His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt Vandervan draws our attention to a church from the first century that had left their first love, a danger we still face today.

Matt VanderVen: I don't think there's anybody in here that walked in here this morning and said, I was motivated by self-interest to where I wanted to put Jesus aside just like the church of Ephesus didn't do it. They had good apostles, they had good pastors, they had the A team. They they literally were a beacon of light. They started so strongly that they even got so busy, so busy that they actually pushed Jesus out of the equation. Friends, if they can do that, we can do that.

Guest (Male): Hello again and welcome to His Perfect Love, the teaching ministry of Pastor Matt Vandervan. Today we'll be looking at the Lord's postcard to the church in Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2. While they were commended for some things, they had walked away from their first love. Their love had grown cold. It happened to the Ephesians and it's still happening to Christians today. If things aren't where they used to be in your relationship with Jesus, today's message will show you how to get back on track. Here's Pastor Matt.

Matt VanderVen: Now, God did extraordinary miracles through Paul and this church of Ephesus. And I just I want you to think about that in regards to the New Testament. Remember the miracles of Paul and the handkerchief and the aprons that those that touched it, they were healed of any kind of sickness and they they cast out demons. That was Acts 19:11. Okay? Paul wrote the epistle, 1st Corinthians, from Ephesus. The seven sons of Sceva, right? The Jewish exorcists who attempted to imitate Paul's power were attacked by demons because the demons did not recognize their spiritual authority. That's Acts 19:13 through 16 right in this area.

Many new believers who practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. Acts 19:19. The total value we were told in scripture of the sorcery books that were destroyed, do you remember how much? 50,000 pieces of silver. So again, there's a lot of significant things that happened. It's not that this church didn't start well. It started extraordinarily well. Yes, it was met immediately with pagan opposition. Yes, it was difficult, but it went on to be a hallmark, a beacon of light to a lost and dying world. Priscilla and Aquila, right? Wonderful ministry couple.

Who did they disciple to there? Apollos. Acts chapter 18 verses 24 through 26. Timothy had his first pastorate there. 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 3. And again, it's thought that John, the apostle John, and Jesus's mother Mary lived in Ephesus after Jesus ascended into heaven. And we get that from John chapter 19 verse 26 and verse 27. And as we read here this morning in verses 1 through 7, Jesus directed John to write this letter to the church of Ephesus, one of the few, one of the seven letters found in the book of Revelation. It was significant.

Jesus's letter to the church in Ephesus contains one of the sternest rebukes. Look at verse 4 again. Circle it in your Bible. Memorize it. It's very important, especially in the day of productivity, in the days we live in where we think we're identified by the things we do, not just what we believe, not just how we spend our time. You have left your first love. Revelation 2:4. The believers at Ephesus, struggling beneath the weight of a godless and moral culture, which all of us can relate to today here, had maintained a letter of the law.

No doubt about it. They kept the letter of the law to the T, but they lost the spirit of the law. As we read in Romans chapter 2 verse 29, Jesus commended them for their hard work, didn't he? The people of Pennsylvania are hard workers. I have yet to meet someone in Pennsylvania that I've come across deep downtown, West Shore, East Shore, when you talk to them, they're hard working people. They're family people. They're working hard. They're doing the right things. They're not lazy. Some of them are working two and three jobs just to make ends meet.

Perseverance, yeah. Don't quit. Keep going. Rejecting false teaching, yeah. Many of you are here because we go line by line and verse by verse through the entire Bible. You decided a buffet wasn't for you. You know what I'm talking about. You've gone to places where they have a buffet. The last time I went to a buffet and look, you can eat a buffet. I'm not knocking a buffet. I mean, I like cheesecake. Who doesn't like cheesecake, right? I like steak and cheesecake. If you want to eat steak and cheesecake, eat steak and cheesecake. But the point I'm getting at is how nourishing is it if I go to a buffet and I only eat the things that I like to eat?

I'm going to eventually end up malnourished. Spiritually speaking, if I only read or someone's only teaching topically certain passages of the Bible, but I don't get the whole counsel of God, what happens? I run the risk of not getting a full spiritual appetite and feeding, filling. So it's important that we understand perseverance matters. We persevere. Rejection of false teaching and hatred of sin. All of you hate sin. I hate sin. But why was Jesus grieved? And this is really really important because I think this is everything about what he's trying to communicate in this letter.

And by the way, it's significant that he said that they rejected false teachings, which means they loved the word of God, right? They they stayed to the doctrine of the word of God. That makes me aware of things as a pastor, as an undershepherd, our elders here of you, that it's it's our responsibility as as as a pastor to teach the word of God, you know, line by line for us here verse by verse so we give you every jot and tittle. But there's also a responsibility on those that are hearing the word to apply it to their lives.

