Several decades ago, my wife and I lived in a city in eastern Pennsylvania. Since many of these cities were built in the early days of our country, entire blocks of houses were joined wall-to-wall. We called them “row houses.” As you can imagine, there’s not much privacy in a setting like that! You can savor your neighbor’s cooking smells, their loud arguments and music, their barking dogs, and more.
In one place where we lived, our next-door neighbors’ marriage failed and ended in divorce. One night, we overheard the wife say to the husband, “I just don’t love you anymore.” We didn’t know all that went on in that family, but that statement was painful for us to hear. So, we asked ourselves, “How did this wife come to that point?”
Knowing what I know about human nature and my own sinfulness, I suspect her conclusion was the culmination of a long series of seemingly inconsequential daily choices made by each partner in the relationship. Small instances of neglect, disrespect, ingratitude, a lack of meaningful communication, an unwillingness to forgive, and more, all compounded, brought them to the crisis point.
What is true of marriage is also true in our relationship with Jesus. It takes daily care, attention, and discipline to develop a growing, lasting, life-giving connection. If we neglect these things, we will find the relationship withering on the vine.
That’s what happened to the group of Believers in ancient Ephesus. They left their first love. Their predicament is presented to us in Revelation 2:1-7, the text for our study today. I’ve titled my teaching, “The Church of Vanishing Affection.” (Listen to the reading of God’s Word.)
As we look at this series of letters to the churches, you’ll immediately notice a pattern in the way Jesus addresses them. I’ll call them actions. First, we see statements of commendation. These statements are omitted in the letters to Sardis and Laodicea. Next, we have an accusation of faults or sins. Only Smyrna and Philadelphia are missing this part of the pattern.
Then, exhortation is given to renounce the sin and remove the accusation, or to continue making good choices. Finally, there is a promised compensation or reward for obedience.
So, let’s begin our study on “The Church of Vanishing Affection.”
Before we look at these specific actions, we need to learn about the letter’s recipients. This first one is written to the assembly of Christ-followers in Ephesus. The word “church” in our English translations evokes a picture in our minds that is not accurate in this first-century setting. Don’t picture stained-glass windows, steeples, or dedicated buildings. These were local, small groups of Believers that most likely met in private homes or public spaces.
Further, what was the environment in which these assemblies existed? We know that the culture around them impacts every church today. The church in Ephesus was no different.
In the time of the apostle Paul, Ephesus was a cosmopolitan metropolis in the province of Asia. It lay at a junction of roads that gave access to the whole continent, and its busy harbor was crowded with ships from many places. Every kind of merchandise, entertainment, and sinful practice was packed into that mass of humanity. It looks pretty similar to our current culture.
It was also a city known for its idolatry! The great temple of Diana was ranked among the Seven Wonders of the World. It was here, because of Paul’s ministry, that there was a riot instigated by the silversmiths who cast images of the goddess. Not only that, but at one point, those who embraced the Christ whom Paul preached burned their books of magic, valued at more than 50,000 pieces of silver! You can read the whole story in Acts 19 and 20.
Now, let’s begin looking at the actions of Jesus as He addresses this assembly.
Commendation
Jesus establishes His authority with these words, “These things says He…” This is the New Testament equivalent of Jeremiah 22:1, “Thus says the Lord.” This wording, “these things,” was used to introduce, with great weight and solemnity, an official edict, a royal letter, or a prophetic message. This exact wording is used for each church.
Jesus identifies Himself as the One who is holding the seven stars in His hand and walking amid the seven golden lampstands. Holding the stars means He has power and authority over them. It is the opposite of letting go, which is what the Ephesians had done with their first love. Note the change from standing among the lampstands (1:13) to walking among them. This denotes His active involvement in His Church. He isn’t a detached bystander.
The commendation begins with these words, “I know…” Jesus’ choice of words emphasizes the absolute clarity of Christ’s mental perception, rather than knowledge by experience. In a sense, He stands somewhat aloof to maintain an unbiased judgment. We can be sure that the sovereign Lord knows all about us, too.
