Abandoned Love

Revelation: Our Hope Revealed • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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This is the first of 7 letters to the churches in Asia Minor. In this first letter, Jesus takes issue with the church for having lost its first love. The church had lost sight of their pursuit for the Lord alone and had allowed secularism and legalism to lessen and tarnish the truth of the gospel.

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Jesus the Head

Revelation 1:20–2:3 (NIV)

The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

“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.

The Lord Jesus stands among the seven lampstands, the seven churches signifying his continued intimate involvement with His people. The Lord is continually weaving between the lampstands, observing and holding His people near.

The word in Greek here for hold is the word Kratein. Here specifically it means that Jesus holds the whole of the churches. Not just our church but the whole of the universal church.

The church had been transformed by the power and might of Christ.

Abandoned Love

Revelation 2:4–7 (NIV)

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.

The church was guilty of losing its first love.

The things that had once been so near to them at the start had been passed over for other things.

So focused on the task, we lose sight of the journey. Reminds me of the disciples through the gospel who are so focused on the task at hand, they forget about the One to whom they are serving.

When the church looks like nothing more than a better version of the world, then the church is void of its power for a better version of ourselves is not dependent upon Christ.