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The Ephesus Church Lost Their First Love

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Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

(Revelation 2:4)

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After Jesus was lifted up to heaven, the disciples were scattered and began to spread the gospel of Jesus. So many churches were built in different places.

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And among those churches, there was the Ephesus church which was built in the place of Ephesus. But Ephesus was a very rich city where they served many idols especially the goddess Artemis.

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This Ephesus church was a place where Apostle Paul had stayed for 2 years and preached the gospel of God. And this church was a famous church for being faithful. Pastor Timothy, who was called as the son of Apostle Paul, had preached the gospel there, too.

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"We, the Ephesus city should serve the goddess Artemis alone!

How can some people serve a different god, stay here?"

"Yes, we should make them leave here." The unbelieving Ephesus people were displeased by the Christians who believed in Jesus.

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So they bullied the people believing in Jesus and gave them a hard time. When the Christians were passing by, they would criticize them. But through that the church members of Ephesus became a closer one always praying so that they could win over all of their difficulties.

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The people of Ephesus persistently persecuted the church. But the Ephesus church member’s patience of faith was stronger than the other people of Ephesus so they were not able to win over that church. Truly there is no other thing stronger than believing faith in God in this world.

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But it didn't end there.

There were people from other places who came into the church saying that they believed in Jesus faithfully.

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They introduced themselves also as very excellent people like the Apostles.

At first, the church members of Ephesus thought those people's sayings were true so they listened to their words. However, later they discovered that what they were saying was wrong and that they were preaching a false gospel.

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So the people from the Ephesus church revealed that the words they were telling were lies and stopped them from causing anymore harm.

They didn't let the liars stay in the Ephesus church.

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The church in Ephesus became the symbol of faith and not only in Ephesus but also in other places. Every church wanted to be like the Ephesus church.

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And when Apostle John was jailed as a prisoner on Patmos Island, Jesus Christ appeared and spoke with him.

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Jesus Christ praised what the Ephesus church had done, but he also said,

“But there is one thing to reproof. And that is, you do not love me as much as you did before. Look back on how much you loved me before.”

The Ephesus church over time had lost their sincere love.

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God warned the Ephesus church that they had lost their first love.

“Think again, repent, and do as you did before.

If you don’t repent I`ll remove the candlestick from the church.”

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Jesus Christ was telling them that if they couldn't restore the love that they had had originally for him then he would take the love and blessing from them and give it to another place more deserving.

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In the end, they didn't follow what Jesus Christ told them and now those people still don't believe in God. If they had followed what Jesus Christ had told them, then this place would still have served God today.

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My beloved friends, as we look at the Ephesus church's example we should think again. At first, people who come to a new church may try very hard, but as time passes they can lose their first love like the Ephesus church. If you have lost your first love for Jesus Christ like the Ephesus church you should repent and renew your love for him. Then I hope that this time would be a blessed time where you promise that your love towards Jesus will never be lost again.