The tricky thing about losing your first love…
…is you can do it without realizing it.
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. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
-Jesus, Revelation 2:2-4
What I’m extremely aware of in this stage of my life is the fact that the Ephesians did everything right. Jesus has no complaint for the Ephesians about anything that they did or didn’t do. No sin was mentioned and there was no rebuke for what was left undone. These guys worked hard, were patient, tested false apostles, endured persecution patiently for the name of Christ, and even after doing all of that they didn’t grow weary.
Except…
They lost their first love. And even though on the outside everything was good, on the inside their love had grown cold. In fact, everything they had done so well was in jeopardy because they missed the reason they started in the first place: they loved Jesus. I struggle with this because we as Western believers measure so much of our spirituality based on what we do. And while we need to be people who obey Jesus, Christianity can quickly become about what we’ve done for Jesus lately.
I don’t want to be the guy who did all the right things but lost my first love. I don’t think you do either. But losing our first love happens slowly over time, little bit by little bit.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Until one day it’s gone.
These words were written to a historical church in Asia Minor, but they were written down and recorded for our benefit. Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Don’t let your love for the Lord grow cold. Take time to make sure the fire is burning brightly inside and you’re not just dealing with glowing ashes.
The cure that Jesus gives us if we find our selves in this same spot is simple. Look where you’ve come from! Remember the love you felt in your heart towards God when you first came to Jesus. And when you see where you’ve fallen from, do the things that stirred up your heart in those early days when it was just you and Jesus.
None of us wants to lose our first love. But we have to decide to keep it.
May the the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with God’s love, meet you as you examine your heart today.
Photo Credit: Dui bhuboner dui bashinda by Aftab Uzzaman
I Want You…To Plant A House Church
Maybe I haven’t said it before. Forgive me for not being more up front.
A major reason that I write is I believe God is calling many, many more people to the front lines of the harvest. It starts by leading unbelievers to Jesus, discipling them, training them to reach others, and in the process organic churches are formed.
Think of all the people that don’t know Christ. I know in the West we think everyone is a believer, but they’re not. Not even close. And the more relationships you build outside of the church, the more you realize there are more broken people far from God than you could count. But many of these people want Christ, they just have a misunderstanding of who He is. The harvest is gigantic.
The church as it exists cannot handle the harvest that could come in if the lost truly did come to Christ. Imagine a church of two hundred that meets in your city or town. Now imagine that church growing by another two hundred new converts. It would be chaos! The nets that we currently have aren’t strong enough to hold the catch.
But imagine a church of ten or fifteen disciples who have their hearts fixed on Christ and are growing as disciples. That church can add ten or fifteen new converts and become two or three house churches quickly without much difficulty. And as those new converts grow, they have the ability to start a house church just like the one they are part of now.
But the workers are few. I’ll tell you even though the harvest is great, the number of people actually following Jesus into the harvest, working among the lost, and discipling new converts is small. And if the harvest is truly great, we don’t have enough laborers.
So, don’t be surprised, if every once and awhile I look around at my followers on the blog and say, “Why haven’t you started a house church yet?”
There might be some good answers. But there might be some good excuses, too.
Existing House Churches Should Be Fragile, Too…
Every church plant is fragile. But truth be told, every house church I’ve ever been a part of was fragile, regardless of whether it was brand new or not. And it was good that it was fragile.
This flies in the face of our Western pragmatism. We feel like we should be able to start something of significance and twenty, thirty, or fifty years later come back and find something that looks very familiar to what we started.
But everything that is truly alive is fragile: From the smallest seedling to the newborn baby to a mature elephant. Massive as they are, an unseen virus or hidden cancer can end the life of each of these living things. There is a fragility baked into life that makes it both alive and risky.
Because the church is a living thing, the same thing is true of her. If she ever grows to the place where she cannot die, we do not have a living breathing bride of Christ, but some kind of zombie bride that’s not fit for Jesus. Again, there’s a risk in life, but it’s worth the cost.
I can’t take you back to the first house church I ever started. It doesn’t exist. It didn’t fall apart because of moral failure or lack of money. It grew into several churches that are alive and growing. The people that made it up are still walking with Christ, but they are starting churches and making disciples in different contexts.
In order for new life to emerge, often things must die. So as a follower of Jesus, I have to embrace the idea that not just the churches we start among the lost, but the house churches we are part of right now are fragile. Eventually, what is living will die and give way to the seed of something new that God will plant and cause to flourish somewhere else.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.
-Jesus, John 12:24
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 