Our First Love

To the first of the seven Churches listed in the Book of Revelation Jesus Himself declares we have lost our first love. What really amazes me is the consequences of losing our first love as described in the last Church listed. When the Church loses her first love she inevitably turns to love another - the love of money takes the place of the love of Christ! In the eyes of our Lord His Church is going from Ephesus to Laodicea - from a loveless Church to a naked Church. But in the eyes of men the "hard-working" Church becomes a prosperous Church. Why? God's people love the Church of Christ more than the Christ of the Church! The Church makes them rich but Christ doesn't.

The Lord said to the Church in Ephesus (first Church listed):

"I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, 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.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love" (Rev. 2:2 - 4, NIV, emphasis added).

The Lord said to the Church in Laodicea (last Church listed):

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Rev. 3:15 - 17, NIV, emphasis added).

I believe the Church in Laodicea is a vivid description of the Church today - the end-time Church. I also believe the Bible is more up-to-date than today's newspapers. The love of money, which is a root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:10), has taken the place of the love of Christ. Clearly the driving force behind it is growth (in number) and prosperity of the Church. That's why there are now many nega-churches with thousands of churchgoers. The Church says, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth" because they have more and more people in the pews. And more people means more collection of tithes and offerings. People love to attend Church services because the gospel message had been diluted and in many cases replaced by "itching ear" messages (2 Tim. 4:3).

The Church in Ephesus - A bit of history

The Church in Ephesus had its beginning on Paul's second missionary journey (50 -52 AD) when he visited this city with Priscilla and Aquila. In Acts 19, we see the outbreak of a great revival in Ephesus with many people being saved, filled with the Spirit, healed, delivered from demonic oppression, and completely changed.

The Ephesian Church had experienced a glorious beginning and had risen to prominence among first-century Christians. There were many commendable qualities in these believers: They were an active hard-working group of people; they persevered in the face of strong obstacles; they were intolerant of evil men, false apostles, and those who were distorting the gospel; and they have not grown weary following the Lord. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with them because they had left their "first love" - the Lord Jesus Christ!

The greatest pursuit in life

Our ultimate love and loyalty belong to God and therefore Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30, NKJV).

Jesus also said, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who love son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:37).

Our Lord couldn't have spoken in more graphic terms to describe the importance of our relationship with Him. He assumes we do love the members of our family, but He requires us to love Him even more. He requires our love for Him as the greatest pursuit in our lives.

The Ephesian Church was diligent in doing good deeds and enduring in their Christian faith, yet God was not satisfied. Their origianl love was gone. Just being busy didn't impress Him at all. He wanted their hearts. He got their labor - it wasn't enough.


How does our first love fade?

For many of us, our spiritual walk may have gotten off to a good start, but God is concerned about how we are doing today. We may be involved in essentially the same activities (going to Church, attending praying meetings, attending home-cell groups, attending Christian meetings and conferences and attending Church family camps) as we were when Christ first came into our lives, but now these activities have lost their joy and meaning for us. Or, we may even begin to grow apathetic and uninterested in spiritual things. We then gradually pull away from God and away from any meaningful Church involvement. Anger, exhaustion, and exasperation then start to show up in our attitudes. The desire to draw close to God diminishes. Our first love begins to fade.

Many people think the opposite of love is hate but I believe the opposite of love is indifference, apathy, and with an "I don't care" attitude. This is precisely what happens to the Laodicean Church, being lukewarm - neither hot nor cold (Rev. 3:15).

Commitment to the Lordship of Christ

In God's perspective we should grow in our love for Him daily. If we are focusing all our efforts on simply hanging on, we are bound to make little progress. We must arise and not just "sit there until we die" (a recent message). It does not take many people to change the Local Church, it just takes commitment.

In general, commitment means to entrust or to pledge involvement. For Christians, commitment is a means by which we enter into an obligation of relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, we are committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. Every thing our lives involved in as Christians hinges on our attitude of commitment to our declaration that Jesus Christ is the Lord of our lives.

