Revelation 1:19-2:7 (Ephesus, Conquer Your Apathy)

Cornerstone Church iconCornerstone Church

1 view

Revelation 1:19-2:7 Ephesus, Conquer Your Apathy January 26, 2020

0 comments

00:00
So we should be praying for them. I heard one of the wives quip, after all of these men's events this week, that we might as well rename this month,
00:08
Manuary, because there have been so many men events this week, this month.
00:16
But let's pray for them, and let's pray for ourselves now as we dive into God's word. So Lord, we do think of the guys who are over at America's Keswick.
00:25
We pray that as right now, the word is being opened to them. We pray for Dave Nenno as he preaches the word, and we pray for the guys to be stirred deeply, to love you more.
00:35
And as we're sitting here, and myself standing here this morning, we pray that you would also be with us.
00:41
You are omnipresent. You are present everywhere. So we pray that your Holy Spirit now would descend on this place to speak to every one of our hearts, because we need to hear from you.
00:52
We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Before anyone in Germany ever heard of Adolf Hitler, most had heard of Adolf von
01:08
Harnack. Adolf von Harnack was a theologian, but also a prominent speaker.
01:15
And he was the one who popularized the teachings of the
01:21
German higher critics. Beginning in the 1800s, German scholars began to decry the teachings of the
01:30
Bible and dismiss them as being nothing more than myths. Von Harnack, being a great speaker and being very popular in Germany, was able to popularize the teachings of these, quote unquote, higher critics.
01:46
Von Harnack says about the Gospel of John, in particular, the fourth gospel, which does not emanate or profess to emanate from the apostle
01:55
John, claims Harnack, cannot be taken as a historical authority in the ordinary meaning of the word.
02:03
The author of it acted with sovereign freedom, transposed events, and put them in a strange light, drew up the discourses himself, and illustrated great thoughts by imaginary situations.
02:15
Although, therefore, his work is not altogether devoid of a real, if scarcely recognizable, traditional element, it can hardly make any claim to be considered an authority for Jesus' history.
02:28
Only little of what he says can be accepted, and that little with caution. Von Harnack, the first notable
02:37
Adolf, said that the earth is in its course, in its course never stood still.
02:44
The she -ass never spoke. A storm quieted by a word is impossible.
02:50
We do not believe, and we shall never again believe. If this was just one liberal theologian speaking for himself alone, himself alone, we wouldn't pay much notice.
03:04
But the truth of the matter is that the social gospel, which Harnack began to preach in 1907 in his essays on the social gospel, became the dominant understanding of the
03:17
German churches in the early 1900s. Bill Luebkeman, my buddy from Calvary Chapel, Marlton, sent me a text this week, and he said, this is one of the best quotes
03:29
I've heard. So I read what he said. If the social gospel had been preached to the prodigal son, he would have been given a sandwich and a warm bed and never gone home to his father.
03:44
Bill Luebkeman is right, and that quote is right. But von Harnack taught a social gospel.
03:50
In other words, dismissing the supernatural, miraculous elements of scripture, dismissing his substitutionary death and bodily resurrection, they move to a social good news, a transformation of society, a changing of the way things are, of structures in society, and the result of such things is never good.
04:16
They leave the real Jesus behind, thinking they have progressed. But the so -called progress is actually regression.
04:27
The German churches in the 1900s lost their first love. They lost their love for the
04:35
Jesus of the Bible, and the vast majority of Germans no longer held to the scriptures, but instead embraced the teachings of people like Adolf von
04:45
Harnack. Having lost their first love, their lampstand was taken.
04:54
Remember that when Martin Luther nailed 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, this happened in Germany, and the fires of evangelism spread across Germany and up into Scandinavia, and the
05:07
Protestant Reformation was a revival of evangelical truth and belief in the Bible. But that fervor cooled.