It's not something that can be forced. And as a matter of fact, the the book of Revelation here, chapter 2 specifically, the church of Ephesus is a perfect example for you and I that the word of God can be taught perfectly. The doctrine can be given by the A team of apostles and pastors. But unless people humble themselves and be not only hearers of the word but doers of the word, guess what? We can end up in a destructive place of walking away from Jesus because we can get caught up in all of these other things.

And that scares me. I don't know. Maybe that scares you too. It scares me that that can actually happen. I never thought about that before I was undershepherd, before I was a pastor. I never thought that was possible. You know, I I didn't understand. I thought, well, it's God. The reason these things are happening is because the word's not taught in the church. This is why the church as a whole is, you know, because we have a biblically illiterate church worldwide. But as I've looked and I I come back to scriptures like this, that's not entirely true.

The word of God was being taught, but something was happening in the hearts of those that were listening and receiving the word. And so what was he grieved about Jesus? That their lives had become routine. Their service to God had become routine. It was routine for him rather than to serve him with the passion that they once had. Their actions were there, but their hearts weren't. That scares me. How does that happen? If we're not careful, that can happen to any of us in our Christian service. Revelation 2 begins with a a series of brief letters, the seven churches again, that existed during the time of the apostle John in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.

And each of these messages include important informations to each church and the church at large. And from this message, we can draw lessons applicable to our own lives today. But what was the first letter that John wrote that Jesus Christ gave him? It was to the church at Ephesus that had everything to do with him and their relationship to him. That's where he began. That's where he started. It's it's important to keep context here. He said the things which you've seen and the things which are. And that means still happening today, present day, the church age.

And he writes. He is writing to encourage elders, pastors, right? The word messengers are angelos in the Greek. I believe he's talking to the pastors and leadership. John the Baptist was called an angelos. Certainly it can mean in the Greek a supernatural being like an angel from heaven. I I don't I don't deny that. But why again would Jesus tell John to write to the heavenly hosts that Jesus is standing in front of? No, he's telling him to write to the pastors and leaders and the church that he's in the midst of here today. So I know he's speaking to the leaders of the church, but we have to remember one thing.

This is not John 's message to the Ephesian believers. It's the message from the Lord, the one who holds Here's the authority, the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. And again, the lampstands are the churches themselves set as light in a dark world. The stars are the pastors of the churches held in God's hands. We can't lose context of where we've just come from in chapter 1. And Jesus affirms the Ephesians' positive actions. He says, I know your deeds. I know your deeds, Calvary Chapel Harrisburg, West Shore. Your hard work, your perseverance.

It's wonderful. It's wonderful. I know that you can't tolerate wicked men, that you've tested those who claim to be apostles, apostolo in the Greek, not the office of an apostle but one that would be a sent one. That's the Greek translation. The sent ones, after all, we are all sent. Great commission, Matthew 28, right? As a matter of fact, one of the underpinnings of every single ministry we have at this church is the requirement to walk outside these four walls, whether it's teen ministry and they get out multiple times a year to go into the community and serve the community, whether it's college and career multiple times a year to get out and serve men's, women's, all these things for men's and women, they what?

They get poured in so they can go out into a lost and dying world and pour out the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every single ministry goes back to the scriptures of Acts 2:42 and then also the Great Commission of Matthew 28. You know, I'm always struck by the fact that there are men or women for that matter that will say, wait a minute, why are we going into public schools? It's one of the things that's been on my heart for years. I love our teen ministry, the college and career, to have a Bible study after school in a public school.

People, why would you do that? What do you mean? There are people that need to know Jesus that are in those schools. Granted, I'd love for them all to come to the Christian Academy here. I'd love for that, right? But we only have so much room, but so I we're going to go out. We're going to go out. Just as so many faithful teachers have, public school teachers and like, they're missionaries in those schools. We're going to go out. It's commanded of God. Go therefore. He wasn't grammatically challenged. It wasn't an opinion of man. It was a commandment of God.

And he says, go. And so we go. You know what? The Satanists, the Satan clubs, they have no problems going to the public school, do they? They rent the libraries, right out. There was one point at Northern they were looking at trying to have a Bible study out there, talk to one of the people in the school district out there. Oh, they have no problems with any of that. But the Christians, less we become comfortable and think more highly of ourselves than we ought, we need to be careful to not rest on the laurels or the work or the things we've done or other people will do it.

No. We're all called to do it. The church of Ephesus, they didn't have that problem. They were going out, right? They They They tested those who claimed to be apostles, sent ones, but were not. Oh, yeah. No, I'm I'm a sent one by God. I I read the Bible. Yeah, I agree, Pastor. We're supposed to do these things. When's the last time you went out? Uh, well, I don't know. Okay. He says, and found them faults. He says, you've persevered. You've endured hardship for my name. He says, you didn't grow weary. He says, they weren't walking around going, man, I am whooped and tired because it's the same old people serving in the same ministries over and over again.

