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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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You've Got Everything But the Main Thing 0:00 Shall we give the Lord a Clap Offering Church? It is always a joy and a privilege to bring God's word into your homes. Today, we'll be continuing in our series on the book of Revelation.0:12 Today, we're gonna be touching on the letter that Jesus wrote to the church in Ephesus. Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 to 7. Let's look to the Lord in prayer.0:24 Heavenly father, we thank you so much for this day. We acknowledge that Jesus is speaking to us through his word. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will give us a listening ear and a heart that is willing0:36 to apply the word. And I pray mighty God that you'll transform us, draw us closer to you. And mighty God, fill us with the Holy Spirit. Fill us with a heart that is full of0:48 passion and love for Jesus. And Lord, we ask this in the name of Jesus. And the people of God said, amen and amen. Today's topic is you've got everything0:59 but the main thing. This is a study from the book of Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 to 7. It is Jesus's letter to the church in Ephesus.1:12 You've got everything but the main thing. You know, when you engage a church consultant and you ask him the million dollar question, how can I make1:23 my church effective in reaching new people or how can I attract new people and grow new people? 1 of the most important things they will talk about is how does1:35 the guest view your church. What is the experience of a person who's new to your church? How do they experience it? So some of the things they will ask you to think about is1:47 how do they experience the car park? Because the church experience actually begins in the car park as they enough car spots. Not only that, when they come in and walk into the entrance, are there people welcoming them1:59 and making them feel welcome? It's 1 thing to have welcome ushers, another thing for them to experience that warmth and welcome. Not only that, where are they able to find the right2:11 seats, their preferred seats? Is the temperature in the room appropriate? Is the music too loud? Is the sermon too long? All these things are things that we need to take into consideration2:23 when you design a church service because you design it for the user experience. How is the check-in process for your kids ministry? Is there any distractions during this service like crying babies?2:35 Or is the people able to listen? Is the worship engaging? Is there contemporary songs along with hymns? And what is the take home message for people? So there are so many questions that you can ask in2:47 order to examine how you are offering your service to the people and how people experience the church. Now, I don't have any issue with these2:59 questions but today's text examines not how a user experience the church, how a person who is visiting the church is looking at the church, but in3:11 today's text, are gonna look at what Jesus thinks of the church. What if he showed up to our church service, what would he say about our church? And I tell you what, that is the3:23 most important and fundamental, isn't it? And today's church is the church of Ephesus. We're gonna study the 7 letters that he wrote in chapter 2 and chapter 3 of book of Revelation. And3:34 today, we are focusing on the first 7 verses of chapter 2 and it's the church in Ephesus. And the title today is, you've got everything but the main thing because this church in Ephesus3:46 had everything. In fact, it was seemingly probably the perfect church but yet there was 1 thing that was missing and that 1 thing happens to be the3:58 main thing. So let's look at it, what is it? I want you to read this text together with me so that we grasp the entirety of the 7 verses that's found in this letter. To4:10 the angel of the church in Ephesus write, The words of him who holds the 7 stars in his right hand, who walks among the 7 golden lampstands. I know your works,4:22 your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found4:33 them to be false. I know you're enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you,4:45 that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. Repent and do the works you did at first. If4:57 not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also5:09 hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To the 1 who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the5:20 paradise of God. Now according to Revelation, you know that when you read God's word, you're blessed and when you hear God's word, you're also blessed. So blessed be the name of Lord Jesus.5:31 Hallelujah. You got everything but the main thing. As I'm studying the scripture, the key question I ask myself is this, what can we5:43 glean in this pandemic season from this letter to Ephesus? You gotta understand that this is not a letter that is written to us. We are actually reading someone else's mail. I almost5:55 titled this sermon, you've got mail. But this is what I want you to capture. It is someone else's main, mail that you're reading, but it is a poignant message for you6:07 and I. It's a timely and relevant message for us who are living in the last days. So what can we glean? I wanna give you 2 warnings we read from this text. Number 1, don't6:18 lose it. We've got to return to our first love. Verse 4 talks about how they abandoned their first love. Don't miss it. We've got to recommit to our first6:30 work. In fact, he says, do the work you did at first in verse 5. These 2 warnings, don't lose it, don't miss it. Let's look at it 1 by 1.6:42 Don't lose it. You've got to return to our first love. Look at verse 4 1 more time. But this I have against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first.6:54 We're talking here about the church in Ephesus. Verse 1 says, this is the letter that Jesus wrote to the church, to the angel of the church in7:05 Ephesus. Let me give you a background of the church of Ephesus. You know, the church in Ephesus was started by apostle Paul. He stayed there for 2 and7:17 a half years and he pioneered the work in the church. Not only that, it was a church that was led by Timothy. It was taught by Apollos, and there was7:29 it was served by Aquila and Priscilla who served together with Paul. So this is a well taught church. This is the mother church in Asia. From here, all the7:41 other churches have been established. It was a center of Christianity in that time. But I want you to understand the place where they had planted the church. The city of Ephesus could be7:53 likened to the city of New York or Singapore or Seoul, Korea today because it is a bustling city. It was the center of politics. This is the place of,8:05 politically speaking, this is the place like a supreme metropolis of Asia. That is how they called it. Commercially, they had a seaport from where they had trade routes all over the world.8:17 But I want you to, pay attention to this. Religious lead was also a center for the goddess Diana of Ephesus. There was a temple that was built for her. She's the goddess of8:29 fertility. In fact, if you search on Google, you'll find pictures of the Diana of Ephesus having a multiple number of breasts. In other words, she was a woman, she8:40 was a goddess that they worshiped, idol that they worshiped for fertility. Therefore, there was a lot of pagan worship. There were temple prostitutes, both male and female. They will come and worship. They will have8:51 sexual orgies and all sorts of things going on there. Not only that, it was also a center for emperor worship. In other words, Domitian who was the emperor of Rome, he established the Roman9:03 emperor established himself as God and he says every time you walk into the marketplace, there will be an there will be an altar there. You have to throw some incense and declare Caesar is Lord, Caesar is9:15 God. Now, this will make life complicated for Christians. Isn't it? Because they cannot acknowledge Caesar as Lord. They cannot bow down and worship in the temple of Diana. But if you want to do9:26 business, if you want to enter into the marketplace to buy or to sell your products, you have to bow down to idol. You have to participate in this pagan worship.9:38 So this is the environment in which this city was was in, and this is the environment in which the church was founded. But 1 thing that the Lord Jesus says about this church is, you've got everything but the main9:50 thing. What do they have? Look at verse 1 as we read through this text. He says to the angel of the church in Ephesus, write the words of him who holds the 7 stars in his right hand, who walks10:02 among the 7 golden lampstands. Let's break it down. Firstly, says to the angel of the church in Ephesus. Who are the angel? Are they angelic beings overseeing the church? Possibly. Every church10:14 has an angelic being. But this angel could also mean to the human beings, not just an angelic being. So it could be the messenger. The word there is messenger. Messenger could be the pastor of the church. So Jesus is10:25 writing to the leadership of the church and he says, the 1 with the words of him who holds the 7 stars and who walks among the 7 golden lampstands. Now when you10:37 read chapter 1 in verse 13, when John saw a picture of, heaven, the first thing he sees is in the midst of the lampstands, 1 like a son of man10:49 was walking. There was a there was a like 1 like a son of man, meaning Jesus was in the midst of the lampstands. Verse 16 says, in his right hand, he held 7 stars.11:02 Now, verse 20, Jesus himself explains what these 7 lampstands and these 7 stars represent. Read that. The 7 stars are the angels of the 7 churches and the 711:13 lampstands are the 7 churches. In other words, Jesus is in the midst. In chapter 1, it says Jesus is in the midst of the lampstands. He is in the midst of the church. And in11:25 his right hand, he is holding 7 stars and these are the 7 