05:16
And because that fervor cooled, this nation which rose to prominence among the nations,
05:23
Germany, lost their lampstand. It was von Harnack that wrote and urged
05:30
Germany to participate in World War I. He was among the signers of the
05:37
Manifesto of the 93, calling for war. And after that disastrous
05:43
World War I and the defeat of the Germans, World War II was an inevitable conclusion to that first war.
05:52
Adolf Hitler did not arise in a vacuum. I should say, he arose from the vacuum that the departure from the faith created.
06:06
Adolf Hitler was not possible before Adolf von Harnack. The German churches left their first love.
06:14
They lost their lampstand. And in that vacuum came the horrors of World War I and World War II.
06:24
Even the conservatives of Germany were liberal in my estimation. Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, those who stood against Nazism rightly, even these denied the inerrancy of scripture.
06:38
And blatantly so, even the conservatives had left their first love. This in what was once the most evangelical of countries on Earth.
06:52
Ephesus was the center of Christianity in the latter part of the first century.
06:58
John was the apostle and the pastor of that church in Ephesus. If you were to go to modern day
07:04
Turkey and visit Ephesus today, you would find nothing but a tourist attraction. In the middle of a land that is 99 %
07:14
Muslim, the people of Ephesus lost their first love.
07:21
And their lampstand was taken away. The same thing happened in Germany. And there is nothing to say that the same thing could not happen 300 years into America's history.
07:34
Departing from the first love, leaving the Bible behind, and the lampstand that once shined like a city on a hill could be removed.
07:44
That's at a national level. But what about individual churches? The book of Revelation addresses individual churches.
07:53
And it warns in this first letter to the church of Ephesus, which can apply now throughout history to all churches.
08:01
We all need to check ourselves against this revelation. The losing of the first love is the first step in a slippery slope to death.
08:13
But in the grace of God, we have this revelation to call us back to our first love. So let's go there.
08:19
We're going to read beginning today in Revelation 119 and study the church of Ephesus, the first letter to the church in Ephesus as part of John's revelation.
08:34
Revelation 119 and following. Write, therefore, the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
08:44
As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.
08:56
And the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Now, let's read chapter 2, verse 1 to 7.
09:04
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands,
09:15
I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
09:29
I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
09:35
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
09:43
Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. Repent and do the works you did at first.
09:50
If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
09:58
Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the
10:04
Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
10:16
I've taught that Revelation chapter 1, verse 19, is the thesis statement for the book of Revelation.
10:24
It's the main idea. It lays out an outline of what we have written here for us.
10:31
A revelation, an apocalypse, is an unveiling. It's showing something that was previously covered, something we wouldn't see.
10:40
But now it's being written for us, chapter 1, verse 19. Therefore, the things that you have seen, that corresponds to Revelation chapter 1, when
10:51
John sees Christ in all his glory. We talked about that section last week, the things that you have seen.
10:59
And then the second part of the book of Revelation are those that are.
11:06
Revelation chapter 2 and 3 are those that are, the things that are as they stand.
11:13
And finally, those that are to take place after this. Revelation chapter 4, verse 1, will give you a marker in the text to show you that this is where we're going next.
11:24
So in chapter 4, verse 1, the last part of the verse says, come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.
11:31
That corresponds to Revelation 119. So Revelation 2 and 3 are the things that are.
11:40
In other words, Jesus is objectively assessing the seven churches and saying how things are.
11:49
We live, of course, in a culture that does not believe that anything can be assessed for what it is because our culture no longer believes in absolute truth.
12:01
The Enlightenment brought the first great Enlightenment thinker was Rene Descartes. And what did he say?
12:07
I think, therefore, I am. In other words, reason is the starting point and the final arbiter of truth.
12:18
I think, in other words, I reason. And from that point, everything else can be determined.
12:25
Reason replaces revelation as the standard of truth.
12:32
And because of that, we did have a scientific revolution finding scientific explanations for things.
12:38
So there's good things that come from the Enlightenment. But the fundamental assertion is the rejection of authority.
12:45
And that's what you saw in Germany, higher critics that would not allow for supernatural elements in the
12:53
Bible. But in modern days, there's been a progression away from absolute truth even a step farther than the modernists of the
13:01
Enlightenment took us. Postmodernists like Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault say that there is no way to have any access to absolute truth.
13:11
Your mind can't get you there. Your mind can bring you to your own privatized truth. But there is no metanarrative, an absolute story that's true for all people in all times.
13:23
And it's an attack on language because language cannot communicate anything absolutely true, only what you're trying to say and what you mean by it, but never communicating absolutes with certainty.
13:37
So follow, the world in which we live does not believe in things that are, only believes in opinions.
13:46
But here in Scripture, Jesus is able to tell us things that are.
13:52
Think about this for a minute. Without revelation from God, could we know anything with certainty?
14:03
Not unless we knew everything. Because we wouldn't know contrary evidence that was outside of the things that we know.
14:12
The only way you can have absolute certainty about anything is to know everything.
14:20
But there's a being who does. God knows everything. And so when he speaks and condescends to our language, which he's able to do, he is able to tell us things with certainty.
14:33
Follow? And this is the point in 119. When Jesus is speaking, he says things that are.
14:42
And what I want you to do as we go into Ephesus is take this point. Understand that however you assess yourself and your own spiritual life and how
14:52
I assess my life is not the objective reality of Scripture. I am subject to err.
14:59
I'm subject to justify myself. But Jesus assesses things as they are, an objective reality, completely trustworthy in everything he says.
15:13
In verse 20, we learn what the stars are and what the lampstands are. But there's a lot of debate around what these words actually mean.
15:24
I'm going to give you my opinion, but not as dogmatically as I'll declare the clearer things in Scripture.
15:30
I think that when it says the stars are the angels of the seven churches,
15:36
I think those are actually angels. There's a wide field of interpretation that sees this as pastors.
15:44
Because the Greek word for angel is angelos, which can be translated messenger.
15:51
And so there are people that see this as the pastor of the church. In fact, that was a dominant view. Augustine held it.
15:57
Many, many different teachers throughout church history have held that these are pastors. Here's just a quick reason why
16:03
I think it's not. For example, Stanley Tussaint in verse 1 -1 mentions that the revelation is passed from father to son to angel to John.
16:16
So his argument would be, why would God then give the angel the revelation again before it is given to the churches?
16:25
See the relay from father to son to angel to John? But if you actually read
16:30
Revelation 1, the angel has not yet been introduced into the process. When a voice speaks to John as he's on the island of Patmos in the spirit on the
16:41
Lord's day, he turns to look. And among the golden lampstands, he sees Jesus, the son.
16:49
So I don't see that as an argument that says that this must be a mere preacher versus an angel.
16:57
Secondly, if you do follow in chapter 2 through the end of chapter 3, you'll see that each church is addressed on a very individual basis.
17:13
In other words, he's not just talking to the leaders of the church. He's talking to him who has an ear.
17:18
Let him hear. And by using the rhetorical kind of device of addressing the letter to the angel, the angel is not a person who's speaking, but the language that's given to that angel can be heard by everybody who reads the letter.
17:39
It's a more individual approach rather than a leadership approach. Finally, if you follow along to chapter 10, verse 18,
17:51
I'm sorry, 8 through 11, there's a scene where the angel appears, takes the scroll, and gives that to John for him to eat.
18:02
Now, when we get to this section, we'll dive into what that means. But I think it's a picture of that relay, where an angel is a helper.
18:12
And in the book of Revelation, you see these angels are very prominent. They're not pastors.
18:19
They're angels. And they're being used a lot like we see in the book of Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 14.
18:27
Are not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
18:35
So to sum this little argument up, if John, as the author, and hearing from Jesus, who's directly revealing these words, wanted to say pastor, he could have said poimen, which means shepherd or pastor, or elder.
