Im glad youre here. We are studying the [Book of] Ephesians together, Meet the Ephesians. Before we get in to the Book of Ephesians, it is important that we have an understanding of the city, the culture, the people that were studying; and we learned about that city last week. Were going to learn some more again this week. We learned that its a city that was very historic. It was the key city of Asia Minor. It was the place of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World-the Temple of the goddess, Artemis (was there). She was the goddess of fertility. She was the goddess of the hunt, so if you wanted healthy babies, many babies, a good hunt, you would come and sacrifice and pray to the goddess, Artemis. Hopefully, she would grant you favor and blessing. You would come if you were a tourist, simply to see a magnificent structure that took over 100 years to build-massive structure. It had beautiful marble pillars; only one pillar is standing today there where Ephesus used to be in the country that is now Turkey. People would come in the droves. Theyd spend their money there, and theyd buy little models of the goddess, Artemis, or buy models of the shrine. Those who had money would buy silver ones. They would also come to get what were called the Ephesian letters. These were letters that came from the temple that were probably blessed by a temple priest. Some sort of spell was placed on them; and if you owned them, magic things would come your way. Special blessings would come your way. They also practiced witchcraft. They had a lot of spells and incantations and things they would say in order to receive what they were hoping for from the powers that be. That was a focal point of the community religiously, a focal point of the community economically. Paul comes into this city, and he says, Gods made by man are not gods at all! Ive come to proclaim the true God! Wonderful miracles start to happen. Jesus blesses the ministry of Paul. People see the miracles taking place. They start to think, Hey, I think the true God is over here. Maybe all along, weve been worshipping a false god. They start to convert to the Way, to Christianity. People stop buying the shrines. Theres a man by the name of Demetrius who gets all upset and angry. He says, Hey, we have to stop this Paul. My orders have gone way down. This guy over here is not buying as many shrines. This person is a Christian now, and theyre buying none! We have to stop this man! Hes attacking our goddess, and hes attacking our way of life! A big riot ensued. When the riot finally dissipated, the dust finally settled, there in Ephesus was the Church of the Living God. How would you like to have Paul as your Sunday School teacher? How about that? Who is your Sunday School teacher? Oh, the Apostle Paul. Its a good class. You should check it out. For three years, he is there-three years! Thats longer than he spent in any other city by far. Three years, he is shepherding, teaching and discipling because the city was so dark. There was so much they needed, so much help they needed. They bonded at this time. Then came the time when the Holy Spirit moved him on. All leadership is transitional. We fill our role. We serve the Lord faithfully; God moves us on either through going to another ministry, through death or some other issue, but all leadership is transitional. His time to leave had come. I want you to envision yourself saying good-bye to a friend thats dear to you-maybe somebody who has mentored you and coached you. Maybe they have been close with you. Theyre your confident and advisor. Understand now in Bible days, they cant just say, Hey, Paul, give me your email. Let me get you on Facebook, and well stay in touch. When he goes away to Jerusalem, theyre not going to see him again. Paul knows by the Holy Spirit that they will never see him again; so imagine saying good-bye to a friend thats been dear to you, knowing that when they get in that airplane, they get in that car, they get in that boat, you will never, ever see their face again or hear their voice again. You cant call them on the cell phone. This is an emotional time for Paul. Its an emotional time for the leaders of the church in Ephesus. They gather together by the shore. The boat is waiting. Paul calls for the elders of the church. They gather in a port city called Miletus. There Paul gives them his farewell address. Lets turn to it in the Book of Acts 20 (page 1101 of pew Bibles), and lets hear what the Apostle Paul says. He is going to give them a charge. He is going to begin by talking about himself, and then he is going to transition to talking about them. Lets begin reading when the elders arrive in Chapter 20:18, When they arrived, he said to them: You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardship are facing me. Lets pause right there. So much for the health, prosperity and wealth gospel. Always be comfortable, always be at ease-no problems or worries, right? Jesus is leading him in to hardship in a prison experience. He will experience the grace and the presence of God. God will be with him through it, but make no mistake about it, he is going to go through it; and it was by the Will of God. