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4th November 2007 AM
Please note, Pastor Colin has included some photos which were shown during the Sermon. These photos appear at the end of the text below.
RETURN TO YOUR FIRST LOVE ! Pastor Colin Meadows
Revelation 2:1-7, Jeremiah 2:1-7, 13
Ø When first love fails! When someone is truly in love, it is an amazing sight. They seem to be floating about in their own world, apparently cut off from reality. I enjoy officiating at weddings and being near the happy couple on the stage. They appear to be in a world of their own, oblivious to the presence of others around them. I don’t think they even notice me or listen much to what is said. They are lost in their first love!
But sometimes this first love fades away. It turns in a different direction and in the midst of much pain people go their separate ways. I looked on the net for what to do if your first love doesn’t work out:
1. Cut off all communication with your ex.
2. Spent time with others, your family and friends.
3. Its OK to cry as that will help you get rid of the pain.
4. Fill up your MP3 player with really sad love songs – that will help you realize that there are people more miserable in the world than you!
5. Avoid doing things and going places that remind you of your ex.
6. Don’t try to make contact with you ex. It will only lead to further pain.
That is how it is suggested you get over the pain of losing your first love. Today we will look at a church that had lost its first love, of how its love for Jesus had grown cold. As we do that we will seek to learn from their experiences. Firstly, a look at an ancient city.
Ø A visit to Ancient Ephesus! In chapters two and three of Revelation, seven churches are highlighted. At that time, there were dozens of churches scattered about the region but Jesus deliberately chose just seven here. They form an arc and a messenger would have travelled from one to the next, delivering the messages.
Some people suggest that these seven churches reflected the seven key problems that churches would face down through the ages. Other people say that these seven churches refer to seven different periods of church history and that we are now probably in the time period of the seventh church.
These seven churches were to be lamp stands or light bearers of the truth of God to the world. They were not the light itself but they were to be vessels for the light to shine out. Christ himself is the light of the world and it is he we should be presenting to our world.
Ephesus was the most important and influential city in the whole area, a place with colonnaded streets, large bathing complexes and a magnificent library. We visited this ancient site in southwest Turkey earlier this year and I was fascinated with what we saw – the ruins of the temple of Hadrian, the fountain of Trajan, the Senate House and a large amphitheatre, along with numerous other ruins.
The huge temple of Artemis lay to the north of the city. Overlaying all that took place in the region was the worship of the goddess Artemis, the goddess of love and fertility. This was the Greek name for the Roman goddess Diana where temple worship included temple priestesses as prostitutes.
This huge temple built for worship of the goddess – begun in 334BC it was finally completed in 250BC it was one of the seven wonders of the world. Philon of Bysantium noted at the time that ‘all the other wonders of the world were put in the shade by this temple.’ Consisting of 127 columns some 20 metres in height, the building was 105 metres long and 55 metres wide. The temple was finally destroyed in 401AD and some of its columns are now in the Sophia Hagia Church in Istanbul. The Apostle Paul spent two years in ministry in the city, as we find recorded in Acts 19.
The believers in the church at Ephesus have much to teach us about the life of faith.
Ø They started their journey of faith well!
The church at Ephesus started so well, strong and on fire.
Rev 2:2-3 “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.”
Those early believers did it tough but they persevered. They didn’t run from the fight. They faced daily persecutions and hardships. In particular they fought against the teaching of wicked people, including the Nicolaitans.
Rev 2:6 “But you have this in your favour; You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”
It is thought that the Nicolaitans took part in acts of immorality in the temple worship of Artemis. They felt that they had the freedom to live as they pleased, especially in the area of sexual excess. Thus they revelled in the temple worship of Artemis and blended that with their own strange brand of religious faith. The Christians at Ephesus totally rejected this teaching and were willing to stand out from those around them.
We too today should do the same. We are being swamped in our society with every form of pornography and sexual perversion. Let us be firm in seeking to protect the sanctity of sexual love within marriage, to honor each other as people created in the image and likeness of God. Yes the Christians at Ephesus started so well. But they did not continue well!
Ø They had lost their first love! After such a great start on the journey of faith, they had drifted from their moorings.
Rev 2:4 “Yet I hold this against you; You have forsaken your first love.”
They had walked away from a close relationship with Christ. As the Bride of Christ, then had turned their back on their bridegroom. It is hard to know why this happened. Perhaps they had grown weary from the daily struggle of faith, of the constant abuse and opposition. Perhaps they felt that they no longer needed Christ in their lives, that they were self-sufficient and could get by on their own, that they were now in control. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of losing one’s first love.
Jeremiah 2:2 “I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert.”
We too in these days can drift from our moorings and go out alone. Perhaps it is unintentional at first but slowly over time we drift off by ourselves. Christ becomes distant, somewhere in the background as a shadowy figure. As the bumper sticker says it so well ‘If you feel far from God, guess who has moved!” What should we do when we sense this has happened?
Ø Remember, repent and return! When we have drifted from our moorings and left the place of close fellowship with God, there is just one sensible course of action. Remember, repent and return!
Rev 2:5 “Remember the height from which 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.”
Where are you with Jesus today? Do you feel distant, having drifted from your moorings? Do you find coming to church a total bore, something that you endure. Do you find meeting with other Christians is a struggle? If so it is possible you have drifted and need to remember your first love. Remember all that God has done for you in Christ Jesus. Remember what Jesus did on the cross, of how he gave his life for you. Stop complaining and remember!
As you remember, you will then want to repent of the way you have been living, to change the direction of your life. This is what it means to repent – to do a 180 degree turn, to stop going your own way and begin to go the way God wants you to go. Then you will be on the journey of returning to your first love, of drawing near to Christ.
Earlier we learnt about how to get over a relationship that had ended. Here we want to restore the most vital relationship we will ever have in life:
1. Return to your first love, to the Lord Jesus!
2. Spend quality time with Jesus, listening and learning.
3. Go places with Jesus – especially to church!
4. Commit yourself to stay with Jesus, no matter what.
5. Sing songs and read God’s Word that tells of Jesus.
Where are you in your relationship with Christ? I love the story of Simon Peter in John’s gospel when things became tough and many of Jesus’ followers were wandering off.
John 6:66-69 “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’”
Let us be like Peter and continue on the journey with Christ! The Holy Spirit will each day enable us to live in a way that honors God as we walk with Christ. Yes, let us remember our first love!
