When a Church Loses Its Love for Jesus

Hippolytus added that one of the seven appointed apostles lapsed from the true doctrine (The Refutation of All Heresies 7.24). Clement of Alexandria identified the followers of Nicolaus as a Gnostic sect who, “abandoning themselves to pleasure like goats, as if insulting the body, led a life of self-indulgence” (The Stromata 2.20). Tertullian asserted that the Nicolaitans aimed at destroying the happiness of sanctity by their lust and luxury (Against Marcion 1.29).

The consensus of early Christian writings is that the Nicolaitans were the followers of Nicolaus (Acts 6:5) and thus the founders of libertine gnosticism.

Other scholars use etymological study to posit that the word “Nicolaus” is simply the Greek equivalent of Balaam. This view also proposes that the two words, Balaam and Nicolaitan, have common meanings. Balaam, derived from two Hebrew words bala’ ‘am, means the “destroyer of the people.” Nicolaus, composed of two Greek words, nikan laos, means “conqueror of the people.”

The theology of the Nicolaitans can be seen in the description of the evil works of the church at Pergamum (Rev 2:15). What did the Nicolaitans teach? Immorality and idolatry appear to be the heresies that they tried to teach in the churches at Ephesus and Pergamum. Ephesus refused, but Pergamum tolerated a group who believed the Nicolaitans. These pagan practices, contrary to the thought and conduct required in the Christian churches, paralleled the teaching of Balaam in the Old Testament. Balaam “taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites” causing them “to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality” (2:14).

The Nicolaitans perhaps had misunderstood Paul’s doctrine of freedom from the law when they encouraged eating meat sacrificed to idols and participating in immoral sexual practices. The Nicolaitans also could have been responsible for the teaching that one could “worship Caesar in the flesh and Christ in the Spirit.” In order to avoid embarrassment at civic and religious activities, this group may have chosen to assimilate pagan practices into the life of the church. This attempt to accommodate non-Christian practices is condemned by Christ. It was also rejected by the Ephesians. For this the Ephesians are commended by Christ (Glaze, “Nicolaus,” 49–53).

REVELATION 2:4

By all outward appearances this church looked healthy. Its doctrine was spot on, and the lifestyles of its members matched their confession. However—and this is an ever present hazard—they were in danger of becoming “a Pharisee church.” They were in danger of a legalism that in time would be their death. They were still doing all the right things, but sometime in the past they had forsaken the right motivation. They didn’t have a head problem but a heart problem. Obedience out of duty had replaced obedience out of love for Christ. The difference between the two is massive. It is the difference between “I obey and Jesus accepts me” and “Jesus accepts me and I gladly obey.”

“But I have this against you.” What painful and sobering words to hear from our Master. “There is an area of your life where I am in opposition. There is an area that disappoints and offends Me.” We are His children, but like our own earthly daughters and sons, we can disappoint our heavenly parent. The Son of God with “eyes like a fiery flame” (1:14) sees something He does not like, and He honestly and straightforwardly tells them so.

Specifically, Jesus’ honesty reveals His jealous love for His church: “You have abandoned [NIV, “forsaken”] the love you had at first.” The Message reads, “But you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway?” The Ephesians did not lose their first love. They left it. Could their love for doctrinal and moral purity create a community where love had disappeared?

What is the love they had abandoned? Various views have been proffered: (1) their original love for one another; (2) their love for God; (3) their love for the gospel; (4) their love for Christ. There is a sense in which we need not choose because all four are so interrelated as to prevent separation. The two great commandments would seem to support this (Matt 22:37-40). And yet I think Jesus may have intended, at least as His major focus, to remind them of their love for Him and for the gospel that they had experienced at salvation. Osborne says,

“They had lost the first flush of enthusiasm and excitement in their Christian life and had settled into a cold orthodoxy with more surface strength than depth.” (Revelation, 115)

The fervent and passionate love they had for Jesus and His gospel when they first received Him had waned. They were now going through the motions. They could no longer sing, “Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.”

Jesus makes clear that He has not lost His passion, His holy jealousy for His people (see Jas 4:5). He wants their obedience, yes. But He also wants their affection. It matters to Jesus not only what we do but why we do what we do.

REVELATION 2:5

All was not well, but all was not lost. It never is with Jesus and His church. Our great physician has diagnosed the illness. Now He offers a threefold remedy with three direct commands or imperatives.

