Ash Wednesday service Revelation 2:1-7 Title: Love lost, death found
2/9/2005
Ash Wednesday
Text: Revelation 2:1-7
Title: Love lost, Death found
May the words of mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you O Lord. Amen
Today is the first day of Lent. It is that period of time in which we are to reflect on our sinfulness and complete dependence on Jesus for our salvation. But, it is more than that, for it is also a time of expectancy, as we look forward to Easter morning and the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This Lenten season I have chosen to do a series called “Revelation for Lent”. It is based on the seven letters to the seven congregations in Asia Minor as they are found in the book of Revelation.
This Lenten series also includes personal devotional books, and Sunday morning Bible studies. Each Sunday in Bible class, I will cover in greater detail the text for the next Wednesday’s Lenten service. The idea being that the service will then be more meaningful to you as you see how God’s Word applies to your life and the life of the congregation.
Instead of using the word church as our English Bible has it, I am going to use the term congregation. The Greek word that is translated as church in our text is really congregation, for it actually means, a group of Christians gathering together for a specific purpose, the worship of God, and the spiritual building up of each other. It is personal, and yet involves community.
Each week we will look at one of the churches John sent a letter to. That way we can better see why they needed Jesus in their midst. Hopefully then we will be able to apply what we have learned to our own congregation so that we might be the best that we can be in serving our Lord, in fulfilling our mission.
John’s letter starts off in what I would call high spirits. For as you read the first few verses you see a whole list of good things that Jesus is highly praising them for doing; good deeds, hard work, perseverance, the fact that they would not let wicked people stay in the congregation, the testing of those who claimed to be apostles, but were not. Why they had even endured and not grown weary of the hardships imposed on them by non-Christians, and he really praised their hatred of the practices of the Nicolatians. Notice he did not praise them for hating the people, only their practices. It is not really known for sure, but it is thought that the Nicolatians mixed together the practice of Christianity and some form of sexual immorality.
As you read all the good things that the congregation is being praised for, you start to think, wow, I wish our congregation was like them. That is until you read verse four, where you find a rather shocking statement, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”
How could it be that this particular congregation, a perfect example of a group of people doing church be accused of forsaking Jesus, their first love? Not only is John accusing them of forsaking their first love, Jesus, he continues on to tell them that they are in danger of having their lampstand removed. Notice he did not say that the lamps would go out, but that the entire lampstand would be taken away from them. Harsh words, no doubt, but an important warning to the church at Ephesus and to all Christian churches today.
How could they, any congregation, including ours, ever lose its first love? It seems impossible does it not? As Christians we know that Jesus has to be the center of our faith. We know we are to respond to God’s wonderful gift of forgiveness and acceptance with love and zeal for God. We know we are to have great joy in fulfilling what we are created to do, in celebrating who we truly are as we freely serve our Lord. We all know that don’t we? Christ has to be the driving force behind a Christian congregation.
If that is true and it is, then how could they or any Christian congregation for that matter lose its first love? After much thought, I came up with what I think are a couple of ways for a congregation to lose its first love. The first is the pursuit of pureness. I am not talking about keeping false doctrines out of the congregation, that has to be done. I am talking about the pursuit of perfection, an entirely different thing.
I am afraid that too many congregations, without their even realizing it have put the Law above the Gospel in their pursuit of perfection. In doing so they have unwittingly added good works to their salvation. They forget that there is no congregation, no person that can ever do things right enough, or even do enough to please God. It is impossible!
That is why we have to rely only on the saving work of our first love, Jesus Christ. For when you put anything, even as righteous as it might be, above the righteousness of Jesus, you have lost your first love.
Our beloved Martin Luther once said to “sin boldly”. He did not mean that one should go out and commit intentional sins, but that you have to understand, that there are time in one’s personal life and the life of the congregation that you have to make judgment calls about what God’s desires are and then rely on the forgiveness of God, and not your pureness. Martin Luther knew how the drive for perfection can cause a congregation to lose its first love, the love of Jesus Christ.
Another way a congregation can be in danger of losing its first love is when members of that congregation put themselves before God. Let explain what I mean by that statement. I am going to use myself as an example. I think that what I am going to say will resonate with many of you.
