First Love (II)

Revelation 2:1-7

Some Things Are WorthFighting For

• The Lord commends them for standing for the truth

• Paul told them they would have a battle that would arise from within the church

• Jesus is telling them how they fared in the battle

Some Things Are WorthFighting For

• This did not take place without cost and strife

• “You cannot tolerate”

• In our culture, tolerance only runs one way

Some Things Are WorthFighting For

• We are not called to tolerate error among the people of God

• We cannot afford to

• Jude 3; 1 Timothy 3:15

Love Must Never BeSacrificed

• v. 4—strong rebuke

• Threat to remove their “lampstand”

• Either death of church or loss of effectiveness; replaced by another

Love Must Never BeSacrificed

• “Forsaken First Love”

• What Is This?

• They have perhaps fallen into a dead orthodoxy

Love Must Never BeSacrificed

• The reality is that they have lost the sense of love that first pervaded their church.

• Love is itself a form of orthodoxy

• Love must be maintained even in the fiercest of battles

BF & M 1963• The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired

and is the record of God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. It reveals the principles by which God judges us; and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.

BF &M 2000• The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired

and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Love Must Never BeSacrificed

• Their loss of love also may have led them to stop acting in love; they have lost their focus on loving mission.

• We must not let battles for truth cause us to become insular