THE GRACES OF GOSPEL-SHAPED COMMUNITY

/ revheff / Leave a comment

The Grace of Waiting for One Another at the Lord’s Table

I have written elsewhere about various what I call graces of gospel-shaped community. In this post I want to consider another lesser-known one another text of the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 11:33: So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

The Biblical Setting

The Corinthian church struggled with multiple problems. Paul wrote the letter to address them one-by-one. When we come to chapter 11, he turns his attention for the next couple of chapters to abuses in their corporate worship—especially the most serious of all—their practice related to taking the Lord’s Supper. Serious doesn’t even begin to express the degree of alarm sounded here. Their abuses in this regard made God so sick, as it were, that He brought severe physical judgment upon the people (1 Cor. 11:30). The Table is not something with which to trifle!

The Historical Background

Commentator William Barclay explains:

The ancient world was in many ways much more social than ours is. It was the regular custom for groups of people to meet together for meals. There was, in particular, a certain kind of feast called an eranos to which each participant brought his own share of the food, and in which all the contributions were pooled to make a common meal. The early Church had such a custom, a feast called the Agape or Love Feast. To it all the Christians came, bringing what they could, the resources were pooled and they sat down to a common meal. It was a lovely custom; and it is our loss that the custom has vanished. It was a way of producing and nourishing real Christian fellowship.

Indeed, it is. We find biblical evidence of those kinds of love feasts among the churches in two other places: 2 Pet. 2:13—concerning false teachers plaguing the church—They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. And Jude 12: [regarding false teachers] These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves. Frequently those Christian feasts would culminate in the eating of the Lord’s Supper. They combined the Supper with their community meal—unlike the way we typically separate it on Sundays. OK, so far so good. But look what happened in Corinth with this whole deal in 11:20-21: When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. More on this disgraceful behavior in a bit.

Understand a couple things about first century Corinth. Class distinctions abounded, rich and poor especially. The current famine (Paul speaks of it as the present distress in 1 Cor. 7:26) exacerbated the situation in that the slaves who normally went without anyway, suffered even greater want given the circumstances. In fact, the weekly common meal where the rich and poor would eat together in the church, sharing as each one had means, might amount to the only decent meal a poor person or family would get in any given week. The poor depended upon those with greater means to share from their abundance. But that was not happening in Corinth and Paul made sure here in chapter 11 that they would get nothing in the way of commendation for their astonishing behavior. He scolds them at the end of v. 22: Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. He was ticked. He blistered them with godly reproof. For what?

Hurrying! He rebuked them for not waiting for the poor who couldn’t get to the feast as soon as they in their wealth and leisure could. No, instead they would wolf down the food, stuff themselves, and even drink to excess according to v. 21, with the result that some of them got drunk while the poor went hungry! A good bit of research into the first century as well suggests that the well-off may have taken up the prime spots in the household’s dining room leaving the poor to stand and/or congregate in ancillary rooms of the dwelling. Good grief!

Do you see the picture? Do you get the result? The calloused, selfish, insensitive, grab-game behavior in Corinth brought yet another form of division and separation into the assembly, based on the haves and the have nots, the rich and the poor! Before Paul hammered anything else in the letter, he took on the problem of factions in 1 Cor. 1:10-13:

[10] I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. [11] For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. [12] What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” [13] Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

So, in chapter 11, Paul returns to the poison of division in the body but comes at it from a different direction—the abuses of the Lord’s Supper. That’s why in vv. 23-26 he chooses to teach them again the true nature and proper observance of the Supper as a spiritual event of the highest order—not a cause of gorging the physical appetites! Indeed not, as he rails with rapid-fire rhetorical questions in v. 22: What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? In other words, you have homes for satisfying your appetites. Your sinful behavior despises the cross of Jesus which obliterated class distinctions of every kind, made abundantly clear in 1 Cor 10:17: Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. And your behavior humiliates the poor for whom God takes up offense. Proverbs 17:5: Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker.

