Check Up On Your First Love

Transcript

GRM 1155
04/17/2016
Check Up on Your First Love
Revelation 2:1-7
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention to Revelation 2 for our study today, Revelation 2. We've been looking at a number of the psalms; I thought we would take a little change of pace and look at the first letter that Christ addressed to the churches in Revelation 2. Remember in the book of Revelation chapter 1 opens up with John having this magnificent, overwhelming vision of the resurrected, glorified Christ. He had seen Christ after His resurrection from the dead. During that 40-day period following His resurrection Christ had ministered at different times to His disciples and then in Acts 1 He ascended to the Father. And now we have a revelation given to John of Christ in something of the fullness of resurrected and ascended glory. And verses 12ff, really 12-16 give you something of the content of that vision, and we are not going to go through the details of that. But this forms the background for what will be unfolded in the book of Revelation. You see something of the awesome, sovereign power and glory of Christ having accomplished the work of redemption. And He is revealed as the One who will bring judgment as a result of His perfect discernment, first upon believers and then upon unbelievers in an unbelieving world.

And in Revelation 1:12 John heard this loud voice as a rumbling thunder and he turned to see the voice, and he “saw seven golden lampstands and in the middle of the lampstands there was One standing like the Son of Man.” And then this description of Him, and we've worked through the details in other studies we have done. We are told in verse 16 that “He had in His hand seven stars and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.” And two points I want you to note here, the first is in verse 12, the seven golden lampstands, and in verse 13 Christ is in the middle of those lampstands. And then in verse 16 He holds in His right hand seven stars. And those two points in the vision are explained for us in verse 20, “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” Now there we are told what these two pictures represent—the seven stars represent the seven angels of the seven churches.

So Revelation 2:1 starts out, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write.” Now it is possible this would be spiritual angels as we think of them that serve in the presence of God. But that's not likely at this point in Revelation. For one reason these angels are in the hand of Christ. Secondly they are connected to the seven churches and each of the letters is addressed to one of the angels. There would be no point in Christ writing a letter to a spiritual angel, that would be one that serves in the glory of His presence. The Greek word of angel, angelos, simply means a messenger. And so I think what he is talking about here are the spiritual messengers of the churches, perhaps a leader from each of the churches who has come to visit with John and will take this letter back to each of their churches, each of the letters. It seems to be the context in which he is writing. The fact that the seven messengers are in His hand show His sovereignty over them, their security in His care. In the gospel of John Jesus referred to the fact that no one can pluck His children out of His hand, they are safe and secure. He is sovereign over them.

The lampstands, and you are familiar with the menorah, that seven-branched candlestick. It was part of the tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament. In Leviticus 24 it was the priests' job to go and keep that candlestick burning. He would have trimmed the wick, make sure the oil is full and so on. Each of those at the top of the candlestick branch, there would have been a holder, cup, filled with oil and you have the wick in it. Naturally that had to be cared for to keep it burning. The churches are represented as a lampstand. There are seven lampstands because He is going to address seven churches. A reminder, these lampstands are as lights that have now been placed.

This first letter is written to the church at Ephesus and just a summary of the city of Ephesus at that time. Again, we're not going to go into great detail. It was a great commercial city. It is in Asia Minor, all seven of these churches are in Asia Minor, part of what we might see as southern Turkey, in that region. It was a very important political city at the time. Obviously the Romans ruled the world but Ephesus was what was known as a free city. In other words it had the right of self-government, didn't have direct Roman involvement in the city. Roman soldiers weren't permanently stationed in the city of Ephesus. So it was held as an honor and the city would be careful to not do anything that would bring the Romans into more involvement. The Romans were happy with that arrangement as long as the city of Ephesus conducted itself in a way that was supportive of the Roman authority and didn't cause any trouble.

It was a center of some major games—the Paneonian Games. Now we are not as familiar with those as the Olympic Games that go back to Greece. But these games were on that level, held here in Asia Minor. So it drew people for these kinds of events to the city. It was of great religious importance because here was the center of the worship of Diana, also known as Artemis. There was a great temple there, it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Magnificent structure. There were 127 large columns, each one had been the gift of a different king. So it was a center of worship that spread widely.
Interested, I was looking on my bookshelf where I have some old books and there is a statue of a bust, the head of a woman. Underneath of it, engraved, is Artemis. I don't worship that statue, it is just there because of what it represents historically. And a reminder of passages like this.

