EPHESUS: WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
EPHESUS: WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
There is a church in the ancient world that looks, on the surface, like everything a church should be. Its members work hard. They endure suffering without complaint. They guard their doctrine carefully, testing every teacher who comes through their doors against the standard of truth. They refuse to tolerate evil in their midst. By every outward measure, this is the church you would want to attend, the church you would point to as a model.
And yet Jesus has a problem with it.
That church is Ephesus, and the letter Christ dictates to the Apostle John in Revelation 2:1-7 contains one of the most searching diagnoses ever delivered to a community of believers. It is a diagnosis that does not show up on any organizational chart, cannot be measured in attendance numbers, and would not be detected by the most thorough outside observer. It is entirely a matter of the heart.
There is a reason why this was the first letter written. I believe this is the most vital characteristic of the Christian Church. Jesus said, They will know we are Christians by our love! He didn't say, by our events, music ministry, preaching, coffee houses, but by our love. If love is the supreme motive in the Church of Jesus Christ, like Peter wrote, Love would cover a multitude of sin. We would be quick to confess and repent of the various sins the other churches were rebuked for. Love is so important to our service saint!
THE CITY OF EPHESUS
To understand the weight of this letter, you have to understand the city. Ephesus was the greatest city in Asia Minor at the time of this writing, home to roughly half a million people. It was wealthy, educated, and thoroughly corrupt. It hosted massive sporting events. It was the banking center of the ancient world. It was dominated by the Temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, a structure two to three times the size of the Parthenon, staffed by a thousand temple priests and priestesses who served as prostitutes. Sexual immorality was not a subculture in Ephesus. It was the culture.
Money, sports, and sexual immorality. The parallels to the present moment are not subtle.
The church in Ephesus was not sheltered from any of this. It existed right in the middle of it, and it had done something remarkable. It had held the line. It had maintained doctrinal integrity. It had kept evil from corrupting its community. It had labored hard and long without growing weary in spirit.
KEEP THE MAIN THING, THE MAIN THING
And then Jesus says it. Revelation 2:4 records the complaint, the single charge leveled against a church that has done so much right: they have left their first love.
Not lost it. Left it.
The distinction matters enormously. When you lose something, you are not sure where it went or how to find it. When you leave something, you know exactly where it is. You can go back. The door is still open.
First love is not a vague, sentimental feeling. It is the kind of consuming devotion that marks the early days of a relationship, when the other person occupies your thoughts, when being with them is the priority above all other priorities, when everything else arranges itself around that central longing. It is the love of a bridegroom for his bride, the love that Paul describes in his letter to the Ephesians when he connects a husband's devotion to his wife with Christ's sacrifice for His church.
The Ephesian believers had not stopped loving Jesus. But the quality of that love had changed. The fire had dimmed. The works were still there, but the motive had quietly shifted. They were doing things for Jesus rather than doing things with Jesus, serving Him without communing with Him, laboring in His name while neglecting His presence.
There is a telling contrast in Scripture here. When Paul writes to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, he commends their work of faith, their labor of love, and their patience of hope. To the Ephesians, it is simply work, labor, and patience. The actions are the same. What is missing is the relational center that gives those actions their meaning.
THE THREE PART PRESCRIPTION
Christ does not leave the church without direction. His prescription in Revelation 2:5 is three words: remember, repent, and return to the first works.
Remember from where you have fallen. There is something powerful in being called back to memory. When did it change? When did the fire begin to cool? When did the relationship become a routine? The act of honest remembering is itself a form of grace, because it reveals that there was something real to return to.
Repent. This word is often misunderstood as mere regret, but it means something more active: a change of heart and mind that produces a change of direction. It is not simply feeling bad about where you are. It is turning around.
Return to the first works. Rekindle the flame. The works themselves are not the problem. The problem is doing them without the love that once animated them. When love is restored to its proper place, the works follow naturally.
THE SONG THAT PIERCED MY HEART
There is a song that I heard for the first time while driving with my two adult boys to a speaking engagement in Montrose, Colorado. The song was by Christian artist, Leland entitled 'First Love Fire.' It was on my son's playlist and when I began to listen to the lyrics it hit me in a way that I needed to be hit.
We need to realize, that love is supreme in everything we do for Jesus. Remember, when He was asked, 'Which is the greatest of the commandments?' His response was 'To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength.' Love needs to be the supreme motivation in all our work for God. And it is easy to leave that love and continue going through the motions without the precious emotion and devotion that is vital.
THE INVITATION
That is the heart of the letter to Ephesus. God is not unimpressed by the work. He sees it, commends it, and values it. But He values the relationship more. He would rather have you with Him, than merely do things for Him.
The question the letter leaves open is the same one it has always left open. Not whether you are working hard enough, but whether the One you are working for still has your first love. Do you need to return to that FIRST LOVE FIRE? Take the time to do that now, Jesus is always on the ready to receive a heart that has been prone to wander. I love that about our Lord. He knows us better than we know ourselves.
