Let’s go ahead and pray together.
Lord, just like we were all just singing, we need You, and we cast ourselves on You. We call upon Your name. We trust this time to You. You are everything, so we look to You to speak to us and open up the Word, that it would be something soothing in our hearts and something refreshing, and that we can all be drawn to see You right now. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I’m really, really glad to be standing here and fellowshipping with everybody today. I don’t think all of the weather is an attack on me preaching. There are so many factors involved. Maybe I needed more time, but I think of so many lives around the East Coast and the world. Anyway, by God’s grace, we’re here.
How many have been able to read a little bit in Revelation 1 and 2 ahead of time? Okay, cool. So we’re going to be in Revelation 1 and 2 right now.
I’d like to begin talking about the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. There is a vision of these seven churches in Revelation 1. So today, even though we want to look at the church in Ephesus, which is the first church in Revelation 2, we’re going to look at it a little bit in light of the vision seen in Revelation 1.
God willing, and we live, and the weather permits, next week we will look at the church in Ephesus more thoroughly.
Let’s look in Revelation 1:4. It says:
John, to the seven assemblies or churches which are in Asia.
I wanted to read this just to point out that the whole book of Revelation was originally written to these seven churches. I never remember this when I read Revelation. By the time I finish Revelation, I definitely do not think that the book was written only for those seven churches in Asia. But it starts out like this: it is from John, and he is sending it to the seven churches in Asia.
Now, if you turn over to Revelation 1:9, John begins to share about his first vision, or the beginning of this whole revelation that happened to him, and why he is sending this to the seven churches.
I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Jesus, was in the island called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus.
I became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest write in a book, and send to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
So notice here: right when he is hearing this voice speaking to him, the first thing the Lord says is, “Write what you see to these churches,” and He mentions them by name.
These churches are not far from the island of Patmos, where John had been isolated in banishment. This was a type of persecution, almost like a prison. It is a little tiny nothing island, really close to Naxos, where Lance Lambert had a place. You can see it from there.
I never did well in geography in school because I was lazy, but I love geography now. These seven churches were in what people call Asia Minor, which is actually what we would call Turkey today.
If you go to visit where the church in Ephesus was, and you show up at the airport, there are a lot of machine guns pointing at you. This was my first experience at an airport with machine guns pointing at my face. It was when I went there on a tour one time.
But it is in that area. Africa is below Europe, with the Mediterranean Sea between them. Egypt is at the top of Africa, right below where these churches were. If you find Egypt on a map or globe, then go straight up, you see this section of water, the Aegean Sea.
On one side of it is Greece, and on the other side is what we call Turkey today. If you find Athens in Greece, straight across from Athens is where Ephesus would be, across that little patch of water. Inside that patch of water is the island of Patmos.
When you look from Patmos, if it is not too foggy, you can see the coastline of Asia Minor, or Turkey. This is interesting because of the order of the churches in Revelation.
If you are facing Turkey from Patmos, from where John would be, the first thing you would see would be where Ephesus was. But then, if you follow the path of walking or the road from Ephesus, and go north, there is Smyrna. Right north of that is Pergamos.
Then there was a common road at that time that went back down south to Thyatira, then Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. It is almost like you are looking left and then right as he goes through these seven churches. They are even located in the order in which they are written in Revelation.
That is a nerdy fact that you probably do not need to know.
But these churches were in the area where the apostle John had been ministering. Naturally, they would be on his heart. But the Lord specifically pulls them out of time and uses them as a representation for all churches.
Briefly, let’s look at Revelation 2. In Revelation 2:1 is the first specific letter to one of the seven churches. There is a vision that we will get to, and then after the vision there are individual letters for every church.
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These things says He that holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamps.
Now, the end of this letter is in Revelation 2:7.
He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him that overcomes, I will give to him to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
The beginning of the letter says, “To the angel,” or messenger, of the church in Ephesus. But the end calls out and says, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
It is a letter written to the church in Ephesus, but what is brought out at the end is that this is something the Spirit is saying to all the churches. It is not a word just for that individual church.
