All In Series

Return to Your First Love

I struggle. It’s really no secret, I struggle with losing things, particularly with losing my keys. It’s a constant struggle that has followed me throughout my life, band director, youth pastor, hope extreme director it doesn’t matter.

I have noticed something with losing things, you always must work your way back to where you have left them. And today we must do the same things spiritually.

Before we go “All In” we have to go back!!

Darkness is never so dark as when a redeemed soul isn’t satisfied in God. The richness of the Scripture has no taste. The preacher’s sermon deflects off fleshly armor. Prayers seem to be stamped, “Return to sender.” Distractions intrude the best attempts to have quiet moments with God. Your heart sighs. Memories of blazing intimacy with Christ make the soul now shiver. “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it” rings truer than other lyrics. You may even fear that, after all of this time, you aren’t really his.

In 18267 Robert Robertson at 22 wrote in a Hymn

Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God; He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood; How His kindness yet pursues me Mortal tongue can never tell, Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me I cannot proclaim it well. O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

And today we study a church with the same heart, A HEART prone to wander….

After commending the church at Ephesus concerning their patient endurance, intolerance of evil, suffering for Christ’s name, and exposing of false apostles, Jesus confronts them. Although this church looked amazing on paper, he turns to one central issue, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

And Jesus was going to remove their lampstand if they continued to sled down the hill that Matthew warned against: “Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:12–13).

Revelation 2:1-7 To the Church in Ephesus

2 “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.’

Remember

The first step God calls us to may be surprising: remember. This is not some great feat for spiritual giants. It is merely the act of a child looking back upon former days. It is where I am at with my keys most of the time

Do you remember when God first awakened your soul? Do you remember the excitement you had when he plucked you out of darkness? How joyful did you dance, from an orphan to a son, a dead sinner to a resurrected saint, an enemy with God to his beloved? Do you remember?

Did you once run to prayer, not to take your daily dose of spiritual medicine, but because your Great Love waited for you there? Did you ever sing in the silence with the psalmist, “There is nothing I desire besides you” (see Psalm 73:25)? Did you stay up late to talk to Him? Did you rise up early to put on heavenly attire? Do you remember?

Remember quiet mornings of choosing the good portion as you sat at his feet. Remember the glory that you saw and the Savior that you sang to when you were filled with “joy unspeakable.” Remember the time you invested in eternity when you met with other believers to worship him.

Remember.

And the problem is that we want to stop there, or go back there without the next step.

It is what culture preaches to us.

But the next step is more vital then the first. You can’t return if you don’t repent!!

Repent

From the conviction that comes from realizing where you once stood, repent.

You have left Jerusalem for Egypt; the Promised Land for Canaan. Don’t just try to do better next time. Don’t just feel guilty and hide behind the bushes of good intentions. Go to your Savior in the blood of his Son and cry out for mercy, confessing your coldness to him and asking him for grace.

Tell him you’ve grown cold. Tell him you’ve entertained other loves. Repent to your God for not loving him as he deserves. He stands ready to forgive and restore. Your High Priest will sympathize with you, therefore, “Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, KJV).

How many times have I been here. But better to be here, then still out there!!

Return

Amazingly, God calls us to return to where we once fell. He does not call us to make up for lost time and be a mile ahead of where we used to be. He calls us back to that fresh fire of love towards him and neighbor. It is a call to action. It is a call to return to the habits of grace. It is a command to keep ourselves in the love of God.

Just return.

And beyond the standard means of grace, it is worth considering what makes your heart sing for Jesus Christ. Is it long walks in nature, early mornings with your guitar, writing poetry, reading Christ-exalting fiction, finding a new worship song, telling others about JESUS?

What is it in this season?

God is wanting to do a new thing.

Prioritize it. The door is not locked, the story is not over. You can have a sweet relationship with God in Christ again.

He has given you more breath so that you might use it to seek him, cry out to him, wait on him.