From The Pastor’s Desk
.
Pastor Randy Barnett, Oklahoma
RETURN TO
YOUR FIRST LOVE
We are living in the last of the last days
before the return of Jesus Christ and the catching away of the Church to meet
Him in the air. This truth makes this
time period very critical to God and to us.
The apostle Peter writes this in I Peter 4:17
“For
the time has come for judgment to begin at the house
of
God; and if it begins with us first, what will the end of those
who
do not obey the gospel of God?”
We should ask ourselves what Peter meant
here when he says “the time has come for judgment.” The first thing we
must accept is that if Peter thought the time for judgment had come 2000 years
ago, it is certainly the time for us today in the modern Church. So what exactly does this word judgment mean
to us? Peter is admonishing the people
of God to judge ourselves. This judgment is not a judgment by God, but it is
where the saints take an honest look in the mirror and allow the Spirit of God
to reveal to them what is really in their hearts. Once the truth is revealed, there is a
genuine, from-the-heart repentance and turning from sin and error. (II Timothy
2:19-21) As Peter notes, the saints of
God are the first ones to enter into judgment, and this judgment happens now,
in this age. But the judgment of the
world will take place at the Great White throne judgment. (Revelations 20) Satan, his hordes of evil spirits, and
everyone whose name is not found in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake
of fire for all eternity.
I want to show you the kind of judgment
Peter refers to, it is found in Revelations 2:1-7 in the letter to the church
at Ephesus. Read this passage closely
and especially note verse 4. It is
interesting to see that this church was apparently a very dynamic and
persevering church. The Lord commends
them for being hard workers in the Kingdom of God, for being patient, and for
their non-tolerance of counterfeit apostles.
So, we can see that this was a church that, at least on the surface,
looked good. Perhaps we could liken it
to the beautiful church houses around us with impressive campuses, towering
steeples and manicured lawns. They have every imaginable program for every age
and segment of people in society. They have multiple services each Sunday
morning and a host of other activities during the week. Maybe they look like
the church at Ephesus did in the first century – impressive.
But we cannot overlook verse 4. It is in this verse we see God’s disapproval
with them. We must see clearly what He
says to this church, and make every effort to learn from their mistakes and
adjust ourselves accordingly. To do this
not only wise, it is mandatory.
There is a strong covenantal phrase in
verse 4 that is our key here: “…your first love…” What you are seeing in
the word “first” has a two-fold meaning.
First of all, it implies priority.
When someone is first in the eyes of another person, they are #1 to
them. They hold the highest possible
place of priority. The second
connotation of the word “first” has to do with the idea of happening
first. Chronologically the first love
was the first one with whom they fell in love.
So as we mesh these two concepts into the meaning of this phrase, we see
what God is saying to these Christians. He
is saying that He wants first place in their hearts (and lives) and He wants it
to be as it was when they first met Him and had that initial sold-out feeling
and commitment to Him. What God is
looking for is a pure relationship with His children.
The
saints at Ephesus had fallen into the performance trap. They were doing all the right things, weren’t
they? They looked good. They had some good things going. But, their focus that once was on Jesus, had
been shifted to performing within the church.
The danger in this kind of error is that we are lulled into deception;
we think we are OK with God because of all the good stuff we are doing for
Him. Can you see the error in this? The Lord desires relationship, not just
performance. Our covenant with Him is
built on a family relationship; religion is the practice of doing good things
to impress God or stay in His graces. As
we can see, such a notion is a wrong and it has dire repercussions!
We have allowed disappointments to
diminish our faith. We have gotten our
eyes over on others and saw their imperfections, and it caused us to stumble a
bit. We’ve opened the doors of our minds
to the evil in the world, and it has dulled our spirits and sapped our
spiritual strength. Serving Jesus has become
a burden. Something has to change!
The Lord was calling the Ephesus church to
repentance; He is also calling today’s Church to repentance. We must hear the admonition of Father God to
“…remember from where you have fallen…” Do you remember there was a
purity and holiness when you were first born again. Zeal for Jesus consumed you and you could
hardly contain your excitement over your transformation. You looked forward to being in church and you
devoured every word from the pulpit. You
could hardly wait to get up in the morning to get back into the Word to
discover some new revelation. Your
prayers were faith-filled as the prayers of a child, and you even saw them
answered. You walked with God. You communed with God. You loved God. He is now calling you back to that fresh,
new, wonderful walk with Him. Go
there. I encourage you to return to your
first love and enjoy the fullness of joy that only happens in the presence of
the Lord.
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