Don’t forget your first love, Revelation 2:1-7, Matthew 22:34-40
Intro….Male/Female differences
FREEZER BAGS: They are male, because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them.
PHOTOCOPIERS: These are female, because once turned off; it takes a while to warm them up again. They are an effective reproductive device if the right buttons are pushed, but can also wreak havoc if you push the wrong Buttons.
TIRES: Tires are male, because they go bald easily and are often over inflated
HOT AIR BALLOONS: Also a male, because to get them to go anywhere, you have to light a fire under their…..
SPONGES: These are female, because they are soft, squeezable and retain water.
HOURGLASS: Female because, over time, all the weight shifts to the bottom.
HAMMERS: Male, because in the last 5000 years, they've hardly changed at all, and are occasionally handy to have around.
THE REMOTE CONTROL: Female. Ha! You probably thought it would be male, but consider this: It can make a man happy, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know which buttons to push, he just keeps trying
When it’s Valentines Day and we’re talking about love, it’s common to talk about human love…today I’d like to remind us of the priority of loving God.
Text: Revelation 2:1-7
Thesis: As Christians, our priorities should be God, Family, Work…
When we keep these three in order God will take care of every other area of our lives.
In this book, we see the revelation of Jesus Christ and he is the center of this entire book.
• There are 7 actual churches addressed in chap. 2-3 and these churches represent different types of churches in every generation.
• These 7 verses in chap. 2 address the church in Ephesus.
• Under Caesar Augustus, Ephesus became the capital of the Roman providence called Asia, which today is the western portion of Turkey. It was known as the “gateway to Asia.”
• God is telling John (who wrote Revelations) to write to an “angel” (a leader or elder in the church)
• These are the words of Jesus informing them of the things they are doing right and wrong as the church.
What the church in Ephesus is doing wrong:
• Vs. 4 Forgetting their first love “Yet I hold this against you…”
• “Forsaken” implies an intentional, not accidental, act.
• As a result, they have fallen and need repentance.
• If we truly love God above all else, then that will affect every decision and choice we make.
• Vs. 2, “hard work, perseverance etc.” For the Christian, this only matters if you are doing this hard work in the name of Christ, keeping him first in all you do.
What does it mean to forsake our first love?
• Let’s put it in a marriage context first, since it’s Valentine’s Day.
• The best thing I can give my children is a deep committed love for Kelley….she will always be my first love, even above the kids.
• Kelley had to gently remind me this week to say goodbye to her…
• We always shoot for the three part connection: couch time, dates and vacations.
• When we’re having “couch time” we tell the kids to go somewhere else….
The priority of relationship needs to be the same thing with God. We need to aside specific time, remove distractions and base decisions on what God would be pleased with.
• To be a Christian is to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, soul and mind. (Matt. 22:34-40…)
• As vs. 5 says, “do the things you did at first”, go back to the “puppy love” stage… Ephesians 1:15-16
• I know it’s not always easy to put God first, our flesh and human desires get in the way…
• Again, another “romance” example…dating a non-Christian…
Consequences of forsaking our first love?
• In marriage it will lead to divorce…Kel’s dad telling me what not to do…he was married to his job…
• With our faith, it will lead to our usefulness being removed….”remove your lampstand from its place.”
• It will also mean a broken relationship with God. Fellowship vs. relationship…(fellowship can be broken, and restored, relationship will always be there)
• It will mean our faith will become cold, mechanical, meaningless.
What the church in Ephesus is doing right: (7 things every church should be doing)
• Hard work, perseverance,
• Not tolerate wickedness
• Root out falseness in the church leadership ( v. 2b)
• Endured hardships for the name of Jesus
• Not grown weary. (This church had remained faithful for over 40 years since its founding.)
• Vs. 7, listening to God, overcoming and gaining “the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in paradise” (heaven) with God.
• Detesting the practices of those who are not followers of Jesus….vs. 6b, Nicolaitians, followers of Nicolas, apparently a sect that advocated too much freedom in matters of Christian conduct (free love)…sounds like the summer of ’69, San Francisco…
God has strong words for these types of practices, vs. 6 “hate and hate”
• Hating the practices, not the people.
• God is a jealous God and sets the standard high in regards to our love and devotion to Him.
So, today on Valentine’s, let’s reexamine our priorities. Who do we really love? Who should we love first? God, Family, Work…
• Matthew 22:34-40
• The Pharisees (extremely devoted to very limited parts of the law) are trying to trick Jesus and he makes it real simple for them.
• This is a very important passage. Jesus literally sums up all of the Law and the Prophets.
• Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind
• Love your neighbor as yourself.
• He quotes from Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18.
• By fulfilling these two commands, a person keeps all others.
• They summarize the ten commandments and the other OT moral laws.
Conclusion:
I’ve been able to do a lot of weddings…3 in the next 3 months…I feel like I have something to say now after 22 years of marriage….
• Like in marriage, if the dad and mom love each other, it covers just about everything else..
• Pre-marital counseling with young couple…”things I wish you would do more often”…it’s the basics that couples are always dealing with, quality time, clean up the house, compromise etc.
• Sometimes in our Christian lives we get caught up in all the details, when God is asking us to remember our first love, to keep God first in our lives.
Conclusion:
My God, I love You; not because
I hope for heaven someday,
Or because those who don’t love you
Are lost eternally.
You, O my Jesus, did embrace me
Upon the cross
For me did bear the nails, and spear,
And manifold disgrace,
And griefs and torments numberless,
And sweat of agony;
Yea, death itself; and all for me
Who was thine enemy.
Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,
Should I not love You well?
Not for the sake of winning heaven,
Nor of escaping hell;
Not from the hope of gaining anything,
Not seeking a reward;
But as You have loved me,
O ever-loving Lord.
So would I love You, dearest Lord,
And in Thy praise will sing;
Solely because You are my God,
My most loving King.
Francis Xavier, 1506-1552
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