First Love

by LA UBF   08/15/2015     0 reads

Question

First Love

Revelation 2:1-7

Key verse 4

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”

  1. Read verses 1-3. Who is the sender and what are the recipients of the words to the church of Ephesus? (1) In what aspect was the Ephesian church praised? (2, 3) What can we learn from them?

  2. Read verses 4-5. What was lacking with them? (4) How could they restore their first love? (5) What was Jesus’ warning if they would not repent?

  3. Read verses 6-7. What did they hate? (6) Who were the Nicolaitans? (14, 15) What will be given to those who are victorious? (7) How can we be victorious to the end?

Manuscript

Message

You have forsaken the love you had at first

Revelation 2:1-7

Key Verse 2:4

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”

Today’s message is about ‘the first love’. Have you experienced your first love? One day my daughter Martha asked me if I had my first love. I was embarrassed and I could not say much because I was not so sure which one was my first love. I felt awkward to say someone is my first love in front of Maria after living together for such a long time. I felt like it would insult her. So my answer was ‘No, I did not have my first love.” I felt Martha was disappointed after hearing what I said. But I did not ask her why she asked me the question. Still I don’t know. I sensed that maybe she was experiencing her first love or she was curious about to know if her father, who is a missionary, could have experienced such a thing called ‘first love’.

The word ‘first love’ is a popular topic of many stories and many people would love to hear them. But in today’s passage we are not talking about the first love with someone else but Jesus Christ. Have you had your first love for Christ? Most of us have such first love for Christ, the times when we were so moved by his love, and when we were ready to do anything including giving up our own lives for Christ. It was the time when we were so thankful for what he has done for us, that we thought about him all the time and we wanted to do anything for him. Arguably, that is generally our first love with Christ we experienced.

The church in Ephesus was excellent in many ways but Jesus said they forsook their first love for him. So today we want to learn how the church in Ephesus can restore their first love for Christ. We want to learn how we can also restore our first love for Christ.

Part I. I know your deeds (v.1-3)

Look at verse 1.

“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.”

Jesus is described as the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. “Seven stars” are the angels of the seven churches, and angels could refer to church leaders. “To hold seven stars in his right hand” could mean that Jesus had authority over seven churches especially the leaders of the churches. “Seven golden lampstands” are seven churches. ‘To walk among the seven golden lampstands’ shows that Jesus was shepherding over the seven churches. He was like a diligent shepherd who walks among his seven sheep and knows their spiritual conditions and makes sure that they grow in knowledge and grace.

Look at verses 2-3.

“2 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. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.”

Here, Jesus talked about their good deeds at first. Jesus said twice, “I know”. The word ‘know’ shows that Jesus had deep and personal knowledge of them. He really knew them to the core, and that is why he said, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people.” They kept ‘zero tolerance policy’ to wicked people. Then they were even able to test false apostles and found them false. Therefore they did not fall into confusion and division because of their false teaching. This is one of their excellent jobs because the church of Pergamum suffered from the false teaching. Most of all, they have not grown weary after many years of persevering and enduring hardships for Jesus’ name. They were such an excellent church.

Part II. Consider how far you have fallen (v.4-7)

Look at verses 4-5.

“4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 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.” 

Jesus found one thing that was lacking from them. It was the forsaking of their first love for him. Somehow and somewhere in the course of persevering and enduring many hardships they abandoned their first love for Jesus.

They were like the Israelites when God brought them out of the slavery of Egypt. At that time, they all shouted, “We will do everything you command us.” It was when they heard all the commands of God on the Mount of Sinai. But after they entered into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey, they began to worship idols rather than the Lord who brought them out of the slavery in Egypt forgetting their first love and commitment.

In today’s passage the degree of the forsaking of their first love was so big that Jesus had to say to them, “Consider how far you have fallen!” The word ‘consider’ has the same meaning of ‘remember’. ‘Consider how far you have fallen’ means ‘remember how far you have fallen’ or ‘remember from where you have fallen.’

Then, Jesus said, “Repent and do the things you did at first.” The abandoning of their first love for Jesus was not just invisible. They did not do the things they had done at first.

