Forsaken Love

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 labor and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people, and you have put those who call themselves apostles to the test, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured on account of My name, and have not become 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 I will remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. But you have this, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.’ (Rev. 2:1-7 NASB)

In this message, as well as the others that follow, Jesus instructs John to write to the angel of the church in____.  In this case, the angel of the church in Ephesus.  An angel is a messenger.  Since John is writing letters to angels, then we can reasonably assume that these are not spiritual beings.  Rather, these angels, or messengers would be the overseer, or pastor of each church.

I explained in my introductory post that John uses a basic format for these messages to the churches.  That format, once again, is:

1. Jesus is identified
2. Jesus commends the church
3. Jesus rebukes the church
4. Jesus offers a reward to the “one who overcomes.”

To the Ephesians, John identifies Christ as, “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands”.

In Rev. 1:20, Jesus explains to John what the seven stars and seven lampstands are.  “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”  It is comforting to know that our pastors are held in Jesus’ right hand.  It is further comforting that He walks with us (our churches.)

Christ commends this church because they are hard workers, patient, they cannot tolerate evil, they tested false apostles and proved them wrong, and they had not become weary in their work for the Lord.  There were a lot of things going on at the time of this writing.  The church was suffering persecution.  On top of that, the church had to be mindful of the false teachings that were so prevalent.  However, through it all, this Ephesian church did not grow weary.  They stood up to those who were teaching a false doctrine.  The scripture says that they could not tolerate evil.  Whenever the church starts to tolerate evil, evil people, sin, or whatever, they open the door to allow that evil to penetrate their hearts.

The rebuke that Christ gives is that despite their diligence and hard work, they had left (forsaken, abandoned) their “first love”.  Paul closes his letter to the Ephesians with this statement, “Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph. 6:24 HCSB).  This was the love that they had forsaken.  Different translations of this verse say that this love was sincere, incorruptible, and never ending.

There is no contradiction between the Lord’s commendation and His rebuke.  John says that this church started out as Mary but has turned into Martha (see Luke 10:38-42).  The motives both Mary and Martha are pure.  Mary just wanted to sit in the presence of the Lord, while Martha was busy trying to serve the Lord.  I like the way Luke describes it.  He says that Martha was distracted by much serving.

The Ephesian church started out as Mary.  They were devoted in their love for the Lord.  Somewhere along the way, they became Martha – too distracted in serving the Lord to take time for loving Him and receiving His love.  As a Christian, you need to embody the actions of both Mary and Martha.  You need to sit in the presence of the Lord and yet you must work at serving Him.  However, your service for the Lord needs to constantly remain grounded in your love for Him!

Jesus then tells them how to correct this error, “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.”  (Rev 2:5 ESV)

Three key words from this verse:

1. Remember – To remember their initial response to God’s love. That was to love Him back.  Remembering will show them how far they have drifted and be a call for them to return.
2. Repent – To repent means to change your mind. It is the realization that things are not right and making the decision to turn.
3. Do – After repenting, they are called into action. Once a decision is made to turn (repent) one must carry out that decision and return to the Lord.  When this says, “do the works you did at first,” it is talking about the devotion they had to the Lord.

Christ then warns them what will happen if they do not repent, “I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place”.  To remove the lampstand would simply mean that Christ is no longer walking with them.

Christ then promises the overcomer, “I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (Rev. 2:7b).  Adam and Eve were allowed to eat from the tree of life.  Instead, they chose to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This sin caused them to be banished from the garden.  As a result, we do not have access to the tree of life today.  But Christ promised that the overcomer would be able to eat freely from this tree in paradise with Him.

When Christ makes a promise for the overcomers, the opposite is implied.  If the overcomer gets to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God, then the one who does not overcome (does not conquer, is not victorious) will not eat from the tree. Christ rewards the overcomer, the victorious, and the conqueror.  There is no participation trophy.  Those who choose not to repent do not win.  They will get the opposite of eating from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.

The phrase, “The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” is repeated in each of the messages.  This shows that the messages were not for these churches exclusively.  This is a universal message that stretches across time that applies to us all.

Are you like the church at Ephesus?  Have you become so caught up in working for the Lord that you are neglecting the presence of the Lord?  If so, follow the steps above, Remember your first love, Repent for forsaking Him, and Return to the things you were so inspired to do when you were first saved.