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the Gospel of Gods grace. Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the Kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole Will of God. Now he turns his attention to them. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the Church of God, which He bought with His own blood. If you notice there, that is a bold assertion of deity. God bought the church with His own blood. Whose own blood? Gods blood. This is an assertion of the deity of Christ. There is no other way to parse this. There is no other way to translate this in the Greek. Paul is saying that God the Son shed His blood for us. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the Truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Even from within this church are going to come people who do not preach the Truth and are going to try to lead people away. Guard against that! Were going to see how they do. This is prophetic, and its going to happen. In a moment, were going to look back and see how they responded to it. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Now I commit you to God and to the Word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyones silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said: It is more blessed to give than to receive. When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. They said their good-byes. So Paul had given them a charge. The theme was Stay faithful. You are going to be tested. Stay faithful. Keep the faith. Guard the church to make sure the church is doctrinally pure. Dont go after the wolves in sheeps clothing. Persevere. Do the Will of God. You have a good foundation. Youre off to a right start. Stay the course. Obey the Lord; persevere; guard the church; remain doctrinally pure. This was the charge to the Ephesians. I wonder how they did. I wonder if Jesus would give them a report card. What would He say decades later? We know because we have that in the Bible. I want you to turn in your Bible to the Book of Revelation 2. Whereas the Book of Acts 19 and 20 tell us the beginning of the story of the church in Ephesus, here in Acts, we look back decades later as John writes on the Island of Patmos; and Jesus Himself is the One who dictates the letter. Were going to find out that many of the things that Paul said came to pass, and were going to see how they responded to his charge of faithfulness. Revelation 2:1 (page 1216 of pew Bibles), To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. That is a reference to the fact of these seven churches in Asia Minor, and I could name them, but Angel would have to fingerspell them all. I could be mean: Thyatira, Pergamum, Sardis, Laodicea, Philadelphia, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah (congregation laughing). These churches of Asia Minor are the seven lights. Theyre stars, the candlestick; theyre holders; theyre containers of the light. They represent Christ to this region of the world, and that's what that language means in Verse 1. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. You do good things. You work hard, and you dont give up. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not… Youve done what Paul told you to do. …youve found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. So far, straight As, right? Theyve done everything that God has called them to do. What else, besides being obedient-to persevere and uphold the Truth, whats left? I mean what in the world is left? Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Youre going to lose your influence. Youre going to lose authority in the region. He says, Listen, your first love, the word first means the preeminent love, the priority love. What he is saying here, his big criticism, is look, youre doing all the right things, but there is no love for Me. Your passion for Me has waned. Your love for Me, the relationship I have with you, its not there anymore. Youre doing the right things. Youre saying the right things. Youre standing up for the Truth, but theres no love. Parents, what if you had a child that always obeyed everything you said? Wow. Who always persevered and never gave up, no matter what job you gave them around the house, whether they were at school, in the athletic field, music-whatever it is-they never gave up. They always persevered, so they always obeyed, always persevered, always upheld what you said and made sure everybody understood what Mom or Dad said. Nope, this is what Mom and Dad said. This is what they meant, and they always upheld your words but did not love you? How would you feel as a parent? Your kid is a model kid. He does great in school. You say, Clean your room, his room is clean. Wash the dishes, he washes the dishes. Cut the grass, he cuts the grass. Go to bed, he goes to bed. Do your homework, he does his homework. Theyre respectful. They say, Yes, sir. Yes, Maam. They do everything you tell them to do, but they never reciprocate your love. They never say, demonstrate or show that they love you, that theyre grateful for you. How do you feel as a parent? Does that feel empty, do you think? That child doesnt return your love. The greatest thing about being a dad is when my children show love