The call is not, “You in Ephesus, listen to what I have said.” It is, “You all, everywhere, listen. Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
When the Holy Spirit is speaking, He has a specific message at all times now on earth. When the Lord Jesus was leaving, He prepared the disciples for His departure. He had these parting words in John 14 through 17, and He talked about how He would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to them.
Just as the Lord Jesus on earth always spoke and did what the Father was speaking and doing, in the same way He said that when the Holy Spirit comes, His words will be Christ’s words. He will speak what Christ is speaking. His actions will glorify Christ.
This is what the Holy Spirit does now. You can even see it from this letter to the church in Ephesus. It is what the Spirit is speaking to the churches, but who wrote it? It is the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamps. This is our Lord Jesus writing the letter.
How is it that the Spirit is speaking, but it is also the Lord Jesus writing? It is because when Christ is speaking and writing the letter, the Holy Spirit is the One bringing it to us and speaking to us deep in our hearts. He brings the message of the Lord to us.
He always wants to glorify Christ. This is important: the message of the Holy Spirit is not to draw attention to Himself.
We can accidentally consider God like our children. If you have two or three kids, everything always has to be fair. The parents should not spend extra attention on one or the other. If one is praised too much, then you feel bad for the other one. This is understandable with our children, but God is not like our kids.
The Lord Jesus, when He came to earth, was selfless and able to empty Himself of all His glory for the sake of the Father’s glory. He was able to limit Himself to speak only what the Father was speaking and do what the Father was doing, so much so that when you see Him, you see the Father; when you hear Him, you hear the Father.
This is what He told one of His disciples who said, “Show us the Father, and we will be okay then.” He said, “You have seen Him. You have heard Him, because you have seen Me and heard Me.” He represented the Father and emptied Himself in that way.
There was a mission, a goal, and a purpose. The plan was that when the Lord came, He would empty Himself and obey the Father’s will all the way unto death, even the death of the cross. This is what is mentioned in Philippians 2.
Currently, the Holy Spirit’s work is never to draw attention to Himself, but always to bring us to focus on Christ. He is always drawing us to see Christ.
What the Spirit is speaking is not, “Pay attention to the Spirit.” What the Spirit is speaking is, “See the Son in glory. See Christ.”
At the beginning of each letter, there is something written about Christ. There is something taken from the vision of Christ, a description of Him. The whole letter is based on that description.
For example, in the letter to Ephesus, the description is: “He that holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamps.” This is borrowed from the vision John had just seen.
As we go through the letter to Ephesus, everything is measured by that portion of Christ—by what has been seen of Christ. The whole time, that is what you are looking for. That is what He is looking for with them.
Let’s go back to the vision and see what John saw. In Revelation 1:12-13, after John heard that he needed to write to the seven churches, he said:
And having turned I saw seven golden lamps;
and in the midst of the seven lamps one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and gird about at the breasts with a golden girdle.
As he turns, he sees seven golden lamps. But very quickly he moves to another portion of what he saw. In the midst of the lamps, he sees One like the Son of Man standing there in glory, with a garment going all the way down to His feet and girded with a golden girdle at the breast.
This is the beginning of the vision. It goes on to a tenfold description of Christ. The description of the seven golden lampstands is really small. You have the number of them, the material—gold—and then you see that they are lampstands.
But the focus becomes the One standing in the midst of them. The vision is not technically a vision of the seven churches or the seven golden lampstands. The vision is of the One who is in the midst of them. They are like a background showing the main picture.
I wanted to be an artist one day. When I was in high school and college, I took a lot of art classes. One of the things I had to learn the hard way was how to make people look at the right part of your picture.
For example, if I was painting someone’s portrait, one time I did the same amount of detail in the background as I did in the face. But the colors in the background were so cool that when you looked at the picture, you only looked at the background.
It was like there was a doorway, and someone was walking through the doorway, but all you noticed was the doorway. You could tell there was a guy walking through it, but he was not who you noticed.
