A walk through the woods and a small girl’s sudden, unprompted declaration: Daddy, you are the best dad in the world. That scene opens a reflection on the first of the seven letters in Revelation, the letter to the church in Ephesus, a community with endurance, moral clarity and a nose for false teachers, which nevertheless heard: you have abandoned the love you had at first (Revelation 2). The sermon shows why no one can simply be ordered to love more, and where the real reason for love is to be found. Listen, and open the photo album of your own relationship with God, what was it like at the beginning?
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- What does Jesus commend in the church in Ephesus (hard work, endurance under persecution, exposing false apostles, rejecting the Nicolaitans), and why does He still say something is missing?
- The speaker notes that the word for "forsaken" in Revelation 2:4 could also be rendered "divorced" or "departed from." What does this marriage image reveal about the relationship Jesus wants with His church?
- Why, according to the sermon, are endurance, morality and sound doctrine not enough without love? How does this connect with 1 Corinthians 13: "if I have not love, I am nothing"?
- Jesus says: "Remember the height from which you have fallen, repent and do the things you did at first." What was the beginning of your relationship with Jesus like, and what from that time do you want to remember today?
- The sermon says love cannot be forced through gritted teeth, and that this letter is above all Jesus saying: "I love you the most." How does knowing the love He showed on the cross change your motivation for following Him?
- What is one concrete thing you can do this week to be captivated by Jesus again, rather than just trying to be a "good Christian" out of duty?
