The book of Revelation is an ominous book. That's what attracts people to it; that's what scares people away from it. But before Jesus gets into the judgments that are mentioned in chapter four, He's got a few words to say to the church. And He begins with the church of Ephesus in Revelation chapter two: "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds 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 to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."
Dick Halverson was once the chaplain to the United States Senate, until a recent appointment of someone else. He wrote these words: "In the beginning, the church was a fellowship of men and women centered on the Living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise." If you were to define the word church, what does it mean? Well it means a lot of different things to different people. Usually, it means a building, to most people, though that is not the New Testament meaning. People will say, 'I'm going to church. Look--there's a church!' To other people, it's an institution. 'The church in America, the church worldwide.' In some people's minds, it's the place where theologians get together in a dark room with long robes and talk about theological stuff that nobody else can understand. Well, Jesus said that the church was a group of people that are called out to reflect Him. Not a building. Not an institution--but us! We're the church! And He said, "I will build My church." He didn't mean, 'Give me some two-by-fours and some cement.' He meant a group of people He will build--"I will build My church." Paul said the church is the pillar in the ground of all truth.
But having said what it is, it is also obvious that the church has lost credibility over the years. Though Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth, meaning we're to attract people, creating a thirst within them, the world isn't all that thirsty for what the church is offering. George Barna found out that there are forty times as many churches in America as McDonald's restaurants. That's a lot of churches. Because I know there are lots of McDonald restaurants. But he also said with a number of churches being that many, for the most part people see it as an outdated institution with little to offer the contemporary person. And so a poll was taken, given to people who don't go to church, and they asked them why. The two most popular reasons why the unchurch don't go. Number one, the church is not efficient in helping people find meaning in life. That's exactly what they ought to be doing. What we ought to be doing. 56% said that church is more concerned with organizational issues rather than spiritual issues. Organizing a committee, a team to do this, this person on that board, instead of spiritual issues.
I grew up going to church every Sunday. I didn't get up as a kid looking forward to it. Maybe I should have. To me, though, it was like going to the dentist. The pews were hard. They said words in another language I didn't understand. I was told it's my obligation, I have a Sunday obligation. And then tradition changed in that particular church, where you could go to church on Saturday. This is what they said: "to fulfill your Sunday obligation." So I grew up thinking, 'Ok. It's an obligation. It's nothing anybody really wants to do. It's something they are obliged to do--they have to do it.' That was the church. No wonder then in the 1960s, students in California campuses carried placards. One said: 'Jesus? Yes! Christianity? No!' That's quite a statement. They're reflecting the sentiment that we're into God, we know that there's a spiritual void, we like Jesus, but we don't like His representatives. We don't want anything to do with them. But we are hungry to know Jesus Christ.
We now look at the church of Ephesus and we see that there is an erosion taking place within the church and what happened to them can happen to us. In fact, this letter was written within sixty years of Jesus' coming to the earth, dying, and rising again. So quickly has the church of Ephesus turned. Now Ephesus was a large city. It was a busy place. Paul visited it. A great work was started there; a great church. They were so on fire. And I say that carefully--they were on fire. Now they've started to grow a little cold in their hearts; ice has grown over the altar of devotion. They're still doing the same stuff but that passion is gone. Some of us need a de-icing of our hearts, don't we? Jesus said, "Many are called, few are chosen." Perhaps we could also say, 'Many are cold and most are frozen.' What happened to Ephesus can happen to any one of us.
What we see in this letter is basically Jesus evaluates them, says 'I know everything about you and you've got some good points.' I like that about Jesus. He didn't say, 'Let me point out what's wrong.' He says, 'This is what I see is right.' So He commends them, first of all. And we want to see what they did right. Secondly, He confronts them in what they lack. And then finally, taking all of that into consideration, He gives them a commandment: now what ought we to do. Notice it opens up to the angel of the of Ephesus write, "These things says He who holds the seven stars." We remember last week, that's the messengers of the church. "In His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands." That's the church. "I know your works."
There's only one person that can say that. That's the founder of the church: Jesus Himself. He walks up and down the aisles every Sunday, so to speak. He walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. He knows who's there, He knows who's not. He knows why we're there; He knows what we do. And as the founder of the church, He patrols His church and He hands out report cards to the individuals, to the leaders, and to the churches in general. We're going to notice something and I hope we notice it in every single letter. Jesus tells them what He notices, good and bad for the most part. Sometimes He says nothing but bad things; many times it's just good stuff. But the things that pique the interest of Jesus, the things that He notices about the church, are not superficial things. He doesn't say, 'And I notice your carpet.' Or 'I'm really concerned about the music.' Or, 'I'm really noticing this speaker.' The things that Jesus is interested in are things that are different. They're matters of the heart; the direction of the inside.
