“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (Revelation 2:4).
The very first Church Christ addresses is one that John would have been well acquainted with. The Church at Ephesus would have been in existence for about forty years at this time. It had been established by Paul, and in the two years of his ministry there, God had caused a remarkable work to happen, whereby the good news of the Gospel was heard throughout Asia Minor (Acts 19:10). It was a Church that was undoubtedly facing persecution, but it was also a Church that was faithful!
Indeed, when we read verse 2, we get a picture of a Church that had taken Paul’s departing warnings seriously (Acts 20: 28-31) and could almost literally ‘smell’ bad teaching. What is more, they had done all this in the face of opposition (v3). To use an analogy, if you were looking for good Bible teaching and a ‘Reformed’ ministry, you would have been impressed by the first page of the Ephesus Church website, and doubly so by the time you had listened to one or two of their sermons!
So it comes as a bit of a shock when Jesus says: “Yet I have this against you” (v4). Despite all their Biblically based teaching, they had fallen out of love with their Saviour. In fact it’s worse than that as the word used is: “abandoned”. Everything had become routine and 
dutiful, rather like those marriages where a husband and wife get divorced after years of being together, because, and someone comments: “they only stayed together for the children”… This may have been a faithful Church, but it was only out of a sense of duty, rather than a deep love for the Lord! The phrase: “Remember the height from where you have fallen” illustrates that Christ does not see this as a small thing; in fact, in the Greek this can literally be rendered as: ‘keep on remembering’. ‘They had enjoyed a close walk with God’ and were to remember that![1] Indeed, it was so serious that Christ threatens to remove their lampstand (v5) unless they repent. In other words, the Church would cease to exist!
Yet, there was still hope, their love for the truth shows that they literally had the mind of God (v6)![2] Christ leaves them with some encouragement in both the start and the finish of this letter. Firstly, he has an intimate relationship with his Church as he: ‘walks among the seven golden lampstands’ (v1) which, as we have seen, represent the ‘Universal’ Church. He still loves them, with the sacrificial love, which is demonstrated in 1:5, even when their love has grown cold. Secondly, those who respond to Christ’s warning have the promise of a wonderful future with him (v7).
In conclusion, no matter how Gospel-based and ‘reformed’ we are as a Church, Jesus will find a fault with us if we are not if displaying love for him and for others. But if you think about it, the more we understand about Christ’s love for us, as shown in the cross, our love should increase. In other words, good ‘Cross shaped’ theology should never encourage us to be cold and unloving!
Want to listen to a sermon on this passage? A Church that has Fallen out of Love!
[1] Leon Morris, Revelation (Leicester, Inter-Varsity Press, 1969) 60.
[2] Who and what were the Nicolatians? There are various ideas, but the truth is we just don’t know! We will encounter them again in the letter to the Church at Pergamun and that may give us a few clues!