Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Signs You Lost Your First Love | New Testament | Revelation 2

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

Do you find yourself being seduced to love things that are lesser than Jesus? What holds your passion? In today's episode, Tanya discusses Revelation 2 and shares how to rekindle your love for Jesus. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Revelation 2

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Welcome to Revelation, friends. Actually, we started the new book yesterday, and today we're in Chapter 2. When I tell people we're starting Revelation, I get big eyes and, oh, as the response. This book has a reputation for being challenging. But the good news is, we're going into it together, and we can learn in layers. Since God's Word is living and active, there's always more for us to know about God when we approach Scripture.

This is just one more opportunity to go deeper with God. Now, today we're going to talk about the seven churches, specifically what Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, and how our relationship with Jesus impacts the way we interact with the world. So first, why is Jesus addressing the seven churches? Well, by the time Revelation was written, the people of what is now modern-day Turkey had been under Roman rule for almost two centuries. The Roman system was one that rewarded allegiance to the emperor through financial and social gain, so that prosperity was tied to those who had more power and influence than you,

and work to increase your allegiance to those people and to the government. The more you did for them, the better your life was. Now, the Pax Ramana gave even more advantages like physical security, better transportation, communication, even economic prosperity. So there was a deep running loyalty to the emperor. Now, at the same time, a cult was forming that worshipped Caesar as God. And there were churches and temples built to worship Caesar. And this cult got its start in Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey, the setting for our chapter today. So to have business-sacist success and social influence, membership in the Caesar worshipping cult was expected.

Members addressed Caesar as Lord and praised Caesar for their economic prosperity. Now, of course, all of this went against the teachings of Jesus. These were the things that were put on to draw crowds together to worship Caesar. Well, if they chose not to participate, they also missed out on all the economic opportunities that the crowds and the people provided when they came to do this. So there were layers of persecution happening to the Christians who resisted the cult. So Jesus addresses the seven churches and each follows a set pattern. So first, the church's location is given, followed by a description of Jesus.

Then Jesus offers a comfort or a command or a rebuke, sometimes all. And then there's a call to heed and hear the spirit. And finally, there's a promise reward to those who overcome or overcome or conquer for Jesus' name. Now, what is he telling Ephesus specifically? The letter to the churches, it begins with Ephesus. Jesus is described as one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who is walking amongst the seven golden lampp stands. Those seven lambsstands are the seven churches that Jesus is going to speak to. And there's this image of him walking among them. It shows how deeply Jesus knows them. He is with them. So he's speaking to them out of his knowledge about their

outer works and their inner condition. To the church in Ephesus, Jesus says, you are working hard. You are patiently enduring. You are intolerant of evil. You are discerning of those who want to lead you astray with false teaching. And you are doing all of this in my name without growing weary. It sounds like a pretty healthy diagnosis, doesn't it? I mean, they're pressing forward. They're doing the right things. They're believing the right things about Jesus, and they're not growing weary. It doesn't seem like a church in any imminent danger.

But we get to verse 4 of chapter 2, and it says, But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, 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. So Jesus' word for this church, love. The church has held strong against false teaching,

but they have been seduced into loving lesser things than Jesus. Something else has their passion. What do they need to do? Well, Jesus commands them to remember. They should look back to the one who kindled their love in the first place, the Savior who died on the cross for them. Jesus commands them to repent. They should recognize the things that have taken their passion away from Jesus

and ask for forgiveness. And Jesus tells them to do the work they did at first. They should serve with the same passion and zeal they used to have. Jesus has a word for us as well. It is easy to lose our passion for serving others and resort to serving ourselves. It is also possible to live like we are holy by honoring what Jesus says without a passion for Jesus. It is easy to be seduced into the passions that material comforts offer. But Jesus warns that a church like this won't stand and their lampstand will be removed.

This is not the way we're meant to live. It's not Jesus' definition of love. So what are signs that you've lost your first love? Well, if you have a critical mindset, it might be that you have lost your first love. A critical mindset is where you embody a relentlessly ungracious posture toward yourself or others. A critical mindset points the finger but doesn't introspect. It keeps a record of wrongs. It uses justice to measure whether someone is deserving of love or compassion.

If this is something that comes out of you or your church, Jesus calls you to remember that he reached down to love you when you were most unlovable. And you should repent of your self-righteous attitude, speaking to self here, by the way, and then get to work doing the things that you did when you first realized how much Jesus has done for you. Another indicator that you've lost your first love is a lack of zeal. A lack of zeal says, I've been there and done that and I'm tired. It assumes you have outgrown certain acts of service.

It tells you that some acts of service are beneath you or that they don't really matter. If this is something that comes out of you or your church, Jesus tells you to draw near to him as the true vine that you're thirsty and tired soul needs. If you are parched, it's because you're trying to do things on your own and you've grown weary. Ask Jesus to forgive you and rekindle your soul with his living water. Despite what we tell ourselves, we are pliable and flexible and resilient human beings. We can change. The church in Ephesus is proof, but the change was going in the wrong direction.

Jesus tells us he is the way back to our first love. He is our first love. While we can't work up more love or more passion in our hearts on our own, we can turn to Jesus. We can ask him to help us live so the world knows we are his by our love.