When a Church Loses Its Love for Jesus

Revelation 2:1-7

Main Idea: Though Jesus is pleased with our obedience, He is jealous for hearts that maintain a devoted love for Him that fuels good works.

1. Christ Is Characterized by His Protection (2:1).
   1. Christ cares.
   2. Christ is there.
2. The Church Is Commended for Its Purity (2:2-3,6).
   1. Jesus is pleased with our good deeds (2:2).
   2. Jesus is pleased with our faithful dedication (2:3).
   3. Jesus is pleased with our sound doctrine (2:2,6).
3. The Church Is Criticized for Its Passion (2:4).
   1. Jesus is honest with His people.
   2. Jesus is jealous for His people.
4. The Church Is Corrected with a Plan (2:5).
   1. Remember from where you have fallen.
   2. Repent of your sin.
   3. Return to where you first fell in love.
5. The Church Is Challenged with a Promise (2:7).
   1. We can conquer by perseverance.
   2. We will celebrate in paradise.

A Word About the Seven Churches of Revelation 2–3

Chapters 2–3 of Revelation address the seven churches John greeted in chapter 1. They are each unique in their circumstances, makeup, and situation. John, however, addresses them in a common manner, and we can highlight certain characteristics they share:

1. All seven churches follow a distinct and similar pattern:
   1. A characteristic of Christ drawn from Revelation 1 (and other texts)
   2. A word of commendation and praise if appropriate
   3. Criticism for their sins
   4. A word of correction and warning
   5. A challenge and promise drawn from Revelation 19–22 (and other texts)
2. These were seven historical churches located in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) at the end of the first century AD.
3. These churches were in and around Ephesus, the major city of the province of Asia at that time.
4. These churches were located on a major postal/travel route and are addressed in a counterclockwise order in terms of their location.
5. Each of their messages has a word of wisdom and application for all churches throughout history until Jesus comes again. These seven churches do not represent seven ages or dispensations of the church (usually seen as the church in the West).
6. The chart on the next page helps us see the parallels and patterns in the seven letters.

The first of these churches to be addressed is the church at Ephesus, for whom the Lord Jesus has some difficult words.

Introduction

Few things are more hurtful and painful than when a spouse says to their mate, “I don’t love you anymore.” Sometimes there is shock. Often there are tears. To hear the one you have covenanted with for life say, “I have lost my passion for you; I no longer desire you; my feelings for you have grown cold,” rips at the heart and wounds the soul. We may sing a song that says, “You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling,” but we all know this is nothing to sing about.

Now, looking in from the outside, we may not actually know what is going on in a marriage. I often say, “No one knows what goes on behind closed doors.” And sometimes, in fact most times, love for another is lost not in a moment but over time. It takes place slowly, not quickly. We may not even realize it is happening.

This was true of the first-century church in Ephesus. By all outward appearances things were good. However, in this instance looks were deceiving, and the Lord who walked among them knew it. Like many churches, this church was doing many good things. But they had somehow neglected and lost the most important thing: Christ and the gospel. Their condition was critical but not hopeless. The Christ who loved them and had freed them from their sins (1:5) was there to cure them if they would listen.

Christ Is Characterized by His Protection

REVELATION 2:1

The exalted Christ has been revealed to us in all of His glory in 1:13-16. Both His work of atonement (1:5) and His vindicating resurrection (1:5,18) have been highlighted. This Christ is sufficient for every need His churches might have. John, on behalf of Christ, writes to the angel who watches over the church at Ephesus.

Ephesus was a city of significance in the first century politically, commercially, and religiously, though its significance was waning. Politically, it was the capital of Asia and known as the “Supreme Metropolis of Asia.” Commercially, the great highways converged there, and a major seaport was still in place, but silt deposited by the Cayster River was building in the mouth of the harbor and would eventually be the death of the city’s importance. Some have referred to Ephesus as “the Vanity Fair of the Ancient World” (Barclay, Revelation, 59). Religiously, the city was the center for the worship of the fertility goddess Diana (Roman) or Artemis (Greek). The temple dedicated to Diana came to be known as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” and a source of intense civic pride. Thousands of priests and priestesses served in the temple, many as religious prostitutes. One of Ephesus’s own philosophers, Heraclitus, was known as the weeping philosopher, and he lamented over the immorality and wickedness of the city, saying that its citizens were “fit only to be drowned, and that the reason he could never laugh or smile was because he lived amidst such terrible uncleanness” (Johnson, Revelation, 1983, 41).

Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla evangelized and founded the church at Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19; 19:1-10). Paul believed the city to be so significant as a gospel outpost that he labored there for at least two years (Acts 19:10). His ministry was not uneventful and included a riot related to the temple of Diana. Later Paul would meet with their elders at Miletus (Acts 20:17-38), and he wrote one of his prison letters to them in the early 60s. Paul, Timothy, and now John had ministered to this church. What a heritage! What a danger! Here is a second-generation church that apparently was living off the prestige and momentum of the past. The past was great, but their present condition was spiritually perilous.

