First Love

 

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left [aphiemi – to send away, to dismiss] your first love. Therefore remember [mnemoneuoe – call to mind, bear in mind] from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.'   Revelation 2:1-7

As part of the Revelation God gave to John on the island of Patmos, He addressed seven unique churches that existed at the time, including the church at Ephesus, founded by Paul on his second missionary journey, then pastored by Timothy and later, John. It was from this location that the other six churches were planted. Many of the epistles were written to or about Ephesus, (Ephesians, 1 & 2 Timothy, I, II, & III John, and Revelation) which speaks to its influence and importance in the first century. In Ephesians 1:15-16, Paul writes, For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; This church began as a model church.

Endurance for My Name’s Sake

Many scholars recognize these seven different churches as typical of different churches in each age. In addition, they see these seven churches representing the general spirit of churches in different ages since the institution of the church at Pentecost. The first church is Ephesus, and it represents churches during the apostolic age (1^st and early 2^nd centuries). The seventh of these churches is Laodicea and characterizes churches in current times. With the advent of heresies being introduced in the latter part of the first century, the four gospels and Apostolic letters were circulating among the churches, teaching accurate doctrine. It was important that a church should stand firm on sound teaching to maintain the power and authority of Christ which it represented.

This brings us to the above address in Revelation 2. Jesus identifies in Verses 2 and 3 that they were a church that persevered and did not tolerate evil men, those who represent themselves as prophets, but were rather false teachers. He commends them for having endured for My name's sake and have not grown weary. They remained faithful to this calling, but in Verse 4, they have left [aphiemi – to send away, to dismiss] your first love. This word aphiemi means it is not by accident. What is first love? There is no other place in Scripture that speaks directly to this principle for us, so we must look deeper.

The Zeal of Youth 

1 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, the love of your betrothals, your following after Me in the wilderness, through a land not sown. 3 “Israel was holy to the Lord, the first of His harvest. All who ate of it became guilty; evil came upon them,” declares the Lord.’” 4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord, “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me and walked after emptiness and became empty? 6 “They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of deep darkness, through a land that no one crossed and where no man dwelt?’         Jeremiah 2:1-6 

In the above passage, the Lord exposes to Israel that they had similar troubles to the Ephesus church. In the beginning, they had a fervency, a holiness to the Lord, a devotion found in youth and an intensity to follow Him in the wilderness, through a land not sown. In Verse 6, the people lost sight of the Lord, the One who had delivered them from all sorts of enemies. They began pursuing other gods, resulting in an emptiness which caused them to forsake their divine provisions. Jesus pledged in Matthew 24:12-13, Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. It is a conscious decision to live outside of God’s governing love. Endurance is the result of a devotion to that love. 

What is First Love?

According to The Bible Exposition Commentary: 

What is "first love"? It is the devotion to Christ that so often characterizes the new believer: fervent, personal, uninhibited, excited, and openly displayed. It is the "honeymoon love" of the husband and wife (Jer 2:1-2). While it is true that mature married love deepens and grows richer, it is also true that it should never lose the excitement and wonder of those "honeymoon days." When a husband and wife begin to take each other for granted, and life becomes routine, then the marriage is in danger. 

In Joshua 5:6-7, For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord had sworn that He would not let them see the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. They had forgotten their vows, their daily recognition of God’s abundant love, Ahavah rabba, which opens, “With an abundant love You love us, oh Lord our God” is a daily prayer accompanying the Shema, a quote from Deuteronomy 6:4-5. They remind the Jewish believer that God’s love should be the motivation for his service. In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, For the love of Christ controls [sunechoe – compels] us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 

Real Warfare 

There is real warfare centered on man’s motivation. Hebrews 12:3 tells us that the consideration of the suffering and sacrifice of Christ keeps our hearts from growing weary. 

A story is told about a man who took his aircraft out for a ride. In his plane was a cable that ran from the control stick all the way to the tail of the airplane which controlled the direction of the plane. On that particular day, the man heard a strange noise. To his horror, he discovered that the source of the noise was from a rat that was steadily eating away at the cable. 

The man quickly realized that if the rat continued to chew through the cord, the plane would surely crash. The man thought quickly and turned the plane into a sharp climb. He knew the rat could not live at the higher altitude because of the lack of oxygen. As he climbed higher in the sky, the rat died and the man was saved from certain death.

This story illustrates the warfare we all face in our pursuit of God. The solution for this man was to climb higher, to ascend to a higher spiritual plane and this happens when the man sets his mind on things above (Colossians 3:2). It is a faith in the character and nature of God: His love. True faith in God works through His love (Galatians 5:6). Paul understood this principle clearly when he wrote 1 Corinthians 13, the [agape] love chapter. He begins the chapter with the following: 

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.                1 Corinthians 13:1-3

An Engaged Heart

Jesus exposes the downfall of the Jews in Matthew 15 when He quotes from Isaiah 29:13, Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote [repetition]. When the heart is not engaged the end result is a lot of religion without any benefit to the believer. Paul warned the Corinthians of this same process in 2 Corinthians 11:3 when he said, But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion [hagnotes – sincerity, purity] to Christ.

Getting back to our original passage in Revelation 2, Jesus exhorted the church to remember, to call to mind where you started in your relationship with God and get back to your labors, motivated by God’s love that defined the church in its formative stages. If not, Jesus promised to remove their lampstand from its place. We can look back in history and see that this church did continue and was later the scene of a major church council (431 AD), but after the 5th century both the church and the city declined. The immediate area has been uninhabited since the 14th century.

Loving the Unlovely

So, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My lambs." He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Shepherd My sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep."          John 21:15-17 

Jesus left Peter, soon to be leader of the church with this important lesson. To love God is to love the people that God places in his path. Peter would be deeply challenged in this, especially in his Old Testament attitude towards the Gentiles and Paul would call him on this in Galatians 2:11-14. First love is a love for neighbor, even the unlovely, anyone who is near, no matter the heritage, the looks, the attributes, or the background he may have. The parable of the Good Samaritan clearly illustrates this reality. Love never fails.