In the seven letters to the seven churches, there's not just one application. There is a local application, number one, this was written to seven actual churches that lived in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. They were within about a hundred mile parameter of each other, they were sort of close to each other, they could communicate with each other. These were seven churches with seven problems and so there's a letter written to each one of them. But also I think it has an historic application. I think that there are seven periods of church history that are seen through the lens of these local churches. And we'll mention that in the coming weeks. Thirdly, it has a timeless application to churches of all ages in all parts of the world. In America, in Europe, in South America, in Africa, as well as in Asia Minor. But then also it has a personal application. Because a church is simply made up of individual members. And so rather than evaluating churches in the community, rather than evaluating churches throughout history, and simply periods of church history, let's evaluate ourselves. Really that's where the power of the Word is. Jesus said, "I know your works." That means your works and that means my works. And literally it's, 'I know with absolute clarity. I see everything that you do.' Sometimes people think they're hiding something from God. They can pull a fast one on Him, 'God didn't see that.' He knows everything! More than that, He knows why we do everything. He knows the motivation behind what we do.
Do you remember Psalm 39? David cries out to God, "O Lord, You have searched me and You have known me. You know when I sit down; You know when I rise up. You understand my thoughts from afar. You comprehend my path and my lying down. For there is not a word on my tongue but behold Lord You know it altogether. You hedge me behind and before. You have laid Your hand upon me," and then he said, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high; I cannot attain to it." I can't think like You think, God! You know my thoughts and their origin before they even come into my mind You know what I was about to think. You know me intimately.
Let's see what He knows about this church. First of all, He commends them because they were busy. This is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. He says, "I know your works," in verse two, "Your labor." Better translated, 'your hard, energetic toils and your activities.' Here's a history of this group. On Paul's second missionary journey, he came to Ephesus. It is a fabulous city. Even the ruins, and we were there just a few weeks ago, the dirt clods that are left, are impressive. It was a big, busy city. It was the capital of the Roman province of Asia. It was a bustling city. There are streets that are still there. A metropolis, like a Los Angeles or a New York in their time. I'm sure that there were camel jams, sort of like we have traffic jams today. But it was not only busy that way, it was busy spiritually. The church that started there, by Paul the Apostle, he spent three years, two years teaching and another year nourishing the church, and it says that it became a headquarters for evangelism in Asia Minor so that all of Asia heard the Word of the Lord. They heard it from Ephesus. That was sort of like the launching pad of evangelism. Not only did Paul come there, listen to the line-up of speakers they had. They had Paul the Apostle, Timothy, John the Apostle who writes this, in fact, he spends his latter years there, they had Apollos, that great orator that everyone was so familiar with, they had an incredible line-up of speakers. They were a very busy church.
In verse three, He mentions it again: "You have labored." And then notice also, "and have not become weary." It could be better translated: you have labored to the point of fatigue or exhaustion. Let me say that this is one of the marks of a healthy church. An unhealthy church is ingrown. They're only concerned about just we, us three, us four, no more. They're ingrown; it's us, it's me. A healthy is outreach oriented. It gets nourished in the things of God but it also looks to the world, the field that is white unto harvest. Busy in those kinds of activities. I imagine this church visited the sick, taught the young, had seminars of all sorts; they were a very busy church. Reminds us of something that I read. It says, this one guy wrote, "There are 200 million Americans. 86 million are over 65. And 76 million are under 21. That leaves only 38 million to do the work. But 6 million are in the armed forces, so that leaves 32 million to do the work. But 6 million are on welfare so that leaves 26 million to do the work. But 15 million work for the government so that leaves only 11 million to do the work. 10 million are in school so that leaves only 1 million to do the work. But 750,000 of them are disabled or sick so that leaves 250,000 to do the work. And last week there were 249,998 people in jail so that leaves 2 people left to do the work. And since you don't do much, no wonder I'm so tired."
I think of the church of Ephesus. You've labored to the point of exhaustion. But it was a commendation. Jesus commended them for it; He didn't knock them. He said, 'This is a good thing. I admire people who do the work. Who won't sit and philosophize; they'll actually do something with what they learn about in Christ.' James said, "Be doers of the word and not hearers only, otherwise you deceive yourselves." Doers climb the oak tree; dreamers sit on the acorn. Ephesus did. And Jesus commended them for it.