What could be the things they had done at first but did not do at that time? We can find the answer when we think about what we do when we love someone. “When you love someone what do you do?” “When you love someone what do you want to do?” “Spending time with that person!” “Being thankful for whatever that person does for you.” “Bring gifts to that person like flowers or chocolate” “Say you love that person” “Thinking about that person all the time.” These are exactly what we will do when we love someone. And it applies to our love for Christ. When we love him we want to spend time with him. We want to bring our gifts to him. We want to say to him, “I love you”. We want to think about him all the time. We will be so thankful and praise him all the time. We want to work so hard to please him.

How can the church in Ephesus restore their first love for Christ? Are we better than the church in Ephesus? Probably not. How then can we restore our first love for Christ? It is by doing what we had been doing when we had first love for him. There are 3 things we can do to restore our first love for Christ. They are by spending time with him, and remembering what he has done for us, and serving others with the love of Christ.

Firstly, we can restore our first love for Christ by spending time with him. We need to spend time with him in order to listen to Him through his word and also speak to Him through prayer, sharing our hearts to Him. It is like daily devotion.

Wouldn’t you agree that our early morning time of prayer is rekindling our spirits, giving us a new burning heart of desire to restore our love relationship with God?

As I prayed in the morning together with other coworkers I felt newly alive and filled with great joy and happiness and eager expectation and thankfulness to God and to each person there. I felt united and I felt the presence of our Father, who I believe was with us and hearing our prayers.

I feel like I am going through healing process whenever I have joint prayers with other coworkers. Through each other’s prayer moved by the Spirit I feel like I am being healed during the time of prayer. Yesterday while I was exercising I was amazed at the amount of time of joint prayers these days. Overseers have joint prayer for 50 minutes. Then we have joint prayer with new disciples and our fellowship leaders and our church members at 5:30 am, and it takes about half an hour. Then we have 8 pm joint prayer meeting which takes about half an hour too. So I realized that I participated in joint prayers almost 2 hours a day. Then I have my personal prayer time. I realized God has already answered one of my 3 prayers topics this year. My 3 prayer topics based on my yearly key verse are to pray more than 1 hour a day and read the bible more than 1 hour a day and memorize daily bread key verse before going to bed. But God has already answered my prayer to pray more than 1 hour a day.

Now as I do how do I feel? Do I feel better? Absolutely! I became a happier man than anyone else. I feel the fire of the Holy Spirit arising in my heart, and in the hearts of other coworkers, and in the church. I never expected anyone would come to 3 times of joint prayer a day because that would be too much for any man who has a full time job. So I was surprised to see shepherd William coming to 8 pm prayer meeting every night. I don’t know how he could make 3 times of joint prayers a day. As you know he has a full time job, and he has 6 children and wife. But he has been doing it. Do I feel sorry for him? Absolutely not! I pray for the health of all my coworkers who come to prayer meetings because they have to sleep less. But I have no regrets at all that I invited them and they come because they themselves experience the powerful fire of the Holy Spirit which is the fire of their first love for Christ in their hearts. Praise God who has worked so powerfully among us to restore our first love for Christ through our joint prayers. Truly, to spend time with Christ through prayer and reading the word of God is the way for us to restore our first love for Christ.

Secondly, we can restore our first love for Christ by remembering what he has done for us.

One story can remind us of what the Lord has done for us. About one week ago, a father and mother saved their 9 years old son when they died in a desert of New Mexico. They came from France, but somehow they did not take enough water to drink when they went into the desert of national park in New Mexico. When they were in trouble the father and the mother gave two sips of water to their son in each time when they drank only one sip of water. Later both the father and the mother were dead because of heat but the son survived. The story shows how much they loved their son. Even at the cost of their own lives they loved their son and saved him. Their story reminds me of Jesus’ love for us.

Like the parents in the desert, Jesus sacrificed his life to save us. He was crucified in our own place, paying all the price of our sin. He was condemned in our place, and that was how he offered sin forgiveness for all of us. He was raised on the third day, breaking the power of death for us because we were slaves of fear because of death. In this way he gave his life for us in order to deliver us from sin and death. We need to remember it, focus on it, verbalize it, praise it, sing it aloud, pray it out loud and be thankful all the days of our life.