It was a vile religion, part of the worship involved immoral practices and so on. Around the temple there was a 200-yard radius, and it was a free zone. And what this entailed was anybody who had committed a crime, if they fled and made it to that region before they were caught, that area around the temple, they were immune from prosecution. So you could imagine this became a magnet for the lowest kind of people who had committed a variety of crimes and looking to escape the consequences of their crime. That would bring them to Ephesus and the temple of Diana.

It was a center of superstition. One writer, writing of the time said, so into Ephesus there poured a stream of criminals of every kind—fugitives from the law, escapers and avoiders of justice. And into Ephesus there flowed a torrent of credulous, superstitious people, for in a superstitious world, Ephesus was well nigh the most superstitious city in the world. The character of the people of Ephesus was notoriously bad. The people had the reputation all over Asia of being fickle, superstitious and immoral.

This is a reminder because we often get taken up and think of how bad things are in our world today, and we look at our country and we think we are going downhill. We are reminded, the world has always been an evil place. And I'm sure if the Apostle Paul who had spent extensive time in the city of Ephesus, in fact more time there than is recorded in any other city, three years, he would come to our city and say this is pretty good. A lot of open freedom here for the Gospel, and that would be true of our country. And yet into the center of this superstitious false worship, crime-ridden place there is a candlestick planted by God's grace, the church at Ephesus, to give off the light of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus to that needy part of the world.

Paul first visited here on his second missionary journey in about 52 A.D. That's when the church would have been planted. It wasn't a long visit. He left, Priscilla and Aquilla, stayed and ministered, Apollos shows up and has a ministry there. That's in Acts 18. In Acts 19 Paul revisits the city on his third missionary journey and spends three years there. And the church flourishes, but so does the opposition. Remember it builds to the point that rumors and lies spread through the city and pretty soon people pour into the stadium and for two hours they do nothing but cry, “great is Diana of the Ephesians. Or great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” And Paul eventually has to leave the city. Passing nearby, he will stop at the port there near Ephesus and call for the elders of the church in Acts 20, and warn them that false teachers and false apostles will arise from within the church and attempt to turn the church away from faithfulness of devotion to Christ. And they are responsible to shepherd the church and keep it on track, to defend it and protect it, because it is the church which God purchased with His own blood. It belongs to Him.

Later Paul writes a letter to this church, this will be about ten years later—61 or 62 A.D. He writes the letter to the church at Ephesus. So it is founded in 52 A.D. and nine or ten years later he writes the letter we have in our New Testament as the letter to the church at Ephesus. And now somewhere in the middle 90s, in 95 or 96 A.D., in there, John will write under the direction of the Spirit of God what we have as our book of Revelation. So if you just think the church was founded about 52 A.D., we are 40-some years beyond that when we have this letter to the church by Christ. So about a generation has passed, we think of a generation as 40 years. During that time the church has done well, but not well enough.

So Christ is going to address this church first and He'll move along and address each of the seven churches. And He'll give commendations, condemnations; things that He approves of, things that have to be corrected. These are written, these letters are written to seven historical churches of the time, the church that historically at this time in 95 A.D. existed in the city of Ephesus. But it's with a view for us down to our day. And the letter will conclude as the other letters do with, “He who has an ear to hear,” he who hears and listens and understands this message. So it includes all even though it is addressed.

So the seven churches are brought together because they represent the churches as they exist down to today. You could find these kinds of churches present today. These seven churches are taken to be representative of the churches that will exist right down to our day. We can find ourselves here.

So I want to look with you at what he says, just in an overview fashion to the church at Ephesus. It begins, “To the angel,” or messenger, “of the church in Ephesus write.” Now he picks up from the vision in chapter 1, “the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand.” That was in Revelation 1:16. “The One who walks among the seven golden candlesticks,” that was in Revelation 1:12-13. So here is the One with sovereignty over the church that holds the power over these messengers and leaders and the message that will be conveyed. And He is walking among the candlesticks. These churches are arranged in somewhat of an irregular circle, some say it was the postal route of the time so each of these letters would be delivered on the postal route. But Christ is pictured as moving among these churches so He has firsthand knowledge and observation of the condition of each candlestick. Is it burning as it should? Are there changes and adjustments that need to be made? That comes to His commendations and His corrections.

He is the High Priest, He is the head of the church. He is the One whose opinion matters. So as we look at this we want to see ourselves and our church in light of where we are, true in each of these letters.