angels of the church. In chapter 2 and verse 1, he says, he's walking in the11:37 midst of the lampstands. I want you to pay attention to this because it is an image that he wants you to catch. See, when I as a pastor, when I read this text, it gives me a word of caution as well as a word of11:49 comfort. Why? Because the pastors are in the hands of the Lord Jesus. In his right hand, he holds the 7 stars representing the 7 churches who are the leadership of the 7 churches.12:01 And here he says, he's holding them in his right hand. That's a word of caution. Caution for how people treat their pastors as well as for how the pastors behave in the congregation. Why? Because there is a strict12:11 accountability when you recognize you are in the hand of the almighty God. There is a strict accountability. Not only that, there is a strong protection that not that no evil shall befall you, neither12:23 shall any plague come near your dwelling. Not only that, there is not only a strict accountability and a strong protection, there is also a strategic usefulness. God uses these men for his glory. God uses12:35 the angels of the church, the leaders of the church for his glory. Listen to me carefully. Now, this should help us to recognize that we don't take this responsibility12:47 lightly. So that's why as a pastor, I take comfort in this. At the same time, I know that I'm accountable and I'm in the hand of the mighty God. I want you to listen to me carefully.12:58 Secondly, the bible goes on to say, he's walking among the lampstands. What does it mean he's walking among the lampstands? He's walking among the lampstands, meaning he's examining the purity of the church.13:10 He's examining how the church is. That's why you have to pay attention to this. Jesus is looking for a church that is pure and holy and righteous in the pagan world,13:23 that he wants you to be separated from this kingdom of darkness. You know, in recent times, we have been plagued by scandal after scandal in the kingdom of God.13:36 Great men have fallen, charismatic men have fallen. Now, instead of passing judgment on these things, it grips my heart, it breaks my heart to go before God and13:48 to examine my own heart. I want to give you something that I want you to pay attention to. You can fool some of the people all the time or even you can fool all14:00 of the people sometime, but you cannot fool Jesus. He is all knowing, he is all seeing. He sees everything and he knows everything.14:12 And if he sees everything and knows everything, you need to be sure of this, that this judgment of Jesus will be swift and severe. Whether you're dead or alive, it doesn't matter. The14:23 judgment of God will come. Now listen to me carefully. You and I, we need to pay attention to how we live our lives. Jesus knows everything. That's why in verse 2, he14:35 goes on to say, I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance and I know how you cannot bear with those who are evil and but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not14:47 and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake and you have not grown weary. See, in verse 2 and verse 3, Jesus14:59 speaks about how he has seen what they do in the church and this is a church that's almost perfect. Now, you and I know there's no perfect church but this comes close. Listen to me. They are They There are15:10 3 aspects of their church life that Jesus examines and they And he celebrates them. He commends them for it. Now, earlier in my message, 1 of my overview messages, I've already shared with you that15:22 when you study these letters, look for the commendation, the charge, the counsel, and the challenge, the 4 things. So here Jesus is commending them, commending them for 3 specific aspects15:33 of church life. 1, their sacrificial deeds. Secondly, their steadfast dedication, their hard work, their diligence, their perseverance, their15:45 endurance. He says they patiently endured for his namesake. You can imagine the kind of scenario they they are in. They are they are persecuted. They are15:56 ostracized from community. They cannot do the trade like everybody else. They cannot buy the houses that other people buy. They cannot promote themselves. They cannot progress in their life. There are so many16:07 restrictions placed upon them, yet they endured patiently. The bible says they were sacrificial in their in their worship of God. So sacrificial deeds, strong and and and steadfast dedication, but at the same16:19 time, he also says you have sound doctrine. Now, these are the things that you and I look for in a church, isn't it? When you wanna join a church, you wanna look for a church that has sound doctrine and16:30 people and members are sacrificial in their service unto God, sacrificial deeds and they are steadfast, faithful in their works unto God. Now listen, the bible goes on to say in verse 2,16:42 but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false. These are people who are wise. They are able to scrutinize anyone who claimed16:54 to be an