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Losing Your First Love

Perhaps one of the more neglected areas of the Scripture is the book of Revelation, with one of the more neglected portions of that book being the letters to the seven churches of Asia (Rev 2-3). That is sadly ironic when you consider that these seven letters were dictated directly from Jesus Christ himself, and as such are his last and essentially only direct words spoken by him after his ascension into heaven. The general neglect of these letters is even more tragic in light of the fact that these seven very real first century churches apparently are meant to be representative of all the churches in all times. That is, here we have a representative sampling of the kinds of struggles, failures, strengths, and weaknesses that all churches experience to greater or lesser degrees. What better place to go than Rev 2-3 to find a reflection of our own image, to see our own failings, and learn what we need to do to assure that Christ’s lampstand is not removed from our midst? With that in mind, I’d like to take a look at these seven churches over the next seven weeks.

The first, and perhaps most prominent, of the churches is Ephesus (Rev 2.1-7). That’s the church where the apostle Paul spent more time than anywhere else, and with which the apostle John may have been closely associated as well. Timothy was also “their preacher” for a time, perhaps not long before Revelation was written. Can any church have had better leadership? No wonder such great things are said of Ephesus in this letter. Read Rev 2.2-3 and you have to just say, “Wow! That sounds like a strong, faithful church if ever there was one!” They were hard workers, knowledgeable, cautious and vigilant, intolerant of evil men and false teaching, and perseverant. Any church should be proud to receive such a commendation. And yet, they had one serious flaw: they had lost their first love (vs.4).

Now, I’m not exactly sure what Jesus means by that. It could mean that they were going through the motions without much enthusiasm. Unlike those who had “zeal without knowledge” (Rom 10.2), these had knowledge without zeal. Perhaps they were simply legalistic or “traditional” in their intolerance of error and sin, without really being enthusiastic for God. In view of the commendation given this church, however, it is difficult to envision them with an utter lack of zeal. If nothing else, at least they seemed to have a zeal for purity of doctrine and life. But perhaps their zeal was limited only to that, and not to other things like justice and mercy (cf. Mt 23.23). Maybe they lacked a zeal for the lost. Perhaps their missing “first love” was simply that – love. That is, perhaps they had zeal without love. They were zealous for truth and purity, but had little love and concern for one another or for the lost. Love, after all, is the badge of true disciples (Jn 13.35), while “knowledge makes arrogant” (1 Cor 8.1).

Whether it was knowledge without zeal, or zeal without love, Ephesus reflects the condition of many churches and Christians today. Both conditions are a symptom of becoming comfortable and perhaps a bit stagnate. We get into a rut and let the ruts guide us along, but we are just coasting. In one way it is easy, perhaps, to stand for truth and be intolerant of error like those at Ephesus. Love, however, is always difficult. Love forces us to sacrifice. Love forces us to walk a tightrope between patient forbearance and proper intolerance (cf. Rom 14; 1 Cor 8-10). Love sometimes puts us in uncomfortable and vulnerable places, leaving us in that grayish realm of loving the sinner while hating the sin, rather than in the easy, black-and-white realm of perfectionism, legalism, and absolute intolerance. That is not to suggest that love is always tolerant. On the contrary, love also at times must be intolerant of sin and doctrinal error. And that is hard too, especially when you are trying to do it in love. So love is hard, and maybe that explains how a church like Ephesus, with leaders like Paul, Timothy, and John, can so quickly lose their first love. But if our first love is easy to lose, it is also not hard to find again. All you have to do is look to Jesus.