Remember...

Revelation 2:1-4 - "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love."

In Revelation chapter 2 we see the Lords estimation of the Ephesian church. He tells them that He knows their works and He also says what He has against them. So this church at Ephesus has a problem. They've got all the right actions outwardly, but they have an inward problem that needs taken care of. But here's the good news, the Lord doesn’t just leave off at that point. He tells them that they have a problem but He doesn’t just leave them with that problem, He goes on to give them the answer to their problem. The problem in verse 4 was “You have left your first love.” The solution is given in verse 5 - “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.”

There are three things in this verse that God tells the church to do. First: Remember from where you have fallen. Second: Repent. And third: Do the deeds you did at first. These three steps are the solution that God gives to the church that they might come back to their first love, and I suggest that if we have left our first love for the Lord then we need to follow these steps as well. The Bible is not just a book of history. It is divinely inspired by God, God breathed, and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. So as we go through the Word of God we hear God speaking to us personally and individually.

I want to consider each one of these three steps in this God given solution, but we'll take them one at a time. So the first step that God gives us is "Remember from where you have fallen."

In Luke 15:11-32 the Lord Jesus gives the parable of the prodigal son and in this parable we are given a good illustration of remembering from where we have fallen.  We read in verses 11-17 - "And He said, “A certain man had two sons; and The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need. And he went and attached himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!'"" The turning point in this young mans life was when he came to the end of himself and remembered from where he had fallen. He remembered the position that he used to have. He remembered the relationship that he used to have with his father. He remembered who his father was and the wealth that he had. So the turning point in this boys life was remembering from where he had fallen. Now, his approach wasn’t perfect, but by the time we come to the end of the chapter his relationship with the father was restored. The first step to this restoration, to that restored loving relationship with our Father is to remember. We need to remember that our life isn’t about what we do, it’s about who we are. It’s about a relationship with Him. John 1:12 says - "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." That's our relationship with Him. "Children of God." "Remember from where you have fallen."

We tend to make the Christian seem a lot more difficult than it really is. Our life in Christ can be boiled down to one statement - Loving devotion to Christ. That's what our life is about. It's not about what we do, it's about loving devotion to Christ. We read in 2 Corinthians 11:3 - "But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." In the Bible, Satan is called the deceiver. And he is very good at what he does. The very first sin committed by a human being came about as a result of his crafty deception. The devil hates mankind, and he desires to deceive everyone so that no one comes to saving faith in Jesus Christ. But what about those who are already saved? We have already come to that saving faith, so what is the devils mind toward us? Notice what this verse says - "But I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." The devil desires to keep us distracted. And he is so crafty, sometimes he’ll even use works and religious performance to distract us from devotion to Christ. He wants to make us think that living a life that is pleasing to Christ is a difficult thing, but this verse says just the opposite. It says that he wants to lead us astray from the "simplicity" of devotion to Christ. This is the lie that the Ephesian church bought into. They were so busy serving the Lord that they forgot about the simple thing of devotion to Him. They forgot to cultivate that loving relationship with the Lord.
Satan wants to lead our minds astray from the simplicity of devotion to Christ. When we think about devotion to Christ, the word simple is not usually the first word to come to mind, and that's how the devil deceives us. But throughout the gospels we find Jesus making this simple statement - "Follow Me." That's it. That's the simplicity of devotion to Christ. Simply following Him. That’s not complicated.

In 2 Corinthians 11:3 the word “Simplicity” is the same word that’s translated “single” in Matthew chapter 6:22-23 where the Lord Jesus says - "The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" The chapter begins with a warning about practicing your righteousness before men. He then goes on to talk about laying up treasures on this earth and how we are unable to serve two masters, and then He ends the chapter by talking about how we don't need to worry about food or clothing, but God will take care of us if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. And in the middle of all this He talks about the focus of our eye. We need to have a single focus. If our eyes are not fixed on Jesus we are not going to be able to see, to discern between good and evil. And if we try to focus on Him with one eye and focus on serving ourselves with the other, then our vision will be distorted we won't be able to see. Our eye needs to be single, focused on Him. And that "single eye" is the same thing that Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 11 when he talks about the "simplicity" of devotion to Christ.

You'll remember that in Luke 10:42 the Lord Jesus told Martha that only one thing was necessary. This is what He was talking about. This one thing, this devotion to Christ that Mary had. When He says “Let your eye be single” This is what He is talking about. Complete and exclusive devotion to Christ in that loving relationship with Him. In Philippians chapter 3 the apostle Paul says this – “One thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Here again we see it, “one thing.” This comes just after this statement by the apostle Paul – “That I may know Him.” See, in this third chapter of Philippians Paul is talking about everything he had before Christ, all his good works, and he says that all these things he is going to count as garbage, as manure, is the word that’s actually used here, as worthless, in view of knowing Christ. Knowing Him is the main thing. It’s the one needful thing. This is the one thing that Jesus was talking about to Martha in Luke 10. In Psalm 27:4 David says - “One thing have I asked from the Lord, that I shall seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” What is the psalmist talking about in this verse? The same thing. Devotion to God. He’s not talking about when he gets to heaven, he’s talking about living in the Lords presence all the days of his life. When you live in someone’s house with them you come to know them more and more every day because you're spending time with them constantly. This is what David wants, that one needful thing of a close intimate love relationship of devotion to God. In all three of these passages we read the words "one thing." Don't let Satan deceive you about the simplicity, the singleness of devotion to Christ.

Can you think back in your life to a time when you were more in love with the Lord Jesus Christ than you are right now? Hear the words of Christ - "Remember from where you have fallen." It's not about performance. It's not about getting all the religious boxes checked off of your list. It's the about the one thing of a loving relationship with Him.

Revelation 2:4-5 - "I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen."