SDA Sermons: A church left first love

Singing SchoolSinging School
By:
Reneboy Torrejas
Maquilava

Quiet Please !
We Are About to Worship the Creator of All Things

Letters To Seven Church of Asia
(Rev. 2-3)
• Some were good (Smyrna, Philadelphia)
• Some were good / bad (Ephesus, Pergomas,
Thyatira, Sardis)
• One was bad (Laodicea)

Letters To Seven Church of Asia
(Rev. 2-3)
Good Good
Good/
Bad
Good/
Bad
Good/
Bad
Good/
Bad
Bad
• Most of us would like to be in GOOD church (no
condemnation)
• None of us would have anything to do with a BAD
church (no commendation)
• Reality: may be in a church that is GOOD / BAD
(Some commendation & Some condemnation)

A Dead Church
The Church At Sardis
(Rev. 3:1-6)

The Church At Ephesus
(Rev. 2:1-7)
Get a letter – says lost what once had!
You
Left
1st
Love
Your Fire
Is Gone!

Rev 2:1-7
1 "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'These
things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand,
who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:
2 "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that
you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested
those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found
them liars;
3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have
labored for My name's sake and have not become weary.
4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left
your first love.

Rev 2:1-7
5 Remember therefore from where you have 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.
6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the
tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." '

1 "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,
'These things says He who holds the seven stars in
His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven
golden lampstands:
• What is said (good / bad) is stated by one
who hold the destiny of the church in his hand
• Lord has full knowledge of the inter-workings
of this church!
Lord Sees & Knows It All

A Church That Left Its First Love
When the Fire is Gone
I. Its HistoryI. Its History

• 4th
Largest city of Roman world
• Population: 250,000

A. Paul Visited Ephesus Briefly on 2nd
Journey
(Acts 18:18-21)
B. Aquila & Priscilla’s Correction of Apollos
(Acts 18:24-28)
C. Conversion of 12 Previously Baptized
(Acts 19:1-7)
D. Many Converted on 3rd
Journey (Acts 19:8-20)
1. In midst of controversy (vv. 8-16)
2. Burned their books (vv. 18-19)
3. Stayed three years (Acts 20:31)

A. Paul Visited Ephesus Briefly on 2nd
Journey
(Acts 18:18-21)
B. Aquila & Priscilla’s Correction of Apollos
(Acts 18:24-28)
C. Conversion of 12 Previously Baptized
(Acts 19:1-7)
D. Many Converted on 3rd
Journey (Acts 19:8-20)
E. Idol Craftsman Caused a Riot (Acts 19:21-41)
F. Paul Met with Elders at Melitus (Acts 20:13-38)
G. May have Visited Again after Prison (1 Tim. 1:3)
H. Paul Wrote a Letter to Church at Ephesus (Ephesians)
I. Timothy Worked with the Church (1 Tim. 1:3)

II. Its StrongII. Its Strong
QualitiesQualities

QualitiesQualities
A. Works (v. 2)
1. What they do in service to the Lord
2. “Works may be either good or bad; here
they appear to be good” (Hailey)
3. This is an active congregation

QualitiesQualities
A. Works (v. 2)
B. Labor (v. 2)
1. “Toil” (ASV)
2. Strenuous, wearying labor
3. “Toil lies deeper than works. The word
translated toil has reference to the effort that
produces work at the cost of pain” (Ray
Summers)
4. This is an aggressive church.

QualitiesQualities
A. Works (v. 2)
B. Labor (v. 2)
C. Patience (vv. 2, 3)
1. Persistence in the toil - staying when the
burden is heavy.
2. Didn’t “give up when things went bad, or
when someone criticized, mocked, or
ridiculed them” (Harkrider)
3. This is a determined church.

