Revelation 2 1:4

Rev 2 :1To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lamp stands 2 I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false  3I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. 4But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Verse one:
This is the identification that  the Risen Christ is talking.  


Verse two & three:
John was the founder and pastor of the church of Ephesus.  It may have been the finest churches of the first century.  Last blog we  discussed where and what made up the city of Ephesus, and yet the church was "on fire for Christ", smack in the middle of one of the most pagan cities in Asia.  Here Christ commended them for their good works, their patients and "bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary".   The new testament is full of the need to test those who claim to "come from God" by asking them to accept the Incarnation in all its fullness (1 John 4:1-3).  The new testament mentions the need to test repetitively making it a necessity for the church.  To continue, Paul tells Thessalonians to test all things and then hold onto what is good (1 Thess. 5:21).  Paul also says the prophets are subject to testing each other.(1 Cor. 14:29).  William Barclay in his book "The Revealtion of John (which much of my material is from) says a "man cannot proclaim his private views in the assembly of God's people: he must abide in the tradition of the Church."  I agree with this statement and feel the proclamation and acceptance of Christ risen should be warn on your sleeve like a a badge of honor, for all to see and hopefully want as well.  There is always room for more!


Verse four:
This phrase "that you have lost your first love", may mean a couple of things:
1. Lack of enthusiasm
2. The heart was slowly moving away from Christ.This second meaning is more plausible for the context.  The decline that started in the first days of the church continued until the Laodicean days (until now).  The Laodicea Church was charged with being "lukewarm"  neither hot nor cold.  Many feel this is the way the church is today.   Now is a good time to evaluate  one's self, are you luke warm?  Is your relationship with Christ what it needs to be, are you doing what Christ wants you to do?  Or, are you feeling there are things you should be doing but, are not.  Rev 3:16 says that you will be spit out of Christ's mouth if you continue to be luke warm and not "on fire" or hot for Christ and his purposes. 


Well, this is enough for this Blog.....Remember, you can contact me through the e-mail or, feel free to write a comment on the blog!




Blessing to all,


Calabash