One father could restore his love for his daughter when he remembered how much his daughter loved him. He had a poor relationship with his daughter. He felt his daughter did not listen to him, and he could not bear her weaknesses many times. Sometimes he was afraid to have fellowship with her because he might have unexpected arguments or troubles with her which would make their relationship worse. But one day God opened his eyes to see how much his daughter bore his weaknesses. Time after time his daughter kept forgiving his mistakes. In the course of doing so she became sick and depressed. When God revealed this to him, he cried out. He realized Christ sent his daughter and his daughter bore all of his weaknesses. He could see Christ in her. He could see it was not he who did favor for his daughter but his daughter was the one who was doing favor for him. Indeed God demonstrated his own love for him in this way: Christ sent his daughter to bear his weakness. His daughter loved him so much that she bored his weakness to the point of becoming sick. When he remembered all his daughter did for him he could restore his first love for his daughter.

When we do not remember what the Lord has done for us, we can forsake our first love. It happened to me as well. I still remember when I stood at my wedding ceremony. I stood as the terrible sinner before God. But my heavenly Father treated me as his precious son. And the visible evidence of his love and forgiveness of all my sin was Maria who became my wife. I was so thankful for the love of my Father in heaven. And I was so thankful for Maria because she became my wife although she was a daughter of God. However, in the course of living together I blamed her so many times, and many times I was angry at her. Probably about 15 years later one day God opened my eyes, and showed me in a flashing moment what I had done to my wife in anger. At that moment I realized that my Father had been healing me. Because he healed me, at that moment, I was able to see what I had been doing to my wife. Why did I miss all of such thanks and love in my practical life for such a long time? Why did I have to miss it for such a long time? Why should I prove that I am such a terrible sinner in this way? When I think about it, we don’t need to.

We don’t need to become such terrible sinners who do not remember what God has done for us, what our parents have done for us, what our bible teachers have done for us, what our brothers and sisters have done for us, what our husbands or wives have done for us, and what our children have done for us. We don’t need to become such terrible people who do not remember others’ kindness and complain. Again we don’t need to become terrible sinners who forget all the good things our heavenly Father did for us and all the good things our neighbors did for us and complain. We can become thankful people remembering all the good things others have done for us. And we can be the people of great love for our heavenly Father and our brothers and sisters. We can love God with all our hearts, mind, strength, and will, and love our neighbor as ourselves. Can we do it? Yes. We can.

Thirdly, we can restore our first love for Christ by serving others with Christ’s love. Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will obey my commands.’ And Jesus asked us to serve others in his love. By serving others with Jesus’ love, we can restore our first love for Christ.

One bible teacher had one earnest desire in his heart. It was to return the love of God to at least one person before he died. Then he served one bible student for 4 years through the bible study. After 4 years his student told him, “You served me for the last 4 years with bible study. Now I can see you truly love me” When the bible teacher heard the testimony of his bible student he knew God answered his prayer.

‘To spend time with Christ, remembering what God has done for them, and to serve others with Jesus’ love are probably what the church in Ephesus did not do anymore although they had done at first.

Jesus said, “Repent and do the things you did at first.” Jesus’ command was not ‘just think about it.’ But he said, ‘do the things you did at first.” Indeed the forsaking of their first love shows its evidence in the form of their deed. They did not do the things they had done at first.

What if the Ephesian church members do not repent? Jesus said in verse 5b. “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” “To remove their lampstand from its place’ probably means they will be removed from the presence of Christ, and they will be removed from the love and care of Jesus. Or it could mean the church will disappear.

Look at verse 6.

“But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

When I read the verse a question arose in my heart. This is one of their good deeds. Why didn’t the Lord said it right after he described their good deeds in verses 2 and 3 but in verse 6? Then I realized that ‘the practices of Nicolaitans’ could be related to the abandoning their first love, and that is why it is mentioned here. We don’t know exactly what is ‘the practices of Nicolaitans’. ‘The practices of Nicolaitans’ could refer to licentiousness. Although the church in Ephesus forsook their first love they did not abuse ‘the love of God’ as license to sin. There are many people who abuse the love of God as a license to indulge in sinful desires. But the church in Ephesus did not do so.