The main point of my painting was supposed to be the man walking through the doorway. But I did such detailed work on the doorway that you did not see the main point.
We had to learn how to use the right colors, the right amount of detail, and the right placement for what you wanted to be the focus. Otherwise, you got a bad grade.
You have a focus, and that is what you see. Even though you can tell there is something in the background, and you can actually see what it is, you are not thinking about it. It is pointing you toward the focus.
That is this vision right here. The seven golden lampstands draw you to see the One who is standing in the midst of them, with all these descriptions of Him.
It is like some cameras where you can adjust the focus and make the background fuzzy so that the thing you want clear is clear. If you move too fast, you might accidentally make the face fuzzy and get the toys next to them clear instead. But in the same way, you focus in. You can tell what is in the background, but what you really see are the details of the main point.
Here, the details are of Christ.
This is a picture of Christ as High Priest. The vision is a vision of His current ministry as the great kingly High Priest.
We talked not too long ago about the high-priestly ministry of Christ, and we went through this vision. I am not going to go through all of it right now. I just want to look at what is happening with these seven churches.
They are called golden lampstands.
If you go into the Old Testament descriptions of the temple or tabernacle, inside there is a lampstand. It is a really large one made entirely of gold. It comes up with a middle shaft and a light at the top. Then there are six branches coming out from the sides, three on each side.
We have seen something similar in menorahs. It has seven lights at the top. Through the oil in the wicks, the priest would keep this burning, and it would be the light inside the holy place of the temple or tabernacle.
The ministry of the priest with this lampstand, with seven lights on it, was to keep it bright. It was always shining. He would add the oil needed.
When we say “lamp,” we are not talking about a lamp with electricity. The picture is a lamp that requires oil.
They have a usable replica in Jerusalem with the Temple Institute, where they are trying to build everything in preparation for a third temple. If you stand next to it, this golden lampstand is in a display cabinet, but it is usable. They can burn oil through it. It is meant to be used in the future, and it is very beautiful. It has flowers at the top shaped like almond cups.
This is what you are seeing here: a High Priest in priestly garments ministering with this golden lampstand. But it is slightly different. This is the real thing.
That physical thing in the past, or even the one they have built for a future temple, is a picture, type, representation, or shadow. What is really happening now is what all of that prophesied about.
This current ministry that the Lord is doing with the seven lamps is what all of that was speaking about. It is fulfilled currently, and it is happening currently.
When you read about the lampstand in Exodus 25, God says, “Make sure you build it just right, according to the pattern.” What is the pattern after? It is after this. This is what the pattern is after.
The Lord is currently ministering to the churches so that they shine brightly. This spiritually real thing is what all of that in the past was talking about.
This vision is slightly different because there are seven individual lampstands. It is as if the bottom of one lampstand is buried. On the surface of the ground—in time, space, geography, and history—you see seven individual lights.
You go to Ephesus, and you see one light: the church in Ephesus. You go to Smyrna, and there is one light there. But if you step back and see Christ in the midst of it, you see all seven coming together at the base. There is one church and one testimony of Christ through all time and all places.
There is always one golden lampstand.
Spiritually speaking, that pattern is still correct. They all come together in one golden lampstand. But in time and in practice, Christ is able to walk in the midst of them. He is able to move among them, and there is one lamp—one light—for each city or town.
This even shows us what the church is in Matthew 16, where Jesus said:
I will build My church.
He is talking about this huge one piece of the golden lampstand with seven lights shining.
But in Matthew 18, they are talking about a specific issue, and they say, “Go and tell it to the church.” That is like the churches, these individual lights in their localities.
When you step back and see the vision of the church and the One in the midst of them, you see it as one piece. But as you narrow your focus with each letter, every one of them is different. Every one stands on its own.
In Ephesus, He says, “I can remove your lampstand.” Each one is standing on its own, but underneath it all, they are connected as one thing.