Now we have a basis for understanding his loving, (note that though steamed at them, in v. 33 he calls them brothers, a term of affection) practical admonition at the conclusion of this section: when you come together to eat, wait for one another. The Greek word for wait can mean that or expect. I think the ESV gets it right given a text like Acts 17:16: Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens and this immediate context previously reviewed. The ESV includes a marginal note with an alternate rendering of share with, I suspect, because waiting for the poor to show up implies the expectation of sharing with them and not hoarding. Do this waiting with a view to sharing, Paul says, (and if you can’t, eat at home to take the edge off) why in v. 34? So that when you come together it will not be for judgment. Judgment of the worst kind.

Now we’re finally ready for the main idea for this post: The gospel shapes community by empowering us to manifest the grace of practicing selfless, loving, and sensitive courtesy toward all, particularly with taking the Lord’s Supper in view. How do we make the jump then to our context before we partake? In some ways, the takeaways are not as closely connected, since we normally practice separation between the Lord’s Supper and our fellowship meals. I suggest three applications related to Communion.

One, acknowledge the priority of the Supper as supremely important in the worship of the church and as a means of grace for your spiritual life. We should not think too lightly of this ordinance of Christ.

Two, take extraordinary care in the way you participate in the Supper with particular attention to discerning the body (11:29). The church is one body where unity, peace, and equality should excel like nowhere else. It should matter greatly how we deal with one another and that we do nothing to separate or divide the church. Practice peacemaking when necessary.

Three, examine your heart for any exclusivist prejudices that rear their ugly heads in the form of racist feelings, sexist feelings, classist feelings, cliquish feelings, or insensitive, dismissive-of-others feelings that negate the true meaning of the Supper and despise the church of Jesus Christ where all stand equal as fellow heirs of the grace of life.

If you find such ugliness in your heart, admit it to Jesus and believe the gospel again for grace and forgiveness. Then come eat and drink at the Lord’s Table with a heart’s prayer to so thoroughly delight in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for you that it elevates you to a still more excellent way, the way of love (1 Cor. 13), and the grace of “waiting,” no matter how different a class the object of your love.

A BIRTHDAY PRAYER

/ revheff / Leave a comment

Heart Desires as I Turn 74

Who am I, Father in heaven, that you would grant me length of days such as these?

Moses, the man of God prayed, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). You have given me now four years of relative strength past the norm. With each day that passes time seems to fly by swift as a weaver’s shuttle (Job 7:6). How many more days, months, years may you possibly have for me? Surely, you alone know.

I wonder, Father, on yet another September 15, about certain things. Am I any wiser? Am I more loving? Am I more Christ-like? Has my awe at your greatness and glory increased as I have asked of you each day upon awaking? If so, all glory and praise belong to you.

I pray with Moses, Lord, teach me to number my days that I may present to you a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). Help me to redeem the time for the days are evil (Eph. 5:16). Strengthen me to run the race set before me with endurance looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of my faith (Heb. 12:2). While with each day that passes, I do experience the gradual wasting away of my outer self, I pray that inwardly I will be renewed all the more every day (2 Cor. 4:16). Grant that I may diligently seek the things above where Christ is seated at the throne of God (Col. 3:1) and strive to make my calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10).

Sovereign God, cancer taught me that my times are in your hands (Psalm 31:15). Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:16). I thank you each day as I sip my morning coffee and talk with you that heaven is my ultimate home and I’m one day closer. I know that the day of my death will be better than the day of my birth (Ecc. 7:1) because I will rest from my labors (Rev. 14:13) and death will be no more (Rev. 21:4). And I am confident that whatever the day, place, and time of my homegoing, it is a precious, weighty, serious matter in your sight (Psalm 116:15). Dying will be most assuredly gain (Phil. 1:21b).

Until then, dear Father, may this be true for me: to live is Christ (Phil. 1:21a)! Grant that I may flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Plant me in the house of the Lord; make me flourish in your courts. May I still bear fruit in old age; be ever full of sap and green, to declare that you are upright; you are my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in you (Psalm 92:12-15). Grant that I may work while it is yet day, for the time is coming when no one may work (John 9:4). And whatever I do, in word or deed, may I do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to you, Father through him (Col. 3:17). And whatever may come and however long I may yet live, I am sure of this, that you who began a good work in me will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6). Soli Deo Gloria.