Next on the report card, you notice, is that they were persevering. Verse two, He mentions patience, verse three, you have persevered and have patience. The word patience is that familiar word in Greek to bear up under a load. It could be translated, to persevere under difficult circumstances, an unswerving constancy, a steady determination to go on. What is He referring to? He's referring to the fact that under tremendous opposition, persecution, they hung in there. You see, Ephesus was not only the center of culture and trade in Asia Minor; it was the center of religious activity. Not Christian activity--religious activity. It was right on the trade route, a seaport trade route that ran from the east all the way to the west. So in Ephesus, there was emperor worship. It came from Rome; it was established there in Ephesus. Once a year, if you lived in that city, you'd have to go out, look at a statue of Caesar and say publically, 'Caesar is my lord.' Christians didn't do that; they got in trouble for it. Also, it was the center of Eastern mystical worship. The magic arts centered themselves in Ephesus. Very similar to this state. Also, Ephesus was the center of Diana worship. Diana was the goddess, you can still see her figure in that part of the world today, she has many breasts on her front. I haven't stopped to count them, but they're all over. Her whole front is covered with breasts. She's this weird-looking fertility goddess. She's called the mother goddess of all of Asia. She was the worshiped; the center of it was in Ephesus.
You may remember reading the book of Acts. Even Paul was persecuted by those who worshiped Diana. There was a guy in that city, Acts 19 tells us, called Demetrius, who made silver statues of the goddess Diana and sold them for a profit. And since Paul the Apostle was there, and so many people were converting to Christianity, they were angry at Paul, thinking, 'We're gonna lose our job. Nobody's gonna buy these stupid idols anymore!' And so Demetrius caused a riot and the whole city of the Ephesians came into this huge theatre that is still there and for two hours, can you imagine, they cried out, 'Great is Diana of the Ephesians! Great is Diana of the Ephesians!' That's the only words to the song they knew. But they did it for two hours. And the whole city was in an uproar as they were persecuting Paul and the Christians who were following him. But, in the midst of all of that persecution, they persevered. They bore up under the load and, like a soldier who stayed at his task, he would not swerve. This church would not swerve. Jesus says, 'Straight A so far. You're busy; you're energetic. You persevere in the midst of persecution.' I have found over the years that words like persevere, patience, commitment are losing their grip among God's people. In fact, I was reading a magazine; I didn't order this, ministry magazine that was sent to me. I don't even know the name of it but it's about how to have a successful ministry. And I think on the second page, they said, 'Don't talk about commitment--people don't want to hear about it anymore.' That was passé. You can't expect a modern American audience to be told they have to commit themselves to anything long-term. It won't fly. Don't do that. Well, the Ephesians would have disagreed. They were right on top.
Thirdly, they were discerning. Verse two, notice, Jesus says, "You cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars.' You are doctrinally sound. You know how to discern and I commend you for it, says Jesus. There were two groups of itinerant preachers that went through the early church. Some that claimed to be apostles; some that claimed to be prophets. A lot of them weren't sent out by anybody and it became a real problem in the early church. They would just come to a community and say, 'Thus saith the Lord I'm an apostle.' 'Who sent you?' 'I don't need human credentials. God sent me.' They were all over the landscape. They became such a problem that there was a manual that was written called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles for the Gentile Churches. It's not a Scriptural book, but it was a manual on how to treat people who say they come in the name of the Lord. Part of it reads: "If any missioner comes, he should be welcomed as the Lord. But he is not to stay more than a day or two days if really necessary. If he stays three days, he is not genuine. If anyone comes to you speaking in a trance or with visions from God and says, 'Give me money' or anything else, do not listen to him. Let him not live in idleness simply because he says he is a Christian."
