judgmental

to people.

When you forget

that you were

once drowning,

then you start

looking at people

who are drowning

and go,

I'm way better

than them.

They're so stupid.

Why would you do that?

That's such a stupid

life decision

until we remember

that,

oh,

I was there.

I literally did

just that.

Remember

from where you

have fallen.

And then he says

repent.

Repent.

Literally do a 180

and turn.

Do a 180

right now

before it's too late.

Repent

and start doing

the things

that you did

at first.

So for relationships

as couples,

start calling

each other again,

saying goodnight

to each other

just before you sleep.

You don't do that anymore,

do that again.

Start praying

with each other

like you did

at the beginning.

Go out

and buy

those matching

t-shirts again.

Do whatever

you need to do.

Do those works

that you did

at first,

not the works

that you're doing

right now

that you've been

caught up in.

Do the ones

that you did

at the very beginning.

If not,

if not,

I will come

and I will remove

your lampstand

from its place.

Can you believe

that?

This church

that is an A-star

church,

it has the works,

it has the resilience,

it has the toil,

it has the patient endurance,

it has the commitment

to the truth.

Jesus says,

if you don't

rediscover

your first love,

I will shut you down.

Completely.

Surely you're like,

wait,

well it's a good church,

it's doing good stuff.

Maybe the heart

isn't right,

maybe the intentions

were forgotten,

but it's doing good stuff.

We're teaching people

good, healthy,

sound doctrine.

We are serving

the poor.

Surely you still

want to keep us around.

No,

he says,

if you don't have

love,

I will remove you

from your lampstand.

This tells me

a couple of things.

This tells me

God doesn't really

need us

to do anything.

It's about our heart.

And our work for God

needs to be driven

by our love for God.

End of story.

Our work for God

has to be driven

by our love for God,

otherwise he does

not need us.

What's the most

famous chapter

in the Bible

about love?

1 Corinthians,

1 Corinthians 13.

Read our weddings,

right?

Love is patient,

love is kind,

all these things.

Of course,

at the beginning

of 1 Corinthians 13,

he's saying,

hey,

if you don't have love,

you can be amazing.

You can be the most

incredible musician.

You can be,

you can know

all of your scripture.

You can be the best teacher,

but if you don't have love,

you are 80%

of your functioning capacity.

No.

You are 40%.

No.

You are nothing.

Nothing?

Like,

all the good stuff

that I'm doing

wiped out,

nothing?

That's pretty harsh.

Until we realize

why we do

all that we do.

When we forget

love,

none of it matters.

It's a loud gong.

And if we don't have it,

he'd rather shut us down.

That's the thing

that scares me the most

because that means

on the outside,

we can be doing

everything right.

Jesus talks about that,

right?

You worship me

with your lips,

but your hearts

are far from me.

Our outside

may be complete.

You may tick every box

as a good Christian,

but if you don't have love,

you better remember

from where you've fallen,

and you better

turn around 180

and go back to doing

one of the things

that you did at first.

It's that important.

If not,

I will remove you.

But then he does say

something.

He says,

yeah,

this you have.

You hate the works

of the Nicolaitans.

Nicolaitans were a group

of people

who had basically

made arrangements

and compromised

with pagan society

to saying,

hey,

we're the Jesus people.

We're still

into all of that,

but our spiritual liberty

gives us a liberty

to do everything else

as well,

so we can still

do all the things

for pleasure.

That's that group

of people.

They're saying,

hey,

yeah,

I believe in God,

but I'm still going

to enjoy everything

about life here

on earth as well.

I believe in heaven,

but I actually really

just want all the

pleasures here.

That's that group.

And Jesus says,

no.

You know what

that group did?

That group started

flirting with other things.

They had a first love.

When you first meet

your girlfriend,

boyfriend,

spouse,

you can see nothing else.

You are just looking

at them.

There is no other person

in the room.

Even if it's a room

full of people

in the side of your mind,

you can still see

that person

because everything

is about that person.

But what God's saying here

is what Jesus is saying here.

But you've taken

your eyes off me.

Some people have taken

their eyes off me

and they've started flirting

with other things.

other people.

But again,

you,

you've stuck to it

but not out of love anymore.

I need you to have

that love for me.

I mean,

the Nicolaitans,

I think we need to heed

that warning too.

Jesus hates the Nicolaitans.

Jesus hates,

doesn't hate the people

but hates those

who have made arrangements,

made compromises

to still enjoy

all the things of life

that don't last.

They started flirting.

Actually,

one of the biggest things

about modern Christianity

is modernity itself.

All the traps of,

all the traps of Babylon,

all the pleasures,

all the riches,

all the luxuries,

all the comforts.

We must not compromise

with those

and we must still maintain

to have that first love.

Do we have that first love?

And then he says,

and he finishes,

he who has an ear,

let him hear what the Spirit

says to the churches.

He's saying,

the Spirit's constantly

going to be talking,

guiding us.

Let us hear,

let us take heed

of what is happening here.

And to the one who conquers,

I will grant to eat

of the tree of life

which is in the paradise

of God.

In the Garden of Eden,

right at the very beginning,

there were two trees,

right?

There's the tree of life

and there's the tree

of knowledge

of good and evil.

Adam and Eve

make the wrong choice.

They say,

God, we don't trust you completely.

We don't think you have

what's best in mind for us,

so we're going to

choose this tree.

But he says,

to the one who conquers here,

to the one who keeps

his mind focused

on the first love,

I will grant you

to eat of the tree of life

which is in the paradise

of God.

To the one who conquers.

The question is,

how do you conquer

in this day and age?