As you go on in this vision, Revelation 1:14-20 says:
And His head and His hair were white as white wool, as snow;
and His eyes as a flame of fire;
and His feet were like fine brass, as burning in a furnace;
and His voice as the voice of many waters;
and having in His right hand seven stars;
and out of His mouth a sharp two-edged sword going forth;
and His countenance as the sun shines in its power.When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead, and He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Write therefore what you have seen, and the things that are, and the things that are about to be after these.
The mystery of the seven stars which you have seen in My right hand, and the seven golden lamps: the seven stars are angels, or messengers, of the seven assemblies, and the seven lamps are the seven churches.
This is the whole large picture John saw.
Even in Daniel, there is something similar. In Daniel 7, Daniel saw the kingdom, and he saw One with hair white like wool, white as snow. It is almost a direct quote. This is the One prophesied to come and bring the eternal reign and eternal kingdom.
It is as if every one of those lamps shines a portion of Christ. If you go through every letter, each church has its particular portion of Christ.
The letter to Ephesus is like a spotlight showing His hand holding the seven stars. It is a spotlight showing that He is walking in the midst of them and standing there ministering to them.
What He is doing is adding oil, which is a picture of the Holy Spirit, and trimming the wick. Everything about Him is ministering to them.
If He looks at them, His eyes, as a flame of fire, minister to the church in Thyatira. As He steps with feet like burning brass, it is a ministry to Thyatira. As He speaks and the sword comes out of His mouth, the Word of God is applied and working, and the flame can burn brighter in Pergamos.
Whatever He is doing is active. As He works, the flames rise from these lamps. And if these flames come up, they shine Christ. Every bit of their flame is Christ.
It is like He ministers Himself, but the fire that comes out is Christ. Just like when Jesus was on earth, He said:
I came to cast a fire upon the earth; and what will I, if it is already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
He said this after He had already been baptized by John the Baptist. He was talking about the baptism at the cross, the actual reality of what baptism means. He had to go through the cross first, but when that happened, He could release His fire on the earth.
This is not His judgment fire or the fires of hell. This is the fire of His life. The life of Christ is like a flame of fire: burning up unnecessary things, yet shining, bright, and warm. It is like a consuming fire. Our God is a consuming fire.
As He releases His life, and His life is in the churches and shining, what they shine is the fire of Christ.
The churches themselves are like a golden lampstand. If you take them in all their purity, apart from other things, they are pure gold—all of God and what He is working in them. But when they do what they should do, when they have the fire shining and testify of Christ, they shine Christ.
In every letter, you see the flame at the beginning. The flame of that letter is the description of Christ. It is like the letter gives the description of that church’s portion of the golden lampstand, down to the base. The base is like, “Hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies,” which shows the oneness of the church. But at the top is the flame.
At the top of the church in Ephesus, you see Christ, and they are shining. If Ephesus does what it should do, its measure of Christ is this: He holds the seven stars in His right hand, and He walks in the midst of the seven golden lamps. This is their flame. This is what they shine.
Now we want to look at the church in Ephesus in light of its flame—in light of what it should shine.
I know your works, and your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot bear evil men; and you have tried them who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and have found them false; and you have endurance, and have borne for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.
But I have against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore whence you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you, and will remove your lamp out of its place, except you repent.
But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him that overcomes, I will give him to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Even the rewards given to the overcomers match the flame of fire they should have.
This flame says that Christ holds the seven stars in His right hand. Remember that Jesus said in John 10, when He was talking about being the Good Shepherd and the wolf coming:
I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
This is the word of Jesus talking about us.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Most likely, “angels” here means human messengers, not angelic or heavenly angels.
In the Bible, when the Lord speaks to the nation of Israel, He sometimes calls out the priests, rulers, prophets, or those with responsibility. He calls them out specifically, but in the end, the word is for the whole nation of Israel. He may mention them because they have a larger responsibility or greater effect on the assembly.
Darby, the translator of my Bible, has a translation note about this. He assumes or thinks that this messenger or angel is really a representative group of responsible ones in the assembly to which he is writing.
