A Letter to Churches: Don't Forget Your First Love (Rev. 2:1-7)
When my wife and I first started dating, we both had summer jobs that kept us apart. She had an internship in Lynchburg, Virginia, while I was working at a camp hosted by Gardner-Webb University on the North Carolina–South Carolina border. We were both busy, and we didn't have nearly as much time to talk on the phone as we wanted. So we wrote letters.
Looking back, those letters became foundational to our relationship—or at least they were for me. There was something special about opening your mailbox and finding a handwritten letter from the person you were falling in love with.
Now imagine receiving a letter from Jesus Himself.
The book of Revelation contains seven letters from Jesus to seven local churches. Though written nearly two thousand years ago, each one has something to teach the church today—and I believe they have particular significance for rural churches.
The first letter is addressed to the church at Ephesus. Jesus begins by commending them for their faithfulness in defending sound doctrine and standing against false teachers. That is no small thing. Sound doctrine matters, and churches should be praised for guarding the truth.
But after His commendation comes a haunting warning:
"But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first."
The church had defended the faith, but somewhere along the way they had abandoned their first love.
Could it be that they became so focused on defending doctrine that they forgot the very foundation of doctrine itself? Jesus doesn't say they merely neglected their first love. He says they abandoned it. They had left the One who first loved them. They had drifted from the gospel and from the mission the gospel creates.
I wonder if many rural churches face the same temptation.
I'm not suggesting we compromise on essential doctrines that define the Christian faith—the inerrancy of Scripture, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, the resurrection, or the Trinity. These truths are worth defending.
But too often we fight over tertiary issues—or worse, issues that aren't theological at all. We divide over the color of the carpet, the style of music, the order of worship, or countless other preferences.
We've allowed small issues to become matters of ultimate importance while treating eternal matters as though they were secondary.
When that happens, we've lost sight of our first love.
So what should we do?
Jesus gives the answer:
"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first."
1. Remember
We must remember the saving grace found in the gospel—the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection.
The gospel is not only the message that saves us at conversion; it is the message that sustains us every day afterward. It reminds us who we are, whose we are, and why we exist.
A church that forgets the gospel eventually forgets why it exists at all.
2. Do the Works
Jesus calls the church to return to the work He first gave it.
That work is the Great Commission: making disciples of all nations.
Your church is not located where it is by accident. God has placed it in your community for His mission. Whether your church sits in the middle of a growing city or at the end of a country road, its purpose remains the same—to make disciples.
When we abandon the mission, we inevitably begin majoring on the minors. We start spending our energy protecting preferences instead of proclaiming Christ.
As we read these seven letters together, my prayer is that we will listen carefully.
Jesus commended the Ephesian church for defending sound doctrine, yet He also rebuked them for abandoning their first love. The lesson is clear: doctrine matters, but doctrine should always lead us to love Christ more deeply and to join Him more faithfully in His mission.
May we never become so committed to being right that we forget the One who is the Truth. May our churches be marked by sound doctrine, deep love for Jesus, and unwavering commitment to His gospel and His mission.