The principles of commitment

The Lord has committed to us His faithfulness, His righteous judgment, His trust, His trustworthiness and His Word. We in turn commit to Him in His Lordship, our faithfulness to His Gospel, our trust in His Word, and our entire lives in His service. It is a mutual commitment of love relationship. We have to fulfill or obligation to Him because we are His purchased possession (Eph. 1:14). We are obligated by this purchase to serve Him with love.

Paul wrote to Timothy, ".... According to the glorious gospel of blessed God which was committed to my trust" (1 Tim. 1:11).

"O Timothy! Guard what what was committed to your trust, ..." (1 Tim. 6:20).

"For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day" (2 Tim. 1:12).

The nature of commitment

1. Commitment demands the exercise of responsibility otherwise it is not a commitment.

2. Commitment demand the exercise of self discipline.

3. Commitment is an attitude which can be developed. It is an attitude which God's grace can work in our hearts if it is not there to begin with.


4. Commitment is designed to go hand in hand with hard work.

5. Nothing prospers, nothing grows, nothing increases, and nothing gets better unless there is commitment.

6. There is nothing more powerful in the earth today than a human being who is totally committed. You can see it in every walk of life, in every kind of vocation, in every kind of pursuit. Famous athletes and other successful sports stars are all committed.

7. True Christians are committed to the Lordship of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

8. Christians who are being used tremendously by God are committed. They deny themselves and carry the cross daily and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). They remain as amateurs and never professionals. There is no such thing as professional Christians.

9. The only difference between the men in the Bible and you and I is the level of commitment to our callings. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Paul and many others have much higher level of commitment than most of us.

Spiritual Diseases

In our walk in obedience to the Lord we must beware of spiritual diseases. Briefly, here are two common spiritual diseases.


1. Spiritual Old Age

There are Christians who are relatively young in the Lord, but already have evidence the characteristics of what we called "spiritual old age". The resulting symptoms closely parallel the same conditions we often observe in those older people who have become set in their ways:

a. Unteachableness

Some Christians think they have arrived at a sufficient level of spirituality as compared with other believers. They may then develop judgmental attitudes towards other believers who are not as knowledgeable. When their "mature and seasoned" point of view is not accepted, they often become offended.

b. A loss of flexibility

Some Christians live in a predictable manner so as to avoid the threat of uncertainty and so as to maintain a sense of control. In so doing they become satisfied with a mere mechanical performance of their traditions, with little or no dependence upon God.

c. Focus on past events

Many Christians begin with a powerful revelation of God's love and grace, but do not continue on to stay in touch with Him. They try to live off the strength of their initial experience. They fail to cultivate a fresh, daily relationship with Him. Their spiritual walks are leading them nowhere.

d. An inward orientation

Some of us in the beginning had an outward focus that motivated us to extend ourselves to others in love, but after a time we may selfishly turn inward. By so doing we miss the opportunity to reach out for Christ to those around us.

2. Barrenness in Busyness

A Christian began his spiritual life full of zeal. He was the kind of person you never had to motivate in his devotional life, spending several hours each day reading the Bible and praying. Later on in life, he found a demanding job in a large corporation. Dealing with the daily pressures he encountered not only sapped his energy, but robbed him of time he needed with the Lord. This was a new phase of life for him and much had changed. The stress of handling work obligations and providing for his family was extremely taxing on him.

We all face the problem of losing sight of Jesus in the crowded events of the day. Jesus Himself spoke to this issue in Luke 17:26, 27, unsing both Noah and Lot from the Old Testament as examples:

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; ..." (Luke 17:27, 28, NKJV, emphasis added).

Obviously Jesus was not condemning eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building and marrying. He was condemning our excessive preoccupation with these things, preoccupation that dulls us to the sound of His voice. It is impossible to maintain a love relationship with someone whom you cannot hear!

Have you left your first love because you are preoccupied with worldly cares and concerns?