Darby was part of the Brethren movement, where priests dropped their collars and became brethren—just believers. They caught the priesthood of all believers. So he says, almost as a side comment, “But really all of us have the responsibility.” I kind of like that.
Perhaps technically, at the beginning of the letter, the Lord was drawing attention to the messenger of the assembly. But spiritually speaking, if someone has ownership of the church, they will pray for the church and care about the church. They especially represent the church because they care with the Lord.
He is calling out those who have an ear to hear, but really it is for all of us: “Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
If this is the case, I want to take this in a broader sense and say that He is holding all of us in His right hand. We know that from Jesus’ words, but even here, He is the One who holds the seven stars.
Seven is a complete number. There are seven churches. It is not just talking about geographical locations at one time. When this was written, even though it was first sent to these churches, it was sent around to the church in Rome, Corinth, Philippi, and others. Everyone was blessed by it. Later, through all the decades and centuries, all Christians have read it and been blessed by it.
This is for all the churches.
As He holds these seven stars and walks in the midst of the seven lampstands, there is a thought of completeness. Seven is a completeness in time, whereas in eternity there is the number twelve, with the New Jerusalem.
In time, when there is a complete package representing the church, you have the number seven. It covers all time, all places, and all people. All seven are in His hand. It is everyone. And He is walking in the midst of all seven lampstands.
When the Lord holds you in His hand, there is protection.
A while ago, I got a present from my wife. Somebody had an extra puppy that did not have a mommy, and I really love puppies. I got a puppy named Courage. She surprised me. We drove down south with some saints we know there, and we got a puppy.
She regrets it now, though. There is a lot of cleaning to do. He eats toys.
On the way back, he was so small he could fit in my hand. He could also fit inside Gabriel’s Tonka truck and buckets. Poor guy.
But I thought about this because I was holding this little tiny puppy in one hand, and he was so precious to me. It is almost like a shepherd’s heart. You can picture the Lord Jesus.
There is a feeling of, “I do not want anyone to hurt this puppy”—especially my kids. And you care about the one you are holding in your hand. There is a motherly love, a shepherd’s heart, a caring thing, when you think about the Lord holding you in His hand.
He especially mentions protection:
No one will snatch you out of My hand.
There is the guard the Lord has on us because we are in His hand. But there is also loving care. He is keeping you. He is keeping you from evil and keeping you from temptation.
There is no temptation beyond what you are able to bear because the Lord is there, holding you in His right hand. This is the testimony for the church. When He is holding you in His hand, no one can snatch you out of His hand.
Is this the flame we are shining right now? If we have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, we will catch that He is holding us in His hand.
If you know Psalm 91, it is the whole picture of the Lord holding you in His hand. I am just going to read it a little bit.
Psalm 91 is like the abiding psalm:
He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress;
my God; in Him will I trust.
This is the feeling of someone who wants to be in the Lord’s right hand. If you dwell in the secret place of the Most High God, you will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. There is protection, but you are running to Him. He is your fortress and your hiding place.
Then the psalm goes on to talk about all these things that will not come upon you: the pestilence, the arrows that fly, and everybody falling by your side, but nothing hurting you.
Then the Lord steps in. Someone says this about you:
Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
even the Most High, your dwelling place;
there shall no evil befall you.
Then in Psalm 91:14, it is almost like the Lord Himself is speaking:
Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him:
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble:
I will deliver him, and honor him.
With length of days will I satisfy him,
and show him My salvation.
This is the Lord’s comforting, “I am holding you in My hand,” kind of word. Because you set your heart on Him, because you make Him your refuge, He will keep us.
This is the testimony of the church. This is our testimony. When you allow Him to do it, the fire of Christ shines.
The other thing is that He is walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. As we mentioned earlier, this shows Him doing His high-priestly ministry, His kingly ministry, right now—helping us.
He is walking. It is not that He walked. He is standing. It is not that He used to stand.
The church in Ephesus ran out of its first love. Something was missing. The flame of this lamp had gone down to a small ember.