He starts out, “I know,” I know, I know. Not like Paul sometimes had to come out, I have heard from so-and-so. Remember He is the One walking among the candlesticks, He is observing with His eyes which are like a flame of fire who sees clearly everything as it truly is. “I know your deeds, your toil, your perseverance, that you cannot tolerate evil men. You put to the test those who call themselves apostles, they are not, you found them to be false. You have perseverance, have endured for My name's sake, have not grown weary.” This is a church that has commendable characteristics. “I know your deeds,” works. Understand, you are not saved by works but we as God's people are to be about God's work, His business. We are His slaves, we have not been saved to be idle. The church is just not a comfortable resting place, it is to be about the Master's work. “I know your works,” that's good, “your toil.” This carries it a step further, this is work that is not just work that gets done; this is work that takes energy. This word translated toil denotes work that is exhausting, that is draining. They were serious in the work they did for the Lord, they didn't just do it superficially with a little bit to get by. They did pour themselves into it, it was toil. Just because the power and enablement come from the Spirit doesn't mean the work of the Lord is easy. It is draining, there is no easy way to go about His work.

It involves perseverance, this becomes a repeated emphasis in this letter. “I know your perseverance,” they have endured through the toil, through the conflict. This word perseverance is a word that really is just combined of two words—to live under. You are living under pressure, under difficulty, under trial. Persevere. Your margin probably says steadfast. They stay with it. Obviously the pressure you are under makes it more trying, takes more effort and energy. But they are about the work of the Lord with diligence, steadfastness. They are doing hard work, it becomes toil for the Lord. And this involves you cannot tolerate evil people, evil men. Again it's a reminder that faithfulness is not easy. Sometimes the church is accused of being intolerant and if it is going to be faithful to Christ, it must be intolerant. Some people accuse the church, well, those people are intolerant. Everybody is intolerant. The next time somebody says I think you are intolerant as a Christian or your church is intolerant tell them I think you are intolerant, too. Are you tolerant of child molesters? Are you tolerant of murderers? Are you tolerant? Well, no, everybody is intolerant of that. Well, I may not be tolerant of everything and intolerant of everything on the basis of what people say, but I want to be tolerant of what God is tolerant about and intolerant of what He is not tolerant of.

Christ commends them, “You cannot tolerate evil men.” And here you have example—“you put to the test those who call themselves apostles. They are not, you have found them to be false.” In Acts 20 when Paul met with the Ephesian elders he told them, be on guard for yourselves and for all the church in which the Holy Spirit has made your overseers. And watch out for those false teachers who will infiltrate it with false doctrine and false practices, trying to corrupt the church. You protect the church from that. And this church has stood with its leaders and has been faithful. This idea that if we are tolerant we are open, we don't want to be viewed as judgmental. The Judge of the church has spoken. This is His church, He purchased with His death on the cross, He is sovereign over it, He tells us what is allowed and what is not allowed. He is commending this church for their deeds, their toil, their perseverance, their unwillingness to put up with false teaching and doctrine. You put them to the test, you evaluate them. 1 John 4, John writes to believers and says that they are to “test the spirits” for many false teachers and false prophets have gone off into the world and are infiltrating the churches, really. Believers are constantly being bombarded with error and false teaching; the church is constantly being infiltrated so that the devil from within can corrupt it. We cannot tolerate it. In that sense we are narrow. We want to be commended by Him.

So he summarizes in verse 3, “You have perseverance.” He comes back to that word that was used in verse 2, “I know your deeds, your toil and perseverance.” I know you have perseverance and have endured. That's the same basic word, you have a verb form here, but you had it back in verse 2, “You cannot tolerate evil men.” You have endured, you have kept at it, you stayed the course, you wouldn't put up with those who would lead you off the course, the right road. You have had perseverance. It takes perseverance, steadfastness, willingness to deal with what has to be dealt with to be faithful. We want to be commended by Christ. Some day we will stand and give an account. I take it individually and as a church because Paul says our leaders in the church will give an account of how the people have responded to their leadership. We want to be sure we are doing what is commendable. We ought to be careful that our being intolerant is being intolerant of what God says we should not tolerate—not creating our own personal opinions and elevating them to the level of where Christ's evaluation is. That's why we come to the Word and sift it through the Word because the church is the pillar and support of the truth. So that which is contrary to the truth cannot be accepted in God's family, which is to be supporting, defending and promoting the truth.