In Jesus’s name and for his sake, Amen.

JOMO NOT FOMO

/ revheff / 8 Comments

Choosing Joy When Plans Go South

From the get-go our Canada adventure seemed destined for surprises necessitating adjustments. It started with a 4:30 AM Delta text about a prolonged delay. I scrambled to book an alternate flight. Jan developed a sore throat soon after our arrival in Idaho. The morning we expected to drive to Kelowna, BC for my weekend speaking engagement, I succumbed to chest congestion and coughing. Off we went to an urgent care. By the end of the day, I was hospitalized with a case of aspiration pneumonia. So much for teaching peacemaking at the church camp.

I must confess my struggle with disappointment. A lot of work went into preparing the four messages I hoped to bring that weekend. I love teaching the Bible, especially when the subject focuses on my passion to promote the blessedness of peacemaking (Matthew 5:9). I looked forward to helping my host and his people with conflict coaching for their respective challenges. And Jan and I both regretted missing out on surveying the glory of God on display in the Canadian wilderness.

Providence, as it has done so often before, threw me a curve ball of changed circumstances (Ecclesiastes 7:13-14). I had a choice to make. FOMO or JOMO? The former acronym, the fear of missing out, I knew all too well. But the latter, the joy of missing out, hit my radar screen for the first time on this trip. Apparently, JOMO is a thing. Who knew? The Lord used it to keep me from wallowing in disappointment in favor of rejoicing (Philippians 4:4) and giving thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18). He showed me at least three upsides to the change in plans.

Checked Pride

When I wrote about the prospect of this Canada engagement in my last post, I put things this way: “The next of those ministry opportunities takes place, Lord willing, this weekend.” I’ve learned over time to qualify all future plans accordingly from texts like James 4:13-17:

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

To add “Lord willing” to one’s future plans is no trivial qualifier. It reveals humility that acknowledges God’s sovereignty over every circumstance. We simply do not know what tomorrow may bring. To presume certainty in planning amounts to sinful boasting which belies the fragility and brevity of life.

Increased Contentment

The longer I live and walk with the Lord I am more convinced than ever of one thing. God cares more about what he is doing in me than what he is doing through me. That pertains particularly through cultivating what Paul calls the secret of contentment in Philippians 4:10-13:

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

I almost labeled this section “Learned Contentment.” Paul seemed to have arrived at a level of maturity wherein he actually experienced both joy in abundance and need. His JOMO secret of contentment lay in his trust in the Lord’s strength to sustain him in every providence, hard or easy. I’m not there yet, but I rejoice to be learning more along the way of life’s highs and lows.

Sharpened Focus

Not more than two days after returning from our trip, this passage jumped off the page in my daily Bible reading in 1 Corinthians 16:5-9:

5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

Paul clearly looked forward to the prospect of an extended visit with the church at Corinth. But he knew better than to presume upon the Father’s will for the future–hence “if the Lord permits.” Besides, he had no doubt about God’s will for the present–a wide door for effective work in Ephesus! JOMO happens when we ask the Father, What doors will you open for my service now that these others have closed? Perhaps in another post I will write about my interaction with my hospital roommate who it just so happens was suffering from head and neck cancer just like I have!

God is always working through every kind of providence that we may even embrace JOMO. Choose joy for the plans he has to transform us more and more into the likeness of our older brother, King Jesus (Romans 8:29).

GETTING ALONG WELL WHEN THE GOING ALONG ISN’T

/ revheff / 1 Comment

Glorifying God as Followers, Leaders, & Peacemakers in Suffering

In my last post, Who Made This Mouth?, I mentioned two speaking opportunities the Lord graciously opened up to me of late.

The first of those came and went on Sunday evening, August 23, at Grace Fellowship, Sanford. I preached a message from 1 Peter 5:1-5 entitled, Following and Leading to the Glory of God in Suffering. You can listen to the audio here.

Here is my content summary from the manuscript:

Main Idea

God gets glory when His people—followers and leaders alike—relate redemptively to one another especially in their suffering.

Outline

Followers relate redemptively with glad-hearted submission (5a).
Leaders relate redemptively with shepherd-hearted oversight (1-4).
All relate redemptively with lowly-hearted humility (5b).