And what does the Lord know? He knows their works, the scope of their whole lives, and their conduct. He connects those works with the exhausting labor and endurance required under challenging circumstances. We see this same trifecta in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, “…remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In addition, Jesus commends them for refusing to endure those who practiced evil. They wanted a pure church, so they took seriously the command of John’s epistle to test the spirits. They tested those who claimed to be apostles and found them to be impostors and liars. These may have been the “so-called” itinerant missionaries of the Gnostic Nicolaitans, who posed as equal to, or even superior to, the original apostles.
Jesus continues, “…and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.” They were tired IN their loyalty, not tired OF their loyalty. For the sake of Christ’s name, the Ephesians were hanging tough; they did not faint.
After all this, what kind of mental picture do you have of this group of Believers? I see a church with a good grasp of Biblical teaching, theology, and doctrine. Because they were unwilling to compromise the truth, they rejected those who practiced evil. They were diligent in their work and called out false teachers. They turned away from moral corruption and theological error. Their orthodoxy and orthopraxy were well aligned. This sounds like a church I’d want to be part of —how about you?
However, there’s a problem, and Jesus is still speaking.
Accusation
Despite all these good things for which I’ve commended you, “This I have against you, you have left the love you had at first.” That’s a gut punch!
First is a superlative meaning ‘foremost in time, place, order, or importance’. It calls to mind the words of the prophet Jeremiah. “I remember you, the kindness of your youth,
The love of your betrothal, when you followed after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.” This love is agape, the highest form of love. First love is passionate, intense, and committed to seeking the good of the person or object that is loved. It is willing to endure hardship and do anything it can to serve the object of love.
They had not entirely departed from their love for Jesus, but they no longer had the intensity they once had. This wasn’t a matter of the mind or heart, but of the will. The grammar indicates that this was an event in the past. Notice, Jesus didn’t say they lost their first love, but that they left it. It was vanishing in the distance. The verb for leaving meant initially ‘to send away’ or ‘to dismiss’. It is used of forgiving offenses in Matthew 6:14 and of Jesus yielding up His spirit as He hung on the cross in Matthew 27:50.
How did this leaving happen? The text doesn’t spell it out, but we can draw some conclusions. If we go back to Acts chapter twenty, we can read Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders about false teachers arising both from outside the church and from within. It seems they internalized that warning well. They had their orthodoxy buttoned up!
But somewhere along the line, their love for Jesus cooled. Think back to how I described the Ephesian church’s environment. They were surrounded by affluence, entertainment, and all kinds of idolatry. In their attempt to remain faithful, they became so focused on doing that they neglected being. This is something the church has struggled with in every age. It is a characteristic of the Western church today.
It is all well and good to acknowledge these things, but what about you and me? Do I still have that passionate love for Jesus that characterized my early relationship with Him? Do you? Do I still delight in pleasing Him, or are there other things I’ve allowed to come between us that have cooled my early fervor? Is Jesus the one you’re most passionate about in your life? I must admit, this accusation strikes close to home. How do you respond to it?
And what can we do about it? Well, that leads us to the following action.
Exhortation
What is exhortation? It is to strongly encourage, urge, or advise someone to do what is good and right, often by calling them to remain faithful. It can involve a combination of encouragement, counsel, and correction, given with patience and love. It is a practice that leaders are commanded to use in preaching and teaching, and all believers are called to offer to one another daily.
In our text, Jesus gives an exhortation that begins with the word “remember.” This is not a single act because the sense of the word is “keep on remembering.” And what are we supposed to remember? We are to remember the place from which we’ve fallen. We are to think back to the lofty heights of our first love! We must think about how we lost our way.
And when we do that, our response should be repentance —change of heart, mind, and direction. The exhortation Jesus gives is “Begin at this very moment to repent and do at once the first works which resulted from your first love. Bear in mind the loving relationships you once enjoyed and make a clean break with your present manner of life.”
