First Things First

BFC Sermon Notes
Pastor:Rick Fry (Pomona, CA)
Text: Revelation 2:1-4 (Letter to the Ephesian Church)
Title: First Things First

1"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. 2 "'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. 3I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Jesus lists four good things about this church: (1) their labor, (2) their patience, (3) their intolerance of evil, and (4) their skill at testing and discovering false apostles--liars. But the missed the most important part of life with Jesus: loving Jesus.

Peter is a great example of this. In John 21:7, he recognizes the risen Christ and plunges into the sea to get close to the one he had earlier betrayed. Getting close to Jesus is the best thing he could have done, and Jesus' words to him on the beach confirmed that Jesus' only concern for Peter was love--Jesus still loved him. [Interestingly,. earlier Peter was able to walk on water. This time the 200 strokes needed to swim to Jesus was worth it ... plenty of time to think, too, while he swam.]

Jesus is more concerned about your love for Him than anything else. He didn't die for us so we could serve Him or others better, He died so we could love Him better. At His right hand are pleasures forever more (Psalm 16:11).

Our problem is that we put God's first commandment after the second commandment. We are to love God first--with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength--then love people (Matthew 22:34). Hard labor without love leads to burnout.

In America, God has blown away much of our prosperity because He loves us so much, He blows the distracting idols away. He still loves and pursues us.

In this letter to the Ephesian Church, we see that we "leave" our first love, we don't "lose" it.

You can't love people until you love God well.

Joseph's story illustrates this very well. In the "slingshot of God's prophetic promise" circumstances look horrible. The further you move from the hope of God's promises, the more we need to love and trust him ... then, with surprising speed, we see the fulfillment of His good purposes for us,

Finally, Jesus said He wishes we were either hot or cold. He did not suggest that He wanted cold (indifferent or dead) passion or hot (exhausting, overactive) activities. He would never command to be hated. Instead, He wishes our love for Him was either as cool and refreshing as cold water or as vibrant and energetic as hot water.