Is your “church” really a church?

The church of Ephesus was mentored by the apostles John and Paul. She lost her first love in just thirty-five years. She did not repent and exists no more.

 

"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place——unless you repent. Revelation 2:4-5

 

Our churches do need to be proud of their heritage of obedience to the Lord Jesus. They also need to train up every generation according to Deuteronomy 6.

 

4  "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5  "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6  "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7  "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8  "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9  "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10  "So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11  "houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12  "then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

 

As long as there is enough money, it is easy to keep a non-profit organization registered and active, its building maintained and up kept, and its members busy with some activities. All that can be done even without a lampstand… without really being a church.

 

Please, please, please let your focus be on loving God by obeying his word and sharing our Lord Jesus with others. Nothing else we do is important in comparison.