This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Revelation chapter 2 as we continue our study in the book of
Revelation. In chapter 2, Revelation chapter 2 and 3, we're going to be looking
at Jesus' messages to the seven churches. Seven churches then, but also messages
to our hearts and our lives today.

And as I was just praying, getting ready for sharing these messages, my prayer
for you and for me both, is that we will hear Jesus' voice in these words. Jesus
has some things to say that are so loving, but they're all so honest, they're
hard to hear. And I pray these next couple of weeks, as we look at Jesus'
messages to the church then and now, that we'd hear his voice.

We hear his comfort, we hear his challenge. I pray that you would hear his voice
in a specific way. The seven churches that he speaks to in these two chapters
are the church in Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis and
Philadelphia and Laodicea.

And he has something to say to seven specific churches with seven different
needs. With Ephesus, it's what Jesus says to a busy church. With Smyrna, it's
what Jesus says to a suffering church.

With Pergamum, it's what Jesus says to a confused church. Thyatira, we're going
to hear what Jesus says to a tolerant church. And next week, as we look at
Sardis, it's what Jesus says to a dying church.

Philadelphia, what Jesus says to a growing church, Laodicea, what Jesus says to
a complacent church. It's what Jesus says to our hearts. Now, some, as they look
at these seven churches, try to make it into seven historical expressions of the
church down through the ages.

There might be something to that. I don't know. The truth of the matter is, I
think we should keep it simple.

When the plain meaning has meaning, that's the meaning. And these are messages
to specific churches in Jesus' day, not historical churches. And these are
messages to my heart and your heart today.

That's why they're in the scripture. Today we're going to look at Ephesus,
Revelation chapter two, verses one to seven, what Jesus says to a busy church.
What does he say?

He says, "Keep first things first. " Let me read those verses for you,
Revelation two, one to seven. "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 who
walks among the seven golden lampstands.

I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot
tolerate wicked men, that you've treated 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 your first love. Remember the height from which you've fallen.
Repent and do the things that 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.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who
overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the
paradise of God. " Now those last verses, Jesus says, "He who has an ear, let
him hear.

She who has an ear, let her hear. " Listen to a powerful speaker, the one who
holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven
golden lampstands, Jesus Christ, he's the one who is speaking here. Jesus
himself is speaking to us and he's speaking to us in these verses about his
willingness to meet the need of our emptiness, to spark into life that which is
lacking in our lives.

Many people can relate to this message to the church in Ephesus. All of us at
times in our lives can relate as we grow in Jesus Christ. Jesus talks to the
Ephesians about, he talks to them about a life that is lacking.

What is it like to live a life in Jesus that is lacking? They're believers. They
know Jesus, but something is lacking.

He explains it here. Here's what it looks like. He begins by saying, "Here's the
things that I know are present in your life.

I know what's there, but I also know what's lacking. " He says, "I know your
deeds. You're doing all the right things as a church.

You're having well-attended worship services, I'm sure, good fellowship
meetings, great Bible teaching. They're probably even ministering to the needs
of the community around them. They're maybe even doing the right things as
individuals, morally upright, involved with the right kind of people, attending
church regularly.

" All of this and yet somehow life is lacking for them and Jesus knows it. He
sees it. There's something lacking in your heart, he says.

The outside looks okay, but something inside isn't right. He says, "I know your
deeds. " He also says, "I know your toil.

You're not only doing the right things, you're working hard at it. " He knows
that you've given yourself to the point of weariness. You've given yourself for
others.

You've given yourself to the church. You've given yourself in your family.
You've given yourself in your job.

He sees that. He knows that and yet somehow he also sees that life is lacking.
Something is missing in your heart.

Jesus says, "I know your deeds. I know your toil. I know your perseverance.

" All that we know of this Ephesian church declares their perseverance. They'd
stuck to their faith in a society that was overflowing with temptations. They'd
been attacked.

They'd been ridiculed. They'd been persecuted. They hadn't let down.

They hadn't let go. They hadn't even let up. They were still persevering and
toiling in the faith.

They had endured some of the greatest difficulties in life and you've endured.
You've continued to love Jesus and read his word and yet right now in your life
something is lacking. Something is missing.

This is quite a church, the Ephesian church. These are quite some Christians,
the Ephesian Christians. We'd evaluate them as far above par but Jesus says that
instead they're stuck in a sand trap.

They've lost sight of an all-important quality and if they didn't change, he
says, "I'm going to remove the lamp stand. " He's not saying I'm going to remove
your faith or remove you from my list. The lamp stand is the picture of a
church.

