What would Jesus like to say to us today according to what He had on His heart for the Ephesian church?

1. THIS IS WHAT I SEE (2:1)

   -- There are clearly some striking similarities between the Ephesus culture and ours.

   1. OUTWARD BEAUTY AND WEALTH
      • The Center of Beauty and Human Expression

        --Sitting along the seashore, Ephesus was a place of striking natural beauty. People from many nations came to marvel at the wonders created by the Ephesians and the annual sports events.

      • The Center of Trade and Economic Success

        --As the largest city in the Roman province of Asia Minor, Ephesus enjoyed great financial success and provided trade for both east and west.

   2. LIVELY PASSIONS AND INCLINATIONS
      • A Place of Radical Religious Fervor

        --the goddess Diana was treated with devoted reverence and radical fervor (including by those who made their living reproducing replicas of the goddess for sale!). See Acts 19:24-27

      • A Place of Rationalized Immoral Behavior

        --Temple prostitution was common and this immorality had become an accepted part of life in Ephesus. Since the immoral sexual activity of the city was associated with those who were advocates of the religious rituals of worship, immoral behavior was understandably justifiable in other contexts as well.

      Our land has great physical beauty, wonderful economic prosperity, monuments to the creative genius of our citizens (in athletics, the arts, architecture, etc.), high levels of religious opinions, and yet rampant immorality, corrupt leaders in government, education, industry and even the church, and every indication that we are experiencing a national degeneration that could lead to our downfall as a nation in our lifetime. As Jesus looks at the church in Ephesus, He sees a congregation that seems more like the culture than the Christ Himself.

2. THIS IS WHAT I KNOW (2:2)

   --Jesus addresses several things that He knows to be true of His people in Ephesus.

   1. YOU'VE WORKED HARD BUT ARE WEARING OUT

      --Jesus told them that He knew how hard they had worked. He spoke of their perseverance and endurance in the face of stiff opposition, their exhausting labor and patient endurance given their hard situations (trials, persecution, temptation). He said, "You have toiled on and on, working harder and harder, taking on more and more, in your outward activities and labors. I know your deeds...and they are noteworthy in themselves,"

   2. YOU'VE WITHSTOOD CHALLENGERS AND STOOD FIRM

      --They had taken their stand for truth, even against those who were followers of the teachings of the Nicolaitans, a sect characterized by their dangerous blend of Christianity with the idolatry and immorality of the local temple of Diana. Their care for sound doctrine was commendable as was their resistance against those who deviated from biblical truth.

   3. YOU'VE WANDERED AWAY AND LOST LOVE

      -- His primary concern was their drift away from their first love and the way they have allowed their deeds for Him to take the place of their devotion to Him. This subtle drift away from love seldom begins intentionally or with major strides in the wrong direction. As a matter of fact, the first steps away from our first love seem inconsequential at the time and seem to be consistent with what it means to love Christ.

      Pattern of Decline When Love Fades

      1. Taking the Love for Granted

         --When we become so busy doing things, getting on with the business of life, we can take the love God has for us in Christ for granted. We assume that the faithful nature of His love does not need maintenance to survive and thrive, and we soon lapse into patterns of thinking that exclude His concerns, forget His desires and lose any sense of urgency to please the One we love. We begin to think, "Of course Jesus knows that I love Him...I don't have to show it to prove that to Him!"

      2. Unintentional Slights

         --From taking the love for granted, we then slide into unhealthy habits of slighting Him, treating Him with less respect and reverence than He deserves.

      3. Careless Neglect for the Relationship

         --The time needed to cultivate the relationship becomes a burden rather than a blessing. The privilege of fellowship with Him in prayer and in His Word begins to be neglected as do times of corporate worship, gathering with other believers who share love for Christ, and other evidences of neglect that singularly may not seem to mean much but taken together indicate that we have grown careless and neglectful.

      4. Too Much Work to Love Wholeheartedly

         --Soon we come to the realization that loving Christ with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength takes more work than we initially thought and begin to have second thoughts about whether we are willing to work that hard. Rescheduling our days, re-ordering our priorities, re-assessing our values, remembering our commitments ...all require a labor of love to keep.

      5. Never Understood Love to Begin with

         --It is entirely possible that you never understood love to begin with and as far as you are concerned your love for Christ is just fine. What He wants out of the relationship escapes you and you are satisfied with things just as they are...even if He is not. We are to love Him on His terms, not ours! Therefore, we need to learn what love means to Him, what brings Him pleasure, and then live in such a way that we understand more about that love each new day.

      6. Substitution of Things for Affection

         --When we realize that love demands a response, and the response is more than we are prepared to give, we start to look for substitutes.

      7. Unforgiving Attitude for Unmet Expectations

         --Before you know it, His expectation of our love wears on us and makes us resent Him in some ways for intruding into our lives. Soon we start to blame Him for things that don't go our way, for prayers that did not get the kind of answer we expected, for circumstances that from our perspective went against us. We then end up justifying our anger and unforgiveness toward Him by pointing out just how much we do for Him...and unbelievable as it may seem, how little we think He does for us in return, as if He owed us something!

      8. Transferred Affections to Other Relationships or Things

         --At that point of deterioration, we find it natural and easy to transfer our affections to other relationships and things that we find it easier to control. By this point, we have clearly lost not only our first love for Christ, but have allowed all love for Christ to degenerate into no love at all! In Ephesus, the problem deserved and demanded a rebuke and a challenge from Christ Himself. Do we need the same rebuke and challenge ourselves?

3. THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED (2:5)

   --Having told the church what He saw, and having told them what He knew, He then proceeded to tell them what they needed to do to remedy their situation. The Lord always provides corrective instruction for those who are willing to be corrected. May we hear these three words of correction in order that we might recover our first love for the Lord Jesus Christ!

   1. REMEMBER FROM WHERE YOU HAVE FALLEN

      --What was it like when you once loved the Lord with all your heart and enjoyed the fullness of His favor?

      • Remember the joy you knew, the peace you felt.
      • Remember the love that amazed you, the hope that assured you, the goodness that comforted you, the strength that empowered you.
      • Remember the sweet nearness of Christ and the awareness of His presence!
      --Sometimes we simply forget how great it can be!

   2. REPENT OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING

      --Now He says, "Repent, stop what you are doing and turn around and come back!" What new object of your affections measures up against what you know of Christ's love? What price you have been unwilling to pay is too high when you consider what you gain in Him? What duty can you fulfill that satisfies as much as experiencing His love to the uttermost? Repent of anything that is in the way and get back to your first love...now!

   3. RETURN TO WHAT YOU USED TO DO

      --When you first loved Jesus Christ as your first love, what were you doing that has fallen by the way since that time? Jesus tells us to return to the deeds we did at the first when He was pre-eminent in our lives and in our hearts. It may have been that you were spending more time in His Word, more time in prayer, more time loving others in His name, more time speaking a word of witness on His behalf, more faithful in ministry in your church, more conscious of the offensiveness of sin, more diligent about your tongue and so on. When Christ is your first love, you will be compelled to return to the deeds you did at the first.