Conclusion

In Him you can follow redemptively as a sheep; you can lead redemptively as a shepherd, if so called; and we all can relate redemptively as a people clothed in his humility to the glory of God especially in the throes of great suffering.

The next of those ministry opportunities takes place, Lord willing, this weekend, September 5-6 in Kelowna, BC at Providence Baptist Church’s annual summer camp gathering.

Here is my content summary for my assigned theme, How to Fight for the Peace of Your Church:

Session One: When We Must Labor to Fight Well for Peace (Hebrews 12:1-14)

Session Two: What We Must Master to Fight Well for Peace (1 Samuel 25:1-44)

Session Three: How We Must Engage to Fight Well for Peace (Matthew 7:1-12)

Session Four: Why We Must Forgive to Fight Well for Peace (Ephesians 4:32; Matthew 6:12, 14-15)

From the talk on Hebrews 12:14:

When must we labor to fight for peace? Always! To the finish line, all the way home, to our dying breath, just as we must fight against remaining sin and make our calling and election more sure by ever increasing growth in every other aspect of holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Peacemaking is a cataclysmically huge subset of our sanctification.

I hope in due time to post recordings of these messages for the benefit of any who might profit by listening. In the meantime, I covet with thankfulness any and all prayers for the Lord’s help as I commend the blessedness of peacemaking (Matthew 5:9) to the brothers and sisters at PBC, Kelowna, Canada.

WHO MADE THIS MOUTH?

/ revheff / 1 Comment

Reflections on Being a Dull-of-Speech Preacher

Some anniversaries on the calendar mark more significant milestones than others. Ever since 2005, March 8 reminds me how dramatically and increasingly challenging my pastoral vocation became from that day on. It took five hours on the table that Tuesday for a surgeon to excise an egg-sized cancerous tumor along with one-third of my tongue. Never again would I step into a pulpit without acknowledging that an already tough task had become even harder because of the new speech impairments.

Also vivid in my memory that year is the Sunday just five days after my surgery. Surprisingly, I felt well enough to attend church. Nancy, my late wife, and I occupied the front row as usual. A fellow elder, slated to give the pastoral prayer that day, sat supportively beside me. As the time approached in the service for that prayer, I felt strongly impressed that the Lord actually wanted me to do it. Much to my surprise and to the congregation’s, there I, their teaching pastor, stood before them to pray, with 33% less of a tongue and sporting a hockey-stick shaped, still-sutured scar running from my right ear to my Adam’s apple.

I don’t remember what I prayed. But I do recall exactly how I started. I slowly read this text from Exodus 4:10-12:

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

Our guest preacher of the day, Dr. Bruce Waltke, called that extraordinary God-moment a sermon all its own. He was right. I’ve never forgotten that day, or the day of my surgery, which marked me for good ever since.

Ten years later my slow-of-speech-and-tongue mouth got even worse. Downstream effects of radiation treatment in ‘05 eventually fried my mandible requiring jaw reconstruction in 2016 (see image above). Multiple surgeries added to my frustration and difficulty with articulation throughout the last six years of my vocational ministry. Thankfully the Lord continued to help me all the way to the pastoral finish line. Retirement in 2022 brought a measure of welcomed relief from weekly pulpit demands. And yet . . . I’ve wrestled often with what usefulness in retirement looks like for me. Could I or should I still preach occasionally, as humbling as it is, or chalk it up to “that was then, this is now”? Over the last few years, I had all but given up on the prospect. After all, who wants to listen to Preacher Dull/Heavy/Slow of Speech and Tongue (literal meaning of the Hebrew kabed)? Or so I thought.

But recently the Lord has been working in some unexpected ways. Last month I found myself officiating a wedding including a personal charge to the couple. This Sunday evening I will preach my first sermon in three years at our local church. And Lord willing, this September I will bring four messages on fighting for peace and unity for a church camp in British Columbia. Go figure! The Lord seems to have more for me to do.

Whatever speech issues plagued Moses enough for him to balk at his calling, mine make me sympathetic to his reluctance. I’m so thankful this exchange between him and the Lord made it into the biblical record. It serves as a continual encouragement in my retirement to welcome any further calling he may require of me, no matter how surprising.