So somebody would come and say, 'Oh, I'm getting a vision right now... there are twenty people here with $1,000 each to give to me.' They said, 'Don't listen to him--get him out.' And so the church of Ephesus was good at this. They could spot a false prophet; they could smell them out, the false doctrine in their midst. In Acts 20, as Paul is leaving the shores of Ephesus, he's meeting with the leaders of this church. He gets them together and he says, 'Look, you guys. I spent three years teaching you and I gave you the whole counsel of God, but I'm going to warn you. After my departure, savage wolves will come in wanting to destroy the flock.' Well, the Ephesians were ready. They took the admonition to heart. They were ready and it worked. Even years later, they were still renowned for doctrinal purity. Here's a small portion of a letter written by Ignatius of Antioch who wrote in the second century to Ephesus: "You all live according to the truth and no heresy has a home among you. Indeed, you do not so much as listen to anyone if they speak of anything except concerning Jesus Christ in truth." That's a compliment. "You know truth from error." That's a compliment. And we also see the mention in verse six of the Nicolaitans. "You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans," says Jesus, "which I also hate." There's conjecture as to who the Nicolaitans are. Probably they were the followers of Nicolas of Antioch, who started his own little group and basically, it is thought, took grace to an unscrupulous extreme. In other words, live any way you want to, do anything you want to, because you're a believer. You're under grace. You can sin it up! And a lot of people thought, 'I like this religion. This is my style of a religion. Very open, very tolerant! I could live any way I want.' Jesus said, 'I commend you that you hate their deeds. I also hate them.'
Notice that Jesus is commending them, not condemning them. That He is commending them, not for their tolerance, but for their intolerance of evil. Please mark that. He says, verse two, "You cannot bear those who are evil." I am convinced that if Jesus were around today, He would be called politically incorrect. Because He said, 'You can't stand evil or false doctrine. You can't stand the Nicolaitans' deeds. Neither can I.' And He commended them for their lack of tolerance. Corinth was very tolerant. They were tolerant of immorality in their midst. And Paul rebukes them for it. The Galatians, they were tolerant of legalism and Paul rebukes them for it. You see, a counterfeit can be deadly and Jesus commends any group that can discern correctly between truth and error because that line is being fuzzy these days. Back east, a hospital known as Binghamton General Hospital had a sudden rash of infant deaths in the maternity ward and they investigated it and found out for the babies' formula, salt was substituted for sugar. It looked the same; the formula looked the same. You might look and say, 'What's the difference? No big deal.' The difference is what it does when it's ingested. The same with teaching. If it's not truth eventually it can infect and it can destroy.
So He's commending them: 'Straight A's. You're a model church. You work hard, you're energetic, you labor, you persevere under persecution, you can discern error from truth. Straight A's.' Verse four He confronts them in their waywardness: "Nevertheless." Uh-oh. That's not a good word after you get straight A's. "Nevertheless I have this against you." Now if a friend comes up to you and says, 'I've got something against you,' you'll listen. If a relative says, 'We've got to talk, I've got something against you,' you'll listen. But Jesus says, 'I've got something against you,' we really better listen. To the church of Ephesus: "Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love." Notice it does not say, as it is often misquoted, 'You have lost your first love.' It's not something you lose, it's something you leave. And the word implies a process. It implies a process over time; erosion has taken place. The erosion is you have left, you have released, you've let go of, you've left behind, your first love. In the original language, the word first is emphasized. Let me put it to you as I think it reads for the original: 'You have left, you have forsaken, you have left behind, your love: the first one.' Your love the first one. This was not their love for each other. That's secondary to our love for God. 'You have left your first love.' Our devotion to Him. Another translation puts it this way: 'You no longer love Me like you did at first.'
It seems that their pure, simple devotion for Jesus Christ had grown cold--that it had eroded. What is odd, really odd, is that they did all the right things. I mean, they worked hard, their bulletin looked like the itinerary for LAX, probably, they had activities all week long all the time, they had involved, active people persevering under persecution, yet Jesus would say to this church, 'You've left your first love. That devotion for Me.' You think, now wait a minute. How is it possible to serve God, to suffer for God, and not do it out of love? Well folks it's actually quite easy. It happens all the time. In fact, it can happen especially to those who are in the ministry full-time. Or wanting to be in the ministry full-time. You see, we can serve the Lord out of many different motivations. We can do it, number one, out of guilt. There are a lot of people who feel guilty and that's their motivation. And because they love themselves enough, they want to alleviate the guilt. It's like, 'I gotta get busy. Everybody else is busy so I'm gonna get busy because I feel guilty.' Another motivation could be, 'I want to be noticed by people. And if I do something, they'll say of me, how hardworking that brother is. Look at him!' And because, again, we love ourselves, we want to be recognized. Also the motivation, though it's a little bit better than the first two but not the highest is, we recognize that we have a gift that God has given us and so we might exercise our gift. 'I feel the need, I've got this gift. I've got to exercise it; do something with it. And so I want to look for a place that I might feel good because I have exercised my gift. I feel the need to exercise it and I feel so fulfilled whenever I do.' That's better than the first two. But the highest motivation, Jesus says, is that of love for Him.