for me. I can provide for them, protect them, teach them, and model for them; but the coolest thing is when they show me love. If you could ask God a question and say, God, what is the greatest thing about being God? What is the most awesome thing about being God? What would God say? Well, you know its the sunsets. Its the stars that I put in the universe. Im still making those. Its the intricate things about the universe that I design, like that flower. Thats the coolest thing about being God. You know what the Bible says God would say? The most awesome thing about being God? Its when people who have a free will choose to return love to Him. The coolest thing about being God that God would say is when the people who Ive made in My image love Me back, want to spend time with Me, want to know Me, and they cherish Me. Thats what this sermon is about today. Were going to talk about a church that did everything right, said everything right, but still missed the boat. Theyd forgotten their first love. You know, its easy to do. Some of you have done that here. Youve let love wane in your life in one way or another. Fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. There was a time when that couple walked down the aisle and were madly in love. When youre in love with somebody, theyre all you think about. Theyre on your mind all the time; but over the years, the pressures of life, the schedules we keep, the problems we face, sometimes couples can be torn apart. Pretty soon they forget their first love. You start a job; its a good job. You like your job. You get a promotion; you get a raise. Its rewarding work, but if you lose your passion for that job, pretty soon it just becomes a job. Its just a way to pay the bills, and it becomes hard for you to get up and go to work. Some of you work hard for stuff-some knickknack you want, some gadget or gizmo that you think will be cool. You get that gizmo, you get that what-not, you get that thing-a-ma-bob. You save for it; you work for it, and over time it becomes just another thing gathering dust or rust or it ends up in the attic in a box. Youre soon on to the next thing because you lost your passion for that. Could we do the same thing with the living God, that we do with stuff, that we do with people, that we do with our jobs? The Bible says we can. You see the Ephesians were used to life like this, I pray to Artemis, and Artemis does this for me. I sacrifice to Artemis, and Artemis gives me a good hunt. I take this letter to the Ephesians, and I pray over it, and the magic in this letter blesses me. I say this spell or incantation… Remember they had a big bonfire in Ephesus, and they burned up all the witchcraft books and all the spells? They just had this holy bonfire in the middle of the city. They just got rid of it. But when they used to rely on that, thats what theyd do. Theyd recite that incantation, and then theyd wait for something good to happen. Pretty soon, God became like that to them. God became simply one they prayed to and followed to get what they needed. You know there are some schools of thought, there are some elements of Christianity that God is the Heavenly-blessing dispenser. If I just say the right things and read the right Scripture, pray the right thing, God does His part. I say this; God does that. I do this; God does that. Our faith is reduced to a formula, an equation. Say the right things, and God spits out the right answer, does the right thing. When that doesnt work, we become disillusioned. We become angry. Faith becomes something robotic. We simply are going through the motions. We are missing the most important ingredient, and thats our love and our passion for the living God. That can happen to any of us. As I was preparing the message, the Holy Spirit was knocking on my door with some things that were a little bit hard to take. He says three things. He says, Remember, repent, and repeat. Remember your first love. Remember the height from which youve fallen. Repent, and do the things you did at first, or I will come and remove your lampstand. You will no longer be effective. Remember. The Lord took me down memory lane this week. Forty-eight years old. Ive been in full-time preparation or in full-time ministry for over 30 straight years. When I first started out, 17, 18 years old, I gave my life to Christ. I can remember driving in my car and heading to Sinissippi Park. I remember getting under a tree, opening up my Bible, spending time there praying and crying, and thanking the Lord for what He means in my life. I wasnt preparing a sermon. I didnt even know I was going to be a pastor. I wasnt getting ready for a class in graduate school-preparing for a test, writing a paper. I just wanted to read Gods love letter to me. Id end up under that tree day after day. Id take time to drive in my car to that spot for that time with God. When class was too busy, Id head out to my car in between classes and get out my Bible. There Id read and pray, for no other reason-just to enjoy Gods company. Im not telling you I dont open the Bible up at times just to enjoy God, but Im telling you Sunday after Sunday comes for me; and I still take classes. I always will. So Im preparing for tests; Im