18:51
He could have said episkopos or presbuteros, which means overseer. He could have used the words that are commonly used, but he doesn't.
18:59
He uses the word angelos, which throughout the book of Revelation means angel. And you see these angels appear and relay the information.
19:07
Here's what I think happens. I think in the unseen realm, there are angels guarding churches.
19:17
And according to Hebrews 1, 14, they're serving individual believers as well. There are guardian angels.
19:24
Now, they're not the ones with whom we have to do, meaning we're never called to devote ourselves to them or try to find out what their names are or somehow serve them.
19:34
They're sent by God to serve us, those of us who are inheriting eternal life, believers.
19:41
So I think it means just the literal way that it's said. There is an angel that's over Cornerstone Church.
19:50
That angel is charged by God to protect us from heresy, to protect us from liars.
19:57
And there is a spiritual war in the unseen realm that we don't really have an awareness of.
20:05
There are forces that are bent to the destruction of this church. And yet God, in His mercy, is fighting that battle for us.
20:16
We're not aware of all these things happening. But we're given this little peek to the angel of the church of such and such, right?
20:26
We're given this peek because He wants us to be aware of that war. You are in a war.
20:31
There are angels and demons battling. But here's what you need to hear. And whether it comes from the pastor or you read it yourself, that's not the issue.
20:40
The issue is that you hear. If you have ears to hear, listen. So let's do that. In chapter 2, verses 1 to 3, you have nothing but commendation.
20:52
This is a good church. And guys, this should make our ears perk up. Because everything in those first three verses, hopefully, describes our church.
21:03
As I assess the church fallibly, it looks really good to me.
21:10
Because of our works and our toil and our endurance and our discernment and our witness, outwardly, from all that I can see and tell, things look really good.
21:24
And so it was in Ephesus. This is not a wreck of a church. This is not where Germany was right before World War I, the churches of Germany.
21:34
This is a discerning church that rejects false prophets. See it in chapter 2, verse 1 to 3.
21:41
This is the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
21:48
I know your works. So first of all, commended for good work.
21:56
The way they serve in the community. The good that they actually do.
22:02
Helping the poor. Visiting people in prison. Helping widows and orphans.
22:09
This is an active, working church. Not idle, but working.
22:15
Your toil. This is a church that endures sleepless nights, as 2
22:21
Corinthians talks about Paul. Toils and hardships for the sake of the gospel. This is a vibrant church.
22:27
Your patient endurance. Over the years, it's proven itself time and again to be a faithful church.
22:38
All of these things are great. And you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles.
22:47
Oh, I love this church. Don't you? This is an apologetic church. They're listening to what people are saying in the name of God.
22:55
They're comparing it to the word of God and finding the liars to be liars and rejecting the heretics.
23:02
If Adolph van Harnack showed up at Ephesus, they would have shown him the door or the boot.
23:10
They're discerning. This is a church that they're Bereans, Acts 17 11. Examining the scriptures to see if these teachers are true.
23:17
They find them false and they kick them to the curb. All things look really good. And their witness, it's evident that this church is genuine.
23:32
But this is the hard part of this scripture.
23:38
Before I go on to the but, I just want to tell you something about Ephesus. Just put this church in context,
23:44
OK? Because here we are in America where it's hard to be faithful. It's hard to have a good witness.
23:50
It's hard to continue because of the culture that surrounds us. Ephesus was known as the luminesia, the light of Asia.
24:00
It was the city on a hill. Just like America stands out. Why? Because this was a port city.
24:07
It had the biggest harbor, the biggest port that received merchandise from around the world. It had four major highways coming through Ephesus.
24:17
So it was a trade route. Highly prosperous. Very important city.
24:23
It also had the games of Ephesus, which were comparable to the Olympic games.
24:28
Second only to the Olympic games. So people would flood to the city for that reason. But the most striking feature, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was the temple of Artemis.
24:42
And this temple actually put the other six wonders of the ancient world to shame.
