April 2 They are us

April 02

They Are Us

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment

must begin at the house of God:

Buried within the humor of comic strips we sometimes find gems of social and ethical truth. One of my favorites was pogo who had searched the swamps and declared “We have met the enemy and they are us!”  Unfortunately that is especially true in too many churches that claim to be “Christ centered, bible believing, new testament churches.”

There are six or seven churches that could claim that description in the small Michigan town I live near. Three of them have the word Baptist in their name. All of these churches may actually believe the same things, but their practices vary enough to make them incompatible. How can that be? Is one right and all the rest are wrong? I don’t think so. I am sure they all have some fine qualities. But I fear they may all be like the list of churches we find in Revelation, Chapters two and three. 

If you were going away for a couple days and leaving the kids with Gramma you would be sure to give them some positive instruction. “I want you kids to be nice. Remember your manners. Say please and thank you. I don’t want to hear any of you were bad when I get back.”

But that is not the case in Revelation. It seems a little odd that the last instructions to churches would be negative. “I have somewhat against thee…” is repeated to seven different churches. There must be a good reason and it might be instructive for us to look at them. Today let’s look at the first church of the seven  

All seven of the churches were in the western end of what is now Turkey. They were in a region controlled by the Roman government and known as Asia. Ephesus was one of the more important cities and the church at Ephasis is the first we will consider.

Re 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy

patience, and how thou canst not bear them which

are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they

are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my

name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

Wow!  Sounds like a really good church to me. They worked for the Lord. They labored, they had patience, didn’t tolerate evil people, and could expose preachers who were liars. They could handle burdens with patience. They labored in the name of Christ, and they didn’t faint from their labors for Him. What more could you want?

I have somewhat against thee,

because thou hast left thy first love.

But isn’t the fruit of the Spirit work, labor, expose liars, bear burdens, and not faint?  No, it is not.

Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love,

joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,

goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance

Did you notice that the list does not include doing stuff for the Lord?  If you have these qualities in your life you will work for the Lord without a list of what you should do.  

The list starts with love. Corinthians 13 tells us that we can give our goods to the poor and our body to be burned and it amounts to nothing more than a tinkling cymbal if we have no charity. Please do not let translations steal the word charity and replace it with love. The word charity has many meanings, only one of which is love.

1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and

have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

But this church was busy for the lord. They were so faithful that a church council was held in Ephesus in 431 AD which condemned certain beliefs of the time. They were still exposing false teachers! Why isn’t that enough to make a great church? Because Christ had met people like this church before.

Lu 10:41 …Martha, Martha, thou art careful and 

 troubled about many things: 42 But one thing

is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part,

which shall not be taken away from her.

Martha was busy doing for Christ, while Mary desired to be near Christ and learn to be more like Him. Maybe Martha was too busy fixing a great meal and her fabulous Olive pie!

I have known some churches that were so busy doing things for the church they had no time to greet people. I actually attended a church for over a year and never had anyone except the assigned greeter say hello. They were so busy with the bus ministry, choir, children’s church, testing the sound system, tuning the recording equipment, preparing for baptisms, and who knows what else, they had no time for worship.

I have known pastors who were busy with a full schedule but did not love the people.

What do we need to do if we have “lost our first love”, if we do not have the exhilarating love for Christ we once had. Christ told the church at Ephesus to do three things. First to remember. Stop and recall those first days of being a Christian. Remember how you loved to read the Bible, were anxious to join others in worship, and were excited with each new thing you learned about Him. Remember how it was?

Secondly, admit your love has cooled and repent. Repent means to change directions. What are the things you really look forward to? A favorite TV program, Some special restaurant, fishing, finishing a good book?  Are your feelings for Christ greater than any or all of these?  Now none of those things is wrong. But losing your first love is.  

And lastly he told them to do the first things. Go back to being excited like you were when you first believed. How can you do that? Stop being so busy doing things for Him and start spending time with Him. Read, pray, meditate. Regain a closer walk with Christ.

This is a lesson we all need to be reminded of from time to time. 

Mt 22:37  … Thou shalt love the Lord thy God

with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with

all thy mind.  39 And the second is like unto it,

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.