apostle. See, I've shared with you over and over again in the last days what we need is spiritual discernment and more exactly what we need is a doctrinal discernment. Don't accept everyone who17:06 has a charisma to teach you anything. Test is not the issue is no longer if a man can preach. The issue is what does he preach?17:18 More importantly, how does he practice what he preach? See, you and I, we need to pay attention to the life. And this is the key part Jesus is highlighting here. They tested the apostles who17:30 came, claiming to be apostles, and they found them to be false. Look at verse 6. In verse 6, Jesus goes on to say, you hate the works of the Nicolatans which I also hate.17:42 The New Testament doesn't talk much about Nicolatans except a few verses here and there. But historians tell us that Nicolatans are people who follow a man by the17:54 name of Nicholas. Remember in Acts chapter 6 and verse 5, there were 7 men that were chosen to be deacons in the early church. 1 of them was Stephen, 1 of them was Philip, and these18:06 are mighty men. Stephen was martyred for the kingdom of God. Philip became an evangelist and all his 4 daughters were all prophetesses. Praise God. But here, Nicholas, the man that was chosen, he's a18:17 proselyte of Antioch, he probably became an apostate in the later years. That means he he he begin to teach a teaching that is contrary to the apostolic teaching.18:29 So, what was his things? Because if you go back to chapter 2 and verse, 6, it says, your works, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans. They were they they specifically, the works are mentioned. Not only that, in18:41 chapter 2 and verse 15, another church also had the same issue and he says, you hold the teaching of the Nicolatans. What is the teaching of the Nicolatans? This man must have18:53 erroneously interpreted what Paul was saying, that you have now freedom in Christ. So he developed a new way of teaching and the teaching is, you can bow down to idols. He's telling the Ephesus19:05 church, you can bow down to idols and it's okay because the idols mean nothing. You you're already saved in your spirit, so you can bow down to idols, you can throw incense and call Caesar lord. It should be okay because19:17 you're already saved. Not only that, you can go into the temple of Diana, you can do all these sexual immorality, you should be fine because what you do, you're doing only in the body. Your spirit is not affected. In19:29 other words, his teaching was idolatry and immorality. And this is what Jesus says in verse 6. He says, I hate this Nicolatans, the works and the teachings. And the bible says,19:41 these people in the church in Ephesus also hated the Nicolaitans. In other words, this is a church that had holy intolerance. They had gospel fidelity. I want you to19:53 listen to me carefully. These are church that cannot bear with the carnal members and counterfeit ministers. They could not tolerate carnal members. They could not tolerate counterfeit20:04 ministers. They will they will strip them and they will talk to them and they they will they will they will very keen on discerning what the spirit behind the person. Listen to me carefully. They in other words,20:16 because this is a well taught church, they are strong in doctrine, they are able to theologically think about things, they're able to evaluate the teachings they receive, they are not moved by the charisma of the person20:27 or they are not moved they are not seduced by the style of the preacher. Listen to me carefully. They're able to evaluate and examine. Isn't this what Paul taught them? When Paul was in20:39 Ephesus and the day he was leaving, he looked at the elders of the Ephesus church in Ephesians and he says this to them in Acts chapter 20 verses 28 to 31. He says, pay careful attention to20:51 yourselves and to all the flock in which the holy spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you21:02 not sparing the flock and from among yourselves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Listen. They were21:14 biblical. They founded themselves in the apostolic doctrine and they pride They were they were proud of defending it. That means this is a church that had all the right doctrine, they had21:26 all the right, sacrificial deeds, and everything that that would be celebrated. You know, it takes great courage. It takes great spiritual courage, doctrinal21:37 clarity, and a moral integrity to be able to challenge people who claim to be ministers. But these people did have that. You know, as a pastor and a consultant, when I21:49 travel around, I I realized 1 thing that is missing in the church world today. This is something from my heart. Don't get don't get this wrong. I want you to pay attention to what I'm22:01 saying next because it comes from a pastoral heart and a loving heart. The 1 thing that is missing in today's church world is the church discipline. What happens to those who fall into22:13 sin? Whether they are ministers or members. What happens is usually