Joining Jesus – 13th May 2019

3. Have you lost your first love?

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

At the heart of this letter which includes many positive comments about the good things that the church in Ephesus is doing there is an enormously critical and challenging comment. It is just a few words but these words are enormous in their implications:

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen!

The accusation against this hard working and seemingly committed group of people was that they were doing many of the right things but that they had forgotten why they were doing them.
Does that ring any bells with you?
Just a few days ago, I was sitting in a coffee bar with Phil, a good friend that I have known for years. Among other things, we were talking about the disappointment that we both often experience at the lack of passion that there seems to be among so many people in the church. During our conversation, he said to me:
“How does it happen? Even as I reflect on my own life, I can remember a time when I was so passionate to be reaching people and God’s presence was so real! Over a period of time, this passion for people and awareness of God’s presence with me seemed, somehow, to be replaced by just conforming to church life and going through the motions! How does this happen?
I am pleased to say that Phil has now rediscovered, in an even deeper way, the passion for reaching people and a real awareness of God’s presence with him not just when he is in a church building but wherever he is.
But Phil is not the only person that I have had a similar discussion with. The truth is that I have met hundreds of people, all over the world, who have shared a similar story with me. The deep love for Jesus and His Mission wanes and is replaced by becoming busy with ‘church stuff’ and, over time, we can easily forget why we are doing the things that we are doing. We do them because that is what we do!
As I think about so many people that have shared this kind of story with me, I have concluded that every one of them never set out to lose their first love. That was not their aim or desire, it ‘just happened’ because somehow, being part of a church, which was busy doing what it does, seemed to change their focus from Jesus and His Mission, to the church and its activities.
It is interesting that this letter is not to an individual but to a church, the whole community!
If each of us is to rediscover our first love, there is a deep and profound need for the church to rediscover the ‘love that it had at first’.
This week take some time to reflect upon what this would mean for you and for the part of His church that you belong to. You may find these words from the prophet Jeremiah helpful as you engage in reflection:
The word of the LORD came to me: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:
“This is what the LORD says:
“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,
through a land not sown. Jeremiah 2:1-2