Faithful, But Loveless: A Warning to the Modern Church
What if Jesus walked through your church today? Would He find faith on fire—or fading embers? One letter in Revelation may hold the answer.
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To the Church in Ephesus
1 “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.’
Return to Your First Love: A Warning Against Spiritual Drift
“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” Revelation 2:4
This passage comes from Jesus’ messages to seven different churches in the first three chapters of Revelation. Two of those churches Jesus found faithful—Smyrna and Philadelphia. However, five of the churches were in grave danger: Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea.
What do we gain from this analysis? The answer is simple: We drift.
The Reality of Spiritual Drift
There’s a tendency and potential in all of us to drift. People have an innate tendency to drift. Churches are made up of people; therefore, churches tend to drift. Denominations are made up of people; therefore, denominations over multiple decades historically have a tendency to drift. Seminaries, when you study the arc of history, often have a tendency to drift through decades. Why? Because they’re made up of fallen people.
This is why the writer of Hebrews wrote: “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 2:1).
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, once wrote:
“Spiritual drift is often imperceptible when it starts. But just like boats at sea, our souls can veer almost entirely off course in moments. You do not need to be far off course to end up a very long way from where you initially intended to be.
The writer of Hebrews indicates that there is only one way to fight against the danger of spiritual drift: we must pay attention to and obey the Word of God. Orthodoxy and obedience are the oars we must use for fighting against the straying current of spiritual drift.
Churches and individuals end up on the wrong side of the doctrinal equation by drifting a little at a time…So how do we avoid the danger of spiritual drift? The answer is the beginning of Hebrews 2:1. We must ‘pay attention all the more to what we have heard.’”
The New Testament tells us more about the history of the church at Ephesus than any other church in the Bible. This church was planted by the Apostle Paul, along with Priscilla and Aquila, with possible assistance from Apollos. Later, Timothy pastored this church, and church historians tell us that Tychicus also served as pastor in its early years. The Apostle John also lived in Ephesus and served this church as both pastor and apostle.
Think about it—Ephesus had great leadership: the Apostle Paul, Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla, Tychicus, Timothy, and the Apostle John. That’s a high pedigree.
The city of Ephesus was known as a world-class city in Asia Minor and was called the “light of Asia,” but not in the Christian sense of the word; rather, it meant just the opposite.
Ephesus was the center of the Banking industry in Asia Minor. She boasted the greatest harbor in the day, with ships coming and going, profiting from trade from all over the world. It was called the marketplace of Asia because four great highways flowed into and out of Ephesus; everything converged in Ephesus.
Worship of the goddess Artemis thrived and was characterized by her famous temple, a landmark in Ephesus. Because of that, religious tourism flourished. Thus, Ephesus was also a center of occult arts (Acts 19:19-41) and a center of hedonism of every sort. It was known as the Vanity Fair of the ancient world.
When these words were written, John was in his 90s and had been sent to the island of Patmos as a political prisoner for his testimony regarding Jesus and his influence in advancing the kingdom of God.
What Jesus Commended
Jesus walked among His churches, and much of what He saw at Ephesus attracted His approval and delight. He began with many affirmations:
“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.” Revelation 2:2-3
This church had heeded the Apostle Paul's warnings about predators from without and homegrown deceivers from within. Jesus commended His church at Ephesus for its discernment in exposing fraudulent theology and apostles. Jesus commended them for not enabling false doctrine and holding to the orthodox teaching of Scripture.
Enduring Cultural Pressure
When you were in business in Ephesus, you were required to be part of trade guilds. Every business transaction required giving an offering to one of the Roman gods. There was incredible social pressure to conform to this pattern. To refuse was to break a great social norm and face social consequences.
This is why Jesus commended them for enduring patiently and bearing up for His name’s sake. As followers of Jesus, they recognized there were moments where their lives demanded being countercultural for the sake of Jesus’ name.
Hating What God Hates
Jesus continued: “Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Revelation 2:6).
The Nicolaitans were persons who wanted to be known as followers of Christ but lured God’s people into sexual immorality and idolatry (Revelation 2:14-15). The name “Nicolaitans” comes from two Greek words: “Nico” (power) and “Laitos” (laity). They were leaders who, in the name of Jesus Christ, taught sexual immorality and blended it with idolatry.
Clement of Alexandria said regarding the Nicolaitans: “They abandoned themselves to pleasure like goats.” When the Nicolaitans professed Christ outwardly but wouldn’t adopt the ethics of Christ and demonstrated they wanted their own sexual ethic, Jesus Christ said, “I hate that.” Note: He didn’t say He hated people, but what this was doing to people.
Don’t ever think that Jesus is all lamb and no lion. Romans 11:22 tells us to “consider the severity of the Lord.” C.S. Lewis, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, referring to Aslan (a symbol of Jesus), wrote: “He is good, but he is not safe.”
Jesus opposes the idea of a Christianity that is all grace and no ethics. The Ephesians hated the work of the Nicolaitans and took the Lord’s side. Jesus praised them for hating what He hates: wrong doctrine and an immoral lifestyle.
The Fatal Flaw: Abandoned First Love
This sounds like a great church—a place anyone would want to attend. But we learn something about this church.