Way back before I became a pastor, around the age of 28 I became active in my congregation. It was a real joy to serve the Lord by taking an active part in the congregation. I volunteered to hold an office, or to serve on a committee. I happily gave of my time and talents. I cleaned windows, scrubbed floors, cut the grass, made sure the altar was prepared for Sunday, taught Bible classes, and did what ever was asked of me. I looked forward to serving however I could. Why, I even found joy in telling others about Jesus.
But then something happened. I got burned out. I felt unappreciated and not loved. Things were not going as I wanted them to go. I withdrew, content to sit on the sidelines and snipe away at those who still lovingly served the Lord. Fortunately the Lord worked in a powerful way in my life to get me back on track.
In preparing for this sermon, I was reminded once more of why I had gotten burned out. The problem was not anyone’s fault but my own, for you see I had quit focusing on my first love, Jesus Christ. He was not the center of my life. I had been focusing on my work, my ideas, my deeds, my self, doing things correctly, and that is where I went wrong. For when I began to focus on myself, I was losing my focus on Jesus.
You see what happened to me is what happens to congregations. For as more and more of their members shift from focusing on Jesus, the congregation becomes less and less motivated by what Jesus has done for them and more focused on self. They start to lose their commitment to Jesus, and the focus of the congregation starts to fade. Oh, the congregation might continue to do church things, but their love is really for self. There is unhappiness, and conflict, power becomes important, not love. Their lampstand is in danger of being removed.
But there is good news. Verse seven tells us that all a congregation that has lost its focus needs to do is listen to the Holy Spirit and return to its first love, Jesus Christ and they will be given eternal life. That is good news!
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you who are the congregation of Saint John, Christ our Lord loves you with an everlasting love. He has given you faith and fills you with his Holy Spirit. You have all you need for your salvation and to do his work on this earth. He alone builds and sustains this congregation, he needs to be central to everything. For without his love there is no life, only death. Will you join me in keeping the candle of Saint John burning brightly with Jesus Love? It is my prayer that you will. Amen
Ash Wednesday
Text: Revelation 2:1-7
Title: Love lost, Death found
May the words of mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you O Lord. Amen
Today is the first day of Lent. It is that period of time in which we are to reflect on our sinfulness and complete dependence on Jesus for our salvation. But, it is more than that, for it is also a time of expectancy, as we look forward to Easter morning and the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This Lenten season I have chosen to do a series called “Revelation for Lent”. It is based on the seven letters to the seven congregations in Asia Minor as they are found in the book of Revelation.
This Lenten series also includes personal devotional books, and Sunday morning Bible studies. Each Sunday in Bible class, I will cover in greater detail the text for the next Wednesday’s Lenten service. The idea being that the service will then be more meaningful to you as you see how God’s Word applies to your life and the life of the congregation.
Instead of using the word church as our English Bible has it, I am going to use the term congregation. The Greek word that is translated as church in our text is really congregation, for it actually means, a group of Christians gathering together for a specific purpose, the worship of God, and the spiritual building up of each other. It is personal, and yet involves community.
Each week we will look at one of the churches John sent a letter to. That way we can better see why they needed Jesus in their midst. Hopefully then we will be able to apply what we have learned to our own congregation so that we might be the best that we can be in serving our Lord, in fulfilling our mission.
John’s letter starts off in what I would call high spirits. For as you read the first few verses you see a whole list of good things that Jesus is highly praising them for doing; good deeds, hard work, perseverance, the fact that they would not let wicked people stay in the congregation, the testing of those who claimed to be apostles, but were not. Why they had even endured and not grown weary of the hardships imposed on them by non-Christians, and he really praised their hatred of the practices of the Nicolatians. Notice he did not praise them for hating the people, only their practices. It is not really known for sure, but it is thought that the Nicolatians mixed together the practice of Christianity and some form of sexual immorality.
As you read all the good things that the congregation is being praised for, you start to think, wow, I wish our congregation was like them. That is until you read verse four, where you find a rather shocking statement, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”
How could it be that this particular congregation, a perfect example of a group of people doing church be accused of forsaking Jesus, their first love? Not only is John accusing them of forsaking their first love, Jesus, he continues on to tell them that they are in danger of having their lampstand removed. Notice he did not say that the lamps would go out, but that the entire lampstand would be taken away from them. Harsh words, no doubt, but an important warning to the church at Ephesus and to all Christian churches today.
How could they, any congregation, including ours, ever lose its first love? It seems impossible does it not? As Christians we know that Jesus has to be the center of our faith. We know we are to respond to God’s wonderful gift of forgiveness and acceptance with love and zeal for God. We know we are to have great joy in fulfilling what we are created to do, in celebrating who we truly are as we freely serve our Lord. We all know that don’t we? Christ has to be the driving force behind a Christian congregation.
If that is true and it is, then how could they or any Christian congregation for that matter lose its first love? After much thought, I came up with what I think are a couple of ways for a congregation to lose its first love. The first is the pursuit of pureness. I am not talking about keeping false doctrines out of the congregation, that has to be done. I am talking about the pursuit of perfection, an entirely different thing.
I am afraid that too many congregations, without their even realizing it have put the Law above the Gospel in their pursuit of perfection. In doing so they have unwittingly added good works to their salvation. They forget that there is no congregation, no person that can ever do things right enough, or even do enough to please God. It is impossible!
That is why we have to rely only on the saving work of our first love, Jesus Christ. For when you put anything, even as righteous as it might be, above the righteousness of Jesus, you have lost your first love.
Our beloved Martin Luther once said to “sin boldly”. He did not mean that one should go out and commit intentional sins, but that you have to understand, that there are time in one’s personal life and the life of the congregation that you have to make judgment calls about what God’s desires are and then rely on the forgiveness of God, and not your pureness. Martin Luther knew how the drive for perfection can cause a congregation to lose its first love, the love of Jesus Christ.
Another way a congregation can be in danger of losing its first love is when members of that congregation put themselves before God. Let explain what I mean by that statement. I am going to use myself as an example. I think that what I am going to say will resonate with many of you.
Way back before I became a pastor, around the age of 28 I became active in my congregation. It was a real joy to serve the Lord by taking an active part in the congregation. I volunteered to hold an office, or to serve on a committee. I happily gave of my time and talents. I cleaned windows, scrubbed floors, cut the grass, made sure the altar was prepared for Sunday, taught Bible classes, and did what ever was asked of me. I looked forward to serving however I could. Why, I even found joy in telling others about Jesus.
But then something happened. I got burned out. I felt unappreciated and not loved. Things were not going as I wanted them to go. I withdrew, content to sit on the sidelines and snipe away at those who still lovingly served the Lord. Fortunately the Lord worked in a powerful way in my life to get me back on track.
In preparing for this sermon, I was reminded once more of why I had gotten burned out. The problem was not anyone’s fault but my own, for you see I had quit focusing on my first love, Jesus Christ. He was not the center of my life. I had been focusing on my work, my ideas, my deeds, my self, doing things correctly, and that is where I went wrong. For when I began to focus on myself, I was losing my focus on Jesus.
You see what happened to me is what happens to congregations. For as more and more of their members shift from focusing on Jesus, the congregation becomes less and less motivated by what Jesus has done for them and more focused on self. They start to lose their commitment to Jesus, and the focus of the congregation starts to fade. Oh, the congregation might continue to do church things, but their love is really for self. There is unhappiness, and conflict, power becomes important, not love. Their lampstand is in danger of being removed.
But there is good news. Verse seven tells us that all a congregation that has lost its focus needs to do is listen to the Holy Spirit and return to its first love, Jesus Christ and they will be given eternal life. That is good news!
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you who are the congregation of Saint John, Christ our Lord loves you with an everlasting love. He has given you faith and fills you with his Holy Spirit. You have all you need for your salvation and to do his work on this earth. He alone builds and sustains this congregation, he needs to be central to everything. For without his love there is no life, only death. Will you join me in keeping the candle of Saint John burning brightly with Jesus Love? It is my prayer that you will. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 6:42 PM
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