Heb. 10:32-39, Remember, Repent, Repeat (4)

Let’s think some more, from Scripture, about “remembering,” about the value of looking to the past.  In the following chart meditate on four things that we must always remember, and observe how both Israel and the Church need to remember these things.

	ISRAEL	THE CHURCH
What you “were”	Ex. 13:3: Unleavened Bread	Eph. 2:11
How God redeemed you	Ex. 12:13-14: Passover	1 Cor. 11:23-25: Lord’s Table
God’s Word	Num. 15:39-40: Tassels on their garments	Jude 17
God’s Works	Dt. 7:8; Ps. 105:5; Feast of Tabernacles	Mt. 16:8-9; Lam. 3:19-24

God actually built into Israel’s calendar opportunities to remember.  But let us remember that the Church is also called to “remember.”  But let’s consider more specifically what the Ephesian church was called to remember.  The Lord said it this way: “remember therefore from where you have fallen.”  In our previous post we referred to Heb. 10:32-34.  This might give us an illustration of what He was calling the Ephesians to do.  He is not taking them back to their “pre-Christian” days but to the “former days … after you were illuminated.”  In other words, it’s their beginning days as Christians.  They suffered significantly for Christ.  The reason they need to remember is that they have apparently entered into another season of “reproaches and tribulations.”  Now, they were in danger of not holding fast to Christ.  They needed to repent and repeat the works they did at first.

In the case of the Ephesians church, they are apparently giving up some of the strong things they had done from their early days.  Acts 19 tells about Paul’s time in Ephesus and the strong effect of the gospel on the people of the city.  It was an amazing time of God’s working.  After Paul left, he had another short time with the leaders of the Ephesian church at Miletus (Acts 20:17-38) where he admonished them to be careful of those from without and within the church that would seek to destroy Christ’s work.  Now, several years later, as John receives the letter from Christ to pass on to the Ephesian church, something was lost.  I don’t think we should expect that the kind of excitement would continue in Ephesus that was evident in Ac. 19.  However, what must be constant is obedience to the Lord in caring for the flock, as he had instructed them at Miletus.  Why was it important?  Because it goes to the edifying of the Body of Christ.  Zeal in this matter was gone because they no longer embraced their "first love."