It is like when you are at a fireplace or fire pit. There has been a good fire in the past, but now what is left is some glowing orange things that you should not touch. There is a history of the fire, but you cannot see the fire. There is no more light. The warmth is there only if you get really close.
The fire is not out yet, but it is really, really low.
These saints lost their first love. So Christ is ministering to them, reminding them of who He is: “I am the One holding you in My right hand. You do not need to fall into this. I am the One walking now. You do not need to lose the flame. I am adding oil right now. I am trimming things. The fire should be there. There is no need for this.”
In the description of the church, when the Lord says, “I know your works,” He goes on to describe seven works, or seven good outward things, that are happening. He goes through all of them.
But the one thing they are missing matters more than any of that. They are doing everything. There is actually nothing specifically outwardly wrong, but the flame is gone. The purpose of the lampstand is the flame, the light that it shines.
Because of the loss of first love, they are missing Him.
When you look at the things they are doing, you only see that there is a history of a flame. You do not see the flame. All you see is that He used to walk in their midst.
He used to walk among them and work so much that they have the character to reject false apostles. They can recognize them because in the past the Lord met them and showed them what a real apostle was. So they can recognize when someone is false.
They can recognize the wrong way of the Nicolaitans. They hate those works because they have a past of the Lord ministering to them.
You look at this church and say, “The Lord used to work with them.” You could say, “Christ must have done something with that group, because they have such good character.” They do good works. They have labor and endurance, even stubborn endurance to go on.
But it is a different thing. The flame is missing. You cannot see that Jesus is walking right now.
What matters is the testimony that He walks right now.
They have works, labor, and endurance. When you are in first love, there is a flame inside those things.
The church in Thessalonica was a first-love church. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul mentions their work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope. These were newly saved Christians. It was a new church, and they were in the first stage of their first love.
It was almost automatic, but they were shining. Their works had Christ in them. Their works had His oil. His love had been poured into them, and the response was that all their works were by faith.
They had to rely on Him, believe in Him, and be with Him because He was alive and ministering to them then.
The basic definition of first love is that He loved us first, so we love Him, as it says in 1 John 4:19.
We love, because He first loved us.
He loves us, and then we love back. This first-love way is always a reaction going back and forth. So it has to be alive.
The first picture of it is first in time: He loved us first and died for us. When you get saved and respond to Him completely, you are bursting with love back for Him.
If you get saved and give your life to the Lord, responding to Him as Jesus is Lord, there is an automatic reaction of first love. If you have been saved and there has never been this response, perhaps something is missing in letting Him be your King.
Sometimes it happens a little delayed, if you get kind of halfway saved almost. But when it happens, there is a response of love, and you are in first love.
The very first stage of it often almost pulls you into it, and you do not know how you got there. All you know is that He loved you, and this is wonderful. You can talk about Him, spend your time, and waste your time on Him. First love is mysteriously just there.
But it is not really a mystery. What happened is that you received His love, and it responded back. It always works this way.
As you go to different stages and deeper levels of first love, you move from the first stage, where it was almost automatic, into further stages. The pathway of the woman in Song of Songs shows the way of first love.
All the way through, there is a response. He is drawing her into more love and less of herself, more selfless love with Him and less of herself. As that keeps happening, she enters stages where she says, “Where is He? I cannot find Him.” Then she finds Him, and she keeps going.
There are all these layers. There is never a need for first love to become only a history, for your flame to be at the very bottom.
What can happen is this: if we can do it without Him, if we do not need Him, then we will not have a flame.
First love does not always feel the same, but it always has one thing: receiving Him.
In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, there is a first-love verse. The apostle Paul is in a deep stage of first love. He says:
For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again.
This is the basic way of first love.
There is a second half of His love that we sometimes forget: all have died. He not only died for all, but He crucified me. He not only died for my sins, but He brought me with Him.
Because of that, we who live do not need to live for ourselves. We can live for Him. You are receiving His love as your life—not only as salvation, forgiveness of sins, or eternal life.
Because One died for all, all died with Him. You are crucified with Christ, and you no longer need to live by your own life. Christ can live in you.
