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“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right
hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how
thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found
them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen,
and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place,
except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” (Rev.2:1-7)
The Lord Jesus Christ is pictured in Revelation
1, moving among the lampstands, which are seven different churches in Asia Minor, ministering to those churches, holding in
His hands the ministers of those churches. And then He has John write specific messages to each of them. In chapter 2 we find
the letter to the church at Ephesus. This was a great church, a church that was pastored by Paul, by Timothy, and by John
himself; this church was responsible for the founding of all the other churches of Asia Minor, and it grew great and godly
elders, and had a tremendous testimony in the world. Our Lord says, "I know thy works," and that's a general statement. Jesus understood their ministry;
it is well-known to Him. And then He begins to delineate its several elements. “Thy labor”
means their exhausting service, a service to the point of sweating and toiling. He knows that they are a busy, aggressive
involved active church; teaching, sharing, giving, planning, working dynamic congregation. “Thy
patience” means steadfastness, perseverance, the courage that accepts hardship and tremendous opposition.
And Jesus commends them for taking a stand for things, standing true in the midst of retaliation, and confronting an evil
society with a godly standard, holding that standard high come what may. Then He says about this church, "thou canst not bear them which are evil." This is a church that was intolerant of sin, it suppressed
evil, it involved itself in discipline, not only teaching but training, not just giving the principles of behavior but conforming
its people to that behavior—real discipleship. He says, “Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.”
This was a church with such a substantial theology that it could unmask a false doctrine and expose a false prophet; but they
also had the courage to put him right out regardless of the consequences. They
have endured and have persevered for the precious name of Jesus have labored and not fainted—they focused on what was
eternal. They were steadfastly self-sacrificing to the point of exhaustion “for My name's
sake.” Everything they did they did for the glory of God. And “this thou
hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate” they even had the attitude of God
toward abusive leadership—they felt Jesus’ heart for His people. But
in spite of all of that Jesus tells them, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because
thou hast left thy first love.” Having heard the commendation and gratitude of the One
who is worthy of all their faithful service, they now hear that there is something lacking, “thou
hast left thy first love.” “Left” means to send away, to bid going away or depart (used of a husband divorcing his wife), or to give up or abandon. The word here is “leave” not “lose;” both leaving
and loving are acts of our will (Jer.2:2, 13; 17:5-13; cf. John 4:10-14; 7:37-39). It is possible to think one is actively
“serving God” without a real personal relationship with Him. Jesus desires us more than anything we could possibly
ever do for Him (Is.66:1-2). Something can be lost quite by accident, but leaving is a deliberate act, though it may not happen
suddenly. As well, when we lose something we don't know where to find it, but when we leave something, we know where to
find it. Luke relates the incident involving Mary and her sister Martha. Martha‘s priority was serving whereas “Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word” (Luke 10:39). Martha was so focused on serving that she missed the joy of being with her Lord –so busy working for Christ
that she had no time to love Him. Jesus summarized the actions of the two sisters: “Martha,
Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which
shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42). Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. As we
sit there at Jesus’ wounded feet our devotion, motivation, and understanding of God are deepened causing an increase
in the fruit of His ministry through us (John 15:1-17). “Remember (present imperative - command to make this a habit, your lifestyle) therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent (aorist imperative, a single, decisive act
- Do it now! Don't delay! It is urgent!) and do (aorist imperative, a single,
decisive act - Do it now! Don't delay! It is urgent!) the first works; or else I will come
unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent” (Revelation 2:5).
Remembering is the first in this three-step process. When the Prodigal Son was in the pigpen, the first step in restoration was remembering what life was like
back in his father's home (Luke 16:17-19). The Ephesians were
commanded to go back in their minds to an earlier time when their motivation and fellowship with Christ had been different.
“Art fallen” is in the perfect tense—the fall had already taken place, but Jesus is concerned with their present spiritual condition. As they drifted apart from
God in their relationship, their spiritual state also declined. They came to put service for the Lord ahead of love, devotion,
and fellowship with Him (1Thes.1:3; cf. Pr.4:23); their labor gradually came to be merely mechanical, duty driven, do the
thing that needed to get done, but Jesus desires every action of our lives to be the result of the abiding life, the
result of an intimate walk with Him through power of the Holy Spirit (John 15:1-7; Gal. 5:1-5, 16-26; Eph. 5:18). Repentance includes a recognition of wrong-doing together with a decision to move in a different
direction: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). This word means to change the mind or purpose, to change one’s decision. It means to recognize one’s previous
decision, opinion, or condition as wrong, and to accept and move toward a new and right path in its place. Repentance includes
confession of sin with a view to stopping the bad behavior so it can be replaced with what was good and right. The Ephesian
church was not lacking in works, but the motivation for the works had changed; not the quantity, but the quality, of works
was now other and worse than once it had been. Our solution is found in retracing our steps back to where we went astray and
calling upon the LORD as we did at the first. After straying in Egypt, Abraham returned to “unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; unto the place
of the altar, which he had make there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD” (Gen. 13:3-4). “And do the first works”
is not a call to more Christian service or to renewed Christian activity. They already had plenty of that. “First” means “first in time, place, or rank.” It clearly looks back to the beginning
of a Christian’s life and what things had the highest priority when you first fell in love with Jesus. These things
would include such things as keeping your relationship with Jesus fresh with honest confession of sin; a love for spending
time with Him in prayer; a love of reading, memorization, and meditation of His Word, the Bible; a love for hearing His
Word carefully taught, and taking it to heart; a love for being with others like you who couldn’t stop talking about
everything Jesus has done in their life; a love for giving Him thanks and praise in those private times and with others together
in the assembly, remembering His promises and sufficiency at His Table; a love of being preoccupied with the presence of Jesus
your Best Friend; a desire and excitement of telling others about Him; and that joyful expectation of Jesus coming at any
moment to take me home to be with Him forever. Luke records what this looked like at the beginning of the
Church: “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and
in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were
together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily
such as should be saved.” (Acts 2:42-47) “Revival is the church falling
in love with Jesus all over again.” ~ Vance Havner
“Revival is the renewal of the first love of Christians
resulting in the conversion of sinners to God. It presupposes that the church is backslidden, and revival means conviction
of sin and searching of hearts among God’s people. Revival is nothing less than a new beginning of obedience to God.”
~ Charles G. Finney
“The outward forms of revivals do, of course, differ considerable, but
the inward and permanent content of them is always the same: a new experience of conviction of sin among the saints; a new
vision of the cross of Jesus and of redemption; a new willingness on man's part for brokenness, repentance, confession,
and restitution; a joyful experience of the power of the blood of Jesus to cleanse fully from sin and restore and heal all
that sin has lost and broken; a new entering into the fullness of the Holy Spirit and of His power to do His own work through
His people; and a new gathering in of the lost ones to Jesus.” ~ Roy Hession (The Calvary Road)
“A true
revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness and selfishness, and making God and His
love triumph in the heart and life.” ~ Andrew Murray
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