He's saying this church will die and be replaced by another unless something
gets made right in your heart. Jesus talks in these verses about life that is
lacking but he also talks about love that is filling. He says, "I have this
against you.

Your credentials, they're good but Jesus points out that they have lost the
all-important quality of their first love. " You've lost your first love. If
there's an emptiness in your heart, in your life that you just can't seem to
shake, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you
work, no matter what you've endured, this is the moment to listen.

What is Jesus talking about here? You've lost your first love. What is he
speaking of here?

The process of elimination tells you it's not deeds or toil or perseverance.
Jesus has already said, "I see those things. You've got that right.

" Now, don't get me wrong. Existing love is an acting love. It's expressed not
just in words, not just in feelings, but in commitments, but in action.

However, we all know that something strange can happen. What begins as an action
to express love to Christ can become an action just of mere habit. Same thing
can happen in a family.

What began as an action to express love to your wife or your children, it
becomes just mere habit, just rote. I'm just doing it again because I had to do
it yesterday. The Ephesians no longer met for church because they loved Christ.

They met for church because they'd always met for church. Has that happened in
your life? When that happens, that means you've lost your first love.

I don't know a believer that it hasn't happened to a time or two. We constantly
have to return to our first love. What is our first love?

It's not your deeds or your perseverance or your toil. Neither is it, this is
important to understand, neither is it the feelings that you had when you first
became a Christian. He is not talking about emotions here.

When Jesus talks about your first love, He's not challenging you to reemote an
emotion that you may have had some time ago. There is something much, much
deeper here. First love points not to actions or feelings, it points to a
person.

Your first love is Jesus Christ. He points to a time when actions and feelings
are not from habit or tradition, but out of your commitment to Him. That's why
you do it.

The danger of the Christian life is the longer you're a Christian, the easier it
is to do it out of habit and tradition. You do it today because you did it
yesterday. When you're a brand new believer, what you're doing isn't out of
habit or tradition because you weren't doing it yesterday.

So it's your first love. How do you reignite a first love? You do it again for
Him.

You focus on the one that you're doing it for. In fact, Jesus is very clear. He
says, "Here's what you do.

You want to reignite this first love in your life? Do three things. Remember,
repent, and return.

" That's what He tells them to do. Remember, He says, the height from which
you've fallen. You ask yourself, "Has there ever been a time in my life when I
have been consistently closer to Christ?

" Not in terms of just emotions. I'm talking about willingness. I'm talking
about sense of His presence.

The first step to renewal, the first step to something new happening in your
life is being honest with yourself about what you already know to be true. Your
faith has been declining and not growing, and it's not anybody else's fault. Oh,
you could blame this church or this pastor or this person that lets you down,
but the truth of the matter is, it is your decision.

It's my decision. Remember where you were. Remember from where you've fallen.

And then He says, "You repent. " Repent. That's a beautiful word.

At the center of this word is the willingness to say, "I, I've been wrong. " If
you're determined to keep up a good front, if you're unable to admit that you've
been wrong, you'll stay trapped in that emptiness the rest of your life. There
is something so refreshing about just saying, "I've been wrong.

" If you're willing to let go of the comfortable life of habit and tradition
that you've built and to grasp instead onto His love and direction, you have
opened yourself up to His fulfilling love. You remember, you repent, and then He
says, "You return. " You do the first deeds.

You do what you do when you're living in relationship to Jesus. You don't stop
doing the things that you're doing as a believer. No, you do it for the right
reason now.

And when you do that, I want you to notice what happens in verse 7. When you do
that, Jesus says, the promise of this first love is, it's something called the
tree of life. You're going to experience the tree of life in the paradise of
God.

This tree of life, you might remember, it was way back in the book of Genesis.
It was in the paradise of God, the garden that God put Adam and Eve into. This
tree of life is going to show up again at the end of the book of Revelation.

But there's this little reference to it here at the beginning of the book of
Revelation looking forward, getting us ready. You got to stay through all the
way through the book of Revelation because at the end, God's going to tell us
about this tree of life and how exciting the life is that He has for us. That's
what this first love is all about.

Not just what He has for us here, but this first love that we experience in our
relationship with Jesus all the way into eternity. Now in light of that first
love, let's talk to Him, our first love, Jesus Christ. Jesus, help me to
remember.

And if I remember that I have fallen, help me to repent and then help me to
return. Jesus, thank you for being honest with me, pointing out those times when
I need to change. And right now in my own heart, I renew that first love.

I focus on you. I do it for you. I love you, Jesus Christ.

In your name, amen. Join us tomorrow. We're going to hear what Jesus says to a
suffering church.