God's co:mission recognizes that doctrine without devotion leads to death...

This week we are looking at one of the churches that was planted during the book of Acts, called the church at Ephesus. The church of Ephesus was a church that was marked by a confident trust in Christ and a devoted love for Christ and one another. Yesterday, we discovered that the devotion of the church of Ephesus had such an influence and impact that is had turned an entire economic system on its head. As we talked about earlier, there are more letters recorded for us in our Bibles today that were written to this one church than any other church. In 1 Timothy we see Paul write to Timothy, who was the Senior Pastor at the church of Ephesus. Paul provides the reason for his letter in 1 Timothy 1:3-5:

As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Nine years after planting the church, Paul warns Timothy to make sure to confront any doctrine, or what we teach about God, that is contrary to the message and teachings of Jesus and the Bible. The motivation that was to drive such a confrontation was to be from a devotion to God and was to reflect the devotion that the church at Ephesus had for God and one another. A few years later, we see John, who had become Senior Pastor at Ephesus, write three letters to the church. In 1 John 4, we see John say the following:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

A few verses later, John provides additional reasons for his command:

If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

Finally, a little over 40 years after the church of Ephesus was planted; 35 years after Paul expressed his thankfulness for the devotion of this church to God and the mission that they had been given in the book of Ephesians, in the very last letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Revelation, we read the following in Revelation 2:1:

"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 tolerate 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.

Here we see John recording Jesus words to the church at Ephesus. Jesus, whose presence is present at the church at Ephesus, affirms the church for their ability to confront false doctrine. Jesus applauds the church for their tireless efforts to hold out and bear up against those who attempted misrepresent the message and teachings of Jesus. Jesus commends the church for testing those who claimed to be leaders and teachers of the message of the gospel, but were in fact false teachers of a false gospel. Jesus compliments the church for their doctrine; this is a doctrinally sound church that has stood the test of time. However, Jesus has more to say to this church. And it is in what Jesus says next that provides for us a timeless truth that is necessary to embrace when it comes to the co:mission we have been given:

'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 'Therefore remember 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.

Jesus is straight and to the point: you have left your first love. You see, the church of Ephesus had left her husband; they were no longer experiencing the relationship with God that they once had. Instead, the church at Ephesus was in love with doctrine. The church at Ephesus was in love with the idea of God; the church in Ephesus was in love with the truths about God; but the church of Ephesus was not in love with God. And this misplaced love had eternal ramifications. When Jesus uses the phrase “remember from where you have fallen” this phrase refers to a loss of status or condition that results in eternal ruin. Now you may be here this morning, and you may be wondering “Dave, are you saying that the members of the church at Ephesus were not Christians?” No, I’m not saying that they were not Christians; Jesus is saying that they were not Christians.

Notice Jesus words in verse 5: “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”. If Jesus was communicating this phrase in the language that we use in our culture today, this phrase would sound something like this: “You need to change your attitude and the trajectory of your life, because you don’t love me. You need to change the trajectory of your life so that your life would be driven by a love and devotion for me instead of a devotion to doctrine. Because, if you do not change the trajectory of your life, if you continue to be more devoted to doctrine than to Me, then I will remove you from being in the position to be the vehicle that I use to reveal Myself and my message of rescue through the message of the gospel to the world”.

And it is the story of the church at Ephesus that reveals for us a timeless truth that is necessary to embrace today if we are to fully engage in the co:mission that we have been given by partnering with God in order to advance His mission as we live our day to day lives in a way that reveals and reflects Christ. And that timeless truth is that God’s co:mission recognizes that doctrine without devotion leads to death.

A church that is not driven and marked by devotion and love of Jesus and one another is not a church. A church that does not reveal and reflect the love of Christ cannot engage in God’s kingdom mission as the vehicle God uses to reveal Christ to the world. And just like at the church at Ephesus, the timeless danger is that we can find ourselves at a place where we love the idea of God and the truths about God without being in a loving relationship with God.

Now that is not to say that doctrine is not important. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that doctrine is an essential and important aspect of the faith. But Jesus also makes it abundantly clear that doctrine alone is not enough. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that doctrine alone is insufficient. This is not an either/or in Jesus eyes. This is a both/and in Jesus eyes. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that a relationship with Jesus and an engagement in His mission requires doctrine and devotion, because God’s co:mission recognizes that doctrine without devotion leads to death.

So do you love doctrine more than you love Jesus? Do you find yourself loving the idea of Jesus and the truth about Jesus more than you love Jesus?