Last week we closed with the three steps of obedience Jesus gave to the Ephesian church. This week as we wrap up this Ephesian letter in Revelation 2, we are going to bear down on the fact that Jesus referred to loving Him with all their heart, as a WORK.

The word “work” in association with virtually ANYTHING in a Christian’s life is today treated with a great deal of skepticism and opposition due to an unreasonable amount of misunderstanding regarding it.

Works are NOT a means to obtain righteousness, justification or the Holy Spirit -Paul makes this clear in Galatians, BUT works are ALWAYS a result of a relationship of knowing and trusting Jesus – as fruit produced by a branch connected to their vine. That “fruit” is also referred to as “works” throughout the New Testament so much that it is hard to see how people miss it, but they do!

But like it or not, agree with it or not, Jesus Himself calls possessing and walking in agape love for Him a work. Plain and simple.

It is this we addressed in some detail this morning! May the Lord grant you the ability to hear with ears attuned to the Holy Spirit and thereby, sheer up an arena of life that is often much neglected by Christians.

The main force of our lesson today was focused upon the why and the how of our Ephesian church. Specifically, why they fell from their first love and how they were instructed to do something about it.

Most forms of infidelity in relationships – whether between humans or God – is often not due directly to an overfocus upon the other person in the relationship, but rather their preoccupation with someone or something else. Furthermore, it often isn’t even about the other person themselves as much as what they represent to the unfaithful party. As such, unfaithfulness or a drifting of one’s allegiance and devotion to their loved one often does not even have their loved one in mind when they do it. It doesn’t happen all at once, but by degrees. Over time, actual affairs take place due to an inward affair of the heart which has gone unchecked for some time.

The answer? Don’t focus upon stopping whatever you are doing. Instead refocus your attention back from where it strayed. That is how the affair began and that is its remedy. It is not focused on stopping sin, but on loving Christ as first and foremost in one’s life with the kind of love that spends itself on the other. You cannot walk in devotion towards opposing goals simultaneously. So long as you focus on the sin – even in a desire to stop it – your attention is still on the wrong thing and it will conquer you!

Jesus’ counsel was this – Remember, repent and do the first works.