Rev. 2:1-7, Remember, Repent, Repeat (3)

I believe I was led by the Spirit to settle on this one of the Seven Letters because Ephesus was the church most like Central Bible Church.  They were both churches that were concerned with sound doctrine, that had a history of Bible teachers, and that could be prone to leaving their first love.  In the previous post, the signs of a church more concerned with building an organization rather than building people, those signs sound like someone who has lost his first love.  In the Church, the first love is Christ.  For people, saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the first love is the deep devotion to Christ that is often the experience of young Christians. 

Ephesus, over the course of time, had settled into a routine of service for Christ.  They worked hard.  They persevered.  But apparently, they had moved away from the reason for it all.  They had left the love for Christ that challenged them from the start.  The admonition of the Lord revolved around three words: remember, repent and repeat. 

REMEMBER

Some leaders in the Body are reluctant to look to the past.  We certainly need to be careful not to “live” in the past, but God regularly encourages His people to look back at certain things. 

Deu 32:7 Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.

Psa 77:10-11 Then I thought, "To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High." 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

Heb 10:32-34 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

In the above passages we learn some things about “remembering.”  We ought not be guilty of repeating the sins of the past (Dt. 32:7).  We must remember that God has chastened His people and can be expected to do it again.  But also, we should look back and remember the miraculous deeds of the LORD (Ps. 77:10-11).  The Hebrew believers were to look just as far back as their own time of walking with the Lord.  They had suffered as followers of Christ.  This would have been an encouragement for them, in their current situation, to be faithful to the Lord.

There is much more to say about “remembering.”  In the process, remember this: the ministry of a church is to be about edification.  Likewise, looking to the past is not a means of patting ourselves on the back or becoming discouraged.  It is, as Paul put it, for edification and not for destruction (2 Cor. 13:10).