What happens when a local church does everything right but loses their first love for the Lord? This was the condition of the church in Ephesus; the church in Ephesus began strong, grounded in the apostles’ teaching and full of love for the Lord, but something shifted; in Revelation 2:4, the Lord says, I have this against you that you have left your first love; in Greek, first means foremost, best, highest; so what happened? They lost their first love and they turned away from the apostles’ teaching; this was the start of the church’s downward decline in history; Acts 2:42 shows that the early believers continued in the apostles’ teaching after Jesus ascended, but this teaching wasn’t just doctrines or points; so what is the apostles’ teaching? Well, according to the New Testament, the apostles’ teaching unveils God’s purpose, Christ as the center, and the church as His Body and expression; this teaching leads us to loving Christ and being someone who is for the church; Paul warned the church in Ephesus in 1 Timothy 1:3, charge certain ones not to teach different things; but by the time of Revelation, the church had left the first love and forsaken the apostles’ teaching; why is love so important? Love qualifies us for the enjoyment of life, and out of life comes light; when we love the Lord, our heart is soft, we grow in life, and the church shines with light; but without love, there is no life, there is no light, there is no lampstand; this letter wasn’t only written to the church in Ephesus, it applies to us today; the Lord warns in Revelation 2:5, repent or I will remove your lampstand; we must repent of leaving the first love and come back to the apostles’ teaching; in Greek, the word repent means to have a change in heart; first we need love, then we will have life, and with life there is always light; eventually, we will have a lampstand, a church that is shining; ultimately, the Lord doesn’t give up; in Revelation 2:7, He says, he who overcomes, I will give to eat the tree of life; the call to overcome in Ephesus is to return to the first love, recover the apostles’ teaching, and rekindle the enjoyment of Christ and be someone for His church; when we love the Lord in incorruptibility, we stay in life, light, and testimony, and we safeguard the lampstand to continue shining forth Christ; tune in next week where we’ll cover the church in Smyrna, or the suffering church.