24:49
It dominated the landscape. It was grandiose.
24:54
There was like a bank center in there, a World Bank. It was a city of refuge for people to run into.
25:01
And in the worship of Artemis, there was another deity, which was actually the same deity, called
25:07
Diana. So when progressives say that they have moved on to a higher enlightenment in the confusing of genders, that's not new.
25:21
Artemis Diana was a fluid gender deity.
25:28
But such was the worship of Artemis that sexual immorality was part of the worship service.
25:36
Temple prostitutes and all kinds of debauchery surrounding the worship of Artemis Diana.
25:45
People would come to the city for this reason. So it was an immoral place.
25:53
So picture this faithful church in the midst of that kind of darkness. Now you can understand what it's like to be a
26:02
Christian in America today. The farther that the culture departs away from the light, the more brightly and distinct the light of the gospel shines.
26:14
And so it was with this church. So you have to understand, Ephesus was a light in darkness.
26:22
In a very dark place, they were doing the good works. They were avoiding that and hating the deeds of the
26:29
Nicolaitans. In the midst of that, you would think that Jesus would be very happy with them for all of the five reasons that we talked about, the reasons he commends them.
26:40
But let this truth hit home. He says, but, verse four and five,
26:47
I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
26:59
Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. Repent and do the works you did at first.
27:05
If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
27:13
This is a creeping apathy, an apathy, a lack of love.
27:21
Outwardly, still doing everything they're called to do, but something is hardening inside the hearts of many of the people in Ephesus.
27:29
There's just not the kind of love that there once was. When they were first born again, when they first saw the light, there's a diminishing of their love for Jesus.
27:41
Now, outwardly, you can't see that. The works, the toil, everything looks good outwardly. And in the same way,
27:48
I can't see into any of your hearts, and you can't see into mine.
27:55
But let the word of God be that sharp sword that it is. Do you love him today, like when you first believed?
28:07
Does your heart burn for him? Do you pray with the same kind of passion?
28:15
Do you witness because you just can't wait to tell someone about the Lord? I don't think mine does, not like 1999, when
28:28
I first was convicted of how I put basketball as the idol of my life, and Jesus became everything, and I cast down that idol, and all
28:39
I could think about was his word and love for him. I still love him from the depth of my heart, but I don't think
28:47
I love him as deeply as I did in 1999. And it breaks my heart to say that, but I'm reminded by the scripture that it's here because he loves me like he did at the first.
29:02
He loves me as passionately as he ever did, and he loves you that way. And he writes these words not in condemnation, but in love to say, come back to the way you once loved me.
29:16
Pray like you once did. Journal like you once did. Witness like you once did.
29:23
When nobody could come around you without smelling the fragrance of Christ, come back to that love.
29:33
It's a call to love him. See, he's not condemning here, and the warning that he gives is to say this is the first step in a slippery slope that you're on.
29:45
It's a slippery slope right here at the beginning. Don't take that first step away that ends where Germany's churches did and where Ephesus' churches did.
29:58
I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. I like the way John MacArthur describes this church.
30:06
He calls it dutiful, doctrinal coldness. Dutiful, you're doing the duties that you're supposed to do.
30:15
You still wake up and get here every Sunday, and you still go to your community group, and you still do the things that your duty requires you to do.
30:23
He calls it dutiful, doctrinal coldness. You haven't departed into liberal apostasy.
30:29
You still believe that the Bible is true. You haven't left that. But coldness, there's just not the passion, the love for your
30:43
Savior that there once was. He contrasts that with exhilarating passion.
30:49
And he says, MacArthur says, this is where the slide starts with leaving your first love.
30:57
Chapter 2, verse 6, yet this you have, you hate the works of the
31:02
Nicolaitans, which I also hate. This is an apologetic church.
31:09
They're into apologetics. They recognize false teaching. They hate the works of the
31:15
Nicolaitans. It's difficult to know for sure what the Nicolaitans taught. But there seems to be a consensus that these were the followers of Nicholas, who was one of the seven deacons chosen in Acts chapter 7.
