Do the things that you did at first

Read Revelation 2:1-7

Last week we examined Paul’s words to the elders in Ephesus.  He told them that he had given all that he was and could be to them while he was with them.  Now it was their turn to lead and shepherd and defend the gospel against all attacks.

We consider the church in Ephesus and get a snapshot of this body’s life at some point after Paul’s counsel.   We will leave the angel of the church and the seven churches of this letter for another day and proceed directly to Christ’s counsel.

So let’s get to it.  What about Ephesus?  They had good deeds, they worked hard, and they persevered.  It sounds like they were running a good race.

On top of that, they did not tolerate wickedness.  They defended the gospel against those claiming to come with authority but who twisted the words of the Christ.  There were even some really bad actors out there called the Nicolaitans and the church sized them up as enemies of the Lord and stood against them.

It’s not that they hated these people but they hated what they did.  Jesus said, “Me too.”

As you read this first part, it sounds like the beginning of the citation for a meritorious service medal and then we come to what we translate as the word yet. Yet, I hold this against you.

That sure messes up the award ceremony.  Yet, I hold this against you.  Hold what against them?

You have forsaken your first love.

Think of the days and weeks and months after you were saved.  Some would say that you were on fire for the Lord.  Everything somehow was about sharing the love of God that you knew in Christ Jesus.  You were singing and living, All to Jesus I surrender.  All to him I freely give.

You were in love with the Lord.  The story varies some with each person, but there was something very special in the beginning.  It’s something that is hard to sustain and easy to lose or let atrophy.

It’s something that can move from passion to intellect almost unnoticed.  A church body can go from passion to programs and think they are doing just fine.  Programs are great until they leave the passion for loving God and each other behind.

It seems like a church can be doing everything the right way without doing the right things.  A church without love for God and love for each other at its core is hollow, but not hopeless, for there is counsel.

Repent and do the things you did at first.

We have been talking about repentance for a few weeks.  Most of the time we think of repenting and turning away and leaving behind the evil ways of the world. That’s exactly what we should do.  I think most here have done that and are on their journey of discipleship striving to please the Lord.

We want to please the Lord.  We want to love the Lord.  He first loved us!  He sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  We live in the mercy and grace and favor of the Lord and we want to passionately respond in love.

 But do we sometimes just get into a, drift into, find ourselves in more form than function?  Are we saying the right things and doing good things but leaving out the passion we had at first?  How would we know?

Is Sunday worship where you are supposed to be or where your heart tells you that you have to be?

Do we rejoice with everyone who comes through our doors?

Do we see the face of God in everyone we meet, even the ones ranting against him?

Do we long for people to know the peace that we know?

Do we have a contingency plan if this Jesus stuff doesn’t work out or all we all in?

When we say The Lord’s Prayer together, is it rote recitation or does knowing the words help us communicate?  Does knowing the words help us commune with the Lord?

Do we ever just go through the motions in worship, or on Wednesday night, or in life?

Do we try to put God’s word into formulas?

Do we try to fit God into a box?

Do we want everything to fit into our own understanding?

Have we forsaken our first love and exchanged it for some equation about life?

Do we take life for granted or have we learned to number our days?

What if, we find ourselves drifting away from the passion that we once had?  We are told there is a cure.  Repent and do the things that you did at first.  These are not new things to learn but resumption of the passion you had in the beginning.

We have a consciousness about us that warns us about sin.  We try to stay away from those things that are not pleasing to God.  But what about the less than obvious stuff.  What about one day becoming like another?

What about just wanting to get through the song instead of making it an offering to God?  Is there a dichotomy between what your lips are singing and a joyful sound?

What about, “Oh man, another Wednesday night?”

What about, “Gotta have that dollar for Martha or a for a goat and two chickens?”

What about, “Gotta make my tithe?”

What about, “Gotta read my Sunday school lesson?”

How many times do we just go on to the next thing?

There is something special about life.  There is something special about love.  There is something special about God’s love for us and how we respond to it.