And we get we get tired and we get weary. You know why they didn't get weary? Cuz they were driven by spiritual fuel through the Holy Spirit. It wasn't about a man and he was relying on his own fuel cuz I assure you every man will wear out. Just like when they were walking through that desert all those years ago, their jeans didn't wear out, their shoes didn't wear out, nothing like that. But then when I walk through a desert or I go through a place or you know, I walk I can't get a pair of jeans the last more than a few years without getting scuffed, you know, holes in them.

I get in trouble like I'm a kid again. Why are you wearing those outside when doing yard work? Come in and change your clothes. Yes, ma'am. And I go back in, right? Right? The Ephesian Ephesian church was hard working. I just want us to see that, a group of believers full of fortitude. Also to their credit, they were the gatekeepers of truth in the area. They didn't compromise with evil doers. They They showed patient endurance, bearing up under hardship. I mean, check check check. It all looks good. They're busy about God's work. However, a shortcoming.

Verse 4, yet I hold this against you. Strong language. You want a more direct translation? You have forsaken, not just left. You have forsaken your first love. They were hard working, but they no longer had the same passion for Christ as when they first believed. Their work was no longer motivated by love. And that's something very striking. I don't know about to you. Pastors, we like to We get together sometimes quarterly for prayer, but at least once annually, at least in the Calvary Chapel movement, at least once, maybe twice annually we'll get together. And it's really great, you know, senior pastors you get together.

And it's a real vulnerable time and we go up to different places and we share our hearts and we're just real with each other. And many of the guys you listen to and hope have we're we're gathered together, we're talking just intimately, you know, going through things. And I can't tell you how many times over the years and just in the last decade I've heard a guy echo something like, you know, Lord, I've been so faithful with the handling of the word for the flock, but I'm so broken, I'm so weary and I am so withered because I've become kind of like dry because the very word that I was supposed to be reading devotionally that was supposed to bring a spring of life to my heart, I was forsaking that, that time with you, Jesus.

And And it's something that every pastor has to really wrestle with cuz like all of you, everybody's busy. And certainly the responsibility is to show up and make sure the word of God is being handled. He's got to do work in my heart before I can stand up here and share it with you. And And yes, about 4 hours a day I'm privileged to be able to stand in the word of God. But if I don't take that 4 hours and use it fine. Lord, you want to speak, I'll listen. Your servant will listen. But then after that or even before that, I need to take time with Jesus with just me because before I was ever an undershepherd or a pastor, I was a son of God.

And that's where it all began and that's where he met me at. He didn't meet me when all of a sudden I arrived some. He met me. And if you want to be real real dramatic, he met me when I was puking up because I was a lost sinner and I was caught in my addictions. If you want to be real specific about it, that's where he met me and he pulled me up out of that and put me on a rock and then taught me his word and then drew me to a hunger for his word so that I I was Man, I couldn't get enough.

Do you remember when you first got saved just wanting to be in the word and just Wow. And then what happens? And then time goes on and then well, you know, I know he says he's coming any moment, but I think I got a year in here. So let's figure out how we can get this plan and we can do this and that and all these other things creep in and vie for our time and attention. It's not deliberate, is it? I don't think there's anybody in here that walked in here this morning and said, I was motivated by self-interest to where I wanted to put Jesus aside just like the church of Ephesus didn't do it.

They had good apostles, they had good pastors, they had the A team. They they literally were a beacon of light. They started so strongly. But they even got so busy, so busy that they actually pushed Jesus out of the equation. Friends, if they can do that, we can do that. You know, I I showed I was at a I I did a a men's conference not too long ago and I remember putting up that slide. And the real the reasons I showed that slide was because it's it's a it's an epidemic. We talk about epidemics today.

We use that your word maybe a little too loosely, but Bible reading by Christians. According to Pew Research Group or the Barna Research Group, you know, the studies they do, less than 13% of church going Christians actually read their Bible, less than 13%. So they self-identify. There's over 100 million Christians self-identified, right? I'm not judging, you're not judging, self-identified. That means what amount of Christians are actually reading 13% only read the Bible daily. And by the way, daily means 20 minutes. It wasn't like, oh, now I can't even get one. If I see you, by the time I hug you and I we're sitting down, boy, 20 minutes has just gone like that.

I didn't even get into your life and you didn't get into How are you doing? How have you been? What's going on? Like we didn't even We didn't even get time to really be together. If I had to go, okay, I got 20 Oh, it's really good. Oh, yeah. How are you Oh, I got to go. And where are you going? Well, you just came into the house, you sat, you ate. That took like 10 15 and then and then you're out. Where are you going? I want to I love you. Like I want to be with you.