31:29
Nicholas led a group of Christians. But at some point, the story is that he had a very beautiful wife.
31:38
And at some point, he made a foolish vow to no longer have sex with her in devotion to the
31:44
Lord, found that impossible to do, and then went full circle the other way into a kind of an open marriage situation.
31:53
And because of that sexual immorality, a whole cult called the Nicolaitans emerged, which basically embraced what
32:01
Ephesus taught, what the culture taught, kind of a free love sort of situation, polyamory, which might be the next thing in our culture as the slippery slope continues in America.
32:16
But because of Nicholas's teachings, many were led into licentiousness, a license to do whatever the flesh wanted to do.
32:28
And Jesus commends the church at Ephesus for hating the works of the
32:35
Nicolaitans. Does it say for hating the Nicolaitans? No, it says for hating the works of the
32:41
Nicolaitans, that teaching which denigrates the holiness of God, the righteousness of God.
32:50
They were commended for what they hate. Isn't that ironic? What did they lack? Love.
32:56
But they had enough love to hate what hates Christ, the things that are against Him.
33:04
In James chapter 4, verse 4, it says, you adulterous people. You see the play on words there, comparing departure from Christ to adultery.
33:12
You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
33:20
Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You can't serve two masters.
33:28
You'll love one and hate the other. If you love Christ, you must hate what he hates. There's church doors closing, not just in Germany, which is now like 1 % evangelical.
33:42
Can you imagine? The starting point of the Reformation is 1 % evangelical. The lampstand is gone.
33:48
Here in New Jersey, which had fires of evangelism and great awakenings that came through this land, now only 13 % of evangelical.
33:57
But up in Haldon in New Jersey, there was an Episcopal church that closed recently.
34:03
And John Chadwick, a staff writer for the New Jersey News, described it this way. It was once the town's elite church, quaint hilltop chapel overlooking crowded streets and humming textile mills.
34:17
But now the red velvet seat cushions are flat and faded. Well, we have that in common with them, flat faded red velvet seat cushions.
34:26
Hopefully nothing else in common. The choir robes are moldy. Well, we don't have those. And the guest book hasn't had a new signature in more than a year.
34:35
This Episcopal church, the oldest in Halton, once the parish of choice for prosperous 19th century families, will close its doors for good
34:44
Sunday after 139 years. Mildred Dowd, an 83 -year -old who attends, says,
34:52
I haven't accepted it, and I won't until the last day comes and I realize we will not be coming back.
34:59
The church's decline from its 1960s peak of 200 families to the current congregation of 18 isn't unusual.
35:08
A similar saga is unfolding in many mainline churches in North Jersey and nationwide, prompting painful soul searching among church leaders.
35:17
And it's so interesting to hear what they say the reason is. The church leaders say we don't do contemporary worship like the other hipper churches do.
35:28
And the Episcopal priest there, this woman named Eccles, says, people are definitely out there looking for spirituality and wanting to have conversations of deep meaning.
35:38
We have this wonderful message, but we have to find new ways to communicate it.
35:44
She says, their strength is their liberal message of inclusion. And their gospel is
35:50
DIE, D -I -E, diversity, inclusion, and equity or equality.
36:00
The answer that this bishop offers is just to change the packaging.
36:07
Just make it a little bit more appealing to a more modern audience. But the saddest thing of all is that what's really happened in Halden and what's happening all over this country is that Jesus is walking into his church, and he's snatching his lampstand and saying no more.
36:28
He takes the lampstand, and he walks away because they have departed from their first love.
36:35
And then they departed from the doctrine. Then they departed from the gospel altogether. And he came, and he took his lampstand.
36:43
They're diagnosing the problem completely wrong. He who has an ear, verse 7, let him hear what the
36:53
Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
37:05
One of the hardest sermons to listen to that I've ever heard was preached by Paul Washer.
