For Aug 16

 

Sermon Notes: Staying In Love With Jesus

Intro: Seeing young couples in love can bring a smile to our faces, remembering a time when we were first in love. When you couldn’t wait to see your special person again, and you would do all you could to please him or her. That initial passion may have cooled a little by the time you entered into marriage, but as that relationship developed, your love grew. And as long as you each valued that relationship, worked together to strengthen it, confided in each other as you learned more about each other, your love grew deeper. The danger is when you or your loved one begin to lose that special feeling. When other things begin to occupy your time or interest. When separations become longer, and the emptiness finds other ways to be filled. It’s then that that first love stops growing, and begins to wilt. When neglect allows other things to come between you, they eventually replace the important things in a relationship.

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I. First Love Experiences.

A. Before the days of cars with bucket seats, full length front seats let couples sit close to each other, and you could put your arm around your sweetheart, preferably if you weren’t the driver. But, safety didn’t always overrule passion. After years of marriage, one wife lamented to her husband that they never sat close to each other like that anymore. The husband looked at her and smiled. “My seat has never moved”. Although, this may apply to romance, it also applies to our relationship with Jesus. He never moves from us, It’s us who move away. Jesus’ love for us never changes.

B. Many of us have had different first love experiences with Jesus. Some first loves have slowly developed into a relationship, while others have had a more sudden beginning. When Jesus called Andrew and John to discipleship, they went to Jesus, looking for the Messiah, and after a brief meeting, decided to follow Him. Andrew excitedly ran to tell his brother, Simon Peter, about the Messiah, who then came, although initially somewhat skeptical. Jesus came to Paul unexpectedly, with a strong confrontation. Regardless of how they first came, though, each committed to a relationship that continued to grew stronger. There were some difficult times, but experiencing and overcoming them, with Him, made their relationships each unique and  stronger. They would have enjoyed singing our Opening Hymn, I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord, with us.

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II. Matthew 12:22-27;43-45

A. Our Gospel reading addresses Jesus’ encounter with a man possessed by an evil spirit. This wasn’t the demon possessed man Jesus encountered in the pagan Decapolis region, who lived among the tombs, possessed by a legion of demons. When Jesus healed that man, he became calm and rationale, and wanted to stay with Jesus. But we know nothing about the man in our Gospel reading other than his demons prevented his seeing and talking until Jesus healed him by casting out the demons. But Jesus uses this encounter to teach some very important lessons about cleansing us of evil spirit influences we too might be experiencing: anxieties, depression, even addictions.B. Jesus makes it clear to the Pharisees that His power to cast out demons was not from Beelzebul, or Satan, the prince of demons, as they had accused Him. Evil does not drive out evil, like the hair of the dog philosophy to cure a hangover, which only disguises things briefly, without curing an underlying problem. By His healing, Jesus cleanses souls from evil, but at this point, souls may only be empty. The evil may be gone, but that doesn’t guarantee it has been filled by Jesus. Jesus’ said that when the evil spirit is overcome, it is sent to wander away from its former home, leaving the soul empty, although clean and neat. And, If the evil later returns and finds the space empty, it not only settles back in, but brings even greater evil with it. Seven times more evil. Science even teaches that nature abhors a vacuum. Nature will fill voids with air, water, or other elements until it reaches a state of equilibrium.

C. We might recall from Rev 3:20 that when Jesus knocks at the door of a soul, even though cleansed, it may still be empty. Only when the door is opened from the inside, will He come in and share with that person, and begins putting their lives in order. He fills that empty space with His presence.

D. We can apply this teaching to people who hear about Jesus, and ask for forgiveness. They may be baptized, even become a member of a church, leaving them feeling that their soul has been put in order and now clean and neat. They appear to have been saved. But if they have not answered His knock on the door of their soul and let Jesus fill that now empty space, evil will eventually find its way back in, and from our Gospel reading, the final condition of that person is worse than the first.

E. Whole churches can become like that. On the outside, it would appear the souls of its congregation are neat and clean, with the appearance of good. But evil will eventually find its way in, and bring associated evils with it.

F. Jesus often refers to His church as His bride. Using His analogy, we might view our relationship with Him like the newlyweds we saw earlier. To preserve that first love, and grow in our relationship, we must develop ways to stay in love with Jesus. Or that marriage will deteriorate and grow cold.

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III. Revelation 2:1-5; 18-23

A. That’s the basis of our reading from Revelation. For context, the Book of Revelation is filled with symbols that can be interpreted in different ways, making definitive understandings difficult. But as the end times near, the symbols become more understandable. Revelation was written in about AD 70 by the apostle John, describing what he is shown in heaven. Theologians debate whether John was actually taken to heaven by the Holy Spirit, or whether the Holy Spirit was showing him a vision. Regardless, John initially sees Jesus in His glorified state, walking among seven lampstands that symbolize “the seven churches”. Seven is the Biblical number for completeness. God created the world in seven days, the Israelites marched around Jericho seven days, then seven times on the seventh day. So, the seven lampstands might represent His complete Church.