I don't want you to run What, please spend more time with me. I enjoy you. Right? Do we Do we realize the spiritual application of that in our lives? Less than 13%. That means out of 100 million people, less than 13 million, just to give numbers behind it, are actually as Christians are actually reading their Bibles daily. And that's why we end up in this place. Their Their work was no longer motivated by love. I've often wondered how many churches keep the lights on, but the spirit's been gone a long time ago. I pray we never find ourselves relying on man's talents, gifts, nothing like that.

That the word of God speaks to our hearts and we're motivated by the spirit of God to do the things of God because of God and only for that reason, to bring him glory and honor. So what did Jesus do? Jesus, I'm done with you all. Church of Ephesus, you blew it. Calvary Chapel Harrisburg, if you're here this morning and this is speaking to your heart, you blew it. I'm done with you. No. No, he doesn't say that. Look at verse 5. Jesus called the Ephesians to repent. Remember the height from which you had fallen.

Repent meant in the Greek to turn away, right? That I repent and do the things you did at first. So in this case, what is he talking about? He's saying, oh, I want you to go back to do more work like you did the first works. Is that what he's saying? I mean, wasn't the whole point that he was commending their works, but he was He was basically condemning the fact that they had no relationship. So what do you think he's really saying here in context? The correction was to remember the heights of their former love, to repent, change their mind about their current status, and return to the previous way of doing things.

It was You know what it was time for in that church? Just like it's time in for the church and the body of Christ worldwide, it was time for revival. It was time for revival. And revival begins in the heart. And so he was calling them to repent and remember. Why did you start gathering to begin with? It was me. It's not a social club. And while we have friends and family and enjoy this time together, you know what he tells him? I'll take it away like that. If that's what it is to you, I'll take it away like that.

Jesus warns his church of impending judgment. Look at verse 5B in chapter 2. If they don't repent, what's he say he's going to do? I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. In other words, remember what the lampstand is. Their punishment would be the disbanding and destruction of the Ephesian church. You know what he's saying? The light of Ephesus would go out. Hmm. Just think about how God plants and births churches. You know, we have guys going out on the East Shore. We have guys going out on Milton. We have We all different kinds of Bible studies.

I'm I love to watch what the Lord does. And one of the things I love about Calvary is we don't We don't send people out with $20,000 to go No. It's one of the ways we test and see if the Lord's in it. We look and watch, wait, pray. Pray for them, pray for their families, pray for the people to come because we need more churches that are beacons of lights in communities. And you know how it starts? 10 years ago with a silly idea that wasn't silly really. It was a call from the Lord to jump in a car and drive 4 and 1/2 hours for a 1 hour Bible study in a place I had never been, never met anybody before, at least in Harrisburg specifically, and do that round trip monthly so that I could be available to just teach the word of God.

And from doing that for 8 months, God birthed a church. And he gets the glory because there was nothing that was done that was extraordinary about it other than Jesus being in it. And that was it. And some of you were there in the beginning. It's just really simple. We just did what we're doing now. We read the word of God, except we had to makeshift thing that we kind of took a curtain and threw it over it. It was like a turned upside down stool or table or something like that. I miss that pulpit.

I love this one though. I'm not going to lie to you. I love this one. It's beautiful.

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt Vandervan recalling the early days of Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. And this is His Perfect Love. Today we looked at a church that had left their first love, something we're susceptible to still today. If that describes you, you've left your first love, today would be a good day to remember and repent. If you were blessed and encouraged by the Lord, we'd like to know. Email us while it's fresh on your mind. They're at our website hisperfectlove.org. Be sure to include your prayer requests. Also at our website, you'll find an archive of these studies in Revelation, making it easy to replay a message you enjoy or catch what you miss on the radio.

Again, we're at hisperfectlove.org and now at oneplace.com as well. Look for us wherever you get your podcasts. And we also have a free mobile app. This is a convenient way to listen to Pastor Matt on your mobile devices. Go to hisperfectlove.org for more information about that. And if the Lord is leading you to support this ministry with a one-time gift or ongoing monthly support, you can do so through the website at hisperfectlove.org. We want to take this time to invite you and your family to join us Easter Sunday morning at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore at either 8:30 or 10:30.

Pastor Matt has a special message to share with us focusing on the resurrection of Jesus. We'd love to have you with us. Go to cchespresburg.org for more information.

Matt VanderVen: This is His Perfect Love.

Guest (Male): His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.

Matt VanderVen: Let the word go out. The perfect love of Christ to shine. Our lives will shout. I am my beloved's and he is mine. Every heart is in his hands. We'll never stop reaching out. This is His Perfect Love. The word goes out. This is what real love looks like. In truth and grace. This is His Perfect Love.