Let's talk about first love for a minute. What is it exactly? First love is the love that characterizes a brand new baby Christian. You know what I'm talking about? That fresh, bold, excited, simple love, fervent love, for Jesus Christ. It's when life is boiled down to one thing: Jesus. They eat, sleep, drink, breathe, think about Jesus. He's changed me; He's forgiven me of my sin; I'm in love with Him! It's the honeymoon love, like a husband and wife. So often we hear about a marriage, people have been married for some time, and all of a sudden we hear something like, 'I don't love him anymore.' You what? I don't love him anymore. We look and we wonder what happened. What happened to that girl whose heart raced when she heard his voice? Instead of now. What happened to that young man who couldn't wait to get off work and call her and send her flowers? I'll tell you what's gone wrong. It didn't happen overnight--it was a slow erosion process. And it happens, as you know, all too frequently. They've lost, actually they have left, their first love. There's erosion. And it can happen to the church. We mentioned here, this is a letter written to the church of Ephesus sixty years after the event of the physical appearing death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now listen to what Paul writes to the Corinthian church, 2 Corinthians 11, he writes to them as a bride: "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I have betrothed you to one Husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ." That betrothal love. Listen I read a theologian in England, a couple Easters ago, a theologian said this: "God was but is not today. God does nothing, says nothing, and means nothing." This is a theologian. What happened? What turn in the road happened with this person, who perhaps started out, we don't know, with a fervent love for Jesus Christ? And now says God means nothing. Perhaps you're a person and you remember what it was like to receive Jesus Christ, to come to a church where you were fed the Word of God, to hear worship songs--it touched your heart so much. 'This is awesome! God is awesome!' But then over a period of time, your heart has gotten encased with a little bit of callous and coldness and it's like, same old song, same people, there's not that fervency. It's not something on the outside; it's on the inside. The flame on the altar of your heart, perhaps, is dying.
You know it's possible to be about the King's business and forget the King? It is. You just get busy and you forget, 'Hey wait a minute. I've got to worship and serve and love my King.' And keep that first love burning. Remember Mary and Martha in the New Testament? Classic example. Two different kinds of gals. Martha was the workaholic; Mary was the worshipaholic. Both personalities I think should be in all people. A hard worker and a loving worshiper. But Jesus came one day over for a meal, you remember. Martha was cooking, busy working in the kitchen. In fact Mary, because she was sitting down listening to Jesus, this angered Martha. Martha came to Jesus and said, 'Lord, look. Don't You care? I'm doing all the work! She's doing nothing. Tell her to help me.' Jesus said, 'Martha. You are distracted by your much serving.' He didn't condemn her service, but the distraction of it. Then He said, 'Mary has chosen the better part which will not be taken away from her.' It's ok to work--Jesus commends it here. But that love was gone.
You know it's more important to Jesus what you do with Him than what you do for Him? He's not impressed. 'Well, Lord, I want You to know that I've been faithful. I started a church.' So? He doesn't go, 'Whoa!' It's what we do with Him that is the highest importance. Do you remember Fiddler on the Roof? Classic, classic story. At one point in the film, Tavia the husband says to his wife, 'Do you love me?' Of course, he sings it. And she says, 'Do I love you?' Like what kind of a question is that? She says, 'I make your bed, I cook your food, I clean your clothes.' 'I know, but do you love me?' And she says the same thing. Look at all that I do for you. I know that, but do you love me? Not, what do you do for me? Is it out of that love for me? How ironic that Christianity was attacked by the Ephesians, by the Romans, by the government in Corinth and Rome, throughout the empire, by Diocletian, by Nero later on, by Voltaire and by other infidels throughout history. And yet that frontal attack hasn't done as much damage as the inward forces within the church that cause it to self-destruct by people who lose, excuse me, by people who leave their first love.
A lot of times, when we do counseling, and people will share a problem in a relationship, it's not always because of this, but frequently I will just ask this question: How's your time with the Lord? My what? How's your time with the Lord? You know, your devotional time, time that you spend, just you and He talking things out, spending time together out of love. Many times they'll hang their head and say it's not been consistent lately. I've stopped reading my Bible daily for some time. So many problems are tied to that leaving of the first love. And it happens to spill out into other areas.