B. Each of the seven churches in Revelation are actual names of existing churches in AD70. They might also be symbolic of successive Church eras, beginning with the early church, and ending with the church of the end times. Or, each of the named churches might represent specific qualities of the Church over its history.

C. For our purposes this morning, let’s assume each church represents a successive era of Church history, beginning with the Church of Ephesus as the early church, then comparing it with the fourth church, the Church of Thyatira. John is told to write down Jesus’ message to these specific churches.

D. Now, notice in the passages Ann read about these two churches, Jesus starts by commending each one for their merits, then points out their failings, calling for their repentance. He commends the Church of Ephesus for their hard work and perseverance, much like early Christians endured while establishing the rapidly growing but persecuted Church. They had to deal with false believers, and did not tolerate wicked people - they were doing good works. Yet, Jesus is critical of them for forsaking their first love for Him. He tells them to turn back to doing the things they did at first, otherwise He would remove their lampstand, their church, from His presence. That would seem a harsh response to their apparently good works. But without the first love they had, they weren’t pleasing to Jesus. The hadn’t stayed in love with Jesus. We see that in many Christian churches, as well as individual Christians, today. They might be active in community events – food pantries, giving to various charities, in beautiful church buildings - yet lacking true love for Jesus.

E. What might such true love look like?  Regular worship is essential. Shrinking church attendance shows that many Christians neglect this, finding other priorities on a Sunday morning, or feeling like they meet their obligations at Christmas and Easter. No matter if they give a large percentage of their money to the church, or do good deeds in the community, without regular, genuine church worship, our souls remain an empty space, even if they are in good order.

F. Genuine church worship is greatly enhanced by regular Communion. The meaning we give Communion as a means of grace is significant. John Wesley took Communion several times a week, and, for him, each time was a meaningful opportunity of grace to participate in a renewal of Jesus’ sacrificial love. Yet, taking Communion as a routine habit with repetitive words loses a critical means by which we stay in love with Jesus. Last week we heard God’s indictment in Isaiah 29 of people who honor God with their lips, but their love, their hearts, are far from Him.

G. Works, or deeds, doing things for Him are not as important as doing things with Him. Prayer, Bible Study, daily devotions are as important to knowing and loving Jesus, that deepen our relationship with Him. It’s analogous to spending quality times with your spouse  Continuing in, and deepening, your first love.

H. Now let’s compare the Church of Ephesus with the Church of Thyatira. Thyatira was known for its trade guilds, particularly in textiles and dyeing, that required worship of their pagan gods. This context reflects the economic and social environment challenges to the spiritual lives of its members, perhaps much like today. Jesus is portrayed with eyes like a blazing fire, symbolizing His ability to see through appearances and discern the true nature of individuals and their deeds. He sees their deeds, their love, their faith, their service, their perseverance - acknowledging their latter deeds were greater than their first. All these characteristics were commended by Jesus. Except...they were tolerating a Jezebel, probably more than just a person among them.

I. In the OT, Jezebel had been the very wicked queen of King Ahab, who made Baal the god of Israel. Baal was worshipped as the image of a bull calf, just as the Israelites had made during the Exodus. Worship of Baal involved sexual immorality, burnt offerings of animals eaten by worshippers, and the practice of evil sorceries. So, calling the tolerated evil Jezebel, God condemns it for misleading the people into sexual immorality, and eating food sacrificed to idols. Sexual immorality was a particularly strong sin condemned throughout the Bible. Sodom and Gomorrah were totally destroyed because of it. The extent of their sexual immorality included homosexuality, and even sexual acts with animals. God also equated sexual immorality with adultery, which He uses as a parallel of His people’s unfaithfulness to Him.  Thus, naming a Jezebel in their midst, may have been an actual evil influence of sexual immorality, or at least risked the Church being misled into unfaithfulness to Jesus. So, even tolerating this Jezebel influence in their church was totally unacceptable to God.

J. As punishment God would cause not only their ‘Jezebel’ to suffer, but those who committed adulterous unfaithfulness with her would suffer intensely. Her children being struck dead, which  might even be speaking to the future of that church, You can read a lot into this punishment, but what struck me the most is that, as a church, we saw our former denomination going down that Jezebelic path, and did disaffiliate along with 7700 churches in that first wave. Rather than passing judgement, though, I continue to commend our proactive choice.

K. However we felt Jesus calling us, and responded to His love by showing our love as we entered into relationship with Him, we made a significant decision. But staying in love with Jesus takes a corresponding amount of desire, perseverance, and faithfulness, just as it does with human marriage. Marriages don’t thrive, or even last, without attentiveness and a commitment to a continued growth with regular, heartfelt investments of time and attention.

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Conclusion: To summarize, our marriage with Jesus begins by opening the door for Him to enter our lives, beginning to put our spiritual houses in order, neat and clean. But until He fills our lives, they still remain empty. But when Jesus comes into our lives, when we first fall in love with Him, we know the joy of knowing Him and wanting a continuing relationship with Him. And staying in love with Jesus, He continues to fill us with the blessings His love offers. Still, we should ensure we never lose our first love for Jesus. That we are not tolerating those things that threaten our love for Him. And most of all, do those things that  enhance our relationship with Him. May He continue to revive our joy of knowing Him. Amen