The passion deficient church: Ephesus:
Summary: This church is on God’s side, but lacks His heart.
““To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands: “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place—unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” Revelation 2:1-6 NKJV: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give him to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
General interpretation: This seems to be a works-based church, working hard and sincerely for the kingdom of God. This church type may be found among many of our current western denominations. In these denominations the fleshly temptation to measure ourselves by our works (and our doctrine) has become primary. Whether we look at western Protestant, Pentecostal or seventh day Adventist congregations, no denomination is exempt. We try being Christians in our own strength and intellect because our culture has taught us, from a young age, to work hard and achieve progress by exerting ourselves. This seems so honorable. However, if we do achieve success we tend to feel smug and judge those who don’t live by the same values. We also start comparing ourselves to others who have more or achieved more, and either glorify them (sport stars, super theologians, intellectuals or scientists) or envy them (Successful community ‘neighbors’).
The problem that develops is that our primary focus is drawn towards ourselves, the concerns of humanity, our self-preservation, our assets, progress and protection. These are the concerns of our sinful fleshly nature, and it inevitably draws us away from God. When living by the flesh we can easily buy into the socialist humanistic mindset. Man becomes the saviour. We save the earth, the poor, the refugees, ourselves. Man becomes God.
Jesus’ antidote is to humble ourselves and allow God to revitalize our hearts. Paul encourages us to live by the Spirit, not the flesh. (Rom 8) “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Romans 8:13-14 NKJV
If we do not apply Jesus’ principle of humbling ourselves, by taking the timber out of our own eyes first, the inevitable result is that we will tend to judge the obvious sin in others. The sinful world becomes the ‘opposition’ is put in a box and labelled “dangerous”. We consider the ‘works’ of these ‘opponents of the gospel’ as openly sinful and we feel shocked at their words, lifestyle and actions. (eg the LGBT community)
We develop a ‘threat’ mentality and become insecure around these people. Hence we judge them by their sin and even pray for them to see the error of their ways. However, this judgement on them prevents us from engaging with them in order to win them over. In fact, if we self-righteously warn them of their sin we do the opposite, we drive them away from God…..
A loveless response.
Am I too on God’s side, but lacking His heart? Do I really want to engage with the lost? Will I seek out one person with God’s help and intercede for him/her?
If you have done so halfheartedly, you’re like me. I’m in need to revitalize my love for Him. Once I rediscover my passion for Jesus and his ways, my capacity for love will grow. We become partners. We have an exciting relationship. I’ll start asking Him before I make my decisions; ask Him how I should spend my weekend, my lunchtime break, my holiday. He loves to help me, guide me, and share the pleasure of victory. He wants my life, and He wants all of it. Why? Because He knows He can manage it much better than we can. And it is so much more exciting to see how situations turn for the better once we surrender them. Jesus loves to surprise us. He loves to stretch us from time to time and then see us grow. He loves to see us build his kingdom by engaging with others. And it is not as difficult as we think, if we avoid doing so in our own strength.
We’ll win them over, by Gods intervention through us, while we calmly engage with them. We could learn to resist the temptation to judge them or use our debating skills on them. When we abandon all control we’ll see the miracles happen.
End-time interpretation: In preparation for the end-time persecution, to help us be overcomers, we will need to develop a deep passion for our Saviour. In this letter, the primary message is that our passion for Jesus is vital. Jesus encourages us to renew our love for Him to help us to remain standing during the coming end-time persecution. How do we do this? How do we revitalize our love? God will show you. Firstly to imbibe, devour, ‘eat’ the bible passages referring to the coming splendour. Become passionate in worship. Envisage the splendour of Jerusalem. Our king Jesus reigning over the whole earth. All the nations submitting to Him, coming up for worship in Jerusalem in a continuous stream. Us, working with Him, seeing His projects succeed, the world in harmony. Dream, speculate, imagine. Imagine all the people,… Yes, Imagine. Imagine what could be and what will be. It’s the world that John Lennon’s sang of, the song is so haunting because every heart so desperately longs for it. Longs for that elusive deep love, for that relaxed peace and the world in harmony. That song was prophetic, even if John Lennon didn’t know it, even if he imagined it in an atheistic way, without God. It will be fulfilled when the entire world has a Ruler who cares, who looks for their best interests and in whom they can fully trust.
Secondly, we revitalize our love and strength by remembering. Remember the miracles God has done in your life. Remember what he has done for your close ones. Share these testimonies with others. Listen to their testimonies in return. There is great strength to be obtained to marvel at the greatness of God. Verse 4 asks us to remember our first love. Our first times of intimacy with God, whenever that has been. Our first time we felt that desire and passion to follow God.
Remember.