QualitiesQualities
A. Works (v. 2)
B. Labor (v. 2)
C. Patience (vv. 2, 3)
D. Doctrinally Correct (vv. 2, 6)
1. Cannot bear evil men (v. 2)
“The evil men were detected, convicted and
expelled” (Foy E. Wallace, Jr)
2. Exposed false apostles (v. 2)
3. Hated deeds & doctrine of Nicolaitans (v. 6, 15)

QualitiesQualities
A. Works (v. 2) – An Active church
B. Labor (v. 2) – An Aggressive church
C. Patience (vv. 2, 3) – A Determined church
D. Doctrinally Correct (vv. 2, 6) – A Sound Church
What could be wrong with such a church?

“This entire commendation leaves one inclined
to question if there could be anything wrong in
such a church. It carried on its service in the
face of difficulties; it rejected false teachers; it
hated sin; it did not grow weary in the Lord’s
work.”
Ray Summers
What could be wrong with such a church?

QualitiesQualities
III. Its ProblemIII. Its Problem

III. Its ProblemIII. Its Problem “left your first love”
A. Place of Love
1. Love is essential
a. Love God (Matt. 22:37)
b. Love Truth (2 Thess. 2:10-12)
c. Love One Another (Rom. 13:8)

A. Place of Love
2. Love produces action
a. Context (vv. 4-5)
b. Gal. 5:6 – faith works by love
c. 1 John 5:3 – love of God – keep comm.

A. Place of Love
2. Love produces action
3. Without love – are nothing (1 Cor. 13:1ff)
4. Love & hate should be balanced (vv. 4, 6)
Love
Truth
Hate
Error

A. Place of Love
B. First Love – left behind
1. “Honeymoon is over” – Summers
2. “Loyal but lacking” – Summers
3. “In form, this was still a ‘sound church’
which fended off false doctrine, but the
fire had gone out. There is more to serving
God than adherence to mechanical,
traditional routine” – Harkrider
4. Their fire is gone!
5. Love, enthusiasm, excitement – vanished!

A. Place of Love
B. First Love – left behind
C. Common Problem
1. Not excited about being Christians
2. Not enthused about worshipping God
3. Not fervent in our actions
4. Not zealous for learning & growing

Strong Weak
Opposing
Sin / Error
Love for
Right / Truth

We Are Often Stronger In Our Opposition To
Wrong Than Our Love For What Is Right!
Not enough to abhor evil – must cleave to what is
good (Rom. 12:9)
“They had set out to be defenders of the faith, arming
themselves with the heroic virtues of truth and courage, only
to discover that in the battle they had lost the one quality
without which all others are worthless…[Z]eal for Christian
truth may obliterate the one truth that matters, that God is
love. John is a rigorist who shares the hatred of heresy which
he attributes both to the church of Ephesus and to the church’s
Lord; but he recognized the appalling danger of a religion
prompted more by hate that by love.” - C. B. Caird, A
Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine, p.31)

Against Worldliness
Opposing Sin
Against Inst. Music
Exposing a brother
Against Divorce
Women’s Lib
Forsaking is sin
Developing Godliness
Saving Sinners
For Singing
Restoring erring
For Marriage
For Keeper at Home
Worship of God
Stronger Here Than Here

QualitiesQualities
III. Its ProblemIII. Its Problem
IV. Its FutureIV. Its Future

A. About the lose identity
1. If don’t change – remove lampstand (v. 5)
2. Soon – no longer be the “Lord’s church”
3. It is decision time!
4. Can’t stay in the this lull / rut.
At a Crossroads

B. Problems are Curable
1. Could be fixed
At a Crossroads
“Surely in this milder denunciation we may see a proof
that the evil in Ephesus was curable…But the cooling
of the first Ephesian enthusiasm was a failing that lies
in human nature. The failing can be corrected, the
enthusiasm may be revived.”
W.M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, p. 244

B. Problems are Curable
1. Could be fixed
2. Must Repent (v. 5)
a. Prompted by memory (v. 5) - “The
lever of repentance is memory”
(Harkrider)
b. Change your mind
c. Do first works – do what used to do!
At a Crossroads
Remember Repent Return

SDA Sermons: A church left first love

SDA Sermons: A church left first love

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