Rev 2:1-7 To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.
But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds 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 grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.
My church & pastor have embarked on a study of our Lord’s letters to the seven churches. These letters have always witnessed truth to my soul; I have often pondered them, gleaming much truth from Jesus’ accolades & admonitions to these church bodies. Therefore, I desire to pen a few specific thoughts on each of these letters.
With regards to this first letter to the Ephesus church, it’s clear the apostles’ work there has paid real dividends in terms of doctrine & duty. They received & revered the apostles’ teaching & for some thirty years they have held to most of it firmly.
But somehow in that period they let the most basic truth of the Shema slip away…
Deu 6:4-6 Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
Jesus Himself affirmed this as the “great & foremost commandment” (Matt. 22:38).
Therefore, I desire to cut to the quick in this post and discuss some of my thoughts on the solution to this fundamental problem. Jesus summarizes thusly:
“remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first”
Firstly, how do we “remember from where (we) have fallen”? I believe, as with all spiritual failings, attention to Scripture is required here. As my pastor stated, “Think about where you came from”.
In other words, from whence did that “first love” originate?
The answer comes from the same scribe, John, as the climax of his foremost letter:
1 John 4:7-10 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Here we see that God’s love for us is purely proactive, while our love for God is always & only reactive.
Many Christians, my past self included, have attempted to stir up within themselves a love for God upon considering the warnings of this letter to Ephesus, only to fail unto utter frustration. The problem is such carnal stirrings are an attempt to be proactive in our love for our Lord, when he has clearly shown that He, & He alone is source of our love for Him. We must see our love for Him as only a reactive response to His primary propitiatory love for us.
In such times, we must incline our eyes, ears, thoughts, & words to God’s primary ministerial means of grace: prayer & the study of His Word in order to revert our renewed heart to its first love. Then, & only then, will actual repentance & the works we did at first indeed follow…
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
See, it is only in the process of sourcing Christ’s proactive & propitiatory love toward us that will cause a reactive love in us for Him and His church.
This rightly puts God back on the throne in our hearts, for He is first in everything that is good.
This is so important for to know & remember that John repeats it very succinctly a few verses later in his epistle:
1 John 4:19 We love, because He first loved us.