Who has made this man’s mouth? Is it not the Lord? It is. How will this man speak no matter however, wherever called upon to do so? Same answer as always. Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.

I believe Lord, help my unbelief.

HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR

/ revheff / Leave a comment

Four Practical Applications for Overcoming Lovelessness

My recent posts focused on Christ’s letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “‘I know your works, 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 found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”

Jesus holds his churches accountable for practicing fervent love. We must make every effort to comply with his demands to that end. We need ears to hear his complaint against lovelessness. Embrace his remedy for lovelessness. Heed his warning about lovelessness. What will it look like if we have ears to hear what the Spirit says and overcome with conquering love? Here are some ideas for application.

Audit Your Love

What better, more obvious way to be a doer of the word and no hearer only from this text, than to continually audit yourself individually and your church corporately about how loving you are. If we don’t do this, we run the risk of hearing Jesus say, I have this against you. Please take this seriously. Regularly subject yourself to the blazing light of the attributes of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and remember and repent accordingly.

Study Biblical Love

Alexander Strauch’s little book Love or Die: Christ’s Wake Up Call to the Church (Lewis & Roth, 2008) is a profitable resource to this end. He points to nearly 1,000 references to love in one form or another in God’s word. Do you want to pursue love more diligently? Then you must read and study what God says about love in his word. Strauch’s appendix B contains 50 Key Texts on Love. That will get you started. Prefer learning by listening? Consider streaming John Piper’s sermon series (15 messages) entitled The Greatest of These Is Love.

Pray for Love

If Jesus reported on an audit of your church, would it include a commendation like this? I know your works how you earnestly pray for one another—especially that you grow in love and even overflow in love? Let’s take our cue from Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3:12. May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you. The Thessalonian church was a prime example of first love according to 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10:

“Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.”

Practice Genuine Love

First John 3:16 says this: Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Here’s my challenge. Conduct a self-audit in Romans 12:9-21 soon, and ask the Lord to focus you on just one tangible love practice in which you want to grow. Choose from among honoring, praying, giving, serving, showing hospitality, blessing, rejoicing, weeping, peacemaking, associating with the lowly, and more. You can do this! The Holy Spirit will help you (Gal. 5:22). 

There is evidence in the writings of the church fathers of the 2nd century that the Ephesian church did repent. A letter by Ignatius to the church praised them as “characterized by faith in and love of Christ”—their pastor “a man of inexpressible love.” 

May we too have ears to hear what Jesus says about the serious sin of lovelessness. To the one who conquers he will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

I WILL COME & REMOVE YOUR LAMPSTAND

/ revheff / Leave a comment

What Jesus Threatens If a Church Persists in Seriousness Lovelessness

I can only imagine one thing worse than my church getting a letter from Jesus containing his personal complaint about our fellowship–the consequences should we fail to comply with his demands. Both happened to the church of Ephesus back in the 1st century. The text is recorded for us in Revelation 2:1-7.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “‘I know your works, 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 found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”

In my first post in this series, The Serious Sin of Lovelessness, I introduced the letter with its complaint. In the second post, I Have This Against You, I unpacked the grievous complaint about their lovelessness. In this post, I want to consider Jesus’s prescription for change and consequences for failure.

A Continuous Remedy (v. 5a)

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

Note the two-pronged cure for lovelessness which Jesus prescribes: remember and repent. Remember is a present tense command. It conveys a continual calling to mind the fervent culture of love they enjoyed in the past. Apparently at one time these people practiced a Romans 12:10-like brotherly affection outdoing one another in showing honor. They knew some good old days of Philippians 1:9-like love abounding more and more with knowledge and discernment. A good memory can be a good thing in the Christian life.

But somewhere along the way something broke. They fell. They abandoned the fierce love they had practiced earlier. And so, he commands them to repent. That’s a different verb tense suggesting a decisive, immediate break with present actions in favor of an altogether different direction—do the works you did at first. And work it is. Love is labor and toil in all kinds of forms. Martin Luther said our life is to be a constant and ceaseless repentance. Nowhere is that more important—think 1 Corinthians 13—than in the practice of love. To lack it makes us nothing. 

