GPBC Blog

I went to a family camp this past Labor Day weekend. The speaker, Pastor Matt Holmes, spoke from the book of Ephesians, and his topic was “Back to our First Love”. I found him to be very thought-provoking, and I thought I would share a few of the things he taught us.

Imagine you are attending the First Christian Church of Ephesus in the 90s. Not the 1990s, but the 090s. Here is a city probably second in size and importance in its day, second only to Rome. This church is starting in a time that was not friendly or safe for Christians. Not only did Rome hate and persecute them, so did the Jews. They considered Christians, particularly Gentile Christians, a heresy and a serious threat.

But this church had a very strong foundation. First, they were planted and started by the Apostle Paul, followed by Timothy, and later they were pastored by the last remaining Apostle, John. That’s a pretty incredible line-up, but 40 years after Paul planted the church, Jesus himself had this to say to them as dictated directly to John in exile on the Island of Patmos:

“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…”(Lampstands here represent the different churches.) “…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 hardship for my name, and have not grown weary…”

Sounds pretty good, right! They were doing all the right things. But Jesus, like any good teacher, began by praising their strengths. Then…then He added: “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…” Revelation 2:1-5

Forty years after its birth, this incredibly gifted and strong church gets a slap on the wrist and a severe warning from the Lord. They were doing all the right things, but they had lost their first love, their fire, their enthusiasm, the life within them. If this could happen to this special church started by Paul, nurtured by Timothy, and under the leadership of the last surviving Apostle, John, later, what might the Lord be saying of us? It’s a wake-up call.

Matt went on in his first session to say that the Ephesians did something really weird. He said it several times: “Really weird!” They loved people. In the beginning, when they were walking in their “first love,” they loved people…and one group of people in particular. They loved the Christian church of Jerusalem. And they loved them to the point that they sacrificed dearly to send money to support them.

“Weird?” we ask? What’s so weird about that? Well, it’s not weird to us who live today. We, in our churches now, have 2000 years of Christian values passed down to us, so we send financial help to churches all over the world. In fact, we send financial assistance to all kinds of needs all over the world, not just to other Christians. Even those who are not Christians today give to causes everywhere because of the values that Christ taught and have been passed down to them.

Not so in the Roman-dominated world of the 090s. People didn’t give a thought beyond their own little world within the world. Especially not out of their culture group. But we do today, and Ephesus did then. Why? It was a mystery that was prophesied for centuries. There would come a time when God would bring the “whole world” together. The mystery was how would He do that. And the answer was something Paul, who was in prison for his faith, was truly excited about. The answer was Jesus! Jesus was beginning then, after His return to heaven, after His death and resurrection, to bring the whole world together in and through His love. And Ephesus, in the beginning, got it. They shared generously with Jerusalem.

Why? Why would they go out of their way to help a culture that traditionally hated them? Jews hated Gentiles. The only possible answer is the love of Jesus. They shared the love of Jesus. That doesn’t sound so odd to us today. Even as non-Christians today, we live in a world that has been changed by the love of Jesus. And giving to others springs from that love. Not so then. The difference, the mystery God kept saying in His word, was Jesus.

In looking back through the centuries to the first 90s until the 1990s and beyond, all the things that have benefitted and brought the world together in a positive way, came out of the love of Jesus that began back then: hospitals, schools, even government aid, all sprang from the love of Jesus. His love permeated the world and its way of thinking so much we take for granted its existence. It’s always been there for us. We give, we care because He first gave to us, He first cared for us. But back then, it truly was weird. It truly was a mystery that a group of Gentiles in Ephesus would reach out to and love a group of Jews in Jerusalem. How? Why would they do that? The love of Jesus. Their First Love. The love that Jesus in Revelation 40 years later was exhorting them to return to or He would remove their lampstand.

Just a thought from my side of the question. Is there a lampstand today in Ephesus? In Turkey? Is there even still an Ephesus?

Hmmm…?