Now look at verse 7.

“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.”

We all have ears but it does not mean we hear. To hear from our heart requires emptying our hearts. It is hard to hear because we think we are right. So we can make mistakes by asking others to repent when we need to repent. To hear what the Spirits says requires self-denial and spiritual discipline. What good is it for us to argue continually that we are right? If we hear what the Spirit says to the churches we can grow although we may be humbled.

If we truly hear what the Spirit says to the church in Ephesus, we will be victorious. If we are victorious Jesus will reward us, that is to have the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. Jesus will give us the same blessing given to Adam.

In conclusion, we learned today how we can restore our first love for Christ. We can do so by spending time with him, and remembering all he has done for us, and serving others with his love.

One word: Repent and do the things you did at first.

Manuscript

Biblenote

First Love

Revelation 2:1-7

Key verse 4

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”

Introduction

Today’s passage is the first of the seven letters that Jesus told John to write to the seven churches in Asia Minor. In the letter, Jesus first commends the believers in Ephesus for their good deeds. Then he rebukes them for their serious problem and urges them to repent. May God help us to accept and apply the words of Christ to us!

  1. Read verses 1-3. Who is the sender and who are the recipients of the words to the church of Ephesus? (1) In what aspect was the Ephesian church praised? (2, 3) What can we learn from them?

1-1, Read verses 1-3.

“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. 2 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. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

1-2, Who is the sender and who are the recipients of the words to the church of Ephesus? (1)

“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.

  • The Sender is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Lord of all churches. These letters show how much Jesus cares about the spiritual condition of his churches.

  • Jesus walks among us. He knows what is on our minds. He knows our situations and he cares about us.

  • Who are the recipients of the seven letters of Jesus? Each letter is addressed to the “angel” of the church—or the “messenger” of the church (NIV footnotes).

  • Some authorities believe that the letters were sent to the spiritual leaders in the church, while others maintain that they were sent to the angels appointed to protect the churches.

  • Either way, the words of Jesus are directed to the church of God, that is, all believers.

  • And more importantly, the letters are the words of Jesus who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.

  • The seven stars are the angels or the messengers of the churches. The seven golden lampstands are the seven churches (1:20).

  • Jesus appeared to John in a vision and told him to write letters to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea (1:11).

  • Why seven churches and why these particular ones when there were other churches, some of them bigger and better known (such as Antioch and Corinth)?

  • We can find a clue to this question in verse 7, which says, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

  • This statement is repeated at the end of all seven letters. Notice that the Spirit says to the “churches,” not singular but plural.

  • In other words, the seven were chosen to represent all churches.

  • In the book of Revelation, the number 7 is used for completion, fullness and perfection (e.g., seven stars, seven eyes, seven horns, seven seals, seven trumpets, etc.).

  • It is the number of the Holy Spirit. The seven churches represent all churches of Jesus Christ.

  • In addition, the seven churches in Asia Minor were chosen probably because their strengths and weaknesses represented those of all churches throughout history--past, present and future.

  • Therefore, the messages of Jesus in the letters are directed to not only the churches in Asia Minor in John’s time, but also to all churches in the world throughout history.

  • The letters contain Jesus’ commendations, rebukes, encouragements and promises. The contents are very relevant to us today.

  • May God help us to have ears to hear so that we may hear what the Spirit says to us!

1-3, In what aspect was the Ephesian church praised? (2, 3)

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. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

  • Ephesus was an important city in the Roman province of Asia.

  • It was a great commercial center and a crossroads of the Roman Empire, connecting all her major cities by highways and seaways.

  • The city was also known for its worship of the goddess Artemis (or Diana). The great temple of Artemis was larger than two football fields in length.

  • It had 127 impressive marble pillars, some of them covered with gold. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.

  • In this idol-worshiping environment, how did the church in Ephesus please the Lord?

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. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

  • Jesus commends the believers in Ephesus for their deeds. They showed their faith by their actions. Hard work and perseverance characterized their faith.

  • They were different from some Christians today who talk, talk, and talk.

  • It must not have been easy for the Ephesian believers to live by faith in the midst of an idol worshiping culture.

  • They were a minority who lived a holy life among people who loved fun and pleasures.

