Don’t Forsake Your First Love! Part Two
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” Acts 20:28-31 (NKJV)
In the first part of this writing we took a look at the “great mystery” of marriage that was revealed to the church in Ephesus by the apostle Paul. Today I would like to finish on that but I start with a passage from Acts to bring us to a warning. You see along a road to catch the next boat out of Ephesus, Paul encounters and charges the Ephesian Elders to remind the flock that they are saved by grace no matter how bad they once were. They were on level ground with the Jews concerning the things of God. He encouraged them to preserve in their walk and to walk in a way that reflected their profession of their faith. But Paul knew that this church was to be challenged by the wicked world that surrounded it.
Then he departed for Jerusalem never to be seen by those Elders again. And then they receive a letter from an imprisoned Paul that has been used as a great source of encouragement and instruction to this day. As time went on a Gnostic sect (the Nicolaitans) worked their way into the church and complacency must have set in. And because of this we read in the book of Revelation 2:1-7 the church in Ephesus is the first in line to be told that Christ has something against them. It has become the “Loveless Church” in His eyes and they need to get back to where they once were, “or else I (Jesus) will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place.” Not good at all!!!
Now the church of Ephesus is being commended for their diligence in their Christian duty as we hope we are and Christ keeps an account of every hour's work His servants do for Him, and their labor shall not be in vain in the Lord. But it is not enough that we are diligent; there must be a bearing patience, and there must be a waiting patience. Though we must show all meekness to all men, we must also show a just zeal against their sins. The sin Christ charged this church with, is not forsaking the object of love, but having lost the fervent degree of it when it first appeared. Christ is displeased with His people when he sees them grow negligent and cold toward Him.
I believe we need to see this in the same light in our marriages. Yes we are doing the right things by working a job day to day, maintaining the house and yard as well as helping in the raising of our children. But if we are just doing these because we are splitting the family duties with our wives then what are we doing it for? If we are not approaching our marriages in “that first love” in mind then we do need to make our way back. God used us men as the first sacrifice to create women. Remember, Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. And Paul enforces this by saying no man has ever hated his own body; no he cherishes and nourishes it.
These mentioning’s in Scripture, of Christian men loving their wives and of all of us who forsake our “first love”, serves to rebuke those of us who speak of such things with carelessness and try to excuse this indifference in themselves or others? Jesus considers this behavior as sin, period. In Revelation 2, even though He is speaking to the Loveless Church, Jesus gives clear direction to repent from this, be grieved of it and then confess it in the sight of God the Father. I want to reinforce to you this morning to re-examine that first love (Jesus Christ) and remember that it will govern your second love (your wives and children, you are third brother, sorry). If you are not in a right relationship with the Son he cannot intercede for you with the Father and that will ultimately reflect on the wife and children. Look at what was written in Revelation not as that will only happen in the future but look at it in a very today warning for your daily living. – Chris Hughes is a regular Freedom Fighter contributor and a grad of the Colony of Mercy
Compass Pointers: “In our local assemblies we are part of the church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and perpetuated by the mystery of the new birth. Therefore our assembly is that of Christian believers gathered unto a Name to worship and adore that Presence. Ig this true—and everything within me witnesses that it is—all the strain is gone. I mean the strain is gone even about traditional religious—the pressures that we must sing certain songs, recite certain prayers and creeds, follow accepted patterns in ministerial leadership and service. All of these begin to pale in importance as we function in faith as the people of God who glorify the Name that is above every name and honor His Presence!” The Quotable Tozer II A.W. Tozer
Navigation Rules: Level 1: Proverbs 6:23; Level 2: Proverbs 6:12-19
Anchored to the Rock: Leave not off praying to God; for either praying will make thee leave of sinning, or continuing in sin will make thee desist from praying. Thomas Fuller
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