this. In the past, the church used to do church discipline. In other words, if a if a minister of the gospel22:25 fell into adultery or his marriage broke up and he ended up in divorce, there will be a stripping of all the credentials. There will be a stepping down from his role. They will take him through a 2 year process22:37 of accountability, counseling, and reinstating, restoring their their life. They don't get married for a while. They go through that process, they come restored, and22:48 then when when a when a group of panel of pastors and leaders in the church could attest that they are truly broken, they have truly come out of their sinful ways, they are truly walking in repentance, now23:00 they are ready for marriage, they are ready for ministry, and then they release them back. This is what used to happen in the church world with church discipline. But these days, if you get caught in 1 city, you just23:11 shut down your ministry in that 1 city, you relocate, and you start a new ministry in another city. This has become the fashion these days. Or if you're a member and you get caught in and there is no church discipline,23:22 as soon as the church gets to know that you have an issue, what you do is you leave 1 church and you go join another church who where they don't know your issues. Why I'm saying this is because I am putting myself under23:33 this and I and I humbly ask that you pray for all the ministers and I pray that you you pray for all the people who are struggling with something that they're going through because the days are like that.23:45 Jesus says, you gotta come back and he's coming back and he's walking among the church and he's examining the life of the ministers and the members. And he says, if you don't measure up, 1 thing will happen. I will23:57 sniff out that light. That means that church ceases to exist. That ministry will be demolished. That ministry will cease to exist. Listen to me carefully. Churches and organizations do not24:08 have eternal security. Members do, but not the churches. That's why as as a church pastor, I it it grieves my heart to see what goes on in the church world. I come back and cry out before the Lord for24:20 1 more thing, 1 more time. It's this, Lord, give us that godly fear that we need to know that we are called to be in a spiritual organization.24:32 It's not cultural. It is a spiritual organization where the Lord is holding the 7 stars in his hand and he's walking among the lampstands. So here, Jesus says,24:44 I have this against you in verse 4. And this 1 thing he says that I have against you is that you abandon the love you had at first. So a church that has seemingly everything24:56 did not have the 1 thing, the main thing that mattered the most. What is that 1 thing? That 1 thing the bible says is love. In fact, in this chapter, you'll find the first25:08 love mentioned. First love and first work. First love. What is first love? See, the love is not directed whether it's upward towards God or inward towards others in the church25:20 or whether it's outward towards people in the community. Is it the lost? Is it love for Jesus, love for the other members of the church or love for the lost? It's not clear. But from the context, can understand it25:32 is a love for God. But you and I know that you cannot love God without loving others. Because first John chapter 4 and verse 19 says, we love because he25:44 first loved us. And then verse 20, if anyone says I love God and hate his brother, he's a liar. For he who does not love his brother who he has seen cannot love God whom he has not25:56 seen. And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his brother. In other words, if you love Jesus, you will love your brothers. You will love the lost.26:08 In other words, 1 love is abandoned, the love for others is also abandoned. And this is what Jesus was saying to them. You you can have all the sound doctrine. You can hold on26:20 to, sacrificial deeds. You can be steadfast in your dedication, but all these turns up without love, it becomes dead orthodoxy,26:32 empty rituals, and a heartless religion. Listen to me carefully. That is what Jesus was saying to them, that you have all this, but you don't have the 1 thing26:44 that matters, and that 1 thing is love. So let me ask you this question this morning as we examine our own heart. What26:55 drives your hard work? Ask yourself this. What motivates your hard work? Is it love for Jesus, or is it because27:07 of pride? You take pride in your work. Or is it because of praise from people? Or is it because it brings some profit into your life? It makes you popular on on27:19 Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. What drives your hard work? Is it love for Jesus or love for self? Ask yourself this question.27:30 What drives your patient endurance? Is it love for Jesus? Is it motivated by love for Jesus that you bear up everything? You know, in this passage it27:42 says, they could not bear the evil, but they bear everything for the name of the Lord. But what