In the book of Revelation, Jesus writes letters to seven churches. I wanted to take a few blogs and talk about those churches. One that hits close to home to me is the church in Ephesus.
All of the verses are taken from Revelation 2
2 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.
In these verses, we see a church that has worked. It has sacrificed for the name of Christ. The church in Ephesus took a stand for the truth. In all of this, they dealt with trials and stood against evil. But then Jesus goes on to say this:
4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
5 '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 will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent.
However, in persevering and standing for truth, the most important thing of all had escaped them. They lost their "first" love for God.
In this is a warning for long standing believers. There are so many ways we can lose our "first love". Sometimes our work for God can become so tedious that we find no joy in it. Not only that, when you are doing that work within churches, they typically need you so bad that you would have to be utterly intentional if you really wanted to make a change. The end result is that our relationship with God suffers and love for Him can diminish if we look at our weariness in the wrong way. Don't think Ephesus didn't love God. They did. Losing your first love means that other things went above loving Him. It's never been God's intention for our love to fade or for it to be low priority.
In our country's past there was a term we used for free but forced labor. It was called slavery. God has no intention of enslaving anyone. When people feel trapped in ministry and serving with little to no love for God, they can feel like slaves. They have lost their first love.
God wants you to love Him and with that comes serving that brings you joy. Any true relationship will produce fruit and God longs for that from us. I love my wife Michelle dearly. There are things I do differently because she's in my life. There are things I've learned how to fix so that she would have what she needs. There are things about myself I changed as a result of my relationship with my wife. My life characteristics reflect the relationship with her that I have. I didn't do or change all those things because I had to. I made those changes because I love her more than any other person.
God wants that from you. If you have been worn down, maybe it's time for a change. If not a change, maybe some quality time with God. Take a hike. Get alone. Go to a conference. Praise Him. Read the Word. Do whatever it takes to keep God as your first love. He is worth it and wants you to love Him first.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The History of Grace, thoughts from a Matthew West concert.
While at a Matthew West concert last Sunday, I heard a comment he made. He invited people to be a part of the "history of grace". It really was not even a focal point of his entire message, but this side comment really made me think.
I believe the "history of grace" began when Jesus rose from the dead after suffering a terrible death for our sins. Once Jesus stood in the gap for our sins, Jesus became the means by which men could ever be justified before God forever.
When I think about grace in and of itself, it's amazing. Here we have the Lord of the universe. He is right in all His ways and for reasons we can grasp but not fully understand, He despises sin. So enter fallen man. Man had sinned and was separated from God forever. God, who established the laws of the universe could not just allow people to be forgiven without compromising His righteousness. So what does He do? He sends Jesus to die on the cross to justify us before Him. God makes a way for us to be with Him forever without compromising His Word or His stand against sin. It is amazing really when you think about it.
So grace, through Christ, is established and this burning torch is passed into the hands of people who would be willing to take this burning flame of grace for themselves and share it with others.
At this point, you could say a book was opened. It was a blank book. Every page was empty. This grace, as it was passed through generations created stories that I imagine would be written in this book as to what men did with this gift we all have been given. Each generation of people with grace had an accounting of what they did with the grace of God given to them.
So now, our generation is of age and our kids are not close behind us. The question is, what story will be written about this grace that has been handed to us? Did we hide it? Did we share it? Did we dim it? The choice ultimately belongs to all of us.
You see, I don't know if there is a literal history book of grace or not, but I do know that in the heart of God, He knows everything we have done and will do. In that knowledge, there is a story of grace for each and every person and if God were to write down what He knows about every generation, a book of the "history of grace" could easily be written.
This thing called grace is the starting point of your relationship with God. Through grace comes love, devotion, obedience and forgiveness. Not only for yourself, but for others as well. Through grace, people find healing, people find redemption and they feel a love that can never be taken away.
So if you know Christ, the history of grace is being written through your life whether you know it or not. What will you do with the grace given to you? My prayer is that God's grace would be so established, that many people come to Christ through your life. In that, I hope the book of the history of grace, when it is opened to your chapter, will contain many stories to read.
I believe the "history of grace" began when Jesus rose from the dead after suffering a terrible death for our sins. Once Jesus stood in the gap for our sins, Jesus became the means by which men could ever be justified before God forever.
When I think about grace in and of itself, it's amazing. Here we have the Lord of the universe. He is right in all His ways and for reasons we can grasp but not fully understand, He despises sin. So enter fallen man. Man had sinned and was separated from God forever. God, who established the laws of the universe could not just allow people to be forgiven without compromising His righteousness. So what does He do? He sends Jesus to die on the cross to justify us before Him. God makes a way for us to be with Him forever without compromising His Word or His stand against sin. It is amazing really when you think about it.
So grace, through Christ, is established and this burning torch is passed into the hands of people who would be willing to take this burning flame of grace for themselves and share it with others.
At this point, you could say a book was opened. It was a blank book. Every page was empty. This grace, as it was passed through generations created stories that I imagine would be written in this book as to what men did with this gift we all have been given. Each generation of people with grace had an accounting of what they did with the grace of God given to them.
So now, our generation is of age and our kids are not close behind us. The question is, what story will be written about this grace that has been handed to us? Did we hide it? Did we share it? Did we dim it? The choice ultimately belongs to all of us.
You see, I don't know if there is a literal history book of grace or not, but I do know that in the heart of God, He knows everything we have done and will do. In that knowledge, there is a story of grace for each and every person and if God were to write down what He knows about every generation, a book of the "history of grace" could easily be written.
This thing called grace is the starting point of your relationship with God. Through grace comes love, devotion, obedience and forgiveness. Not only for yourself, but for others as well. Through grace, people find healing, people find redemption and they feel a love that can never be taken away.
So if you know Christ, the history of grace is being written through your life whether you know it or not. What will you do with the grace given to you? My prayer is that God's grace would be so established, that many people come to Christ through your life. In that, I hope the book of the history of grace, when it is opened to your chapter, will contain many stories to read.
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