The
third and final step of restoration for the church at Ephesus is to "do the deeds you did at first." We saw that
this church was a working church, and we saw eight specific things that the
Lord said about this church that they were doing. But we've also seen that the
one thing the Lord Jesus had against them, namely that they had left their first love,
canceled out all of the commendable things that they were doing. So if this
church was already a working church why does the Lord Jesus tell them to do the
first works? What exactly does that mean? This church was working, but their
works were being produced out of a sense of duty rather than flowing from a
loving relationship with Him. They were consumed with serving the Lord rather
than being consumed with the Lord Himself. They were consumed with what they
were doing rather than being consumed in a relationship with Him. And so even
though they had works, their works were worthless, they were dead works. So in
this third step the Lord is instructing them to do the works that flow from an
intimate relationship with Him. When we have a close, intimate, loving
relationship with our God, that will manifest itself through our lives in the
form of good works. The inward, loving relationship doesn't come as a result of
the works, but the works are a result of the relationship. The Ephesian church
had it backwards. The Ephesian church was hard working, the problem was that
their work wasn’t flowing out of a love relationship with Him. It was a duty.
All their works were canceled out because of their lack of love. But that
doesn’t mean that works aren’t a part of the Christian life. Doing the Lords
work will naturally flow through an intimate relationship with Him.
We
see this in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Supreme example. In His High
Priestly prayer in John 17:4 the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father - “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the
work which Thou hast given Me to do.” Very
simply, the Lord Jesus says here that the Father gave Him work to do and He did
it. In John chapter 5 and verse 36 the Lord Jesus says - “But the witness which I have is greater than that of John;
for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish, the very works
that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.” In this verse the Lord Jesus says that the Father gave Him
work to do and He is doing it. In John chapter 4 the Lord Jesus is
having a conversation with the woman at the well, and during their conversation
the disciples came up to Him and offered Him something to eat. In verse 34 we
read - "Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the
will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.”" This verse
tells us something about the work of the Lord Jesus that the first two verses
didn’t tell us. He was given work to do, He was doing it, but according to this
verse the work that the Father gave Him to do was food for Him. It sustained
Him. According to this verse, when we do the work of the Lord we benefit from
it. It is spiritual nourishment to my soul to do the work of the Father. You
don’t get this a lot of the time in secular work. In our jobs we do work to
benefit our employers or to benefit our customers, but the work that we're
doing doesn't really benefit us in any way. When we do the Lords work, however,
we benefit from it. How does doing the Lords work benefit us? There are things
in my Christian life that I need to be spiritually strong, and some of these
things I receive directly from the Lord. Some things I receive at salvation,
such as eternal life and spiritual gifts, and other things the Lord gives to me
day to day as I spend time in His Word, He will speak to me and share with me
something that I need. There are also things that the Lord gives to us through
others. Any time we are sitting under the teaching of Gods Word or reading the
fruit of someone elses Bible study we are receiving from the Lord through
others. Now, no matter who I’m around I can always receive things from the
Lord. If the entirety of a Christians life consists of receiving the best
possible input from the Lord and the best possible input from other Christians,
we might tend to think that this is the recipe for a strong Christian, but if
this is the entirety of a Christians life, this is actually an unhealthy
picture. Let’s think about it in regard to physical health. Just because I get
the best possible input into my physical body doesn't mean I'm going to be in
great shape. You might be getting all the right input, but unless you exercise
it, unless you work it out, your just going to get fat. You’re getting the
input, but you’re not using it. You have to work it out. And the same principle
that applies to our physical lives applies to our spiritual lives. If there is
input into my spiritual life there needs to be outflow. The Bible says in
Philippians 2:12 that we are to - "Work out your salvation with fear and
trembling." If we're not performing the good works that the Lord has give
us to do then we will become spiritually fat. The picture is not complete if there
is no output. Just because we may be getting good input, that’s fine, but it’s
incomplete if there is no output.
So,
it wasn't that the Lord Jesus wanted the church at Ephesus to stop working, but
He wanted their works to flow from a relationship with Him. He didn't say that
He had against them that they were too busy and they needed to stop working and
just focus on loving Him, but their works needed to flow from a relationship
with Him, not the other way around. If we're not involved in active service for
the Lord that flows from a relationship with Him, we will become spiritually
stagnant.
Revelation
2:4-5 - "I have this against you, that you have
left your first love. Remember therefore from
where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I
am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place - unless you
repent."
No comments:
Post a Comment