  • They must have been persecuted for not following the trend of their society. But they persevered and endured hardships for Jesus’ name.

  • Jesus mentioned their perseverance twice. They did not grow weary. In addition, they did not tolerate wicked people.

  • They boldly tested those who claimed to be apostles but were false.

  • No doubt they must have studied the word of God diligently with a scholarly attitude in order to develop a sense of spiritual discernment.

  • This was important for their faith because there were not only idol-worshipers but many false teachers among them.

1-4, What can we learn from them?

  • Our society is not much different from Ephesus in terms of spiritual and moral degradation. Many people worship money and pleasure.

  • Ephesus had a huge amphitheater for entertainment. We have many large stadiums devoted to entertainment. We also have many false teachers and false preachers.

  • Let us not grow weary as we give fully to the work of the Lord. Let us persevere and endure hardships for Jesus’ name.

  • Instead of absorbing any teaching or preaching that we encounter, let us also study the word of God sincerely and diligently so that we can discern false teachers for what they are.

  1. Read verses 4-5. What was lacking with them? (4) How could they restore their first love? (5) What was Jesus’ warning if they would not repent?

2-1, Read verses 4-5.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 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.

2-2, What was lacking with them? (4)

4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.

  • The Christians in Ephesus must have been very happy when they first accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. They had been eager to serve Christ.

  • They were willing to sacrifice themselves to show their love for Christ. But over time, their love for Christ became cold.

  • They no longer loved Jesus with all their hearts as they had done at first. Their love grew cold.

Matthew 24:10-12 reads,

At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,

  • It is like a marriage life. A couple that has been married for a long time doesn't always have the same thrill of excitement they had when they first dated.

  • That excitement has matured into a depth of love that makes it even better than the first love. It is a desirable path.

  • But often times couples end up forgetting their first love and come close to the danger of divorce without recovering it.

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (NASB-New American Standard Bible)

  • The distinction between leaving and losing is important. Something can be lost quite by accident, but leaving is a deliberate act, though it may not happen suddenly.

  • Furthermore, when we lose something we don't know where to find it; but when we leave something or walk(drift) away, we know where to find it.

  • Let us think about how this church had been pioneered.

  • The church of Ephesus was pioneered by Paul (Ac 18:19-21) in his second missionary journey. He spent three years there in his third missionary journey, focusing on discipleship training in the lecture hall of Tyrannus (Ac 19).

  • The church began as a humble ministry. The believers resisted the popular culture of the city, known for its sexual immorality and the worship of the goddess Artemis.

  • Their number was small but their influence was great. Those who used to practice magic burned their books.

  • The silversmiths who used to make money selling trinkets of the goddess Diana lost their source of income. But now the church grew and became large.

  • And the second-generation believers seemed to have been influenced by the culture of the city. They lost their purity and love for Christ.

  • They compromised with the world. They were busy with various church activities, but lacked a deep love for Christ.

  • Many activities that are not motivated to please the Lord are meaningless before God, no matter how impressive they may be.

  • To the eyes of people, their church was vibrant with many impressive programs. There was always something going on in the church.

  • Though they had left their first love, everything looked great on the outside.

  • Imagine, if you would have attended a service of the church at Ephesus, you might have thought, "They are doing so much, and they really guard the truth."

  • But to Jesus, the most important thing was missing--their love.

  • They had forsaken their first love. They didn’t know that hard work was not a substitute for love.

  • We should work hard for Jesus out of our love for him. But we should not be mistaken to think that keeping ourselves busy means that we love Jesus.

  • The Ephesian church was a doctrinally pure church. Sometimes a focus on doctrinal purity may make a congregation cold and intolerant of diversity.

  • Our relationship with our Lord Jesus can get cold if we take him for granted and neglect our personal time with him because of our busy daily life.

  • We tend to lose our first love if we focus on ourselves or what we have rather than the Lord.

  • We lose our enthusiasm when we forget the grace of salvation and depend on ourselves.

  • When you were first saved, how enthusiastic and excited were you to meet Jesus personally and invite others to Jesus?

  • No doubt you were happy to sing praises of him, study his word with an eager, learning mind, and share your personal testimony with others.