Let's close with what He commands them. He commands their whole-heartedness. He says in verse five: "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works." Three things are given: remember, repent, repeat. Or do those first works over. First of all, remember. Relive the romance. Think back, recall the night that you stood to receive Jesus Christ with that friend of yours. Think back to the time you stood at an altar call with tears thinking, 'Lord, save me. O Lord, I love You.' Remember that; think back to it. Go back to that place of intimacy where you felt so close with Jesus. I even remember a couple people in the early days when I was first saved, they would write Jesus on everything. Not like they were graffiti artists or anything but, they would write on their hand or tennis shoes, Jesus. You know, like kids in love. Remember those times. Go back to them. God told the children of Israel, "You shall remember all the way the Lord your God led you." Oscar Wilde said, "Memory is the diary that we always carry around with us." Open that diary of your memory and think about those first weeks, months with Jesus.
Secondly, He says: repent. Now isn't that interesting that He says repent to the church? Wait a minute--I don't need to repent, I'm a Christian, that's for unbelievers, isn't it? I got to tell you, I do lots of repenting. Because as I come before the Lord with my personal life, He always points out those things. As David said, "Lord, search me and see if there is anything wicked in me." The Lord is faithful to do that to me. And so the church is called here to repent. In fact, He says that in most letters. Two authors wrote this: "Churches want to hear nice, optimistic messages free of the message of sin or the call for repentance. Churches want nice, lean programs directed as nice, clean families leading to growth without sacrifice. They want their organization to become bigger and bigger even as their God becomes smaller and smaller." But John, writing to Christians said, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
If you have strayed from the Lord. Let me put it this way, if you feel far from God, guess who moved? God didn't take a hike. God's been trying to draw you to Himself and today if you said, 'I feel far from God. I just feel so bad about it.' Don't sit there and feel bad about it--turn around and go right back to Him. With devotion and with confidence that He will forgive and receive you. And then finally, we are to repeat, or do our first works, as He says here, over again. This is the same counsel we give to a young couple who are losing that feeling; who have left the intimacy of first love. We say, 'Think back to what you did as a young couple. What did you do?' I called her all the time. Well, call her at work. Write love notes to her. Send her flowers. And to the wife: make that special meal for him, do those things that won his heart, compliment him. Do those first works all over again. Things like Bible study. Don't study it for the sake of academic knowledge. It's ok to understand little facts and figures about prophecy, but read this book as a love letter. God is speaking to you. And then your prayer life shouldn't be, 'I've got to pray today--it's my obligation as a Christian.' Say, 'I'm going to take a walk and talk to God. Pour out my heart, tell Him that I love Him, listen to His love for me. And then tell others about Jesus Christ because Jesus is the center of your life, your family, your business. He's everything. You say, 'Well, I sort of don't have that feeling anymore. I don't know that I feel like that.' Do it anyway. Because you know what? Feelings are like a caboose--they will follow your will. And if you determine and decide Jesus is number one and I'm going to place Him as such, those feelings will return.
In fact, notice what Jesus says after that: "Or else I will remove the lampstand from its place unless you repent." Jesus walks in the midst of the lampstands; He belongs in the presence of His church. But here He is saying, in effect, 'I won't stay around a church that doesn't love Me.' And the lampstand will be removed; you'll lose the opportunity to make an impact and a witness in your world, your community. I read a story, it said in the story, that it was a true story, so I'll pass it on as such. It seems that a retired couple sold their stocks and their bonds to buy a motor home. And it was the latest and the greatest and it had cruise control in it, which was a very important feature. So they were taking their vacation up the west coast, the husband drove for hours and he said to his wife, 'I'm getting tired; I'd like to take a nap. Why don't you drive?' She gets behind the wheel, gets up to speed, presses cruise control. After about an hour, she needed to use the restroom so she went back and used the restroom. She thought cruise control was like autopilot in an airplane. At least, that's what she told the California Highway Patrol after the crash. Yes, they did crash. No, they were not permanently hurt or damaged.
You cannot put your life, spiritual life, on cruise control. You can't do that. 'Ok, good. I've got everything in order here. Got my house, the church, my kids, the Bible thing.' Just cruise--you cannot do that. You got to put the brakes on in some areas, that's what turn around, repent means. Put the accelerator on in certain areas, because it's not self-maintaining. The Lord is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Seek Him with all of your heart. Father, help us to do exactly that, lest we be busy, busy, busy about the affairs of the kingdom and we neglect the King Himself who wants our love, preferred about our service, so that our service is motivated by our love for You.