37:15
And it's been watched millions and millions of times on the internet. He's at a youth conference, and he's talking to young people.
37:24
And as he calls them to genuine repentance and faith, they listen, and they keep cheering.
37:33
And they clap as he calls them to repentance and faith. Until finally, he just stops preaching, and he says,
37:40
I don't know why you're clapping. I'm talking about you. And it was finally silent.
37:47
Many people were saved through that sermon because it was a wake -up call. A wake -up call to say, listen,
37:54
I'm not just preaching about them out there. I'm talking to you.
38:00
And that's what I need to hear from God's word, not about them, but about me. I want my first love back.
38:09
Do you? Repent and do the things you did at first.
38:16
Repent and do the things you did at first. Remember what it was like. Some of you who have experienced that, and if you've never experienced that, it's a new experience waiting for you.
38:25
Just the passion and the joy where Jesus is everything. He is everything to you.
38:33
He wants that for you. This week, as I was thinking about this and being convicted by God's word, I thought, one of the things that I used to do that I just don't do anymore is journal.
38:44
I don't write to him. And so I started writing in my notebook, and I ended up writing a little poem.
38:49
I do that from time to time. I want to read it to you in closing, because what happened was
38:55
I opened to Philippians 2. And Philippians 2 is about how Jesus lowered himself.
39:01
He lowered himself from heaven to earth to become like us. And then he lowered himself to death, but not any death.
39:07
He lowered himself to the most ignomious death, death on a cross. And having lowered himself, he's lifted higher and given the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow.
39:20
So I wrote a poem that I call Forever Higher. And it just traces his humiliation and then his exaltation.
39:31
And it helped me to love him more. I'd encourage you to write to him, journal. Spend time in the word, in devotion from your heart to him.
39:40
Here's how it goes. Lower, he's giving us more. The cold of the night awakens the sight of shepherds now come to adore.
39:51
Lower, with angels above, he's Galilee's light. They're pressing him tight to the cliffs with the essence of love.
40:01
Lower, he's sentenced to death. Restraining the might of angels in flight, he holds back the sword of his breath.
40:10
Lower, it's death on a cross. Glory so bright, covered in night, all of my gain from this loss.
40:18
Higher, he conquers the grave. The cold of the night, beaten by light, he came to seek and to save.
40:26
Higher, he flies to his throne. Galilee's light, the angel's delight.
40:32
He came to make us his own. Higher, he's coming again, revealing his might in everyone's sight.
40:40
The kingdom of God is with men. Higher, new heaven, new earth. Glory so bright, no sun, yet no night.
40:49
We're forever proclaiming his worth. Amen, let's pray. And come on up, worship team. Jesus, we want to worship you with the love we had at the beginning.
41:00
In my prayer now, Lord, as I pray over this congregation and over myself, is that you would bring us back to our first love.
41:12
Bring us back to the things we did at first, those ordinary means of grace.
41:18
Scripture, reading scripture every single day. Praying unceasingly.
41:27
Witnessing, stepping out in faith. Journaling, serving.
41:39
I pray that these works would not just be an outer show to do our dutiful, doctrinal duties with coldness.
41:51
I pray it would be our exhilarating passion, the fire that's in our hearts.
41:58
Lord, bring us back to our first love. Restore us to our first love.
42:04
And even right now, I pray for everyone here that we would remember the heights from which we have fallen.
42:13
Remember that place where we were closest to you. Lord, I pray that we would set our minds right now that we will not settle for anything less than that place.
42:32
We repent, Lord God. We repent of loving you less than you deserve.
42:40
We're sorry, Lord, for having less passion in our hearts than what you're worthy of.
42:51
You're worthy not just of our duties and our actions, but you say, my son, give me your heart.
43:02
So we're doing right now, Lord. We give you our hearts again. We ask that you would come and take our hearts, make them yours, restore us to our first love in Jesus name.