Although the church in Ephesus had so many virtues, it was degraded because it had left its first love. In verse 4 the Lord said, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” The Greek word for first is the same as the word translated best in Luke 15:22. Our first love toward the Lord must be the best love for Him. The church in Ephesus had left this best love toward the Lord.
The church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23) is a matter of life; as the new man (Eph. 2:15), it is a matter of the Person of Christ; and as the Bride of Christ (John 3:29), it is a matter of love. The first epistle to the Ephesians tells us that for the church life we need to be strengthened in our inner man that Christ may make His home in our hearts, that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:16-19); and that it is for the church life that grace is with all them who love the Lord Jesus (Eph. 6:24). Now the second epistle to the Ephesians reveals that the degradation of the church begins with our leaving the first love toward the Lord. Nothing but love can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord. The church in Ephesus had good works, labored for the Lord, endured suffering, and tried the false apostles, but she left her first love toward the Lord. Leaving the first love is the source of all the degradation in the following stages of the church.
We in the local churches today must be warned of the possibility of losing our first love for the Lord. We may work and labor for the Lord and we may be pure doctrinally and correct scripturally, yet not have the first love for the Lord. Perhaps in the coming years we shall not love Him as much as we do now. Beware of this. It is better to lose some of our work than to fail in our love for the Lord. Our love for Him must be the first love. We all must say, “Lord, I love You. I do not love the works I do for You, and I do not appreciate the labor I spend for You. Lord, I love You. If my labor for You frustrates me from loving You, I will cease laboring.” Do not allow anything to separate you from the love of the Lord. We must take care of the first love and constantly love the Lord.
I can never forget a short paragraph concerning John Nelson Darby. This paragraph reveals that when Darby was very old he was traveling and stayed in a hotel for the night. As he was going to bed, he prayed in a simple way, saying, “Lord Jesus, I still love You.” It is precious for an old saint to say this. John Nelson Darby began to love the Lord during his youth. After more than sixty years, he still loved Him. We all must daily tell the Lord, “Lord Jesus, I still love You. I may change in everything else, Lord, but I would never change in loving You. Rather, I want my love for You to increase all the time.” I read this paragraph about Darby more than twenty years ago, and I cannot tell you the help it has rendered me throughout the years.
We must constantly say, “Lord Jesus, I still love You.” Once we have fallen from our first love, our degradation has begun. We may remain the same in everything else—in work, labor, and in other things—but we are degraded because we have left our first love. Eventually, the church at Ephesus had more work but less love. Today, we all must say that we want more love and less work. If we would do any work, it must be out of our love for the Lord. Love should motivate everything we do for the Lord. If we cannot do a certain thing because we love Him, we should not do it. Our work should simply be an expression of our love for Him. We must be like this; otherwise, we shall not be kept in His presence.
In verse 5 we see the consequence of the church’s degradation: “Remember therefore whence you have fallen and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.” The consequence of the church’s degradation is losing the testimony. To lose the testimony simply means to have the lampstand removed. If we leave our first love toward the Lord and do not repent, we shall lose the testimony of the Lord and the lampstand will be removed from us. Years ago, the testimony with the Brethren was quite bright, but it is not so today. There is no doubt that the lampstand has been removed from most of the so-called Brethren assemblies. When you enter into their assemblies, you do not sense any shining there. There is no light, no testimony. We must be careful and constantly on the alert to avoid this consequence. Do not think that because we are the local churches as the lampstands and are the testimony of Jesus that we cannot lose our testimony. The day we lose our first love toward the Lord will be the day we lose the testimony. On that day, the lampstand will be removed.