I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, 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.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far 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. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (Revelations 2:2-7)
The church in Ephesus is described as deeds driven. They are eager to serve even the harshest of conditions. They are resilient in hardships, persistent in purpose, precise with the truth and industrious in lifestyle.
This sounds like a church that is really on fire for Christ. The sheer commitment to stay pure, to drive out false teachings, to endure hardships and not to grow weary. How much of these deeds characterize the present-day church? What with high levels of tolerance for immorality in church, advancement of heresy, quick fixes to hardships and constant growing weary until another national prayer is held?
Hang on before you go deep into self-examination mode. You perhaps are already thinking…hmmm, ‘perhaps these are the type to have showed up for midweek prayer meetings, Sunday service, end month watch night, home-based bible study, volunteered their time in the church e.t.c. How much of that level of devotion do I have?’ For all their devotion, commitment, industry and distaste for evil, the church in Ephesus was devoid of the key ingredient in the mix, love.
The famous love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 sensationally gives a hammer blow evaluation to the church in Ephesus. Verse 13, “and now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love”. Faith they had with their unwavering devotion to God, hope they had with the endurance of hardships but the greatest one slipped through their fingers. Love.
Do we have Ephesus type of character today? Folks, let’s not get mixed up here. Church here is not a congregation. The reference is made to the Church (the body of Christ) in Ephesus. That is the same parallel I draw. Consider the early Church in the book of Acts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts (Acts 2:46). The early church devoted themselves to teaching, the fellowshipped together, they did all the things that the church in Ephesus did but they did more, they did had love. They had sincere hearts.
But, they were not faulted for lack of love but misplaced love. Infact, they had tasted the love early on but somehow one thing led to another and they fell asleep on the wheel effectively steering their devotion on a highway leading to a dead end. This was a wakeup call asking them to get back to the FIRST LOVE HIGHWAY that would lead to victory.
Is there misplacement of love? Devoting of time and effort to activity, rituals, events etc. in the name of serving God with no love for those whom these activities are targeted? Without a sinful world, there would have been no virgin birth, no transfiguration, no raising of Lazarus from the dead, no Calvary experience, no rising from the dead and Pentecost experience, no Saul transformation to Paul and the list is endless.
Look at God’s response to sin. He loved His Son. He created the world and everything in it. He could have recreated it again if He wished. An unlovable world was loved by a God who hated sin. He placed love in context. He did not conduct a popular vote, an SMS campaign, an opinion poll or a referendum to determine how many would accept His Son so that He can gauge the viability of His plan before He executed it. His love was unconditional.
Where is that love in the present church? Have we misplaced love and thrown away kindness replacing it with insensitivity? Dumped patience in favor of speed? Lifted envy as a way to benchmark against others? Have we promoted pride in the name of testimony? Dishonored others citing them as prayer items? Advertised self-centeredness as a way to market facilities? Quickly flare up at the slightest provocation?
The truest test of our love for God is not in activity for Him but in interactivity for Him. Let’s re-place first love in the context of our devotion and service.
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