Christ Cares

Jesus is described in two ways in verse 1. First, He “holds [present tense] the seven stars in His right hand.” He is in possession of His “church angels” with divine authority. He is responsible for them, and they, like us, are accountable to Him. Ladd says,

The Greek verb used here . . . [indicates] that Christ holds his churches firmly in his hand, that they should not be snatched away (see John 10:28). (Ladd, Commentary, 38)

Every church Jesus purchased with His own blood is dear to Him.

Christ Is There

John says, secondly, Christ “walks [present tense] among the seven gold lampstands.” Our Lord walks about among His people, His church. He is no absentee landlord or disinterested deity. He is there, up close and personal, intimately present.

For contemporary believers, this promise remains. Christ is our sustainer and protector. He is our vigilant watchman. He sees what we do, hears what we say, and knows how we think and what is in our heart. This brings great assurance. It also brings great accountability.

The Church Is Commended for Its Purity

REVELATION 2:2-3,6

The church at Ephesus was active and busy in doing many good things. Our Lord accurately and fairly assesses and takes note of these. In fact, every church should seek to emulate the church at Ephesus at this point. Three things, in particular, are recognized and commended by our Lord: its works, labor, and endurance.

Jesus Is Pleased with Our Good Deeds (2:2)

This community was busy for the Lord. Mounce says, “The Ephesians had toiled to the point of exhaustion and borne patiently the hostility of a society at odds with their goals and efforts” (Mounce, Revelation, 68). Further, “they could not tolerate evil.” Holiness and purity mattered to them. Scripture, not the culture, guided their moral behavior. Purity of life was a hallmark of this community of faith. I like the way The Message phrases it: “I see what you’ve done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can’t stomach evil.”

Jesus Is Pleased with Our Dedication (2:3)

Jesus says of the Ephesians, “You also possess endurance and have tolerated many things [NIV, “endured hardship”] because of My name and have not grown weary.” Life was not easy for these followers of the crucified Galilean. Swindoll notes:

The Ephesian Christians faced special challenges. Because they refused to bow the knee to the goddess Diana or the images of the emperor, they found themselves maligned, slandered, boycotted, and abused. Not unlike Jewish merchants in Berlin in the 1930’s Christians in Ephesus would have been the objects of physical violence, social ostracism, and economic repression. Yet they endured. They bore up under the load. Clearly, Ephesus had been taught well by its predecessors, Paul, Timothy, and John. (Insights, 38)

These were not fair-weather fans of Christ and His cross, and the Lord took note of their dedication.

Jesus Is Pleased with Our Sound Doctrine (2:2,6)

This church was theologically orthodox and evangelical to the core. They took confessional identity and doctrinal fidelity seriously. One of the evidences that they would not “tolerate evil” is that “they tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be liars.” I suspect the tests or theological exams they gave related to things like these:

• What do you believe about Jesus—His person and work?
• What is the gospel, and how are people born again?
• Do you believe a holy life should complement our confession of Christ?
• Do you teach anything contrary to or in addition to the Word of God and the witness of the 12 apostles?

I think this to be the case because these are the types of issues that arise in virtually every generation. Further, in verse 6 they are commended because they “hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” Many people imagine Jesus is always meek and mild, only ever saying positive things about everyone. But from His own lips, Jesus tells us there is something He hates!

Exactly who the Nicolaitans were we cannot be sure. It would seem idolatry and immorality were at the roots of their practices.

The Church Is Criticized for Its Passion

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.”

Jesus Is Honest with His People

“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.

Jesus Is Jealous for His People

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.

The Church Is Corrected with a Plan

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.

Remember from Where You Have Fallen

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?

Repent of Your Sin

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).

Return to Where You First Fell in Love

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?

The Church Is Challenged with a Promise

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?

We Can Conquer by Perseverance

“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 Celebrate in Paradise

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?

Conclusion

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.

Reflect and Discuss

1. Look through the characteristics of the seven churches as presented in the summary chart in this chapter. Where do you see similarities to your own walk with the Lord? Where do you see similarities to your local church?
2. How does the description of Jesus in 2:1 give you comfort for the trials in your life?
3. What good deeds does God have for you to do? How can your church emulate the Ephesians’ diligent efforts?
4. Why do you think Jesus was just as concerned with doctrine as He was with good works? What doctrinal tests would you give to those who want to lead and teach in the local church?
5. Why does Jesus use such strong language for His feelings towards the Nicolaitans? How should we reflect Jesus’ heart while still loving our neighbor?
6. How does Jesus’ holy jealousy for the Ephesians expose religious legalism as inadequate? Do you find that you obey out of love for Christ or simply because it is what you are supposed to do?
7. How can you apply the threefold prescription to remember, repent, and return?
8. Reflect on the place you first fell in love with Christ. What works marked that period of time in your spiritual journey?
9. How would you explain what it means to be a “victor” or overcomer in the Christian life?
10. What makes paradise wonderful, from a biblical perspective, and how does this contrast with popular conceptions of heaven?