writing papers; Im preparing sermons; Im getting devotionals ready. The Lord says, What about that guy that used to drive to that tree? I like squeezing it in when I can, you know? I need to just read something here to spend time with God. Imagine me driving in my car listening to-at that time-Keith Green and the second chapter of Acts, singing awful, awful-not them, me-awful singing. Yet, I was trying to express my love for God. The Holy Spirit said, Whens the last time you were driving down in your car singing to Me? I said, Its been awhile. Could it be that that 17, 18 year old kid who didnt know a whole lot about the Bible and wasnt a leader of any church had a whole lot more passion and love for God than the 48 year old version of me in front of you today? Is it possible the church in Ephesus which started out so strong-started doing the right things-and forgot what it was all about in the first place? If we were to take a survey-and Im not going to do this-but if I said how many of you can relate to what Im talking about: you feel like you have lost passion and zeal for Christ? Sometimes your faith is a matter of going through the motions. Youre not living a radical, disobedient life. Youre not giving up your faith. Youre upholding the Truth. Youre serving in ministry. Youre doing the right things. Youre striving to live a good life, yet there is missing in your life a passion and love for Christ that used to be there. I bet you a lot of hands go up. I bet you a lot of hands would go up. Jesus says, Remember, and do the deeds you did at first. He cannot be talking about good deeds. When He says, Do the deeds you did at first, He cannot be talking about just going out and doing good stuff-because, remember, they were already doing good stuff. What are the deeds He is talking about? He is talking about their lifestyle-the things that enhance their love, the things that grew their passion for Christ. Those are the things you need to engage in. Remember those things. So in my life, the Holy Spirit is saying, Get under a tree. Get in your car and go some place with the sole intent of spending time with Me. Turn off Sports Talk Radio, put in a CD, and sing to it. That's what Hes saying to me. Do the things you did at first. Recapture that first love. You ask the couple who no longer feel love or passion for one another, Where did you used to like to go? What did you used to like to do when you fell in love when you first met? Well, we used to go to Lake Somerset. Well, go there. Do that! Go to that restaurant. Visit that campground. Recapture that love. Jesus is saying the same thing. He wants his children to reciprocate love. How can you demonstrate your love for Christ this week? How can you show him that you love Him? You probably dont know my sister. I have two sisters. Theyre both a lot older than me. One is 14 years older than I, and one is 18 years older than I. My sister thats 14 years older than I, she lives in Iowa. She is a spitfire. She-boy, I tell you-she doesnt take any guff from anybody. Shes not even 5 feet, but shes tough. My sister is a smoker, and when I say she is a smoker, my sister will finish a cigarette, and shell light up another one. Shes always been proud of the fact that shes a smoker, Yup, I smoke. Thats what I do. If people dont like it, tough. Then shell laugh. Thats what she does. Over the years, I would try to say, You know, thats bad for you. There are bad things in those cigarettes. Oh, you know, she didnt want to hear it. You know, if you smoke a cigarette, it takes five minutes off your life. Yeah, I smoke. I enjoy it. I like it. Thats what Im going to do. So, you give up. You just say, Well, you know, shes going to smoke, and thats just the way it is. Youre going to love her anyway, but shes a smoker. Shes been having some health concerns, and Ive been trying to call her to see how shes feeling. Shes been a little uncomfortable. Howre you doing, Judy? Whats going on? She says, Well, you know, what makes this more difficult for me is the fact that I havent had a cigarette in 47 days. I said, Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa-you havent had a cigarette? You havent had a cigarette? I mean that is as dramatic of a quit-smoking story… I mean this is the equivalent of Saul becoming Paul the Apostle. This is the one you would not expect. So when she tells me, I quit smoking, Im like, Whoa! Youve got to be kidding me! I mean cigarette companies are going to go under now! She is not smoking! I go, Judy, that is just wonderful news! Yeah, she says. But its hard. There are symptoms you have when you quit smoking. I dont want to go in to it, but you can look it up on the internet. Do you know there are 4,000 chemicals in a single cigarette? Now shes preaching to me what I used to try to preach to her. I go, Yeah! Those things are bad for you! So shes studying up on the effects of tobacco, and shes studying up on the symptoms that shes working through. Shes saying, This is a struggle. You know, its hard enough to go through this illness, but to go through it when you cant rely on your smokes, its hard-47 days! So I said, Listen, Im really proud of you, but I have to ask you a question. What led you to quit