You have perseverance, steadfastness, you won't put up with error. “For My name's sake.” This is all done because we belong to Christ. All of us have to be careful that our personal opinions don't be elevated to that kind of standard. You have done it for My name's sake, “you have not grown weary.” This is the same basic word as you had for toil up in verse 2. Again we talk about different forms, one may be a noun, one may be a verb but you are dealing with the same basic word. “You have not grown weary.” They have not let the work of the Lord become wearisome.

I've shared with you, many years ago I had a dear couple come to tell me they were leaving Indian Hills. They said there are just so many battles and conflicts, we don't want to be part of it anymore. We want to go someplace where we don't have that. I don't know, this church has been in existence for over 40 years and Christ is commending them for that. We don't want to be a church that just fights over everything, but we do want to be a church that is ready to do battle for truth. Not grow weary in well doing. They didn't wear out, they didn't quit. Christ is encouraging them. They didn't decide that the toil and the energy . . . As I've shared often, I think one of the major strategies of the devil is he wears us out, he wears us down. Pretty soon we are looking for a way to not have to deal with this. Maybe we don't have to deal with it. And that's good. Do we or don't we? And we examine it and we say it's the way we have done it but it's not really biblical, it's not a biblical issue. Then we don't have to deal with it. But we have to be careful that we just don't get weary in the battle because the devil doesn't quit. Doesn't matter this church has been going for over 40 years. The devil still is attacking and seeking to undermine it. It's hard work to maintain purity in doctrine and conduct as God's people. The challenge is never done, won't be done until we are called into glory.

Now it would be nice, not biblically, but for this church if it ended after verse 3. But we have the word but that starts verse 4. It's like your kids bring home their report card and they have done well in all these and they want to highlight that for you. Look what I got in this class, look what I got in this class, look what I got in this class. And you commend them, you did well there. I'm glad, that pleases me that you worked hard in that class. I know that class wasn't easy for you, but you were diligent there. And now they'd like to stop the conversation, but your eyes come to that big, red “F” and all the good marks . . . You know we tell people that are lost, they think God is going to put their good works on the scale on one side and their failures on the other but their good works will outweigh it. We know that's not true for salvation, but that's the way we as Christians sometimes think. Well, I don't serve the Lord perfectly but I think overall I do a better job of faithfulness, and I'm faithful more often than unfaithful. We think that makes it okay. And our church is doing pretty well, and I realize we tolerate some things we shouldn't tolerate that are unbiblical, but overall we do better than most churches do. But do you know what the Head of the church says? That's not good enough.

“But I have this against you.” Now you think about it, you are sitting like we are, we're the church at Ephesus and if this letter has been read to you to this point and you are sort of settled in, getting a smile on your face, feel a little sense of pride and satisfaction rising up. “But I have this against you.” That's like a bombshell. I mean, Jesus Christ, the Lord of the church, the Head of the church, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” That does stand out. For those of you who have been in the Word for some time, if I were going to ask you about the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2, what is the first thing that would come to mind? That's the church that left their first love. Isn't it interesting how that stands out? It's like the red “F” on the report card, it just seems to draw the attention. And it should. You've left your first love. This doesn't mean that from this point on He's negative because He's going to come back and commend them when we are back down in verse 6. So from Christ's perspective this doesn't wipe out everything, but it is so serious it has the danger if not dealt with of requiring Christ to put this church out of business, to remove the candlestick.

We understand and it is our great privilege to belong to Him. You are not your own, “you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body.” This is the church that He purchased with His own blood. He has the right to require and He provides the enablement to live in every area as He commands us to live. So “I have this against you, you have left your first love,” their first love. I take it He is talking about the love they had at the first. Now I know how it is, His church doing a lot of good things and the things they are not doing that they should, they look over because we are doing pretty well overall. We put a plus and minus up, not so we deal with the minuses so much, it's just that we are more comfortable, we have gotten more pluses than minuses. And then what is behind everything. Why are we doing what we are doing? You have left your first love. I take it this is that same flaming passionate, burning love that consumed them at the beginning of their relationship with Christ.

