[1] I am indebted to Gary DeLashmutt’s teaching outline (unpublished) for most of the commentary on this passage.
In this section, we will be surveying the kinds of pitfalls and barriers that undermine a vital prayer life. We begin by looking at the problem of “losing our first love, ” which leads to the loss of spiritual life in general. While this passage is often used in a rush to judgment about why the local church is not growing, we must not ignore its advice concerning the vertical, Godward dimension of the Christian life. I want to consider the problem highlighted here as the first of several barriers to prayer that commonly arise among Christians.[1]
This message was addressed to the Christians at Ephesus,
a center of regional evangelization (Acts 19). They were
extremely well taught,
having had Paul, Timothy, and John as mentors over the years. Jesus begins with
a commendation about their consistent
service in spite of persecution and their doctrinal purity. They had spotted and resisted “pre-gnostic”
heresy (a teaching that denied Christ’s humanity) and false apostles (2:2,3).
Having delivered that encouragement,
he gives a rebuke: "you have left
your first love." They
had wandered from a personal
relationship with-- and devotion to-- Jesus Christ Himself.
Although this sounds incredible, it is actually very understandable. Satan seems to pursue a “double strategy” with us. If persecution and false teaching are responded to with increased resolve to endure and stand for truth, then the devil focuses us on these things so much that we forget for whom we are enduring and standing. Thus, this is the special danger to the older, committed Christian who has reached a fair level of maturity and commitment. This seems be Paul’s concern regarding the Corinthians:
"The devil said to me: 'I shall be hard for you, I will cool you insensibly, by degrees, by little by little; what care I said he, though I be seven years in chilling your heart, if I can do it at last; continual rocking will lull a crying child to sleep... though you be burning at present, yet I can pull you from this fire, I shall have you cold before it be long.'" " (John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, [emphasis added])
In general, we should not expect the devil to strike suddenly with a lot of aggression. This is especially true for the relatively stable Christian worker. Losing our first love for Christ almost never involves a conscious decision, but occurs very gradually and subtly. It is more like a “slow leak” than a “blow-out.” In the early stages, it is characterized by decreased exposure to personal prayer, God’s word, and Christian fellowship that is rarely noticed. For some, an increasingly “academic-only” approach to Scripture is eased into, as well as a “functional-only” approach to ministry. Although the academic and functional aspects are very important, they are insufficient without a living relationship with Jesus Christ. In more advanced stages, the believer who has lost this tends to be repulsed by prayer, suspicious and resentful of those who seem spiritually vital, increasingly complaining about circumstances, and has chronic feelings of "burn-out. " Christian meetings and ministry become dreaded as distasteful obligations.
There is nothing more miserable than trying to serve Jesus
Christ while being disconnected
from Him relationally. If allowed
to go unchecked, this state of affairs leads to chronic doubt about the power of
God and perhaps the love of God, since there has been a lack of recent
experiential verification. Along with that is an increased vulnerability to
temptation (to fill the void left by our alienation from the Lord) and eventual
withdrawal from ministry.
As Jesus said in Rev. 2:5,
“I will take away your lampstand.” In
other words, we undergo a loss
of witness to the world.
It must be stressed that the answer to a loss of spiritual vitality is not to over-react. A common reaction is a reverse-pendulum, where we swing to an opposite extreme that is anti-knowledge and anti-service. We must not stop these vitally important endeavors, just re-start our relationship with the Lord. Jesus gives three steps that are important to a full recovery.
First, he says, "Remember from where you have fallen." This may initially strike you as strange, even morbid or introspective. But it seems that we are being directed to sit down and reflect on when our walk was vital. By this, I do not mean the circumstances, but the joy and fulfillment of relating to God and being excited about learning from and serving Him. When we are “out of it” spiritually, we think that what we need is better circumstances. Yet upon reflection, we realize that often our vitality co-existed with painful circumstances. We need to think about times when prayer was joyful and personal, when the word of God was a living sword, and when ministry seemed like a privilege. This is the beginning of recovery: to sit down and reflect or to take a walk and ponder these things. Without doing this, you (if you are like me) will tend to brush off God’s conviction by rationalizing, “It’s not really that bad. I've been in worse shape before.” Remembering, on the contrary, fans the flames of our heart, and often results in both a shame about what we have let our walk become and a renewed hunger to return to our once vital state. This is a good beginning as long as it doesn't stop here.
Jesus also urges that we “repent” and move from the heart to the will. Before God, we need to make the decision to regain that vital relationship with God with the purpose of returning to that relationship. We must make this decision in spite of a couple of feelings that may arise at this point. One will be feelings of guilt or accusation such as “God would never allow you back into that kind of relationship. You’ve denied Him, You’ve been fake, and are probably fake now.” A more sophisticated thought often comes on the heels of the first: “Who are you kidding. You’ve tried this before. Last New Year’s Eve you said it would be different. Was it different? No. Forget it and realize this is the normal Christian life for you.” Giving in to that is “letting sin reign in your mortal body” (Rom. 6:12,13). It is submitting to defeat and believing a lie.
The third step that brings us to victory is “Do the deeds you did at first.” It is right at this point that a lot of us falter. We undergo genuine repentance about the state of our life, but we do not act or do what is needed. I think “doing” in this case involves two main things. The first is to re-cultivate gratitude/appreciation of God's love for you. If you have fallen out of love with Jesus Christ, something else preceded that. All loss of love for God and others stems from this loss of gratitude. As John says, “We love because He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19). Remember what He saved you from. Remember what He has rescued and sanctified you from. Think about what Christ has done in your life. Practice thankfulness for the present. Since what initially was a great privilege is now assumed, a habit of thankfulness must be cultivated. Spoiled children don’t become grateful overnight. The second aspect of “doing” is to rebuild your spiritual health through the means of growth (the word, prayer, fellowship). Don’t tune this point out because you know all the verses on the means of growth. The means of growth must be pursued with the proper attitude: not as naturalistic duties, but with the attitude we had at first- -seeing them as supernatural avenues for the life and love of God! I must caution you that it may take some time to regain vitality, especially if you have been out of it for a long time.
Not that I have already obtained it, or have
already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for
which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.13 Brethren, I do not regard
myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies
behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,14 I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many
as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different
attitude, God will reveal that also to you. --Philippians 3:12-15
When I’m healthy spiritually, I have the attitude of an athlete. I strive and shoot for higher attainment. I am goal oriented about my character. Could you answer the questions: “What is the Lord trying to do in your life?” “What is the next step in your walk?” This attitude of seeking to “take new ground” prevents the self-sufficient mentality that gets us in this rut in the first place.
[1] I am indebted to Gary DeLashmutt’s teaching outline (unpublished) for most of the commentary on this passage.