Notice, genuine repentance doesn’t focus on feelings. Jesus didn’t say, “Go back to feeling the first excitement you had in your encounter with the Living God.” No, what does He say? “Do the deeds you did at the first.” Well, I thought they were busy, according to verses two and three. They were, but they lacked the conviction and devotion they once had. Jesus wanted their current works to be replaced by their first works.
Someone has said that the Holy Spirit could be removed from many churches today, and they would carry on with their programs as though nothing had changed. Busyness is not necessarily a proof of authenticity in worship.
Jesus’ exhortation also carries a warning – OR ELSE… “Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” This is not a suggestion, a hypothetical, or something to be easily passed over. It is a solemn statement of fact! We know the church at Ephesus flourished for several centuries, but by the 5th century, it began to decline. Finally, in the 14th century, the invading Turks deported the remaining inhabitants, and today, all that’s left are archeological ruins.
As is typical of biblical criticisms, the warning is followed by words of encouragement. This is part of an exhortation. In this case, the assembly at Ephesus is commended for its hatred of the practices of the Nicolaitans. In Greek, their name means “conqueror of the people.” We learn from the letter to Pergamos that they ate meat offered to idols and practiced immorality while teaching the immature that this was acceptable. Though we don’t have much concrete evidence for their origins, we do have Jesus’ statement that He hated their practices, too.
Here, then, is the final part of the exhortation. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear…” Interestingly, John doesn’t use this phrase at all in his Gospel. In the other gospels, when it is used, it always refers to radical truths, great principles, or promises. Often, Jesus spoke these words after delivering one of His parables. It is a Hebraism that means “if one can hear it, the same must obey it.”
And what were the Believers in Ephesus exhorted to hear? “What the Spirit says to the churches.” This is a clear indication that these individual letters were intended for circulation among the churches of Asia Minor. That means the commendations, accusations, and exhortations applied to all churches – then and now.
Finally, then, we come to the compensation or reward for obedience.
Compensation
Each of these seven letters concludes with a promise to those who obey the divine directives. The conclusion of the letter to Ephesus is, “To the one who is overcoming, I will give (allow) him the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” The one who overcomes is the one who hears and obeys.
Our English translations don’t show it, but there is a play on words in the Greek text. The one who hears is “the one who overcomes,” (nikoti). This is a form of the verb (nikao), which means “to win, conquer, persevere, and be victorious.” This sounds suspiciously like the term “nikolaites” or “Nicolaitans.”
If the motto of the Nicolaitans was “let us eat,” then as a pun, this is precisely what God promises “to the one who overcomes.” If they forego eating food offered to idols, they will eat of the tree of life and live.[1]
The Rabbis taught of a threefold Paradise: Eden, the paradise of Adam; the abode of the redeemed souls between death and resurrection; and the eschatological Paradise—heaven. The Tree of Life, which disappeared with the disappearance of the earthly Paradise, reappears with the reappearance of the heavenly Paradise. Eating of the Tree of Life expresses participation in eternal life. That is the promise to all who overcome.
But how do we make this message practical for us today? How does this letter to the church of vanishing affection resonate with you? Can you identify with Jesus’ commendation of the orthodoxy of this church? Does that describe you? Are you busy serving the Lord? If so, that is good, but as we learned, it’s the motive behind the works that is most important.
Have you, like the Believers in Ephesus, lost your first love? Has your service for Him become dull and routine? If so, are you willing to repent and return to the first works? If not, you stand in jeopardy of losing the little you have left.
Do you have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to you through this text? If you hear, you must obey. When you do, you are guaranteed the right to access the tree of life in the eternal paradise of God! What a fantastic promise.
Is your love for Jesus growing or vanishing?
[1] Eli Eyzenberg and Pinchas Shir, Hebrew Insights from Revelation, p. 85
