Jesus asks us, Am I your first love?

Hello Church Family:  Let’s start this week with a true or false question.  True or False:  The world is hostile to Christians, their beliefs, their morals, their ethical standards and their worldview?  What do you think?  Hopefully, you answered this question with a resounding, YES!  The Church in Ephesus in the first century was undergoing the same type of persecution but with greater intensity than we are as the church in the 21st century.  Our basic underlying struggle is the same as the Ephesian church.  The world is hostile to the Church and the gospel.  But there is great news!  Jesus does not remain silent as to how we are to overcome this hostility as His Body, the Church.  He actually writes us seven separate letters in Revelation 2-3.  Jesus is always walking amongst His Lampstands, His churches (Revelation 2:1) with encouragement, direction, commendation and correction.  Our Lord patrols the Church's interaction with each other and the world.  He is always present with an intensity and awareness of persecutions, sufferings, thoughts, deeds, activities and worship.  Jesus is never absent.

Jesus commends the Ephesian church for working hard, toiling in labor to exhaustion and being tough in their endurance of constant persecution.  Jesus commends the Ephesian church for their intolerance of false doctrine and false teachers.  Jesus commended the church for their hatred of the culture’s Godless immorality, the culture’s Godless impurity, and the culture’s Godless worldview (Revelation 2:6).  The Ephesian Church was intolerant of false doctrine and they hated immorality and Jesus says in His letter, “Great!  I am intolerant of false doctrine and I hate immorality too!”  Wow, that is not a picture of Jesus that we hear often but that is one of the pictures of Jesus in Revelation chapter 2 and 3.
 
But wait, Jesus also tells the Ephesian church that they are missing something or great importance.  Doctrine and holiness are very important but there is more, Jesus says.  He says, those are not the only things that matter in a church.  Jesus says, the Ephesian Church had lost their first love.  Their heart had grown cold.  Jesus reminds them that doctrinal perfection and holiness are not enough!  Jesus says, you are not loving and treasuring Me, and because you are not loving and treasuring Me, you have also stopped loving and treasuring each other and your neighbors.  Jesus did not see much light coming from their Lampstand.  Jesus was reminding them that I have made you a Lampstand to bear light through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Lampstands are to burn bright on a hill not dimmed by a lack of love.

This was a huge offense to Jesus.  This was such an extreme shortcoming of what He expected from His church that He threatened to remove His Lampstand all together.  Church, we can think right, teach right and do right but unless we shine our love of Jesus Christ with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and then let that love fuel more love for our brothers and sisters in Christ into this dark world, we are not doing what Christ has called us to do.  Our love for Christ is to be our first love, that is the “great and first commandment” (Matthew 22:37-40) and there is a second one like it, love your neighbor as yourself.  That is the first and second purpose of our Lampstand, Grace Community Church of Topsail.  And at the same time, we are to remain steadfast in our intolerance of false teaching and hatred of immorality.  This is our call today!  Love one another and fight for truth and doctrinally purity.  Work hard!  We need all of these not one or the other.  With whom is your love lacking?  With whom have you justified being unloving?  Do you see any fruit from love in your life?  Jesus was and is willing to remove His presence from a body of believers where this lack of love prevails.  Let us remember our first love, repent and return to that love, in Christ (Revelation 2:5-7).

Revelation 2:4-5 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 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.

This Sunday we will be meeting in person at the church building if you would like to join us in person at 10am.  And for those who will be staying at home, we will  be live-streaming on our Grace Community Church Topsail YouTube Channel. Push the blue link.  We can also be found at https://www.gracetopsail.com/

We have been having issues Sunday mornings with our YouTube broadcast due to the overloading of the internet at that time.  We are trying several things that will help remedy the situation.  If you do not get a good broadcast at 10am, please check back later in the day or week for a recorded version.  I am very sorry about this.  

I look forward to worshipping our sovereign God, Jesus Christ with you Sunday. - Steve