smoking? In my mind, Im thinking she went to the doctor. The doctor said she cant smoke anymore. Maybe she just got an understanding that as you reach the twilight years, and she was starting to approach those eventually, you have to really watch after your health; so maybe she something happened. She was watching after her health, so I asked, What happened? Well, this decision was made before she started having health concerns. I said, How did you quit smoking? because I never would have guessed this in a million years. She said, One day, I was praying to God. I said, God, how can I demonstrate my love for You? What could I do to show You that I love You? The Holy Spirit answered her and said, Id like you to stop smoking. I said, You mean to tell me you stopped smoking to show Jesus that you love Him? She said, Yeah. Thats why I stopped. Im not saying that Im not up here teaching you salvation by works. Im not saying, Okay, being a Christian, we dont do this. We dont say that. We do this. We do that. Thats how we earn Gods love. Im not saying that. But Im saying to give up something, to surrender something that is that important to you, and to suffer the consequences of giving it up because you love someone, is an act of love. If I truly love… Is there something in your life that you are engaged in-an attitude, a habit-and you know that its destructive, will you say to that this week, Lord, because I love You more than this, Im surrendering this. Im giving this up. Im walking away. Remember we said you dont wean from sin-they took their spell and their incantations-they didnt say, Well, Im just going to read fewer spells. Im just going to read less witchcraft. Im just not going to go to the temple to worship Artemis as often. They got rid of it all. They burned up the idols. They burned up the spells-everything gone. She quit cold turkey. She said, Thats it. Gods going to help me through this. Shes making me look bad. Shes showing me up-that little stinker. She had never been to Bible school. Shes never been to seminary. She has no degree; she doesnt pastor a church. Right now, my sis is showing more love for Christ than I am. She loves the Lord with all of her heart, and Im so very proud of her. What is it in your life? Like my sister, you can look at it, and you can say, You know what? This does not honor You. This does not glorify You. This is a part of me, but Im making a decision every day, and every day Ive chosen to say I love this more than You, Lord. I love that more than You, Lord. I want to serve this more than I want to serve You, Lord. Maybe one of the ways you demonstrate your love for Christ is to say, Lord, I love You more than this. I love You more than him, than her, than that, and I know to give that up. Its gone. Its not going to be easy, but, Lord, I want You to know that I love You. Its possible that a church could do all the right things-obey God, stand up for the Truth, persevere, and miss the boat. Friends, everything we do-the gifts we give, the ministries we do, the people that we help, the songs we sing-everything is to be about loving Jesus. We become passionate about loving Jesus. The Lord practices what He preaches. Jesus was sent to the cross, and He obeyed the Father; but He didnt go to the cross with an attitude of, You know what? Im only doing this because I have to. He went to the cross, the Bible says, No one takes My life from Me. I lay it down. I lay it down of My own initiative. I lay it down, and I take it back up. This command, Ive received from My Father, it says in John 10. Jesus surrenders His life not just because Hes commanded to, but because He wants to. He wants to give up His life. He wants to redeem humanity. He wanted to because He loves us. What He wants from us first and foremost is not robotic obedience, but He wants us to love Him with a passionate love. Because we love Him, then we do persevere. We do stand for Truth. We do obey. Maybe you need to do a spirit check today. As we receive communion, just search your heart and say, Lord, here are some things in my life that need change. Lets pray together: Lord, some hard lessons-a church that was given the charge to do all the right things, and they did. When their report card came out, they expected straight As. Then they got a grade that they hadnt been expecting. They had failed, and they had failed in the area of loving You. They had forgotten their first love. They began to treat you like they treated the goddess, Artemis, or the magic spells. They went through the motions, but it was void of significance because it was void of love. Lord, we learned today that the greatest thing about being God is when Your people love You back. I pray that You would help us to make the changes we need to make in our lives, to remember, to repent, and to repeat the change-that we might show You that we love You, that we might demonstrate our love for You. Lord, if we will do that, it will change our world. Everything else will come alive, and well see things in a different way. Lord, as we partake of communion, remember the One who suffered and died in our place upon the cross and did so willingly, did so with love. We remember that now in Christs name, Amen.