Recently, I heard a sermon on the letter to the church in Ephesus from Revelation.
Revelation 2
1"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: 2I 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. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember 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.
This is probably a familiar passage to most of us. One of the things the speaker mentioned is that the Ephesians had no outward signs of their problem. They probably would have won a church of the year award. God knew their heart. He wasn’t willing to let them continue doing the right things for the wrong reasons. This made me think about my own situation. I live in a Christian family. I work for a Christian ministry. Most of my friends are believers. There are some great reasons for me to act like I love God. If I give up the faith it would hurt my professional and social life. Sadly, if my heart grows cold I would be tempted to not let on. I can not be so busy serving God that I forget about the God I am serving. What good will it do me to win Christian of the year and lose touch with Christ?
I have recently been doing premarital counseling for a couple I will be marrying in the spring. One of the great things about preparing for the session is that I remember going through it with my wife. I remember how we felt about each other. I remember how excited we were to spend time together. Now 7 years later, as our third child is on the way, our relationship is different. We still love being together but now we have to work at it. The affairs of our household can get in the way if we do not carve that time out. Remembering those early days has given me a renewed energy to seek out my wife.
The message to the Ephesians is “Repent and do the things you did at first.” We all need to think back to the times we were closest to God. Maybe it was when we first knew Him. We can never let serving Him get in the way of our relationship with Him. For those of us who work in a ministry we need to serve with Him not just on His behalf. I don’t think that “those things you did at first” refer to service, I think they refer to adoration.
I am trying to remember the height from which I have fallen. What others see is not as important as me seeing Him.
Revelation 2
1"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: 2I 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. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember 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.
This is probably a familiar passage to most of us. One of the things the speaker mentioned is that the Ephesians had no outward signs of their problem. They probably would have won a church of the year award. God knew their heart. He wasn’t willing to let them continue doing the right things for the wrong reasons. This made me think about my own situation. I live in a Christian family. I work for a Christian ministry. Most of my friends are believers. There are some great reasons for me to act like I love God. If I give up the faith it would hurt my professional and social life. Sadly, if my heart grows cold I would be tempted to not let on. I can not be so busy serving God that I forget about the God I am serving. What good will it do me to win Christian of the year and lose touch with Christ?
I have recently been doing premarital counseling for a couple I will be marrying in the spring. One of the great things about preparing for the session is that I remember going through it with my wife. I remember how we felt about each other. I remember how excited we were to spend time together. Now 7 years later, as our third child is on the way, our relationship is different. We still love being together but now we have to work at it. The affairs of our household can get in the way if we do not carve that time out. Remembering those early days has given me a renewed energy to seek out my wife.
The message to the Ephesians is “Repent and do the things you did at first.” We all need to think back to the times we were closest to God. Maybe it was when we first knew Him. We can never let serving Him get in the way of our relationship with Him. For those of us who work in a ministry we need to serve with Him not just on His behalf. I don’t think that “those things you did at first” refer to service, I think they refer to adoration.
I am trying to remember the height from which I have fallen. What others see is not as important as me seeing Him.
Mark Wallace
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