This blog is based on my July 13 message. RS

 

Have you ever been so busy doing "church things" that you forgot why you were doing them in the first place? I've discovered that it's dangerously easy to replace love for Jesus with religious activities. As a pastor for 40 years and a Christian for almost 60, I've seen how subtly this shift can happen—both in my own life and in the churches I've served.

The Church That Had It All... Almost

In Revelation 2:1-7, we find Jesus addressing the church at Ephesus. On paper, they looked impressive:

"I know your deeds and your labor and your perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. And you have put those who call themselves apostles to the test, and they are not, and you found them to be false. And you have perseverance and have endured on account of my name and have not become weary" (Revelation 2:2-3).

This church worked to the point of exhaustion. They were doctrinally pure. They could spot false teachers "a mile away." They persevered through hardship. They were the church that would "rather burn out than rust out."

Yet despite all these commendable qualities, Jesus delivered a devastating critique:

"But I have this against you. You've left your first love" (Revelation 2:4).

When Activity Replaces Affection

As Paige Patterson wrote about this passage: "The maintenance of that success had become more important than the motivation for service, the love for Christ." They were consumed with doing good things when they should have been consumed with love for Jesus.

Oswald Chambers captures this danger perfectly: "When you deify work, you apostize from Jesus Christ." In other words, when you worship work, you're taking something away from Jesus that belongs to Jesus alone.

Warren Wiersbe put it this way: "Labor is no substitute for love, neither is purity a substitute for passion."

The Path to Restoration

Jesus didn't just diagnose the problem—He prescribed the solution:

"Therefore remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first. Or else I am coming to you and I will remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent" (Revelation 2:5).

The remedy involves three critical steps:

  1. Remember - Recall what your relationship with Jesus was once like
  2. Repent - Make a sharp, crystal-clear change in your perspective
  3. Return - Go back to the things you did when your love was fresh

As Oswald Chambers warned: "The only way to keep true to God is by a steady, persistent refusal to be interested in Christian work and to be interested alone in Jesus Christ."

A Personal Confession

When I came to this church in 1997, it was declining. Every church I'd been part of previously was growing. I thought, "My skills, my experience, whatever way God had used me in previous pastorates" would help turn things around.

Ever since then, I've had as my goal to keep the doors of this church open. I can't tell you how many things we've tried, how much money we've spent, how many projects we've endured, how many door hangers been stuffed, how many doors had been knocked on.

But it's not working. And so I'm compelled to see what Jesus has to say to me in this passage of Scripture. And He said, "It's time to repent. It's time to change. It's time to refocus and redirect your heart."

Life Application: Overcoming Through Love

Jesus offers hope to those who will respond: "To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7).

Here's what we must remember:

  1. Check your motivation - Are you serving out of love for Jesus or just going through religious motions?
  2. Make a sharp break - Repentance means turning away from misplaced priorities and toward loving Jesus.
  3. Remember it's personal - "He who has an ear, let him hear..." This is an individual choice.

As Chambers soberly reminds us: "Whenever success is made the motive of service, infidelity to our Lord is the inevitable result."

The question isn't whether our church doors stay open. That's up to Jesus—it's His church. The real question is whether we will overcome by returning to our first love.