If we have lost what is special, then get it back!  Repent and do the things you did at first.

Is there a reward in the age to come?  Of course, there is.  Your will enjoy paradise!  That’s cool beans.  We know that part.

But what about now?

I will tell you from experience that life lived with purpose and passion far exceeds one lived just to make it to the next day.  We are designed for so much more than existence.

God knew us before he formed us in the womb.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made and we know what to do.  Do the things we did at first.  Do the things we did when we first came to Jesus.

I like to prepare for worship.  I send out the worship bulletin at the beginning of the week so others can prepare as well.  Being prepared for worship does not deprive us of spontaneity, it facilitates it.  Preparation facilitates passion.

I like to look for blind spots.  I can’t always see my own blind spots but God has put us together as a body so we can help each other, not to condemn our shortcoming but to help us navigate out of them.

I love an editor.  They will challenge you.  I remember about 25 years ago; I sent an article to the U. S. Naval Proceedings.  It is the premier professional journal for the Navy and Marine Corps.  This was the best article that I had ever written.

The editor called back and said we like it.  Cut 250 words.

What?  There was not a wasted word in the whole thing, or so I thought.  I took the challenge and discovered how much better it could be after cutting out those words.  Realize that you don’t just pull out words here and there.  You rewrite and rewrite and review and rewrite.

That would suck the life out of you unless you had a passion to write.  The second and third and twenty-third rewrite had as much passion as the first.

I love a real editor who knows his stuff.  They renew the passion that led you to write in the first place.

Jesus gives us life and life abundant and life eternal.  If we need to rewrite something in our lives, we do it with the same passion that we wrote the first draft of our response to his grace.

The result is that we are on fire without burning out.  The passion for our Lord and for each other continues.  There is no form over function in our programs.  Their function is to share the love of God.

Some of you may not relate to my writing illustration.  I get that.  There are few of us with that passion, but most of you can relate to some form of athletic competition.  You played football or basketball.  You ran track or played baseball or softball.

In the beginning, you had an eagerness to learn and do better, but at some point, you felt comfortable about your skills.  You went from game to game with confidence but without improvement.  Thank the Lord for that person who is losing both their hair and their voice known as the coach.

Praise the Lord for the person who sees what we need to work on and challenges us work on it with renewed passion.

I know that you have all seen terrible coaches that can only scream at you when you make a mistake.  Move those images out of you mind and replace them with one who sharpens your skills, who challenges you to do the best that you can with your skill set.

You don’t always have to learn something new.  You just need to apply the same passion you did at first to those basics that come into play game after game.

Sometimes we have bad habits.  What do we do?  Repent and do the things you did at first.  Sometimes it takes a coach to see those habits.  Drop the bad habit and get back to basics with the passion you had when you started.

How many of you have ever played on a team that the day before you called and cancelled the game because your opponent was too tough?  Who does that?

Nobody does that.  Some teams probably should do that if all they can do is worry about how badly they are going to lose.  Many, and I would venture to say most, take to heart what their coaches say and put passion into improvement.

It’s not that you have a bad team or a bunch of bad skills; it’s that you need some passion on some of the basics—passion like you had at first.

We have been saved from sin and death.  We will spend eternity with our Lord. This life that we live now is our discipleship or the fullness of our salvation.  We need counsel more than we need condemnation.  We need coaching more than we need counsel. 

So when we hear, you have lost your first love, we don’t hang our heads and mope around.  We get ready for the correction.  In this case, it’s drop the bad habit do the things that you did at first. 

We are teachable.  We are coachable.  We hunger for being able to live every day with passion without burning out.

Let’s love one another with the same passion that kids go camp with.

Let’s spread the gospel with the same passion that we share when school is closed for weather.

Let’s hunger for God’s word with the same passion that we have for a steak dinner.

Let’s learn to live each day with the same passion for the Lord that we did at first.

Let’s turn away from things that we are only doing in form and return to the things we do with passion.

Repent and do the things we did at first!

Love like we first loved!

Amen.