is it? Is it driven by love or is it because you want people to think highly of you27:55 that you are such a person who is enduring for the Lord? Listen. What drives your doctrinal discernment? You know, in these days,28:06 everybody who has access to Internet, they can leave comments on people's preaching and teaching. They can criticize. In fact, this whole culture28:18 of, social media reviews, even Google reviews, people who have not even walked into your church, who have who have no idea who you are, can still leave a comment about your church28:30 on Google review. But people who are in the church don't leave any comment. But people who have never been here leave comment. And sometimes, comments are what they see and they just talk about it. So I want28:42 to address this. What drives your doctrinal discernment? Is it because you are like a a person who enjoy being right? Or is it because you love the truth,28:54 gospel, you love Jesus, and you love people, and because of that, you want to get it right? Or is it because you just like pointing out the errors in others? You just like to like for29:06 people to think how knowledgeable you are, how clever you are, how intelligent you are, are able to pick up the errors. What drives your doctrinal discernment? Are you a heresy29:17 hunter who has no friends? Or are you someone who is like an online truth warrior who has no real relationship with any church? You are not planted anywhere, but you just like to leave comments. I want you to listen to29:29 me carefully. What drives your doctrinal discernment? This is an important question for us to understand. Jesus wasn't saying to them, you had too much theology. Maybe reduce a little bit of29:41 your doctrinal, passion and have more love. He wasn't saying little less doctrine and more little more love. He wasn't saying that because both are important.29:53 Doctrinal clarity and discernment is important. At the same time, passionate love for Jesus is important. Love for others, love for truth, love for people, love for the lost is important.30:05 Jesus was saying, we need to have an informed mind and an inflamed heart. In other words, we need to be on fire for Jesus in our heart. Can I humbly30:16 say this? How are you loving him this morning? Do you still have that first love that you had? And Jesus was saying, even if you have everything else, faithful30:28 works, you have 1 fatal weakness. Everything crumbles if you do not have love. Secondly, the warning that comes to us is don't miss30:39 it. We got to recommit to our first work. Look at verse 5. Verse 5 says, remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If30:51 not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. I want you to pay attention to the 3 imperatives in this verse. Remember,31:02 repent and do. 3 imperatives. You can say it like this, remember, repent and resume, or remember, repent, and return, or31:14 repeat the same works you did at first. Now, why is this so important? Because he points us back to remember. Do you know many of our memories31:26 acts like a stimulant, a catalyst to bring us to the experience that we once enjoyed? Remembering is important. All through the book of Psalms, the psalmist31:37 recalls the people of God to remember. He encourages them to remember. Remember the faithfulness of God. Remember the goodness of God. Remember how he led you. Remember how he delivered you. Remember31:49 how he rescued you. Remember how he was near to you. Remember how he comforted you. We gotta remember. The problem with us is we don't choose to remember. And he says, remember32:01 from where you have fallen. Now why is this so important from where you have fallen? You know, 40 years ago, before this this letter is being written to them, apostle32:13 Paul writes to them the the letter to Ephesians. Look at this in chapter 1 and verse 15. Paul writes and he says, for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus32:25 and your love towards all the saints. This church once upon a time had love for the saints and their love was being talked about in other places.32:38 Look at how he ends the book of Ephesians. He says, grace be with you all in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 24, who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. Hallelujah.32:50 In other words, once upon a time, this church had love and that love is described as a love that was incorruptible. In other words, they had love for Jesus, love for Jesus, love for 1 another,33:02 love for the pagan world, love for the lost. And that was a love that characterized this church. But today, Jesus is telling them, you have33:14 fallen away from that love. I want you to pay attention to that language, you have abandoned your first love. You have abandoned your love. It's not33:26 that that you don't you don't have it's not like you lost your love. You left your love. You know, over the years, by the grace of God, I've counseled33:37 many husbands who have sat in front of me and and broke down and wept and cried and