There is a church in the ancient world that looks, on the surface, like everything a church should be. Its members work hard. They endure suffering without complaint. They guard their doctrine carefully, testing every teacher who comes through their doors against the standard of truth. They refuse to tolerate evil in their midst. By every outward measure, this is the church you would want to attend, the church you would point to as a model.
And yet Jesus has a problem with it.
That church is Ephesus, and the letter Christ dictates to the Apostle John in Revelation 2:1-7 contains one of the most searching diagnoses ever delivered to a community of believers. It is a diagnosis that does not show up on any organizational chart, cannot be measured in attendance numbers, and would not be detected by the most thorough outside observer. It is entirely a matter of the heart.
There is a reason why this was the first letter written. I believe this is the most vital characteristic of the Christian Church. Jesus said, They will know we are Christians by our love! He didn't say, by our events, music ministry, preaching, coffee houses, but by our love. If love is the supreme motive in the Church of Jesus Christ, like Peter wrote, Love would cover a multitude of sin. We would be quick to confess and repent of the various sins the other churches were rebuked for. Love is so important to our service saint!
THE CITY OF EPHESUS
To understand the weight of this letter, you have to understand the city. Ephesus was the greatest city in Asia Minor at the time of this writing, home to roughly half a million people. It was wealthy, educated, and thoroughly corrupt. It hosted massive sporting events. It was the banking center of the ancient world. It was dominated by the Temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, a structure two to three times the size of the Parthenon, staffed by a thousand temple priests and priestesses who served as prostitutes. Sexual immorality was not a subculture in Ephesus. It was the culture.
Money, sports, and sexual immorality. The parallels to the present moment are not subtle.
The church in Ephesus was not sheltered from any of this. It existed right in the middle of it, and it had done something remarkable. It had held the line. It had maintained doctrinal integrity. It had kept evil from corrupting its community. It had labored hard and long without growing weary in spirit.
KEEP THE MAIN THING, THE MAIN THING
And then Jesus says it. Revelation 2:4 records the complaint, the single charge leveled against a church that has done so much right: they have left their first love.
Not lost it. Left it.
The distinction matters enormously. When you lose something, you are not sure where it went or how to find it. When you leave something, you know exactly where it is. You can go back. The door is still open.
First love is not a vague, sentimental feeling. It is the kind of consuming devotion that marks the early days of a relationship, when the other person occupies your thoughts, when being with them is the priority above all other priorities, when everything else arranges itself around that central longing. It is the love of a bridegroom for his bride, the love that Paul describes in his letter to the Ephesians when he connects a husband's devotion to his wife with Christ's sacrifice for His church.
The Ephesian believers had not stopped loving Jesus. But the quality of that love had changed. The fire had dimmed. The works were still there, but the motive had quietly shifted. They were doing things for Jesus rather than doing things with Jesus, serving Him without communing with Him, laboring in His name while neglecting His presence.
There is a telling contrast in Scripture here. When Paul writes to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, he commends their work of faith, their labor of love, and their patience of hope. To the Ephesians, it is simply work, labor, and patience. The actions are the same. What is missing is the relational center that gives those actions their meaning.
THE THREE PART PRESCRIPTION
Christ does not leave the church without direction. His prescription in Revelation 2:5 is three words: remember, repent, and return to the first works.
Remember from where you have fallen. There is something powerful in being called back to memory. When did it change? When did the fire begin to cool? When did the relationship become a routine? The act of honest remembering is itself a form of grace, because it reveals that there was something real to return to.
Repent. This word is often misunderstood as mere regret, but it means something more active: a change of heart and mind that produces a change of direction. It is not simply feeling bad about where you are. It is turning around.
Return to the first works. Rekindle the flame. The works themselves are not the problem. The problem is doing them without the love that once animated them. When love is restored to its proper place, the works follow naturally.
THE SONG THAT PIERCED MY HEART
There is a song that I heard for the first time while driving with my two adult boys to a speaking engagement in Montrose, Colorado. The song was by Christian artist, Leland entitled 'First Love Fire.' It was on my son's playlist and when I began to listen to the lyrics it hit me in a way that I needed to be hit.
We need to realize, that love is supreme in everything we do for Jesus. Remember, when He was asked, 'Which is the greatest of the commandments?' His response was 'To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength.' Love needs to be the supreme motivation in all our work for God. And it is easy to leave that love and continue going through the motions without the precious emotion and devotion that is vital.
THE INVITATION
That is the heart of the letter to Ephesus. God is not unimpressed by the work. He sees it, commends it, and values it. But He values the relationship more. He would rather have you with Him, than merely do things for Him.
The question the letter leaves open is the same one it has always left open. Not whether you are working hard enough, but whether the One you are working for still has your first love. Do you need to return to that FIRST LOVE FIRE? Take the time to do that now, Jesus is always on the ready to receive a heart that has been prone to wander. I love that about our Lord. He knows us better than we know ourselves.
Recent
Archive
2026
2025
February
March
May
July
2022
2021
2019
2016
Categories
no categories