“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” Revelation 2:4
You have forsaken the flaming love you had for Christ when you first came to know Him. You have abandoned the burning heart you had when you realized the significance of His taking your sins at the cross, dying, and rising from the dead.
There was a time when it was all new—whether through your mother at bedside, in the sanctuary, in VBS, when your life hit bottom, on your college campus, or at a revival service. There was a point where you came to Christ and were awakened. When you did, you had a white-hot love for Jesus Christ. You demonstrated devotion to Jesus Christ and were consumed with Him.
Now, Jesus said they only demonstrated a dutiful doctrinal coldness. The heart of their first love for Him was gone.
The Ephesians left their first love. They worked hard, persevered, endured, knew the truth, and could expose error. But the danger was that they had lost their first love. Their love for Christ had cooled, bringing them into a danger zone.
A cool love for Christ is a forerunner of apathy. Apathy is a forerunner of loving something else. Love for something else creates a void in the heart, which will always be filled with something else—idols, compromise, and other loves that take the throne of the heart.
Jesus reminded His church: “You were birthed in the first love of Jesus. You were birthed in the love of God and Holy Spirit power. You were birthed through the movement of the love of God through His gospel in your heart. You have labored to be doctrinally pure. You teach the Scriptures clearly. You’ve had the best of leaders, but you don’t love Me like you used to. You agree with my ideas, but don’t reach out to hold my hand anymore.”
In essence, they were in a loveless marriage. They have the reputation of being connected, but failed to show affection anymore. The author, G.K. Chesterton once said, “Let your Christianity be less of a theory and more of a love affair.”
A Sobering Warning: 3 Steps Forward
N.T. Wright, who wrote a commentary on this passage, reminds us of something chilling: The one thing we do not see in Ephesus today is an active church. No church exists on the shores of modern-day Turkey. Think about this—a church the Apostle Paul planted, a church the Apostle John pastored, a church Jesus invested in and spoke specifically to, doesn’t exist anymore.
This is a cautionary tale for all of us. It is possible to have faith without the vitality of faith, and without the vitality of faith, the faith dies.
However, Jesus gave instructions for the church to move forward:
“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.” Revelation 2:5
While there is only one way forward, Jesus shares that there are three steps forward for the church (as a reminder, if it can happen to them, it can happen to us; thus, we should take heed of Jesus’ words).
Remember: Think back when it was all brand new. You might have been a child, a teenager, or, for some, it might have been a few months ago. But think back when it was all brand new and turn back to Jesus.
Repent: Turn back to your first love.
Do the Works You Did at First: Go back and open your Bible and read it. Open your heart and commune with the Lord in prayer—not like you’re in a loveless marriage, but as if you’re in a love relationship.
When Jesus is our first love, we actually love others more deeply and broadly. We love fellow church members more deeply. We’re more apt to forgive and set free. We love our neighbors, coworkers (even those who irritate us), the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, and the unreached.
The writer Anne Lamott once said, “You can rest assured that you have created a God in your own image when you think it is safe to assume that God hates the same people you do.”
When your first love is restored, love toward others is also restored.
The Promise for Those Who Overcome
“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.” Revelation 2:7
When Jesus said, “Let him who has ears hear,” He meant make an effort to understand. It’s possible to sit in a church service thinking only about where to go for lunch while eternal truths pass in one ear and out the other.
Jesus said that when He is your first love, gifts and benefits are restored to your life individually and as a church. He described them as the tree of life and a lampstand, representing God’s presence and illumination in the temple. God declares He will not remove His manifest presence, revelation, and illumination from His church.
The tree of life was found in the garden and will be restored when we have a new heaven and new earth—for the healing of nations, to heal every piece of brokenness. But we have a foretaste of the tree of life in the person of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus hung on the cross, there were two men sentenced to death on either side. One man expressed to Jesus, “Remember me when you enter your kingdom.” Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). But the other criminal never expressed any faith statement in Jesus.
One criminal had a lampstand; He had enough illumination to know he needed to respond that the Son of God was by his side. The other man had no lampstand. But the fact that Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” tells us there is never a ditch you have to dig yourself out of with God. If there is grace for him, then there is grace for you and me.
Jesus knew something about being broken. He was willing to be broken in order to forgive you for your brokenness and sin. He was willing to be broken when His Father turned His back and forsook Him as Jesus bore your sin and mine on the cross. That brokenness led to a breakthrough in Jesus’s life, and brokenness leads to a breakthrough in your life as well.
As a follower of Jesus, you will go forward by going back.
The Call to Return
As the church likely prayed for revival following the words found in Revelation 2, we, too, can pray for a return to our first love. However, as we pray for revival and awakening, we should never pray for revival and awakening without examining ourselves. Never despise a small beginning.
Return to your first love of Jesus. There is grace and mercy for all who truly turn to Him. Let Jesus renew your first love, because we’re all broken, but there is grace for all who come to Him in faith.
TL;DR
In Revelation 2:1–7, Jesus speaks to the church at Ephesus—a community rich in doctrine but poor in love.
Though they resisted false teaching and endured persecution, they had abandoned their first love.
This blog explores the danger of spiritual drift, the symptoms of loveless Christianity, and the urgent call to repent and return.
Through stories of revival and reminders of Christ’s fierce, purifying love, we’re invited to examine ourselves and rediscover the fire that first captured our hearts.