Jesus calls the Ephesians to “remember.” The present imperative form of this verb beckons them to “keep on remembering.” Never forget what you have lost. Go back and note when and where the flame of love grew faint. Take an inventory and evaluate where you are now compared to where you were then. Go back to the time when your love for Jesus was a burning passion and all that mattered. What was it like? What is missing now?

To repent is to undergo a change of mind resulting in a change of attitude and action. It is to think differently about your sin—sins of indifference, religious formalism, legalistic routine. It requires that we change our minds from thinking that our good deeds are meritorious and earn God’s favor. In calling for the Ephesians to repent, Jesus reminds them that labor is no substitute for love, purity is no substitute for passion, and deeds are no substitute for devotion. Do not pat yourself on the back for doing good things for the wrong reason. God looks on the heart (1 Sam 16:7; Mark 7:6).

Finally, Jesus instructs them to “do the works you did at first.” The first works are the key to restoring their first love. When the days with Jesus were so sweet and precious you could think of no one else, what were you doing? What were you thinking? You could not believe He loved someone like you! That He forgave someone like you! That He wanted someone like you! You walked, talked, sang, and thought of Him all day long. You were continually aware of His presence, continually in conversation with Him.

The place where you first fell in love with Christ is the place where you first understood He loved you, not because you deserved it or could even earn it but because He just did. The place where you first fell in love was probably somewhere near the cross. As the hymn writer describes, “At the cross I stood one day. Love and mercy found me. . . . Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me” (Crosby, “Near the Cross”).

Returning and doing the first works will keep a church from losing its witness and eventually its existence. Today Ephesus is a rubble ruin. Did the Ephesians never get their first love back?

REVELATION 2:7

Each of the seven letters in Revelation 2–3 ends with a promise drawn from the end of the book. Each, in some way, is related to the wonderful theme of eternal life and eternal security (Dever, “We Shall Overcome”).And though each letter is written to a specific church, each letter is for every other church as well: “Anyone [that is, us] who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches” (note the plural). So, what does the exalted Christ promise to each believer and every church?

“The victor” is a reference to the one who “conquers” (ESV; see 1 John 5:4-5) or “overcomes” (NASB). It is the Greek word nikao from which we derive the word “Nike.” Osborne explains the significance of this image:

It is an athletic and military metaphor that connotes superiority and victory over a vanquished foe. In the NT the military overtones are primary. . . . Of the twenty-six NT uses, twenty-one are in the Johannine corpus, fifteen in Revelation alone. Here it speaks of the eschatological war between the beast and the people of God. . . . Ultimate victory is with God and God alone. It is the Lamb—the King of Kings and Lord of Lords—who finally conquers (17:14). Yet this final victory is anchored in the past—as Jesus says in John 16:33, “I have conquered the world”—which is reflected in the final “overcomer” saying in Rev. 3:21, “To the one who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on this throne.” As made clear in 5:5-6, the true victory was won on the cross, and the final battle in 19:17-21 is only the last act of defiance by an already defeated foe.

Our victory is a participation in his victory. It is critical to realize that in the seven letters the victory is a promise held out to all of them, even the weak churches of Sardis (3:5) and Laodicea (3:21). Yet it must be achieved through perseverance. . . . To be an “overcomer” in the eschatological war demands a day-by-day walk with God and dependence on his strength . . . the overcoming theme in Revelation combines promise (God’s blessings on those who persevere) and warning (God’s judgment on those who fail to persevere). In short, overcoming in Revelation is analogous to [believing] in Paul, referring to an active trust in God that leads to faithfulness in the difficult situations of life lived for Christ. (Revelation, 122–23)

We will have the right, through Christ, “to eat from the tree of life, which is in God’s paradise.” The “tree of life” takes us back to Genesis 2:9; 3:22-24 and forward to Revelation 22:2. What Adam and Eve forfeited through sin we regain in Christ. Heaven is paradise regained and more. The tree of life is a beautiful “symbolic source of eternal life” (Mounce, Revelation, 72).

“Paradise” (see Luke 23:43; 2 Cor 12:4) is a Persian word that meant a beautiful garden or park. It is the place where the righteous go to be with God. It is the place where sin is not present and God dwells. It is the place where Jesus is! He is what makes paradise, paradise! There we will live forever. There we will be with Him forever. What a wonderful promise! Will you be there?

Tell me what you think about, and I will tell you what you love. Tell me what you talk about, and I will tell you what you love. Tell me what excites you, and I will tell you what you love. My prayer for you, as well as for myself, is that the answer will be same for all these. May the answer always be Jesus.