their eyeballs out and they confess and they say, I do33:49 not love my wife anymore. I don't have that passion for her anymore. I don't have that feelings that I used to have for her anymore. Now, the surprise34:01 the thing that many people don't realize is, marriages can go through phases like that. If you're not intentional in rekindling your romance, romance can become34:13 routine. It can become mechanical. What used to be a spark, every time you look at each other, there's that that that love, that that spark in the in the34:25 there's, you know, that this misses. After a while, that can go stale, and you're only there because of the children, and you don't know, you become 2 strangers living in the house,34:37 and you become people who live in 2 separate rooms, and marriages can take a bad turn like that. But can I humbly say this? You know, for a woman to be able to hear like34:49 that from a husband, I don't love you anymore. You know how hurtful that is? You know how how, it it wrecks marriages. It wrecks the human heart. Listen to me35:00 carefully. Jesus is saying to the church here that you are telling me, I do all this, but I don't love you. It's like a husband says to the wife, I35:12 don't love you anymore, but you know what? I'll still be here. I'll still provide for you. I'll still look after our children. I'll still work towards all these goals that we have as a family,35:24 but I don't love you. I don't have the passion for you. Which woman will accept that? I want you to listen to me. The same thing Jesus is saying here. You do not have love. You have everything else, but35:36 you don't have love. So what is the remedy here? He says not only remember from where you have fallen, he goes back to verse 5 and he says, repent. Repent means there's a change of35:48 heart and a change of attitude and a change of affections. You have to take a 180 degree turn to come back to the place of departure. See, when you drive,36:00 GPS directs these days. Long before there was GPS, my wife was the GPS. And when GPS came into, focus, I was so glad because GPS doesn't score me the way my wife36:12 scores me when I take a wrong turn. But what does GPS do usually? It says to you, in 100 meters, make a u-turn. It brings you back to the place where you36:24 went away from the route. In other words, you gotta return back to the point of departure. From there, you can restart again. The same thing happens in a relationship. There is a point where you36:36 fell in love, head over heels, and there was a point of departure. It could be because you didn't like the personality. It's because you couldn't want to change and adapt and become sacrificial because you're so36:48 self centered and self absorbed and selfish. I want you to listen to me carefully. It is because you don't know what it means to love a person wholeheartedly, passionately, completely, totally.37:00 You gotta come back to that place where you die to yourself and give yourself to them. You don't understand that. Therefore, you don't wanna change. As a result, you depart from that place of love.37:12 It is you who left that love. You abandoned. That's the language of the bible. You come back to that place of departure. Jesus says, repent. Come back. And then he says, return to the37:24 works you did at first. Recommit to the works you did at first. You do the works you did at first. What are the works you did at first? You know, Jesus' remedy here is not feel37:36 your way back into action, it is act your way into that feeling. You may say, but I don't have that passion. I don't have that love. I don't see it like that. Don't have to. Just do the work.37:48 Just do the do until it becomes a passionate flame. Do the things you did at first. That's what Jesus was saying. What is it? In marriage, you gotta come back to37:59 that place where you had that first love. My children know this very well, and I tell them almost every week in our family time.38:11 It'll come up almost every time I speak to them. How much I love their mom and how much God has done in our lives. And38:23 every time we recollect the stories, you as a church know how much I love my wife and how much my wife loves me because you hear us rehearsing the same story, who proposed to who, and what we38:35 were like when we met. I want you to listen to me carefully. The reason why is because I wanna keep afresh in my memory. As years goes on, white hair38:47 happens. I went my wife went through several changes in her body with operations and things like that. There are scars. But you know my love for38:59 her is not based on her appearance or what she can do for us. It's based on the pilgrimage that God has brought together with us, and I remind myself of that first love.39:11 That's why after 22 years of knowing each other, we still talk about that first time we met. The first time we how it was in our hearts, how God brought thatShow more In this video 0:00 You've Got Everything But the Main Thing
Paul Jeyachandran
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