Revelation 2:1-7 (NRSV) ‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands: ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what 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.
The strength of the church in Ephesus was perseverance and purity of doctrine. The church had remained steadfast in their faith in Christ despite the opposition from the priest of the Temple of Diana. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. The ardor, the enthusiasm, the devotion, and the warmth of love was missing from their fellowship. In the same way, has the love that once sparked us been dampened? Have we lost the sense of compassion that has guided our life?
Where love is most likely to be eroded from our life is in our expressions of ministry if they become performances rather than acts of love. Every effective ministry begins in an act of love, as an expression of our devotion to Christ. The hard thing is to keep it that way. It isn’t easy. It is the natural drift of things to begin in the spirit of love and to end in drudgery. Without love, service becomes drudgery, speaking becomes noise, motivation is forced.
And, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. The lampstand is taken away. The lampstand is the life and light of Jesus Christ. When love for Him is no longer the motive for ministry we can say the words and do the work, but we do not convey or present His love to others.
Return to the center. Remember those moments when we have glimpses that the only life that matters is Christ’s kind of life. Remember those moments when Christ came to us in countless disguises through people, some who supported us and some who confronted us, all by the power of Christ’s love in them.
Let us allow our mind and heart to be receptive and to be vulnerable to the love of Christ for us. This giving of ourselves to Christ is never finished but always to be reaffirmed with a new decision and fresh surrender. Undoubtedly, Revelation is promising the experience of heaven to those who remain faithful. But I believe it is also true that as we maintain love as the motivation of our ministry we are able to sample the paradise of God here and now.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 21, 1984
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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