Bible Banter
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
We haven’t talked a lot about this up until now but my husband and I are planting a church with another couple, Joel and Audrey Saint. The first official gathering of Independence Reformed Bible Church will be October 6th at the Fivepointville Fire Company (near Denver, Lancaster County, PA) at 9 AM. It has been a long road getting to this point but we are thrilled to be following the Lord in this way.
One of the things this has forced us to do is really think about what we believe. For weeks now we have been hashing over doctrine. What are our core beliefs? What do we believe the Bible says about salvation, baptism, what about keeping the “Sabbath”, and the return of Christ? Among the men who are acting as a steering committee the conversation has been pretty detailed and maybe even a little intellectual. They were asked to help because they know their Bibles.
All of these conversations have been great for our minds and defining our faith. But yesterday, in a very small group we met for the first time for worship and our Pastor taught on Revelation 2, the letter to the church at Ephesus. In that letter Jesus commends the church for “bearing up for My name’s sake” but He also says that He holds it against them that they had “left their first love.” Jesus calls them to repent of this sin.
It really struck me how easy it is for us to get caught up in the doctrine of the scriptures (which I love to talk about) but fall away from the reason we came to the scriptures in the first place – Jesus (just as He was accusing the church at Ephesus of doing). God sent Him, then Jesus voluntarily laid His life down for us, He took the punishment for our sin – not because we are somehow worthy of such a sacrifice but because it was what God had planned to do to redeem a people for Himself. Jesus did what the Father had planned for Him to do. These are acts of sacrificial love and kindness from the Most High God!
Sadly, we do forget. Our first sermon was a great way to start a new work for the Lord. In this passage of Revelation Jesus said, “Remember from where you have fallen.” They had fallen from their first love.
For several weeks, as we have met to plan and prepare to start this church, I have noticed that our Pastor friend very frequently begins his prayers with thanksgiving for the work of Christ on the cross, for the very fact that God the Father sent Him to save wretches like us, and for the grace of God as He continues to save people through faith in Jesus Christ’s rescuing us from our sin. What hadn’t occurred to me until I heard the sermon on Sunday is that this remembrance of God’s plan of salvation in prayer is one way to keep those of us who delight in the intellectual banter about doctrine thinking about our First Love. In his gratitude for what God has done he is reminding others of our reason for that first love we had for Christ.
I have often noticed people beginning their prayers with praise – and often teach that it is a good way to begin. What I realize now is that in a fast-paced world where God gets lost and Jesus’ name is more and more maligned, this is a great way to remind God’s people of what we need to remember so that we don’t lose our First Love.
If we know the Bible front to back but fall from our first love and never look back, we will lose the favor of the One whose work we are doing. Jesus advised the Ephesian church to repent. Twice. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.