The State of the Church: Our First Love

30 September 2018

Ephesians 2:1-13; Revelation 2:1-7

With a nod to the US president’s annual State of the Union report to the Congress and the governor’s State of the State report to the legislature, I submit to you, for your consideration and your prayers, The Lord’s report of the State of the Holy Church.  As it is written in the US Constitution, The President “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Article II, Section 3, Clause 1.

The “King of kings” has submitted His report to us and has “recommended” the measures He has judged “necessary and expedient”.

For the next seven weeks, we will delve into The Revelation’s letters to the seven churches, and strive to “listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches”.  We must consider “such measures as [The Lord] has judged necessary and expedient” for His people to act upon.  Though we won’t quite reach the season of Advent (Dec 2), it is my hope these letters will inspire and awaken something within us as disciples and as a people, the Church, so as we near the Holy Season of Advent, we may more fully be prepared to “wait for The Lord”.

There are seven letters to seven different congregations, each with its own unique challenges; but I think we will be better served to understand that, in the context of the Church universal, we share these timeless issues and challenges.  We are not immune to The Spirit’s indictments.

**Read Revelation 2:1-7**

Is what The Spirit is saying to the Church a threat, or is it a Promise?  If a Promise, what is the nature of that Promise?  Are we being threatened of bad things to come if we do not repent?  Or are we being assured of good things when we do?

Sometimes The Word can sound harsh, and I suspect there are many who keep a safe distance from the Church for that very reason.  On the other side of “harsh”, however, is the assurance of something much better if we earnestly “listen to what The Spirit is saying”.  The Scriptures reveal to The Lord’s people all we need not only for salvation but for living into the Life for which we are created and to which we are called. 

                       

No one likes to be talked down to, and often the Church can seem crass to those who will not listen to anything that speaks to them outside of their own created narrative.  It’s getting up in someone’s business instead of minding our own.  It’s why no one likes to be called to account for their actions, and it is why we don’t like to be called down for saying or doing something we felt needed to be said; but what is said to us when we’re called to account is said or done for the sake of something much greater than one’s feelings.

So the Church has tried to adjust itself over the years.  The Church has tried to bend to accommodate the dominant culture as it has deemed necessary for the sake of outreach, but that willingness to flex has taken the Gospel beyond the breaking point.  We don’t talk about “repentance” much anymore because, frankly, there is no “market” for it. 

The call and the challenge to repent offends because we must first admit we were … wrong.  That alone flies in the face of our own sense of righteousness, justice, and certainly pride.  So because we are too easily offended, the Church has pushed “repentance” to the back burner in favor of sugar-coating, adjusting, or modifying the Truth to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, to “broaden our market share”.  As a result, Truth has become relative, and our “First Love” has been pushed aside in favor of a “new love”.

Let’s also not confuse who is being addressed in these letters.  The Lord is not calling out to the unbelieving world.  These letters are not addressed to “them”; they are addressed to “us”.  The Lord is calling out to His people, the congregation, those who call themselves by His Holy Name.  But first The Church must reconnect not only with those who have gone astray, but also we who have “forgotten our first love”.

When The Lord addressed the Church at Ephesus in the Revelation, He pointed out their faithfulness.  They had not tolerated “evil doers”, they had tested those who claimed to be apostles and found them to be false, and they shared a common hatred of the “Nicolaitans”.  Scholars do not agree on exactly who the “Nicolaitans” were, but it seems safe to say they were trouble-makers for the Church.  Regardless, The Lord points out to His people these are all good things to their credit.

“Yet I have this thing against you: you have abandoned the love you had at first; remember, then, from what you have fallen.  Repent, and do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:4-5).

It sounds as though they were – and WE are - still doing all the right things, things that are pleasing to The Lord and necessary to the Church; things that need to continue.  If they were once good for the Church and pleasing to The Lord, they are still good for the Church and pleasing to The Lord. 

Yet somehow all that is good and pleasing has lost its flavor, its “saltiness”.  The Spirit is not weighing the balance between what is good and what is lacking.  Rather, the Church is being advised – commanded, actually – to regain what has been lost so these other things can begin to have any real meaning.

I think most of us remember our first loves.  We couldn’t sleep or eat or even think straight because everything we did and everything we were was all directly connected to that love.  That love gave meaning to everything, including our very lives!  That love gave us a strong sense of value and direction.  Everything we did was according to that deep sense of belonging to someone.

It is that Love we must learn to regain and reconnect to in a meaningful way.  It is that Love which gives the Church its motivation, its fuel, and its purpose.  A misguided love may convince us to go in a direction contrary to the Holy Word – as it apparently did for the Ephesians - but that “first Love” reminds us to “seek first the Kingdom of God” and learn to wait patiently for The Lord. 

It won’t be easy, and we must not try to convince ourselves it will be or that it can be.  It will be very hard, maybe the most difficult thing we can ever try to do; breaking old habits, “teaching an old dog new tricks”.  Recapturing that First Love will require a renewed focus on the means of grace, those things we have learned to take for granted: prayer, fasting, the study of the Scriptures, fellowship with the saints, and mutual accountability.  It will require setting some things aside we’ve learned to love to make room for The First Love which gave hope and real meaning to our very existence and the things we do.  We are taught by the Holy Word and assured by The Spirit our determination to repent will be worth it. 

And “to everyone who conquers”, our Lord says, “I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God” … if you love Me first.  This, my fellow disciples, is the assurance of Everlasting Life – beginning now.  For the good of our souls, for the strength of the Church, and to the glory of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.  Amen.