Jesus Our First Love
by Fred Rapp | December 7, 2014
In Revelation 2:4 Jesus says, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” The church of Ephesus is the first of seven churches Jesus addresses. This church with its glowing letter written by the apostle Paul praising them for their faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, has fallen from their first love. In both places the word for love is agape. This is not man’s love but the love that comes from Jesus himself, John 15:9.
Jesus said you have left your first love. The word “first” in the Greek means the love first demonstrated. This love was from God coming through Jesus as the head of the church, being poured into their hearts, Romans 5:5.
What the church of Ephesus did was send Jesus away. He was no longer able to love His church. By the time you read about the church of Laodicea the church has reached lukewarm status and Jesus is standing outside the door politely knocking to gain entrance.
Well, here we are 1900 years later and Jesus is still standing outside the door of the church and politely knocking to gain entrance. Jesus wants to love His church. Jesus said in John 15:5, "that apart from Him we can do nothing." Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:2 that if he did not have love (agape) he was nothing. We need Jesus to begin loving the church again. We are commanded by Jesus in John 15:9 to abide in His love (agape).
The reason for all of this is so we will come into full maturity and be able to live this life the way we are supposed to. Only by being loved by Jesus will we be able to fulfill the greatest commandment. Only through Jesus' love will we become the church Paul wrote about in Ephesians 5:27, Jesus wants to present to Himself a glorious church not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. This will never happen without Jesus' love directly involved in our lives. I have 1900 years of history backing up this point. There has never been a people or church that has come close to the way Jesus lived, and without His love, there never will be.
Jesus said you have left your first love. The word “first” in the Greek means the love first demonstrated. This love was from God coming through Jesus as the head of the church, being poured into their hearts, Romans 5:5.
What the church of Ephesus did was send Jesus away. He was no longer able to love His church. By the time you read about the church of Laodicea the church has reached lukewarm status and Jesus is standing outside the door politely knocking to gain entrance.
Well, here we are 1900 years later and Jesus is still standing outside the door of the church and politely knocking to gain entrance. Jesus wants to love His church. Jesus said in John 15:5, "that apart from Him we can do nothing." Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:2 that if he did not have love (agape) he was nothing. We need Jesus to begin loving the church again. We are commanded by Jesus in John 15:9 to abide in His love (agape).
The reason for all of this is so we will come into full maturity and be able to live this life the way we are supposed to. Only by being loved by Jesus will we be able to fulfill the greatest commandment. Only through Jesus' love will we become the church Paul wrote about in Ephesians 5:27, Jesus wants to present to Himself a glorious church not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. This will never happen without Jesus' love directly involved in our lives. I have 1900 years of history backing up this point. There has never been a people or church that has come close to the way Jesus lived, and without His love, there never will be.
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