  • You were happy to live for his name’s sake. But over time we all experience a decline in our zeal for Christ.

  • Things tend to become routine. We still love Jesus, but the fire in us does not burn as intensely as it did before.

2-3, How could they restore their first love? (5)

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.

  • “Remember therefore from where you have fallen” (NKJV).

  • Remember how you used to spend time in His Word? Remember how you used to pray? Remember the joy in getting together with other Christians? Remember how excited you were about telling others about Jesus?

  • To restore the sparkle of our love for Christ, we must first remember the joy and gratitude we had when we first met Him.

  • And we must repent instead of blaming others or despairing or rationalizing. We must learn to accept the personal responsibility for our actions.

  • To repent is to admit our wrong, turn away from our sinful ways and walk with Christ.

  • For instance, the prodigal son in Luke 15 said, “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you”

  • Finally, we must do what is right in order to restore our first love. Feeling sorry about what happened is not enough.

  • We must bear the fruit of our repentance, that is, we must show our repentance by doing what is right before God.

  • He wants us to obey his words. In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will do what I command.”

2-4, What was Jesus’ warning if they would not repent?

If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

  • This was a very serious matter. Jesus warned them that if they did not repent, they would lose the main function of the church, that is, to keep the lamp of God burning for the people around them.

  • Jesus told them that he would come and remove their lampstand, if they did not repent.

  1. Read verses 6-7. What did they hate? (6) Who were the Nicolaitans? (14, 15) What will be given to those who are victorious? (7) How can we be victorious to the end?

3-1, Read verses 6-7.

6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 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.

3-2, What did they hate? (6)

6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

  • Jesus told the Ephesians that they still had some good in them—they hated the practices of the Nicolaitans.

3-3, Who were the Nicolaitans? (14, 15)

14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

  • The Nicolaitans promoted the Gnostic ideas and tempted many believers to compromise with the world.

  • Instead of holding on to the teachings of Jesus, some of them held to the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans.

  • They abandoned the word of God and turned to false teachings. The story of Balaam and Balak is found in Numbers 22-25.

  • Some Bible scholars believe that they were the followers of Nicolas who had been one of the seven deacons listed in Acts 6, but later abandoned his faith to teach the Gnostic ideas.

  • These people abused the grace of Jesus by teaching people to use the freedom in Christ to indulge in sin with impunity.

  • Their doctrine was the doctrine of compromise. Following the Gnostic ideas, they taught the separation of spirit and body.

  • They not only taught that sexual immorality was okay but encouraged them to practice it.

  • We can see why Jesus hated their practices. Hate is a strong word. But Jesus commended the Ephesians for hating the practices of the Nicolaitans.

  • He said he also hated their practices. To overcome the temptation to compromise with the world, we must have a strong resolve to resist.

  • We must hate it. If we gave in just a little bit, we would be in the middle of it before we know it.

  • We must hate the practices of this evil world. We must hate compromise. We learn here that we should hate what our Lord hates.

  • We must learn to say no to a compromising life, instead of saying, “It’s not too bad” or “It won’t hurt my faith.”

3-4, What will be given to those who are victorious? (7)

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.

  • We should not rationalize our sinful deeds. We need to restore our personal relationship with Christ through our personal struggle with the word of God and prayer.

  • We should have ears to hear the word of Christ.

  • Jesus gives a wonderful promise that to the one who is victorious in this battle, he will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is preserved for us in the paradise of God.

3-5, How can we be victorious to the end?

  • Instead of relying on our own wits and wisdom, we humbly rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit who is the counselor for us to be led into the truth always.

  • The Holy Spirit leads us to righteousness, sin, and judgment(John 16).

  • May the Lord help us to be led with the Spirit of truth in these confusing times so that we may be victorious to the end.

Conclusion

Jesus praised the Ephesian believers for their good deeds: their hard work, perseverance, spiritual discernment, and refusal to compromise with the Nicolaitans. But he held one critical thing against them: they had forsaken their first love. Jesus urged them to remember, repent, and return to their first love. May God help us to remember the grace and love of our Lord Jesus! May God help us repent and return to our first love so that everyday is like the first time we met Christ!

One word: First Love!

Manuscript

List