Come back to Deuteronomy 6. God has always required and expected this of His people, whether they were His people in the Old Testament, Israel, or His people in the New Testament, the church. Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” What an honor. The Lord is our God, Israel; the one true and living God is our God. All the other gods and the gods of the other nations, they are nothing. But note the next statement, “You shall love the Lord our God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.” The Lord was never pleased, it was never acceptable to have anything less—all your heart, all your soul, all your might. Well, I love you more than most everything. You note the next statement. “These words which I am commanding you shall be on your hearts” and they shall teach them and put them into practice. Down in verse 17, “You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimony and His statutes,” because that's the manifestation of our love, the demonstration of it. If you say you love someone but you never do that which pleases them, very questionable that there is any reality to that love.

Come over to Jeremiah 2. Moses wrote under the direction of the Spirit of God, Deuteronomy, about 1500 years before Christ; Jeremiah is writing his prophecy about 500 years before Christ. So a thousand years have gone by. Jeremiah 2 begins, “Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem saying, thus says the Lord.” Now listen to what he says. “I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, the love of your betrothals.?” I remember how it was at the beginning, it was like the love between two people engaged, as we often refer to it. Marriage hasn't been finally consummated and brought fruition. It's like a couple in love, what are they thinking about? What would this person . . . Their life gets arranged around this person, their schedule gets arranged, their priorities get arranged. Everything is about this person, what would they like, what would they want me to do, what would please them? They are totally absorbed in this relationship. That's what God expected back in Deuteronomy 6—you love Me with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. Your life is about Me, your thoughts are about Me. How can I please my God? Now in Jeremiah he says I remember what it was like at the beginning of our relationship, but it's not that way now. What has happened? God says to them, I haven't changed. We don't have time to go on here. What did I do that caused your love to cool? I'm the God who has faithfully taken care of you, provided for you, watched over you. Why has your love cooled?

I don't know, you know what time does to relationships. You know how it is, other things come in and I get busy with other things and it just wasn't the same. Do you know what God says? It has to be the same, it's not acceptable. Well, I was a new Christian then, we were a young church then, we poured our life into it. Do you know what God is saying? I don't expect it to be any different forty years, fifty years later. I expect the same passionate, fiery love, completeness of devotion that characterized you at the beginning. I accept nothing else, I deserve the completeness of your love. All of us can say, if you have been a believer for very long you can see how distractions come in, you get turned aside, not always things that in and of themselves are wrong or bad, but because of the impact they have on our lives they are evil for us because they turn us away from that completeness of devotion to Him.

Come over to John 14, same emphasis we had back in Deuteronomy about obeying the Lord and His Word. Jesus says as He prepares to leave His disciples, verse 15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Verse 21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.” Verse 23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word.” Verse 24, “He who does not love Me does not keep My words.” What do you do? Think about it, go back to the days of the beginning in your marriage relationship. Some of you are engaged, we have a number of weddings coming up. Do you know what? These engaged couples, they live in a different world. There are only two people in their world. It's a simple life but we think, are they in for a surprise. And there are surprises. But do you know what the best thing would come? Their attitude and response to each other never changes. That's God's intention on the human level. Sometimes when I've talked to couples I say, go back to the beginning. What was it like then? Oh, a lot of things have happened. Do you know what? You demonstrate your love because the priority that person has in your life. You want to do what pleases them, you carefully avoid what would displease them, make them unhappy. You go out of your way, somehow it is no trouble. You know when I was dating Marilyn I lost my driver's license. I didn't lose it physically, but the judge said I should lose it. Something Marilyn did, I can't remember. Do you know what I did for a year in the winters in the suburbs of Philadelphia? I hitchhiked from New Jersey across the Burlington Brewster Bridge to Pennsylvania. Snowing, trying to get a ride when you are standing up to halfway up your calves in snow and there are only four cars coming by every twenty minutes. I need a ride. My parents, where are you going? I'm going over to see Marilyn. We're having a blizzard, what is wrong with you? You don't have the good sense you were born with. Oh, I'll be fine. Why? Well, you are not realistic in one sense, but that is good, you are devoted to a person.

God says think about when you were saved, all you could think about was the Lord. Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon in the 1880s, I was going to bring the quote to read it to you. He says what happens with time. Now remember, keep in mind this is the 1880s. Well amusements come in, the sermons are too long, the time that the Bible studies and prayer takes is too much. And all these things happen. Nothing has changed. In those days when you were a new Christian, everything gets arranged in your life by “I have to be in the Word.” And time flies, when I've gone to a Bible study I thought we just got started and they are saying we'll pick up. Where did the time go? What happens? It was so fresh and real and alive to me and now I think it just seems, do we have to take so much time in Bible study? I have other things in my life. God said I require that same devotion and passion that consumed you then to consume you now.