Galatians 2:20 says:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
This is first love. This is the way you do it. Because of His love, you are crucified, and you have this new life. You can live by the life of Christ.
If you receive that and stand in it, not trying to live by your own strength but saying, “I am crucified with Christ. One died for all; all have died. I do not need to live by my own life, but the life of Christ lives in me,” then in that moment the reaction of love comes inside.
That is the experience of grace. God’s grace comes to be your very life, and that is first love. That is the deeper first love.
He loved me first, but I love Him back. How do you love Him back? You live by that life.
It does not exactly look the same. It is deeper. Sometimes you do not have feelings because He is bringing you into more fellowship with His sufferings. It is almost like, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
But if you are dependent on Him, if you need Him every hour, if you are calling out to Him to be your very life, the flame is there. At least the life of Christ is there, and the response of love is right there.
You may have to apply the cross more. You may have to choose Him more, even with no warmth inside your heart. But as you choose Him and choose Christ, the reaction of love is there.
It may be soft and quiet. It may be deeper. Maybe only others can notice it. But it is the way of first love.
Those seven action items that the church in Ephesus could do without Christ—without first love—if they depended on Him for all of them, they would be in first love.
“Remember where you started. Remember where you have fallen.”
In Galatians, it says that they had fallen from grace because they turned to works and tried to be mature by works. They fell from grace. This is what happened.
In general, the church in Ephesus probably had not fallen into outward corruption, worldly things, or even obvious mistakes. What they had fallen into was falling out of grace.
They continued to do their life with good character, but they had fallen away from needing Him in these things. If you continue growing, you continue needing Him. If you settle down, you actually stop needing Him, and you lose your flame.
If you continue on, it is like an excitement, but it is also a choice. Some days you do not feel like it, but that is maturing, because you are choosing Christ.
There is a portion of Christ needed inside each of us that has to do with our choice. It has to do with choosing Him when you are tired in the morning and calling out to Him, saying, “I need You right now.”
Because you call out to Him, He gives you the grace to stand up, get out of bed, and love Him first, because you are in first love.
Did you feel first love that morning? Not at first. But His love was there. He backed away so that more of Christ could come into you. It is the choice of Christ He is working right then.
As that choice is given, you are responding to His grace. You are crucified with Christ. That grace is there. The old man is crucified with Christ, so you do not have to live by your own life.
As you call out to Him and depend on Him, the life of Christ rises up, and you can actually choose Him.
When it comes to times of danger, when there is evil to be kept from, the Lord is keeping you in His hand. But how do you show it? You show it by relying on Him.
Temptations come—whether something outwardly sinful, a repeated failure you keep falling into, laziness, judging somebody, or condemning them. It is right there upon you.
The way of first love, the way of the flame, the way to express that Christ is the One who holds us in His right hand, is to say, “Lord, I need You right now. I call out to You. Keep me in Your hand. Keep me from this evil right now. Keep me from myself.”
“Keep me from even trying to do these good works by my own strength. I know how to pray a correct prayer at this prayer meeting, but Lord, keep me from praying without faith. Keep me from praying just out of my mind.
“I know how to share something because I learned something on this Bible passage five years ago when You were working with me. Lord, keep me from sharing without You. I need You right now.”
That is the flame of Christ, because then you show everybody—the unseen and the seen world—that He is walking right now and ministering to the churches. You show everybody that He is holding you right now because you just did that with Him.
Everything in the testimony of the church is that we are with Christ, that He is alive right now and working through us. Everything in the testimony of the church is Christ.
If we can do it without Him, it is not the testimony of the church. It is not the expression of Christ, and the flame is gone.
In looking at this church in Ephesus, there is a detailed ministry of how the Lord brings us through to first love. But today, we just want to see what He is looking for.
We want to step back and care first for what the Lord cares about before saying, “Lord, I need to get through this first-love issue.” He does minister to us. He brings it down to details and gives us practical direction. But step back and look.
The church should show that He is the One holding them in His right hand. The church should show that He is the One walking in the midst.
