LOOKING BACK TO GO FORWARD

Happy New Year, everyone!

As you read this article, you may be about to hold your annual end of year church review. Will you choose to be hard or lenient on yourself? Will it be excellent, good, room for improvement, or ‘special measures required!’?

Imagine having Jesus sat with your team when you review the last twelve months. The all-seeing, all-knowing Lord of the church listening to your views and observations, and then sharing His assessment; it’s a very sobering thought.

As you will be aware, Jesus directly addressed seven churches in the Book of Revelation. These were real churches, with real people facing real issues.

I wish to highlight a phrase used by Jesus when He challenged the church at Ephesus. We all major on the phrase you have ‘left your first love’ when we think about the Ephesian church. However, let me draw your attention to another phrase used in verse 5 of Chapter 2. ‘Do the works you did at first’. These words are often eclipsed by the more quoted and familiar words as above, although, in my view the two phrases are connected.

Now we know more about the church at Ephesus than any other church mentioned in the New Testament. It was established around 15-20 years after the death of Jesus. It had played a crucial part in the spread of Christianity in the region.

Its leaders were legendary: Paul, John, Apollos, Timothy; they all pastored in different seasons. It had an unrivalled legacy, yet now the church had drifted and was on the verge of closure. Jesus reached out to this church to pull it back to safety, before it was too late.

It was a strong ultimatum from Jesus: ‘Repent or else’. By the time Jesus wrote this letter, three decades had passed since the church had been founded. Most of the first-generation believers were gone, many of them martyred for their faith. Now there was a new generation of Christians who it seems were pedalling the status quo. Jesus challenged this mindset by telling them ‘I am not content with you just doing your religious stuff’.

When this church was established they proclaimed the wonder of what Christ had done for them. However, over the years, the memory of their conversion had faded, and now they were complacent and had become very preoccupied with their own agendas.

Jesus exhorted them to ‘Do the works you did at first’ - those things you did out of love for Christ. Go back to where you were at first, to the works that once characterised your church.

The decline in love for Christ had serious implications for the mission and effectiveness of this group of people.

Incorporate back into the life of the church those spiritual disciplines that kept you so close to Jesus. I believe that when ministry doesn’t flow out of intimacy with Christ it becomes stale and frustrating.

Do you remember the very first things you did when you first fell in love with Jesus? You had a passion for His Word, a deep desire to encounter His presence, the absolute joy of getting together with other Christians and the energy to tell others about the Gospel. In 2024, be

determined to ‘do the works you did at first’. What would Jesus’ snapshot of your church look like?

Sadly, for some, the charge from the all-seeing Jesus could be ‘You have turned my Father’s house into something He never intended it to be’.

Prioritise this year to recapture the same focus and fervency you had at the very beginning when His amazing grace gripped your life.

Enjoy a fantastic 2024 .

Paul Howells