Three commands given, come back to Revelation. They are commands, imperatives. Therefore remember, repent, do. “Remember from where you have fallen.” Go back and think of those early days. Like God said through Jeremiah, I remember those early days of our engagement, right after we first established that relationship, which in biblical times was a betrothal. That commitment you had, think back. What was it like in the beginning when you trusted Christ? What consumed you? Your love for the Word, and I can't get enough of it. Now if not with our words, with our actions we say, Lord, I'm a little bit tired of you. I want my own space. It shouldn't be that way. I don't want more space from Marilyn, that's not the way our relationship grows. I'd rather spend more time, the best time is when we go away and it's just the two of us. And it's greater now because the kids are out of the house. She can give me her full attention. That's the way you like it when you love someone, right? You're not looking for, I just want to get away from them. There are people you like to get away from, but they are not the people you love.

So remember from where you have fallen. Repent. You know the trouble is we get comfortable with where we have fallen. We think we have a good balance now. In that early time I was out of balance. No, that was the correct balance. It's just like in a marriage, it's not I don't enjoy my spouse as much as I did. That's not the correct balance, that's having lost the balance. Well I don't see them as the same priority, I'm not as concerned about pleasing . . . You are out of balance.

So repent. See where you have fallen from, from God's perspective and repent. Lord, I realize I have gotten off track, didn't recognize it with the little increments but as I look back I have wandered from the path. I'm not where I need to be. Do the deeds you did at first. I expect that fiery love, that passion of when we entered into our initial relationship together and you were consumed with Me. Everything else didn't matter, nothing else did. I must please Him, I must learn more of Him, I must serve Him. I had a boldness then, I loved to tell people about Christ and what He has done for me. I wasn't afraid of what people think, I wasn't ashamed. They had to know. Is it less wonderful today?

Or else, “or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent.” A church that will not function in a way that magnifies the grace of God demonstrates a people's unshakable, fiery love for the God and the Savior they have is not a church that Christ can use. You understand we just don't balance things. It all has to be the way He says it must be, the way He died to make it be. Yet, let me give you a word, I don't want you to be crushed by this, I want you to make the change. You don't just go sit in a corner and say it is hopeless, I've wasted so much time. What have I done? I should have been doing this. Recognize where you are, recognize where you should be, make the change.

Then He commends them, “This you do have, you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. I hate them, too.” But it's not enough we agree with the Lord on some things, we must agree with Him on everything. That's the beauty of it. It's wonderful, isn't it, being part of His family? There is only one true and living God and He is our God, we belong to Him by His grace and the greatness of His salvation and He wants my complete devotion, the God who needs nothing. He saved me so I could love Him without reservation, devote my life to Him completely.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” You see this message to each church is the message to every church and it continues to down to today. I have been here over 40 years. Are we the same church we were at the beginning? I didn't found the church, but we can look back over a generation. Are we modeling for the generation coming up, and expecting that same kind of devoted commitment? “To him that overcomes I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” We have our eyes set. Ultimately, do you know what? All the struggles, all the battles, we have one consuming passion—we will be faithful to Him who loved us, poured out His blood to redeem us. Some day we will sit in the glorious splendor of a restored, glorified earth. We will partake freely of the tree of life, we will enjoy the presence of God. So whatever it takes, one thing I have is that commitment to be faithful. It is good to run checks on ourselves regularly, not to put us in gloom. But we need a periodic check. Do I still have that same passion? Do I love the Lord with all my heart, all my soul, all my might? So much so that everything He wants me to do must be done. I'm not looking for a way not to do it, I'm looking for a way to do it more completely because the most important thing in my life personally, in your life personally, in our life as a church together that He has put together is to be faithful to Him, pleasing to Him. Are you growing weary? Getting tired? You know you just don't wear out when you are doing it for the person you love. You find there is strength, there is energy, and we have the Spirit of God who provides it. May we be in love with Him, and all we do flow out of that love.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your grace. How awesome it is that You have called us to salvation in Your Son. We have entered into a relationship with You, we have been betrothed to Christ. We would be presented to Him as a pure, spotless bride. What a great privilege to love You with all of our being. May that be true of us individually, may that be true of us as a church. May we be faithful that You might be honored. We pray in Christ's name, amen.