An Ominous Warning (v. 5b)

What happens if we fail to conquer (v. 7), by his grace, in the matter of ongoing fervent love as a church? If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Jesus was dead serious, literally, with this church over its sin of lovelessness. Don’t be deceived. If we excel in championing doctrinal purity only to suffer a loss of ever-increasing love for one another, we face utterly devastating consequences. A failing grade in love invites Jesus’s sternest of judgments. I will come and remove your lampstand. Scholar D. A Carson explains:

“The removal of the lampstand from its place can signify nothing less than the end of Christ’s recognition of the church as a church of his. It will become as devoid of Christ as the temple of Jerusalem became empty of God prior to its destruction. So grave is the sin of lovelessness in a Christian church.”

An ominous warning indeed. May God spare us such a terrifying judgment.

In my final post in this series, I will offer four practical applications from the letter to help our churches thrive in love which keeps the lampstand burning brightly.

I HAVE THIS AGAINST YOU

/ revheff / 1 Comment
Jesus Takes Personal Offense to Lovelessness in the Church

You’ve been served.

Have you ever heard those words spoken to you? I have, thankfully only once. Years ago, I caused a car accident involving two other vehicles on one of our busy Orlando highways. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt–or so I thought. Months later the doorbell rang one morning. Upon answering, I was handed a manila envelope giving me notice of a lawsuit against me for $100K in damages resulting from that wreck. Weeks later my insurance company settled for considerably less than that amount. But it’s hard to describe the sinking feeling which comes with hearing someone say, “You’ve been served.”

Imagine something quite similar happening to you and your church, only the One serving the papers is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The first-century Ephesian church experienced that very thing in Revelation 2:1-7.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “‘I know your works, 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 found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”

The Main Idea

In my last post, The Serious Sin of Lovelessness, I summarized the thrust of the letter this way:

Because Jesus holds us accountable for practicing fervent love, we should make every effort to comply with his demands to that end.

There are three things in the text related to this accountability: from Jesus there is a grievous complaint, there is a continuous remedy, and there is an ominous warning. In this post I want to address the nature of the lawsuit.

Jesus’s Grievous Complaint

But I have this against you.

Before dealing with the charge, notice the context of this blistering accusation. It’s signaled by the strong contrast “but” at the start of v. 4. The previous two verses could hardly be different in tone and content:

“‘I know your works, 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 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.”

The High Priestly audit does not overlook the good. Toil. Perseverance. Hatred of evil. Calling out false teachers. Suffering for the name. Yet more commendation comes in v. 6. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. That’s probably a reference to libertinism—cheap grace—do what you want because it’s all forgiven anyway. Upshot? They hated false doctrine and ungodliness just as Jesus does, and he credited them for it. High praise indeed. Well done, good and faithful servants.

All well and good, but … back to v. 4. I have this against you. That’s highly personal language. Jesus takes personally this flagrant flaw among this otherwise first-rate church of his: you have abandoned the love you had at first. I suspect most are more familiar with a different translation: you have left your first love. The original literally reads: you have abandoned the love of you the first. The word “first” comes at the end of the sentence for emphasis. Either approach has merit. But I lean with the ESV in light of the word “fallen” in v. 5. We’re talking serious failure here.

My principal objection to the idea of abandoning their first love, Jesus, is that the praises heaped upon them don’t seem worthy of a lack of love for Christ in the midst of such a wicked culture. They strike me as far too strong. Unless of course a lack of love among one another in the assembly amounts to a lack of ultimate love for Christ. In truth, the two are never far apart, as in 1 John 4:7-8: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Professor Dennis Johnson of Westminster West Seminary hit the target here in a Table Talk article for Ligonier Ministries:

“Keeping a firm grip on both poles — truth and love — is a constant challenge for redeemed sinners who swing like pendulums from one extreme to another. Too often, churches and their leaders either stand for biblical truth vigorously but lovelessly or else they preserve apparent unity and love at the expense of truth. Of course, when the truth of the gospel truly grasps our hearts, love for others must result; and, by the same token, the love that delights Jesus grows only in the rich soil of fidelity to God’s truth.”