The vision is that the Son of Man is standing in the midst of the seven churches. This vision should touch deep into our hearts.
A couple of things mentioned in the vision are not specifically mentioned in the letters: His voice as the voice of many waters, and His countenance like the shining of the sun.
When John finished seeing it all, he fell down as one dead.
Remember the vision of the apostle Paul. There was a voice and a sight. There was a voice like the voice of many waters. He heard it and heard details. Words came out. This was when Paul was saved.
The Lord Jesus spoke words to him:
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
Go to this street and wait, and someone will show you what to do.
But everybody who was with Paul, on the same mission as Saul and out to kill Christians, heard only the thundering, glorious noise of many waters. It was fearful for them.
Paul saw Christ. He saw the heavenly vision and the details. The vision came out, touched deep into his heart, and stayed with him his whole life. He was never disobedient to the heavenly vision.
It grew and became more detailed because it reached the very tip of his heart then. But everybody else only saw brightness. They did not know what happened. They did not see Him. It was just an unidentified flying, noisy object.
But Paul saw Him.
When you have the ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, there can be a reaction in the conscience, in the heart, at the deepest point. Spiritually speaking, it is like falling down as a dead man.
The Lord grants the vision. We cannot inject someone with a vision. But we can say that you need Him to have the vision. You can rely on Him to see it.
If you choose Him, He will choose you back. He has already chosen us. If you call out to Him and say, “Lord, I want to see this larger. I want to see what You are speaking to the churches in the larger sense,” then He can show us.
But we cannot just understand what each thing might represent and say, “Okay, I have this vision of the seven churches now. I understand it.” If you do that, you have missed it.
It is like a lampstand with no flame. It is like not seeing what is really there.
The church in Ephesus is a foundational message for all the churches. When there is a problem in any of these churches, you could say they have lost first love.
If you choose the world and do not choose Christ, you have lost first love. When you read about Laodicea, even though they do not have action items that are as outwardly corrupt as Thyatira, they do not seem to be in first love. They do not even need Christ.
Actually, He says, “I am outside of you. I am on the outside knocking, asking to come in and fellowship with you.”
Without even looking at a particular sin or worldliness that has captured your heart, the basis of being pulled away from Christ is not needing Him—not needing Him to keep us in His right hand and not allowing Him to work and minister among us.
It is like we are not receiving His love right now, so we neglect it.
Earlier, we were singing, “I need You, I need You every hour, I need You.” I can barely keep myself together, because when you experience this, how many of us can say about this last week, “My expression today, my testimony, is that Christ held me in His right hand and He kept me”?
I would have perished. I would have fallen. I would have sinned, except He held me in His hand. I needed Him right then.
If He was not ministering to us this last week, where would we be? If He was not alive right now, we are nothing. We cannot maintain anything, and we have no shining. There is no glory in myself.
But if we can stand here as Christians, as the churches hearing the message to the churches, we can say, “Our Lord has stood and ministered to us,” and we can testify of it.
It is not that we are so great, and we cannot tell you our track record. But we can tell you that when we fell into sin, as it says in 1 John 2, we had an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One. He pleaded on our behalf. He stood there, and God forgave us our sins.
When I was about to give up, I can tell you that He prayed for me, cared for me, kept me, ministered to me, and worked.
This is our testimony as the churches. This is our way.
We really need the Lord. This is our way of first love: calling and casting ourselves on Him.
Let’s do that and trust in Him. Let’s pray together.
Dear Lord, the sight of You is like all beauty and warmth and glory—something before which we cannot even stand on our own two feet.
Lord, we confess right now that we need You, and we cast ourselves on You. Thank You for holding us in Your right hand. Thank You for not leaving us alone. Thank You for walking today and caring for us.
We pray for ourselves the prayer that You are praying for us: that we would be kept near You, kept from evil, kept from the world, and kept from the things especially that would take us away from You.
Lord, keep us from doing even any of our good works apart from You and relying on ourselves. Lord, we trust in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.