First love

The book of Revelation includes a number of messages from Jesus Christ to the New Testament churches. While He commended the church at Ephesus for their zeal and diligence, He accused them of leaving their ‘first love’. Rev 2:2-4. He was not just referring to the love which they had at the beginning but to the quality of relationship which the Father, Son and Holy Spirit demand and demonstrate because ‘first love’ can actually be translated as ‘chief love’ or ‘best love’.

The church at Ephesus is of particular interest because it was the place where the apostle Paul ministered for three years and declared the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:27. He told the Ephesians to be imitators of God and to walk in love in the same way that Christ loved them and offered Himself up for them. Eph 5:1,2. He likewise instructed the Philippians to have the same mind as Christ who ‘did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself to become a bondslave’. Phil 2:6, 7. In the book of Acts, we read that the early converts met together with sincerity or simplicity of heart. Acts 2:46. Their relationships were obviously not complicated or marred by envy or comparison and, evidently, they did not grasp at equality. These new Christians truly emptied themselves by selling properties and possessions to further the work of ministry! Acts 4:34,35. But even though we would desire to serve God, Paul told us that it was futile to sell our possessions or do other great things for Him if we didn’t love one another. 1 Cor 13:1-3. It is comforting to know, however, that even though God commands us to love, He does not expect us to find this capacity within ourselves because as Paul declared to the Romans, the love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Rom 5:5.

So what went wrong in the Ephesian church? They did do great things for God! They were pre-eminent in church structure and authority. They were diligent, hard working, wise and spiritually astute. They had endured and not grown weary, and they had willingly suffered for His name’s sake. Rev 2:2,3. But in all their toil and perseverance, they had lost their love for one another. Perhaps the ground of their hearts had become stony, scorched or even choked with weeds. Did they lose confidence in each other? Maybe, they had become offended, or cynical attitudes may have crept in. Did they become judgemental or critical and begin to bite and devour one another? Paul had warned them about all these things. Eph 4:25-32. Whatever the issue, the light of the Ephesian church was about to go out if they did not repent. Rev 2:5. They were instructed to return to their ‘first works’, because love is an action not a feeling and we can always choose how we will behave. Jesus warned that the love of many would grow cold when lawlessness increased and Paul spoke about the effect of leaven on a whole lump of dough. Matt 24:12. He equated leaven with wickedness and malice, explaining that even a small amount could corrupt a church. Paul, therefore, advised the Corinthians to remove all leaven and to celebrate the Passover, which is our salvation, with the ‘unleavened bread of sincerity and truth’. I Cor 5:8. If we do this, we can return to first love.

Sue Falk

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Feature Articles
March 2010

First Place

In and out

Facing our fears

First love

Fronting up!

Are you the one?

Seek Him first

The first and the best

When the axe is blunt

Come home

Familiarity breeds contempt