Ephesus

To the messianic congregation at Ephesus: "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil... Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love." (Rev. 2:2,4) Obviously the congregation of believers were on fire for the Lord during the writing of this letter. They had been evangelized and led by both Sha'ul (Paul) and the apostle John, who was a leader in the assembly prior to being taken to Patmos. They started well, but then veered off course. So what first love did they leave and why were they being rebuked for all of their good works? Shouldn't God be pleased with results like this? Evidently something was amiss and needed correcting or else God would remove the lampstand that provided illumination for them.

The key words that will help us unravel who or what the first love was--and is today--can be found in the opening sentence. "I know YOUR works." Work-oriented people must be constantly reminded that we are not saved by, nor are we maintained by OUR works. Paul made it very adamantly clear to the Ephesians in his letter to them when he defined salvation and what proceeds from it. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it (faith) is a gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, lest anyone should boast. FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Ephesus was a den of iniquity, comprised of paganism, idolatry and wickedness. The body of believers were well established by strong apostolic teaching. We who have experienced the "New Birth" know that it was not of our works but of God's that saved us. Eventually, we may--as I did--have placed too much emphasis on works than on walking with the Lord in faith. It happens to the best of us. Before long we place so much emphasis on the works that we forget that it is God who is supposed to be working through us as we surrender to Him completely as servant to His will. It is not that we loose love for God, but that we loose sight of God working through us. We begin producing works from our own strength, independent from the God we love.

The works are not being criticized here in this letter; the people who forgot that they were God's workmanship are being chastised. God is strongly urging them to repent from doing the works themselves and get back to walking with Him in faith so He can produce the works through them. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.' (John 15:4)

Today we are living in our own Ephesus. Our first love is walking with God in faith apart from any works we produce by ourselves. We are like branches that are deeply rooted in God and watered by His Word. When the branches are no longer nourished by the root they die and don't produce fruit. The Ephesian believers had become disconnected branches from the root which had given them supernatural life. They pursued righteousness with a passion but lacked the source of life from which they had been illuminated with truth. Their works only produced sweat, but no fruit. God, who is no respecter of persons, promises to remove that which doesn't produce fruit from His root.

The Lampstand represents the source of light, which is God Himself. The Ephesians were working independently of the source and God wasn't going to stay where He wasn't welcomed. "Remember therefore from where you were fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent." (Rev. 2:5) Shalom.