Jesus holds us accountable for practicing fervent love. We should make every effort to comply with his demands to that end. This is a grievous complaint. A loss of love is no minor defect. No amount of religious orthodoxy and doctrinal fidelity can make up for lovelessness. How should we respond?

Audit Your Love

What better, more obvious way to be a doer of the word and no hearer only from this text, than to continually audit yourself individually and your church corporately about how loving you are. If we don’t do this, we run the risk of hearing Jesus say, I have this against you. Please take this seriously. Regularly subject yourself particularly to the blazing light of the attributes of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and take stock accordingly of any hurtful way within you (Psalm 139:24).

Self-auditing must precede embracing Jesus’s remedy in the text–the subject of my next post.

THE SERIOUS SIN OF LOVELESSNESS

/ revheff / 3 Comments

What If Jesus Conducted an Audit of Your Church?

I tend to look forward to fetching the daily mail. But I admit that my heart skips a beat when occasionally we get something with the return address label, Internal Revenue Service. I immediately stress. “Oh no, what if they wish to dispute a past tax return?” I think I’d rather have a root canal than face an audit by an IRS agent. Maybe you can relate.

Imagine with me for a moment a Sunday when the pastor announces to your church that he has received a certified letter from none other than King Jesus. And he informs you of a pending heavenly audit scheduled among the congregation at some future date. The Lord Jesus personally plans to conduct a thorough inspection of every aspect of your ministry and people. I wonder how you might take stock of your ways in advance. I wonder what changes that prospect might galvanize before his arrival.

Revelation 2:1 makes that plain. These are: The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands (emphasis added). Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher of old, summed this up well:

“No one knows the churches as Jesus does . . . he continually walks among them.  … His eyes are as a flame of fire. He sees the churches through and through, and knows their true condition much better than they know themselves. The Lord Jesus Christ is a most careful observer of churches and of individuals; nothing is hid from his observant eye.”

Does that sober you? I suspect it does. Your church is one of Christ’s lampstands. In a way, he has already written a letter to your church and every other church for that matter. Jesus means for us to ponder this one long ago to Ephesus, along with the other six in these two chapters, to see what he might say to us. As we confront the message here to Ephesus, I want to help you wrestle with what he might say to you about the serious sin of lovelessness.

Most scholars regard chapters two and three as real letters written to real historical, 1st-century churches. It begins with Ephesus—the highest profile, most influential one of all. Ephesus was a hotbed of idolatry, false teaching, and sin—a difficult city in which to function as an effective body of believers. This timely letter from John on Patmos took aim at a major fault in the church at the time of writing. 

Here’s the text of the entire letter to Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “‘I know your works, 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 found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”

Here is the main idea: Because Jesus holds us accountable for practicing fervent love, we should make every effort to comply with his demands to that end. I want you to see three things in the text related to this accountability: from Jesus there is a grievous complaint, there is a continuous remedy, and there is an ominous warning.

In my next post I will unpack one or more of these particular aspects of the Ephesian audit. In the meantime, I invite you to pray Colossians 3:14 often for your local church community.

“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

And remember, Jesus walks amidst the fellowship with eyes a flame of fire.

THE 4 PHASES OF RETIREMENT

/ revheff / 2 Comments

How to Squeeze All the Juice Out of Retirement

I thoroughly enjoyed and profited by the winsome and insightful 13-minute TED talk hyperlinked below.

Imagine squeezing all the juice out of retirement!

When interviewed on his research, Dr. Riley Moynes commented, “I wish I knew then what I know now about the psychological challenges that accompany retirement. It would have made things much clearer and easier.”

By interviewing hundreds of retirees, Dr. Moynes has discovered a framework that can help make more sense of this challenging chapter of our lives…one that, for many, could last for 30 years or more.

If you’re retired, this talk will make things much clearer for you. If you’re not, you’ll have a better idea of what to expect when that time comes.

I wish I had viewed it three years ago when I transitioned from vocational ministry to retirement. I am thankful to find myself now enjoying phase four, but suspect the path would have been less painful if I knew more about the first three. Enjoy!