Again,

it's the same answer.

It's the only answer.

Love.

But love is a hard thing

to kind of grasp, right?

We know we should love.

Actually,

there might be some of you

thinking,

you know what,

I don't think I've ever

had that first experience

of love with Jesus.

What do I do?

I don't know

if I've ever loved Jesus.

Maybe not even the way

that the church in Ephesus

did.

Or the way that you,

some people that I see do.

How do I love?

It's really hard to love.

I'll tell you,

you're not alone.

I have that too.

Actually,

my prayer isn't,

God,

I love you so much.

God is,

God,

I want to love you.

And I want to love you

and only you.

Help me love you.

Show me what that means.

Yesterday,

I was in 1 John

and I was reminded,

actually,

this is love.

If you go to 1 John

1 John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3,

if you're asking yourself,

I want to know this love.

I don't know if I've abandoned it

but I don't think

I ever even had it.

By this,

1 John chapter 3,

1 John 3:16

verse 16,

by this we know love,

that he laid down

his life for us

and we ought to lay down

our lives

for the brothers.

When we're talking

about love itself,

when we want to love others,

we must first understand

that it is because

God loved us.

That's how it happens.

It's not the other way around.

You don't try

and conjure up love.

But the moment

you realize

how much you are loved,

then it's automatic.

Then it's the only

natural response.

Chapter 4,

verse 8,

says this,

anyone who does not love

does not know God

because God is love.

In this love,

in this love of God

was made manifest among us

that God sent

his only son

into the world

so that we might

live through him.

In this is love.

Not that we have loved God,

but that he loved us

and sent his son

to be the propitiation

for our sins.

He paid for the cost

of our sins.

Verse 10 again,

in this is love,

not that we have loved God,

but that he loved us

and sent his son.

Do you understand that?

If you are struggling

with love,

that's the point

that you just cling on to.

Lord,

I want to know your love.

At the beginning

of chapter 3,

it says,

how deep the Father's love.

That's the song

that we sing.

Until we really understand

how much we are loved,

it is going to be

very hard to love.

Does that make sense?

So if you're with me

going,

oh,

I don't know.

I don't know how,

I don't know whether

I'm loving God.

I don't know whether

I've abandoned.

Just go back to him.

Go back to what he did

for you.

How great his love

is for you.

That's it.

I think if you were

to sum up this whole book,

if you say,

God,

I have a short

attention span.

Can you sum up

what this whole book

is about,

open up the skies

right now

and tell me,

just sum this up for me.

He'll say,

you are loved.

You are loved.

And that's the secret

to remembering

that first love

is that when you

recognize,

when you remember

that you are

loved,

I don't know,

there might be

some people here

we actually need

to repeat that

to ourselves

constantly

because we've never

truly understood

what love is.

Forget the love

of the Heavenly Father.

I've not experienced

the love from

an earthly father.

Forget loving

the saints

and other people

in my church.

I've never experienced

any love

myself or my friends.

The only way

you know how to love

is if you experience

love first.

And that's my prayer.

That's why we gather.

It's because we hope

to have a space,

a platform

where we can practice

that love,

where we can remind

each other

of the love

that God has for us.

That's why we gather.

That's why we're here

because ultimately

Jesus is the tree of life.

So the one who conquers,

how can you conquer?

Through love.

And who did it?

The one who laid

his life down.

First.

I prayed that,

I mean,

I'm not saying

anything new.

Most of you have heard

this time and time again.

But for most of us,

it often just sticks

in our brain

and never drops

into our hearts.

But there's a moment

in the Christian faith,

in the walk with God,

where that knowledge

drops in

and you suddenly

feel the love.

And that's what

drives you to love.

Because one thing

is for sure,

you can run

all the programs

you like

and it won't

have any purpose

in the kingdom of God

unless you have love.

Some people say,

oh, I do all these things

because I love people

and I'll say,

that's not enough.

Don't just do stuff

because you love people.

Because why?

At some point,

they're going to annoy you.

At some point,

they're going to let you down.

And once they let you down,

you stop loving them.

You only do it

because of your love for God.

I'm here doing this.

Joe's here doing this.

Christina's here doing this.

Not necessarily because

we love you guys,

which we do,

but it's because

we love him first.

My eyes are on him.

And why is my eye on him?

Because he gave his son

to die for me.

When you do stuff

out of your love for God,

then you can never

be disappointed.

Because it's not...

It's not mine anyway.

The question then becomes,

how much do we love God?

Because when we do love God,

then we do love other people.

1 John keeps talking about this.

If you love God,

you love other people.

That's the summary

of the whole book, right?

Love God with all your heart,

soul, mind, and strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

The moment you start struggling

to love your neighbors,

which is what the church

in Ephesus is guilty of,

it means you've

stopped loving God.

And it's a very easy way

to measure this.

How quickly do you

get annoyed at people?

When someone does something

that you don't like,

when someone acts in a way

that you don't approve of,

very quickly,

your heart will show you

whether you love

that person or not,

which then very quickly

will indicate to you

how your love for God is.

And we should be wise

to heed the words

that Jesus says

to the church in Ephesus.

You have abandoned

your first love.

But when you love God,

even when people

are still figuring

themselves out,

even when people

are still making

all the dumbest mistakes,

you still have love

for them.

Because you remember

what God did for them,

because you remember

how much God loves them,

because you remember

that you were once

in that place too,

but you were saved by God.

And it allows you

to love that person.

So maybe just a final challenge

to us.

Your love for God.

How would you describe

it right now?

Is it as bad as what

the church in Ephesus

have done?

They've abandoned it?

They've so caught up