{"id":966750,"date":"2013-02-09T20:26:01","date_gmt":"2013-02-09T20:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=966750"},"modified":"2013-02-09T20:27:39","modified_gmt":"2013-02-09T20:27:39","slug":"first-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=966750","title":{"rendered":"First Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>With many Americans thinking of Valentines Day this month, I thought it would be profitable for us to turn our minds toward the master love that sustains all other loves.<\/p>\n

Years ago I received a letter that contained this arresting sentence:\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We order our lives by what we love.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d What a thought! The letter went on, but I never forgot that sentence.<\/p>\n

That sentence has a diagnostic effect on us. It makes us think of the greatest love of all.<\/p>\n

I’m referring to Christ’s love for His own and our love in response to Him. \u00c2\u00a0To see this, we need to get the connection between love for Jesus and obedience to His Word.<\/p>\n

The connection between love for Jesus and obedience to His Word is all over the Bible. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s especially in John chapter 14. In John14:15, Jesus said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

John 14:21 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In John 14:23 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jesus said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

John 14:24 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s who sent Me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Now the church at Ephesus was very obedient, and yet they still had a serious problem.<\/p>\n

It was to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:4 that Jesus said, “…I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” [ESV]<\/p>\n

That’s a surprising statement. This was a doctrinally sound church. They were tireless in their labors and patient in their trials. They even had effective outreaches to their community.<\/p>\n

Even though the Ephesian church had so much in its favor, the misdirected love issue was a total deal-breaker!<\/p>\n

Jesus said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The sentence in Greek is even more emphatic: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Your first love you have left.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that an amazing indictment in light of all their service and work? They were a strong church. They were active in ministry. They guarded the faith with discernment.<\/p>\n

The verb for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153left\u00e2\u20ac\u009d implies a complete cessation. Apparently, the Ephesians had substituted external activities in place of genuine love for Jesus. That’s so easy for us to do.<\/p>\n

This warning should be a wake-up call to any person who thinks that as long as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m involved in church activities (I go to Sunday school; I attend the worship services on Sunday morning and evening, and all the Bible studies), I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m all paid up with Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Wrong.<\/p>\n

Those things, by themselves, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t please Him.<\/p>\n

Even if you couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do any of those things due to health or disability, You could still bring Him great honor and glory simply by loving Him first and preeminently.<\/p>\n

Everything we do for Him must flow from this preeminent love for Him.<\/p>\n

What does preeminent love mean?<\/p>\n

It means love for Jesus that trumps all the other loves in your life. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll still have other loves in your life \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not wrong; but preeminent love for Christ esteems Him above<\/em> those other loves.<\/p>\n

What exactly does Jesus mean by saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153you have abandoned the love you had at first\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Various scholars have offered (at least) three major interpretations of this phrase, but only one of them seems valid to me.<\/p>\n

The first view takes it to mean \u00e2\u20ac\u0153first in time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

They say: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You need to go back to the love you had at the very beginning of your Christian walk. That was the time when you had such warm feelings for Jesus and everything was so fresh and new. You need to go back to that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one view.<\/p>\n

The second view is another variation of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153first in time\u00e2\u20ac\u009d position, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6The kind of love you had for Jesus and each other at your organization as a church 35 years earlier.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the second interpretation.<\/p>\n

But the most straightforward and natural interpretation of this verse won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allow for either of those positions. The word for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153first\u00e2\u20ac\u009d here is not first in time<\/em>, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first in priority<\/em>. This is a supremacy word for first\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 protos<\/em>. Hence the word preeminent.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the third view \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which I believe is the best view \u00e2\u20ac\u201c takes it to mean, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Your love for Jesus must be supreme \u00e2\u20ac\u201c first in priority<\/em> before all things.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Without that kind of love, everything else you do for<\/em> Jesus is only misdirected love.<\/p>\n

Instead of honoring Jesus with your labor and service, without this first-place love for Him, your religious activities actually become a great offense to Jesus.<\/p>\n

The command He gives to the Ephesians is: repent. That means \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stop\u00e2\u20ac\u009d what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing and turn in the other direction. The consequences of not repenting are disastrous.<\/p>\n

One of my friends in the pastorate asked his congregation: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How long will the benefits last when you say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcno\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to God? And how long will the benefits last when you say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcyes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to God?<\/p>\n

Another question you might ask yourself which will help you find the right answer to those questions is this: “How long do you plan to be dead?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The consequences of not repenting are eternally disastrous. But the joys and benefits of returning to Jesus as first above all others is rewarding for all eternity.<\/p>\n

J.C. Ryle made another comment that really hit me hard.<\/p>\n

Ryle said,\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Of all the things that will surprise us in the resurrection morning, this, I believe, will surprise us most: that we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t love Jesus more before<\/em> we died.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Doesn’t that statement move you?<\/p>\n

It all goes back to that one arresting sentence in the letter I read: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We order our lives by what we love.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d So based on your own diagnosis, who or what is your first love?<\/p>\n

Yours in the Truth,
\nPastor Kevin<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With many Americans thinking of Valentines Day this month, I thought it would be profitable for us to turn our minds toward the master love that sustains all other loves. Years ago I received a letter that contained this arresting sentence:\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We order our lives by what we love.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d What a thought! The letter went on, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “First Love”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":966751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966750"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=966750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/966751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=966750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=966750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=966750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}